Hong Kong Archives - asthejoeflies

Mar 20 2018

11 Hong Kong Disneyland Tips and Tricks for 2018

I’ve visited Hong Kong Disneyland three times over two separate trips semi recently (2015 and 2017). The first time I went I hadn’t been to any Disney park in over fifteen years. We had a short and sweet visit with our almost 2 year old daughter. This time we went back with our now 4 year old daughter and almost 2 year old son in tow. Each time I’ve visited I’ve found my friend Leslie’s Hong Kong Disneyland advice to be super helpful.

Let’s take a look at Hong Kong Disneyland in 2018. A few things have changed, mostly for the better. I’ll have my full thoughts on the park later but overall I found the park to be fairly underrated. Yes, it’s smaller than other Disney parks, but I kind of loved that. So let’s take a look at tips and tricks to make the most out of your trip to Hong Kong Disneyland!

1. Now is the perfect time to go

For a number of reasons, now is a great time to visit Hong Kong Disneyland. In the past, the majority of crowds have hailed from mainland China. However, less mainlanders visit Hong Kong these days (for a variety of reasons). On top of that, the opening of Shanghai Disney draws people away from Hong Kong. That means you have fewer crowds to deal with.

On top of all that, Hong Kong Disneyland improved greatly since my visit in 2015. The Ironman Experience, Mickey and the Wondrous Book, and Fairytale Forest have all opened. With lower crowds it’s easier to get your kids into Trials of the Jedi Temple.

Since our visit last year, a lot of new attractions have opened or are set to open in 2018. The new Karibuni Marketplace introduced new characters in the park (in Adventureland), and a new Moana show is slated to open on May 30, 2018!

Oh, and did I mention that a one day ticket only costs ~$75 USD? And due to low attendance, Hong Kong Disneyland seems to run promotions every year. Currently until July 15,2018 you can get a two day ticket with two $15 HKD vouchers (worth about $4 USD) for $689 HKD (~$88 USD).

2. Avoid Chinese holidays and weekends, don’t worry so much about Hong Kong holidays

Despite the decrease in mainland Chinese tourists, they still compose a large portion of Hong Kong Disneyland visitors. So you want to avoid visiting on mainland China holidays (here’s a 2018 calendar). In 2015 I visited the day after New Year’s and the park felt completely packed. This year I went on Easter Monday (a public Hong Kong holiday, but not a mainland China one) and experienced a very small crowd. The longest I had to wait for any ride was 20 minutes and that was by choice due to the kids’ schedules.

Native Hong Kong residents like to get out of Hong Kong during the holidays, another reason not to worry too much about Hong Kong holidays. On the other hand, mainland Chinese like to visit on weekends so you want to avoid those.

3. Use the differences between HK and US time schedules to your advantage

Hong Kong people operate about an hour or two later than your average American. That means they wake up later, eat lunch and dinner at 1:00 and 7:00 PM respectively, and stores stay open much later.

That means if you get to Hong Kong Disneyland at park open (rope drop) you see even shorter lines than you would at the Disney parks in America. And park open in Hong Kong (10:00 AM) is pretty late to begin with. 9:45 AM is around when they start letting people into the park. If you eat lunch at 11:30 or noon and dinner at 6:00 PM you’ll avoid large lines. Then go ride when the majority of people in the park eat meals!

Visiting Hong Kong? Disney fan? Here are 11 Hong Kong Disneyland tips and tricks to help you make the most of your HK Disney visit! — The Mickey MTR is cute, but it takes awhile to get there

4. Budget in and be prepared for the long travel time to get to the park

It takes quite a bit of time to get to the park from the city. So if you’re not staying in a Hong Kong Disneyland hotel, make sure to budget an hour or more for travel. You often are traveling in the thick of rush hour (which starts later than in the US, see above). Be aware that the long travel time might make you want to just do the park for one day. While I think the park can justify two days (we did it), traveling 2+ hours to get to and from the park might make a second day not worth it for your family.

5. Most visitors go to Fantasyland or Tomorrowland first

Fantasyland and Tomorrowland have the largest concentration of attractions. They also are the most iconic parts of Hong Kong Disneyland so most visitors go to those lands first. I visited Toy Story Land at 11:00 AM and all three rides had a wait time of 10 minutes (both days).

So you can adopt two strategies. Strategy 1: Visit the other lands first. If you choose this tactic I recommend you make the Toy Story Parachute Drop your first ride of the day, it has the slowest load times in the entire park (36 people every 5 minutes, compared to Ironman which at capacity can accommodate over 200 visitors every 5 minutes).You can hit all of Toy Story Land in the first hour and then visit Mystic Manor and Grizzly Gulch Mine Cars. Then hit up Fantasyland and Tomorrowland later.

Strategy 2: Rope drop and get all of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland done before the park fills in. Just be aware that Toy Story Land gets super crowded in the mid afternoon, so make that your third stop. Definitely use Strategy 2 if your kids want to participate in Trials of the Jedi Temple. Either way, download the Hong Kong Disneyland app and keep an eye on wait times, just in case the park gets busy.

6. Use Fastpass for rides in this order: Ironman Experience, Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain

Hong Kong Disneyland operates on a paper Fastpass system like Disneyland. You take your ticket to kiosks, scan it, and receive a paper Fastpass with a return time. You should be able to use Fastpass at all three rides it’s available for in a single day: Ironman Experience, Winnie the Pooh, and Hyperspace Mountain.

If you want to ride all three rides, I suggest you Fastpass them in that order unless you have young kids (in that case prioritize Winnie the Pooh). You could probably ride some of these rides multiple times on most days, since like I said before, park crowds generally are low.

As an aside, the Ironman Experience rules. Think a little bit of Soarin mixed in with a lot of Star Tours but Ironman flavored. Fun moments, exciting action, a little bit of humor – this ride is unique to Hong Kong Disneyland and definitely warrants your time.

7. Don’t miss Mystic Manor

Ghosts occupy a pretty negative place in Chinese culture, so Hong Kong Disneyland went a different direction with their Haunted Mansion equivalent. I totally loved Mystic Manor. It’s got a great storyline and some scary moments. It also is a lot more colorful than the Haunted Mansion which is a welcome change. Like the Ironman Experience, this unique experience qualifies as a must see. I won’t spoil the storyline here, though will do so in a later post.

8. Mickey and the Wondrous Book is a sight to behold – make sure to see it

I wrote awhile back about the impressive Disney Cruise Line entertainment. Mickey and the Wondrous Book, a show unique to Hong Kong Disneyland (sensing a theme?), continues that great tradition. The top notch story follows Mickey as he visits characters from various Disney stories.

Disney presents the show in both Cantonese and English, alternating between the two and using subtitles. The Cantonese => English translation was pretty good, my Chinese isn’t good enough to say anything about the other direction. It’s also pretty hilarious hearing Mickey, Goofy, and Olaf speaking in Cantonese (they get the cadence of these characters down pat).

I also appreciate how the show highlights some lesser heralded Disney properties like The Frog and the Princess (my favorite performance from the show for the record). The music in the show is great, my daughter and I are still singing it five days later. Don’t miss this show and beware of long lines, get there about 15 minutes before showtime to avoid them.

Fun fact: the title song in the show, Happily Ever After, was adapted to make the theme song for the Magic Kingdom’s new fireworks show in Orlando. That fireworks show happens to be my favorite of the nighttime spectaculars.

While you’re at it, Festival of the Lion King is worth your time too, but you can also see that in Florida.

9. Bring cash and try something new to eat

As a miles and points geek I always hope to pay with credit card, but like much of Hong Kong plastic doesn’t go as far in Hong Kong Disneyland. You can use credit card at a lot of stores but places like the eateries don’t take them. You can also use an Octopus card. I highly recommend getting one if you’re spending time in Hong Kong, they make life so easy.

Like much of Hong Kong, you can see 3-D models of a lot of the food. Hong Kong Disneyland food is pretty good and draws from a variety of cultures. Pick something that looks good to you and try it. And remember to eat earlier!

10. Be strategic about visiting characters by using the Hong Kong Disneyland app

All Disney parks post characters at the front of Main Street to cut down on lines. People stop to take these pictures and delay going on rides. Well, in Hong Kong Disneyland, these lines get crazy! Skip those and be smarter about meeting characters.

Download the Hong Kong Disneyland app. It will have a list of all characters that could possibly appear in the parks, but not all characters appear every day. If you don’t see meeting times that character isn’t appearing anymore that day. There are some regulars but others rotate (like Woody was there our first day but Jessie and Buzz took his place the second).

After the park opens, the app populates with the meeting times for each of the characters. Meeting a ton of characters is pretty simple: show up and line up 5 minutes before a character is supposed to appear. You’ll guarantee seeing that character and have a short wait time to boot. My daughter and I spent our second day just meeting characters, and though we missed Mickey and Minnie, we got to see a ton (including the aforementioned Jessie and Buzz). And with the new spot in Adventureland, you’ll have a lot more chances to meet characters!

11. Get stickers, stickers, stickers!

Almost every cast member in the park, from Guest Relations to custodial staff, carry stickers with them. It’s a lot of fun for kids to ask for these stickers and the cast members are super friendly about it. Think pin trading but free.

There are some really cool stickers to collect. If you’re feeling particularly forward, you can even ask cast members to see what stickers they have (they usually have more than one type). Asking for stickers doesn’t get old for kids, or even some adults.

Final Thoughts

Hong Kong Disneyland may be overshadowed by Shanghai at the moment, but you should definitely visit. With the news of Disney investing more money into it, now’s the time to go before it gets too popular. Hopefully these tips can help you maximize your experience.

Have you been to Hong Kong Disneyland? If so, please share some of your experiences and tips in the comments!

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Jun 15 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Hong Kong Hello Kitty Dim Sum Review

One of the things we definitely wanted to try this visit to Hong Kong was Hello Kitty Dim Sum. Despite bending parenting rules and dealing with jet lag, ultimately we needed to take this trip to the restaurant for the kids. (Is what I tell myself). I cannot tell you why this restaurant exists, but I can tell you a little bit about it. So let’s take a quick look at the Hello Kitty Dim Sum restaurant. I’ll also toss in a bit about the pop up Hello Kitty supermarket at the end as a bonus!

Location and Ambience

If you’re coming via MTR, either take the West Rail (purple) to Austin or the Tsuen Wan line (red) to Jordan. We actually hung out at Ocean Terminal and Harbour City beforehand, so we just walked up Canton Road. It’s possible to walk a long portion of this inside the Harbour City mall, so if you’re prone to overheating it might be worth budgeting a little extra time to navigate that maze.

Did you know there is a Hello Kitty dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong? And the food is pretty good! Learn about what to order and more in this review. — If you’re staying where in Tsim Sha Tsui you can probably walk to the restaurant

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t really blown away by the decor and ambience of the restaurant. I found it…fine? I don’t know what I expected I guess! More pink, maybe? The tables and chairs have nice Hello Kitty decorations and the restaurant features a couple big Hello Kitties but nothing wowed me. Just don’t expect to be taken to a dreamworld of magic or anything like that and it will be fine, haha.

Food and Price

Simply put, the Hello Kitty dim sum restaurant offers good (but not great) food at a bit of an upcharge. I didn’t find the prices exorbitant, maybe $1-$2 USD more per dish.

What really impressed me was the presentation. I expected the dishes to be cute and the definitely were. But everything is just done so clean and neatly – it really is amazing to see. Obviously the steamed pork buns (char siu bao) stand out the most but everything looks pretty. And even though I prefer fried turnip cake (lo bak goh), I can’t say I minded the gigantic Hello Kitty shaped one. Those two dishes plus shrimp dumplings (har gao) I would recommend everyone try. Other than that, order what you might normally get at dim sum.

My dad also ordered this like ground meat thing that was shaped like a Hello Kitty bow. It tasted fine but um…let’s just say ground meat is better off misshapen. It looked weird!

Anyway, I definitely enjoyed the food, flavor did not take a back seat to presentation. You can get better dim sum, for sure, but you’ll probably need a Michelin starred dim sum restaurant to surpass this by a large margin. If you’re into Hello Kitty or quirky food, the food quality and presentation definitely justify the upcharge.

Hello Kitty Pop Up Supermarket

Very quickly, currently Hong Kong features a pop up Hello Kitty supermarket at YATA. It’s right outside of the Hong Kong University MTR station on the newly expanded Island line (light blue). You can buy regular groceries but you’re probably there for the specialty Hello Kitty items. You can buy cookie cutters, molds, lunch boxes, Hello Kitty Pocky-like snacks, ET CETERA. Honestly, it’s pretty awesome. Check it out before it pops…down?

Final Thoughts

One thing I love about Asia is you get these crazy things that are tough to find in the U.S. (though there was a pop up Hello Kitty food truck by my house a few months ago!). If you or your kids enjoy Hello Kitty stuff, do yourself a favor and go check out the dim sum and the pop up supermarket. Like everything in Hong Kong, they’re easy to get to. Unlike everything in Hong Kong, neither was super crowded! The products sold at both are good quality and worth checking out. Enjoy!

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May 11 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Toddler jet lag, our experience, and some ideas for how to deal with it

Jet lag hits almost every human hard, but in my experience, toddler jet lag is the worst. 18 months – 3 year old kids possess the wonderful qualities of knowing what they want but not adequately expressing those needs. They also begin to assert their independence with little to no concept of what that actually entails. So toddler jet lag can be pretty brutal, especially when doing a 12 hour time change for 7 short days!

At this point in our family travel careers, we’ve handled toddler jet lag 5 or 6 times (2x to Asia, 4x to Europe or so, I lose track). I thought I’d share our latest experience in Hong Kong along with some thoughts on how to minimize jet lag’s deleterious effects on toddlers.

Both times we've taken our kid(s) to Asia, we've had to deal with some severe toddler jet lag. Here are some ideas for how to minimize the negative effects. — After London we prepared ourselves for some rough jet lag in Hong Kong

For the record, M (4 years old), absolutely killed it jet lag wise (unlike in London, above). She adjusted better than everyone in our family including her grandparents. I only have one personal datapoint, but from what I hear from my friends who take their kids back to Asia, post toddler stage they can handle it pretty well!

Disclosure: Links in this post may earn me a small commission on Amazon if you buy through the links. I only link products that we personally use, appreciate the support!

Our experience in Hong Kong

Like I said at the top, Hong Kong and Boston have a time difference of 12 hours. That means 6:00 PM = 6:00 AM, up is down, down is up! We compounded our jet lag issues with a flight that left Boston at 1:45 AM, an adventure unto itself.

So H, our 20 month old, experienced some severe toddler jet lag issues. When we travel we generally co-sleep, for the most part I handled this duty in Hong Kong. Let’s take a look at the play by play of what happened. Note, we couldn’t let him cry it out at any point (which we happily would have done) because my parents and M both were sleeping in (separate) adjacent rooms).

Night 1

We arrived in Hong Kong at 5:00 AM and had a full day. H had only slept about 9-10 hours total between home in Boston and the flight. That night he woke up 3 times, 1-1.5 hours each time. In an incredibly foul mood every time, often full blown crying. Jess ended up having to stay up with him from 4:30-9:30 AM, then H slept for like 3 hours.

Night 2

After a decent day (outside of eating, jet lag sapped my son’s appetite), H went to bed at 8 PM. Promising! But then he woke up at 10 PM for about an hour. After sleeping from 11-1 AM, H woke up AGAIN and at this point I had tired of carrying him around or what not. So I made the decision to take him for a walk in Causeway Bay at around 2 AM.

He seemed to enjoy it, and it was nice walking around the quiet city, but I was pretty exhausted. He also didn’t even bother falling asleep. The two of us crawled back into bed around 4 and slept from 430-630 AM, and then we got up and made our way to Hong Kong Disneyland. I’d definitely say this night hurt the most.

Nights 3 & 4

At this point, H finally started truly adjusting and I also had come up with some more techniques. Night 3 he woke up every 2-3 hours, but instead of holding him I just switched to using our Beco carrier (affiliate link). That saved a lot of frustration because even when he kicked and screamed he had nowhere to go and I had no way to drop him. I also caved and gave him milk, which at that point just had to be done for sanity’s sake.

On night 4 he only woke up twice and only stayed up for an hour each time and I managed to cut out the milk. And with that, he finally beat jet lag! Night 5 he had a regular night of sleep, just in time to go home three days later. 🙂

Tips for beating toddler jet lag

As you can see, toddler jet lag can be pretty brutal. We experienced similar difficulties in London and on our first trip to Taiwan. Some might ask whether it’s worth it to travel with kids that young. Personally, I believe it is. You also sometimes do not have a choice, especially if you need to go overseas to visit family. So here are some ideas based on what I’ve learned about how to deal with toddler jet lag.

Try to create a regular sleep schedule as soon as possible

All kids, but especially toddlers, thrive on routine. Our son likes doing things at home in the same order and same way every day. This comes down even to silly things like he gets frustrated if mom is the one giving him a bath or if dad is the one changing him afterwards (it must be the other way around). Travel helps break kids out of their routines in a good way, but when dealing with toddler jet lag you really want to create your road routine as soon as possible.

Thus, we try to create a regular sleep schedule as soon as we can. That might mean putting the kids down at 8 PM and then taking a relaxing midnight stroll, but it’s the 8 PM part that matters. Dinner, bath, bed: we rinsed and repeated every night, shooting for 8 PM, and that really helped to speed up getting over jet lag.

Be flexible with naptime (or even bedtime) until the child adjusts

While we try to create a solid routine for bedtime and morning, we try to be flexible with naps. Think of it this way: your kid uses naps to catch up on whatever sleep he missed at night. So we made sure that we left plenty of space for naps. Sometimes that would be an extra nap in the morning, delaying our day activities. Other times that meant a long stroller nap while we explored Hong Kong.

But I think the key thing here is don’t sweat it too much if your child misses his “regular” nap time. Jet lag throws everyone for a loop, so just let them sleep when they need to sleep and be flexible until the issue has mostly subsided. Really, you have to be more flexible about naps when on the road in general so this is just an extension of that.

Keep mealtimes regular

Keeping mealtimes regular will help both adults and kids adjust to jet lag faster. In the 80s, someone came up with this crazy fast/feast/eat a big breakfast idea that supposedly helps you beat jet lag (the Argonne anti-jet-lag diet). That’s completely unrealistic for little kids but the fact that your biological clock ties in to your eating habits makes perfect sense.

So I recommend that you try to keep mealtimes as regular as possible once you reach your destination. Snack to supplement as necessary (the kids will be grumpy after all) but try to make a routine out of your meals. This should help your kids to adjust mentally, if not physically. Like I said, H had a horrible appetite those first few days of jet lag, so we went heavy on the milk for calories. Gotta do what you gotta do.

Fill your day with activities, but not too many

I’m often tempted to just spend the entire first day in a new environment hanging out and taking it easy at home. You’d think just getting rest would help with the jet lag but nothing could be further from the truth.

For starters, you and your kids will go insane staying in the hotel or apartment all day. You need to get outside just to change things up and get them into new environments. Secondly, getting exposed to sunlight helps your body to adjust biologically.

Most importantly, you went to another country for a reason – get out there and go see some of it! I think one or two activities, or even just some scheduled walks, on the first day can really help to kick that jet lag. No need to create an action packed day, but definitely don’t just stay inside “resting” all day either.

Bring equipment to help you out

You know what works best for your kids, so be sure to come prepared. I know a long plane ride seems stressful but you need to be equally prepared for the first day or two of jet lag. Bring favorite toys, favorite stroller, baby carrier like our aforementioned Beco (affiliate link), whatever you need to keep your kids occupied.

For our kids, it’s most important to make sure we have food and snacks. They get extra cranky when tired and hungry, so we made sure to always have milk and crackers on hand. We also brought our last two Go-go Squeez pouches that I got from DisneySMMC, for true emergencies! Easy and mess free is the most stress free.

Meet your children where they are

My last bit of advice relates not only to toddler jet lag but parenting in general. You gotta know when to hold em’, know when to fold em’, as Kenny Rogers says. You can make all the plans, contingency plans, and emergency plans you can think of – sometimes your kids just won’t cooperate.

So even if you have the best plan to help them beat toddler jet lag, you have to meet them where they are. And if that means you have to go home early, you go home early. If that means you wake up late, you wake up late. If that means taking a walk at 2 AM, take a walk at 2 AM.

Meet your children where they are, both physically and emotionally, and that will really help decrease your stress and theirs. In turn, they can better adjust to the mental and physical toll jet lag can take so you can get on with your vacation!

Final Thoughts

Toddler jet lag can be pretty rough, because toddlers are rough! Still, I have loved traveling with my kids even at that age. So I do what I can to minimize the toddler jet lag, and these tips have worked for me.

How do you deal with toddler jet lag or jet lag in general? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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May 01 2017

Hong Kong Disneyland Best Attractions and Rides

Hong Kong Disneyland is a vastly underrated park in my opinion. The park houses unique rides and experiences that any Disney fan (and many non Disney fans) would enjoy. Here’s my ranking of my favorites –Hong Kong Disneyland best rides and attractions, not to be missed.

Two notes. Obviously, this list details my subjective opinions so adjust according to your family’s needs and preferences. Secondly, there will be mild spoilers for these rides, so if you’re like me and like to go in with a fresh slate consider yourself warned. Also, even though I ranked these, you could pretty much rank them 1A, 1B, 1C, etc.

So here are my favorite attractions at Hong Kong Disneyland, ranked in ascending order.

7. Fairytale Forest

It might surprise some that this is on the list, but I think Fairytale Forest is a great place to visit, especially if you have young kids. The Fairytale Forest gives you a chance to walk through a magical garden filled with features from five different famous Disney stories.

Hong Kong Disneyland features a lot of unique attractions. If you're visiting from the USA, here are the 7 Hong Kong Disneyland best rides and attractions! — You can get a lot of cool shots in the Fairytale Forest

Each section of the garden features a unique photo opportunity with some great framing (literally). There’s also a small diorama of a scene from each movie in each section. You also hear iconic music from each film in each part of the forest. Topping it all off, you can meet Tinkerbell. Overall, it’s a great little attraction that’s worth a look.

6. It’s a Small World

OK, OK. I know lots of people refuse to ride It’s a Small World for fear of getting that darn music stuck in your head for days on end. But I think the Hong Kong Disneyland version is well worth your time.

The rooms, room order, and many of the animatronics are different. Obviously, Asia’s presence looms much larger in Hong Kong Disneyland. But the real star of the show? Characters from Disney movies sprinkled throughout the ride. Not only that, but small bits from the iconic songs from these movies sprinkle themselves into the main It’s a Small World theme. Purists might not like the Disney characters being in there, but I guarantee your kids will. (A few days after I wrote this, my four year old daughter randomly volunteered that she did indeed prefer the Hong Kong version for this very reason!)

Bonus tip: Stick around to watch the clock on the Small World facade. It’s lovely to watch!

5. Hyperspace Mountain

I’d rank this higher up the list, but Space Mountain received this overlay in multiple parks (though it’s leaving Disneyland soon). As you queue, you’re briefed by Admiral Akbar on an important mission you’ll be undertaking for the Rebel Alliance. You also get some briefing in Cantonese and Mandarin – I really appreciated hearing Star Wars stuff in another language!

The ride itself features Star Wars overlays and speakers narrating what’s going on in the mission. Most of it is in Cantonese but you can get the gist without (bad guys blow up, etc. etc.) The ride is a ton of fun and honestly I prefer it to the original (I know many disagree). It surprised me at almost every turn and I walked out with a huge smile.

4. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars

Out of all the rides on the list, I never managed to ride Grizzly Gulch Runaway Mine Cars, much to my chagrin. But if I had rode, it might be even higher up the list. I’m a sucker for rides that go backwards like these runaway mine cars. From what I could see, the track is long, and since this is the only true ride in Grizzly Gulch, it has to be a show stopper. Watching people ride and hearing friends’ accounts, I think it definitely fits the bill.

3. Mickey and the Wondrous Book

My first day in the park, I kept seeing loads of people coming out of an attraction called Mickey and the Wondrous Book. I had never heard of it so I looked it up when I got home. Turns out it’s a theater show, featuring Mickey and Goofy trying to get Olaf back into the correct pages of a magical storybook.

Along the way they meet characters from both iconic Disney movies (Frozen) and some of the smaller ones (The Princess and the Frog). You’ll love the music, dance choreography, and hearing Mickey and Goofy speak in Cantonese. Don’t worry, there are subtitles and half the show is in English.

The show also features some original songs which sound great, too (we’re still singing it). The show features great special effects and brings joy to kids and adults alike. Don’t miss it.

2. Ironman Experience

Walt Disney World in Florida has that weird rule where they can’t showcase the majority of Marvel characters. Since no such rule exists for Hong Kong Disneyland, they built a Star Tours type ride around Ironman called the Ironman Experience. In fact, this is the first Marvel based ride in any Disney theme park.

You board a tour vehicle at a technology expo in Hong Kong, but of course things go wrong and you get involved in some superhero action. The flight simulator holds over forty people at a time so they can move the line fairly quickly. It showcases some impressive shots of Hong Kong which add to the fun.

My only disappointment? They didn’t shell out the money for Robert Downey Jr or someone who even sounds close to him. I equate him so much with the character now it jarred me a bit to hear someone else. That bumped this ride out of #1 contention. Still, don’t let that deter you – Fastpass this ride a few times!

1. Mystic Manor

It’s been a week and I’m still thinking about Mystic Manor. Due to cultural reasons, ghosts couldn’t be included in Hong Kong Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. What they came up with instead felt nothing short of spectacular the first time I experienced it.

The premise: an explorer offers you a tour of his mansion. Unfortunately, his mischievious pet monkey Marcus opens a magical music box that brings all the artifacts to life. I actually think Mystic Manor feels scarier than the original Haunted Mansion, because these live artifacts give the illusion of putting you in real danger. Well as much as you can in a Disney park.

Another neat feature of the ride – it’s trackless. The cars give the illusion that they move on their own. It’s probably magnets or something but it looks really cool. Finally, the ride makes excellent use of color and effects. It’s absolutely my favorite attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Final Thoughts

Hong Kong Disneyland features a lot of the classic Disney rides, but 5 of my 7 favorite attractions can’t be found anywhere else. Best of all, lines generally are shorter than in other Disney parks around the world, so you could probably hit all seven of these attractions in one day with plenty of time to spare.

If you’ve been to Hong Kong Disneyland, what rides do you enjoy the most? Let me know in the comments!

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Apr 27 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Surviving the 15 hour flight with two young kids

So we took M back to Asia before she turned two and figured we owed H the same. Coming to Hong Kong for only a week seemed like a great idea back in August, time will tell whether it was! But since H managed to get himself born in July going this summer before he turns two is impossible. The first and last steps of our journey: flights with two kids on Cathay Pacific BOS-HKG (and return) in business class.

My buddy Dan reviewed Cathay Pacific business class awhile back so I won’t bother too much with the details. Bottom line: super solid, comfortable product with good food and tons of entertainment. Truly an ideal way to fly to Hong Kong in business class as an adult. Also, one of the only reasons we managed to go to Hong Kong for such a short time (7 nights) with such young kids was being able to fly in business class. (The other? Grandparents.)

We took Cathay Pacific BOS-HKG in business class with our four year old and toddler. Here's how we managed to survive the 15 hour flight. — Hong Kong Airport – look at the camera, kid!

This post will focus on how the flight affected our kids. We spent 420,000 AA miles to fly in J so it’s fair to question whether it was worth it. Here are some things that stood out to me as a parent of a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old flying BOS-HKG on Cathay Pacific.

The lap infant fare cost much less than expected

You need to buy a lap infant ticket when flying internationally.Of course this ticket doesn’t cost a ton since it’s not full price – for most airlines, including AA, it costs 10% of the cash fare. This includes award tickets (though some awesome airlines like British Airways and Korean Air charge 10% of the miles. Aeroplan also has set cash costs which really save you money if you’re booking premium cabins). I wrote about my experience doing just that with United here. You technically need to get a lap infant ticket on domestic flights as well but those cost nothing.

Anyway, I prepared myself to pay 10% of the cash fare for our business class seats, around $800. Like with United, I decided to wait until the last week to call in for the lap infant. Business class fares don’t fluctuate too much so I didn’t think I risked much.

The AAgent surprised me by quoting me about $240 for the lap infant ticket. I’m not sure how she came up with that (coach fare, perhaps), but I took it and ran! So you never know…but be prepared to pay quite a bit. We have before.

Leaving at 1:45 AM is really tough on the kids (outbound)

As a parent, I always prefer direct flights. So when Cathay Pacific started the Boston to Hong Kong flight it was pretty exciting. The downside, however, is a 1:45 AM departure time on the outbound.

We decided to put the kids to bed at normal time (8 PM, I guess an hour early for M). We woke them up right around 11:30 PM and then left immediately. They were pretty groggy and then mostly delirious at the airport, not a great start to the trip.

Of course, we didn’t sleep at all so by the time we all boarded the plane we had kids with not enough sleep and parents with none. Jess boarded first with M and got her settled while H and I played in the empty terminal. By the time the boys got on the plane, it was time to go, so we settled in for the long haul.

The return flight leaves at a much more reasonable time, 6:10 PM Hong Kong time. Of course, it arrives at 10:10 PM Boston time, leading to a lot of jet lag, but I’ll leave that to another post.

15.5 hours is an incredibly long time

Our flight to Hong Kong took 15 and a half hours, the return took about 15. For the most part, the return was much easier – both kids slept about eight hours. The rest of the time M watched a ton of Doc McStuffins and other TV, while H…went nuts? I’d say 18-24 months is quite possibly the worst time to travel with your child.

A toddler that age knows what they want but can’t express it. They want to go places but don’t necessarily have the physical skills to do so consistently. Plus, H needs to move around much more than his sister did at that age.

One thing I’m not sure we made the right decision about, we got three seats in a row. That means to cross to the other side we had to go through the galley. That meant more room for H to walk, but I felt bad cutting through to help out. Eventually I just started climbing over the center console!

Entertaining the kids

Disclosure: Links in this paragraph earn me a small commission on Amazon if you buy through the links. I only linked products that we found useful, appreciate the support!

We bought a bunch of stuff to entertain the kids on the plane. Some things, like Wikki sticks and some car magnets, didn’t work out too well for our kids. But other stuff, like this Melissa and Doug Color Blast coloring book (with “magic pen”), provided great entertainment not only on the plane but throughout the trip.

Besides that coloring book, three other things we bought stood out. First, we bought more take and toss sippy cups. We find that our kids thermoses sort of explode due to changes in cabin pressure; these sippy cups provide a way to keep the kids hydrated without worrying about a mess. (Tip: if you do bring a thermos, keep the cap open to adjust for the pressure. Science!). They only cost $1.25 when I got the, $4 now but still worth it to me. Note they are add on items.

Secondly, Jess bought this huge Tsum Tsum sticker book which occupied M for a long time. She loves this sticker book and played with it a ton even after we arrived. Jess bought it at Target for $15 or something but you can grab it from Amazon for $10.

But da real MVP by far was this pill planner box Jess bought. I confess, I was completely skeptical about this. But I should have realized multi-purpose items reign supreme. We hid snacks, stickers, etc. in the pill planning box and both kids loved to pop each box open to get what was inside. This especially saved us with H, who probably used the box for over an hour throughout the course of each flight. Pill planning boxes – not just for the elderly!

Flying in business class helps, though I’m not sure how much

Like I said at the top, we couldn’t have done this trip without flying in business class. But that mostly is a function of how little time we were in Hong Kong. Now I know Trevor can do Hong Kong in 48 hours, but kids obviously are different. Not only do they get a ton of jetlag, but the parents get a lot less rest – so adrenaline runs out.

The best part of flying business was maximizing rest. When the kids slept, we could lay down fully, so even though I only grabbed three hours on each flight, I felt better than if I had stayed upright. Having food on demand also helped, but you can get cup noodles in economy so that mostly washed out.

I’d say the second benefit came from the attentive service. Since we had a much better flight attendant to passenger ratio, they helped out a big deal. Remember, on Cathay J, they expect you to ring the call button when you need something so don’t be afraid to do that. I’m always impressed by the quality of Cathay’s flight attendants and these flights were no exception.

Finally, and this sounds dumb, but the fact that there were so many buttons to push really helped to keep H occupied. Toddlers are silly, just give them stuff to push and they can stay happy for quite awhile!

Amenities are nice, but a longhaul flight is about survival

Despite the nice amenities of being in business class, we mostly arrived at both our destinations wrecked. A fifteen hour flight with two kids feels like a long war of attrition. It’s nice to lie fully down, but you can never fully rest because you keep one ear open for your kids.

We had no major meltdowns (greater than 5 minutes), but we had a couple minor ones to deal with. Come to think of it, we probably dealt with the same number as we’d deal with in a regular 15 hour day so that wasn’t too bad. No dirty looks either!

Cathay gave H an “amenity kit” with a couple of diapers and Mustela – nice stuff! I actually needed a new small bag for our passports so I’m using it now. I’m guessing they do this in economy too but I don’t know for sure. A nice little baby amenity. In terms of being lap infant friendly, Cathay was great.

The toughest part of flying with a lap infant on Cathay

To me the hardest part was using a seatbelt on H when taking off, landing, or in turbulence. In the States, on most carriers you just literally hold the lap infant in your lap. On Cathay and many other foreign carriers, they give you a seat belt to loop with your own. You then need to buckle that around the kid.

Both my kids unequivocably hate that thing. They don’t mind wearing a seat belt sitting alone, but they hate the lap + seat combination. So the most stressful time of the flight? Sitting in turbulence with a freaking out H on my (or Jess’) lap. Luckily our flights were pretty smooth so we didn’t need to worry about it too much!

Final Thoughts

I recognize plenty of our friends fly to Asia with their young kids in coach so I know how lucky we were to fly up front. I’m glad we got to do it, the whole purpose of this trip was to get H back before he turns two. Unfortunately, that meant we could only stay a week, but thankfully we had the miles to fly in J. That really helped minimize jet lag – though that still was pretty rough (to be continued).

Overall, Cathay Pacific J is a wonderful way to fly to Asia, if you’ve got the miles it’s a worthy redemption. A hefty redemption at 420,000 miles to be sure, but that’s why we play the game. Remember you can use AA or Alaska miles, the latter much cheaper! Stay tuned to read about my jetlag wars with H – fun times were had by none!

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