Gavin has always had it on his bucket list to visit all the Disney parks, so for our next trip, we headed to Hong Kong to spend a day at Hong Kong Disneyland! We met up with Mya in Korea during our layover to have her join us, which made the trip even more exciting.
We landed in Hong Kong just 15 minutes before midnight. The last train into the city was scheduled for 12 a.m., which gave us a tight 15-minute window to deboard and high-tail it to the train. Miraculously, we made it. Customs was surprisingly fast, and to make things even smoother, we were told to pay for our train ticket when we got off, so we wouldn't miss it.
Except... we never found anywhere to pay when we arrived. Because we arrived at a mall that was closed for the night. We wandered around aimlessly trying to find an exit. Eventually, we made it out and hopped in a super cool Uber. Our driver was in some sort of low-to-the-ground sports car with fancy lights. We felt like the cool kids in school.
The hotel wasn’t much to write home about. We knew we’d barely be there, so we went with the cheapest option. The room was basically the size of a closet, with three beds lined up against the walls. The bathroom and shower were squeezed into the same corner, and you could touch every wall with your arms stretched out.
Getting to the apartment was a journey of its own—we followed a bunch of screenshots from the Airbnb app, with no real address. What a place!
Day One in Hong Kong
After a 6-hour rest, we hit the city hard. This was our only full day in Hong Kong, so we tried to make the most of it. We started with a short hike that turned into us getting completely lost. Gavin and Mya didn’t mind so they climbed up a pretty high telephone pole to take in the view, since we never actually found the top.
We visited a temple with a beautiful skyline view, we loved that the temple sat in the heart of Hong Kong! We enjoyed watching the huge koi fish swim around.
Next, we climbed a steep, winding hill to visit the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. The path is lined with yes, literally 10,000 Buddhas. We laughed at their different poses and facial expressions the whole way up.
At the top, we were rewarded with an even better city view. We saw monkeys running around and soaked it all in before catching a bus to grab dumplings because you can’t go to Hong Kong and not try the dumplings! Unfortunately, the dumpling shop experience was a bit rough. The server seated us quickly and kept asking if we wanted “Chinese tea.” When we asked what Chinese tea was? She just repeated “Chinese tea.” Apparently, just getting dumplings at a tea shop was unheard of. Every few minutes, we were asked again if we wanted tea... no, for the fifth time! It was the full-on language barrier experience. We kept repeating the phrase all day "you don't want to try Chinese tea?" In our best accent.
We made a quick stop to see the LDS temple! There weren’t any temple grounds to walk around, and we were surprised that we didn’t see anyone else there. We snapped a quick photo before heading back to the metro, and that’s when we ran into the missionaries! Yay! One of the senior elders started chatting our ears off, and we eventually had to start walking away.. We had places to go and things to see!
That evening, we hiked to a popular lookout point to watch the sunset. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get there, but ended up reaching the top faster than expected. We relaxed on huge rocks and admired the city below. We also watched a tour group being guided step by step up the trail honestly, we thought that tour was a huge waste of money! They were, however, our entertainment for the night!
The sunset was lovely, though the pollution definitely dulled the colors. On the way down, we grabbed some egg waffles a must! Before calling it a night.
Disney Day: Hong Kong Style
The next morning, we checked into our new hotel, Noah’s Ark! Yes, a hotel shaped like a giant boat sitting on the water, complete with animal statues coming out of the sides! We didn’t spend much time exploring it because we had a full day planned at Hong Kong Disneyland.
The park didn’t open until 10 a.m., but we got there early for the rope drop. We all wore our matching Disney sweaters from our last trip in LA. I wasn’t sure how I felt about mine, but it turned out to be super cozy, so that’s a win!
Hong Kong Disneyland is one of the smaller parks, so we didn’t feel rushed. What we weren’t expecting were the massive character meet-and-greet lines, way longer than the ride lines. And most of the people waiting were adults, even older than us!
Also... everything was Duffy the Bear themed. Not Mickey—Duffy. The flowers were shaped like his face, gift shops only sold Duffy merch, and even the food was shaped like him. If you’re wondering who Duffy is, so did we. Turns out, he’s Mickey’s stuffed bear that Minnie gives him before he goes on voyages. Sure... cool?
We caught a few shows, one called The Circle of Life. The actors gave it their all, but we couldn’t stop laughing at the people dressed as zebras in tight onesies. It was... a look.
Another show featured Olaf as the main character. It was clearly funny, but it was in Mandarin. There were English subtitles, but we were sitting too far back to read them easily.
Our favorite part of the park by far was Frozen Land. Arendelle was amazing! The Elsa ride was so much fun. While waiting in the castle in line, Anna herself came out to say hi. Gavin leaned casually against the wall with his hand on his hip and said, “Oh hey, Anna.” With the best smolder look he had. We died laughing.
We basically ate our way through the park: dim sum, ice cream boats, churros, wontons, ice cream donuts, and fries. Our favorite ride? Thunder Mountain! We thought it was over halfway through, but then it went backwards through the whole track super fast! We were hollering the whole way!
We wrapped up the day with a hot shower back at Noah’s Ark and crashed hard. What a trip—short, chaotic, hilarious, and full of memories. And now Gavin can officially check Hong Kong Disneyland off his bucket list!
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