Hong Kong and Tokyo and Disney Oh My: a Pre Trip Planning Report

OhioStateBuckeye

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 7, 2007
There are a lot of mythical, fantastical things in this life. Zeus, pizza with 0 calories, unicorns and Disney parks that I have never been to.

Next year, I am actually going to cross 2 of those Disney parks off my list when I visit Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea!

Originally, we had planned to go this coming April 2017. Due to my little sister’s wedding (maid of honor or Japan…Japan or maid of honor?) we pushed the trip back to September 2017.

Planning a trip to the Disney parks in Japan and Hong Kong is hard…there really aren’t a lot of resources. The DISboards have a few good posters in each sub forum, but neither sub forum is very active (did you guys even know we had a Tokyo and Hong Kong forum?!). TDR Explorer is about the best resource I have been able to find.

It can also be tough to actually book accommodations at either of these parks. A lot of the websites are in a foreign language.

So hopefully, this trip report will be a fun outlet for me and it just might be informative for any of you reading along. If you also happen to be planning your own trip to either of these parks, feel free to plan along with me and share any tips you’ve learned.

We don’t have exact dates yet, those will most likely depend on the airfare and we’ll book that coming up. It will be September, and we’ll try to give the trip 2 weeks with 2 days in Hong Kong, one for DL and one for the city. Then we’ll fly to Japan from there. We’ll most likely have 3 (?) Disney days and the rest in Tokyo then other cities like Kyoto and Okinawa.

I’ll introduce who is going on the trip in the next update and will also include some interesting stuff we’re thinking of doing and which hotels we are keeping our eyes on (cough Disney’s Explorer’s Lodge cough)
 
Thanks for the heads up, will definitely be following along.

A while ago I was a bit obsessed with this YouTube channel featuring an American expat couple named Kyde and Eric - it sounds kind of random but they live in Tokyo and have vlogs featuring LOTS of day trips from Tokyo, as well as other Asian travel and general culture stuff. They're pretty entertaining and you can learn a lot/get ideas for places to visit. They even have an episode where they visit Tokyo Disneyland. Like I said, I know it sounds random but it might be inspiring/helpful for you. :)
 
Thanks for the link - and happy to provide any thoughts I can from my trip to Hong Kong Disneyland and of course happy to answer any questions. I know when I was planning my trip I sent a PM to a few of the people that had TRs on the Hong Kong Disneyland forum and they were all very happy to help

Clearly a no brainer to stay at the Explorer's Lodge if you can. As long as crowds are low you can definitely do the park in 1 day - though I think 2 is perfect if you want to do anything at the resorts or table service - or just to do something multiple times

Lots of other things to see in Hong Kong as well - the two main touristy things I did were one day we went to the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple and then stop at the Mong Kok street market and then I did the Ngong Ping 360 cable car that went up to the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha

Also had a lot of good food to eat - lots of variety in Hong Kong

Best of luck in planning! I'd love to get to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea someday!
 


TDR Explorer and Disney Tourist Blog have good resources for planning a HK and Tokyo Disney trip. When I was at at Tokyo Disney, I stayed at the Sheraton, which is on their monorail line and it was easy to book in English. For HK I stayed at the hotel attached to the airport (~15 cab ride away, they also run shuttles to the park).

I had so much fun at both parks, you'll have an amazing time!
 
It can also be tough to actually book accommodations at either of these parks. A lot of the websites are in a foreign language.

This wasn't my experience for Japan. I'm wondering what you've read or experienced? For the Disney hotels, I found the TDR English website very easy to use. The Sheraton and Hilton nearby are also easy to book in English. If you come across a hotel that doesn't have an English website, you may not want to stay there anyways since they probably won't have English speaking staff....

TDR Explorer is great. I listened to a bunch of podcasts before I left. :) charactercentral.net is good too - lots of photos.

Have fun planning!
 
Happy to help with HK if I can! Although there isn't a lot of information out there, there's not really a lot that needs planning so it's not actually as bad as it may first seem.

I've never had any problem booking hotels. It's easy to book through the HKDL website, and I've also booked over the phone so that I could use my MAP discount. I can't imagine the Explorers Hotel would be any different, just a matter of waiting for it to come up as an option. I don't think it will be available for April, so it's probably a good thing that your trip got pushed back :thumbsup2

HKDL is pretty quiet generally compared to the rest of the parks, so you really don't need to go in with a strategy or anything. Nothing needs to be booked in advance except for the Disney Dim Sum at the HKDL. Everything else you should be fine to just book when you check in. If you go for rope drop (which is nice and easy with a park that doesn't open until 10am), you will be able to get through most of the park by lunch time if you want to. I would recommend starting with Toy Story Land if you're into that, because those rides are pretty slow loading. Mystic Manor and Big Grizzly Mountain will still be walk ons by the time you're finished there. You won't need to line up for hours to see the parade either. If you really want to sit on the kerb you might have to wait half an hour, but I've had no trouble getting a perfect standing view with about 10 minutes to spare, and prefer to stand anyway.

Feel free to have a browse through my TRs or ask any questions.
 


Exciting! I hope to some day go to both of these resorts.

I'm quite sure you will. I'm sure people have asked you, but were you planning to do a college program stint? You could always end up working at one of these parks down the line as well :) I know some CMs go over there for half a year.

Thanks for the heads up, will definitely be following along.

A while ago I was a bit obsessed with this YouTube channel featuring an American expat couple named Kyde and Eric - it sounds kind of random but they live in Tokyo and have vlogs featuring LOTS of day trips from Tokyo, as well as other Asian travel and general culture stuff. They're pretty entertaining and you can learn a lot/get ideas for places to visit. They even have an episode where they visit Tokyo Disneyland. Like I said, I know it sounds random but it might be inspiring/helpful for you. :)

I am going to look them up :) We do need ideas about what to do in Tokyo and the other cities. We aren't sure of the other cities yet but we're thinking Kyoto and Okinawa. Thanks! Glad to have you along.

Thanks for the link - and happy to provide any thoughts I can from my trip to Hong Kong Disneyland and of course happy to answer any questions. I know when I was planning my trip I sent a PM to a few of the people that had TRs on the Hong Kong Disneyland forum and they were all very happy to help

Clearly a no brainer to stay at the Explorer's Lodge if you can. As long as crowds are low you can definitely do the park in 1 day - though I think 2 is perfect if you want to do anything at the resorts or table service - or just to do something multiple times

Lots of other things to see in Hong Kong as well - the two main touristy things I did were one day we went to the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple and then stop at the Mong Kok street market and then I did the Ngong Ping 360 cable car that went up to the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha

Also had a lot of good food to eat - lots of variety in Hong Kong

Best of luck in planning! I'd love to get to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea someday!

Yes, all the people I've bothered on the Other Lands forum have been super nice and helpful.

Hmm...it might depend on ticket price but maybe we should get two day tickets to Hong Kong. If we're staying at the same hotel...we could always do another morning at DL then go to explore the city. I know we want to see the lights of the city and I'm looking into a nighttime harbor cruise.

I've done very little research into the city other than knowing that we want to see the city lights at night. I'm assuming we'll just have to pick one or two other things.

What was your absolute favorite city wise attraction/sight? Is the Tian Tian Buddha the giant buddha?

TDR Explorer and Disney Tourist Blog have good resources for planning a HK and Tokyo Disney trip. When I was at at Tokyo Disney, I stayed at the Sheraton, which is on their monorail line and it was easy to book in English. For HK I stayed at the hotel attached to the airport (~15 cab ride away, they also run shuttles to the park).

I had so much fun at both parks, you'll have an amazing time!

I don't think I've checked out disney tourist blog yet, I'll look into that one next, thanks. I'll check out the Sheraton. I'm a gold member for Hilton and I'm really hoping they'll do a half off sale, so the Hilton might be my first choice if not a Disney park hotel.

This wasn't my experience for Japan. I'm wondering what you've read or experienced? For the Disney hotels, I found the TDR English website very easy to use. The Sheraton and Hilton nearby are also easy to book in English. If you come across a hotel that doesn't have an English website, you may not want to stay there anyways since they probably won't have English speaking staff....

TDR Explorer is great. I listened to a bunch of podcasts before I left. :) charactercentral.net is good too - lots of photos.

Have fun planning!

Hmm, seems like I've read some dirty lies then :rotfl2: I forget where I read about the people who had trouble booking, but now you've made me feel better.

Oooh charactercentral, I'm guessing that is a character centric website? We love to meet characters, did you meet a lot? Can you tell me a little about which characters you saw and how it was meeting them? I heard it can get a bit pushy.

Happy to help with HK if I can! Although there isn't a lot of information out there, there's not really a lot that needs planning so it's not actually as bad as it may first seem.

I've never had any problem booking hotels. It's easy to book through the HKDL website, and I've also booked over the phone so that I could use my MAP discount. I can't imagine the Explorers Hotel would be any different, just a matter of waiting for it to come up as an option. I don't think it will be available for April, so it's probably a good thing that your trip got pushed back :thumbsup2

HKDL is pretty quiet generally compared to the rest of the parks, so you really don't need to go in with a strategy or anything. Nothing needs to be booked in advance except for the Disney Dim Sum at the HKDL. Everything else you should be fine to just book when you check in. If you go for rope drop (which is nice and easy with a park that doesn't open until 10am), you will be able to get through most of the park by lunch time if you want to. I would recommend starting with Toy Story Land if you're into that, because those rides are pretty slow loading. Mystic Manor and Big Grizzly Mountain will still be walk ons by the time you're finished there. You won't need to line up for hours to see the parade either. If you really want to sit on the kerb you might have to wait half an hour, but I've had no trouble getting a perfect standing view with about 10 minutes to spare, and prefer to stand anyway.

Feel free to have a browse through my TRs or ask any questions.

Hi! I just read most of your TR for Shanghai today, though I neglected to comment. Which is bad, I prefer when people comment too but I was reading on my phone and I hate typing out responses on my phone, sorry.

Do you know how far in advance their hotels book up? I guess the Explorer's hotel might be a whole different story since it'll be new and desirable.

I've heard people mentioning that Dim Sum, is it really worth it?

I'll have to look for your other reports. You might mention this in the reports, but how do you find characters in Hong Kong? We are very interested in seeing unique, new ones.
 
I'm quite sure you will. I'm sure people have asked you, but were you planning to do a college program stint? You could always end up working at one of these parks down the line as well :) I know some CMs go over there for half a year.
Yes I am planning to do the college program. I never thought of working over seas, that's something I'd have to consider.
 
I'm excited to follow along here!! What an exciting trip!! I am a Disney Freak too...but I have to say, if you can..I would allow more time for HK - it is a really incredible place and you won't see even a slice of what it has to offer in a day...but maybe that is just me!!
 
Hi! I just read most of your TR for Shanghai today, though I neglected to comment. Which is bad, I prefer when people comment too but I was reading on my phone and I hate typing out responses on my phone, sorry.

Do you know how far in advance their hotels book up? I guess the Explorer's hotel might be a whole different story since it'll be new and desirable.

I've heard people mentioning that Dim Sum, is it really worth it?

I'll have to look for your other reports. You might mention this in the reports, but how do you find characters in Hong Kong? We are very interested in seeing unique, new ones.

The links to my HK TRs are in my signature :thumbsup2

Generally I don't think the hotels book up very far in advance - a lot of people are day trippers from the city. Explorers will be different though. I would book as soon as you can.

I haven't personally had the Dim Sum. It looks cute, but definitely more of a novelty than anything else. There are plenty of places to experience authentic Dim Sum in HK itself.

Characters in HK are pretty much just out and about in Town Square and along Main Street. You can find princesses near the castle as always, and there was also an Elsa and Anna meet and greet there on our last trip. Fantasy Gardens has meet and greets in little rotundas which is cute. I've never seen any unique characters in HK, but definitely classic characters in unique outfits. The lines for characters seem to be getting longer and longer - they now rival the top attractions. On our last trip, I was only able to see one character per rotation (ie join the line for a character, and by the time I've had my turn, they've closed the lines for the other ones to prepare for their break).
 
Hmm, seems like I've read some dirty lies then :rotfl2: I forget where I read about the people who had trouble booking, but now you've made me feel better.

Oooh charactercentral, I'm guessing that is a character centric website? We love to meet characters, did you meet a lot? Can you tell me a little about which characters you saw and how it was meeting them? I heard it can get a bit pushy.

Reservations for the harbor rooms at the MiraCosta is very competitive. I think the other rooms are okay as long as it's not a busy time. They recently changed the booking window to be 5 months before unless you book a package, then it's 6 months before. The packages are very expensive though and only the Ambassador Hotel is available on the English site.

charactercentral does have info about meeting characters, as well as a lot of photos of all the attractions, restaurants, and stores. Meeting characters was very low priority for us. DS isn't into them and DD only likes princesses. We did meet Mickey at his house in Disneyland and Ariel at her grotto in DisneySea. We waited 30 minutes for each, which was on the low side for Mickey's house which can have very long waits. These are the fixed locations, other characters are at a location only for a short time.

I remember seeing Prince Eric at the entrance of Triton's Kingdom in Mermaid Lagoon (DisneySea), there was a big crowd around him. There are also characters rarely seen at the U.S. parks who seem to roam near the entrance of Disneyland. We saw Cinderella's fairy godmother who looks a little scary :laughing: (not a face character but wears a mask) and the con men (con animals??) from Pinocchio. These characters aren't very popular, so no crowds.
 
So I decided to focus on Hong Kong first, since it's the shorter of the locations.

Right now the plan is to do one day hk sightseeing and one day dl. Depending on our flights that could change, maybe we'll get another night to spend in dl or another morning.

On the short list for hk sightseeing: Jade markets, pink dolphin sightseeing boat cruise, the cable car to the giant Buddha and the nighttime city lights show.

If there's even time for all that, I'd also like to do hk park and the free aviary. Ocean park would make the cut if we had another day.

I'm pretty sure I have my heart set on the explorers hotel. I mean... Who wouldn't?? Kind of like like a cross between animal kingdom Lodge, the Polynesian and the adventurers club. We'd stay there the 2 nights and get public transport into the city. We'll also probably take a taxi to the hotel from the airport.

I was playing around with rates on the Disney site and I gotta say, compared to Disneyland and wdw deluxe rates the Hollywood hotel and hkdl hotel are somewhat affordable.

I am wondering... And maybe someone knows. I read the tip to get an ap (which they call magic access), since they're really not that pricey $139 for the low tier, it does have all weekends blocked out but I wanted to do weekdays here anyway. Right now a one day ticket is $69 and a 2 day is $95. You get hotel and merchandise and food discounts, but honestly it looks like there are bigger discounts for the hotels on the website. I'm assuming explorers hotel won't have any discounts, but i wonder if it will accept the annual pass discount.

I'm also hoping it will be priced under the hkdl, which is around $400 for right now with no discounts, since that is the signature resort but who knows how it will be priced.

Anyone have any tips or advice based on that preliminary plan?
 
Hi Rachel,

Very interested in reading about your preparations...currently planning to follow in your footsteps next October.

--Karilynn
 
I've got no insight to offer, but that sounds pretty freakin' amazing. :)

It's been kind of tough getting ideas. I've been reading any trip reports here that I can, though there aren't many. I used...I think it's discover Hong Kong? Which was an excellent tourism website.

It can be tough because I want to do the highlights, but our highlights, not generic highlights of that makes sense.

For instance, going to the peak to get an amazing view of the city is at the top of most lists. And I'm sure it is amazing, just not something that'd be at the top of our own personal lists.

Combined, we enjoy history, nature, animals, museums and Disney. Shopping is just not up there for either of us. So lots of tourist lists have the various markets up there but it's just not for us. I did mark down the Jade markets because I thought It'd be a no brainer for picking up a couple of gifts for people back home. The souvenirs we usually enjoy (not counting Disney stuff) is usually something more localized, like art.

So basically what I'm saying is, if planning your own trip, keep the top tourist lists in mind but still make sure you're doing what you want.

Hi Rachel,

Very interested in reading about your preparations...currently planning to follow in your footsteps next October.

--Karilynn

Hey you found me! How's it going?? I saw your Facebook pictures about weathering the hurricane at AKL. That seemed like one of the more fun resorts to be at :)

Geez you'll be just a few weeks behind us. Maybe I can send you a condensed version of our hits and misses in case any of it helps you.

Please let me know how your planning is going and what resources you find, maybe we can help each other out :)

Are you doing both Hong Kong and Japan? Do you have a rough outline of a plan yet?
 
Plans sound fantastic...though maybe overly ambitious for one day in HK....I would try to spend more time just wandering around...the Star Ferries are an awesome way to see the harbour...and the escalators up to the mid-levels - an area in HK are pretty unusual....the peak tram is something worth doing too with incredible views!! Just sayin'....so much to see and do there!
 
I agree with Kathy that you may struggle to get through all of that. The dolphins and cable car will take up most of the day on their own. Not sure what dolphin tour you're thinking of doing, but it looks like they generally leave in the morning, with the boats departing from somewhere on Lantau. If you can meet up with the boat on Lantau it should be fairly convenient for you. Then you could head into Tung Chung, have some lunch and do the cable car. There's a lot to see and do at the top of the mountain, and you'll probably be a few hours there all up. Then you can take the train into the city for dinner and the lights. Not sure where the Jade Market is or when it operates, but I'm sure you'd be able to find plenty of opportunities for souvenir shopping around all that. Just a word of warning, the city lights show is not spectacular - not Disney level. If you find that you're exhausted at the end of the day and can't really be bothered going into the city, don't go just for that.

I think you'll have to make more plans when the Explorers Hotel is open for bookings. You don't need to buy passes now or anything. If you find at the time that the MAP offers the best discounts, you can get one then.
 
Geez you'll be just a few weeks behind us. Maybe I can send you a condensed version of our hits and misses in case any of it helps you.

Please let me know how your planning is going and what resources you find, maybe we can help each other out :)

Are you doing both Hong Kong and Japan? Do you have a rough outline of a plan yet?

I don't have to worry about too much planning for Hong Kong since I'll be traveling with ABD. The Tokyo pre-trip is on my own at this point. I'm fortunate in that I've been to Tokyo once before when visiting a college friend. I will probably wait a couple more months before really digging into it--the Disney portion can't be scheduled till early spring at this point anyway. DisneyTouristBlog has already been mentioned--I really like his write-ups of the Asian parks.
 
Sounds like a fabulous trip!
I'm going to third the "too much in one day" thought for Hong Kong. The Big Buddha trip will take half a day just on its own. Someone mentioned The Peak, its a great way to see the city view at night.
I used to go with my parents as a child but the last time I went was in 2011 so not that recent unfortunately and Disneyland has changed a lot since then.
If you're interested, here is a link to our day at the Big Buddha and our trip to The Peak. We caught the bus up and the tram down.

We were in Japan for 6 weeks last Dec/Jan so feel free to ask if you have any questions.
 

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