Disneyland Resort Hong Kong

I hadn’t planned on going to Disneyland when I was in Hong Kong.

Reviews from friends and families who’ve been there were generally not so good, citing long queues, incomplete parks and lack of attractions as their major complaints.
Besides, going to a theme park alone is like making love to your own hand. You shiok sendiri, but no one really cares.

Anyhway, my brother who was there earlier in the year convinced me that it was worth the trip and the HK350/RM174 entrance ticket. So I changed my mind and went at the last minute.

The cemetery often seen in HK drama

Disneyland Resort is located on Lantau Island, a lush green and mountainous land devoid of the high-rise buildings typical of other parts of Hong Kong.
If Kowloon is Petaling Street and central Hong Kong is Orchard Road, then Lantau Island must be Kuching!

I didn’t want to waste my whole day at a theme park, so I detoured to another tourist attraction on Lantau first.
Po Lin Monastery is about 45 minutes drive by coach from the nearest MTR station. It houses the Giant Buddha, which according to my brochure, is the World’s Largest outdoor, bronze, seated Buddha on a lotus

I like how the imposed so many conditions just to justify describing it as a World’s Largest.
Technically speaking, I’m also the World’s Sexiest Kuching-born, hairy, “a bitch overweight” 24-year-old man.

A vegetarian lunch at the monastery costs HK60, which is not bad coming from someone who eats meat almost everyday.
After that it’s off to to destination Disneyland in their themed MTR train.

I have to say, this wasn’t my first Disneyland experience.
I first visited Disneyland in Los Angeles, California back when I was only 11 years old and too spoilt to appreciate how expensive it is to travel from Kuching to the USA.

Don’t laugh.

My late father, in a fit of generosity, decided to treat the whole family to a tour of Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas. I even remembered staying at the penthouse suite in the famous Mirage Hotel, fake volcanos and white tigers and all.
Needless to say, a luxury holiday like that literally cost my dad a fortune. There was no AirAsia back then and very few 11-year-olds in Kuching had the same opportunity as I did.

Ironically, the lowlight of the trip was my visit to Disneyland. I wanted to get on as many rides as I could, but my parents took their time walking around and spending hours in the restaurant, thinking why rush since we had the whole day here.
What they didn’t realise was that it was winter and the park closes earlier at 6pm instead of 10pm.

So when the park attendants ushered us to the exit earlier than expected, I cried.
I cried like a sook and being the brat that I was, blamed my dad for wasting time. Then I demanded that he bring me back here the next day.

Upon hearing that, my dad forced an awkward smile and said to me “Kenny, the next time you come to Disneyland, it won’t be Papa bringing you here. It would be you bringing Papa here.
He passed away before I had the chance to bring him to Disneyland.

But let’s move on and get back to the topic, shall we? 🙂
So here I was 13 years later, at the entrance of my second Disneyland with my own hard-earned cash.

I thought I’ve outgrown Disneyland, but I was wrong.
I wasn’t even expecting much, given the negative feedback, but honestly I had an awesome experience.

Disneyland is probably not The Happiest Place on Earth™, but I say it’s definitely got the title as The Second Happiest Place On Earth.
The happiest place on Earth is still the Playboy Mansion.

The Disney parade was worth half the entrance ticket alone.
Most memorable characters, from Ariel to Woody, make an appearance here singing and waving to the audience.

You can see a lot of effort is put into this. The lengths the dancers go through to entertain the crowd is simply phenomenal.
Some of dancers scared me though.

You can feel the energy and enthusiasm coming from the dancers, and it’s hard not to put a smile on your face. I mean, how could you not laugh at a DANCING PINK FLAMINGO!?

If pink flamingos and coconut trees dancing doesn’t make you smile, nothing will.
Another must-go attraction is the Golden Mickey show.

Done in the style of an Academy Awards show, it features even more singers and dancers in typical Disney fashion and some really great thearetical work.
If anything, it’s worth attending just to see Mickey Mouse speak in Cantonese.

It was so good, I kinda teared during the Beauty and the Beast dance sequence.
Hey I liked that movie when it came out. Maybe it’s ‘cos I could relate to it.
Over in FantasyLand, I spotted my favourite Disney character of all time.

Donald Duck so totally owns Mickey Mouse’s ass. I reckon the mouse is overrated. What did Mickey Mouse ever do to deserve his place as the star of Disneyland. All he ever did was pose and smile like a nutcase.
Donald Duck on the other hand, wears a sailor’s outfit and doesn’t put on pants. Except when he goes swimming. Now that’s something.

Donald wears detachable duck feet

While I was lining up to take a photo with Donald Duck, I noticed something peculiar.
A little girl in front of me was asking Donald Duck for an autograph.
When I saw that I couldn’t help but to wonder. See, the name of the guy inside the Donald Duck suit most likely is not “Donald Duck”. His name is probably something lame like Lee Boon Teck or something. But he dressed up as Donald Duck because that’s his job.

Question is, when he signed the autograph, did he sign it as “Donald Duck”? Or did he sign it as “Lee Boon Teck”?
Obviously he signed it as “Donald Duck” right?
Isn’t that signature forgery? You bet.

If you sign your name as another person, and you knowingly led other people to (in this case, an innocent little girl) believe that you’re the real deal, isn’t that identity theft? Of course it is.
In which case, doesn’t that make Donald Duck a criminal?

Someone put that deceitful duck in jail.
😛
Before I knew it, it was time to go. The night concluded with bang as the fireworks went off at the Sleeping Beauty Castle for the finale.

How many digital cameras can you spot in this pic

Overall, the Hong Kong Disneyland experience comes highly recommended from me.
If there’s anything I didn’t like about Disneyland, it would be that the drinks were WAY too expensive. RM10 for a bottle of Coke. And there’s not even vodka in it.

Apart from Space Mountain, the rides in Disneyland are nothing compared to most other theme parks I’ve been to.
Sure, it’s got the whole “Disney theme” going on for it. But most of the time you line up for ages and ages and in the end, you get on and uninteresting ride that lasts for at most 2 minutes. It’s really not worth it.
You get more thrilling rides in Genting than in Disneyland.

The queues for the rides can get quite long at times. And it’s not uncommon to queue for more than an hour just to get on a ride.
If I gotta queue for more than an hour just to get to what I want, it better be for something worth it. Like Hello Kitty toys at McDonald’s.
As if that’s not bad enough, “some people” there has a penchant of jumping queues.

Look, I’m trying my best not to permeate stereotype here because I’ve read in the the mainstream newspapers about how some asshats there are notorious for inconsiderate behaviour that spoils the experience for everyone.
The papers were writing about people climbing fences, smokers in non-smoking zones and kids peeing in the lawn. And I was giving them the benefit of the doubt, because seriously how bad could it be?

I was wrong. There are people there being really inconsiderate. The park attendants must have a hard time because they gotta discipline 40-year-old uncles and aunties whilst still smiling and be as friendly as possbile.
Among some of the techniques these morons used to jump queues:
1. Little boy squeeze through to the front yelling he’s looking for his parents. Five minutes later, parents squeeze through the queue yelling they’re looking for their kid.
2. Mother carrying her boy, frantically waving her air ticket screaming how she’s gonna miss her flight if we don’t let her through. Auntie, if you’re gonna catch a flight you’re supposed to be at the airport, not Disneyland.

That reminds me of an incident that happened at the KL airport when I was returning from Hong Kong.
I was at the immigration checkpoint at the arrival hall, passport in hand, queueing up like an obedient citizen should. Then out of nowhere, this lady carrying her Mainland Chinese passport came up and cut in right in front of me like that.

I was mildly annoyed, but maintained my cool nonetheless so I just stuck out my hand before she could cut in and smiled at her.
She took the hint, apologised, and promptly lined up behind me where she’s supposed to be. All’s fine.

So there I was, minding my own business, looking idly around, moving when the queue moved forward when suddenly…

She cut into my queue again! When I was not looking! What the hell! That stealthy auntie!
Nevermind lah. Let her be since I wasn’t rushing for time and besides, my luggages weren’t even out yet.
But the highlight of this whole incident was when this queue-cutting Chinese auntie successfully got to the immigration counter. The auntie took out her Chinese passport and then got REJECTED when she…

…put it into AN AUTOGATE MACHINE.
IDIOT!


The only time I’ll be caught dead buying Female Magazine, is when I’m in it.
And who’s that monster on the lower left corner of the pic?

129 Replies to “Disneyland Resort Hong Kong”

  1. Hi! I’m always pleasantly surprised whenever there’s a new post on kennysia.com. I liken it to…the feeling when we get a sincere smile from a stranger. Never fails to cheer me up.=)
    Lucky you! not many ppl can boast of the fact that they visited disneyland twice. I’ve always wanted to go there but never had the chance to.
    do keep up the good work! all the best to you!

  2. Idiot indeed. Stupid auntie.
    Who would’ve thought that the sight of vegetables would make me hungry at 3 in the morning?

  3. Dude, i agree with you.. Disneyland is a waste of time. the best place on earth is definately playboy’s mansion… Goood post kenny..

  4. Donald Duck rocks!!! =)
    why no pictures of you in any rides kenny???
    dun they hv those cameras mounted on at a specific point of the roller coaster, to take the pictures of you laughing thru the ride (for me at least :P)
    or were you too chicken-ed out to ride one, despite your bulu-manliness ;P
    anyway, just joking!!!hehe! enjoyed your post, plus i´m at “work”, or suppose to be…
    wonder how my disneyland experience in Paris would be…keke!it´s jus a matter of time!

  5. i would want to go to Disneyland if i had the chance. but i doubt my parents would bring me. lol. n i’m considered “not old enough” to travel with friends.

  6. Disneyland: The Most Magical Place to Dump Your Entire Life Savings For a Live Glimpse of Ariel’s Bouyant Boobs and Other Half-Naked Cartoon Characters Including a Duck in a Sailor Suit Minus the Pants Who is Surprisingly Not Breaking Any Local Decency Laws!
    Love these Hong Kong posts. 🙂
    PS: Someone really needs to invent a Queue Cutter Cutter.
    “Excuse me, what are you doing Sir?”
    “Oh, don’t mind me Mr Immigration Officer, I’m just cutting this queue cutter with a Queue Cutter Cutter.”

  7. From your pics disney is way overcrowded!!! Korea “EverLand” is another wonderful theme park that you should try out..

  8. I wanna go Disneyland too! But guess for now I can only afford to go to the HK one instead of LA… if get to go Japan one also nvm la.
    Talk about Autogate, I just came back from Phuket 3 days ago. Was kinda jakun with the autogate cuz’ I haven’t been travelling overseas for years. Thought it’s so canggih la. It’s for Malaysian passport holder – just need to put the passport there and scan finger print.
    When I came back, the queue at Autogate was kinda long…soon, the normal counter even faster than autogate pulak!? Seems that in front got one uncle just waiting.. and staring at the autogate thing. Guess he was waiting to be called to proceed :p

  9. How do you take pics of things like autogate machine, inside the MRT etc… without someone looking at you and think.. what is this guy doing? autogate machine also want to take pics ar?

  10. I am not trying to be racist. Those mainland chinese people tend to be rather uncivilised and courtesy is not in their ” chinese dictionary”. I bet they are more kiasu than Singaporeans.

  11. >>It was so good, I kinda teared during the Beauty and the Beast dance sequence.
    >>Hey I liked that movie when it came out. Maybe it’s ‘cos I could relate to it.
    So, who’d you relate to – the talking wardrobe?
    Lee Boon Teck doesn’t sound like a typical Hongkie (oops!) name – it’d probably be something more like Au Yeong Wai Kit, with some strange somewhat Western sounding ‘christian’ name like Mantelis or Kallex.

  12. Oh, anon. (writing about Hongkie style names) is me, actually. And there was this time long ago, at Subang Airport Arrivals, where this rude woman virtually parted the crowds with her two hands so she could get nearer to the Hall door.
    About Dad – yeah, I feel the same too. So many regrets now about all the times I was nasty to my late Dad.

  13. I have to say that I agree with Zen. I was also in Hong Kong a month ago, and really pretty much everytime someone tried to cut queue in front of me it was a mainland chinese person…. one auntie even had the nerve to ask me to let her through… needless to say, i didnt

  14. The Little Mermaid is my favourite Disney movie *dreamy sigh*
    I know it’s like illegal for 21 year olds to whine but…
    I WANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAA GO DISNEYLAND!!!

  15. if i were in ur shoes, she sure kana scolded by me with a string of foul language, i cant stand queue cutters…
    Kenny, Disneyland sure looks nice… hahaa.

  16. Kenny im not sure whether you notice it or not, there’s a board located at the lorong bside my house with the words “Disiniland”. Sounds like Disss(i)neyland tho. kakaakak..

  17. Donald is cute with its accent.
    Haha.. Some aunties are like that. Very stubborn and make ppl jz wanna kick their butts. =P

  18. Lotsa mainland Chinese are like that. And I thought Singaporeans are kiasu enough.
    The ones on the ShenZhen train were enough to traumatise me for life by squeezing through the tiniest space possible to get to the exit first. Amazing skills.

  19. Goofy is sooooo taaallllll!
    Great, I feel so incompetent for never being out of Asia/to Disneyland/growing up dirt poor.
    But heck, I’ll bring my daddy on holidays.

  20. I recommend Disneyland Tokyo and Disneysea Tokyo, wonderful service, great shows, delectable food (esp Disneysea’s Sea Salt ice-cream, MUST TRY!) and NO queue-jumpers! =P

  21. lee boon teck does not sound hongkong-ish enough, that i have to agree. Now a name like Poon Kee Wai would sound more like it.

  22. I’m completely with you on the mannerism displayed in Disneyland HK. Would definitely be a perfect trip without all those shuffling and queue jumping. Wat a waste!

  23. hk’s disneyland is prolly like jakarta’s dufan~ 🙂
    oh by the way, there r abt 16 cameras/hp in that pic.. huehuehue

  24. screw you kenny 😛 the mouse rocks way more than the pantsless duck. i spent an hour under the sun q-ing up to take a pic with the dude, damnit. i refuse to believe the wait wasnt worth it.

  25. Talking about airport… I really can’t imagine I am not going to bring any hand luggage thus my lap top on the plane when I get back to Malaysia in 2 weeks time. Bloody shitty… this whole bomb scare in the UK is just sooo freaking out of proportion…as always.

  26. disney got no characters better than the warner bros!!
    WAKKO RULEZ YOU ALL, SUCKERSSSS!!
    playboy mansion is defo the happiest place on earth. but that one need to be INVITED. 🙁
    so, by ur technical definition, disneyland is still the happiest paid queue-until-u-lao-sai place on earth.

  27. LOL!
    i hate those queue cutting ppl too!!
    yearghhhhh…
    you’ll find a whole lot of them especially when u fly air asia :p
    is that part and parcel of using the budget airline?haha

  28. Haha…totally agree with you that the Happiest Place on Earth is the Playboy Mansion!
    By the way, why no more pics of SYT (sweet young things) from Hong Kong!! We want MORE!! MORE!!

  29. i loved disneyland at LA. i went there when i was 11 too! tee hee!
    n hey, i’ve got the ‘signatures’ of all the disney characters in my notebook k. mickey, minnie, goofy, donald, daisy, snow white, cinderella, n even pluto! haha! dogs can sign autographs! but thn again.. er.. mouses and ducks also can.. haha!
    all those fakes. haha.

  30. On the stage (video), the Mikey Mouse sounded like “Zhen Zhi Wei”-The shortie from Wu Jian Dao. HAHAHAHAHAH!
    And the goofy sounded like “Wu Zhen Yu” – Francis of Trumph of Skies. HAHAHAHAHA

  31. yea,I believe everyone hates cutting ques aunties… but come to think of it… when everything is over, you’ll have great laughs and wonders of what you would have done to her…

  32. Hey Kenny! I salute you. 13 years later you’re back and going to Disneyland with your own hard-earned money. 🙂
    Went there last year, but there wasn’t much to see because there are so little rides. However i think i had some hot dog which was really good. I didn’t get to see the theathre show though. Is that the one beside the “Magic Shop”?

  33. I just came back from Tokyo Disneyland, and oh boy, those Mickey-shaped windows and handles sure brought back memories! DISNEY ROCKED MY SOCKS! 😉
    ~May your life be a carousel of dreams~
    -taken from the carousel ride in Tokyo Disneyland!:P

  34. “So there I was, minding my own business, looking idly around, moving when the queue moved forward when suddenly…”
    looking idly around???
    confess-lah… looking at lenglui-ah?

  35. sorry if i’m being rude, but most mainland chinese r like that, no manners! n readers digest says malaysians r rude, they haven’t seen nothing yet. wait till u c the mainlanders ‘katooi’ on their face then they know. unbelievable n unacceptable.

  36. “Upon hearing that, my dad forced an awkward smile and said to me “Kenny, the next time you come to Disneyland, it won’t be Papa bringing you here. It would be you bringing Papa here.”
    He passed away before I had the chance to bring him to Disneyland.”
    =( That brought a tear to my eye…

  37. WAH. Dancing flowers and starfishes are creepy. I mean, look at their facial makeup!
    Did they show anything on The Incredibles, Monsters Inc. or A Bug’s Life?

  38. You really make me want to cry when you talk about your Dad like that, how wonderful it must be to go to Disneyland when you were 11. I am already 17+ and have not even been to Disneyland once!!! Cannot believe it, it’s good that you care for your Dad so much, I’ve not been on good terms with my Dad and it makes me want to start ‘opening’ up to him before it’s too late…but it’s always hard to start the conversation ain’t it. On another note, I really hate those queue cutters, when they cut my cue at the JB & Singapore customs. BTW, I’m a law abiding Singapore citizen who detests people who cut queses. Haiz, someone pls teach these people a lesson. And to some earlier posts, not only Singaporeans cut queues, yes I admit the majority of the population is kiasu but not everyone is like that ok. There’s always some people who are not kiasu and kiasi and do not cut queues:-)

  39. Waliao! HK disneyland So dem suckie.. (to me lah) have to wait so friggin long just to experience ‘one hell of a ride’. =P i totally hated the waiting man.. and there was this brother and sister hu kept ‘unknowingly’ walking in front of me in the queue. like.. wth man. if they r so desperate, then kill everyone and get to the front! and their soo annoying looking. somemore got associates one. can persuade them to cut line somemore. so dem inconsiderate, theese inconsiderate people. anyway.. good post. =)

  40. I seriously admire your writing style. Do you actually spend some time planning out what pics u are going to put in and what are you gonna talk abt? It’s always so beautifully laid out 😀

  41. Dude…you were rejected too, does that make u the 2nd idiot? yah i saw the lady too and with a few kids yah ?but dont think shes from mainland..the autogate from mainland more like it..

  42. thx 4 sharin ur adventures wif us, kenny… i reli appreciate ur reflections abt u n ur dad… made me reflect on myself too

  43. I heard that Mickey’s voice is by Eric Tsang. Anyway.. I have always prefer Donald because he’s more “real” being mad at everything and he’s always the unlucky one make me wanna kasian him.
    (If people cut my queue.. I cut back theirs. Haha)

  44. Disneyland Hong Kong? No thanks, I rather spending a fortune of hard-earned money at Disneyland Annaheim or Florida than facing up with inconsiderate Mainlanders.
    My sister still kept the collection of “forged” Disney characters autograph from Annaheim. LOL.

  45. well, despite not having your father anymoe, i do admire for looking at your latest disneyland trip as being fun. Gald to know that you enjoyed yourself! I am sure it will make him happy for you. take care and god bless.

  46. I’ve had many Mainland Chinese cutting queue in front of me as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. I’ve had it with these people man. Na beh!

  47. Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea are definitely more canggihfied but the characters speak Jap so half the time I was clueless and even failed to be scared at the haunted mansion cos I couldnt understand the spooky voice.

  48. its great to see your HK photos coz i was just in HK recently.
    I thought Disneyland HK was totally awesome. And i’ve been to the LA disneyland too (which is about 10 times bigger)
    If you go there to have a good time, you’ll have a good time.

  49. Went to HK Disney last year – was fun, didn’t encounter the “ugly mainlanders” or the long queues. Just lucky I guess.
    The most hi-tech Disney parks are the ones in Tokyo. This one ride – Pooh’s Hunny Hunt – has cars that run not on rails but move individually and randomly guided by GPS, so that each time you ride it, you’ll experience something new. They don’t even have this in the States.
    They also sell these lightsaber-like things as souvenirs – and I’m not talking a plastic wand on a torchlight – these are like real lightsabers.
    Just be prepared to queue for 2 hours per ride. The Japanese are crazy about Disneyland.

  50. The queue at Disneyland was unbeatable when they are newly open. Since early of this year, the crowd has been reduce by half. That means no business la. So those who plan of going, can go now. Basically everywhere are the same. While still new, it is selling like hot cake.

  51. sad to say but the Chinese tend to cut queues…
    i m not being bias but this is quite true esp whenever i travel ard, i see this often and it seems to me tat they tend to be the Chinese (not e race but ppl frm PRC)

  52. Kenny I don’t think you are all ALONE for this 2nd trip…ur dad is with you always in your HEART that is how you can recall his words…..n remmeber all the sweet times he spent with you during your childhood……
    Glad you having FUN there…

  53. Aww Kenny. I got a little teary-eyed when I read about your happy memories with your dad and what he told you back then.
    You’re great guy Kenny. Very nice blog 🙂

  54. LOL! I was darn amused by the Cantonese speaking Disney characters when i was there last year too =D Man, your blog totally made my boring day at the office =D

  55. helo………yo…ur name is kenny sia or wat….i know u lar……….u don like to smile de…..don know y…..seem like got alot of “xin sze”…hehehehe………

  56. seriously, these chinese ladies fr china shld control themselves a bit!! i have similar experiences at e hong kong air port too, where the lady juz simply went in front of me in the queue. I wasn’t quick enuff to cut her but i was stunned n stared at her n she returned a totally no-guilt glare… another reason y i avoided hk’s disneyland is THEM!!

  57. hey man my DAD’s name is REALLY lee boon teck. what a coincidence. now go fuck yourself and apologise

  58. The same thing happened to me too!! (Mainland Chinese, cut queue, autogate, stupid etc) Only the lady was dragging her son and shouting for her husband to hurry up in chinese. I was too amused and shoucked to say anything. I guess they all think alike.

  59. went to HK these few days but couldn’t get myself to take pic with cartoon characters,heck, Hongki like to cut queues and are rude!(even in disneyland)

  60. Hi Kenny. Nice post. I’ve been to Disneyland and Universal Studio Florida when I was 11 years old. Then the 2nd time was when I visited my sister in LA that I went to Disneyland and Universal Studio again there. The third time when I was in LA, I didn’t even want to buy theirr tickets anymore coz it’s damm bored if you go to the same theme parks over n over again. Hahaha. Anyway, nice to know you enjoyed. 🙂

  61. REally appreciate your love to ur dad… Pray u would get the most meaningful love in ur life which is more than ur father love. 🙂

  62. not bad. the fireworks is worth for the whole entire day.and it was ‘stitch ‘when i saw stitch signing on autograph booklets and for mickey signing ‘mickey’instead of Mah Chee Bai.

  63. hi kenny, i’m going to hk disneyland in 2 weeks time.i’m seriously wondering if RM3k is enough to buy things in disney itself.are the stuff there expensive? would love your feedback.thanks a bunch.

  64. الصور رهيبه رهيبه مره مره يجنن انا اخذتهم بس اي بلد هذا صح مليزيا صح ولا لا

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