Hong Kong Day 2

Today I lived the dream and worked on one of my bucket list items. I visited Hong Kong Disneyland.

I got up early, got some wrong directions from my hotel, doubled-back, and made it to the park a little before opening. There weren't too many people, which I was thrilled about. Surprisingly, they opened the park gates early, so people could walk around a little bit, but only as far as the end of Main Street.

Quick summary: Hong Kong Disneyland is the newest park of the Disney company I think. They were selling some 7th anniversary stuff. Unique to this park, they were still celebrating Chinese New Year (the actual event was a week ago) by having themed decorations, music, and costumes.

Because I really (I mean reeeally) like things Disney, I had read up on this park before I came. I'm a member on an Internet Disney forum, and the current buzz around this park is what will happen to visitor demographics once Shanghai Disneyland opens in a few years. Many mainland Chinese visitors make a holiday in Hong Kong and HKD is a very popular spot to visit (as was evidenced by the crowd of people today). I saw a few White people like myself, some Japanese, and some South Asians. Other than that though, they're all Chinese. Anyway, once the park opens in Shanghai, only time will tell if the mainland Chinese will still come to HKD.

First, the good news: HKD is fairly large. If you come to visit, expect to do a lot of walking (not a lot of the areas are interconnected--they mostly connect to the middle of the park) in a wheel and spoke fashion. As well, most of the cast members can speak fairly good English. You shouldn't have trouble communicating your needs or inquiries. As well, the characters can understand English, and Disney has hired White people for the non-suit characters (I.e. the princesses, Tinkerbell).

Now, a special word of admonishment from myself. If you happen to find yourself visiting a Disney park overseas, please play along and chat up the folks in character. They can be lonely, having very few English speakers to interact with day after day. A little fun goes a long way to make a difficult life overseas easier.

That said, I really had a nice time with these folks. They're genuinely sweet people and they want to make your experience a pleasant one. I was able to get some great photos (HKD let's you take more than one photo with your camera) with them.

Now for the bad. I'll try to be brief, otherwise I could drone on for a long time.

Not a lot of bad things to say about the park itself to be honest. It's definitely up to Disney quality (garbage-free streets, no rust, painted equipment, smiling cast members). Cinderella's castle was a little short to be honest, which I didn't expect.

The worst part of my experience was a big one: the other visitors. Seriously, those mainland chinese people are the WORST tourists I've ever seen. They were pushy, loud, sometimes smelly, they would leave performances in the middle of the show, they would yell and talk during shows and songs, and they cut in line constantly. Now, I've been in Korea for awhile now, so I've gotten used to being tossed around in a crowd. That's fine.

This was something else though. People would try and take any open space to try and cut in front of me. Bratty little kids would weave through my legs and then proudly call to their parents to join them standing in front of me, as if they had done something worth actual praise. Unfortunately, most of my visit was spent developing a strong distaste for the mainland Chinese visitors.

After my day at the park was finished, I walked around the grounds to take a look at the hotels. Finally, I returned to Kowloon for the night, having beautiful Disney dreams in my head.