TRIP REPORT: Day 3 Hong Kong Disneyland Day 1 – Monday 23rd September

[NatsyNoo]

Today was the day – Disney Castle #4! I was feeling refreshed after a good sleep (and a lie in – the park doesn’t open until 10.30am!), and my outfit was on fleek today (if I do say so myself)!

So we woke at 7.30am, pleased to be adjusting to the time difference. We got up at 9am ready to leave at 9.30am. While the park opens at 10.30am, the gates can open before for character greetings, and I had one mission today – to meet Cookie (or Cookie-Ann as she is now called)!

Just a note here about stickers – as we passed through security, we were given our first stickers of the day. I knew about this before we travelled, but Hong Kong Disneyland gives loads of stickers to its guests. Virtually every Cast Member has them, and if they don’t volunteer them, you can politely ask and they will be happy to share. We got a lot of villains/Halloween inspired ones, but we got some other gems too, and they look brilliant in my holiday scrapbook, which is a work in progress but getting there! So if you do travel to Hong Kong Disneyland, be sure to join in the fun!

Here is some of my stash!

We were allowed into the park at 10.10am and were amazed at how many people literally sprinted through the tunnel under the railway line. I have never seen anything like it in 25 years of visiting Disney parks.

I knew where Cookie would be waiting…but in her place was Stella Lou. Nonetheless, with no wait, I would be meeting her as she is my 2nd favourite. We’d come back and see Cookie later or tomorrow.

After a very quick mooch around the Emporium, the ropes dropped and we headed straight to Tomorrowland for our first ride, which was to be Ant-Man and the Nano Battle. This ride is a jazzed up version of Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters and we loved it!

Next would be Ironman Experience, which was like Star Tours, and again, we really enjoyed it, and were able to follow it easily enough although it was partly in Cantonese.

Two of our top five of the done, we headed for breakfast (it was 11am!), so we went to Main Street Bakery for the famous shaped and coated donuts – I went for Duffy (to match my outfit – obvs) and Matt had Donald (he is allergic to red food colouring and it had the least red on it). With two waters, it came to $148/£15.

Once we scoffed those down (and they were delicious – coated in white chocolate!) we went to ride Hyperspace Mountain. This is like the California version of the ride, and we enjoyed it.

Round the corner was It’s a Small World, so that would be our next stop, and it was a lovely version, with lots of Disney characters to find along the way. Loved it! We had to laugh as my sister was in Magic Kingdom at the same time waiting in a queue for It’s a Small World, we had a private boat! This version of It's a Small World is rivalled only by Tokyo's, in our opinion.

We rode Pooh and Dumbo next, as that was a walk-on; and then, given that it was lunchtime, we decided to grab some food.

We chose the Explorer’s Club (near Mystic Manor). I had the Butter Chicken (when in Rome lol), Matt had the Double Chicken with Japanese Curry Sauce, and with two drinks, and a $28/£3 supplement on our meal plan vouchers, we thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Hong Kong Disneyland meal plan can include lunch and a snack (popsicle or popcorn), or lunch and dinner and a snack. They vouchers are about £14 or £21, we bought ours from Klook and they work a treat and saved us a good amount of money.