Honey, I Shrunk the Disneyland!

Ok, let's get this out of the way right off the bat...  A not insignificant fraction of people will ask me, "We have two Disneylands here in the US, why would you bother going to Disneyland when you're in an exciting foreign city like Hong Kong?".  Well, first off, we don't have two Disneylands, we have Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida, but let's not get nit picky!  :-)  As you most likely know, my family and I are what you might call Dis-aholics, people who delight in all things Disney.  I've been to Disney World many times growing up (conveniently, my grandparents had a house in Florida not far away that they used to winter at), and still find Disney to be an exciting place to visit.  There's something about such an immersive and creative place that inspires the imagination, and what so many people don't realize is that Disney can be even more fun for an adult than it is for a child.  So having been to every Disney park in the US, I was curious to see what Disney was like in Hong Kong, and after spending most of this week (aside from the conference time) exploring exotic corners of a foreign city, it was nice to spend an afternoon just wandering around riding roller coasters, without having to worry about getting lost in a strange country or planning what sight I was going to see next!

Now, just a little background.  HK Disneyland is the newest Disney resort (Shanghai Disney is not yet open), opening in 2005.  Like all of Disney's international parks, is not actually directly owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company.  It is instead owned and operated by a company called Hong Kong International Theme Parks, which is a joint venture co-owned by WDC and the Hong Kong government, the HK having the majority share.  In reality, though, I would have never seen a difference if I hadn't already known that, as it's design is as thorough as Disney parks in the US and seems to be run just the same, too.

Also, a brief preface on this post.  I didn't exactly consciously go with this intention, but I found myself pretty much comparing every aspect of HK Disneyland to the US parks.  Therefore, a lot of what I write here will end up doing the same.  But I'll make a concerted effort to not be too critical!

Overall, I'd say my biggest impression of HK Disneyland was that it was so small!  Like, really small!  Now, I'm used to the grand size of the Walt Disney World Resort, which is huge, so even Disneyland in California seems small to me (I recently visited Disneyland with a friend, who was equally as well versed in the ways of Disney World, and our initial reaction after walking through the gate went something like this: "Aww, look at the little castle, it's so tiny and cute!"  This didn't exactly sit to well with a relative of another friend that was with us and who had grown up in California...), but this was even smaller, so as to feel even a little cramped.  And it was far from busy, with very few lines more than about 10-15 minutes.  Although oddly, the shortest lines were the roller coasters, where I could walk right on.  As opposed to 30 minutes for the Tea Cups or 45 for the Autopia!  Do Chinese tourists not like roller coasters?

Anyway, on to the details, and more importantly, the pictures!

Getting there was a piece of cake!  There's a special line of the MTR that goes straight to Disneyland, dropping off just outside the front gate, and like any good Disney transportation method, is covered in Mickeys!

[Left] The MTR station in front of the park, complete with colorful Mickey train; [Center] The inside of the train can only be described as very Disney; [Right] Mickey hang straps for standees on the train

Arriving at the park entrance, you just feel like you're walking into a miniature model of Disneyland, but you're still greeted by Mickey in the flowers!

The front entrance of Hong Kong Disneyland

Main Street seemed a little odd.  First, it was still Main Street, USA, which surprised me given that the park was in Hong Kong.  Second, it's clearly Disneyland's Main Street, right down to the diminutive Sleeping Beauty's Castle, but it's wider, like Disney World.  This just gives it an even smaller feel, because the buildings just seem so tiny on the overly wide street!  And it lacks the forced perspective of Disney World.

Main Street, USA, Hong Kong...  Seems odd to see a mountain right behind the castle!

For those of you who don't know what my last sentence means, forced perspective is a technique Disney uses a lot to make things look bigger (or smaller) than they really are!  Essentially, it exaggerates the perceived change in size of things that are farther away to trick you into seeing them differently.  For example, take Main Street in Disney World.  On all of the buildings, the second floor windows are about 75% of the height of a standard window, then the third floor windows are about 50%.  In reality, the building is only 2 floors tall, but many of them look 3 to 4.  In a similar vein, Main Street in Disney World is wider at the park entrance than at the castle, as this makes it look bigger and longer and more exciting as you're coming into the park, and also makes it look shorter and like less of a walk when you're leaving the park!

Anyway, back to Hong Kong, I just generally found that all the lands were tiny, and had only 2-3 rides each.  Whereas you could spend a whole day in Disney World's Magic Kingdom or Disneyland and not do the whole park, I managed to finish everything in about 3-4 hours, and actually had to find things to do to kill time until the fireworks!  Oddly enough, too, the rides with the shortest lines were the roller coasters!  There was a 45 minute line for the Autopia (race cars), but Space Mountain and the other roller coaster had no lines whatsoever...  Seemed strange!

Overall, I had a great time.  It is Disney, after all!  But between the US parks and Hong Kong Disneyland, there's just no comparison!  Now I leave you with a bunch of pictures... :-)

A tiny Space Mountain in Tomorrowland

The queue line for Space Mountain

Compare to the queue line for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which is similar to the one in Disneyland, where the laser guns are handhel

Almost made it to Galactic Hero!  ;-)

They had a fun parade called Fantasy Takes Flight!  I enjoyed it, because it was full of flying things!

The castle in the background of Fantasyland, which had all the typical rides like the tea cups, carousel, and Dumbo

Toy Story Land!  It was tiny, but very cool!  It did have an odd, cheap theme park feel to it, like you were at Six Flags or something, but it was as well themed as any Disney land.  I think it's just the lack of buildings that gave it that feel.

Perhaps my new favorite Disney ride!  Mystic Manor (the building on the left) in Mystic Point.  It's the only ride in the land, and is Hong Kong's replacement for the Haunted Mansion, which they deemed inappropriate for cultural reasons, but it's very cool!  The cars all move independently, and the whole ride is very animated and colorful.  The premise is that it's a collection of ancient artifacts that's brought to life by a magical music box, and it's a ton of fun.

Not sure if the video does it justice, but I tried!  Sorry for the lack of focus in the first room, but my camera's autofocus fails in complete darkness...

Grizzly Gulch, which replaced Fronteirland

Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, which is basically what you'd get if you put Big Thunder Mountain together with Expedition Everest.  It's a very fun coaster!

Adventureland basically consisted of Tarzan's Treehouse and the Jungle Cruise, which was similar to, but laid out very differently than, its American counterparts

When you get in line for Jungle Cruise, you choose your language.  Though choosing "English" really means choosing "Heavily accented English-like".  I'm pretty sure if I didn't already know most of the Jungle Cruise jokes by heart, I'd have had no idea what she was saying.  And they're a lot less punny in Hong Kong, but just some kind of amusing jokes and general information...

The fanciest Disney counter service meal I've ever seen!  And not actually expensive, either!  It was very delicious!

Ended the night with fireworks over the castle, of course!  A little bit smaller of a show than Disney World, but still on par for Disney fireworks!  Only problem was there was little to no wind to clear the smoke, so it got hard to see the fireworks through the smoke by the end of it.