Trip to Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo

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hong kong has several unique and only in Hong Kong rides.

 

[Paul Stupin]

hong kong has several unique and only in Hong Kong rides.

The new Frozen ride is a clone of the one at Epcot. The sleigh ride looks ok, but not great, as does the iron man attraction. The only two unique attractions that are of real interest to me in Hong Kong are Mystic Manor and the Grizzly Gulch coaster.

I still would love to see them, but Shanghai has so much more! And the Zootopia land is opening there soon as well.

 

[PrincessKL]

Hong Kong Disneyland are offering 35-40% off their hotel rooms right now if any one of interested. Can book for stays next year until October I believe. Last time when we went in 2019, we booked a package including room, tickets, meals, and priority viewing spots for parades. When we checked in, they gave us a suggested itinerary for the park days. I wish they still offer this but I cannot find it any more.

 

[Royal Consort]

Hong Kong Disneyland are offering 35-40% off their hotel rooms right now if any one of interested. Can book for stays next year until October I believe. Last time when we went in 2019, we booked a package including room, tickets, meals, and priority viewing spots for parades. When we checked in, they gave us a suggested itinerary for the park days. I wish they still offer this but I cannot find it any more.

Got an ad on Facebook. Was considering Shanghai or squeezing in Tokyo before our US DVC stay next year. Issue with Tokyo is only being able to book Disney hotels 4 months in advance. Since we would need to book flights well in advance of that, it doesn't work for us: don't want to fly all the way to Japan for nothing if we can't get a reservation before flying to the US. In the end we booked 5 nights at Kingdom Club at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. Great price! My 'non-negotiable' Fantasy Springs trip may just have to be 2025 now

 

[PrincessKL]

Got an ad on Facebook. Was considering Shanghai or squeezing in Tokyo before our US DVC stay next year. Issue with Tokyo is only being able to book Disney hotels 4 months in advance. Since we would need to book flights well in advance of that, it doesn't work for us: don't want to fly all the way to Japan for nothing if we can't get a reservation before flying to the US. In the end we booked 5 nights at Kingdom Club at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. Great price! My 'non-negotiable' Fantasy Springs trip may just have to be 2025 now

I have been researching for Tokyo too. It seems that you can book a vacation package (3 day tickets with 2 nights at their hotel) earlier than 4 months. It’s a lot more expensive than booking tickets and room and other things separately, but it allows you to book some rides in advance to take off the stress of planning.

 

[AndyR]

We're doing a combined TDR (For Fantasy Springs), Shanghai (For Zootopisa) and HKDL ('cos we've not been there) in late Nov - early Dec 2024. We have the SHDR Disneyland Hotel booked, but are waiting for others to open their booking windows.

Anyone booked HKDR with DVC points?

 

[Camonkeygirl]

I am new to this thread, but I am looking at a Shanghai/Tokyo trip in September 2024. I have been to Hong Kong DL in both 2016 and 2017 which is the only reason I am skipping it. I was also at Shanghai in 2017, but due to Chinese New Year, it was crazy busy and cold, so I did not see everything.

Here are my thoughts:

Train/bus from San Diego to LAX
Los Angeles to Shanghai (my Visa is still valid from earlier visits) for 3 nights 2.5 days in the park if flights are on time. Offsite hotel booked

Shanghai to Tokyo for 4 nights. Arriving on Sunday, so may stick to Downtown Disney area or parks the first day. Good neighbor hotel booked.

Toyko to LAX and bus/train home to San Diego.

for those who have been, is that enough time at each park.

i booked offsite hotels as most of the on-site hotels require 2 people for packages. all i still need is the park tickets.

 

[verobeachlover]

We're doing a combined TDR (For Fantasy Springs), Shanghai (For Zootopisa) and HKDL ('cos we've not been there) in late Nov - early Dec 2024. We have the SHDR Disneyland Hotel booked, but are waiting for others to open their booking windows.

Anyone booked HKDR with DVC points?

This is a bit late, but I booked HKDR with DVC points for March of this year.

While everything went smoothly with booking, a few words of caution - when you get the confirmation from DVC, it cannot be linked to your HKDR account (meaning that you lose out on some of the resort "perks" like making advanced dining reservations) and, when you call the resort, they will be unable to locate your reservation as they can only look up HKDR booking numbers (if you email them, they can confirm the reservation actually exists) - which obviously set me in a bit of a panic at first. This is sort of true for Tokyo as well (strangely, the confirmation from DLP for a DVC booking can be linked in the DLP app, not sure why TDR and HKDR can't do this). Otherwise, I'll (likely) be writing a trip report in March and share the experience once the stay is complete.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I am new to this thread, but I am looking at a Shanghai/Tokyo trip in September 2024. I have been to Hong Kong DL in both 2016 and 2017 which is the only reason I am skipping it. I was also at Shanghai in 2017, but due to Chinese New Year, it was crazy busy and cold, so I did not see everything.

Here are my thoughts:

Train/bus from San Diego to LAX
Los Angeles to Shanghai (my Visa is still valid from earlier visits) for 3 nights 2.5 days in the park if flights are on time. Offsite hotel booked

Shanghai to Tokyo for 4 nights. Arriving on Sunday, so may stick to Downtown Disney area or parks the first day. Good neighbor hotel booked.

Toyko to LAX and bus/train home to San Diego.

for those who have been, is that enough time at each park.

i booked offsite hotels as most of the on-site hotels require 2 people for packages. all i still need is the park tickets.

The number of days in the parks are fine although I do think having 2 full days in each Tokyo park would be better, especially if you happen to go after the Halloween event has started and want to see those shows.

What specific hotel did you book for Tokyo? Good neighbor hotels are all like a 1/2 hour shuttle ride or more away from the parks so it's generally advised for first time visitors to stay at a Disney hotel or a Disney Resort Official Hotel like the Hilton or Sheraton Tokyo Bay. If staying at a good neighbor hotel, it makes no sense to to go the Disney area but not go into the parks so you may instead spend your first night walking around the area near you hotel instead.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

I have the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay currently booked. I may try for a Disney Hotel as we get closer. I know I am going to be unable to get a package, which is what I really wanted, but as a single person, I will not be able to.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I have the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay currently booked. I may try for a Disney Hotel as we get closer. I know I am going to be unable to get a package, which is what I really wanted, but as a single person, I will not be able to.

The Sheraton Tokyo Bay is a Disney Resort Official Hotel, not a Good Neighbor Hotel. In this case, going to Ikspiari the first night for dinner would make sense if you don't have lounge access at the hotel. If you don't have lounge access or breakfast included, I definitely think it's worth staying at any of the Disney hotels other than Celebration for the early entry.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

Thank you for the info. I booked the hotel through AAA, so I am not sure if it came with breakfast. I will have to look. I may decide to buy an after 5 ticket and see the parks, but will decide later. Do you know if I can buy tickets from the hotel to use day of?

 

[gelatoni fan]

Thank you for the info. I booked the hotel through AAA, so I am not sure if it came with breakfast. I will have to look. I may decide to buy an after 5 ticket and see the parks, but will decide later. Do you know if I can buy tickets from the hotel to use day of?

No. You can only purchase tickets at the hotel if you book a hotel package that includes the right to buy tickets at the hotel. The only way right now to purchase an after 5 weekday ticket is through the Tokyo Disney website and app. But the website does not accept most non-Japanese credit cards so if your credit cards don't work, you may need to ask a Japanese friend to help you purchase.

 

[WeLoveABD]

We have started renting a car one way from San Diego to LAX-- so much easier than taking the bus or train (but there is the LA traffic to contend with!).