Trip Report - Hong Kong Disneyland Resort & Shanghai Disney Resort - Oct/Nov

[Daphne0890]

Hi there! I'm mostly a viewer here on the forum, but I made a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland & Shanghai and in my preparations I didn't find a lot of trip reports, so maybe I thought it could be helpful for some other people who want to go there, so here I am! I'm from Europe, Belgium, so I'm not a native English speaker/writer but I will do my best!

Just some little things about me, i'm a 34 year old, working at a kitchen company, calculating kitchens for big projects. Alone and I don't have kids, but I love my adorable nieces and godson. I live very close to the French border so I had an annual pass for Disneyland Paris for so many beautiful years until the prices were to high for me, mainly because you pay more but you loose a lot of advantages. So it's almost a year now since my last visit to DLP, but I know I will be back someday. I went to WDW in 2017 and will be visiting again in january for two weeks. I also did a cruise with Disney on the Magic to the Norwagian Fjords in 2022.

The Trip:

Who: Me, Daphne and two friends
When: October 26 - November 5
Where: Arriving sunday october 27 in Hong Kong, staying in the Disney's Hollywood Hotel until friday november 1, take the flight to Shanghai, staying there in the Toy Story Hotel, go home early in the morning of november 5


We booked everything separated, first the flight with Hainan Airlines, for the low cost we chose a flight with a transfer in Beijng, so flying from Brussels - Beijng - Hong Kong, the flight back was straight from Shanghai to Brussels. We paid for the three flights (also Hong Kong - Shanghai) a total of € 665 ($ 707) In Hong Kong, we chose the Disney's Hollywood Hotel, it was the cheapest of the three hotels and was perfectly fine. Also good to know if you stay in a Hong Kong Disneyland hotel, you don't have any special advantage, you don't get in an hour early, you have to pay extra for that like everbody else. You can do some activities exclusive for the hotel guest or use the pool of the three hotels. We had 3,5 park days in Hong Kong, that means you are cheaper buying the Silver Annual Pass, € 173 ($ 184), it's only valid on weekdays but that was perfectly fine for us.

In Shanghai we stayed at the Toy Story Hotel for 3 nights, the cheapest of the two hotels, here you do get a hour early for hotel guest, the park opens at 8.30 a.m for everbody, so it's rather early for hotel guest but in the end it's necessary. We bought our tickets on the Shanghai Disneyland website, saturday was the most expensive, last day of Halloween, € 78 (€ 83), the cost for the tickets for sunday and monday were € 60 ($ 64) each but with the ticket we had a coupon to use at a quick-service restaurant, value of € 13 ($ 14).

We used the 144-hour visa-free transit policy, which allows people from certain countries to enjoy six days of travel to select areas of the country of China without applying for a visa beforehand. One of the most crucial condition is that, foreigners have to hold a connecting ticket to a third country/region with confirmed seat, date within 144 hours. Hong Kong and Macau are regarded as third regions from China's mainland, so for us Brussels - Hong Kong - Shanghai was perfectly fine, all I needed was an international pasport that didn't expire in 3 months after arriving.

Not a lot preparation more except I bought an e-sim with VPN from Airalo for China (didn't work in Hong Kong, but enough Wi-Fi there), because of the 'Great Firewall' in China, you can't acces there to most Google and Social media apps like Facebook and Instagram, but I had no problem with these apps in China, because the e-sim worked perfect on my iphone 11.

I hope I can inform you a bit with my trip report! Off we go!

Hong Kong Disneyland: Castle of Magical Dreams

Shanghai Disneyland Resort: Enchanted Storybook Castle​

 

[Daphne0890]

Day 1: October 26


Finally the day arrived, we are leaving for Hong Kong and Shanghai Disneyland. After a fairly smooth car ride to Brussels Zaventem we arrive at a slightly busier airport (it is also een Belgium school holiday)
I soon see my travelmates so we can wait together to check in. After saying goodbye to my parents, we go through customs and soon we arrive at gate B15 to Beijing. We arrange to sit next to each other on the plane,
because something with wrong with that at check in, but luckily we are now seated together in row 55. We can board very soon and our plan departes at 1:20 PM. Normally we land around 11:10 PM (local time 5:10 AM) at Beijing.

At the Airport

Papers ready


The flight went smoothly, the flight attendants were very friendly and kind (and I love their outfit). The food was very decent, I ate the chicken with rice and a Belgian chocolat mousse for diner and something with eggs and chicken
for breakfast. Before the flight I read about people complaining about the entertainment on board that it was mainly Chinese, but that wasn't like that, probaly less English-language films than other airlines, but the movie Wish
for example was on it. Time went by watching series and listing to (the non-explicit version) of Taylor Swift's album TTPD and then we arrived in Beijng!

Goodies

The flight

Diner is served

Pepsi Max Chinese

Breakfast

We had not received our boarding pass for the Beijing to Hong Kong flight, so upon arrival we arrange this very quick. Then we have to follow transit signs since we are not staying in Mainland China but flying to Hong Kong. After passport control and another hand luggage check, we arrive at the Bejing Terminal, which looks very deserted, probably because it was very early local time. We have about 4 hours to wait until our next flight, we try to fall asleep a bit, because we were awake more than 24 hours. Fortunately, time passes quickly and we are allowed to board with Hong Kong Airlines, where we are served breakfast, noodles with scampi and after about four hours we are finally at our destination!

Destination Hong Kong

My view from the window seat

Another Breakfast


Once we arrive we have to follow the signs for foreigners, this is still quite far away, because we have to use the Skytrain to Immigration and Customs, then we see random people are checked for their temperature and you have to join the queue to check your passport, since mid-October there is no need anymore to fill out an arrival card, so everything goes very smoothly. The luggage is already there, so after buying some bottles of water, and getting some cash, we are ready to go to the official taxi stand, where we easy find a cab to Lantau Island, where the Disneyland Resort & hotels are located. We are almost there!

Love the sign​

 

[Daphne0890]

The taxi ride costs us 25 euros ($27) and we are dropped at the entrance of the hotel, the staff at the luggage service comes immediately to help unload and take our suitcases and they later send them directly to our room.

The Hotel

The entrance


Meanwhile we enter the hotel and the first thing we notice is how nice the smell is here and the lobby looks so beautiful and does have that Hollywood feel.

Love the chandelier

Mickey statue

Reception

We quickly check in and I had bought my Silver Pass online but at the hotel reception you can have it printed and I get a nice lanyard as a gift!

Gifts

After exploring the store, we are curious about our room, which is located on the fifth floor, number 5692. The Hollywood hotel has been steadily renovating the rooms for a while now and we are lucky to have a new room themed Mickey & Friends (the others are Marvel themed). The room is spacious and clean and has many nice details like the black floor lamp with Mickey head. The print above our beds is so beautiful!

Detail elevator

Level 5

Room number

Love the mural

Tv

Detail

Bathroom

Shower curtain

Cuties

Then it's time to freshen up a bit and hit the road again.​

 

[zanzibar138]

I love HKDL and SDL! Always great to see them from a different perspective. Great start so far, looking forward to reading about your adventures!