Jalan-Jalan Hong Kong Disneyland Review - How To Get Pictures of Mickey and Minnie With Minimal Crowd

What To Do In Hong Kong With Kids : Disneyland

Disneyland Hong Kong was our second Disneyland visit as a family the first being Tokyo Disneyland back in 2010. Even though people advised against bringing our (at that time) 1.5 yo boy since he was too young to enjoy the rides, we were quite happy that the small kiddo enjoyed himself at Mickey's house, It's A Small World Ride and the lights parade. We were also very surprised that at 3yo, when he heard the song "It's A Small World After All" on a tv show, he could recall taking the boat ride with us and the animals and figurines that he saw during that ride. Because of this, we are not hesitant to bring our second son (2.5yo) and our now 4 yo to Hong Kong Disneyland since our 2.5yo is now a fan of Mickey and Minnie, we thought it would be best to bring them to Disney HK before my 4yo outgrows the Disney Magic :)  

Jalan-Jalan Hong Kong Disneyland: Mickey and Minnie @ Main Street USA

Disneyland Hong Kong : Mickey and Minnie going for their break.

The highlight of Disneyland Hong Kong for my kids was the chance to see Mickey and Minnie in person, and even though we arrived before opening hours, by the time we got in at Main Street USA, the queue to take pictures with Mickey and Minnie was so long, it would take 45 minutes for our turn. My 2.5 yo of course couldn't understand this and he kept asking to be let in so that he could hug Mickey and Minnie instead of just contending to see from the side where those who had their turn with Mickey and Minnie exited. Oh, his sad face was just too much to bear, but 45 minutes is too long, so I asked the staff there if there is any other alternative and she said yes there is another Mickey and Minnie (separately not together) meet and greet at Fantasy Garden; Fantasy Land but it starts at 12.00pm. So, with that off we went to Fantasy Land to kill some time before heading for Fantasy Garden. 

On the way to Fantasy Land, we decided to rent strollers first at Disneyland HK Main Street USA, and as we arrange for the stroller rental, what luck! Mickey and Minnie came headed our way! My kids were screaming with joy, jumping up and down as Mickey and Minnie waved to them. Apparently, Mickey and Minnie take frequent breaks from picture taking (I think they rotate staff every 20 minutes or so) and the place where they do their rotation is behind the gate just beside the Disney stroller rental. So, if you park yourself there, you will be able to get a photo of Mickey and Minnie (not with you though, that will be plain unfair to those queuing) entering (and if you wait a few more minutes) exiting from the gate! 

Jalan-Jalan Hong Kong Disneyand: Minnie Taking the Dumbo Ride just before 12.00pm

Jalan-Jalan Hong Kong Disneyland: Taking Pictures @ Fantasy Garden

Next place to snap a picture of Mickey and Minnie is at Dumbo the Elephant Ride just before their scheduled Meet and Greet at Fantasy Garden, I was there with my 2.5 yo coincidentally as my 2.5 yo is nuts about elephants and we were waiting for my 4yo who went to the toilet. So, there we were just standing looking at the Dumbo rides when we saw Mickey and Minnie taking the Dumbo Rides and I am like? Why are Mickey and Minnie taking Dumbo rides??? But my 2.5 yo was again waving madly and yeling Minnie Mouse! Minnie Mouse! While trying to squeeze his head between the bars haha.. he was super ecstatic when Minnie waved at him and gave a flying kiss! When the ride finished, I realized that it was just a gimmick, so that as Mickey and Minnie held hands waving at the kids and headed for Fantasy Garden, all this screaming kids were hopping along behind them straight to Fantasy Garden for the Meet and Greet. My 2.5yo was practically dragging me to follow Mickey and Minnie as I frantically scanned the area for Hubby and his big brother but sadly, we had to wait for them a while more. 

Hong Kong Disneyland With Kids : Posing with Minnie Mouse

After 10 minutes or so, my hubby and eldest son emerged and we headed for Fantasy Garden, while Minnie's queue was quite long (though still only about 15 minutes wait) Mickey, Donald, Pluto and Pooh's queue was very short. So, we had some fun time taking pictures with them and we saved the last for Minnie. As parents, we were very happy looking at our kiddos excited faces when they get to hug Mickey and Minnie and when Donald and Pluto tickled and hugged them. 

Disneyland Hong Kong With Kids : The Boys before the 3-D show

Hong Kong Disneyland Rides: The River Safari

Hong Kong Disneyland Rides : The River Safari

After the meet and greet with the Disney Characters, we took some rides such as the Mickey's PhilharMagic ( A 3-D movie) which to me is a bit dated but hubby liked it. The Dumbo Elephant Ride (for my 2.5 yo) and The River Cruise (my 2.5yo enjoyed this river safari with elephants, hippos, crocodiles, gorillas and fire but my scaredy 4 yo didn't.) After our late lunch, it was time to find a good spot for Flights of Fantasy Parade @ 3.30pm. We took our spot at 3.15pm and was pretty happy with it until the people besides us (front row) started to stand when the parade is about to start thus blocking my kids view and the people behind us had the cheek to squeeze next to the tiny space beside my kids stroller and stood there thus ensuring my kid not being able to see anything! My blood was boiling, so inconsiderate of these people. And there was a handicapped person behind my kid's stroller who would have been able to enjoy the parade but because of all this inconsiderate front row viewers, is not able to. That totally ruined my mood, and I took my kid out of the stroller, parked it behind the row of ppl and curtly told the people who was trying to take my place to move aside while I put my child on my lap, squatting on the road uncomfortably squeezed.

Jalan-jalan Disneyland Hong Kong : Flights of Fantasy Parade

Hong Kong Disneyland With Kids : The Princesses

After the parade, my 25yo was too tired that he felt asleep while we were pushing him to Its A Small World ride, so my 4yo enjoyed an ice cream cone there before we decided to call it a day :) I would say that if we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel, we would definitely come back again after resting for the fireworks in the evening and to try out other rides at Toy Storyland that we didn't have time for. 

Jalan-Jalan Ke Hong Kong Disneyland : The Parade @ 3.30pm

Hong Kong Disney Land Parade

All in all, even though Disneyland Hong Kong is much smaller in scale than all the other Disneylands, it was still an enjoyable day out with my two small kids for our holiday in Hong Kong :)

What To Do In Hong Kong With Kids: Hong Kong Disneyland

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Jalan-Jalan Hong Kong: Ocean Park Review

Hong Kong With Kids: Ocean Park Review

Hong Kong For Kids:At the entrance of Ocean Park

Went to Hong Kong with our 4 years old and 2.5 years old for a short getaway and Ocean Park was highly rated as Hong Kong top attractions for kids. We went by taxi as we find it troublesome to take public transportation with two small kids. Of course, our kids are too small for most of the rides but that doesn't mean that they didn't enjoy Ocean Park. 

Hong Kong With Kids: Feeding Time For the Pandas!

Rather, they enjoyed it very much, especially seeing a panda and a red panda for the first time. We timed our visit to Ocean Park to coincide with the shows and the Panda Feeding at 12.00pm was our first stop at Ocean Park. It was so nice, the enclosure exudes calm and peace and was very cool. My 2.5 year old stayed transfixed in front of the giant panda for a good ten minutes. While mommy was trying to get a decent picture of the red panda who couldn't stay still for 1 second. His 4 year old brother was engrossed with the salamanders at another exhibit. 

Hong Kong With Kids : The Red Panda @ Ocean Park

Hong Kong With Kids: Visitors trying to snap a picture of the elusive red panda

Out from the panda enclosure, we entered the Goldfish Treasures, it may sound so ordinary but oh my goodness, we didn't know that there are so many different kinds of goldfishes with very funny eyes and face. The kids were pretty tickled looking at the funny fishes. 

What To Do in Hong Kong With Kids: @ Ocean Park Hong Kong

What To Do In Hong Kong With Kids: Hopscotch @ Ocean Park

Next we went to Whiskers Harbour that has dedicated rides for children like a locomotive ride, merry-go-round, bouncer house, playground, ferris wheel and what nots but hubby didn't really want to stay here long since the weather was quite sunny, the kids played a few token games and off we go to the Aquarium!

Hong Kong Trip: The Aquarium @ Ocean Park

I would say that the aquarium is the highlight of Ocean Park if you are coming with kids who are not big enough to enjoy all the other thrill rides. It is very big and even though it gets quite crowded here, you can always find something interesting at another exhibit that is less crowded.  We saw quite a number of fishes that we have not seen before such as the razor fish, hmm.. would't have known that was a fish! Other fascinating sea creatures that we have seen before (in other aquariums) such as Nautilus, Spider Crabs and what nots, are of course, also on exhibit.

Hong Kong With Kids : Nautilus @ Ocean Park's Aquarium

Hong Kong With Kids: Spider Crabs @ Ocean Park's Aquarium

Next, we took  the ocean express; which is a train that fits 400 passengers at one go, to the Summit Station to check out the Polar Adventures (I had thought initially that we would be able to see a real polar bear) Unfortunately, polar adventures consists of penguins, seals and walrus only..

Jalan-Jalan Hong Kong : The Only Polar Bear at Ocean Park are  all replicas

Jalan-Jalan Hong Kong: Polar Ed-Ventures @ Ocean Park

After all this, we were so tired walking about the mountainous terrain of Ocean Park and decided to go to Ocean Theatre before heading back home. We reached the theatre at about 4.00pm and saw some dolphins swimming around as they just finished their show -I think- but we didn't want to wait till 5.30pm for the next show so off we went back to the hotel.

Hong Kong Trip : Thrill Rides @ Ocean Park

Hong Kong Trip: Thrill Rides @ Ocean Park

It was quite tiring, since we didn't sit down to rest at any of the cafes as there is no halal restaurant at Ocean Park though the Park's map states that there are 3 food outlets that has indian menu (2 at the cable car station and 1 at Rainforest). Considering that Ocean Park is really huge, you might want to rent strollers to make it easier for you. 

Ocean Park is open everyday from 10.00am -7.00pm and Ocean Park ticket price is HKD280 (Adult) HKD140 (Child 3-11 years). You can get more information on how to get to Ocean Park here.