This First Timers Guide to Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) is filled with my tips and advice for having the best first visit to Hong Kong Disneyland. Hong Kong Disneyland, just like any other Disney Park, requires a fair bit of planning to ensure that you have a great time, especially for those who have never been before.
I think HKDL is the perfect “starter park” for many reasons. It’s relatively uncrowded, making touring the park very easy. It’s also friendly to English speakers compared to nearby Disney Parks like Tokyo Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland. Its ride lineup is also very accessible to young children as only a few rides have height requirements.
While these tips are geared towards first timers, anyone can stand to benefit from knowing about and using these tips. The tips will cover everything from park tickets to attractions and shows to when the best time to visit is. So let’s get started!
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Click the following links to access my Hong Kong Disneyland Attraction and Ride Guide, my 1-Day HKDL Itinerary, my 2-Day HKDL Itinerary, and my posts explaining the Premier Access System, Early Park Entry Pass the The Best Times to Visit HKDL, and Visiting HKDL with Kids.
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Klook.comWhen to Go
When to go to Hong Kong Disneyland is a crucial question you need to ask yourself as you start planning your trip. I know the first instinct would be to go during holidays to take advantage of time off from school or work, but the park will be packed if you go during a holiday. I would avoid big Hong Kong and Mainland China holidays like Christmas, Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Summer.
But the biggest factor that will influence when you should go isn’t crowds but the weather. Hong Kong can get incredibly hot and humid during the warmer months, so you’d want to avoid visiting during these times. In addition to being hot, summer is also the rainy season. You’ll want to avoid visiting when it’s raining for the best experience.
I recommend visiting from October to April. It’s not as warm during these times of the year and, assuming you avoid the big holidays, lines during these times of the year won’t be as long. For more info on when you should go to Hong Kong Disneyland, I wrote a post about it, which you can find here.
As another general rule, usually Tuesdays to Thursdays are the best times to go, followed by Monday, Friday, and Sunday. Saturday is the worst day of the week to visit and should be avoided.
How Many Days to Go
Now in terms of how many days you should spend at HKDL, I’m actually going to go against my usual advice and say that, if it’s your first time visiting HKDL, you should only go for a day. This might come as a shock to readers of this site because I always recommend visiting a park for at least 2 days. But let me explain why I think 1 day is the perfect amount of time for a first timer.
The biggest reason why I recommend only spending one day at the park, especially if this is your first Disney Park ever, is because you may end up deciding that Disney Parks aren’t for you. While Disney Parks appeal to a wide variety of people, not everyone is going to like the vibe that Disney Parks give off. In case you’re one of those people, then only going for a single day might be worth it for you just to try it out and see if you like it. If you don’t, then at least you don’t feel obligated to go a second time because you’ve paid to go for 2 days.
If you decide that you did like the experience, then you can always tack on a second day to your Hong Kong itinerary or you could always come back on a future trip. Hong Kong Disneyland is also easier to tour than the other Disney Parks so you can realistically get everything you want done in a day. Treat the park as a sampler for the Disney experience as a whole, especially since it’s your first time.
If you’d like some discounts on your one-day ticket, or if you decide to go for two days, click here to purchase tickets through Klook.
Park Tickets and Reservations
If you’re going for just one day, I wouldn’t recommend buying a Magic Access annual pass, especially if you don’t know if you’re going to like and enjoy the Disney theme park experience. I would stick with buying a one-day ticket. There usually aren’t any deals on 1-day tickets, but if you decide to go for two days there are promo offers for 2-day tickets. You can find those offers on Klook through this link. Klook is usually cheaper than the listed Disneyland price by a couple of dollars.
The other thing you have to remember is that, as of March 2025, Hong Kong Disneyland still requires park reservations. You must get a reservation for the days you want to visit HKDL in advance. You can do this after purchasing tickets through the HKDL website. Take note that some tickets purchased through Klook already have park reservations attached to them, but this isn’t the case with every ticket. Park reservations can run out so it’s best to book them well in advance especially if you’re coming at a busy time. They can be made up to 90 days in advance and can be done on the Hong Kong Disneyland website.
Hotels – Should You Stay in One?
Hong Kong Disneyland has three hotels: The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Hollywood Hotel, and Disney Explorers Lodge. Each of the hotels has a distinct design and comes with their own unique amenities. From pools to club level suites to character dining, the Hong Kong Disneyland hotels can be a fun experience if you want to stay within the “Disney Bubble”.
Unless you want to go all out on the Disney experience and really immerse yourself in the Disney atmosphere, I wouldn’t recommend staying at a hotel for your first visit to Hong Kong Disneyland. I think of the hotels as extensions of the parks, so if you find that you don’t like the vibe of the parks, the hotels might not be your thing. They’re also a huge investment so, unless you have little kids who are experiencing Disney for the first time, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Another reason for not staying at an HKDL hotel for your first visit is there aren’t really any benefits to staying at an HKDL hotel. You don’t get early entry from staying in a hotel and you don’t get any advantage in booking premier access passes (which you don’t really need anyway). The only “advantages” you have are that there is a designated hotel guest entrance to the park and that you are within close proximity to the parks. So in terms of making your day easier to plan, there aren’t that many benefits to staying at a hotel.
If you do want to book a hotel stay, you can use my links below to book the Disney hotels.
Click to book a room at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Hollywood Hotel, or the Disney Explorers Lodge.
Early Park Entry and Premier Access
Next I want to talk about two things I mentioned in the previous section: Early Park Entry Passes and Premier Access Passes. Early Park Entry Passes, as the name implies, are passes you can use to gain early entry into the parks. For about HK$199 or US$25.61, you can get access to 5 attractions an hour before park opening, including the two World of Frozen attractions. You can read my post about Early Park Entry here.
Premier Access, on the other hand, is HKDL’s skip the line service. Coming in 3 different bundles, as well as in single attraction passes, these passes allow you to skip a majority of the standby queue, which gets you on attractions faster, thus saving you time. Depending on the bundle you pick, you can also get exclusive access to shows and to Momentous, HKDL’s nighttime spectacular. You can read my post about Premier Access here.
In my opinion, for your one day at the park, the Early Park Entry Pass is worth purchasing, while Premier Access is not. On most days, you won’t need Premier Access because lines will rarely go above 30 minutes, with certain exceptions (such as Toy Soldier Parachute Drop). In my opinion, the best way to beat the crowds is to visit at the right time of the year.
If you visit when crowds are predictably lower, you won’t need Premier Access as most lines will be short. If you do encounter a long line in the park, however, and want to skip it then you can just purchase a single attraction pass. You’ll only really need this for the Toy Story Land rides though.
Early Park Entry, on the other hand, is crucial to having a good day at HKDL. Getting to enter the park an hour early to ride the most popular rides before the park even opens frees up your day and gives you more control over what you want to do. Even on a slow day, finishing up your itinerary early means you can either repeat your favorite attractions or do rides and shows that weren’t on your original itinerary. It’s a good advantage that’ll help you avoid long lines, so consider buying it if you can.
Rope Drop and Park Close
This first-timers guide to Hong Kong Disneyland would not be complete if I didn’t mention the terms Rope Drop and Park Close. Rope Drop refers to the practice of arriving at the gates of the park before the “rope drops” or before the park officially opens that day in order to take advantage of the low crowds in the morning to get a lot of rides done. Park Close is the opposite and means staying in the park until it closes in order to take advantage of the shorter waits that happen closer to the day ending.
It’s important that during your visit that you make it in time for Rope Drop and stay till Park Close. It may be tiring, but the best way to get the most out of your day is to stay in the park for as long as possible. I would generally recommend arriving at the turnstiles up to 45 minutes before you can enter the park, the exact time of which will depend on if you bought Early Park Entry or not.
Another tip is that rides will allow you to get in line up to the minute the park closes, so if you don’t really want to watch Momentous (which I think you should as it’s probably one of the best nighttime spectaculars Disney has ever created) then you could theoretically get in line for Hyperspace Mountain right as the park is closing and still be able to ride it, helping you maximize your day. Main Street shops are also open until 1 hour after the park’s official closing time, so consider doing your shopping then to save time.
Dining
Hong Kong Disneyland has many snack carts, quick service restaurants, and table service restaurants. Because you need to spend as much of your limited time experiencing attractions, I wouldn’t recommend dining at any table service restaurants. HKDL has amazing quick service options that serve everything from pho to burgers. HKDL probably has the most diverse dining options of any Disney castle park.
My personal favorite restaurants are Starliner Diner for their burgers and fried chicken, Royal Banquet Hall for their diverse set of options, Golden Crocus Inn for their mushroom pasta, and Clopin’s Festival of Foods for their pho. But you can’t go wrong with any of the restaurants. While you’re there, be sure to try the Korean Squid in Adventureland and the churros from Toy Story Land, as well as the caramel popcorn and Mickey ice cream bars found throughout the park.
If you want to save money, consider buying a meal voucher. A meal voucher allows you to pre-buy two meals, one lunch meal and one dinner meal, as well as a snack from a snack cart. You end up saving around HK$60 or USD$7.72 when you use the meal voucher to buy food assuming you buy a meal for the max value of the voucher. It’s not a lot of savings, but if you’re in a big group that can really add up.
Can’t Miss Attractions
For this first timers guide to Hong Kong Disneyland, I want you to experience all the best attractions in the park. HKDL is chock full of attractions and unfortunately they aren’t all equal. Some rides are unequivocally better than others, so I’ve come up with a list of all the attractions I think you should experience to get a good feel of the identity of the park. If you want to know more about the attractions, check out my HKDL ride and attraction guide, linked here.
Here are the must-do rides and attractions at HKDL:
Main Street
- Friendtastic Parade
- Momentous
Adventureland
- Jungle River Cruise
- Festival of the Lion King
Grizzly Gulch
- Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars
Mystic Point
- Mystic Manor
Toy Story Land
- Toy Soldier Parachute Drop
- RC Racer
Fantasyland
- It’s a Small World
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Mickey’s Philharmagic
- Mickey and the Wondrous Book
World of Frozen
- Frozen Ever After
Tomorrowland
- Hyperspace Mountain
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle
- Iron Man Experience
First Timers Guide to Hong Kong Disneyland Conclusion
Now that you’ve been equipped with all of my first timer tips, the only thing left to do is to book that trip! You’re going to have an amazing time and I hope you get to experience more Disney Parks in the future. Refer back to this first timers guide to Hong Kong Disneyland whenever you need help. Have a great time!
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