18 Things From Disney’s Hidden Gem Theme Park We Wish We Had in the US Parks

Disney has six – soon to be seven – different theme park resorts around the world. Each different theme park resort has its own unique offerings that set it apart from the other properties, as well as unifying elements that make the resort truly “Disney.”

During my first visit to this Asian Disney park, I discovered a long list of items that I hope will provide future inspiration for changes and improvements at the US theme parks. At Mickey Visit, we bring you the latest Disney news and planning resources. It's so exciting to be sharing more from our international adventure as well.

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Disney's Hidden Gem Resort Delivers

There's a hidden gem Disney resort in Asia that you don't hear about nearly as often as Tokyo Disney or Shanghai Disney, but it delivers a fantastic experience filled with wonderful offerings and a quaintness that evokes a feeling of the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California. That resort is Hong Kong Disneyland.

Recently, I visited Hong Kong Disneyland for the very first time to share a look at the Hong Kong Disneyland 20th Anniversary celebration here on Mickey Visit. While there, I also had the chance to enjoy everything the park has to offer and was thrilled with what I found. There are so many different aspects of the resort overall that I wish we had in the US, ranging from attractions to smaller process-specific offerings.

The first time that I went to Asia to visit Tokyo Disney, I came back in awe with so many little notes about things they did differently. Those discoveries are some of what I love about travel, and so I wanted to share them with you too.

Let's dive into the things from Hong Kong Disneyland that I would most like to see here in the United States. This article is written in the order in which items stood out to me when brainstorming. I find it notable that some of the smaller things were actually the ones that I thought of first.

Public Transportation Connection

Starting off strong, all of the international Disney theme parks are accessible via the major city's public transportation. Hong Kong Disneyland goes even a little bit further. There is a special subway line off the Hong Kong MTR that connects you to the park and is completely Disney-themed.

The subway line has Mickey Mouse-shaped windows and handles hanging down from the ceiling, photos of Walt Disney on trains, and even Disney statues in clear compartments along the train. The cars were very clean and had plush purple seats all along the interior. You can see a video of the experience on our socials here.

This is such a great themed way to arrive at the resort and one that I can only dream about due to our car-centric US culture.

Food Convenience and Eco-Friendly

Moving into the food experience inside Hong Kong Disneyland, there were a number of great ways that we were handled as diners that I would love in the US parks.

When you ordered hot food at most of the Hong Kong Disney quick service restaurants, it came out on proper plates and bowls with metal silverware. The food was also covered with a plastic cover to keep it warm.

Once you were seated at your table, a very attentive Cast Member would pick up your cover and trays to get them out of your way.

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Trays and Food

The trays also made it a lot easier to stack and carry food for a big group. I ate the above entree from the World of Frozen Golden Crocus restaurant twice because it was the perfect level of sustenance to keep me going on the hot days.

As I enjoyed my meal, I took in the efficiency of fitting so many people into the seating area and moving them through. I thought of the San Fransokyo Square food court area in Disney California Adventure multiple times throughout my trip and how nice it would be to have that area staffed in this same way and to have proper plates and bowls. They briefly offered this at the Lucky Fortune Cookery, but I believe they are using plastic bowls widely now.

I wonder what the reasoning for not doing this at Disneyland and Walt Disney World is. Perhaps the scale is just too big? Or are these reusable plates mandated or expected culturally in Hong Kong?

Carts in buffets

As another point about the food, I was so impressed by the buffet lines in the Fantasyland restaurant. Here, they had stations with food from China, Japan, and the U.S.

Rather than just fitting everything onto one tray, there were actual carts that could hold trays so that one person could maneuver an entire family's worth of food. I had to stop someone as they collected their food so that I could grab a photo of their cart filled with different food items.

Semi-buffet Restaurants

Hong Kong Disneyland has adopted what may be a local offering, or perhaps a holdover from the British presence in the city. For whatever reason that these are offered here, I love this format. In multiple locations, there are semi-buffets offered where you order a main course, but your appetizer and desserts are available from the buffet.

We dined at Walt's inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and really enjoyed the set of appetizers and then all the dessert options. This felt very fancy and old-world. There is also a version of this offering inside Hong Kong Disneyland at the Explorer's Club Restaurant in Mystic Point, which is seen above. I walked through the restaurant but didn't eat there this trip. It's calling me back on my next visit.

Mystic Manor

Now, turning to big attractions, I will start with the marquee top offering at this park.

As I've already raved, Hong Kong Disneyland is home to one of the best Disney rides in the world —if not the best one. Mystic Manor is a fantastic trackless dark ride with an original storyline that takes place in the Victorian home of an artifacts collector and his companion monkey. This is the last Disney ride since 2013 to be built that tells an original story and doesn't rely on any outside intellectual property. There were also interesting cultural differences that led to this attraction. See them detailed in my full review.

Please read my article, considering this as the best Disney ride in the world, for a deeper look at what makes this ride so special and why I wish we had something like it in the United States.

Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars

Right next to Mystic Manor is the Grizzly Gulch land. This is the park's smaller version of Frontierland, and this roller coaster is the version of Big Thunder Mountain at the park.

The ride amps up the excitement beyond what Big Thunder Mountain delivers with multiple surprises and Audio-Animatronics bears that keep accidentally blowing things up and wreaking havoc on those riding in the train. The ride replaces Big Thunder Mountain’s cursed mine storyline with mischievous grizzly bears, aligning with Chinese cultural values that view ghosts with reverence and consider curses to be triggers of bad luck.

The coaster uses the same ride system as Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom, which produces a thrilling, high-speed adventure that sends you forwards and backwards. For that reason, the ride is also far smoother than Big Thunder Mountain. This is an epic ride!

Jungle Cruise

Hong Kong Disneyland's Jungle Cruise is tons of fun! The ride takes the place of the Rivers of America in the park. In the middle of the Jungle Cruise loop is Tarzan's Treehouse, which offers rafts to get across to it. I thought this was ingenious. The park was initially built on a very low budget, and I like this move to increase the size of one waterway instead of doing two minimally.

The attraction itself is also lots of fun. There are options to ride a version of the attraction in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. The ride follows a similar classic flow to the US versions of the attractions through the different scenes. The finale of the ride was perhaps my favorite because it was the most different from any other version of this ride. Reminiscent of a Universal Studios ride, there is a major water and fire explosion that happens around the boat and forces you to reroute your journey. Our skipper reacted with huge emotions when this happened and saved the day. It's a silly end to an even more slapstick version of the Jungle Cruise that makes this worth riding. I like the effect and energy it brings.

Frozen Land

Hong Kong Disneyland is home to the first-ever Frozen-themed land. The World of Frozen area features two attractions, multiple food locations, a very cool interactive storytelling experience with Anna and Elsa, and shops all surrounding a stunning lake in front of Elsa's ice palace up on a hill.

This land is immersive and impressive. The hills behind the theme park are used perfectly to recreate the feeling of the Nordic setting from the movie. There are special hidden touches throughout the land that reference the movie. We also saw lots of live entertainment, including a band playing live and characters roaming the land. It was brought to life by these great performers.

The main attraction is a better version of the Frozen Ever After boat ride at EPCOT with updated Audio-Animatronics that make the faces of the characters in the attraction look more believable. The second ride is Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs. The ride is a family-friendly coaster that winds around an exterior hill. It is quite short, but the views from here are great.

Explorer's Lodge

The Disney Explorer's Lodge hotel is one of the three hotels at Hong Kong Disneyland. This is their mid-level hotel, but wow, does it pack a punch for being in that classification! It's basically Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge with a spectacular view out towards the city of Hong Kong and a big pool area. The theming of the room and hotel is fantastic and a great option for the money.

I loved the theming of this property and all of the different offerings in the area. Another note about the hotels is that they are all connected by a seawall walkway along the water. The views here are fantastic. The only issue is that it adds about 10 minutes to the walk back. It was so hot during my visit that I was drenched in sweat by the time I got back to the hotel.

This hotel is also home to the Dragon Wind Buffet, where I ate breakfast multiple times during my trip. That experience deserves its own article on the site. It was incredible! This was perhaps the best buffet that I have had anywhere in the world. It really delivered with Western and Asian foods and a wide variety of breakfast and lunch offerings. This is also a character breakfast. Here, there is just one character that switches every day, and you line up at the end of your meal to meet them. I met explorer Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse.

Tai Chi With Mickey and Other Complimentary Hotel Perks

I have joked that I flew halfway across the world to Hong Kong Disneyland just to participate in Tai Chi with Mickey Mouse. I love this concept. It is exactly what it sounds like. Mickey Mouse leads guests in a 15-minute practice of traditional stretches and awakening movements still practiced widely in China. The first day of my Hong Kong visit, I walked 15 miles exploring the city proper. During that day, I saw a lot of locals doing Tai Chi in the park, so it was quite fun to later see Mickey leading this for hotel guests.

If you don't make it in time for the actual class, you can also line up for a photo with Mickey Mouse in his traditional outfit. This is one of the most unique experiences in the Disney Parks. I love the Disneyland fitness classes that take place inside the parks, but they don't feature any characters!

In addition to that offering, there were other great complimentary offerings for all hotel guests, including a mini golf course. Be sure to check the hotel schedule online or ask at the front desk for these, as schedules may shift.

They Changed Their Classic Sleeping Beauty Castle

Okay, this is a crazy one to include on this list, and I don't fully want it to come to the US, but I have to call it out because I think the story and the fact that it exists are so interesting. Hong Kong Disneyland opened with its castle as a replica of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in California.

Guests to the park quickly started comparing the size of the castle to Tokyo Disneyland's castle, which is a replica of Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle, and then to the even bigger Shanghai Disney castle when that park opened.

You’ll hear a lot of protective comments from Disneyland locals to Walt Disney World goers when they complain about the Disneyland castle size, justifying why it’s perfect the way it is. At Hong Kong Disneyland resort, however, they heard the feedback and actually made a change.The park unveiled plans to transform the structure from Sleeping Beauty Castle to the Castle of Magical Dreams. The plan called for an external addition to the existing structure to make the castle bigger and more prominent. It also created a new stage and a fountain area in front. You can see in the photo how they kept the original structure and added the tower behind it.

The new castle also gives them more square footage to deliver fantastic projection shows. The castle's exterior surface was purpose-built for projection mapping to deliver crisp images. They do this perfectly in their nightly show, Momentous.

I would never want Disneyland to change the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle, but this addition is very classy, and I personally like it more than the Walt Disney World and Tokyo castles. My top three Disney castles are Anaheim, Paris, and Hong Kong.

Walt and Mickey Statue

There is also a relatively new Walt and Mickey statue in Hong Kong Disneyland's Fantasyland, where the Sword in the Stone would be in the US parks. This statue has Walt and Mickey Mouse sitting on a park bench that resembles the one Walt Disney sat on watching his daughters on the carousel in Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

This is one of a number of new-era Walt Disney statues being added to the parks that started with the addition at Disney California Adventure and then at EPCOT. Of the three, this is my favorite one that I have seen. I like how it is at eye-level and that guests can sit on the bench for a photo with the pair. Very cute.

Premier Access & No Lightning Lanes on Phones

Rather than offering a version of Disneyland's Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Disney World's Lightning Lane Multi Pass, the park utilizes a Premier Access system where you purchase access to a certain number of attractions without the need to make return times. You can go at any time. For the equivalent of $25 USD, you can skip the line for three top attractions, or for $54 USD, you can skip the line for eight of the top attractions. There are also options to add on reserved seating for the top shows and fireworks at a pretty reasonable rate, as compared to the United States.

There is now something similar to this with Disney World Premier Pass and Disneyland Premier Pass, but the offerings there are far more costly per person. That's understandable in the US due to the demand for a service like this, but it's quite amazing to pay just $15 more than standard US Lightning Lane and be able to walk into a queue without even having to look at your phone. Not having to use the phone for pulling Lightning Lane is such a relief so that you can take in the park. It's the same reason why we like Universal Studios Hollywood Express Pass and Universal Orlando Express Pass so much.

Language Additions

There is a big focus on delivering for guests in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. I found it notable the ways that they wove these options into different shows and attractions. On the Jungle Cruise, for instance, there were lines for versions of the attraction in all three languages. It was quite nice to be able to visit the country and go on the ride in my own language.

Similarly, there was a Mickey and the Wondrous Book show that I loved, which was very similar to the Mickey's Magical Map show at Disneyland Park, and had English subtitles built into the set design so that we could easily read and laugh along at the jokes while the characters spoke Cantonese.

Though the US Disney theme parks already do a lot to support international audiences, the ease with which Hong Kong Disneyland navigated the languages left me wondering if there was more to be improved. Native Spanish and Portuguese speakers represent a growing audience at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. This left me wondering if they feel equally well taken care of today when visiting.

it's a small world scenes

The “it's a small world” attraction here was a lot of fun to see. It has the same great facade styling of the Disneyland attraction, but it is painted in wonderful bright colors. You can see it in the featured image at the top of this article.

There were two great aspects of this attraction that were fun to see compared to our American versions. There were different Disney characters here than the ones seen in the Disneyland Park version. I loved seeing Bambi and Thumper, Baloo and Mowgli, and Marie.

And, the American scene here was more established. It was fun to spot icons from my hometown of San Francisco, including the Transamerica Pyramid and Golden Gate Bridge.

Marvel area

The Marvel area in Hong Kong is well developed and about half of Tomorrowland. There are two attractions here, an Ant-Man version of the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters attraction and an Iron Man version of Star Tours. Plus, an Iron Man meet and greet. There is also another new Marvel attraction coming in the future.

The Iron Man ride is a lot of fun. It takes place in Hong Kong and has Tony Stark saving a group of tourists who are onboard a special vehicle to check out the new Stark Tower opening in the city. The ride system seems like it is a more modern version of the Star Tours vehicles and delivers a similar simulator-style experience.

Walking through the queue for the Iron Man ride, I was just getting more excited about finally having the major new additions to Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure. The ride queue is the first one that I have ridden that really feels like a pure Avengers ride that takes itself seriously. I am sitting here imagining how great the new ride should be with a big budget and lots of creative focus.

The Ant-Man attraction was also a lot of fun. It showed off the new technology that is expected to be the tech that Disney is using for their new version of the Buzz Lightyear ride. The guns in the cars had haptics that gave a reaction to hitting a target and had clear lasers so that you could actually see where you were aiming. This will be a huge improvement over the current US versions of this ride. The scenes in the Ant-Man ride were largely screen-based and underwhelming compared to the US versions of the ride. I am glad that in the Magic Kingdom, they are keeping the dimensional Buzz Lightyear sets, so we will get the best of both worlds.

Lower Wait Times

Generally, the park benefits from having lower crowds, though it was quite crowded on the day of the actual 20th anniversary kickoff and weekends. Some of the American media guests we were with had visited previously and commented that it was the busiest that they had ever experienced the park. It's exciting to note that the new World of Frozen expansion and the 20th anniversary may be having a positive impact on attendance.

We break down why this is the least-visited Disney theme park resort in the world and consider how the park will continue to evolve.

I was thrilled to visit this park for the very first time. I walked away impressed and anticipating a future return to spend more time in this park, preferably in a season when it isn't quite so hot. However, if I enjoyed it this much in 90 degrees Fahrenheit and 90% humidity, imagine how much I will like it in more temperate climates.

While we covered our own travel expenses, we were hosted by Hong Kong Disneyland for the 20th anniversary media event.

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