Visiting Hong Kong with the family

Hong Kong may not be the first place that springs to mind when you are contemplating a family holiday, but having just return from a fab holiday to Asia with a week in Hong Kong and a week in Singapore, I thought I'd share some of the great attractions in Hong Kong that we enjoyed with our children. I've made a little video of our travels to Hong Kong too, which you can see at the bottom of the post!

Disneyland Hong Kong

I must admit that Disneyland Hong Kong was one of the main reasons that we chose to visit Hong Kong. We are big Disney fans and so we were confident that we would enjoy a visit, we are also quite proficient when it comes to visiting Disney parks, and we were interested to see the similarities and differences. Hong Kong Disneyland didn't disappoint. It's the smallest Disney park and there's only the one park on site. We spent two days there and rode all our favourite rides several times, as well as seeing the parades, shows and fireworks. It is easy to get to on the MTR, and the last stop is a dedicated MTR train to Disneyland which is really fun, it has Mickey Mouse shaped windows, Mickey Mouse shaped straps to hang on to, and little Disney statues as decorations.

We visited in late October, half-term holiday for us but term time in Hong Kong, so the park was fairly quiet, and we were also able to enjoy the Halloween decorations and festivities. One thing to note was that only a couple of the rides use fast track and the opening hours were quite short. It was open from 10am until 8pm, but many of the rides were only open from 11am until 7pm. This wasn't a problem for us but might be worth considering if you are planning a visit at a busy time.

For me it was the perfect Disney park - lovely warm sunny weather but not too hot, small in scale so not too much walking, a good mix of rides and attractions, and not too busy. All the cast members were super friendly and had free stickers to hand out to the children, there were a couple of excellent rides that were new to us like the Iron Man Experience and Mystic Manor, and lots of familiarity too.

Ngong Ping 360

The Ngong Ping 360 is a cable car that takes you to Ngong Ping village, situated on Lantau Island. There are other ways of reaching the village but we loved going up in the cable car. We found an offer on the main website and also on Klook where you can travel in one direction on a Crystal glass bottomed cabin which was fantastic. Once you are at the village there are lots of fun attractions. We climbed up to the Big Buddha statue, looked around the monastery, and went for a short walk out to the Wisdom Path. There were also lots of little shops to look around, it was a really lovely place to visit.

Victoria Peak and The Peak Tram

On our first day in Hong Kong we took the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak for amazing views across Hong Kong. It was a Sunday and because it was our first day we didn't rush to get going in the morning, with hindsight we should have arrived first thing as it was quite busy and we did have to queue for quite a while. It's a lovely trip up to the peak and then you can take a walk to various viewing points or do a circular walk around the peak. There's a shopping centre at the top with several things to do as well as shops and restaurants.

Hong Kong Park

Hong Kong Park is located at the bottom station of the Peak Tram, so it's easy to combine a visit. It's free to enter and there are some lovely playgrounds for children. We also spent quite a bit of time in the Aviary which is beautifully set out with lots of interesting birds and other wildlife to look for.

Hong Kong Science Museum

We always visit a science museum if there's one available, and the Hong Kong Science Museum didn't disappoint. The centerpiece is the Energy Machine which is like a giant marble run, the largest machine of its kind in the world. It runs every couple of hours during the day and is fascinating to watch. We visited on a Wednesday when entry was free and it was very quiet.

Hong Kong Museum of History

The Hong Kong Museum of History is located next to the Science Museum and was also free on Wednesday when we visited. It's a museum which takes you through the history of Hong Kong right up until the present day and was very informative. It was a good mix of information and interesting displays for the children, and we all learned a great deal.

The Star Ferry

A ride on the Star Ferry is a great way to see the harbour from another angle as you travel from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon and back. It's quite a short ride but definitely a more interesting way to get around.

A Symphony of Lights Harbour Show

The Symphony of Lights harbour show takes place each night, it takes place at 8pm and the narration is in English on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We watched from just outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and there was plenty of room to sit and enjoy.

Shopping in the markets

We spent quite a bit of time wandering around the markets, we always felt safe even in the evening. We found the prices very reasonable and it was quite easy to haggle. I bought sets of lovely embroidered purses, the children bought souvenirs like magnets, fans, keyrings and fidget spinners. The photograph below was taken in Ngong Ping village, which again was very reasonably priced for souvenirs.

I hope I've inspired you to think about a holiday to Hong Kong with the family, we had such a great time and I'd really recommend it! 

I made a little video which includes all of these attractions here:

Disneyland Hong Kong for Halloween

On our recent trip to Asia we spent a couple of days at Disneyland Hong Kong. We've been lucky enough to visit a few Disney parks around the world, so we were very keen to see how Disneyland Hong Kong compared. Our visit coincided with the Disney Halloween Time celebrations, which this year ran from the 14th September until 31st October.

It's a small park, and Hong Kong Disneyland doesn't host a separate Halloween event like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in Orlando. Instead all the Halloween attractions are included for all visitors. It's not such a big thing as elsewhere - we didn't spot any visitors in costume for example - but there was still plenty of extra theming and attractions with a spooky theme.

Disney really does go to town on the seasonal decorations. There were pumpkins scattered throughout the park, as well as Autumnal wreaths and other Fall decorations. In Toy Story Land I loved the scary toy theme, and Main Street, U.S.A. was beautifully dressed with autumnal colours galore.

There were two parades during the day - the Flights of Fantasy Parade and Mickey's Halloween Time Street Party. Both were excellent as usual, and we found that we didn't need to wait around for too long beforehand, we easily found somewhere to sit with a good view. The Halloween Time Street Party parade stopped for a while so that children could join in and play with some of the characters, and it was nice to see characters like Mickey and Minnie in their seasonal costumes.

One particular attraction specific to Halloween was the Maze of Madness: The Nightmare Experiment Continues. This was a haunted house style attraction where visitors progress in a small group through a series of rooms, being entertained by different characters and special effects. There was plenty of audience participation, but the cast members were very good about not picking on anyone that wasn't enjoying the scariness. Harry found it a bit overwhelming as there was a lot of darkness with people jumping out at you, but he loved the magical effects. Most of the dialogue wasn't in English which did make it all a bit confusing for us, although it was generally pretty obvious what was going on.

There were some fun Halloween activities for younger children in the Halloween Time Festival Gardens. Children could decorate a bucket for trick or treating or have their faces painted, and in the evening there were dressed up cast members with some magical pumpkin cauldrons dispensing treats for children and adults alike.

It was really fun to watch and the children were thrilled with their spooky Disney sweets.

The whole area was beautifully decorated, with plenty of opportunities for seasonal photographs! At night it all looked amazing, with pumpkins that lit up and coloured lighting effects, including projections on all the buildings down Main Street U.S.A.

In the evening, Villains Night Out! Chapter 2 took place. This was a parade of Disney villains and also incorporated a castle show with spooky projections and a live action show with plenty of smoke and fire. On our first evening we sat along the parade route and missed a lot of the action, so on the second evening we were more prepared and found ourselves a spot in front of the castle so that we didn't miss anything. Then later on in the evening we enjoyed the usual fireworks at the castle before the park closed.

As always there was plenty of seasonal merchandise to purchase, both food and drink and gifts to take home. We are quite stingy I'm afraid when it comes to buying the merchandise, but we had a lot of fun looking at it all!

Finally, something that we've not encountered at other Disney parks was sticker collecting. Most of the staff members at Hong Kong Disneyland were carrying a little bag filled with stickers, and if you asked them they would give you some - usually one each but occasionally a handful - and we ended up with loads! Many of them were Halloween themed with Disney villains, and there were also some lovely Hong Kong Disneyland stickers - brilliant free souvenirs and great little gifts for friends back home.

I made a short video showing some of our Halloween highlights at Hong Kong Disneyland, including some of the Halloween Time festivities like Mickey's Halloween Time Street Party, Villains Night Out! and the Halloween Time Festival Gardens. Enjoy!