Travelling with Babies; 6D5N Hong Kong Itinerary with Disneyland
If you have kids under 3 or look like they may possibly be under 3, you should definitely bring them to a Disneyland. They may not remember much when they've all grown up, but they definitely remember hugging princesses now.
My kids have finally been exposed to Disney princesses, and Mei Mei fancies herself one. With Hong Kong's Covid restrictions finally ending, we booked a trip for the whole family to Hong Kong, complete with a 2 night stay at the Disneyland Resort.
TL;DR
Watch the video then.
Day 1
Done with early morning flight, we decided to go with a 9.30am flight for a more normal waking hour.
My cousin who has used up her Covid card showed up for this trip. The kids were split into 3 rows with two adults each; my parents with Mei Mei, me and my cousin with Di Di, and my wife and mother in law with Ge Ge. The flight felt a lot more comfortable than the one to Bali, no puking, not too much squirming .
We touched down around 1.30pm but by the time we cleared customs and got our bags, it was closer to 3, and by the time we had lunch it was already 4 plus. I didn’t think customs would take so long in Hong Kong and had not accomodated for this extra time, so no nap time for the kids. It would be a cranky evening.
With so many of us, it didn’t make sense to take the train. We managed to squeeze into 2 cabs to Disneyland Resort, where we stayed at the Explorer’s Lodge. The trip would only cost about 15-20 SGD per cab.
I’ve been to a few disneylands but this is my first time at a Disneyland hotel, and as a 33 year old man, I was super excited, probably more so than my kids.
We arrived at the Explorers’ Lodge and were greeted by staff members who stuffed stickers into our hands. Loved it.
The rooms were spacious, 2 king sized beds if I’m not wrong. The room came with toiletries in a nice tin case. There were little toothbrushes for our kids and the cutest little in room slippers.
Explored the hotel abit, went to Nemo’s play reef and indoor playground; and did a little treasure hunt. The pay off for the treasure hunt was pretty disappointing, it was just a character card, and they were all Jessie from Toy Story.
We headed to Tung Chung to visit the supermarket to grab some breakfast for the next day. Tired and hungry, we headed to the nearest 大家乐. Unfortunately it was pretty late and the things I was looking forward to were sold out, like their baked spaghetti bolognaise. Why the hell would I go to Hong Kong and eat 大家乐？It’s a childhood nostalgia thing. My wife was protesting.
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| He didn't make it |
Day 2
The big day!
The kids had their packet milk and cereal in room. Mei Mei dressed as a princess as all toddler girls going to Disneyland must. Didi in Gege's simba sweater because Gege insists on old clothes.
We took a shuttle bus to the park and arrived to face a huge crowd of visitors. I keep thinking of the situation as visitors from China crowding the place, when in fact I am the visitor crowding China.
Some unpleasantness at the queue, but that was resolved when we found the separate queue for hotel guests. Make sure you get the app ready to scan the tickets, the app for HK Disneyland is a bit fiddly.
Pro tip, once past the gate your first move should be to book your timings for the princess meet and greet. The cast will tell you they don't know the roster of princesses coming, they are liars. When I went it was a rotation of Ariel, Belle and Cinderalla. These 3 rotate every hour on the hour.
While my wife was booking the appointments, I carried Mei Mei and rushed in to Fantasyland. There was no queue build up yet and we took the Winnie the Pooh ride. I thought it would just be a tame ride, I've been on it before, but with toddlers, there's a lot of noise and lights and too many things happening, quite overstimulating for my kids and I honestly don't think they enjoyed it that much.
Next was the carousel. I made a mistake here. I rushed to the queue immediately after Winnie the Pooh and was actually first in line. The rest of the contingent was slower so a few people came in between me and my family. While waiting, I'd hyped up Mei Mei, choosing the horse she would like to ride on. There is this one horse with lots of flowers on the side and Mei Mei had her heart set on it. Wanting to be with the family in the queue, I gave up pole position and moved back a few spots. When it was our turn to get on, the person I gave up my position to took the flowered horse. There was no replacement, and Mei Mei rode the carousel sad, and would remain sad until we found Minnie Mouse hairbands.
The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in HK does not give free fairy dust to kids. Much disappointed.
Before you know it it's time for the princess meet and greet, you need a booking to even be in line. We got Ariel. was really hoping for Cinderalla because that's what Mei Mei wore.
The kids were abit star struck and awkward.
Went for lunch after that with our pre-bought meal coupons. Otherwise a 2 piece meal is about 150 HKD.
Brought the boys to ant man and the wasp, used to be a Buzz Lightyear shooting ride.
Post lunch we took the It's a Small World ride, this was a more calming ride, suitable for more sensitive children. Gege loved it and requested it again after high tea.
After that we walked about abit, the crowds started to build and queue lines were getting long. We just walked around the park abit with the kids in strollers hoping they would fall asleep. Didi fell asleep after a super long time but the twins stayed up and we had some waffles and ice cream for high tea. While they sat there with my parents, the wife and I got on Space Mountain, which is now Star Wars themed.
The twins wanted to see the princess again and we managed to get another timing. It was Ariel again... Didn't matter to the kids who still loved it.
We watched two shows after that, the Lion King show and the Mickey and the Wondrous Book show. If you can only watch 1, I would recommend the Mickey one, it had many of the princesses come out to sing the popular songs and the production value was high.
At some point we also had ice cream. Ice cream that I always thought was too expensive, but when it's for your toddlers it's a different thing.
After the shows, we went for It's a Small World one more time. Our parents then took the kids and went shopping, got them all bubble wands.
We stayed to watch the fire works, it was a really long performance, 20 minutes at least. I enjoyed it, but had to carry my kids the whole time so they could see and by then they were so tired I don't think they cared much for it.
We didn't settle dinner in the park and we should have. We went back to the hotel and ate at one of their more casual restaurants, but the prices were exorbitant, 300 HKD for a mediocre pizza, and 200 HKD for some soggy fried platter. Terrible waste of money, would not recommend eating back in the hotel.
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| Only one awake during dinner |
Day 3
Checked out and headed to Tung Chung, had breakfast there and then headed to Ngong Ping. We took the cable car, it was a pretty nice long relaxing ride.
We saw cows just grazing by the street.
There were also a few cart noodle stores, I had a bowl of curry fishballs, my favourite HK snack. Delicious but tourist trap pricing.
Mei Mei climbed all the way up to the big Buddha statue with my wife.
We returned to Tung Chung and then took a cab to Tsim Sha Tsui and checked in to Holiday Inn Golden Mile.
Had dinner at a dim sum restaurant Master Chan Dim Sum Specialist. Hong Kong is not kid friendly. There were no high chairs, the twins could seat on the chairs but I had to lap carry the youngest while eating. Not an easy feat. Food was alright, though abit pricey.
We walked to Harbour City and walked abit around Victoria Harbour before heading back to the hotel to rest with the kids.
My mum got curry fishballs for supper, my favourite.
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| I used to play at the arcades in Hong Kong when I was a child, but the prices now are crazy high compared to Timezone. |
Day 4
We had a breakfast at a cha chaan teng. I picked it because it had instant noodles with luncheon meat and fried eggs. I could get it in Singapore but it tastes better in Hong Kong. It’s a childhood nostalgia thing. The kids liked it, along with the pineapple bun with butter.
3 days with the 3 kids is a lot to handle and we decided we would give the grandparents a break. They went for a massage.
We brought the kids to Legoland at the K11 MUSEA at the Victoria Harbour. It was more fun than I expected, there were interactive diorama displays, two rides (but they only operate them 1 at a time) and just lots of bricks for the kids to build stuff with.
We joined a class where they guided the kids to build an ambulance. My youngest being two years old didn’t quite follow instructions and built his own thing, but the teenaged facilitator was very insistent on the kids following his instructions and actually took apart what Didi was building. That was abit weird but Didi took it in his stride.
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| There was a ride that was a bit like a cheaper Antman and the Wasp. |
We told them we were a table of 9, and had no problems having split tables. They proceeded to berate us for being such a big group, grumbling about how they couldn't possibly fit us together. But somehow managed to put us in two tables of 4 side by side. Thanks, but you really didn't have to bitch and moan the whole time. There was one staff who was friendly, from her accent it sounded like she's the only non Hong Konger staff.
After lunch, we went to a childhood favourite of mine: Tai Yuen St in Wan Chai, also known as toy street. We rode on the trams. I told the kids they could each get one toy. Gege went for the jugular, immediately declaring that he was going to get a remote controlled excavator.
That's it for the kids, we brought them back to rest at the hotel, and they had some dinner my parents took away from some nearby restaurant.
Our parents set us free to explore. We headed to Mong Kok for a dimsum dinner at Dim Dim Sum and walked the Ladies Market. It looked pretty desolate, very low footfall and all the counterfeit bags were back on full display.
Day 5
Had breakfast at the cha chaan teng again, because I love instant noodles with luncheon meat.
Headed to Sha Tin after that. Not much in Sha Tin, but my mum really wanted to kids to go to Snoopy Land. It's pretty run down looking.
Unless you plan on doing some shopping, not much in Sha Tin for me or the kids. Brought the kids to Toys R'us, but after Wan Chai, I wasn't going to buy more toys, so it's just window shopping for them.
For our last dinner in Hong Kong I really wanted roast goose again so the wife and I went out to da bao Yat Lok. Definitely something to consider if you don't mind just eating in your hotel room, a good option if you have kids. The takeaway queue is pretty fast moving.
That's all for day 5, everyone was tired. Had initially wanted to go to an island like Lamma Island, but ultimately decided against it as everyone felt the 3 kids wouldn't be able to make the trek from the northern to the southern part of the island for the return ferry, definitely something I would like to try when they are a little bit older.
Day 6
Flight home felt more of a struggle, maybe because the holiday is ending, and also my parents were extending their stay in Hong Kong so less support for the flight back.
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| If you don't look like this at the end of the trip, did your kids even have fun? |
I was seated with Mei Mei and Didi. My mistake was letting Mei Mei take the window seat and Didi the middle seat. It's harder to reach over to help Mei Mei, Didi kept disturbing her, and refused to change seats with me because now the middle seat has been imprinted on him as his. So many cups of spilt milo.
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| Kowloon Park |
Nitty Gritty:
Accomodation
Book early for good rates, we paid about 200 SGD per night, big rooms and it's a Disneyland hotel!
Room is really spacious, can fit a family with 2-3 kids easily.
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| The little slippers are the cutest |
The little tin of toiletries is free to take home, inside you'd get children toothbrushes on top of the usual. You get one for every night of stay. Your kids can use them as pencil cases after the trip
Rates were just under 200 SGD. I love the Tsim Sha Tsui area, it's where most of my Hong Kong stays are located. An MTR exit just next to it, though to be fair that's not saying much because the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR exits are everywhere, but at least you are walking underground.
The hotel room is functional, not too small, your regular cookie cutter hotel. You stay here for the convenience.
Food
I haven't been adventurous with the food, and of the food I've had, I would recommend the following two.
Yat Lok
The iconic michellin starred hole in the wall whose chao bin staff is almost as iconic as its roast goose.
A stone's throw away from Yung Kee, but this one's better value for money. The char siew is so so, the roast pork is good but not exceptional.
The roast goose is clearly the star. Goes wonderfully with the rice noodles.
Sham Chai Kee
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