Disney’s Best Park You’re Not Visiting is Our #1 Destination for 2025
It’s that time of year when prestigious publications and esteemed travel tastemakers from all over the world carefully curate lists of the best destinations and hidden gems to recommend to their readers. And then there’s us. This blog is going to do the same thing, weighing whether you should visit Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or expand your horizons as we crown a #1 Disney theme park to visit in 2025.
The cases for and against Walt Disney World are fairly simple. Pent-up demand has exhausted itself, resulting in lower attendance and crowds, plus more discounts on resort rooms as Walt Disney World attempts to entice guests. The Florida parks have also wrapped up their last big development cycle with the completion of the EPCOT overhaul and opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, so you can experience everything new if it’s been a few or more years since you last visited.
As for what’s new in 2025 at Walt Disney World, not a whole lot. Disney Starlight Night Parade is the biggest thing, and that’ll debut over the summer. There are also smaller stage shows and entertainment expected, but nothing major–making the lack of new attractions the biggest reason to take a year (or 3) off from Walt Disney World.
Honestly, the most compelling reason to visit Walt Disney World in 2025 is as an add-on to Universal’s Epic Universe. Or to say goodbye to DINOSAUR, Rivers of America/Tom Sawyer Island, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, MuppetVision, and other attractions and areas going extinct. None of this is enough to earn Walt Disney World the #1 Disney destination in 2025.
Then there’s Disneyland, which celebrates its 70th Anniversary in 2025. It’s a pretty similar story for the California parks as it is the Florida ones. Pent-up demand ending, meaning better discounts and lower crowds (albeit not even close to the same extent as Walt Disney World). Ditto the last development cycle ending with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opening.
Disneyland Resort is also getting a night parade with the return of Paint the Night. Wondrous Journeys and Better Together will also make comebacks. World of Color Happiness debuts, as well as the upcoming Walt Disney Audio Animatronics stage show. Seasonal events and a more robust entertainment slate will also be highlights.
It sounds like 2025 will be a solid year for Disneyland, at least once May rolls around. But not enough to earn Disneyland the top spot. If anything, it’s still beaten by Walt Disney World thanks to the latter’s lower crowds and proximity to Epic Universe.
All of the other candidates require an international flight, and the most obvious of those is Tokyo Disney Resort. In fact, the Japan parks should be considered the frontrunners due to the opening of Fantasy Springs halfway through this year. That $2.3 billion expansion featuring Frozen, Tangled, and Peter Pan was the only major addition that “Disney” opened anywhere this year. It features multiple blockbuster boat rides, two of which are among the best Disney attractions in the world.
On top of that, the yen is incredibly weak right now–making Tokyo Disney Resort more affordable than ever. (See Is It Cheaper to Visit Tokyo Disney Resort Than Walt Disney World? Spoiler: the answer is yes!) Additionally, the parks in Japan are finally almost back to normal, making it a good time to visit for the full experience.
If you sensed a “but” coming, you’re correct. As much as we highly recommend and love Tokyo Disney Resort–and we really love it–recent experiences give us pause and slight reluctance to recommend it to a first-timer in 2025. You might still be better off waiting another year. But that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms, and one we’ll break down in an upcoming post.
With the runners up out of the way, it’s time to crown our #1 Disney Parks & Resorts Destination for 2025. For this list, we’re looking specifically at the pros & cons of visiting in 2025–what’s new & next, the value proposition of visiting now vs. waiting, as well as fan feedback and reader complaints about what they are and are not looking for from Disney vacations…
Our #1 Disney Park for 2025: Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland is the little park that could. It’s Disney’s least-visited castle park in the world, with attendance at about one-third the numbers of Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, or Tokyo Disneyland. It has lower attendance than every single Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort park, and ranked ahead of only Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris last year–not really a fair comparison since that was a veritable construction zone (and is absolutely atrocious).
We’ve frequently described Hong Kong Disneyland as charming or like Disneyland in California from a bygone era. That has been praise, but in a bit of a backhanded way. For years, Hong Kong Disneyland was a bit of a paradox: home to a couple of the best attractions in the world, but otherwise having a weak ride roster by castle park standards. It was a park we cherished, but never ranked in the top half of our List of the Best & Worst Disney Theme Parks in the World.
Our most recent visit changes that. Hong Kong Disneyland is no longer the Casey Junior of Disney theme parks. It’s not the scrappy little park that “thinks it can.” It’s the park that can–and does. Here’s a rundown of some of the reasons why…
Low Crowds, Laid Back
This visit to Hong Kong Disneyland came during a partial global tour that included stops at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Tokyo Disney Resort all in a two-week span. The contrast between Hong Kong Disneyland and everywhere else on that list was sharp. Especially Tokyo Disney Resort.
Whereas all the rest had some degree of holiday crowds, Hong Kong Disneyland was blissfully uncrowded. There was one weekend day that was moderate, but weekdays were an absolute delight–as has always been our experience at Hong Kong Disneyland. (Just don’t visit on Saturdays or any Chinese holidays.)
There’s a reason our strategy posts for Hong Kong Disneyland are threadbare: it’s not necessary. Show up at park opening, prioritize in a manner that’s semi-logical, and you should be good to go. On a normal day at HKDL, your longest wait for an attraction via the standby line can be 30 minutes with even a modicum of strategizing.
Like everywhere else, Hong Kong Disneyland offers a bevy of upcharges. Everything from a la carte line-skipping to paid early entry to a buffet offering reserved viewing for the nighttime spectacular (and more). All of this is unnecessary. Well, almost all of it. If you’re into meeting Duffy and friends, we’d recommend paying extra to skip LinaBell’s line. We made the mistake of doing standby, and even at rope drop, that was a bit excruciating.
Otherwise, we could’ve left our phones in the hotel room and done perfectly fine at Hong Kong Disneyland. We hear from so many readers who lament the loss of spontaneity, reliance of technology, and excess screen time at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, etc. If you want to step back in time–in the best way possible–Hong Kong Disneyland is your best (and really only) option!
World Class Attractions
Hong Kong Disneyland had languished for a few years following its huge expansion consisting of Toy Story Land, Grizzly Gulch, and Mystic Point. That expansion included Mystic Manor and Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, which are two of the top 10 or 15 attractions in the world. We frequently told readers that that duo alone justified the flight to Hong Kong.
Very few of you listened, and probably for good reason. Our nonstop flight to Hong Kong was 16 hours, 5 minutes. That’s pretty long! And the flight time is probably the thing that’s going to keep HKDL as a non-starter for 95% of you. But it was really a no-go when it meant 8 hours for each of those amazing attractions.
In the last several years, Hong Kong Disneyland has (further) improved its ride roster to a fairly significant degree. The two new Marvel rides are a pleasant surprise, and we found the gameplay on Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle to be downright addictive (it’s better as a game than an attraction).
Toy Story Land doesn’t do as much for us, but we seem to be outliers in that regard. Other cloned attractions are also quite good, including “it’s a small world,” Hyperspace Mountain, and Jungle River Cruise. Then there are the two newest attractions in the park’s latest land…
World of Frozen
We had fairly high expectations for World of Frozen. It exceeded them. Part of this was probably thanks to doing Norway at EPCOT and Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea first. Based on those visits, we knew this land contained a clone of the Walt Disney World ride and not the mega E-Ticket or landscape in Japan.
Calling Frozen Ever After a clone of the EPCOT attraction doesn’t do it justice. That’s what it is, to be sure, but in reality, it uses that reimagined ride as the foundation, while giving it new bones and a facelift. Quite literally in the latter case–the Audio Animatronics are next generation instead of having projected faces.
While still falling (far) short of Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey in Tokyo, we found Frozen Ever After to be way better than expected. Everything about the attraction has been enhanced and it makes the complete attraction far better in the process.
Then there’s Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs, which is fine. It’s gorgeously-done with amazing rockwork that exceeds Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, as well as a fun and well-designed queue. But the ride itself is too short and has a “that’s it?” quality to it.
Disney undoubtedly spent a lot of money Imagineering the design, so it’s unfortunate that the ride itself isn’t meatier. If this were Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: Frozen Edition, it would’ve been perfect. Instead, it’s even shorter and less substantive than that already short ride.
Where World of Frozen excels most is via literally everything else. The shops and storefronts are beautiful. The landscape is stunning. More than anything else, there’s a lived-in quality to World of Frozen that is palpable, and makes you instantly realize what’s missing from all of Disney’s other recently-opened lands. Speaking of which…
Great Entertainment
Hong Kong Disneyland is overflowing with live entertainment. There’s no better example of this than World of Frozen, which is home to several different acts, from bands to rock trolls. The most popular of these, unsurprisingly, is the free roaming characters.
Whenever Anna and Elsa appeared, the heaviest crowds we’ve ever encountered at HKDL suddenly materialized. I can understand why, as seeing these princesses wander around Arendelle–and Elsa conjure up snowfall–was magical. It was also really neat to see these characters in the attraction queue for Frozen Ever After.
Atmospheric entertainment abounds in the other lands, too. This was actually key to making them feel lived-in, especially as crowds were low. We spent so much time simply listening to live Dickensian Christmas carolers on Main Street or the Travelin’ Tunesmiths in Grizzly Gulch.
Hong Kong Disneyland is also great for character fans. We were able to meet a range of different random characters, as well as the Fab Five in unique costumes–both for Christmas and land-specific ones.
Speaking of Christmas, I’m reluctant to go into too much depth there as it’s unlikely you’re using this post to plan for a visit this year. Suffice to say, HKDL had the best Christmas tree lighting (complete with drones!) of any park, the best stage show, and more–all included with regular admission. This is typical of the seasonal entertainment, albeit with different lineups throughout the year.
Finally, each day ends with Momentous, which is the relatively new nighttime spectacular at Hong Kong Disneyland. This is in the Happily Ever After lineage, but with messaging more in line with Luminous at EPCOT. Quality and emotion-wise, I would put it in the same league as HEA and Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland. All three are different, but more or less equally excellent. Sarah ranks it as #1 of the trio. Either way, it’s one of the all-time best nighttime spectaculars at any Disney park.
Honorable Mention: Prices
Generally speaking, Hong Kong Disneyland is far less expensive than the domestic parks. (Excepting airfare, of course.)
This is particularly true for the biggest line-items of Disney travel budgets, admission and accommodations. We stayed in Disney’s Hollywood Hotel for the sake of reviewing the reimagining, but our favorite option–Explorers Lodge–was comparably (inexpensively) priced. Tickets were also cheap compared to the U.S. parks.
We nevertheless hesitate to include this because: 1) HKDL costs have crept up over the years, and; 2) the exchange rate is not favorable like Tokyo Disney Resort. The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar, and prices at HKDL on merchandise and food have gone up–so it’s nothing like TDR in this regard. There was a lot we wanted (HKDL has stepped up its merchandise game in a big way), but we held back because we had limited luggage space for items from both HKDL and TDR–and items at the latter were much cheaper.
Even in light of all that effusive praise, it’s probably a very difficult sell to pitch Hong Kong Disneyland as a destination resort for the average American who needs to fly 16+ hours to get there. As much as we love the charming little park, even we would not do that. This is why it ranks #5 in our List of the Worldwide Disney Parks & Resort Complexes Rankings.
The reality is that you’re going to pair Hong Kong Disneyland with somewhere else in Asia. The city itself is fantastic and worthy of your time. The park is close to the airport, and a relatively short flight away from Shanghai Disneyland…or Singapore, if you’re thinking about setting sail on the Disney Adventure Cruise Ship.
Unsurprisingly, our preferred pairing is with Tokyo Disney Resort. Even with the issues we experienced at TDR during our recent trip, the reality remains that those are our two favorite theme parks on the planet. That remained the case this Christmas, and will undoubtedly be so again in 2025. Problems or not, Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea are the parks we’d visit next year–and every year for the rest of our lives, hopefully. But we’re also not first-timers.
Regardless of who you are, there’s something to be said for the complementary nature of Tokyo Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland. The two destinations are fairly sharp contrasts, but they go together well (like ice cream and bacon…or maple and bacon…or doughnuts and bacon. I love bacon!!!). They’re a good shot-chaser type of deal, very similar to how Walt Disney World pairs with Disney Cruise Line. Just as DCL can be a ‘decompresser’ after a whirlwind WDW trip, so too can Hong Kong Disneyland fill that roll after going hard at TDR.
Ultimately, our #1 Disney destination of 2025 is not really just Hong Kong Disneyland. As you’ve probably gathered, this was a sneaky way to recommend doing a multi-stop trip of the Disney Parks in Japan and Hong Kong. And in all likelihood, Tokyo Disney Resort and Japan as a whole will consume more of your time in such a scenario since that is the most logical way to allocate days, which would seemingly make those the #1 recommendation.
We didn’t make TDR our #1 recommendation with HKDL as an add-on for a couple of reasons, though. First, the practical side of it. Had we done that, most of you would’ve ignored the Hong Kong Disneyland recommendation and focused on Tokyo. Second, because HKDL really is our #1 destination, so of course we had to Trojan Horse it…but at least we used our powers of deceit for good!
Sure, Hong Kong Disneyland is not enough to alone justify that 16+ hour flight, but it is excellent. This charming little park punches above its weight and really deserves much more attention from Disney fans. (We didn’t even cover the trio of excellent hotels!) It’s impossible to articulate how special and enjoyable of a park it is. From the brick pavers on Main Street to that ridiculous (non-derogatory) new castle to the mountainous backdrop…Hong Kong Disneyland truly needs to be experienced to be understood and appreciated. If you have the opportunity to do so and can stomach that flight, take it in 2025!
For the rest of your planning needs, consult our Hong Kong Disneyland Trip Planning Guide. It covers everything you need to know for a visit to HKDL, including reviews, strategy, packing, and more. If you’re visiting the city as well, please consult our Hong Kong City Guide on TravelCaffeine, our non-Disney planning site.
Your Thoughts
What would you name as the #1 Disney Parks & Resorts Destination of 2025? Would you place the Asia parks at the top for all of their additions, the domestic ones higher out of convenience, or Disneyland Paris near the top thanks to its reliably excellent entertainment programming? Do you agree or disagree with our pick of Hong Kong Disneyland as #1? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
As a HK native (who now lives in the US), what a pleasant surprise to see one of my favorite Disney blogs recommend HKDL so highly. I haven’t been to HKDL in over a decade but it sounds as charming as I remember it, if not better now with the renovations and new rides. I happen to be planning a trip to HK to visit family in Spring 2025 and will highly consider adding HKDL to the plans, especially with senior family members — as someone else mentioned the senior price tickets are an incredible deal. Hong Kong also recently welcomed adorable twin baby pandas, if that sweetens the deal for anyone thinking of visiting the city in 2025!
So while HKDL is probably my favourite park for its size, it’s not perfect – here are my complaints:
– Entry procedures – very long queues for entry persist until about midday. Very unusual in any other park I’ve visited. Even Tokyo and Epcot don’t have 30+ min queues in the middle of the day (the “long” queues at Epcot move quickly).
– Popcorn lighting – maintenance seems to have dropped off a little. WDW is now better than HKDL for dead bulbs, and I’d never have believed that 10 years ago.
– Space Mountain – still has its “temporary” Hyperspace Mountain overlay, same as Paris. I wish you’d write an article about this, as I don’t understand how anyone can defend Disney running an attraction with such thematic inconsistency and OG elements unlit. It makes me so angry. People may “like” it, but if so they should advocate for the ride to be completely reimagined to give their IP the experience it deserves. Personally I’d like the opposite – restore them both.
I can’t say where would be top for me since I’ve mostly only gone to the domestic parks. Though already planning to visit TDL and TDS along side a trip to Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo. As well as wanting to make a trip to HKDL on a trip to visit family next winter. It’s nice to hear such good things about HKDL as I haven’t been since before they had Mystic Manor so I’m very much looking forward to it!
Hi Tom! Any chance you’ll be updating your old posts about dining at HK Disneyland? We were there for the first time in October and although their snack game isn’t as strong as Tokyo’s, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the in-park dining options we tried (especially the Golden Crocus Inn)! Hoping to visit again in the next couple of years, and would love to hear if there were any hidden gems we may have missed out on!
The reason we (as in my family) isn’t visitng is we can drive to Disney World for a couple or three hundred dollars or we can fly to Hong Kong for almost $1,200 per person.
There are many, many, MANY people who feel the same as you. Which results in WDW being an overcrowded, stressful, unpleasant experience, and HKDL being the exact opposite. I’ll gladly pay more to get to a Disney park I can enjoy without having to plan every second out in advance on my phone, and waiting in 1 hour + standby lines. HKDL walk-on e-tickets for the win.
Hk probably won’t be on this year’s list due to already booked Japan and a few days in Tokyo plus visiting disneyland in April(UK). it is on my list though for maybe 26.
I do have a question though do you consider it safe to visit? I would like to bit see a lot of it heading in the direction of China and well there is a reason I don’t feel I will be going to shanghai disney for the next few years at least.
Forget about Shanghai or Hong Kong! You’re instead going to WDW for the next few years because US Disney is going to change for the better, and my friends and I are going to work hard to make that happen!
Prices will drop drastically to more reasonable numbers, crowds will be fewer, wait times will be shorter, and nobody will ever have to look at their phones again. I know that it sounds ludicrous, but I assure you, we’re really going to make that happen. That’s a promise.
Hi Chris!
The US Department of State gives HK and mainland China a “yellow” travel advisory which means “exercise increase caution”. Tis the same designation as France, Germany, the UK. I imagine the US would give itself a yellow caution (IF it wouldn’t be a lower rating).
Tru
Hong Kong is incredibly safe. I do have some misgivings about visiting there, and it breaks my heart what has happened to HK, but on balance, we’re still very comfortable visiting from a safety perspective.
We do not feel the same about mainland China. Not so much that even that is unsafe, although it probably is incrementally less so than Hong Kong. Eventually, I’d imagine we’ll make our way back to check out the updates to Shanghai Disneyland, but I’d like tensions to cool between the US and China first. Something that seems unlikely in the next decade.
I’ve consulted this site a ton over the years, including for my first trip to HK 10 years ago (!!!), when booking my trip coming up in two weeks, and when again looking up ND filters and firework photo tips.
I’m thrilled to see this and it makes me look forward to my trip even more! Thank you for the many years of tips and photo inspiration!
Excellent reminder Tom! We visited HKDL November 2023 and enjoyed our 2 days there, but missed the opening of the Frozen land by mere days (and a special preview day by mere hours!), so need to return. We just booked the Disney Adventure for Feb 2026, and so we will definitely add a stop in HK on that trip!
OOH! I am unexpectedly going to Australia solo in April, so just booked my flights via HKG and will get 2 park days in! Woohoo! Plus I’m going to try the Hollywood Hotel for 2 nights, followed by one night at the HKDL Hotel. We stayed at the Adventurer’s Lodge last time, so this will allow me to have tried ’em all. I’m soooo excited to see Arendelle!
I love this post! I’m a DLR regular, went to TDR in 2023 on your advice, and just did my first trip to WDW last month. Hong Kong is definitely next up on my list (and Paris, but maybe waiting for updates) but probably won’t be until 2026 so I hope this advice extends for a few years.
Best thing for me is HK $100 (around US $13) admission for those over 65!
Bob, it’s a running joke in my family that Grandma can get into HK Disneyland for the price of 3 churros at CA Disneyland.
Holy cow, I did not realize tickets are so cheap for seniors! I assume this is because of the dynamic with multi-generation families and wanting to capture the older audiences, too? Regardless of the reason, it’s pretty incredible pricing.
I couldn’t really agree more. I’m just back from a trip to Hong Kong and Japan, an idea I got from this blog, so thank you again!
HKDL really is the most pleasant theme park to visit, it takes all the stress away. The strategy is: show up and enjoy! I really loved Mystic Manor and being able to loop such a wonderful attraction with ease was delightful. Contrast it with what happened at Tokyo Disney Sea: we arrived nearly two hours before opening and by the time we entered the Premier Pass for Frozen and Rapunzel was sold out as well as standby passes for everything in Fantasy Spring except TinkerBell. And it was a Friday in November, which should be mid-low season. Crazy. I still love TDS, but this time we all agreed that Tokyo Disneyland was more pleasant to visit (even if it was quasi madness there too). I would not recommend TDS right now, unless one gets the unlimited Premier pass that comes with vacation packages, which unfortunately was out of reach for our budget.
Momentous is my favorite nighttime show of all times and I agree on the hotels too, I’ve stayed at Explorer’s lodge, and even if it doesn’t reach the heights of the WDW lodges, it’s a great hotel. The breakfast buffet was probably the best I’ve ever had.
I read Marni’s trip report to HKDL after he visited earlier this year and he loved the park. Glad to hear you liked it as much, too. Perhaps we’ll get there some day!
Very cool, however I don’t even like flying to Orlando from NY lol. California was a big one for me two years ago- which we may return to considering the closures at DW coming up
Here’s a suggestion that might have a good number of takers: A Bricker led tour to all 3 Asia Disney parks! I have looked into the Adventures by Disney tours but they only have one day at the park! And Japan is a separate tour. I for one would jump on the chance to see all 3 Asian Parks in one trip.
We actually debated this several years ago, even putting together a list of readers who were interested. To our surprise, there was actually a lot of interest. It didn’t end up happening because we either would’ve had to go through AbD or a more convoluted/unknown third party…and it was cost-prohibitive, in our view.
Too bad, as I think it would’ve been a lot of fun! Not something we’d consider again, anytime soon at least, now that we have a daughter. We can barely manage our own trips, let alone lead others!
Hey Tom,
Making our first trip to TDR in May and this caught my eye.
“Unsurprisingly, our preferred pairing is with Tokyo Disney Resort. Even with the issues we experienced at TDR during our recent trip, the reality remains that those are our two favorite theme parks on the planet.”
Did I miss a post about these issues in TDR? We managed to book a Miracosta Harbor View Room with an unlimited vacation package, which I’m geeked about. Sadly they no longer offer unlimited Fantasy Springs Rides but let you buy a pass for each of the three main rides, which is fine. The bigger issue is, while not yet announced, it looks like from about May 8-28 Frozen and Baymax are both not available and likely down for maintenance. Can’t say I’m not upset if this is the case, but we can’t change our dates.
and welp, they officially announced it this morning. I’ll be at TDL May 20 and TDS May 21 & 22.
Peter Pan 3/21 – 5/22
Pirates 4/16 – 5/22
Baymax 5/9 – 5/28
Frozen 5/9 – 5/28
Any chance Peter Pan and Pirates open a couple days early? Ugh, so depressing about Frozen.
From earlier in the post: “If you sensed a “but” coming, you’re correct. As much as we highly recommend and love Tokyo Disney Resort–and we really love it–recent experiences give us pause and slight reluctance to recommend it to a first-timer in 2025. You might still be better off waiting another year. But that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms, and one we’ll break down in an upcoming post.”
I hope to have it up within the next week or so!
“You might still be better off waiting another year.”
Don’t say that after I’ve already booked my first ever trip for this coming March/April! I already put it off one year to make sure we would be there when Fantasy Springs is open. Now if you have a post about how to not stress about getting into Fantasy Springs coming up, that would be very much appreciated haha (we’ll be there right when the change from the current policy to whatever the new access procedure will be too).
Yea it’s tough. I booked before knowing Frozen would be closed, plus, as you mentioned, we know the Fantasy Springs policy is changing but no one knows what to!
Thanks for the heads up Tom, I’ll look forward to the new post and hopefully things are better come May minus missing some major rides. 🙁
“ it’s probably a very difficult sell to pitch Hong Kong Disneyland as a destination resort for the average American who needs to fly 16+ hours to get there”
Guess where I am, for only 3 days, and what 75% of my itinerary consists of?
That said, my tolerance for 12-hour flights is kind of insane.
For only 3 days?! That’s somewhat insane even to me, and I also have quite the tolerance for this kind of thing.
It’s an overnight flight in both directions from the UK. In that sense I don’t see it as much different to a short hop in terms of usable time wasted. But I do love sleeping on planes, haha.
can you do the updated park rankings now with Hong Kong Disneyland’s rightful place on the higher part of the list ? I’m hyped to see the updated correct ranking.
An update to that list is coming this month, I promise. It’s been a busy Nov/Dec for me and I have a lot to catch up on.
What factors make the Disney parks in Japan finally almost back to normal?
It’s played out in pretty much the same manner as the domestic parks, just on a timeline behind WDW and DLR by almost 2 years.
At this point, the big issues are (still) staffing shortages resulting in closed venues or shorter hours/lower efficiency, as well as modified/reduced entertainment.
Living in Australia, HKDL is our “home park” and we couldn’t agree more. Some of our favourite DisneyMoments have been there. My daughter considers herself a Small World connoisseur and having also been to WDW, DL and DLP, HKDL is her #1 (controversial, I know). Phantom Manor is still one of our Top 5 rides across all the Disney parks. The Cast Members are great and while the merch game may not be as strong, you can get some really good deals, especially on ears (I found them for $6AUD and came home with 6 new pairs)
Speaking of cloning, I’ve often thought WDW should expand Toy Story Land to include a clone of the HKDL version to offer more rides for smaller kids at HS, perhaps the other side of Woody’s towards animation courtyard/SW Launch Bay.
It’s hard for me to put anything above the IASW at Disneyland, but HKDL’s is probably the only one that comes close. It’s a fantastic take on the attraction, and the setting is gorgeous.
Our family is considering a trip to TDL 2025, that flight and the difficulty of getting tickets and hotel reservations seem daunting. We’re thinking of combining with Disneyland, our first time. We love your advice, it was great in Paris and WDW, but TDL seems overwhelming. Are there any companies that can do those logistics for travelers?
I do not know of any knowledgeable and experienced TAs that handle TDR, sorry. (If one does exist, they’d probably charge a significant fee.)
Buying tickets is fairly easy now, but Disney-branded hotels can still be a challenge with a learning curve. My advice would be to download the official TDR app and play around with it a bit, and same with the TDR reservations website.