Hong Kong v. Shanghai Disneyland
This post offers a head to head comparison between Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland, weighing the pros and cons of each, so you can determine which park to prioritize if you’re thinking about heading to Asia. Some readers of our Hong Kong Disneyland Planning Guide and Shanghai Disneyland Planning Guide have started to ask questions along these lines, so we figured we’d answer.
You might be thinking, “what about Tokyo Disney Resort?” Well, we’re operating under the assumption that Tokyo Disney Resort is the reason you’re going to Asia in the first place. Our working theory–and the motivation behind this post–is that it might make sense to do a stopover at either Shanghai Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland.
However, we assume most people are not going to do both on your way to Japan. Once you factor in non-Disney points of interest (which we highly recommend–Japan is a gorgeous country and there’s also a lot to see and do in the cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong), it becomes a long trip if you do it all on a single trip. With that caveat, if you want to do all 3 in one fell swoop, we cover the logistical side of that in our 3 Disney Destinations on 1 Airfare post.
With that said, if for whatever reason our past blog posts have not already sold you on Tokyo Disney Resort, it is head and shoulders above both Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea are like A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back to HKDL & SDL’s Rogue One and The Force Awakens.
That’s not to say the latter options are not good, but they just are not that good. (For those who aren’t Star Wars fans, the Tokyo parks are the Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King to the HKDL/SDL’s Hercules and Tarzan.) Anyway, on with the comparison…
Originality: Shanghai Disneyland – For better and for worse, Shanghai Disneyland is Disney’s most original castle park since Disneyland. While it’s possible to question whether this much tinkering with the tried and true formula was necessary, one big upside to choosing Shanghai Disneyland is that you’re getting a park that is almost entirely original. If you’re flying halfway around the globe to experience a park, this is a definite plus.
By contrast, Hong Kong Disneyland was built at a time in Disney’s history when the company was playing it very conservatively, and much of the original build was lifted directly from Disneyland in Anaheim. This is interesting on its own, and gives the park a sort of bizarro-Disneyland feel, but puts it low on the originality scale. Most additions that have been added during HKDL’s first decade have been original, so at least there’s that, but it doesn’t even come close to matching Shanghai’s high level of originality.
Flagship Attractions: Hong Kong Disneyland – This is a battle of Mystic Manor & Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars v. Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure & TRON Lightcycle Power Run. Of these, Mystic Manor and Pirates are the true headliners, and it’s almost impossible to choose a winner between the two. Both new classics, and showcase the pinnacle of Imagineering. They’re also sufficiently different from one another that it’s difficult to call one objectively “better” than the other. These are both top 5 attractions worldwide, and potentially vie for #1.
Instead, I’ll let the comparison between the #2 attractions in each park break the tie, and this one is a much easier pick for me. For all of the hype the TRON coaster has received from fans, it’s not as good as Big Grizzly. Unlike TRON, Big Grizzly is flawless, and iterates on several Disney coasters that came before it to create something special. (Sorry not sorry, TRON fans.)
Supporting Attractions: Shanghai Disneyland – Once you expand the attraction lineup beyond the top two, there’s no contest. Hong Kong Disneyland’s lineup is clone-heavy outside of the top 2. While you will enjoy plenty of these options, they don’t bring much new to the table that you won’t have experienced in the U.S. parks.
That’s not the case at Shanghai Disneyland. It offers the Camp Discovery Challenge Trails, Roaring Rapids, Jet Packs, Eye of the Storm: Captain Jack’s Stunt Spectacular, Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, plus dramatically different takes on favorites with Peter Pan’s Flight and Buzz Lightyear’s Planet Rescue.
Dining: Shanghai Disneyland – Both parks have really high quality dining. Given that you’re probably only spending a day or two at either one, you’re probably not going to exhaust your options at either one, but we still have to give the edge to Shanghai Disneyland here. The menus are more ambitious, the design is cooler, and there are some fun snacks. Again, though, both do dining (especially counter service) really well.
Charm: Hong Kong Disneyland – There’s an x-factor about Hong Kong Disneyland that is worth mentioning because it doesn’t really translate to paper. When you evaluate HKDL on paper, without this x-factor, it’s easy to underestimate the park. Then you get there in person and WHAM, you get hit square in the face with a big dose of “charm.” Just as many first time Walt Disney World fans are hit with a certain charm when visiting Disneyland for the first time, so too are many first-timers to Hong Kong Disneyland.
For whatever reason, there’s an intangible appeal. Perhaps it’s the feng shui that went into the design of the park. Perhaps it’s the mountains rising behind Main Street, Toy Story Land, and Tomorrowland. Perhaps it’s the dense jungle of Adventureland or Mystic Point. Whatever the reason, Hong Kong Disneyland pulls you in, and is a great place to simply be. There are flashes of this in Shanghai Disneyland, but it’s far less consistent. Too much of the scale is domineering and the park layout makes it feel less intimate, and less inviting.
Verdict: Shanghai Disneyland – We’ve become big advocates of Hong Kong Disneyland on this blog as a park that doesn’t deserve nearly the amount of derision that it receives from fans. Conversely, we’d probably say that Shanghai Disneyland has received a level of hype that’s disproportionate to its actual quality. (Given what was spent on the park, you could expect more.) However, one being underrated and the other being overrated doesn’t make the former better than the latter. Shanghai Disneyland still brings much more to the table that you can’t find in Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and is a worthy stopover destination on your way to Tokyo Disney Resort. That’s certainly what we’d recommend, and given that one visit to Tokyo Disney Resort is rarely enough (it’s like crack for Disney fans), you can certainly revisit Hong Kong in the future. Once the park has at least partially finished its makeover, increasing its originality, would probably be the ideal time. If you’ve been to either of these parks (or both), or are thinking about visiting in the future, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this ‘debate’!
Thanks for the insight. We have been to Tokyo and now want to do HK and Shanghai.
Coming from Atlanta , what do you think is the best routing to do both parks and return to the US. Who’s On First….Who’s On Second. LOL.
I was thinking 4 days in each location so we could see the area but that’s not required.
Do you know any tours that do the two parks?
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you Tom this is really helpful. I’m quite torn about this. From Australia Tokyo, Shanghai and HK are all a 9-10 hour direct flight that costs about the same.
We’ve been to (and loved) Tokyo Disney before. I’m keen to see other Asian Disney parks so weighing these two not as stop overs but as the reason for a trip. They are both considerably cheaper than California or repeating TDR for us.
Hmmm
Any comment if I choose to go Shanghai Disneyland with my kids?
Considering ANY Disney Park in Asia..first timers. Looked into Tokyo-is it really THST much better than the others? My thoughts sway to the fact everhthing seems to be in Japanese and the weather could be hit or miss (i like it hot!)
Thanks
Hi
we need a big help…please help as we planning a trip in two weeks to celebrate our daughter’s 5th birthday.
So we want to to Tokyo Disneyland but we have read July is among the worst months to do do Tokyo Disneyland. The alternative is then to do HKG and shanghai Disneyland and do Tokyo disneyland may be next year .
What would you suggest… here the question is the quality and fun of experience in HKG vs the wrong timing, weather, crowds in JApan…
please help as we are very badly confused here
Have you been to wdw in the summer? Can you stand it? If so then July in Hong Kong should be Ok. It is humid and hot.
Good article – I was thinking of doing japan as a whole separate trip and doing a simple ‘China disney’ trip incorporating the two Chinese parks…. and advice for that combo alone?
My husband and I just got back from Shanghai Disney ( finally made it to all the parks) and
we were completely blown away by the POTC ride . We also felt that Tron was very well themed and of course unique to any Disney park. I too love the TDR but I am curious why you feel that Shanghai Disneyland is so inferior. We also felt that their night time show
was fabulous.
I think the main word I felt when touring HKDL is “potential”. It’s not there yet. Mystic Manor is probably my favorite attraction in the world (although I haven’t been to SDL or DLP….until June), but the park desperately needs the help that is on the way. I can’t wait until they get to the point where they can actively develop the 2nd gate there. So much potential to have a tucked away resort unlike anything besides WDW. Hopefully it will get there.
Without having been to SDL…yet, it certainly does appear on paper that it is a better option for a secondary stop on a TDR trip.
Lovely post. Haven’t been to Shanghai yet but HK’s charm certainly wins me over.
The one interesting thing between these two is that there is so little overlap in attractions – the castles are distinct, the Pooh and Carousel attractions are different – it’s really only Dumbo and Buzz that are the same. So they could even work as complementary parks, almost like the two gates in California or Japan. Bit of an inconvenience to hop, but conceivably could be done in one trip without feeling like you’d doubled up!
Honestly, even the Dumbo and Buzz experiences are so significantly different that they each stand on their own. I’d go as far as to say there’s nearly zero overlap. Quite impressive, and something I had not considered before your comment!
As a first time visitor to a Disney park, we were simply blown away with HKDL. Easy navigation, less crowds, English used everywhere… We loved it…being from India, guess we’ll do the Asian parks first before we make our dream vacation to WDW… The other way round for most of the readers this blog I guess
Can you also do Tokyo vs Shanghai? (Disneylands only) Cause this kind of list is quite fun to read…
If I run out of ideas, I’ll consider it. In the meantime, for anyone reading this who is weighing both options for where to visit: Tokyo all the way. No question in my mind.
We had such a hard time eating in the Asia parks! We’re transitioning to a veggie based diet and most places we went to looked at us like we had three heads and tried to give us fish! But I would love to see how Hong Kong switches it up with the new castle design and expansions. It’s a cute park but Shanghai is just in it’s own class.
We did a little vlog of our Kong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo trip and we mentioned Disney Tourist Blog! Love this site. Would love to see what you guys think of our little videos. HK & Shanghai are done, still editing Tokyo…
Hong Kong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykxf_en8P5Y
Shanghai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE5O_ZIiZr4
Hallo
Is your Tokyo video done yet?
I agree with this assessment. I LOVED Shanghai, and the great weather and low crowds compared to Tokyo were a welcome reprieve. Even HKDL in August was surprisingly crowded and miserably hot. My return visit list is Tokyo, Shanghai, and HK in that order.
Went to HKDL for the first time a couple of months ago….have yet to visit SDL. To hear you suggest that SDL’s Pirates is on par with Mystic Manor really says a lot….as Mystic Manor left me completely speechless.
I agree about the “charm” of HKDL….it’s hard to describe….something about the scale, the nods to the Anaheim original, and the lack of crowds….it’s almost like a return to the DL of my youth in the late 80’s….yet, still different. A very unique and enjoyable experience.
Thanks for this interesting read! We’ll be visiting both Shanghai and Hong Kong during two weeks in april, using the 144-hour visa-free transit policy. For us, the appeal in Shanghai Disneyland is in the newness and the original setup of the park. But it’s the more intimate atmosphere in Hong Kong Disneyland (I suppose) which draws me even a bit more. We were blown away by Tokyo Disneysea in 2015. So let’s not put our expectations on that level. 🙂
Shanghai Disneyland is not on par with Tokyo DisneySea thematically. It’s somewhere between HKDL and TDS, more towards the HKDL end of the spectrum.
A very good and well-reasoned article that is certainly helping keep SHDL on the radar for the near future. A few additional points that I’d consider would be visa logistics and crowds. For readers from the US or other countries where this applies, the lack of visa concerns is a major pro for Hong Kong, as it sounds like even transit without visa through Shanghai can be complicated. The steady relative lack of crowds at HKDL could also warrant consideration, where SHDL seems to have more unpredictable crowd levels so far. I’m very eager to see SHDL, but these are a few additional reasons I’d still probably choose a return visit to HKDL.
I think if you do a weekday at SDL that isn’t a holiday, you’re pretty likely to have low to moderate crowds. Not as low as HKDL (so that is a potential selling point), but low by US or Tokyo standards.
On the other hand, the weather is typically not as bad (particularly April-November) in Shanghai. So a counter-point there. 😉
Ooh, weather is an EXCELLENT counterpoint. Very good food for thought all around. I really enjoy your posts on the international parks.
Thanks, that’s a really interesting post. I’ve been toying with a quick stopover at SDL on my next trip to Asia (which would be my first visit)…. however a large part of me wants to skip SDL and go back to HKDL (for the third time) instead. Which is not a particularly rational proposal… but there’s just something about HKDL that I love (and I’m looking forward to their new hotel). By contrast, SDL looks a lot like a park that it’s “waiting to grow in to”….
I think you could fairly say both parks need to flesh out their lineups a bit…
Agree too, although the Paint the Night parade at HK is very impressive
Great read. We’re going to Hong Kong for a wedding in December and excited to visit our first international park. Need to try Shanghai and definitely Tokyo soon, too.
Agree with the assessment and final decision. Both parks are fun, but Shanghai is amazing and worth a visit over Hong Kong if you had to choose one. We are fans of Tron and Pirates as well – would rank way higher than Grizzly. Mystic manor is fantastic but in the way Country Bears is fantastic – fun to do, but no where as cool or innovative as Tron and Pirates.
To each their own on what’s better, as that’s subjective, but I wouldn’t say the TRON coaster is particularly innovative and definitely not more innovative than Mystic Manor, an attraction that employs several unique visual effects you won’t find anywhere else.