Bob Welbaum: My Hong Kong Non-Adventure
Page 1 of 5

There is no doubt where this train is going! One of the themed MTR trains that run from Sunny Bay station to the resort.

Serendipity means having the good fortune to find something good accidentally. This is the word that came to mind as I recall my most recent visit to an overseas Disney resort. It was April 11-12, and it happened like this:

A long-time friend from the Columbus, Ohio area and I were planning our travel arrangements for the NFFC�s outing for Tokyo Disneyland�s 25th Anniversary celebration when he called with a suggestion: �As long as we�re going all that way, let�s add a couple of days and visit Hong Kong Disneyland, too.�

That sounded reasonable to me, and since Hong Kong Disneyland is a relatively new and small park, two days should be about right: a day for the park and a day to explore the former British colony of Hong Kong.

So we resolved to leave two days early and visit this newest Disney resort. Now that we�ve returned after having visited both Hong Kong and Tokyo, what rating would we give? I�m going to leave you in suspense for a minute to provide some background:

Landscaping along the rail line at the station

A mural inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel

Hong Kong Disneyland is located on landfill on Lantau Island, a major outlying island of Hong Kong. It officially opened on September 12, 2005 as a complete resort with two hotels (Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and Disney�s Hollywood Hotel), the Hong Kong Disneyland theme park, a dedicated Mass Transit Railway (MTR) rail line from Sunny Bay to the Disneyland Resort Station with themed trains, a pier that is currently unused, the usual infrastructure, and plenty of room for growth. This is a joint venture between Disney, which manages the resort and has a 43% equity interest, and the Chinese Government, which owns the majority 57%.

Disney's Hollywood Hotel, where we stayed