Which Asian Disney Park to go to next?

Many of us have been there, deciding which country to go next for your next holiday. Should it be a place where there’s also a Disneyland? For us, the answer is often a resounding yes - though that does limit the possible destinations to choose from - basically to Shanghai, Hong Kong or Tokyo. 

We’ve been to the parks at all three locations, and they’re indeed very different. Here’s our summarised take based on our experiences so far. We’ll be posting more detailed posts on each park in the near future so stay tuned! 

Shanghai Disneyland

Experience: been there just once

Highlights: 

• Huge park - you’ll clock tons and tons of steps

• Biggest Disney castle in the world

• New Zootopia area (with one ride) 

• Very modern feel, especially with the newer rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron (these 2 rides are absolutely worth trying) 

• Nice blend of Disney and Chinese culture, like the use of Disney characters to represent the Zodiac calendar 

• Some people run to the rides, causing some unnecessary anxiety (inner thought when I see them running: why are they running?!)

• Personal space: to our pleasant surprise, most of the time, people did queue and didn’t push from behind. Though there were instances where a handful of people did breathe down my neck and try to squeeze into whatever gaps were available. I think the culture has improved over the years. 

Hong Kong Disneyland

Experience: been there about 4-5 times so far

Highlights: 

• Smaller park and shorter queues, making it easier to cover what you want in one day

• New World of Frozen area (with two rides) 

• For a period of time, the park was closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week (unimaginable at any other park!) 

• The food is surprisingly expensive, even more so than in Tokyo’s parks

• Has the unique Mystic Manor ride instead of Haunted Mansion 

• Has the amazing Festival of the Lion King show that isn’t in Shanghai and Tokyo 

• Plenty of Duffy and Friends merch and character photo ops 

• Nearest park to Singapore and Southeast Asia - easier and cheaper to get there

Tokyo Disney Resort 

Experience: I’ve been to Tokyo Disneyland 3 times, and to Tokyo DisneySea 2 times. Funny story, in our earlier days when we were noobs, we thought that DisneySea was literally a water park so decided to skip it. How wrong we were HA! 

Highlights: 

• The new Fantasy Springs area just opened in June 2024 and it’s huge! It consists of The last time I went was in April 2024, just before it opened

• You might have seen pictures of the massive crowds on social media 

• The crowds are very orderly and respectful of personal space - based on our experience, it’s a Japanese culture thing and it’s pretty amazing, so you won’t feel rushed or squeezed even though it’s so crowded

• Amazing unique rides at DisneySea such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Raging Spirits

• Amazing Beauty and the Beast ride at Disneyland - it's a dark and trackless ride. It's so smooth, the effects are unbelievable and the sets and so grand and detailed. You just have to experience it in person. Worth paying for a past pass to skip the insane lines (usually 90 minutes to 3 hours)

• The only destination in Asia where you get to enjoy two parks, plus it has a huge shopping and dining area called Ikspiari, which is right at the JR train station Maihama

• The only destination in Asia where there’s a monorail that brings you to the different areas of the big resort because it’s so big, This is really convenient but you have to pay for each ride (300 Yen) 

Each destination has tons of unique aspects. Which park are you thinking of going to next?