Hong Kong Disneyland Embarrasses Tokyo Again

Speaker 1 Hello friends, welcome back to another episode of Rising Fun Pod. The weekly monthly Nope weekly podcast Patreon version is monthly. I guess something weekly and I mean it is monthly because it's every month but it's 4 * a month on. Speaker 2 Average. That's not what monthly means. Speaker 1 It's not, is it? Speaker 2 Not at all. Speaker 1 I know you know what is monthly. The bonus Patreon episodes of the podcast are monthly. You can find a patreon.com/rising fun pod. If you enjoy this podcast a lot then you will enjoy those a lot as well. Speaker 2 Won't you? You would. They're great. They're very funny. They're the best. Well, not the best. I mean, these are nice too. Speaker 1 They're the best pieces of the best things you could possibly listen to, let's just put it that way. Speaker 2 Yeah, it is just the sound of the divine in your ear. Speaker 1 That's what some people hear when they when they turn us on. Speaker 2 This beautiful music. Speaker 1 Yes, well, this is the the podcast where we talk all about Tokyo theme parks, mainly Tokyo Disney parks, but also this is there's that time of year again, folks. Alex managed to escape from the country to go where? Where did you go, you little? Speaker 2 Go to the the glorious Hong Kong Disneyland. Speaker 1 Hallowed be thy name. Speaker 2 Hallowed be thy name of Albert. Speaker 1 Do. Speaker 2 You remember last last time we did a regular episode, we were asking do we have any female listeners? Yes, well I got a message from both a listener and a Patreon who is like I am woman and listener. Speaker 1 I am woman Amy Row. Speaker 2 Yes. So the answer is yes. Oh. Speaker 1 Hello. Oh you, thank you for listening and being female at the same time. I'm surprised you can do both at the same time, but well. Speaker 2 Done. She's lovely and please TM me all the time. Well, there you go. Couple of questions. Question answered, Yes. But yeah, I went to Hong Kong Disneyland and I love it there. It's my favorite. I think that it's like like I can finally say I don't like best of rankings. I don't do best of rankings. You'll see every time I do like Instagram question boxes, people are always asking me to rank things. And every time my answer is no, I'm not ranking best of's. I don't like, I don't like that. But I, I, I can rank like my favorite things, but I think that's really different than best of. Sure. And I think there's plenty of people who I don't think would get Hong Kong Disneyland. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. Speaker 2 You know what I mean? Speaker 1 Before we started recording, and what I always say to you when we get on the topic of Hong Kong Disneyland is it's just the perfect antidote to Tokyo Disney. Speaker 2 Yeah, because one is nice and one is miserable. Speaker 1 In some ways, yes, I'm going to. You're going to force me into a corner where I have to defend Tokyo Disney. That's podcast I think. Speaker 2 But yeah, no, I love it. And I think that it's it's really like pretty easily my favorite Disney destination. It's just so nice. It's so relaxing, it's so lovely. It's so its own little world, which I love. There's there can't be a Disney place that's more, I don't know, more of an escape and more of separate from society. Speaker 1 Yeah, it's such a shame that it isn't like super successful and they don't have two parks and all that because it's a gorgeous location. Speaker 2 It's the best. Couldn't be more gorgeous right on the Bay. Speaker 1 Yeah, and the way you take the train as well, You take the train through the mountains and then behind the mountains there's like this secret area. Did you have you ever seen it from the plane? Speaker 2 I'm always looking and I can never be quite sure. It's really hard to find. Speaker 1 I I had an amazing view of it once and it's just like this magical place that shouldn't exist. It's just took right behind these little mountains and on the river on the oceanfront, I guess. But it's like, I don't know what you call that. It's not a river, but it's like a inlet, isn't it? Inland, the water me geography good. But yeah, it's just this magical little location that looks so nice. Speaker 2 It's wonderful. And when you're there, you always think, you know, it's I just took a 10 minute taxi ride here. Why don't I feel like I'm near the airport? You just, you go through a portal somehow into this secret Disney place. It's just the best. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. It's like nothing else is around it. It's just Hong Kong Disney is that. Speaker 2 To its detriment at times, because I will say the one thing I really can't stand there is that there's nowhere to buy anything. There are no vending machines, there's no convenience store, there's no sundry shop. I felt like I was thirsty the whole time I was there because there's nowhere to buy anything. Speaker 1 Even in the hotels. Speaker 2 Nothing. There's not a vending machine in the hotels. Speaker 1 There's not a shop in the hotels. Speaker 2 There's a gift shop that sells warm bottles of water. That's it. Yeah. Speaker 1 That is an oversight. Speaker 2 It is indeed, Yeah. And it's very odd, at least. Yeah, it's, it's a weird one. Like I at least the Explorers Lodge has that little kind of counter service downstairs and you can get drinks there. But I stayed at the Hollywood this time and it really does not. There is nowhere to get anything. Speaker 1 That's bonkers. Yeah, even Fantasy Springs Hotel has a convenience store. It's the only thing it has, but it it does have one. Speaker 2 Yeah, so that's my 1 complaint. And I, I really think if you're planning to go to Hong Kong Disneyland and to stay at the hotel more than one night, you've got to prepare and you should buy stuff at the airport convenience store or something. Bring a whole big bag of drinks with you. Speaker 1 Or in Hong Kong proper. Speaker 2 Yeah, before you come over. Speaker 1 Assuming most people also have some time in Hong Kong, which they should because it's a great city. Speaker 2 Yeah, that's my only one complaint. Speaker 1 Yeah, when I used to live not too far from there and have an annual pass and all that, I, I really wish there was anything to keep me there after the park had closed. Even just like a few restaurants, you know, on that street that like goes towards the the the harbour, you walk from the train station and then you turn right and you go to the park. But if you keep walking ahead, there's just nothing. And it always seemed like such a shame that there's not like a couple of shops, a couple of restaurants, just something so I can just stay there a bit longer. You. Speaker 2 Know. Yeah, nothing. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 Which I mean, I, you know, Disney runs the numbers, all right? They have to know that not enough people would stay late to go to a restaurant there. Speaker 1 I guess so. Speaker 2 I guess, and I don't know how trains work there, if staff can work late enough, if they have to get home, if they live far away. Speaker 1 Hey, they seem to have just recently figured out how to make money there, so whatever they're doing, just keep doing that. There was a time when I was worried the place was going to shut down completely, so. Speaker 2 Yeah, but yeah, that's my my only. My only gripe sometimes in Hong Kong Disneyland is I wish, you know, I could like buy a Diet Coke somewhere, but you cannot. Speaker 1 But that is bonkers. Speaker 2 But otherwise, I just had a wonderful time. Once again, it's funny, This trip going to Hong Kong Disneyland was kind of our secondary plot because we really just went to Hong Kong to see Wicked for good, which I know is silly to go that far to see a movie, but it's not coming out here until the end of March. Speaker 1 Can you say you're planning to go back to Hong Kong again in March? Speaker 2 Yeah, but not not for that. You're gonna go and good. Speaker 1 You're gonna, No. I mean, you're gonna go there when it comes out here, maybe. Speaker 2 Oh well, I mean, just for a couple of days you've. Speaker 1 Seen it anyway. Speaker 2 Yeah, but I'll, I'll see Wicked again in the States. I'm going to Arizona next month. So no, this month isn't it? What day is it? It's the 3rd of December. It is. I leave as we're recording 17 days. Speaker 1 Oh, so you leave like just after I do, I'm going to Parky in. I was gonna say 180 days, but that's that's my sober days. It's not that long 16. Oh, so you got the day after me then. Oh. Speaker 2 So you're leaving what, the 19th? Yes, OK, I'm leaving the 20th. Speaker 1 Straight from work. Speaker 2 Farewell, cruel Japan sounds. Speaker 1 Like you're gonna jump in front of a train, Yeah. Speaker 2 Well, I don't know what to talk about. Ask me questions about my trip to Hong Kong. Speaker 1 Oh OK, but but put it on me. Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 How's Albert doing? Speaker 2 Albert's great. He misses you. He said so specifically. Well, he was speaking Chinese, but I assume that's what he was saying. Speaker 1 I love that. Yeah, He only. The only thing he says is me. How? Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 He also does like a bye bye at the end, doesn't he? Speaker 2 He does. Yeah, he does. But yeah, Mr. Matter remains one of the best rides in the world. Speaker 1 Do you know Alba is voiced by the person who did Megatron in the animated Transformers? Speaker 2 Weird. Speaker 1 Yeah, why not Megatron? Is Megatron the bad one? Yeah, right. Speaker 2 I'm not a transformer. Speaker 1 Well, he also did, Abu. Speaker 2 So that's probably what, well, that makes sense. Speaker 1 Yes, because it is just Abu. Speaker 2 Yeah, it's a very monkey specific resume. Speaker 1 Monkey who likes stealing shiny things and causes havoc. Speaker 2 Imagine going into auditions like hi, I famously voiced Monkeys. Speaker 1 Hey, I'm the monkey guy. I can also like evil robots. Speaker 2 I'm not at all famously voiced monkeys. Speaker 1 I can also do evil enormous robots that transform into trucks or monkeys, so take your pick. Speaker 2 Yeah, Mr. Banner's great. I finally bought my own music box. Speaker 1 Yes. Speaker 2 Yeah, I always wanted one. Speaker 1 It's the best piece of theme pack much ever made. Speaker 2 It's wonderful, Yeah. I actually haven't taken it out-of-the-box yet, but I assume it's wonderful. Speaker 1 You're going to leave it boxed, Will you display it? Speaker 2 I have to find space for it. And even I didn't want to buy it really. You know, I don't really buy merch. Yes. And then when when I was thinking of getting it, the person I was with was like, oh, just get it. Get it. You've always wanted to get it. And it's like, but I don't where am I going to put it? Like visualize my space and where am I putting it? But I'll find a space. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 And then I don't, you know, I don't like spending money on park merch because I find most of it just to be sort of crap and I'm just not a merch person. And but then we went to the Explorers restaurant for the dinner buffet. Well, and I guess an important part of the story is that we did have tragedy strike while we were in Hong Kong. And as soon as we landed in Hong Kong, the news came out that Hong Kong experienced this terrible tragedy of this massive apartment fire that killed hundreds of people, and it really threw the city into this kind of awful state of panic and mourning. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 Which is quite terrible. I even donated to the Hong Kong Red Cross because I felt sort of badly about enjoying myself so much there while they were experiencing this awful tragedy. Right. Right. Yeah, it. Speaker 1 Must have been an odd of the thing to kind of come to terms with. Speaker 2 Like it was. And you had to feel like certainly cast members who were there smiling, helping us, were experiencing loss from what happened. Yeah. Speaker 1 Yeah, it's a small city. Speaker 2 It is, yeah. So that was terrible and unfortunately because of the fire they made changes to the park and Momentous was cancelled when I was there. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 Which is a shame, but basically all fire was gone from the park. Speaker 1 Yeah, that's fascinating. Speaker 2 So the. Speaker 1 The Jungle Cruise famously has like a big fire. Speaker 2 A big fire scene, Yeah. So all the fire was gone from Jungle Cruise, all the the fire throwers were gone from The Lion King show, and sadly Momentous was cancelled. Speaker 1 Yeah, but I mean, you know, in the grand scheme of things, you didn't get to see a pretty castle show like it's, it's OK, you'll be fine. And also they, they, they did a lot to make up for it, right? Speaker 2 They did a ton to make up for it. They did far more than I can imagine any other Disney park doing. Yeah. Which is that simply because Momentous was cancelled, they gave us our park tickets back. They said you can reuse these park tickets anytime within the next six months, which is why we decided to go again in March. Speaker 1 Within the next six months. Speaker 2 Yeah, since we have free park tickets, so it's, you know, we had two two day tickets, which, you know, isn't cheap in modern Disney. Speaker 1 No. Speaker 2 No. And it makes a lot of sense, I think, because they have to know that half of the people in the park are APS and the other half are not going to fly all the way back to Hong Kong as international visitors. So you get this huge goodwill that probably nobody's actually going to use except me. Speaker 1 Well, I think they want you to use it as well. Hong Kong's not a part that sells out. They, they want you to come back in the next 6 months because maybe you'll buy food and maybe you'll buy, you know, maybe you'll even stay at a hotel really. Speaker 2 Yeah, no, I I'd assume that both things are true. They want you to come back, but know that almost no one will, right? So I think. Speaker 1 You may be. Speaker 2 But I can't imagine that. Can you imagine? Tokyo Disney cancels Reach for the Stars and you get a free park ticket. Speaker 1 Absolutely not. Speaker 2 Absolutely not. So then we went to the Adventurers Club restaurant and again, like Adventurers Club dinner buffet comes with VIP momentous viewing. And like we knew before we went that we wouldn't get that because momentous was cancelled. We of course knew that we just wanted to eat there anyway because I love it there and this one hadn't been there before. So we decided to go anyway. And to make up for the lack of momentous viewing, they gave us what was it, $100.00 gift card, something like that. No more than that in I don't remember Hong Kong dollars the entire every time I'm in Hong Kong, I have no idea what anything costs. Speaker 1 Yeah, it's it's a tricky one. What is it it? Speaker 2 Was like a it was like 100 US do. Speaker 1 You remember how much it was in Hong Kong. Speaker 2 Dollars, I don't, I forgot what it was, but I, I think it was like ¥8000 I, I don't remember. But anyway, it was enough money that I bought my music box because I got it for free with dinner. Yeah, that's where the story was going. Speaker 1 I think that's that's a good trade off. Speaker 2 It was a pretty good trade off. And yeah, no, like I just couldn't imagine that they did all that stuff. It was specific to the gift card was specific to the Mystic Manor gift shop. Oh, interesting. Because it was the Mystic restaurant. Oh, and because it was that specific, like if it had been park wide right, I might have gotten lazy and just gone to Emporium and like bought a hoodie. But because it was that, it was like they were telling me you you you finally have to bring this music box home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I did. Speaker 1 It's it's the best piece of theme park match ever. It's the box from the story from the ride. Like what? Like what? What? What could you want? Speaker 2 Like, it's literally what we always say. Like why can't I buy this thing from this ride? Yeah. Why can't I buy a replica of Lava Mama? Speaker 1 I'm so impressed that they're still selling them. Imagine if they saw something that go to here, they'd sell it for like a week. Speaker 2 Oh, they sell it for one single day and it would sell out and then they'd Moshi walk in IU. Speaker 1 Yeah, and it would. And it would be on Mercari on it'd be being resold for 10 times the price forever. Speaker 2 I couldn't stop thinking that the whole time I was in Hong Kong that just so often things that they do for me, the free park tickets, the gift cards, cast members repeatedly apologizing for Momentous being care cancelled and trying to make it up to us and offering U.S. special spots to watch the parade and all. Just all these crazy things where every single instance would have just been a TDR cast member, like shrugging their shoulders at you. Yeah, which isn't on the cast members. It's on management, of course, Of course. And just on the incredible management at Hong Kong Disneyland. It's just, it was amazing how far above and beyond they went. I I do think it's also a little sad that they seem to think that so many people are coming to the park specifically to see Momentous. There was a lot of that vibe to it. Speaker 1 I mean, I guess it, like you said, like Can you imagine if we would cancel Reach for the Stars and they did all that? But that's not a fair comparison, right? Like, Momentous is such a big part of Hong Kong Disneyland, I suppose. Speaker 2 I don't know that I necessarily agree right now because there's just so much else going on. There's the tree lighting ceremony, which they still did, and then that's like a. Speaker 1 Huge deal. Speaker 2 It's a huge deal with drones and yeah, singers and live singers. Speaker 1 They're alive. Speaker 2 Probably say 10 more times during this episode. They're alive and there's still the Disney Friends at the castle or whatever that show is called, which they do four or five times a day. Nope. Which is amazing. And it's just full of characters and live singing again. Speaker 1 Nope. Speaker 2 And who's great it's, I mean, it's not. And like, that's the thing, I think that show, it's not much of A show. It's like a song and people singing live to the song and seeing the characters on the stage. It's not like, right, you know, there's not some huge plot line going on. Sure. So, I mean, they're not like the deepest of shows, but just getting to see live singers and all your Disney friends on the Castle stage five times a day is pretty great. Speaker 1 Yeah. You know what, I I think I prefer that because like you couldn't sell DPA for something like that, right? Speaker 2 Yeah, it's. Speaker 1 It's like super uncynical. It's just a thing that's happening that makes the park feel alive, means everyone get photos of the characters that they like and. Speaker 2 Yeah, that's what entertainment kind of should be. Not a big deal. And it's five times a day, so if you just happen see it walking past, that's totally great. Speaker 1 That's what we miss here in Tokyo is the, if you happen to see it walking past ever since COVID, there's none of that. Because even if we do do small things like the little Coco stuff for Halloween or the like the Christmas carolers for Christmas, right, It becomes a big thing even though it is a small thing because it's the only thing. Speaker 2 Yeah, because Disneysea does so little that it's impossible to have a thing that you walk past because you're doing, you know, here's this mariachi band twice a day, and we have no other Christmas happenings whatsoever. Yeah, Christmas, Halloween, whenever that was. Speaker 1 Whatever. Yeah, whatever it is. And our fans are insane. I love that stuff. So you know that it's going to get super busy as well. Speaker 2 Yeah, so we've got the fans who most appreciate entertainment, so we're going to give you the least of it to make what we do do a miserable experience. Speaker 1 I'm so sick of it. I'm so. Speaker 2 Over it. Oh, I know. Don't go to Hong Kong. It'll make you even madder at it, as you can hear from me. Speaker 1 Well, I'm sure, I'm sure Paris is going to do a similar thing, you know, probably not quite to the extent that Hong Kong does, but just just tiny little things like that. Like I'm sure there's going to be so much. Why can't we do this in Tokyo? Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, that sure was cute. The the the first day I was there, I went to see it specifically, and then I kept noticing it as I would be around. Yeah, that was fun. Just a ton of character greeting everywhere I met Gamora. Speaker 1 Oh, fun. Speaker 2 That was fun. She was green and I kept making jokes about what a weird alphabet greeting it was. That must be annoying as that performer to have to get green every time. Get. Speaker 1 Greened up. Maybe they just found someone who is green. Speaker 2 To someone green I'd like. Speaker 1 To think they're not appropriating green people. Speaker 2 I hope so. How rude. Speaker 1 Yeah, that wouldn't really be OK. Speaker 2 But yeah, that was fun. I saw they had a bunch of characters out in Christmas costumes. Like I met Buzz Lightyear in a Santa hat. That's. Speaker 1 A fun one, I like that. Speaker 2 I saw Stitch and Angel in Santa costumes. Speaker 1 Cute. Speaker 2 Which is kind of cute and it was just fun that they're like mixing celebrations cuz it was the 20th plus Christmas so that just felt like there was something happening everywhere. Plus it was they were doing like a mini Zootopia two thing. Yeah. So in certain spots around the park, the new snake, Gary the snake, yes was like hanging from trees around Adventureland. That's fun. Which was kind of fun. How? Speaker 1 Do you say like on top of the other stuff? Cuz we'll have, and we haven't talked about it yet, but we'll have this Toy Story 5 event, but that's going to be basically that kind of thing. But for us, that's like an event. Speaker 2 But like pretending it's a thing. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Instead of just doing it and you're like, yeah, it's a little bit of marketing, but whatever. Speaker 2 Yeah, so that was fun. It's fun how marvelly it is there. And I'm not even a Marvel person per SE, but it's fun that they're going sort of ham on Marvel. Like I was staying. I stayed at the Hollywood Hotel this time for the first time. All my trips in like the last five years. I always stay at Explorers because I love it and I probably will next time. Although I don't know, we we actually really enjoyed Hollywood. Oh good. It's kind of low key the thing I like best about Hollywood. Speaker 1 Kind of kind of low key since they added the Marvel characters. Speaker 2 I love the bar the Archivist. Speaker 1 OK, go on. I'm. Speaker 2 Sorry, it used to be just an art deco lounge to match the rest of the hotel, but since they've moved towards Marvel they got transformed into the Archivist. Speaker 1 You're right. Yeah. Yeah. You just cut out for a second, though. Oh, but go on. Speaker 2 Anyway, yeah, so I love the Archivist is great, and it stays open until 11, which is really nice. Speaker 1 That is nice. Speaker 2 It's super nice, so you have something always to do when you get back from the park because Explorers doesn't have something like that. Their little bar downstairs closes at 10. Speaker 1 Yeah, that's, that's silly because like I say, I think that's one of the big gaps in Hong Kong. And I think it's it's something I complain about here, but it's more of a problem in Hong Kong, I think is that there is just nothing. Speaker 2 Yeah. So having hotels. Speaker 1 And that's it. Speaker 2 Having the Archivist in your own hotel, staying at the Hollywood, and having a place to get really nice cocktails by the way until 11 is great. Also, for whatever reason, The Archivist has the best cast members. Every single cast member I encountered there was professional and super friendly and down to earth and just wonderful. I met one who is a friend of a friend of ours who I've seen in a lot of our friends Instagram stories before. Speaker 1 OK. Speaker 2 And I couldn't control myself and I was like, oh, I totally know you from this person's Instagram stories who was like so excited to be like semi famous and brought us free cookies and stuff. So that was really fun. And yeah, even I think if you're not even staying at the Hollywood Hotel, it's worth going to the Archivist after Park close because it's just so nice in there. Speaker 1 What's the kind of size of it? Speaker 2 It's pretty big. How is it? Yeah, that's pretty big. It's really, really nice. They make great. All the cocktails are Marvel themed, which is quite fun. And they're all like kind of fancy bougie nouveau cocktails with like, smoke bubbles on them. Speaker 1 And very photographable. Speaker 2 That kind of thing. And they have a some of the tables have glass tops and like under the glass is like Marvel relics. Oh, so the table I was sitting at, like Wanda's crown was under where I was sitting? Oh. Speaker 1 That is cool. Speaker 2 That's kind of cool and it's all like lo fi Marvel music playing in there. Speaker 1 Because it was, of course, when the hotel opened, it wouldn't have been a Marvel thing. But they've done. They haven't. Just like, very lazily been like, well, we'll have some cocktails named after Marvel characters. Speaker 2 Like, no, they marveled it, but not in an obnoxious way. Speaker 1 Right, right. Yeah. Speaker 2 Like, if you're even not into Marvel, you don't even have to really notice that you're at the Marvel bar. Speaker 1 It's just a nice bar. Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 That's cool. Speaker 2 Yeah, they did a really great job of it. And so we went there both both nights we were there after the park. Speaker 1 Yeah, what a lovely thing to do after after your day. Speaker 2 Yeah, it really adds a ton to the Hollywood cuz the Hollywood Hotel is the cheap one. It's not nearly as nice as the Explorers or the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. The rooms are much smaller and it just feels, you know, it's basically the ambassador. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the slightly lower budget one. Speaker 2 Which the ambassador is not, which makes the ambassador seem silly. The ambassador's in our deluxe range and compared to the Toy Story Hotel or the celebration, of course, here in Tokyo, the ambassador's not the cheap one. Speaker 1 Right, right. Speaker 2 And during peak season, the ambassador's just not the cheap one. It's usually about the same price as the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, which is silly. Speaker 1 Yeah, cuz they're all gonna sell out anyway so why bother? Speaker 2 Yeah, and then paying for happy entry. Honestly, the Hollywood Hotel is so much cheaper and honestly nicer, I think, than the ambassador. The ambassador's really dated these days. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 The rooms are dated. The TV's are ancient. Speaker 1 Yeah, it's that OLC thing, right where they keep it looking exactly how it did when it opened. Speaker 2 For better or worse. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. But like for something with like Haunted Mansion, that could be kind of cool, but for like a hotel room, like no, I mean maybe update like the air conditioner and the TV or something like you. Speaker 2 Know and actually the Hollywood Hotel in Hong Kong is going through a major transformation right now. They're redoing the whole exterior. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 2 So I'm actually really curious to see what it's going to look like like a year from now. But we stayed in one of their newly themed Marvel rooms. Cute. And that was quite cute. Yeah, it was fun. It's not like overly Marvelly, but the the wall behind the beds is all Marvel characters and the color scheme is very Avengers based. And there's an Avengers logo pillow on each bed. Speaker 1 Oh, cute. Speaker 2 It was cute. Yeah. We liked it did. Speaker 1 You play fight as superheroes on the beds, hate each other with pillows. Speaker 2 Definitely, definitely. Speaker 1 Which one would you be? Who would you be? Which Marvel superhero would you be? Oh. Speaker 2 Good question. I don't know, maybe Loki? Speaker 1 Loki who? Loki. Speaker 2 Doesn't that suit me though? Yes, Who would you be? Do you even know any of them? Speaker 1 If you're low key, should I be Thor? No, it's the stupid. The stupid one. No. Well, you're like smart and funny and charismatic. Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm afraid you have a lot of gym time to go through before you're Thor. Speaker 1 Well, obviously not. Yeah, not in those terms, but Groot am IA Groot. Speaker 2 Oh, you could be Groot. That kind of fits, doesn't it? Speaker 1 I am Jordan. Are you speaking? Because you just say I am Alex. Speaker 2 There we go. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 I can actually see you as Star Lord. That kind of works. Speaker 1 OK, a little goofy a little, yeah. Speaker 2 Goofy. Down to earth. Yeah. Sincere. That's nice. Nice things, yeah. Nice things. Like kind of annoying sometimes because they're so sincere. Well. Speaker 1 You don't have to say that. I guess I'll it's verging on this right on the edges of being a compliment that one, isn't it? So I will. I will take it as a compliment. Speaker 2 I think that's that's the place that I live. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right on the edge of a compliment. Speaker 1 Compliment with a little salt, like when you get a cocktail and there's like salt on the rim of the glass, like you give a compliment, but then there's just like a little salt on the on the rim of that. I just it helps the compliment go down. Speaker 2 What else? Hongo Disneyland. But yeah, so the the hotel was good. I think that if you're going to Hongo Disneyland and you are on any kind of a budget, you know, there's there's nowhere else to stay there. It's not like here in Tokyo where we have this whole corner of third party hotels. It's like the three Disney hotels or you stay in the city. Speaker 1 Yeah, which is is often like not even that much cheaper because. Speaker 2 Because you're in Hong Kong? Yeah, one of. Speaker 1 The most popular tourist cities. Speaker 2 So I think if you're on a budget, the Hollywood Hotel is really your choice and it's nice and I would stay there. Again, I think for me, I mean, that's really obnoxious, but the budget between that and the Explorers isn't a huge deal. I can sort of choose which one we like, but I might still choose the Hollywood Hotel because we liked having the Archivist so much after the park. Speaker 1 Right. Yeah. And they're not, the hotels are not super far away from each other, but they're not super close either. It is. That does make a difference. I guess after a a park day and you're tired like just already being in that room. Speaker 2 Yeah, just being there and just going, having a couple of drinks and going upstairs was nice. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, you're more likely to stay until 11, I bet. Speaker 2 Because we said a couple of times like, oh, why don't we go to the pool at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel instead? But I'm not trekking all the way over there. Speaker 1 Yeah, those buses, I don't know. Does the bus just take you to the park? Speaker 2 I don't remember. I should know that because I was just there, but I didn't do that at all. Speaker 1 Yeah, I have a feeling the bus might just do like a loop. Speaker 2 Yeah, I think so. Disneyland. Speaker 1 Hotel Explorers Lodge, Hollywood Hotel Park and then go round and round like that. Speaker 2 But that's a great benefit too. The pools are almost always open. I think they're open from I think it was April to December. They just closed for January through March. And if you stay at any of the three Disney hotels, you can use any of the pools or guest services from any of the three hotels. Speaker 1 That is very nice. Speaker 2 It is really nice because the price difference between the Hollywood and the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel is a bit large. Speaker 1 Right. It's funny that you could just hang out in a different hotel. You could stay at the Hollywood and if you really love one of the other ones, just stay there most of the time and then sleep in your hotel. Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 Use that pool and everything and the restaurants and all that. Speaker 2 So that part's quite nice. I mean, especially coming from here where you can't do that. The pool's almost always closed and even when it is open you have to pay extra for it, which is insane. Speaker 1 Yeah, and quite a lot extra as well. Yeah. And the Hilton and the Sheraton followed suit. You have to pay extra in all of them now. It sucks. Speaker 2 Yeah, it's just so unfun. Speaker 1 Yeah, Yeah. Well, I mean, that's what happens, right. I think the big difference between Hong Kong and Tokyo is Tokyo don't have, especially since COVID, Tokyo don't have to try because they've got millions of people who are going to go there all the time anyway. And Hong Kong have to try really hard. Yeah. And and and they don't have hordes of fans going there. So it's like a double punch, right? Of like the packs trying harder and there are less people there, so it's less miserable anyway. Like you were there during a busy time, one of the busiest times. Speaker 2 Yeah, I was going to get to that. I think I was there Friday, Thursday night, Friday, Saturday. And I think the Saturday was probably the busiest I've ever seen Hong Kong Disneyland, and it was kind of awesome because yeah, yeah, yeah. Like if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, the last time I was there I came back saying I am worried about this place. Like it was so empty that I can't imagine this place can survive. Speaker 1 And it will have been like that for a lot of the year as well. Speaker 2 For most of the year, yeah. But just going there on a Saturday at Christmas, and it was one of the weekends where they were holding the hard ticket Christmas concert on the Castle Stage. So I think a lot of people were there for that. Although, and this broke my Tokyo Disney brain, it wasn't sold out like the day of the concert. I could still get tickets to it. Speaker 1 You must have been pretty tempted. Speaker 2 No, we had decided that we didn't wanna do it. We did it the last two years in a row, right? Speaker 1 I thought you might be like, oh the mentis got cancelled, maybe we should treat ourselves to something at night. Speaker 2 No, because there's still so much like that. Saturday we did Wondrous. We did The Lion King. We watched the tree lighting again, we watched the Castle stage show again. We met characters. There's just so much doing that It was enough. And like when the concert was going on, the wait times dropped a ton because they were for Hong Kong. They were kind of long on that Saturday because it was busy. They were, you know, 1/4 of any Saturday at Tokyo Disneysea. Speaker 1 And not even like what was the longest wait that you saw? Speaker 2 70 OK for frozen, no for grizzly OK Grizzly pretty consistently had the longest wait time. Speaker 1 Oh, really? Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 OK, I thought it would have been frozen. Speaker 2 No, I think just the capacity is so big and so quick on frozen. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 Did your thoughts on like and again, comparison is the thief of joy, I know, but comparing the frozen rides or the frozen areas, did your did your thoughts on that develop in any way this? Speaker 2 Trip. Yeah, more in the same direction. That world of Frozen is glorious. It's such a wonderful land and it's makes what they did with Frozen at Fantasy Springs seem so lame and so pointless and so bizarre. And like, I, I don't want to rehash this once again, but just the fact that you're in Arendelle and that all the cast members are citizens of Arendelle, that the sisters and Oaken and Kristoff all walk around and are all really accessible and I'll treat you like you have visited their Kingdom of Arendelle is so much fun. And then you go to Fantasy Springs and there's this absolutely bizarre storyline that you are not in Arendelle, you're in the memory recreation of the water spirits who are remembering it wrong, which is why it's bad. Speaker 1 What is this play? Speaker 2 Which is insane. And like, I'm not exaggerating. Like if you're listening and you're thinking, oh, he just really likes Hong Kong. None of that is exaggeration. You can read that story on the wall of the gift shop only in English because they hope that locals don't read it because it's. Speaker 1 Insane. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. And and meeting Anna and Elsa next to the hotel and they're like, thanks for visiting Arendelle. And you're like, well, this I'm. We're not in Arendelle. Speaker 2 We're not even near Arendelle. We're in the shadow of this hideous hotel that looks like a hospital. Speaker 1 And just to be clear, obviously none of that is the performers fault. We love the performers. We know some of them listen and they're, they're the absolute best. They don't want to, you know, just just want to get that out there. Speaker 2 They're just doing what they have to do. Speaker 1 Yeah, but it's it's a silly thing, right When and I think they have started putting them in the Frozen area a bit, but but then like, that's it. Yeah, maybe you see Anna and Elsa in the Frozen area on a good day, whereas in world of Frozen you would have seen and soon you're going to see a robot Olaf in there as well. Speaker 2 No World of Frozen's wonderful. They did such a good job of it and it really feels like a new place. It feels really separate from the rest of the park in a good way because it feels like you've been transported to Arendelle. Especially at Christmas. They go above and beyond with Christmas decorations. They have Snope pretty much all night after dark from sunset through park close. It was snoping in Arendelle. Speaker 1 I said to you like, why isn't, why isn't that every night in Fantasy Springs? Speaker 2 Arendelle anywhere because it was snowing in Arendelle in Fantasyland and all of Main Street. Speaker 1 Magic. That must have been so cool. Speaker 2 Which is fabulous. There's little Christmas trees everywhere in Arendelle. They were in the queue for the frozen ride. Yeah. Speaker 1 It was just laughing because you sent me and I was like in the queue and you said exactly the same time you said in the queue. Speaker 2 They can't be bothered to decorate Arendelle at all in Fantasy Springs, and they're putting Christmas trees in the queue in Hong Kong. Speaker 1 Well, because the magical spirits don't understand the. Speaker 2 Oh, they weren't there at Christmas? Very. I'll honestly be proud of them if they ever use that as a storyline. Well, the spirits never visited during holidays so we can't decorate. Speaker 1 The spirits are not devoted to Christ. Speaker 2 No. Speaker 1 The spirits are giving Pagan, aren't they? Speaker 2 I guess, yeah, I guess. Yeah. Lacking in devotion to Christ. You're so right. I love that that's become one of our official phrases, like when we talk about making podcasts. Speaker 1 Merge devotion to Christ. Speaker 2 It's devoted to Christ. Such an incredible Disney T-shirt. Speaker 1 Five months of the year devoted to. Speaker 2 Christ Tokyo Disneyland devoted to Christ. Speaker 1 Crazy eggy bunnies. It's like the Easter event logo, but instead of it saying Easter, it says devotion to Christ. Speaker 2 Love it, very good. The rides themselves, I think, you know, I think my dream ride is a combination of them both. Speaker 1 A combination of Frozen Journey and Frozen Ever After. Yeah, not a combination of both the Hong Kong rides. Speaker 2 No. Of the two of the two boat rides, sure. I think they both have good points and bad points. I think the Hong Kong ride is more fun. Speaker 1 Yeah, not difficult when you see a little girl get killed, yeah. Speaker 2 Yeah, the Hong Kong ride is definitely more fun. I mean, obviously the Tokyo ride is grander, it's more beautiful. But honestly, I think the use of screens in the Tokyo ride is bugging me more and more lately. Speaker 1 It's always bother. It was always my big thing. Speaker 2 The path to the unfreezing. It's just so lame. Yeah. Like if you couldn't figure out how to tell this story if you didn't have the budget to tell the story better just skip that part if you have to. Don't just show me the movie. Speaker 1 Or even like I would have preferred just about anything. I would have preferred like if there were just like Frozen statues on each side of the bow because you're moving through that very quickly anyway. They wouldn't even have to move. You could do like some disco Yeti style lighting on them or something, you know? So just to have it, let's say you move past like a statue of Elsa and hands on each side and then you see Anna come in front of them in the next statue. Like anything, the ones in the beginning I can get over a bit more. But yeah, those ones are oh, oh, because it's just, oh, yeah, this is a ride based on a film. There's bits of the film, you know what I mean? It just totally pulls me out. Speaker 2 Yeah, me too. Speaker 1 Not into it. Speaker 2 And then I think, you know, the Epcot Hong Kong ride also uses screens. I think the Let It Go scene is much longer and it's just full wall projections of Elsa singing, But I think that because it's just that it feels less like a screen and more like just being surrounded by Elsa. OK, Where the screens in the Tokyo ride are just TV showing you the movie? Speaker 1 Yeah, just clips from the movie. I think it's shotgun. Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah. And just having, I think in the Epcot Hong Kong ride, having the snow monster and the snow geese and more Olaf and more Spen. It's just more for kids. Speaker 1 It is pretty shocking that we didn't have like a load of snogies in ours. The cute thing, like we we, we're doing a Frozen ride in Japan and we're not putting the cute things in. Speaker 2 We moved away from cute and we moved just towards sad ladies all the time. Speaker 1 What's cute in Fantasy Springs? Cheese, obviously. Speaker 2 Cheese. Is that about it? Speaker 1 Pascal in the frozen ray I guess, but not that's not really like cow. Speaker 2 Tangled. Speaker 1 Ride and what? Speaker 2 In the Tangled ride. In the Tangled ride. Yeah, you said the Frozen ride. Oh dear. Yeah, my. Speaker 1 Brain is frozen. Speaker 2 But yeah, not really cuz he's just there sort of like winking at you not to be the cute thing and. Speaker 1 Like the Snuggies are cute. Pascal's just like animals. Disney animal sidekick. Speaker 2 I like that world of Frozen in Hong Kong. Has the little ice lizard Bruni in a few places. Speaker 1 That's sweet. Speaker 2 He's like hiding in the queues and. Speaker 1 Yeah, that's the thing with theirs as well. Like, you know, when Frozen 3 comes out, they'll add stuff and they'll, yeah, do an event and stuff like that. Uh huh. Hours. They'll maybe put something like that in for a month and then take. Speaker 2 It and there's just so much stuff going on, like the Arendelle band walks through the land all day long. The right now for Christmas, the Arendelle carolers are out however many times a day. They're doing a weird little show right now with Christophe and Sven, and there's just constant stuff going on. Speaker 1 What's spen? This is like a puppet. Speaker 2 He's like a sort of statue. You can see it on what YouTube it. You'll see. OK, it's cute and it's just one more thing just adding to the experience, right where Tokyo's Arendelle is, fake shops you can't go in and a long line that wraps around the entire fantasy springs. Speaker 1 And toilets. Speaker 2 And toilets. Yeah, pretty toilets. Speaker 1 And a bad restaurant, we always forget about the restaurant because you just don't go in there. Speaker 2 How many times have you eaten the food there? Once. Just the ones. Yeah, never again. It was terrible. Speaker 1 Had a glass of wine in there a couple of times since, but yeah, not the food, no. God no. Speaker 2 I guess I've been I ate there four times. You pull thing. I ate the one that we had three times and I ate the summer one once. Speaker 1 Oh yeah, I figured yeah, they did the summer menu, didn't they? Well, it. Speaker 2 Was worse. I think it was even worse than the standard one that's. Speaker 1 A good thing we were like, maybe that's an excuse to go in, but. Speaker 2 Meanwhile, Speaking of frozen food and restaurants, I have to talk about the best thing I did this trip, which was the, what's it called, the Golden Crocus? Anyway, the frozen restaurant in World of Frozen, they have a frozen breakfast buffet, so you get to go to park early entry, which is an hour before the park opens to go over to World of Frozen to go to the restaurant for a breakfast buffet. And it was so much better than I expected. I I think I'll have to do it like every time I go now. Speaker 1 You conquered your fears. Speaker 2 I did not. I still did a really bad job. Speaker 1 I did not. When the characters came, I ran away and said I'd said I had indigestion and I had to go to the tile. Speaker 2 Kind of. I mean, I'm, I'm. So the way it works is that the restaurant has two sides and Kristoff comes to one side and Anna goes to one side, and Elsa's not really included. It's a Kristoff Anna choice. Speaker 1 OK. Speaker 2 And unfortunately, we got Kristoff and it was this combination of me being scared of face characters and a lifelong journey of just being scared of talking to very handsome gentlemen. So Kristoff comes over to the table and we're just like, I think we took a, we took pictures. Probably yes. Speaker 1 I need to see them. Speaker 2 Yes, we did. We did. I don't know what I said that. Speaker 1 Isn't odd. So you didn't see Anna, You only saw? Speaker 2 Chris No, we did. So I'm getting to that. So I think if it were Tokyo and they were like, Kristoff is this side and Anna is this side, that's the end of the storyline. But then the cast members came over and were like, you know, if you want to meet Anna too, you can just walk over to the other side and tell her you want to take a photo together. Speaker 1 There you go. Speaker 2 They're just doing it like. Speaker 1 For so it's. Speaker 2 Organized timing. Yeah, just for organization. And then what really surprised me is that the food was fabulous. The food was so good in the breakfast. Speaker 1 Wonderful. Speaker 2 A lot more choice than I expected. It was a good mix of really interesting Scandinavian food, and something I love in Hong Kong Disneyland is that they're not scared of weird food. Speaker 1 That's Hong Kong though, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Speaker 2 So they had really cool Scandinavian food they had and it wasn't just like IKEA stuff either. They had like like sauerkraut mash with sour cream and these really interesting like potato pancakes and just all all kinds of really interesting things. And they had like scrambled eggs and they had some Chinese stuff. They had Shumai, they had they had like pork bun shaped like snogies. Speaker 1 Cute. Speaker 2 Which really the food was great. They had these really big thick breakfast sausages in like 3 different flavors that were fantastic. And then what we really didn't expect because when I signed up for it, it said that Kristoff and Anna would be at the breakfast. But then while we're eating from outside the restaurant, the Arendelle band marches into the restaurant to come perform for us. And with them comes Elsa, and Elsa welcomes us to Arendelle, tells us to have a wonderful breakfast, and then she teaches us all how to do her like magic hands to the music of the Arendelle Band. Speaker 1 Wow, that's awesome. Speaker 2 It was so good, I cannot recommend more to go do this breakfast. The confusing thing is, and quite weird, is that it's only available on Cluke and we are not sponsored by Cluke or anything. I'm not lying. It's not on the Hong Kong Disneyland website. You have to order it on Cluke, so that's odd. Speaker 1 Yeah. You remember you talking about that before? Actually, yeah. Speaker 2 Yeah. So yeah, just go to Cluke and do the breakfast cuz it was so good. I think it was my favorite thing that we did this trip. Speaker 1 And if you go in with kids, maybe tell them that like there's only Anna and Christophe there, so. Speaker 2 Yeah, what a fun surprise. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 It was great. Yeah. I, I 1015 out of 10. Honestly, this breakfast, I don't know. You don't expect good food. I don't know. I've been here in Tokyo too long, but I never expect to. I mean, you know, I said a recent episode, I go to the Tokyo parks and I leave hungry because I don't want to eat anything. Speaker 1 We definitely did last time. Didn't. Speaker 2 We yeah, but the the no. The food was so good in this breakfast buffet. Speaker 1 That does sound good. Speaker 2 Like I've been to the breakfast buffets in the explorers lodge and the Hollywood hotel also and this one was better like food wise the food was so good. Speaker 1 It really does seem like with the frozen land, they've just like focused so much on it. Like how do we make this area as good as it can be? Speaker 2 It's the best, Yeah, I think it's impossible to go there, to do both rides, to eat that breakfast, to meet the characters, to see the band, to see the atmosphere shows they do, to meet Oaken, who is just the best character in the parks, and to leave. Not a Frozen fan. Even if you go into it thinking, oh, I was never that into Frozen. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. And that's that's sort of the power of the theme parks, right? I think so, so often we sort of cynically roll our eyes at all they're doing another Frozen or they're doing a land or a ride based on whatever movie this is. But if you do it really, really well, it doesn't matter. It doesn't. Speaker 2 Matter if it's yeah, I think I said because I love frozen anyway. So I went to world of frozen excited because I'm a frozen girly. I mean, you know, Frozen is literally just Disney being like, we want wicked too. Like Frozen is wicked. Like they literally just hired Alphaba to come be cold Alphaba. So I I like Frozen. It's just an animated fake Wicked. So we like that. Speaker 1 Disney. Wicked. It really is. Speaker 2 It is 100%, yeah, that's. Speaker 1 What I said, I was shocked because I hadn't seen Wicked on Broadway or whatever. And when we went to see the movie, The first one, and I was like, Oh my God, Disney did just straight up say like, oh, we want to make Wicked. Speaker 2 Yeah, we want. We could too. Speaker 1 Get Idina Menzel to belt her heart out halfway through the film. It's amazing. Speaker 2 That Anna wasn't Kristen Chenoweth. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. Speaker 2 But I felt exactly the same way the first time I went to cars land in California. That I cuz that time I was not a Cars fan. I think cars Cars is for boys. But I left Cars Land wanting to go home and watch all three Cars movies again because Cars Land is so great. Speaker 1 Yeah, exactly. Speaker 2 I bought cars merch when I was there, which you know, again, I don't like buying merch for exactly this reason. Now sits at the bottom of some closet somewhere. But cars land is not. Cars land is great and World of Frozen is just as great. I mean, sort of. The rides aren't as good as Radiator Springs obviously, but otherwise? Speaker 1 Or as fancy springs, I guess. Right, but we've done that. Well, not as good as the Fantasy Springs Frozen ride you've said, but. Speaker 2 No, I no, I just said it's literally the opposite of that, that both rides are good in their ways. Speaker 1 In their ways, yes. Speaker 2 Yeah, but I wouldn't say that the Tokyo ride is better. Speaker 1 Well, it's like the biggest flaw of the Hong Kong 1. Speaker 2 Just the scale of it. I think it just feels cheaper than ours. Ours feels expensive. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. And I guess that's such a shame when like the whole land, the whole expansion is based around that ride. It's a real shame Hong Kong couldn't have had the good one. Speaker 2 You know what though? I don't feel when you go there. You don't feel that way. Speaker 1 OK, it's really just a comparison. Speaker 2 Thing feel like Arendelle is the star of what's happening here. And oh wow, there's a ride too. Ah. Speaker 1 The area is. Speaker 2 Because the characters are always out. Like I don't think you can be there without seeing anything happening. Speaker 1 That's how I feel in the wizarding world. I've only done the one in in Japan, it's just Hogsmeade. But as good as Forbidden Journey is, the land is the star. Yeah. And then it's like, oh, there's a couple of rides back here. That's cool. There's always exactly the same thing, right? There's a dark red and a little roller coaster. Speaker 2 And it's funny because World of Frozen's not big at all. It's very small, but it they just pack so much into it. Like it almost kind of helps that you can stand in one spot and see so much density. You can see the whole land at once and be like, whoa, it's Arendelle. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 Because in the movie Frozen, Arendelle's insane too. Like, what do you mean that you're a town on the tip of a mountain in Norway that's not a country? Speaker 1 Yeah, oh, just so nice that Hong Kong's the perfect place for it, right, With the mountain range behind. Speaker 2 It Oh, it's gorgeous, Yeah. Speaker 1 They did an incredible job that can't be easy blending fake scenery with actual mountains behind it. Speaker 2 And I like that from World of Frozen in Hong Kong, you can't really see anything else. You can't, if you look, no, it's sort of down and then up again. You have to go under the train and then back up again. So it's all kind of hidden behind that. The rest of the park disappears when you're in World of Frozen, which worries me a little bit about Paris's version that, you know, you're standing at the edge of the lake in Arendale and you're just looking at the Tower of Terror. Speaker 1 Yeah, like the back of it as well. Not even like a good angle of it. Yeah, well, we don't need to get into adventure world. My God. Speaker 2 Why did they build Tower of Terror right there? Speaker 1 They needed to build something the. Speaker 2 Package. They put like to a side like you didn't ever think you'd ever expand behind it if. Speaker 1 They needed something now. Speaker 2 Put it off to the side. Why would you put it smack dab in the middle of your plot of land? Speaker 1 Pale vu Francais. Speaker 2 Yeah, I don't know. I don't get it. Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm so mixed about going there. It's a shame I'm not going like after it's finished, right? But it might be a fun little snapshot of a yeah, this time, this period of time, right? Speaker 2 No, I don't actually know that I am yet. I still have to save my pennies. You are I. Speaker 1 Know you will. Speaker 2 I have to take. Speaker 1 You know, as a kid you can make reckless financial decisions and get in a bit. Speaker 2 Of yeah, it'll be fine. That'll be a big Disney quarter then, if I'm going to Hong Kong in March and Paris in April. Speaker 1 Oh yeah, that is a lot. How you doing? We'll all be dead one day. Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, to death. Speaker 1 May as well bury me in a pair of Mickey ears. Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm curious to see both worlds of Frozen. Speaker 1 Yes. Speaker 2 To compare, to see what they're doing differently, I guess they're doing their greetings quite differently. I, I love Hong Kong's Bizarre Theater in the round where you get to go meet on a you don't really, it's not like a greeting. It's a little show, but they're just right in front of you. And the thing with the show in Hong Kong Theater in the Woods, I think it's called, is that the characters are out and about in the land so much that it feels like there's kind of no reason to go see the show. Like I think here in Tokyo, where it's so hard to see the characters out, you'd want to go to see it to go see them. Speaker 1 Yeah, Playhouse in the woods. Speaker 2 Playhouse in the woods, that's what it is. Thank you God. Speaker 1 That is crazy that just in the frozen area there's like 4 entertainment little icons. Christoph's fantastic surprise Playhouse in the woods. The Royal Arandelian Conjurer. The Royal Arandelian Troubadours. If we had one of those things in Fantasy Springs, people would lose their minds. Speaker 2 Yeah, if we had one thing. And in Hong Kong, it's just endless and. Speaker 1 There's just those icons everywhere. Speaker 2 You can't do all the things in Hong Kong. Speaker 1 Which is mad because it's tiny. Speaker 2 It is tiny, yeah. And if you know, again, like I said in the beginning, if you're not the right kind of guest for what they're presenting, you might hate it there. Because if you're the type who always skips the parade, who doesn't want to see the Caroler carolers, who doesn't want to meet the princesses, if you just want to go on the rides, Hong Kong is not the park for you. Speaker 1 No, I mean it does have one of the best rides in the world, but. Speaker 2 Yeah, but that does that last for 5 minutes and then you're done. Yeah, don't go to Hong Kong just to ride Mystic Manor. Speaker 1 I would say like do go but change your mindset. Speaker 2 Yeah, put a bit of brow. You're incapable of doing so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think a lot of people. Speaker 1 Are, I don't know, I think you're not giving people enough credit. Like if Hong Kong wasn't a Disney park and it was just here's this Hong Kong ES theme park and they have these rides, people who love rides would still go there and be like, wow, look at these amazing rides in this place. Because it's Disney, you'd maybe expect more. Speaker 2 It's a small yeah, but I think people who go there and don't want to do any of the stuff, yeah, are gonna go there and be like, yeah, Mystic Manor was great, but that's the worst Disney park. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, it could be. Speaker 2 And that's why I hate rankings, because you're an idiot. That's not how this works. You didn't, you know, appreciate any of the stuff that they're putting on for you. So what are you talking about? Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, and also like how do you rank that? How do you rank like Hong Kong Disneyland versus Tokyo Disneyland when one has like, so much more history and so many more rides and so much more stuff, but also is a much more difficult day and there's just so many variables, so many. Speaker 2 Different It's a much more difficult day, a much less pleasant day, a much less fun day most of the time, and has no entertainment. Speaker 1 Land does, it doesn't have any like atmosphere, entertainment. Speaker 2 It doesn't have any atmosphere entertainment and it only has stage shows if you're lucky or pay extra. Speaker 1 I really miss the atmosphere, entertainment. I think that's what's going to shock me. You know, I think that's the thing it's it's whenever I see little bits like that when I'm looking at going to Paris, that's the stuff that's like, Oh yeah, this is what a Disney pack's supposed to be like. The little things that are just dotted around. It's shocking that we haven't got back to that since COVID it. Speaker 2 Feels insane after coming from Hong Kong that if I want to see, you know, something terrible at Club Mouse Beat, I'm expected to pay for it. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 Where I wanted to go see The Lion King show on the busiest day I've ever been in Hong Kong and I got floor seats. Speaker 1 Oh, did you get those in a lottery? Speaker 2 No, I just went. I went 25 minutes before the show and went and sat down. What do you mean? Yeah, that's right. Speaker 1 Oh, you went 20, you went 20. You went to the park 3 hours early? You mean you went to the entrance 3 hours before the park opened? Speaker 2 You know. Speaker 1 What, what, what? Speaker 2 I know Jennifer Lawrence on Hot Ones. What do you mean? What do you mean? Speaker 1 That's what I'm trying to do. I know what do you mean. Speaker 2 It's the best meeting. What do you mean? Speaker 1 It's a great one. That is a good one. Well, are you happy for us to to begin the preparations to wrap things up? Is there any other thoughts that you had in the back of your beautiful little head that you wanted to share with our lovely friends? Speaker 2 No, just that I love it there so much that like legitimately, if you're curious about anything, if you're thinking of going, if I've made you want to go, please DM me and ask me all the questions because I'm I'm happy to become a voice for the wonders of Hong Kong Disneyland. Speaker 1 I have a question. Yeah, I'm planning to go to Hong Kong. Should I go at Christmas? What time of year should I go? Speaker 2 It depends how much you like Christmas because I think they do fantastic things for Christmas. The tree lighting with the drones is glorious. If you're not that bothered by Christmas, it is probably the busiest time of year to go there. And if you want to experience what does it feel like going to a Disney park with no app, no checking anything, and no wait times for anything, go in April when I went last time and there was nobody there. Speaker 1 That's a really good point. Hong Kong is one of the only places that can offer you that experience, isn't it? So it's like, yeah, Christmas has some cool stuff going on, but if you want to have the magic of being in a park and yeah, not having to look at the app because you can just stroll around and get in every queue because it's all 5 minutes. Speaker 2 Yeah, and because the entertainment is at least twice, three times a day, so even if you missed the one, you hit the tail end of the parade, see the one later. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 Oh, I didn't talk about fantastic. Speaker 1 Oh goodness, we'll be here for another hour. Go on. Speaker 2 The 20th anniversary daytime parade which was fantastic. Fantastic. Speaker 1 I hate the. Am I allowed to hate the name? Speaker 2 Yes, but only until you see it, because then it is about friendship and the whole 20th is about the power of friendship. Speaker 1 My friends are my power. Speaker 2 The song is really fun. It does a really long parade stop which is super fun. Speaker 1 Oh, does it? Speaker 2 Yeah, really. Like, longer than our parade stops, like right on the border of like, is this thing broken? Are you going to move again? Speaker 1 That's straight up just like, well, oh else stop doing all this stuff that their fans love. Let's just do. Speaker 2 Let's just do the stuff. It's like a solid 10 minute parade stop. Speaker 1 We'll do loads of Duffy stuff, we'll have loads of entertainment and all the Japanese guests will come here instead. Speaker 2 Yeah, I loved it. I don't wanna keep doing this, but I liked it more than harmony and color. I thought. It was more joyous. I thought there was more just pure fun to it. The floats feel more modern. The Encanto float is one of the most beautiful floats I've ever seen in a daytime parade. Speaker 1 That did look really cool. Speaker 2 It's beautiful the being at the Encanto stop for the they had to float for the parade stop was super fun. The dancers are great by it. The music is and canto E and real fun. Watching Isabella on her swing kind of winking at me was really fun. She. Speaker 1 Was winking at me, but this? Speaker 2 The Duffy float is all I ever wanted, all 7 dusters on one float together just being adorable. And then the back of the float that you can't really see from the from the front obviously is just Olumel just off on his own. Speaker 1 He's looking for. Speaker 2 Gelaton, which is so perfect. Where's Gelatoni? The Duffy float is fantastic, the starter Mickey float is great, Mickey's up top and again, just stealing everything that everyone loves about TDR. The Mickey float Mickey, it's multi tiered and Mickey is the top tier and he's sitting playing the drums. Speaker 1 Brilliant. That's fantastic. Speaker 2 Yeah, the dancers are real fun. And again, I think something you can't help but notice if you know both parks really well is that maybe a majority of dancers and performers are Japanese and they're coming to Hong Kong to get the jobs that OLC doesn't offer anymore. Speaker 1 Oh wow, yeah, because I always thought that how devastating it must have been graduating and thinking you're going to get a dance club in Disney at like 2020. Speaker 2 Yep, so many of the parade dancers, The Lion King dancers, you could so easily tell, are, you know, OLC refugees. Speaker 1 Yes. Well, good. Good for them. Well done. Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm glad the experience is out there and they're all so talented that it's great to still get to see them do their thing. Yeah. Speaker 1 Absolutely. Speaker 2 But yeah, I don't know, as as someone who's been a Tokyo Disney local for going on 21 years and just really missing the magic of like 2010 TDR when it was at its peak and then watching it decline to COVID and then watching it just disappear after COVID, that magic is still in Hong Kong. Speaker 1 Yeah, thank goodness it's somewhere. Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 Like it's, it's like a 00 saw, right? Because it's like oh, so nice that they are doing it, but also like if Hong Kong can do it, the park that makes like the least money. We have no excuses. It's it's nothing to be like this at all here. We should be the best like we always were. But whatever, go to Hong Kong. Speaker 2 Go to Hong Kong and I mean, you know, come here too. Disneysea's still incredible. Disneysea has the most incredible bones of any park in the world, obviously. Yeah, that's what it is. I think architecture and rides and those things, those are the bones of a theme park. And everything that goes on there is the heart. Speaker 1 It's the setting. Yeah, it's the setting. Oh, it's the the set of the stage. The stage even. I think that's what I said a long time ago when sort of the start of COVID was like, Disneysea is a beautiful theatre and a beautiful stage. You need to put something on the stage you need to inhabit these amazing. These places are only as real as the things that are happening in them, right? You can have this really realistic looking 1920s New York, but if it's just full of Japanese guests and like the. Speaker 2 Tourists going on. Speaker 1 It's not, it's not going to pull you into that world. And I think when you start, when you walk past and there's a bit of St. Masphere there and you stop and watch it. And then that's a moment where you do start to soak up all of the architecture and all the design a bit more. And you're like, wow, this place is pretty spectacular. If you're just running from one ride to the next, to the next to the next and then going home, you miss a lot of that stuff. Yeah. Speaker 2 And you know, I think that the bones of Disney's here are so spectacular that any first time visitor who loves theming and loves theme parks will be so overwhelmed that of course they will leave going. That was the most incredible theme park I've ever been to. Yeah, but if it's your Home Park and you go all the time and they do nothing ever, the bones only go so far. Speaker 1 The bones only go so far. Speaker 2 Especially as a local and a place that doesn't have annual passes. Speaker 1 Please suppose on Patreon. Please, please. We need you. Please. Has anyone ever tried that? Just instead of like instead of like the slick. Oh, and you can get an extra monthly bonus packet. Just straight up begging. Yeah, please, please, please. I miss annual passes. Speaker 2 What about instead of a Patreon? We just started GoFundMe. Speaker 1 Under like injuries category injuries My heart is broken. Speaker 2 My heart is burned. We have no annual passes and. Speaker 1 I moved to Tokyo just to have an annual pass to Tokyo Disney and. Speaker 2 Flights to Hong Kong have gotten expensive. Speaker 1 Flights to Hong Kong are too expensive for me and they stopped selling annual passes nine months after I moved. Speaker 2 To Yup, yeah, go to Hong Kong, that's what I'm saying. Or, but also don't. So it stays nice and quiet, yes. But again, like we said, even that extremely busy day that I was there was still not busy by anyone standard so. Speaker 1 Definitely not by here standards, no. Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 You imagine if you went to Disney Sea and soaring was just 70 minutes. Speaker 2 Yeah, You know, you jump right in that and it's really funny how quickly your expectation changes. You're like 70 minutes. I'm not doing that. Speaker 1 Right, absolutely not. I only got to do like so occasionally, but also, yeah, the, the, the, the like value changes, right. Oh, your bulking point changes so much because you're like, but that's, that's a ride that's always 15 minutes. Speaker 2 We saw like 45 minute Mystic Manor, which is probably my second favorite ride in the world, and I was like, oh, we did it enough. Speaker 1 Right, right. 45 minutes. If you saw 45 for Rapunzel, you'd probably be like, oh come on, 45. Speaker 2 Minutes for Rapunzel? Oh, maybe not Rapunzel. Speaker 1 Cheese. Speaker 2 Cheese maybe? Yeah, I would do 45 minutes for cheese. Speaker 1 But not from this Ding manner. Speaker 2 Isn't that silly? Yeah. And I mean that's. Speaker 1 Expectation change, that's how it is. Yeah. I hate it here. Thanks, everybody for listening. Bye. Can we just say bye? Can we just do that? Speaker 2 I guess it could are. Speaker 1 You done. You can keep talking about Hong Kong for. Speaker 2 Hours. I really could. Yeah, I really really could and I really mean it that if you have any any questions or curiosity, just DM me on insta or Twitter or whatever. Speaker 1 Maybe we should have a weekly Tokyo theme park podcast and a weekly Hong Kong theme park podcast. I don't. Speaker 2 Know that I have that much to say. Speaker 1 Weekly. Weekly's a lot. Speaker 2 Weekly's a lot, yeah. Oh, have you learned the difference between weekly and monthly? Speaker 1 Through the course, that's my my character arc through this episode of the podcast. Speaker 2 Oh, the growth today. Speaker 1 Finally, Jordan learned the difference between weekly and monthly bye. Speaker 2 Bye. I'd like to go.