Guangzhou-HK Day 7-8: Hong Kong Disneyland Countdown to 2026

DAY 7

It was the last day of 2025 and we were super excited to be spending New Year's Eve at Hong Kong Disneyland! This was our third visit! 🥳 We started our morning with buffet breakfast at the Ink & Plate restaurant. Our room package included breakfast for 4 adults so we had to pay the child rate for 2 kids (12 years old and below).

Main lobby of Disney's Hollywood Hotel

Ink & Plate

Colourful dining space with murals of Disney Princesses

The bread was so colourful (left);
The madeleines were in the shape of Mickey and Pooh! So cute! (right).

Littlest could get her cereal on her own (left);
Even the chef-made soup had a carrot in the shape of a Mickey glove! 😄 (right).

Of course I must have my usual Hong Kong milk tea!

As we were dining, Chef Donald decided to make an appearance!

The Littlest happily hugged Donald Duck like he was an old friend! 😅

Love this family photo

After breakfast, we took the complimentary shuttle bus to the park just before its 10am opening. Unlike other Disney Parks that we've visited, such as Tokyo Disney Resorts and Walt Disney World, Hong Kong Disneyland did not offer early entry for hotel guests. However, we did enjoy special access for hotel guests via the Designated Park Entrance.

Entry to Hong Kong Disneyland

No queue at the Designated Park Entrance for hotel guests

We bought our Hong Kong Disneyland tickets via the official app at HK$939 (S$160) per adult and HK$705 (S$120) per child / senior (aged 3-11 years old or above 60 years old). It was definitely more expensive than usual as it was the super peak period but still worth it for the longer park hours! We added on 4 x 3-in-1 Park Meal Vouchers at HK$305 each, which covers 1 combo lunch, 1 combo dinner and 1 popcorn/lollipop! Good deal! 😀

Great Christmas atmosphere at the park!
We spotted a Rubbish Bin robot roaming around Main Street asking people to "feed" it by putting rubbish into its "mouth"! 😅

We waited for about 15 minutes at Main Street Station for the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad, which only opened at 10.30am. Just like the Walt Disney World Railroad in Magic Kingdom, the train was the quickest way to reach the other end of the park.

The first few passengers to board the train

The train was very empty 😅

We alighted at Fantasyland Station, which is the nearest station to the new World of Frozen! The super fans, the Eldest and I, were super excited to explore Arendelle!

Entrance to the World of Frozen

Wow! It really looked like Arendelle came to life!

So happy to be in Arendelle!

Many Christmas trees everywhere in Arendelle

We joined the queue for Frozen Ever After ride and waited for about 30 minutes. Even though I have already experienced the ride in EPCOT, I was extremely excited to ride it with my girls! The Boy decided to sit out when he heard that there will be some drops! 😅

Entrance to the Frozen Ever After ride, which looked similar to the one at EPCOT

Love how the queue areas were decorated in the spirit of Arendelle

On the boat and off we went!

They managed to bring the ice palace to life! The effects were so good!

Amazingly realistic animatronics! The Littlest was so mesmerised!

We absolutely love the ride and hoped we could ride it again later if we had time!

Another must-ride for me was the Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs, a baby roller coaster that's unique to Hong Kong Disneyland. The Eldest and Littlest were the only ones adventurous enough to join me! 😄

You can see the roller coaster in the background

The queue areas were also well decorated;
Look out for Oaken in the "window" of one of the doors! He will pop up now and then to whistle, blow on the window and other fun things 😄

It's the Littlest Girl's first time on a roller coaster!

The ride was soooo good! So proud of the Littlest for braving the drops! Although she revealed that the ride was a bit scary, she was ok to ride it again if I wanted to 😅

While we were riding the roller coaster, the rest of the family rode Dumbo The Flying Elephant.

The Boy looked way too excited to be on this ride instead of the roller coaster 😅

The whole family was reunited at The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

It's a classic ride for all ages!

It was a must for us to take photos with the Castle of Magical Dreams, which was still in construction when we last visited in 2019. This is my 6th castle, after Cinderella's Castle in Tokyo, Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Paris, Cinderella's Castle in Orlando and Enchanted Storybook Castle in Shanghai!

Mandatory family photos and OOTDs with the castle 😀

It was time for the "Friendtastic" Parade, the biggest parade ever for Hong Kong Disneyland! We found a really good spot on Main Street to watch the parade.

The Hubby bought a drink and hotdog bun for the kids;
We also redeemed a box of popcorn with our food voucher.

The Littlest watched Big Hero Six in Guangzhou and became a fan of Baymax;
She was thrilled to see the Baymax float in the parade!

Very cool Toy Story float!

Zootopia and Turning Red floats

The very cute Duffy and Friends float

Encanto & Disney Princess floats! We waved excitedly to the princesses 😄

After the parade, we rode the Iron Man Experience (a 4D simulation ride) and Ant Man & The Wasp: Nano Battle (a dark shooting laser ride)!

Iron Man Experience

The kids loved the ride, though the effects were pretty dated to me 😅

The Littlest was only 7 months when she first rode this!
Now she is old enough to shoot herself!

Ending our ride

It was time for lunch and we decided to dine at Starliner Diner at Tomorrowland instead of Royal Banquet Hall at Fantasyland and Explorer's Club Restaurant at Mystic Point as we'd dined there previously.

Starliner Diner

We decided to redeem Iron Man burgers and fried chicken

The food looks super cool but was too greasy for me!

We walked to It's a Small World to ride one of the most classic rides in Disney parks! I think I've rode it at least 5 times 😄

The whimsical building with its iconic clock tower

Dolls in costumes of peoples around the world

As we were walking around Fantasyland, the Hubby spotted the Meet & Greet with Tiana! We decided to join the short queue for a photo with her! 😁

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This was my 11th Disney Princess as I've previously met Ariel, Cinderella and Rapunzel, Aurora and Snow White, Moana, Mulan, Anna and Elsa and Belle! 😍

We walked to Toy Story Land but all the rides were 50 minutes or more. We would rather join the 45-minute queue for Mystic Manor. We ended up waiting for about 30 minutes ☺️

Our whole family could fit into one ride vehicle

After riding this ride so many times, we still love it! The Littlest loved it so much that she asked to go on more rides! 😆

After years of avoiding the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, I finally decided to ride it! I figured it shouldn't be worse than Guardians of the Galaxy in EPCOT or the newer Harry Potter rides in Universal Studios Orlando!

Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars

However, as I was the only one who wanted to ride, I decided to give it a miss (again! 😅) as I wanted to prioritise rides that the whole family can enjoy together.

So we watched the Festival of the Lion King instead. The last time we watched the live musical was during our first visit in 2016!

Elaborate sets, detailed costumes and impressive vocals! It was an amazing show!

We wanted to return to the hotel after the musical but had difficulty navigating to the entrance as the parade was moving through Main Street. Hence, we decided to hop on the Jungle Cruise instead. The highlight of the ride was the Jungle Cruise Skipper, the one steering the boat, who cracked all kinds of jokes to entertain the guests! The kids enjoyed his humour! 😆

The humourous Skipper trying to keep us entertained on the ride

Actually there was nothing much to see 😅

The parade had ended by the time we were done with the ride so we headed to the exit. As we were leaving, we saw many people already reserving areas in front of the castle in preparation for the countdown! That's more than 7 hours of waiting! 😓🫣

Main Street got more and more crowded as the day turned into night

One last group photo at the entrance as Mum would not be returning to the park

Boarding the complimentary shuttle bus

Some of us, including the Littlest, managed to catch a short nap to recuperate. When it got dark, we put on our jackets and headed back to the park.

The lighted Christmas tree looked super magical!

World of Frozen was the first place that we headed to! Arendelle was really magical at night!

My night OOTD 😁

This ice fountain was so beautiful and magical at night!

Can you see Elsa's ice palace on the North Mountain?
The attention to detail was spectacular!

We were excited to ride Frozen Ever After again as my 2 girls managed to convince their brother to join us! He didn't want to miss out on the fun this time!

The Boy clung on to me during the drops but said he didn't regret taking the ride! The effects were worth it!

There was no table available at the Golden Crocus Inn so we thought we would visit Toy Story Land and come back later.

We redeemed another box of popcorn and 2 sticks of ice cream using our meal vouchers so that we have something to snack on

Toy Story Land at night

Of course we had to ride Slinky Dog Spin!

We returned to the World of Frozen and as predicted, managed to find a table at Golden Crocus Inn this time. We used our vouchers to redeem 4 dinner combos.

We ordered the Forest Mushroom Pasta and Special Braised Lamb Shank

Bayside Baked Salmon

The food was one of the best I've eaten at the Disney parks! Definitely the best in Hong Kong Disneyland in my opinion.

The Littlest insisted on one last ride before the fireworks so we all rode Mystic Manor again! 😅

Mystic Manor #2

By the time we were ready to look for somewhere to see the countdown night show, the whole area in front of the castle and on Main Street were packed with people! We had no choice but to find some space on the Main Street Railroad Station, just as I had done in Magic Kingdom.

We waited in anticipation for the show, as we had missed it on our last visit due to the castle renovation. Even though we only started waiting at 11pm, it felt like a super long wait because the kids were tired and we didn't have a proper space to sit/stand. The show finally started 15 minutes before midnight!

The Hubby and I took turns to carry the Littlest as she was too short and couldn't see

Disneyland made full use of drones in their show! The effects were quite pretty!

Fireworks were nice but a bit small

Happy 2026

Ten seconds before midnight, the drones formed the numbers to countdown to the new year! The drone show continued after midnight as the DJ ramped up the music for those who wanted to party!

For us, we were happy to head to the exit and return to our hotel. While I had enjoyed our first countdown in Disneyland, I will not do it again! 😅

DAY 8

We woke up early to have breakfast at Ink & Plate at 7.30am, at the restaurant's opening time, as we had a flight to catch. We decided not to wake my 2 girls as we didn't want to pay extra (they eat so little that it wasn't worth it!). As we were dining, Daisy Duck decided to make an appearance!