Hello everyone! I will be starting a series of blog posts on our recent family trip to Hong Kong (8th to 13th November 2017) and this first installment is a review of Disney Explorers Lodge, the newest hotel in Hong Kong Disneyland which opened on 30 April this year.
In the past, staying at a hotel in Disneyland had never once crossed our minds. Since we were travelling with Little misschewy and Mini misschewy this time, we decided that staying in Disneyland would be a nice experience for all of us! Plus it would be well worth the money since there are four of us! LOL.
Spending a night in a hotel in Disneyland isn’t cheap but there are special hotel offers listed on the Hong Kong Disneyland website where you can save up to 40% off when you book 21 days in advance. One day in HK Disneyland is definitely not enough especially when you have young kids in tow, so we selected the Room and 2-Day Ticket Package which starts at around HK$3624 (S$626). The standard rate (room only) for a one-night stay in Disney Explorers Lodge averages about HK$2600 (S$449) to HK$3350 (S$578), depending on season, so the package is really enticing and value for money!
DISNEY PRO TIP: This is not mentioned anywhere in the HK Disneyland website if you search under Travel Information but there IS an airport shuttle service which you can request, by emailing Disney Resort Centre at online.reservations@hongkongdisneyland.com
This is only for hotel guests. Per trip, it costs HK$40 per adult and HK$20 per child (3 to 11 years old). We took the Combo (1 Adult & 1 Child) at HK$50 + 1 Adult at HK$40, which is HK$90 (S$15.50) in total. Do take note that the operating hours of this airport shuttle service is only from 10am to 8pm.
Upon confirmation, we received this Airport Shuttle Counter Map which was really useful in helping us locate the counter service staff upon our arrival at the airport and we were led the way to the shuttle bus at the carpark. This airport shuttle service is very convenient and highly recommended if you are planning to head straight to Disneyland from the airport. The journey from the airport took about 15 minutes.
We chose to stay at Disney Explorers Lodge because it is the newest hotel of the three and also because I was attracted to its exploration theme. I absolutely love the lodge motto “ad explorare et somniare” (“to explore and dream”). Interestingly, the rooms are facing and furnished according to the four unique tropical climates of Asia, Oceania, South America and Africa.
Since we arrived on a Wednesday, there wasn’t any queue for check-in, much to our relief. However, the check-in process took a little longer than expected and Little misschewy started to grow impatient, so we went exploring the huge lobby together!
There is also a hotel map framed on the wall at the lobby.
Yay finally! The hubs received a smaller version of the hotel map (as compared to the one on the wall), park admission tickets, attraction priority pass, field guide, guide map, times guide and a handful of stickers!
Time to freshen up in our hotel room before visiting the park!
Even the hotel lift is so cool! Wish I had taken photos of the lift buttons and all!
How cute is this room key card!
All of us were so excited upon entering our room and boy, was it huge! Little misschewy was the most exhilarated of all and couldn’t stop gushing over all the little Disney-related details she discovered while prancing around in our room.
I had earlier requested in my email to be provided with a baby cot but a bed guard was attached to one of the beds instead.
We stayed in the Oceania wing, overlooking the beautiful Rain Drop pool.
Breathtaking, isn’t it? I wanna wake up to this everyday!
Gotta love the bathroom amenities! We brought home the tin box as a souvenir.
There are toothbrushes for kids too!
Plastic cup for children to prevent breakages!
I was quite amused to find hotel room slippers in different sizes!
Ready to conquer HK Disneyland with our guide map and times guide!
There are resort shuttle buses to ferry hotel guests to and from the park. You may also choose to walk, although I would advise against it since the shuttle bus comes very frequently.
I have confirmed with Disney cast members that this is a loop service, starting from and ending at the Disneyland Resort Public Transportation Interchange.
Will be blogging separately about our two days in HK Disneyland!
Apart from in-room dining, there are other dining options available in Disney Explorers Lodge, namely Dragon Wind, World of Colour Restaurant and Chart Room Cafe. In the interest of time, we only had breakfast at Chart Room Cafe.
Really adorable Mickey pancakes but mediocre in taste. If you have the time and budget, you might wanna go for the character dining buffet experience at Dragon Wind, where the Disney characters mingle with guests and go to every table for photo taking! We skipped that because we are not a fan of buffets.
Disney merchandise collectors will be happy to know that there is a shop at Disney Explorers Lodge, called The Trading Post. You can find some items that are exclusively sold at this shop.
DISNEY PRO TIP: What do you get when you place two of your room card keys side by side? Hehe. You need not return these cards upon checking out! They are meant as souvenirs for Disney Explorers Lodge guests 🙂
When we returned to Singapore, I received an email to participate in a survey for being a hotel guest of Disney Explorers Lodge. The reward is a couple of wallpapers which you can use for your PC and mobile phones.
Hope this review on Disney Explorers Lodge is useful to you! Feel free to comment or email me at missuschewy@gmail.com if you have any questions. You may also drop me a text at my Instagram @missuschewy 🙂