Hong Kong with Kids: More Than Just a Stopover
- Shelley Hasson
- May 29
- 9 min read
For years, Hong Kong has been the city families pass through on the way somewhere else. A night or two between flights, a dim sum breakfast, maybe a walk along the harbour - and then off to the next destination. It's treated as a transit point when it deserves to be a destination.
We travelled in April with our two kids (aged nine and twelve) and spent a week there: three nights at the Disneyland Hotel followed by four nights exploring Kowloon and beyond. Here's an honest account of what we found.
Getting to Hong Kong with Kids
We flew Cathay Pacific direct from Perth, which made for a smooth and uncomplicated start. Once you land, taxis are the easiest way into the resort area — just be aware that Hong Kong taxis are colour-coded by zone, so make sure you join the right queue at the airport for where you're heading. if you are heading straight into the city the Airport Express is the way to go taking only 25 minutes.
The Disneyland Hotel
We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and it really impressed us. It's elegant and beautifully presented: grand, calm and refined. If you've stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in Tokyo, the atmosphere and layout is very similar.
There are three hotels within the Hong Kong Disney resort: the Disneyland Hotel, Explorer's Lodge and Hollywood Hotel. We explored all three during our checkout day.
Explorer's Lodge is enormous, with a lush adventure theme offers casual dining options, although expect Disney pricing, which at this resort leans firmly toward the expensive end. The Disneyland Hotel has no casual dining; everything is sit-down. Hollywood Hotel has a lively atmosphere but a noticeably smaller and busier lobby than the other two properties. Both the Disneyland Hotel and Hollywood Hotel have pools with waterslides, though they're gentle rather than thrilling. Think pleasant cool-down rather than a ride in themselves.
Character Dining at Enchanted Garden
We booked the character dining at Enchanted Garden restaurant and opted for the later dining time. We had the restaurant almost entirely to ourselves, which meant the characters lingered at our table rather than rushing between crowded groups. The food spread was a generous buffet with plenty of variety. If this experience is on your list, the later sitting is worth considering specifically for the interaction time.
Hong Kong Disneyland: What to Know Before You Go
Hong Kong Disneyland is smaller than its counterparts in California, Tokyo, Paris and Shanghai, and that turns out to be one of its biggest strengths when you're travelling with children. Queues are generally short, the layout is easy to navigate, and the overall pace is genuinely relaxed in a way the larger parks simply can't replicate.
Early entry is worth it, with caveats. We had early entry access on our first day and headed straight to World of Frozen, riding Frozen Ever After and Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs multiple times before the general public arrived. However, there are only a few rides open with your early entry pass. In fact some areas didn't even open when general admission had commenced. Toy Story Land and many food outlets didn't open for about an hour after general admission. There were some food options available on Main Street USA but not further into the park. We didn't purchase this pass for our second day as we didn't require it with such short queues. If you are travelling during golden week, easter break, Christmas, school holiday period in Hong Kong or China you would benefit from getting the early entry pass.
You probably don't need a skip-the-line pass. Hong Kong Disneyland offers a paid skip-the-line pass that lets you jump the queue on selected rides. You can choose between access to three attractions or eight, with pricing varying by date. We had an 8 ride pass for our first day but found that ride queues were rather short anyway. On day two we decided to go without the early entry and skip the line pass and still rode everything we wanted to, including Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars seven times in a row. (By the seventh lap, my husband and I were significantly regretting the decision. The kids on the other hand wanted to go again!)
The longest queues we encountered were Mystic Manor, which hit about an hour on day one due to a couple of breakdowns (it was around twenty minutes the following day), and the character meet-and-greet queues. Duffy and the Zootopia characters both had around forty-five minute waits. There was also a near-constant queue for a carnival game where you could win a giant Chip and Dale plush.
April means humidity. Hong Kong is humid from April to September, and it can be rather draining. Build indoor rides into your day as deliberate breaks: It's a Small World, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Frozen Ever After and the Winnie the Pooh ride are all air-conditioned and enjoyable beyond just the relief from the heat.
The parade requires no planning. We walked up at start time and had a clear view without queuing or staking out a position earlier.
The Momentous Nighttime Spectacular. We added the Momentous package, which gave us front positioning for the fireworks and nighttime show. Afterwards we returned to the hotel for a private picnic and outdoor movie with another family, a lovely end to the day. Some things to take into consideration if you're thinking about this package - when you are right up the front of the castle for the fireworks it is difficult to see the drones behind the castle at the start of the show. The package is expensive and tired kids might not want to be up starting a picnic at 9:30pm or later. We did enjoy our package and were glad we didn't have to queue for a spot for the fireworks, we just arrived 10 minutes before starting and went into the designated area for guest. If you want to be right in the middle of the Castle, then allow more than 10 minutes.
The Walk to the Park (That Nobody Else Takes). The Disneyland Hotel is about a ten-minute walk from the park entrance along a beautifully maintained path: manicured gardens, background music, trees and occasional water features. Not once during our two park mornings did we see another guest walking it. Everyone else takes the shuttle. The walk is worth it.
Moving into the City: Four Nights in Kowloon
After the Disney resort we based ourselves in Kowloon for four nights, which put us within easy reach of everything we wanted to see on Hong Kong Island and the surrounding area.
Victoria Peak
We had planned to take the tram up to the Peak, but accidentally boarded the bus all the way to the top instead, but we loved our detour. Sitting on the upper deck of a double-decker bus as it climbs steep, narrow roads with the city dropping away beside you is exhilarating, if not a little scary. The views on the ascent also give you a real sense of how Hong Kong manages its geography: soccer fields inside racetracks, cemeteries carved into mountainsides between apartment blocks, sports courts built on rooftops. We were told Hong Kong's landscape has been heavily influenced by land reclamation and that most of the flatter areas of land are reclaimed, and once you've seen the terrain, that immediately makes sense.
The contrast between wall-to-wall skyscrapers and dense green tropical mountains is unlike anything we'd seen anywhere else.
The views from The Peak are worth the trek up and the big crowds. We timed our visit around sunset and watched the city gradually light up below us, the harbour catching the last of the day's colour before the skyline took over. It was busy, as popular viewpoints tend to be, but the view more than holds its own regardless of the crowds.
We caught the Peak Tram back down, which is the classic experience and absolutely worth doing. Buy your Peak Tram tickets in advance online to avoid the queues at the terminal.
The Star Ferry
If you're staying in Kowloon, the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island is one of the most satisfying ways to cross the harbour. It's cheap, it's fast, and the views are excellent. The experience of watching the city from the water on a ten-minute crossing is something a taxi through the tunnel simply doesn't give you.
Tip: Before you board, stop at % Arabica, a tiny coffee bar tucked inside the terminal building on the Kowloon side. Hong Kong has a genuinely strong coffee culture and this place is a good example of it. One of the best coffees I had on the entire trip, and I wasn't expecting to find it in a ferry terminal. There are a few of these coffee shops around that apparently originated in Japan and are worth stopping at. Coffee was rather expensive at around $12AUD for a regular cup size.
The Avenue of Stars
The Avenue of Stars runs along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront and is a pleasant walk, particularly in the early morning or evening when the harbour light changes. It's quite a busy bustling area at night times as crowds of people flock down to the waterfront to board boat tours, see the city skyline and dine with lovely views.
The Food Tour
We booked our first ever guided food tour and it was really good. Over several hours we worked through proper old-school dim sum including the trolley cart service, ma tai go (water chestnut cake), lo bak go (turnip cake), Ko Shing Street dried seafood, egg tarts, Hong Kong-style macaroni, French toast, 24-herb tea and bubble waffles. At one-point heavy rain started and we ducked into our last stop- a tiny wonton noodle shop, red lanterns overhead, steam rising from the kitchen, and ended up staying far longer than intended. Some of the best wonton noodles we've ever had.
Aqua Luna Junk Boat Cruise and the Symphony of Lights
We booked an evening cruise on the Aqua Luna traditional junk boat to watch the Symphony of Lights harbour show from the water. It had been raining for a few hours prior to our cruise and thankfully the rain eased off as we boarded onto the boat, which we were very grateful for. Watching the light show from the harbour on the junk boat was a pretty cool experience.
Important update for anyone planning this now: The Symphony of Lights has been officially retired and will be phased out in 2026.
Ngong Ping and the Big Buddha
The Ngong Ping 360 cable car is a twenty-five-minute ride over green hills and the South China Sea, and an experience in itself. Our day had a significant smog haze that cleared a little as the morning went on, but visibility wasn't perfect.
From Ngong Ping Village its a short walk to the base of the Tian Tan Buddha and then it's 268 steps up. The steps are wide and the climb is steady rather than punishing. The scale of the statue becomes more apparent the closer you get.
The Po Lin Monastery, a short walk from the base of the steps, is beautiful and well worth the time. One practical note: ice cream at the village is delicious but costs approximately twenty Australian dollars for one serving! You've been warned.
Temple Street Night Market
We spent our final evening at Temple Street Night Market, which is loud, lively and packed with street food options. It's the kind of place that's hard to walk through quickly. Good for an evening when you don't want to commit to a sit-down restaurant.
Practical Tips
Taxis are colour-coded. Hong Kong taxis run on a simple colour system: red taxis cover Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and most of the New Territories; green taxis operate in the New Territories only; and blue taxis serve Lantau Island, which is where the airport and Disneyland are located. Most visitors will only ever need a red or blue taxi. All three colours can pick up and drop off at the airport. At the airport, staff will give you a printed slip showing your destination and the approximate fare before you get in, which takes the guesswork out of it entirely.
Navigating the city takes several tools at once. The MTR is excellent but the city is complex enough that no single navigation method will get you everywhere. Use the MTR app, Google Maps, station signage and the people around you, often all on the same journey. This is not a criticism; it's just accurate preparation.
Buy your Peak Tram tickets in advance. The queues at the terminal can be significant, particularly on weekends and in peak travel periods. Online purchase gets you into the priority lane.
Walk to the Disney park. The ten-minute path from the Disneyland Hotel is far more pleasant than waiting for a shuttle, and you'll likely have it entirely to yourself.
Final Thoughts
Hong Kong with kids works particularly well because the contrast between different experiences is so sharp: a calm, beautifully managed Disney park one day, the sensory overload of a night market the next, with a food tour and a cable car ride over the harbour in between. The Disney resort is genuinely good and doesn't need to be justified as just a stop-off on the way to something else.
About the Author
Shelley Hasson is a Perth-based family travel specialist and founder of The Family Travel Studio, specialising in bucket list holidays for Australian families. Certified specialist in Japan, Hawaii, USA, Cook Islands, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Disney Cruises and Princess Cruises.
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