A long haul for big fun
It's Hong Kong Disneyland week on Theme Park Insider!
What's the longest airline flights you've ever taken? This year has put me on some especially long long-haul flights, with 15-hour-plus trips to Abu Dhabi earlier this year [here's that SeaWorld Yas Island coverage, in case you missed it] and 16-hour and 13-hour trips to and from Hong Kong last week. (Thank you, jet stream, for saving me that time on the way back!)
Grabbing window seats seemed like a great idea when I booked my Hong Kong trip, figuring those are the best for sleeping. But a nasty flare-up of rotator cuff tendonitis (in my shoulder facing the window, no less) made that as bad a call as Ron Burgundy drinking milk. Still, after listening to what some of my colleagues endured to get across the Pacific, I was grateful for the experience I had on my non-stop United flight from Los Angeles.
The second-best park of any long-haul flight is boarding - when anticipation fills you for the adventure ahead. But the best part of long-haul comes when you finally get off the plane and have arrived for that adventure (or back home). Everything in between - unless you scored an upgrade on an airline that provides a comfy lie-flat bed with outstanding meal service - is the stuff you have to endure to make the those highlights possible.
I also discovered this week that I might be in a minority of people who don't take anything to help go night-night on a long-haul flight. Are you Team Xanax, Team Benadryl, Team Ambien, Team Drink Cart, or Team Au Naturel? Whatever you choose, I hope that your travels treat you well.
This week, we are celebrating Hong Kong Disneyland with new review posts daily. I have started with what I thought were the best two rides in the park:
Ride review: Hong Kong Disneyland's Mystic Manor
Ride review: Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars
Both reviews include on-ride video. Stay tuned to site later this week for reviews of Momentous and Festival of The Lion King, as well as a park-wide trip report and visitor's guide.
More World of Frozen
Making the magic in Disney's World of Frozen: During the World of Frozen's press event this week, Walt Disney Imagineering invited me and a few other reporters to accompany Imagineers on a 40-minute walking tour of the land. It's a rare, but welcomed, opportunity to get an insider's view of the process by which a world-class theme park attraction comes to life.
So what's next for Disney's World of Frozen? It might seem premature to ask "what's next" for an attraction that just opened, but getting the news early is our job here at Theme Park Insider, so let's do it. A lagoon show might be in the works for Hong Kong's Frozen land, as Disney works to bring the franchise to its parks in Tokyo, Paris... and possibly California.
More theme park news
Three injured in Disneyland mishap
Holiday shows return to Universal Orlando Resort
Here's a sign for something new coming to Universal Orlando
One of the world's top sports teams is getting its own theme park
Theme park tickets
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You can find links to individual park deals by following the ticket icons on our Theme Park Visitors Guide pages.
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Thank you, as always, for reading and recommending our work here on Theme Park Insider. And Happy Thanksgiving to all our U.S. readers!
Robert Niles