Hong Kong Disneyland Hollywood Hotel Review
Hong Kong Disneyland has 3 official hotels: Disney Explorer’s Lodge (mid-range option), Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel (luxury hotel), and Disney’s Hollywood Hotel (budget hotel).
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Each has a theme and a set decoration and, of course, the closest to the park, the more expensive.
All of them cater for a maximum of 4 people per room, so bigger families must know that 2 rooms are needed.
We’ve had 3 days at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hollywood Hotel so it’s about this one that we’ll talk about on this post.
Hollywood Hotel, the budget option
We chose Hollywood Hotel because of the price, haha.
Yeah, I mean, when you need 2 rooms, that seems to be the only thing to do because Disney is expensive – there’s no getting around it.
We knew we’d spend a lot on food and snacks and souvenirs, so we decided to keep the accommodation budget to a minimum.
Hong Kong Disney Resorts guests benefits
- Guests have a designated entrance, though, honestly – not necessary. If you arrive early, the lines are very small anyway.
- Guests receive at least 3 Fastpasses (called Attraction Priority Admission Pass) per person per night at the hotel.
- There’s transport from the hotels to the parks all the time and they’re fast, comfortable, and easy. We’ve never had to wait for more than 5 minutes.
- Check-in is at 3 pm BUT we arrived at 9 am. Our room was ready by 10. Meanwhile, you can leave your bags and go to the park or enjoy the hotel amenities (pool, restaurants, shops, entertainment). We really think that if you stay in a Disney hotel, you should have a day to enjoy it – they’re so much fun!
Unlike the rest of the world, there’s no early entrance for Disney hotel guests, so, don’t book if this was your reason.
This was the bus to and from the park – it had air conditioning (thankfully) and friendly drivers. And, of course, it was comfortable and safe. The kids added ‘cute’.
The Pool
After a long and cold UK winter, the first thing the kids wanted to do when we arrived at the hotel was to play in the pool.
It was a Tuesday, and it was quite empty. There were only my kids in the pool, and still, there were 3 life guards + staff doing something I didn’t get.
There are towels to be used (must be returned right there after use), insect repellent, and life jackets in 3 different sizes for the smaller kids.
We spent around 3 hours there and it was super fun.
The pool bar was closed – not fun for those who couldn’t go to the pool (ahem, mom).
This piano inspired pool, unfortunately, didn’t play any tunes but there was music (I think they played all of The Beatles albums). It was refreshing and fun on the heat of Hong Kong!
Hollywood Hotel In-room amenities
The room itself is simple and cute. If you want it to be decorated, then you pay an extra (salty) fee for it so we skipped it.
It was all fun except for the remote control that worked weirdly (it was old and didn’t connect too well with the TV).
They offer slippers and a metal case with toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste, cotton buds and other little things, and the H2O shampoo and body gel (they’re souvenirs, you can take them home, and you can have one per person per night of your stay). There’s even a little zip bag for the bar soap you use at the sink. Love the idea!
There’s a kettle, an empty mini bar, a safe, hangers, and a table with 2 chairs.
This was one of our cases – and they’re quite big. Just imagine that it fits 4 toothbrushes and other small toiletry items. To bring home, I filled it with 6 hotel-size shampoo bottles!
Hollywood & Dine Café
This is the fast food restaurant of the hotel.
It has a big seating area, easy to find enough tables and chairs, especially if you go out of the common meal times.
It’s not the ordinary fast food, but one that serves asian food. It’s OK food, nothing exceptional. The servings are huge, even the child meals.
The only problem is that the food wasn’t something we’d like to eat every day. The meat was full of fat and, it was a little bit yuck.
It still ends up being expensive but it’s the cheaper option. A meal for us cost around US$ 100 and we ate around 2/3 of it.
There are those street signs around the hotel and they are cute – and fitting with all the decoration around it.
Studio Lounge Bar
It only opens in the afternoon and serves portions and the usual fast food (pizza, chips, and stuff). We never managed to eat there because it opened when we were in the park and it was always full when we arrived from the park.
They also screen movies every night, which can be fun for a day in at the hotel.
A bit of Chef Mickey’s bakery food – they were actually good, you know, unlike most of the character food that’s adorable but disgusting.
Chef Mickey Restaurant
This is a buffet type restaurant for breakfast. It’s expensive but Chef Mickey is there to take photos and the food is really good. There’s a good mixture of food from all over the world and we ate really well there.
There are Mickey shaped waffles and breads, pancake, fruits, yogurt, cereal, deli meat, cheeses, eggs; pig shaped dumplings and a wide variety of Chinese dumplings (delicious, by the way); Japanese style breakfast with soup, rice, salad, and some proteins (it varied every day); a wide variety of bakery items, and even Indian curry and poppadoms.
It’s a great place to eat well before a whole day at the park. We ate so much every morning that we ended up not needing lunch – we just had a little snack here and there throughout the day.
What was funny was that people took our plates from the table as soon as we emptied them. We had to hold on to the plates so they wouldn’t take them away. I mean, we can have pancakes and fruit on the same plate.
The pork bun was too cute and my family said it was really good. I didn’t have the courage to eat it but, yes, all the other food was really good and worth the price.
The other thing is that they charge when they feel like it. On our first day there, they brought the check and asked us to pay for it mid-meal. we had our mouths full, literally.
The Decor
The whole place has a Hollywood vibe to it, with lovely vintage American cars, beautiful sea views, and a lot of nice photo ops.
We were there in May and we still found some Easter Eggs laying around, which was fun.
The Internet
The internet worked super well, it was fast, easy, and reliable. It’s free and it works well all around the hotel.
Everywhere we looked, Mickeys. The kids always have fun looking for hidden Mickeys. Yeah, well, this one wasn’t really hidden, but, you get it. Right?
The Playground
There was a playground there, shaped as a castle, but it was closed when we were there, so we can’t really review it.
Malibu Games
It’s a little room with some arcade games for kids. Coral (6) loved it, but it didn’t please my older kids. It’s geared to smaller kids, I believe kids up to 8 can have fun there.
It’s mostly free, except for the candy machine.
That bubble thing on the foreground was the only game that needed to be paid for. All the rest of the room had arcade games that actually worked.
Character Greetings
They say that characters show up in the front lobby throughout the day. We didn’t catch any, unfortunately. The staff has the schedule and they are happy to share.
Transport to and from the hotel
There’s the complimentary bus to the park – they said it runs every 15 minutes but we never had to wait for more than 5 and we didn’t check the time table they gave us. They run more often on park hours.
There is the option of transfer to and from the airport, but it’s paid for and not offered often, for some reason. We’d have paid for it.
Instead, we just took 2 cabs because we’re in 6 and we had bags. It cost HK$ 140 (it’s less than US$ 20) each. It was super quick, around 10 minutes because they’re both on the same Island (Lantau).
This was at Chef Mickey’s breakfast. I know it sounds silly, but all the characters are a lot of fun, even this Mickey, who didn’t talk at all. He communicated perfectly through gestures with the kids.
Tips
The longer you stay, and the earlier you make your booking make a difference in the price. Check the website to see the early bird specials!
If you need 2 rooms, like we did, ask for connecting rooms. That way, you can close it off for privacy, but still get to go to the other room without the need for changing clothes and keys and all that.
The card keys are souvenirs, you can keep them. They’re cute.
Even though tipping isn’t something people do in Hong Kong, leave a little tip for the cleaners every day of your stay. And also tip everyone who served you well at the hotel. Some of them even expect it.
These were our tickets and one of our Fastpasses. We loved the tickets and we kept one of each. The Fastpasses stayed at the rides. As each room takes 4 people, each Fastpass takes 4 people – if you’re not in a group of 4, save them and use wisely so you can ride more!
A family review of the Hong Kong Disneyland Hollywood Hotel
We enjoyed it a lot.
The staff was always very nice and helpful, and most things were in perfect shape.
It was funny to see the number of people serving an empty pool (not the bar, though, just the pool itself – towels, insect repellent, life jackets, etc) – around 6 – and the people serving a relatively crowded restaurant (2).
People didn’t speak very good English, sometimes we had a bit of problem trying to communicate at the restaurant and the shop, but in general, it was fine.
I really think there should be a convenience store or somewhere selling simple muffins of chips because there wasn’t. It makes all the difference.
And there should be a laundromat because it makes things a lot easier. They do laundry, but they charge per piece, which ends up way too expensive for large families with a limited supply of clothing.
Our mirror-selfie didn’t work out quite as expected and my kids blamed on my inexperience to take selfies. But oh well. I’m old.
But overall, it’s one great hotel.
It is, after all, Disney – they make sure the magic is there.
Thank you for this awesome breakdown! I’m researching options for a trip to one of the international Disney locations, and trying to decide which one has been so difficult. We want to see them all! Is the easiest way to get to the parks usually walking? It’s strange to consider when I’m used to the sprawling nature of WDW, but it sounds amazing!