Klook can be a little cheaper but sometimes the HKDL website has some special packages which include extras souvenirs. I believe senior tickets (65+ for 100 HKD) are only sold at the ticket booths. You can even buy tickets on the day of at the gates since reservations for ticket holders basically never run out. Good to know. It will be just my husband, myself and our 11 year old daughter. Ideally I would like to wait as long as possible (maybe the night before) to purchase tickets since with a cruise you can sometimes end up missing a port due to weather or other circumstances and it would be a waste to have bought tickets if we can't go as it's not likely we will be in Hong Kong anytime soon.
Do anything that's unique at HKDL: shows, Mystic Manor, Iron Man, Big Grizzly Mountain, Ant Man and the Toy Story area. Hyperspace Mountain is also slightly better than Disneyland's version but very similar. Jungle Cruise has quite a few differences including a very different ending scene. Festival of the Lion King is a little different from the Lion King shows in other Disney parks. I'd say that Moana is the worst of the major shows and the one I'd recommend skipping although first time visitors who frequent other Disney parks always want to do it just because it's unique. I have been researching the different rides and I see TDR Explorer now has some recent HK Disneyland videos. Are there fireworks or night time parades?
Premier Access is sometimes sold on the website and sometimes through City Hall only but you may or may not need it. On a Friday, it's possible that everything you can do with Premier Access will have basically no wait with the exception of Winnie the Pooh and the Toy Story Land attractions. Since Winnie the Pooh is a slightly worse copy of the ride in WDW, you may want to skip it. I'd recommend immediately trying to see what the wait is for RC racer if you want to ride it because it can have long waits in the afternoon, doesn't have premier access and may close early. Along the way, you'll see the waits for most of the Premier Access attractions and can decide if its worth getting. Premier Access allows you to skip the line any time you wish by going to that line and giving them the pass. For the castle shows, you go to the front area. For Mickey and the Wondrous Book as well as Festival of the Lion King, you have to arrive 30 min in advance because they let in premier access before the regular attendees.
Crowds in August are rather unpredictable. Some days, you get almost no wait to most attractions most of the day. Other days, you get hour long waits for everything in Toy Story Land, Winnie the Pooh and Mystic Manor and 30 minute waits for most other attractions. Since the vast majority of visitors are passholders, weather can drastically change crowds. The longest waits will often be for character greetings and some will require you to get a standby pass using your phone after entering the park. I feel like it can't hurt to have the Premier Access and it seems to be a fair price for the one that includes 8 attractions which works out to around $50 (pp Canadian), not as low as Genie + but certainly much better than paying $20 for a Lighting Lane for one attraction like we did at DLR this past summer.
