[2] Officially opened on 12 September 2005, the resort contains the Hong Kong Disneyland theme park, the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, Disney's Hollywood Hotel, Disney Explorers Lodge and several retail, dining and entertainment facilities covering 1.3 square kilometres (320 acres) of the island.

[3] A joint-venture company, Hong Kong International Theme Parks Limited (HKITP), was created in 1999 with Disney investing US$316 million for a 43% equity stake in the project.

The Phase One build-out included a projected 10 million annual visitor Disneyland-style theme park, 2,100 hotel rooms, and an area for retail, dining and entertainment.

[1] Government Secretary for Economic Service Stephan Ip Shu-kwan and Walt Disney Attractions Chairman Judson Green signed the master project agreement in November 2000.

[6] Incense was burned when the construction of each building was completed, and one of the main ballrooms is 888 square meters in size, as eight is an auspicious number in Chinese culture, signifying fortune.

Disney originally planned to serve shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese delicacy, at wedding banquets.

[8] However, after constant and continuous pressure from environmental groups and schoolchildren,[9] shareholders concerned about the company's image, Disney announced on 24 June 2005 that shark fin soup will not be served at all, because, according to their press release, "After careful consideration and a thorough review process, we were not able to identify an environmentally sustainable fishing source, leaving us no alternative except to remove shark's fin soup from our wedding banquet menu.

"[10] Health inspectors were asked to remove their caps and badges when coming to inspect the facility after several reports of food poisoning.

[1] The park was projected to attract five to six million visitors in its opening year, mostly locals, tourists from mainland China and nearby Asian countries.

From 23–29 July 2006, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort hosted the 2006 Little League Baseball Asia-Pacific Region Tournament.

[13] Rumour suggested that the relatively low-key celebration of the 1st Anniversary was due to the disappointing performance of the theme park.

[14] The Hong Kong park's attendance continued to be disappointing according to the Walt Disney Company's third-quarter performance released in August 2007.

[21] Later that month, the Hong Kong government announced it would talk with Disney about building a second park as part of Phase II of the resort.

[22] In February 2016, Disney announced that the resort reported its first loss in four years, losing HK$148,000,000, and falling 9.3% in annual attendance, to 6.8 million visitors.

Analysts attributed this to fewer mainland Chinese tourists visit, hurt by a combination of China's slowdown, political unrest, and a weak yuan relative to the Hong Kong dollar, as well as the upcoming opening of the Shanghai Disney Resort.

[26][27] It includes: There are three hotels in the Resort, located on the seashore of the reclaimed land and facing the South China sea, with about 1,750 rooms in total.