What a day!

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Dreams of Disneyland!

With the threat of the Typhoon looming we decided last night to get up early and make our way over to the Disneyland on Lantau Island just in case the rest of the week was rained in. So by 8.30am we were on our way out the front door of the Hotel and heading towards the Subway through Tsim Sha Tsui East and onto Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station. Zooming over to Central and then making our way to Hong Kong Station (which can be accessed also through the subway) and then onto to Sunny Bay to catch the special Disneyland train. One small problem was that we used our normal Octopus cards to get on and then remembered our special Disneyland tickets and went to use them. Uh uh! But thanks to the lady on the Customer Service Centre, our Octopus cards got a refund and our Disneyland tickets were docked the cost. Thank heavens as we could not get out without getting that fixed up.

Then the rain decided to fall. And not gently, in veritable BUCKETS. The girls were fine, they had their new raincoats but Mark and I got really wet getting through the doors! However, just within the gates was a small stall selling umbrellas. I am now the proud owner of a Mickey Mouse umbrella at the cost of $HK85! (Later on in the day Mark bought a Mickey Mouse raincoat - it is soooooo cute and so is he when he is in it!)

Our first stop of the day was in the Disneyland Story building. What an interesting story that was. There are some of the Marquettes on display (these are the clay models made of each character before the artists begin drawing the cartoons. They allow the artists to see the characters from all angles). There is also the original architects model for the themepark and a timelapse of the construction of the themepark!) This was such an interesting opener for the visit. It puts the whole thing into perspective.

Then we decided that a coffee and a nice warm Custard Tart at the Market House Bakery. We sat outside under an umbrella as the rain poured down. It was funny sitting there and watching the sea of umbrellas and Mickey Mouse raincoats go by! The tart was yummy and the coffee was probably the best we had all day. (Not that the others weren’t okay but this was the nicest!)

We moved onto Fantasyland. This was seriously cool. We started Fantasyland with the PhilharMagic show. Three dimensional and so very clever. At times throughout the show you were sprayed with a small amount of water as the brooms and buckets did their thing, and you bobbed and weaved without meaning to as the images did their trick. It was still raining outside but you had to be careful to take off your raincoats before sitting down. This then empties into the Merlin’s Treasures shop. Lots to see in there. (And yes we did look but didn’t buy anything!)

The rain started to clear a little but not enough to take off the raincoats we had just put back on, as we made our way to the Carousel. We have a great picture of Mark riding the only type of horse that he wishes to ride. A carousel horse! The girls enjoyed this immensely, and laughed their way through the experience. We then headed over to the Mad Hatters Teacups. This was a lark! So much fun! We even captured this on film!

By this stage it was definitely clearing a little more and we thought about having a ride on the Disneyland train but unfortunately at this point it wasn’t running. So we decided to go and try out Tomorrowland.

We started Tomorrowland with the Space Mountain attraction, which is a big Rollercoaster, not that it goes upsidedown just has lots and lots of drops and wild turns. Most of it in very dark circumstances with comets and shooting stars racing overhead. Elizabeth had serious problems with this ride, Mark had tried to warn her early on that there would be scary moments but I think she took this very cheap. Charlotte and I laughed our way through but I am very pleased that there are stringent safety protocols otherwise if the carts left the track there wouldn’t be much left of you. Children had to be a certain height in order to get on. The photo which we bought of the four of us shows Mark trying to comfort Beth, while Charlotte has her mouth wide open and I am laughing lots!

Beth was very pleased to leave the building at the end of the ride, and so we headed off to the Comet Café for lunch in an effort to make everyone feel much better. And yes, we had Chinese!!!!! A lovely Yangzhou Fried Rice (really yummy!) The girls used chopsticks and Mark and I decided to be squibs and use the spoons. =) Jasmine tea came as a freebie with the lunch - very refreshing and supposed to be ideal for digestion according to our little friend the Tea Merchant across the road from the hotel.

And some clear skies!! So we thought it wise to quickly trek over to Adventureland before it started to rain. Oh some of the sights were really great. We saw Tarzans Tree house, but decided not to try the rides across the “river” on the raft (lots of people were packed on but there were the longest lines we saw all day, so we decided to move on. Also a similar situation on the Jungle River Cruise. We saw the Tikis spouting water at unsuspecting tourists and the mists that they made, the man-made Geyser in the middle of the river and all the carvings all the way around. At this point we made the circuit back to the Fantasyland Train Station and caught the train as it was running again. This was great because we did a full 1 ½ circuits, which meant that we got to see the full park from the perimeter. We got off at the main Street Station and headed back to Main Street and walked over to Tomorrowland. When there we just had to visit the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters! (For Charlotte of course!)


This ride is one in which you sit in the cart and drive around and have to “blast” all of the space creatures. So who got the highest score? Can you guess? Mark made level 4, Charlotte and I made level 3 and Beth made level 2 but on the high end of the scale. Is this the sign of a misspent youth??????

By this stage we were lagging (it was well after 3pm) and we decided to go shopping again! Is this becoming a habit? You bet! T-shirts, cups and bit and pieces bought at the Main Street Sweets (definitely the cheapest place with the greatest range!) and then the parade went by. We found a stall that sold hat pins and undertook a Survey for the Disneyland Themepark on where we came from etc etc., And it was getting on finally. An early dinner at Main Street Corner Café (okay foods at a reasonable price but the choice was not as big as the other foodstalls we saw through the day) and it was raining again lightly.

We finally left the park at 5pm and then caught the train back hitting the hotel at about 6pm for which we were infinitely grateful as we really needed to shower, take off the damp clothes and rest our weary legs.

We loved Disneyland though!

Some interesting facts:

Disneyland fastpass - if the lines are too long when you arrive at an attraction or ride, you can organize a fastpass at an allocated time and then when you come back at that time and just move straight onto the attraction or ride. However, you can only have one fastpass at a time.

Photographs and interesting poses - the funniest thing we have seen (over and over and over) but more so today is the people here have a thing about funny poses. Kick the leg up, arms straight up over the head, hands on the hip - you name it and they do it. We saw a little girl about 3 years old being schooled in the art of funny pose photography today and it was really hard not to burst out laughing. This is something they start REALLY young.

Cigarettes everywhere - smoking seems to be a national past-time. Everywhere, lots and lots of people indulge in this past-time, from restaurants where you specify smoking or non-smoking to the hotel lobby, rides and even taxi drivers. I have noticed some buildings and attractions have specific smoking areas allocated but you begin to notice that your clothes smell of cigarette smoke.

Admission Costs for Disneyland - the cost of the theme park is fully inclusive except food and drink and souvenirs. No hidden costs at all.

Reasonably priced foods - the food choices are very reasonably priced, with a full meal at the Main Street Corner Café (2 or 3 courses) costing between $70 & $90 (Approx $14 - $18) and each restaurant has its own individual choices. You do need to check out which has what option before settling on where to eat!

Postcards!!!!! Postcards are very short on the ground in Disneyland. The only ones we could find were either Disney hat etc for $10 or a really nice 3 Dimensional for a whopping $45! And that was each. Sorry - no Disneyland postcards this time!

Check your shops before you buy! - some shops have a better range of items and there is a difference in the cost of the merchandise between the shops. It pays to check out the choices before settling on a shop. We personally like the Main Street Sweets Shop.

Tshirt sizes - If you want a t-shirt sized from XL to larger there are not many options. It pays to look around and find the one you are after. Alsothe sizes are on the small side - large is actually medium etc.

Getting Photos developed - sorry, film cannot be developed. If you want to get a digital photo printed that is fine. A bit strange when you consider they sell film though and had a film price list on the board - go figure.

Marks Input

Nicola has said it all - the roller coaster was fun and a long time since I have been on one. This one was a good starter and the backgrounds were great - lots of stars, comets, though very LOUD! The park is small and didn’t take long to get around which was actually handy when running through torrential rain from cover to cover. The 3D show with surround sound was brilliant - one of the best visual and sound shows I think I have ever seen. You even got sprayed with water when the there was water on the screen - just simply the best and not to be missed if visiting the park.

Charlotte’s Input

Today I bought a Lightening McQueen stuffed toy car and a beautiful tshirt that had Hong Kong Disneyland on it. We had a fun time. I really like the Astro blaster and Space Mountain the best.

I also got a picture with Goofy, Daisy and Snow White. We also went to the Cindarella Carousel and Mummy was going “Whee…come on horsie see if you can beat Charlotte’s Horsie!

When we were on the railroad and going past tomorrowland there were these green little aliens and they were taking photos and looking at us and Mummy got a picture of them back. And the sign read “To infinity and beyond!

Beth’s Input

Today we went to the comet café, had our picture taken with Goofy and Daisy and I tried to get a picture with Minnie but they kept turning us away because the lines were too full.

Charlotte and I got our pictures together in those little Astronaut suits with no faces! They were cute!

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Photos

Yes we finally ate Chinese!
Charlotte using chopsticks at lunch today - Sian I thought you especially might enjoy this photo!

The girls in space!
The girls looked very at home in tomorrowland. Is this something to look forward to?

Disneys own Fairy Castle
In Fantasyland is the ultimate symbol (architecturally speaking) of Disney and the enduring legacy.

Comments

[Loretta]

It seems to me that the next shopping trip should be to buy another suitcase for all the shopping. Seems like you are having a great time. Have you noticed how many luxury cars there are in Hong Kong? Busses, taxi's and luxury cars are all that seem to be on the roads.