After the adventurous Day 1 and Day 2 touring Hong Kong, my legs were basically “broken”. Nevertheless, can’t miss a full day at Disneyland! Usually, we would get Inflatable Rentals with prints of my favourite Disney , but now in Disney land I’m actually going to be at the heart of Disney imagination. I couldn’t be more excited. This was the first place that came into my mind when I learned that we were going to Hong Kong. Some friends advised to skip Hong Kong Disneyland because it’s the smallest Disneyland in the world. Thank goodness we didn’t listen because this first Disneyland experience was magical enough!
Day 3 – Hong Kong Disneyland
The magical journey started with a train ride ala Disney to the Magic Kingdom. How thoughtful of RK (the birthday boy) to give me a Mickey Mouse headgear. Hehe.Look at the windows! The interior of the train was actually heavily decorated in Disney theme with lots of quaint Disney character figurines.I was in this mood where I wanted to take photo every 10 steps we took until RK was like “Why do you want this?!” so I took 1 photo every 50 steps we took instead. LOL.While Alicia and Victor were busy slapping on sunblock, I took Alicia’s Elmo cap and wondered why Elmo was taking a day off from Universal Studios.Yay! We were officially in the compound of Disneyland. Check out my ticket, featuring Wendy from Toys Story.I wanted to copy Mickey Mouse’s pose at the top of the arch but I clearly failed. Need shorter hands, shorter legs and taller nose.I found Pooh! And he’s looking at me <3 Winnie the Pooh is my favourite Disney character because I received a 20-inch stuffed toy as birthday present when I was a kid. I hugged the bear to sleep growing up.Trying to kiss the whale that is shooting water fountain for Mickey Mouse to surf on.I wanted to copy every Mickey Mouse friend at the fountain until my friends wanted to leave me behind…RK was holding the camera while I was holding the umbrella. Can you tell the sun was shining very brightly that morning?The gate to the theme areas were not opened yet so we lurked into the souvenir shop to escape the sun and enjoy some air condition.
Once the gate opened, majority of the people were flocking to “Frozen” Village. Little girls were dressed up in Elsa costume, ready to join a princess parade or so. I didn’t know that “Frozen” Village was a new introduction in conjunction with Summer. Passes to go in were sold out by the time we arrived at “Frozen” Village — definitely a big hit among little girls!
We started at Adventureland and just walked where we saw less crowd. That’s how it worked the whole day. We didn’t plan based on the park entertainment schedules so we missed shows, day parade and mascot appearances. Didn’t get the max of the Disneyland experience but we still had lots of fun!
We went for Jungle River Cruise as our first ride in Hong Kong Disneyland! There were Chinese and English rides. The ride was a live story-telling cruise to visit the occupants of the jungle, with some burning river (with real fire) and whirlpool adventure. IT WAS AWESOME. Definitely felt the thrill of the adventure.I liked that Disneyland was an immersive experience. Every corner of the park contained something interesting to be discovered. To be photographed. To be interacted with. That’s something that I enjoy in every theme park experience.See what I mean? Even walking from one theme area to another, there’s something to amuse you along the way. Instagram-worthy at every 50 steps.I think this giant barrel hosts mascot appearance or show but it was empty when we were there so it hosted us instead!Toy Story Land was pretty empty when we went there (because we walked against the traffic) so we left the camera on the bench for a remote shutter group shot! A for Alicia, D for Devalian (RK’s Instagram), Y for Yen (my Chinese name) and N for Victor (because he had no choice LOL).The horseshoe track behind me was the track of RC Racer. We sat in a car that went up 90′ forward and reverse. My expression described my feelings for the ride.Here’s what I meant. This was RK’s favourite ride that he’s even willing to stand at the giant race car and wait for the perfect moment to click the shutter.Kiddy Slinky Dog Spin with the kiddy couple. The cast members (that’s what they call the Disneyland staff who each has an ala Disney nametag) gave us a dog-shaped pass for headcount and security purpose. These two had a different purpose for the tag.RK and I had disagreement on selfie moments at Disneyland. His only selfie moment was on rides while my only no-selfie moment was on rides. Toy Soldier Parachute Ride was a kids-friendly one so I let him go for this.Over at Mystic Point theme park, there was a Garden of Wonders with trick eye installations. I became big, tall and strong after visiting the garden.Mystic Manor (the building behind me) houses an indoor discovery ride. It was amazing. The special effects and thoughtful ride planning ensured every person had a wholesome experience. I loved it!Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars — what a mouthful for a ride name. This was a favourite ride of mine because it was thrilling but not horrifying. And because Victor’s random girly scream at the end of the ride cracked us up. Hahahahaha!Even though Winnie the Pooh only had 1 ride in the park, there was a souvenir shop dedicated for Pooh. Definitely one of the world’s most loved bears.Food at Disneyland was not too ridiculously priced, especially when they are so adorable! We got piggy buns as RK’s birthday “cake”. That’s his piggy face.The cast members were giving out character stickers at random. I believe it’s to keep kids occupied so that they remain good and excited to collect all the stickers. One got stuck on my hair and my friends thought they shouldn’t tell me.I met Winnie the Pooh in person! OMG. I was smiling ear to ear. It looks like RK was very happy to see the super friendly and lovely Pooh too. The mascot was living in his character: listening to a boy who whispered secrets to him and hugging his guests. Fyi, his fur was very soft, clean and didn’t smell bad.It’s a Small World — this ride brings you through a mini exhibits of many many countries around the globe. I don’t remember seeing Malaysia but I remember seeing “Selamat Jalan” or “Terima Kasih” at the multilingual exit. With so many colourful dolls moving and singing non-stop, it felt like a trance into a fantasy land.RK laughed so much for this ride: Autopia. It’s a Tomorrowland ride where you slow drive an electric car on a little track. I had no clue how the car functions. I drove worse than a 5-year-old. Seriously. It felt like a bumper car ride because of my hopeless driving.I was holding a glass flower that the “sifu” in the background made. He works behind a glass so that we could watch how he molded each handmade glass miniature in the store. Impressive skill.We were walking across the parks to meet Alicia and Victor when we spotted Anna and Kristoff. Have I mentioned that Disneyland cast members professionalism was one reason the Disneyland experience was magical? These mascots were professional actors!We stayed for the night parade and it was oh-how-exciting! It felt like the characters came to live. There were dancers with elaborated costumes and so many pretty parade floats. How do they create magic every night?!Can you spot Ariel sitting on the float? She was actually greeting the crowd in her Ariel voice and character.Last but not least, the fireworks. “Disney In The Stars” Fireworks — that’s what they call it. Good decision to wait for the fireworks though we were dead tired by then. I couldn’t stop smiling watching the 10-ish-minute long fireworks display. Ahh~
So that was it! A full day spent at Hong Kong Disneyland to mingle with the characters and stories that I grew up with. I’d want to visit Disneyland whenever I land in any country that has one. I loved Disneyland.
The experience was very wholesome; everything was very professional, from the delicate theme park design to the professional cast members. Queues were bearable (we went on a Monday) and rides were good for kids and adults alike. Definitely made the kid in me very happy.
Feel like pausing at Day 3 to reminisce the memories again before moving on to our next exploration.
p/s RK got a birthday button badge courtesy of Disneyland but he refused to wear it.
Because RK is a man and man are like that. They dont wear cute badges. Really love reading all of your post! =)
Haha. Maybe.
Thanks for reading! ^^