Day 27 -- Hong Kong

“Now that you are in Hong Kong, what are you going to do?” “I’M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!!” I was so excited to go to Disneyland today. I know that the park here isn’t that big, but some completely mindless fun is something I have been craving since about a year and a half ago when I started my grad program. We got up at 9:30am and had some carbs, er, breakfast at the hotel. We packed our bags, checked out of the hotel at 11:00am and checked our luggage in the lobby. Just down the road from the hotel is an MTR (subway). We walked there and got on our way. We had to make two transfers to get to the Disneyland line. At the second transfer, we walked across to the Disneyland platform and were greeted by Disney music over the speakers. When the train pulled up, it had Mickey Mouse shaped windows. Inside it was very plush with cushy benches, Disney character statuettes, Mickey shaped handholds, and, of course, more Disney music. We arrived outside the park and took a few pictures by the entrance sign. Into the park and headed into Tomorrowland for some rides. We rode the Orbitron (goes around in a circle and your ‘spaceship’ moves up and down. Next up was Space Mountain. I’ve been on it at Disneyworld in Florida, but this was Daniel’s first time. My eyes were watering so bad from the cold gusts of air by the time we got done. The picture that they take during the ride was pretty funny, so we decided we had to get one. Grabbed some caramel corn for a snack then onto the Buzz Lightyear ride. Two people sit in each car and have a joystick to spin the car around and two guns. The idea is to help Buzz beat Zorg by hitting the targets with your laser guns. From there we visited Fantasyland. We went on a few rides there and then into Mickey’s Philharmagic. You get glasses when you go into the theater for a 3D show. There were what looked like little speakers between each of the chairs on the back side. During the show, however, they spritzed out water, air, and scents to go along with whatever was on the screen. They also had bigger gusts of air and other effects throughout the show. Way cooler than I thought it would be. Went back to Tomorrowland for the only Western food indicated on the guide-map and another go at the Buzz Lightyear ride. From there we went to Adventureland and took a river ride. There were three lines: one for English, one for Mandarin, and one for Cantonese. You definitely don’t see that at the Disney resorts in the US. We did a couple more things there before heading to Main Street to see the afternoon parade with all the Disney characters. The songs alternated between English and Chinese versions. After the parade we went to see the Lion King show in Fantasyland. It was packed, but there were no bad seats in the house. The show and songs were done in English, but there were two guys dressed up as baboons that would translate the important parts and transitions into Cantonese. It was quite amusing to watch. Daniel and I decided we should do Space Mountain one more time before we left, so it was back over to Tomorrowland. We got the front car on the ride this time, which made it even more fun. We also did the Buzz Lightyear ride one more time since we were there and had the time. We spent the rest of our time there cruising the stores and bought a few things. Mom had mentioned to me several days back that the one thing she really wanted from Disneyland was a Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse (from the original cartoon that Mickey debuted in). We found one, but Mom didn’t buy it for herself. I guess she just decided to not spend the money on herself and buy gifts for other people instead. Daniel and I decided to go ahead and buy it for her, but didn’t tell her. On the way out of the park, she told us that she did end up getting a Steamboat Willie Mickey and pulled out a mint tin with him on it. We also stopped by a Disney fountain to take pictures. Mom and Dad sat down and had Daniel take a picture with their camera. I asked them to stay there so we could get one with my camera too. So I handed Daniel my camera and handed Mom her Mickey. She made the “you didn’t have to do that” face and said thank you. I told her she couldn’t make that face for the picture though. The whole time at the park, the lines were pretty short and often there was no waiting at all for the rides. Granted it was a weekday in the off-season, but I still expected it to be worse. Where the lines were an issue was waiting to see the characters. Each character had a station where people could line up to take a picture with them, unlike in the US where the characters walk around the park and seeing them is more of a chance meeting (at least it was the last time I was at Disneyworld). The bathroom lines were a close second to the characters, but done in a completely different fashion. I’m used to getting in a line near the bathroom door and waiting for the next stall to open up before the first person proceeds. Here, however, everyone goes and stands in little lines in front of each stall. It makes for a really crowded bathroom and some people waiting an extra long time if they happen to pick a bad line. It’s just a little strange. We took the MTR back and walked to our hotel to pick up our luggage. Grabbed a taxi and went to another hotel that we had booked for the final two nights in Hong Kong. I think Mom had some rewards points to use and this hotel would redeem them. Anyway, we headed to the Harbour Plaza hotel in the Hung Hom area. The hotel is very nice and right on the water to be able to see the lights of Hong Kong. We checked into the hotel and walked to the Outback Steakhouse about two blocks away. Returned to the hotel about 10:00pm and were all exhausted from the fun day at Disneyland. Took a hot bath to wind down and went to bed by 11:00pm.