Hong Kong Day 7 (part 1)

5 November 2010

We woke up early at about 7am and 1 hour later, we headed to 7-eleven located opposite of our guest house for breakfast.

We had microwaved food. Then we headed back to Lee Garden Guest House and checked out. With two 20+ kg luggage and another hand-carry luggage, the three of us took the MTR.

We got on the Central line at Tsim Sha Tsui Station and got off at Lai King Station, changed to Tung Chung Line and got off at Sunny Bay Station. Then we took the Disneyland Resort Line to DISNEYLAND!! It was really a long journey despite the fast trains!

**ALERT!! SPOILER OF DISNEYLAND STARTS HERE!**

At the beginning of Disneyland Resort Line, everything starts to turn cute.

Mickey Mouse MTR train!

In the train.

Mickey Mouse handrail. CUTE!

When we got off the MTR Station, we took the free shuttle to our hotel, Disney's Hollywood Hotel.

There's actually two hotels in HK Disneyland - Disney's Hollywood Hotel & Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. Confused? hehe Just remember that the Hollywood Hotel is the cheaper hotel between this two.

There were so many people queuing up to check in! It wasnt even a school holiday/peak season. Sigh.. we have no choice but to wait patiently for our turn....

Our room for four was booked from www.pyotravel.com for RM600+/night for few months back when they are having promotions. So far it is the cheapest that we can find!

At the check-in counter, we presented our check-in slip and bought along two-days pass for the Disneyland Park (HK$398/person).

These are all the tickets and maps!

As the check-in time was 3pm, and it was only 11am at that time, we left our luggage with free luggage storage service at the hotel and headed straight to my dreamland, DISNEYLAND!!

Before I continue, let me just say, going to Disneyland is my dream! I've always loved Disney cartoons and fairytales. Love them and their music up until today. It's like a to-go place before I die! LOL

And this is the entrance to my DREAM!

The moment I stepped in, there's Disney songs playing over the loud speakers along the street.

♫ M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E ♪

♫ When you wish upon the star, makes no difference who you are ♪
♫ Hakuna Matata, it means no worries for the rest of your days ♪

It seriously gives you the feeling that if you wished hard enough, dreams will come true. Life is simple and not complicated. No worries! Life is about ice-creams and chocolates and rides!

After walking down the entrance, we saw this huge fountain where Mickey is surfing on top of the whale, surrounded by his friends like Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Goofy etc.

We took our tickets and off towards the Disneyland Park entrance. Got our tickets AND fingerprints scanned!! Our fingerprints was scanned because ours is a two-days pass and since those tickets are non-transferable, it made sure that the ticket comes with the right owner the next day. HIGH TECH right? We're impressed!

Look at my face! Couldnt hide the glee away! Haha

Upon the entrance, we were greeted by a beautiful garden of Mickey and a train station.

Then we walked under a bridge that says...

Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy. LOVE THE QUOTE! ♥

But boooo the rain! Look how heavy it is! :( When we dream of going Disneyland, we never dream of it raining right? Happy fantasies dont include rain! Sigh... despite the rain, I'm determined to enjoy the best of Disneyland!

Then here we are at the Main Street USA.

Most of the buildings at the Main Street USA consist of Disney-themed souvenir shops. We decided to check them out later.

We walked until we reached the roundabout.

We scanned the map and decided to go Adventureland first.

So off we go to Adventureland!

As it was already nearing 12pm, we quickly headed off to Theater in the Wild for the "Festival of the Lion King" show.

Festival of the Lion King is a colourful pageant of music and dance inspired by and celebrating Disney's animated classic "The Lion King"

The show was superb! LIVE talking and dancing and singing! It shows how Simba turned from a lion cub to the King of the Pride Land. They also sang most of the songs in The Lion King.

♫ Circle of Life ♪
♫ I Just Cant Wait To Be King ♪
♫ Be Prepared ♪
♫ Hakuna Matata ♪

♫ Cant You Feel The Love Tonight ♪

On the way out from the show, the songs kept on playing in my mind!

Then we headed to "Rafts to Tarzan's Treehouse". It's a raft ride across the river to visit Tarzan's Treehouse in Tarzan Island.

People were moving rather slowly due to the rain, with umbrellas up. It was quite packed and taking pictures was quite difficult.

You can actually learn the story of Tarzan there too. There's a cradle of Tarzan when he was a baby, where he was later found by an ape, Kala who become his mother, then he met Jane who taught him to become a human, the evil snake, etc. There are also places like the kitchen, library etc..which looks exactly the same like those in the Tarzan cartoon!

♫ You'll Be In My Heart ♪

With Tarzan-themed music playing the whole time, it really makes you feel like you're in the movie!

We took the raft back and headed to the next attraction, Jungle River Cruise.

At the map it says - Journey with your intrepid skipper along the mysterious Rivers of Adventure.

It was a fun boat ride! It makes me feel like I'm in an adventure. There will be a part where the Red Indians will shoot at you with their traditional lastik, the wave will raise like it's gonna be a big wave and sink the whole boat, the hillside and water will suddenly be lighted up with fires, elephants and hippos will shoot water towards us! Although of course, we managed to miss all of the attacks! Haha

I would also give credit to the guide of the boat ride. She will go like "Look at your ride? Those naughty elephants are going to shoot some water.. HIDEEEEEEEE!!" *then drove the boat away so that managed to miss the attack by just a few centimeters away* She made this adventure interesting!

Oh not to forget, this is the best imitation of an elephant that I've ever seen. They have hairs!

They really touched on the slightest details!

We bought a Corn-on-cob and Chicken Pie to warm us up.

The Chicken pie has a Mickey mold! Too bad the Corn-on-cob is just an ordinary shaped corn.

We walked in Adventureland. Spotted the trees were lighten up with lanterns along the way.

Then we decided to continue to the next land, Fantasyland!

The first attraction we spotted is Mickey's Philhar Magic, the magical 3D adventure.

Of course we were given 3D glasses for the show.

At first before the show, Yin was quite worried that the 3D might give her a headache.

But it turns out, this is the best 3D show the three of us has seen. Not dizzy at all! It has a little 4D effects too like small splashes of water, wind rushing through our faces when we're flying and the smell of cake/desserts! Yummy~ Donald Duck and Flounder from The Little Mermaid was just right in front of me and I swore I lifted my hand to grab them for a few times! Hehe

Each time we came out from the attraction was a mess as everyone would be busy wearing their jacket/raincoat or opening up an umbrella. It would've been less fuss and much nicer without the rain! Sigh... but the positive side, the queues for each ride was short! Hehe..

We saw the Fantasy Train Station and decided to hopped on to the train for the overview of the park.

We passed Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and reached the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad Station located at the Main Street USA.

We decided not to go down and continue our journey back to Fantasyland as we havent explored finish! We passed Adventureland along the way.

Upon coming back to Fantasyland, we went on with the next attraction, Dumbo the Flying Elephant! Actually only I went ahead with the ride as Yin and Peter decided not to get wet! You cant ride the elephant with an open umbrella! So instead of riding, they bought Soy Chicken Wing to eat while waiting for me

See how they prepared the fans for summer season? Very thoughtful huh?

One round before my turn, I was given a boarding pass. And look at me! All wrapped up ready for the ride!

We spotted the Royal Banquet Hall after the ride. But nothing much inside, just a place for food. We only stopped by for photo.

We went ahead for the next ride, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

While queuing up, there's pages related to the story of this cartoon. I find them really attractive. They looked like they popped out of a storybook! Hehe

We sat in a pot of Hunny (Pooh's version of Honey) and headed off to the adventure.

Did I mentioned that I'm not a fan of Winnie the Pooh cartoon? I only know a few of the main characters in the cartoon and nothing much about the story. But nevertheless, I enjoyed myself in the attraction. Everything is so cute inside. So 3D and popped out and it moves! I really felt like I'm INSIDE the cartoon. Cant believe I like the ride despite knowing nothing much about this cartoon! That's the amazing thing about Disneyland right?

It was already near 4pm so we went to the next show, The Golden Mickeys. Many people were already queuing up inside.

"The Golden Mickeys" is a musical celebration of Disney's films and characters. It was performed in the Oscar award style, but of course the whole award ceremony was Disneyfied!

♫ M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E ♪

Toy Story - ♫ You've Got A Friend In Me ♪

Hunchback of Notre Dame - ♫ Out There ♪

Mulan - ♫ Make A Man Out Of You ♪

Lilo and Stitch - ♫ Hawaiian Roller Coaster ♪

Little Mermaid - ♫ Under The Sea ♪

Beauty and the Beast - ♫ Belle ♪ ♫ Beauty and the Beast♪

Grand Finale

I absolutely love the show. It makes me wanna rewatch all the Disney cartoons when I'm back to Penang! I miss my childhood~

Around Fantasyland, you'll see cute stalls selling souvenirs/snacks. Like this Popcorn stall! They have jungle themed stalls in Adventureland and I forgot to take picture of them. Sorry!

We make our way to the next attraction, It's A Small World. This is the bridge before the grand building.

And this is It's A Small World. Only managed to capture the middle (1/3) of the building! It's too big!!

We walked to the right entrance to get into the ride.

It was a boat ride across the world! ♫ It's A Small World ♪

It's so colourful inside! And nearly everything moves! It's a really a smaller version of the world!

We were at everywhere in It's A Small World. Israel, Mexico, Africa, Japan, Egypt, Scotland...anywhere you name it, they've got it! =)
I actually took lots of photos but most of them turned out blur! Only a few were clear. :(

As it's getting late (the park closes at 7pm this time of the year), so we've decided to headed to the next land, Tomorrowland!

Spotted a foodcourt area and decided to grab some dinner. Had some noodles in hot soup and a super long hotdog with half mushroom and half tomato sauce.

Headed off the Stitch Encounter where we get to talk and play and help Experiment 626 (that's Stitch) to escape from being capture. It was a special attraction as Stitch is actually talking live to the audience from the screen. No wonder they say it's never the same show twice!

Forget to take picture of that attraction. *smack head*

But we spotted Stitch outdoor!

Ohana means family

As it was about 6.30pm already that time, we've decided to walk back to Fantasyland to walk through the Sleeping Beauty Castle back to Main Street USA.

Upon reaching the castle, we passed Snow White Grotto where we spotted a Snow White and the 7 dwarfs pond, and a wishing well!

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs - ♫ I'm Wishing ♪

We continued our journey to the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Sleeping Beauty - ♫ Once Upon A Dream ♪

back view

front view

We were back again at the roundabout in Main Street USA. The middle of the roundabout was actually a building featuring Mickey's Candy Shop!

Love the colour of the leaves and flowers at the roundabout! So bright and lively! We stayed for a little while because we wanted to grab a nice spot for the fireworks at 7pm!

Bought popcorn to enjoy the moment!

Popcorn box when flattened

You must be wondering, the weather is still so bright! How to see the fireworks?

At 6.30pm, it was still very bright, but no worries because at 7pm, the sky was really really dark already. Not to forget that all the lights at the whole Disneyland except for the Sleeping Beauty Castle will be closed at 7pm for the fireworks display.

And at exactly 7pm, we had our 13 minutes of fireworks display!

Took some videos too! Enjoy...

As you can see, we managed to get a good view for the fireworks display! Front row and not too near till our neck ache while watching.

Despite the rain, the fireworks were perfect! It was really a finale for the day. To me, Disneyland would never be complete without the fireworks. It's the happy ending where everyone lives happily ever after! ;)

***to be continued...