Hong Kong Disneyland

One thing that you probably should know about me is that I LOVE Disney.  I have been to a Disney park almost every year since I was in second grade.  And now, I can say that I’ve been to Disney parks on three continents, which is also pretty awesome.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  I have been wanting to visit Hong Kong Disneyland since I got to Hong Kong, but it has been so horrendously hot outside that I knew I’d just be sweaty and miserable, so I wanted to wait until things cooled down.  This past Monday, I knew the weather would be downright freezing for Hong Kong standards, so I thought it might be a great time to go.  I put out a poll on facebook on Sunday night about whether I should go to Disneyland or get and decorate a Christmas tree and Disney was the overwhelming winner.  Thanks, friends!

Beyond my desire to go to Disney for my own interest, I also really needed to go to get some Christmas presents.  My parents collect Disney trading pins and I knew I wanted them to have some from Hong Kong.  The really unfortunate part is that unlike the Disney parks in the US, there is no shopping area outside the park, so you pretty much have to enter the parks to do any kind of shopping (for future reference, I did find out later that the resort hotels have small shopping areas, so I suppose I could have gone that route…)

Loved the Disneyland Resort Line.  So creative!

In any case, when I woke up on Monday morning, I saw a bunch of comments on facebook including one from a friend from college who works for HK Disney offering to walk me in the park for free.  Um, yes.  Decision made.

More good theming

One of the things I love most about Hong Kong is how easy it is to get around.  In about 45 minutes from my house, I arrived at the Sunny Bay MTR (metro) station.  One of the really brilliant things the HK government did when bidding for Disney is plan a devoted extension to the MTR that would service Disneyland.  So all you have to do is take the normal MTR line out to Lantau Island (where Disneyland is located) and switch to the Disneyland resort line.  I love unexpected touches, and I was actually quite surprised to see that the Disney theming had already started when the MTR cars pulled into the station.  The cars were definitely standard-issue MTR cars, but they were retrofitted with Mickey-shaped windows, blue couches instead of metal benches, Mickey Mouse shaped handholds and characters throughout.  It was a really great touch. 

I met my friend at the front gates and we caught up a little bit on what had been going on over the past few years.  It was so surreal to see someone from home here.  So far, everyone I know here I’ve met here, so it was definitely a strange feeling.  We hung out for a few more minutes before he had to go to a meeting and rehearsal, then I headed out to explore the park. 

The only Disney park with an actual mountain behind the castle.

So, first for a couple of observations:

People told me that Hong Kong Disney is much smaller than other parks.   This is true.  It is missing Frontierland completely and lots of the other lands have different and/or missing rides from the other parks.

Extra HK addition at It's a Small World

A cold December day was the perfect time to go.  The park was extremely empty.  I never waited more than 5 minutes for anything, which was awesome.  And the park was decked out for Christmas with carols blaring on Main Street.  I couldn’t help being in a festive mood!

There were a LOT of mainlanders.  I try to avoid talking about this in my blog because it’s a very polarizing issue here in Hong Kong.  But I can say that unfortunately, a lot of the stereotypes are true.  In queue lines that were not nearly full, people would cram up against you trying to push ahead, and people would take any advantage to slip in front of you.  Or in a show where there is a large queue and the theatre or whatever venue is opened and everyone is supposed to walk in at the same time, people literally sprint to get ahead (though there are not many people in line at all).  It’s strange, really, because this is so contrary to the way I was raised.  I vividly remember my mom scolding me in a Target one time because I was in the personal space of a lady in front of us.  It’s just a different mentality.

My very, very talented friend in Festival of the Lion King

I also had a little girl come up to me, reaching for my hair saying “Cinderella!!” It was very funny.  Yep, the truth is out, I’m Cinderella incognito wearing jeans instead of a ball gown! They asked for a picture and though I tried to convince her in Mandarin that I wasn’t Cinderella, she wasn’t buying it.

I skyped Sara during this show.  Yep, the whole thing... haha!

So, all of those initial observations aside, I had a really great time.  HK Disney does have some of my favorites including Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Festival of the Lion King (in which my friend is a lead performer), Mickey’s Philharmagic, and a couple of new favorites including Toy Story Land and Golden Mickey show which is possibly one of the best Disney shows I have ever seen.  It was also great to see “snow” on Main Street and to see the fireworks. 

Not a great pic, but some cute little princesses

Finished with fireworks.

It was truly exactly what I needed on Monday.  Christmas is without a doubt my most favorite time of year, but it is strange being away from home and trying to establish new traditions, etc.  It was nice to be in a Christmas explosion!

On another note, I have been in the best mood this week.  I don’t know if it’s the weather, or Christmas, or the fact that I’m not sweating, but everything has been really, really, good this week.  It started off with a dinner for about 10 people at my apartment on Sunday night, Disney Monday, and has just kept getting more awesome. 

On that note, I will leave you with yet another funny chinglish o the day.  It’s great because many of my blog readers and friends are now aware that I do this and have started helping me snap pictures of funny signs.  This is from one of our youth group parents!  Enjoy!

Til next time, The Adventurer