Wednesday 28 September 2016

HK VI Day 4-5: Hong Kong Disneyland

We got up really early this morning to head to Hong Kong Disneyland (even though it doesn't open until 10am).

My girl was excitedly wearing her Snow White costume that I bought from Carousell (it was an impulse purchase that the seller wanted to get rid of for cheap).

Left: So happy that she is Snow White;
Right: In the shuttle bus on the way to the park.
We here at Hong Kong Disneyland
The trademark entryway
If you're a Disney Hotel guest, you get to enter via a special entrance

Even though the park's official opening time is 10.30am, people are allowed into Main Street at 10am.

Hong Kong Disneyland Main Street

Guests can explore the Main Street and take pictures with Mickey and friends before the park fully opens at 10.30am.

When the park was officially opened, we headed first to my favourite attraction in Disneyland, the magnificent Sleeping Beauty Castle! =)

This is a replica of the Sleeping Beauty castle
How can you not like the Disney castle? =D

We headed straight to the canopy next to the castle and queued to meet who else but the very princess of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, Princess Aurora herself!

My girl really likes Aurora so as usual she was sooo shy! She really can't believe it!


Lovely photo of my girl and Aurora
Our family photo! =)
My Snow White with the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs waterfall

After taking photos with Princess Aurora, we continued to explore the rest of the park.


TOMORROWLAND

Tomorrowland

I really enjoyed riding Space Mountain in Tokyo Disneyland, which was why the first ride I dragged my husband to ride with me was Hyperspace Mountain.

Hyperspace Mountain

There was absolutely no queue and in less than 15 minutes, we were on the ride. It was similar to Space Mountain but with more plunges! Still fun though!

We went on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters next, as the hubby missed this ride at Tokyo Disneyland (the sister and I were the only ones with the FASTPASS to ride it). To be honest, I thought he would hate it but it turned out that he took the "blasting" really seriously and enjoyed the ride tremendously. Who would have known?

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

As we were walking from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland, we got stopped by a member of staff who invited my girl to join in Mickey's Halloween Party and Parade as a special guest! It's for kids who were all dressed up =)

Special passes for child and parents

I was excited! Hopefully we get to meet Mickey and Minnie up close!


FANTASYLAND

Welcome to Fantasyland, always my favourite part of Disneyland

I went to get the FASTPASS for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh but it turns out that we didn't need it at all as there was a really short queue. Since I got it anyway, we went on this ride twice and loved it!

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Enjoying the ride!

We didn't get a chance to ride it in Tokyo Disneyland so I was glad we got to ride it here! =)

Next, we went to watch the 4D show at Mickey's Philhar Magic.

Mickey's Philhar Magic
Wearing our 3D glasses

It was a nice show although I preferred if the seats moved or something. Compared to Shrek 4D or other similar shows, this one I felt was so-so.

At the end of the show, we were hungry so we had lunch at Royal Banquet Hall.

Royal Banquet Hall at Fantasyland
Clockwise from left: Princess Aurora and Prince Philip were given the spotlight as this was their castle.
You can put your food on pushcarts if you have more than one tray.
Japanese style food with rice in the shape of Mickey
Western style food and pudding in the shape of Mickey Mouse

After lunch, it was time to proceed to the castle to join in Mickey's Halloween Party special performance.

Girl and me taking selfies with the castle

The kids who were dressed up and given special passes were asked to gather at the side and wait for the arrival of Mickey and friends. The rest of us parents were given a special section to stand and watch the performance.

Waiting in formation for the performance to start
The arrival of the dancers!
The dancers taught the kids the dance moves that they will be doing together with Mickey and friends

Being able to dance with the characters was actually quite cool for my girl, even though she was too busy trying to remember the steps to realise what was happening. I recorded a segment of the dance below:


Group photo!
Mickey and friends in their halloween outfits


The only thing that I felt it could have been better was if they allowed the children to take pictures with Mickey and friends after the performance. It was such a pity that we couldn't =(


TOY STORY LAND

After the performance, we headed to Toy Story Land, one of my favourite Disney movies of all time!

Toy Story Land
It really felt like we walked right into Andy's room! So fun!
Clockwise from left: Flying parachutes in the background;
Live size blocks and iconic toy characters in the movie;
Slinky Dog ride (was sooo boring and hot!).
RC Racer
Halloween at Toy Story Land

By now the heat was so unbearable but my girl was determined to continue to wear her dress until after the parade and meeting Snow White (we asked a staff after meeting Aurora and he told us that she will make an appearance after the parade). Gotta admire her perseverance!


MYSTIC POINT

The highlight of this land, which seems out of place in Disneyland to me, is Mystic Manor. I love this ride a lot! So much so that the girl and I went on it twice! =)

Mystic Manor
(the ride takes place inside this beautiful house.. supposedly..)

This ride is indoors, which gave us some respite from the heat, and has a lot of special effects! Don't miss it!


GRIZZLY GULCH

You can't go to Disneyland without going to the "cowboy land".

Howdy partners!
The Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Car
(the roller coaster of the park and main highlight of this land)

There was only one attraction here, which is the roller coaster, and since none of us were interested in riding the roller coaster, we headed back to the castle to watch the Mickey's Halloween Party Parade.

Mickey's Halloween Time Parade

The children who participated in the performance earlier were asked to be a part of this parade. They all got to meet and shake hands with the Chipmunks, Goofy, Pluto, Donald and Daisy! They didn't get to meet Mickey and Minnie though because they were the only ones on floats.

Clockwise from left: Meeting the Disney characters as they passed by in the parade;
Part of the parade featuring the chipmunks;
A special area for the kids who will be joining in the parade.
Mickey and his very tiny pumpkin float
(as compared to the large and magnificent floats we saw during the Christmas parade in Tokyo Disneyland)
Clockwise from left: Minnie on her equally small halloween float;
Duffy and ShellieMay.

At the end of the parade, the kids followed behind and joined in the dance (the same routine that they learnt at the performance earlier).

Joining the parade in the Halloween routine

My girl was interested for a while but after about 10 minutes she was bored and wanted to leave. I couldn't blame her because I thought the parade was really boring too, not to mention that the sun was beating down furiously on us! Definitely not as good as the parades we were used to in Tokyo Disneyland.

After the parade, we went to queue to meet Snow White! I was seriously amazed that my girl really managed to endure the heat in her Snow White costume for more than 5 hours until she met Snow White! I think her perseverance was rewarded when Snow White was so amazed and pleased to see her! =)

When Snow met Snow!
Daddy captured a video of the moment 

Left: Snow White exclaiming that they were wearing the same dress and my girl feeling shy in meeting a Disney Princess;
Right: Lovely picture of the two Snow Whites =)

With this, my girl and I have met with five Disney Princesses: Snow White and Aurora, Cinderella and Rapunzel and Ariel. My only regret is not meeting my favourite princess, Belle! Oh well, there's always next time (Disney World? *cross fingers*)! =)

Of course the first thing we did after taking pictures with Snow White was to change my girl out of her Snow White costume into her regular clothes before she fainted from heat stroke! It was a good thing the hubby thought to bring a spare set of clothes for her =)


FANTASYLAND (Part 2)

We did not manage to ride It's a Small World in Tokyo Disneyland so I made it a point to do it at Hong Kong Disneyland (since there are much less people and almost no queue, which is very rare for this ride).

It's a Small World

The dolls in their various costumes were so cute! We liked the ride very much, although I don't think that it is worth it if you have to queue for more than 45 minutes.

We spent more time in Fantasyland because we loved it the most =)

Cinderella Carousel
Villains Garden
(for phototaking with the various villains such as Captain Hook, Queen of Hearts and Jack)
Fairy Tale Forest
(an interactive display of our favourite Disney Princesses)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(turn the crank and the characters will move)
Beauty and the Beast

You can meet and greet with Tinkerbell at the Fairy Tale Forest too but we decided not to because the queue was simply too long.


ADVENTURELAND

Our last stop of the day was at Adventureland where we boarded the Jungle River Cruise for a journey through the rain forest. Quite a nice ride, I would recommend it.

Jungle River Cruise

We also watched the Festival of the Lion King, which was a live musical that exceeded our expectations and worth watching! We liked it a lot! =)

Festival of the Lion King

After the musical, we had our dinner at the Royal Banquet Hall because we liked the food and ambience there the best. For the two Disney Princess fans, this was a no-brainer =)

Having pizza and cute pig buns for dinner

As I had missed the full fireworks at Tokyo Disneyland because of the rain, I really wanted to catch Disney in the Stars Fireworks in Hong Kong Disneyland. Thank God that he answered my prayers because I finally got to catch the full fireworks! =)

Disney in the Stars Fireworks at the Sleeping Beauty Castle

Although it was not as spectacular as the fireworks that the hubby showed me when he visited LA Disneyland, it was still good enough for me. I loved it!

The end of the fireworks also signifies the end of our time in Hong Kong Disneyland. It was time for us to go! It was as we were dragging our feet back to our hotel that we really appreciated making the choice to stay at Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. It took us only 15 minutes to get back to our room and soak in a nice warm bath =)

To be honest, although I'm happy that we didn't need to queue for any of the rides, I'm also not sure how long Hong Kong Disneyland will survive with so few visitors. It was underwhelming as compared to Disneyland in other countries (and even Ocean Park for that matter). The only redeeming factor was the opportunity to take photos with the characters without having to queue for hours like other Disneylands.

In any case, I was glad that we were able to finally visit Hong Kong Disneyland after so long. We did enjoy ourselves when we were there!

A family photo with the Disney Halloween Time photo booth

This adds to the many tourist attractions we have been to in Hong Kong including: shopping at Lady's Street, visiting Ocean Park, taking the tram up to the Peak and watching the Symphony of Lights (click to read our experiences).

I'm not sure when we will return to Hong Kong but I'm sure we will since we like it so much. We will be back! =)




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Check out our full list of kid-friendly attractions in Hong Kong
OR
Visit MADPSYCHMUM TRAVELS for the rest of my posts on Hong Kong, China 
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