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| Hong Kong view from hotel room |
At 6:00 am, my alarm sounded and as we opened the blinds & praying, we thanked God that the rain has stopped, although it was a little cloudy. But I noticed that it didn’t rain the entire night as the surrounding is no longer wet. After thanking God, we started to get ready to reach to the MTR as early as possible.
At around 8:00 am, we bought our ticket going to Disneyland Resort Station; we got a Single Journey (1 way) pass which cost HKD 17.50 in the ticketing booth. Then one fellow Filipino noticed us and that we were somewhat hesitant and assisted us. Then when we got to the train, we chatted a little more and we asked her how to get to The Peak, so she called her friend and asked for direction. Actually, she was the first Filipino we met and we were glad as there were really Filipinos there. She advised us that next time we should get a tourist pass in order to save money. She told us that we will not get lost in MTR as you can see which station you should go down. She told us to get down at Lai King Station going to the connecting train that links to Sunny Bay Station. In Sunny Bay station, we rode a special train going to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. The train has Walt Disney characters and as usual, we took photos as our souvenirs. We arrived at around 9:00am, an hour early for the opening of the park. We even saw the staff coming to work (funny) so we took the chance to get more pictures while there were no people at sight.
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| Main Entrance of Hong Kong Disneyland |
Hong Kong Disneyland is located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. It is the first theme park located inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and is owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks.
The park consists of seven themed areas: Main Street, USA, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point and Toy Story Land. The theme park's cast members speak in Cantonese, English and Mandarin. Guide maps are printed in traditional and simplified Chinese as well as English, French and Japanese.
The theme park will be open at 10:00 am and after taking so photos, we ate our breakfast while waiting for the opening time. We bought our ticket at HK450 for single adult. We waited on the main entrance and planned the place we will go to maximize/save our time. We were the first in line and even witnessed the opening ceremony led by Mickey and Minnie mouse. After they opened the gate, we run to take solo pictures of the main entrance (this didn’t take long as people were pouring in).
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| Mickey & Minnie entertaining the crowd |
First stop, picture taking with Mickey and Minnie mouse, the queue was long and they have to take breaks every 30 minutes, but it was exciting. You see the smiles in every people as Mickey and Minnie pose with people. They were entertaining. After our picture taking with Minnie and Mickey, we went to the Tomorrowland.
We took ride in the Space Mountain. I felt dizzy taking this ride; I am not really a big fan of roller coaster. There are other attractions in tomorrow land such as Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Stitch Encounter, Orbitron, UFO Zone, Autopia. In Space Traders, I bought my very first souvenir watch priced HK $328. They have a promo that you will receive a free gift if you have a minimum purchase of HK $350, so I took other items to avail of the free gift and I got a cellphone screen cleaner.
Next stop, Fantasyland. We were running to watch the show, The Golden Mickeys. They said that this is a good show and it shouldn’t be missed. When it started, we were amazed on their stage presence as well as the transition from one character and back draught to another. The only thing that lessened my interest/focus is that the language of the show is in Chinese, we have to check the English translation in the big screen at the right or left side. The show duration is more or less 30 minutes. It was definitely a show worth watching, so I recommend that you watch this show.
We rode the “It’s a small world” boat, where you will find different countries with their cultures singing the “It’s a small world after all” song. We also saw the Mickey’s PhilharMagic show. It is a 3D show, featuring Mickey and Donald Duck. Knowing Donald, the show was enjoyable. Other attraction in Fantasyland includes Fantasy Gardens (where you could take a picture of Mickey and Friends), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Sleeping Beauty Castle (I do not know why we missed it), Mad Hatter Tea Cups, Cinderella Carousel, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Fantasyland Train Station, Sword in the Stone and Snow White Grotto.
At lunch time, we went to Clopin’s Festival of Foods. I ordered Shanghai Pork Noodle which cost HK $68. I also ordered a coke zero 500ml bottle with a price of HK $26 (I was shocked that the cola charge that much where I could buy outside for HK $6.90, I regret buying it). I didn’t really enjoy the food; it lacks flavor and taste (my personal opinion).
After taking a rest, we moved on to our next stop, the Toy Story Land. We didn’t take any ride here, we only took photos. The attractions included the RC Racer, Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, Slinky Dog Spin, Barrel of Fun, Toy Soldier Boot Camp and Cubot.
Before going for Adventureland, we looked for a good spot to watch the Flights of Fantasy Parade, it starts at 4:30 pm. So we waited until they announced its start. The parade starts with Mickey’s Magical Airship (starring Dumbo and Timothy Mouse from Dumbo; and Mickey drives a giant airship named “Flights of Friendship” with the rest of his friends, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald and Chip ‘n’ Dale); Caught Up in Daydreams featuring Winnie the Pooh and the rest of the gang; Romance Takes Wing on a swan-shaped airboat with several of the princesses; Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Cinderella (Cinderella), Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), and Belle (Beauty and the Beast). Jumpin’ Jungle Jam, characters such as Baloo and King Louie (Jungle Book), Rafiki and Timon (The Lion King), Tantor (Tarzan). The Magic of Pixie Dust based on the character from the animated film Peter Pan, Tinkerbell takes on starring role atop the flying cotton float from Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. Hangin’ Ten and Ridin’ High float from Lilo and Stitch. To Infinity and Beyond based on the Disney and Pixar film Toy Story with Woody, Jessie and Hamm. The parade finishes with Buzz Lightyear, Rex and several bungee-jumping Green Paratroopers. 
The parade lasted for about an hour starting from Fantasyland routing to Main Street and exiting there. When it was nearly finished, we ran towards the Adventureland. We noticed that people are hurrying towards that direction to get to “The Festival of the Lion King” show, maybe because it was nearly the time for the show so we also hurried. When we entered, I noticed that there’s a lot of room for everybody. The stadium is big that it can accommodate more or less than 1,000 people. This show retells the life story of the Lion King, Simba. The show runs for an hour and it was also good. This is the “land” that we tried most of the attraction; we went to the Rafts to the Tarzan’s Treehouse going to Tarzan’s Treehouse and Jungle River Cruise. It was cool.
Unfortunately, we didn’t go to the Mystic Point to see the Mystic Manor, Garden of Wonders and Mystic Point Freight Depot attractions, as well as to the Grizzly Gulch’s Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, Geyser Gulch and Grizzly Gluch Welcome Wagon Show attraction in Grizzly Gulch area, as it was getting late. We have a plan to go to the Ladies Market to buy some more souvenirs. So after taking the ride on the Jungle River Cruise, we decided to leave.
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| Main St. Station |
We took the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad to go back to the main entrance to avoid walking at the same time experience the ride and save time. The ride was great and we saw some other areas that we didn’t have a chance to see, but it was fine. We already enjoyed what we saw.
We headed back to the MTR, we asked for the Station where we could get down to reach the Ladies Market, we got down in Mong Kok Station. We were astonished to find many talented people in the street, performing and showcasing their talents. If you are impressed, you could drop a dollar in their box. As it was already dinner time, we tried some street foods. They really taste good. My sister & I have a second serving of somewhat taste like fish balls (that’s what I think it was.) Then we went to different stores where we could find cheap souvenir items. As we were wandering looking for souvenirs, I felt frustrated as I bought souvenirs in Hong Kong Disneyland that cost three times compare to the Ladies market, 3 packs (with 5 pieces each pack) of Disney character nail cutter key chain will cost only HKD 100, while I spent HKD 68 for each piece of same (although the quality is not the same, but they looked the similar). Lesson learned; buy souvenirs in shops rather in the attraction area, as they cost less than the one that were in the attraction itself. After buying the stuff we need, we started our way back home.
We bought something on our way from the International Store. We rested at around 10:00pm to get ready for the next day. God is really good as it didn’t rain the entire day, the weather was cloudy which in fact a blessing because we enjoyed the day without perspiring much. Although exhausted, we grateful to God for the wonderful day.
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