A Day with Disney

At the Entrance of Disneyland

Yesterday we spent the day at Hong Kong Disneyland. We'd been told by several people that it is a small park compared with other Disneylands and one of Jarrah's friends had told him that if we were there by 9 when it opened we'd be done by 2pm. We're still a bit jet lagged and are waking up about 4am due to the 3 hour time difference so getting out and going early isn't a problem.

We ate breakfast in our room again--cereal and powdered milk brought with us plus a few remaining airline leftovers. There is a kettle and tea/coffee things in the room as well as a bowl of fruit so we're having these as well. Then we were off to the MTR (underground/subway) which is one block away from our hotel. We used our Airport Express octopus cards which include 3 days free train travel to journey out to Disneyland, which is on Lantau Island (where the airport is). The Hong Kong underground is reputably the most efficient in the world and we are finding it very easy to use. The lines are colour coded and the platforms are sealed away from the trains by a glass wall with sliding doors which correspond with the train doors. Other cities such as Singapore and I think Washington DC have this same set-up. It's mainly a safety factor I think which prevents accidental falls onto the tracks when there's a crush of people.

The trip out to Disneyland involved two train transfers. The last was onto a spur line built especially for the theme park. You couldn't mistake where you were going on that line!

The Disneyland train with Mickey Mouse windows!

Even the overhanging hand grips are Mickey Mouse!

Despite being told that Disneyland opened at 9 we found that only the ticket booths were open and the gates didn't open until 9:30. We took a family photo just inside the park to match the one we took at Disneyland in California in January 2004. It will be interesting after we get home to compare the two photos! We wandered down Main Street USA to the end where they had it roped off and then had to wait until 10am for the rest of the park to open. We sat down on a park bench and then I noticed two Chinese women unabashadly staring at Jade. Their gaze didn't waver and I guessed by that and by the way they were dressed (very stylishly but formally) that they were Mainlanders. When we got up to walk on they followed us--all the way to the Fantasyland train station. I began to wonder if they were going to follow us all day!

Oh, I wanted to write about Disneyland. Well it is small, probably the smallest of all the Disneylands. It only has 3 'lands'--Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland--so it's missing Frontierland. It also has many fewer rides than California. Missing are Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted House, Thunder Mt. Railroad to name a few. In fact there is only one 'thrill' ride in the park--Space Mountain. Still there was plenty to entertain us for 5 hours. We rode the carousel--always my favourite ride, the spinning teacups, Dumbo, Autotopia--a drive yourself ride, the river cruise, Tarzan's treehouse, the Disneyland Railroad and It's a Small World--also one of my favourites and one which was closed for maintenance at Anaheim when we were there. There was hardly anyone at the park when we first arrived but the crowds built up over the day but it still wasn't what I would call crowded. Jade and Paul--our family thrillseekers--were the ones to tackle Space Mountain while Jarrah and I waited in the shop and scanned the ride photos to see when they were coming out.

We had lunch in the park and found the prices reasonable. Jade and Jarrah are amazing us on this trip with their capacity to eat. Normally they pick at food and graze but here they are downing meals in one go--thankfully since we are reliant on restaurants. Jade had a full adult meal of rice and BBQ pork at Disneyland. I've never seen her eat this much. After sharing a pork fried noodle dish with Jarrah Monday night and now this she says pork is her favourite meat. I guess she's going to be pestering me for pork at home now and it is probably the meat I cook the least!


We left Disneyland at 3 and took the train back into Tsim Sha Tsui where we are staying. Since it was still earlyish I wanted to tackle a couple of 'errands' and Paul decided we'd all go along so we walked to Canton Rd. to the address of the company which made my electronic dictionary. I was hoping to be able to purchase the English instruction book for my dictionary which a classmate bought for me in China a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, they didn't have it as my model is not sold in Hong Kong but they were able to give me addresses for their offices in Beijing and Shanghai so I have two more chances to try and get the book. After this I went (on my own now) to a jeweller recommended to me by a gym Mum which as it turned out was only a block away from our hotel. I've wanted a ring with my children's birthstones in it for a couple of years but, since their stones are an unusual combination would have had to special order it in Melbourne. I don't think our jewellers are really set up to make special pieces so I'd been waiting for the opportunity to have a ring made. Here in Hong Kong they also use 18K gold so jewellery is better quality than our usual 9K. It was fun picking out the stones and deciding on the style. I've gone for something very simple but which has meaning for me and will pick my ring up on Wednesday afternoon.

Breakfast in our room