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Hong Kong Disneyland {Deetour}

Most families go to Disneyland, and mine finally did last month, though the “kids” were already all grown up. Better late than never, right? Haha! We all felt like kids when we went there anyway, so it really doesn’t matter what age you visit. 🙂

We rode the MTR to Sunny Bay station where we took Disneyland’s own train to the site itself. It’s not difficult to know if you’re going to the right direction because there are signs all over the MTR stations pointing out “this way to Disneyland MTR.” Tourism at work, people!

I took loads of photographs and thought it best to collage some of them to reduce the number of photos to upload in this post. Thanks goodness for Macbook’s iphoto book function! I used the “family album” theme as befitting the pics. So take a look at our virtual album!

This is the perfect cover photo as it shows our entire family on the famous entrance to Disneyland Resort. You don’t need a ticket to get a picture here, though. We actually encountered some fellow Filipinos who said they were just taking pictures here but couldn’t afford to go in the resort. Tickets cost 450 HKD per person but Mom’s only cost 100 because she’s a senior citizen (65+ yo). We bought them online at the official website in advance, but I later found that the hostel where we stayed at offered them for less than 400 HKD each. Tsk tsk.

Disneyland has its own train which you can ride from Sunny Bay MTR station. It’s so cute because it’s Disney-themed, with Mickey Mouse shaped windows and hand holds and statuettes and stuff inside as well.
Just after entering the turnstiles where they get your ticket, we were greeted by a huge Mickey Mouse shaped hedge in front of a majestic building. We took pictures with my monopod before one of the employees volunteered to take our group picture. The other girl in the picture is Bernice, a daughter of a family friend. She works in Hong Kong so my brother invited her along.
Once beyond that point, Disneyland is a vast amusement park subdivided into seven areas. We were able to go through all the areas. At least, I think we did, anyway. Did we? Not sure about Tomorrowland, I suddenly realize.
More Mickey Mouse! There’s Mickey surfing on a whale spout. Not sure if the whale is supposed to be Moby Dick. People queued up to have their pictures taken with Mickey and Minnie Mouse mascots and I wanted to do so too, but my brother didn’t have the patience to stand in line for long, so I just snapped this picture of them with some random stranger.
Disneyland City Hall! I tried to take a selfie with my monopod but it didn’t quite work. Luckily, Dad came to the rescue.
Nobody in my family likes going on amusement park rides, not even my brother who looks like he’s not afraid of anything. So we just decided to go around to watch shows. Mickey’s PhilharMagic (a play on the word “philharmonic”) was the first show we saw, so in we went.

Mickey’s PhilharMagic is a 4D show, hence the 3D glasses worn by my parents. And look, cutie mini Disney princesses Snow White and Sleeping Beauty! The show was very entertaining and should’ve been named after Donald Duck instead of Mickey, LOL. Seeing snippets from so many Disney films from my childhood made me feel young and emotional. I even sang along to all the songs I knew – The Little Mermaid’s Part of Your World, Lion King’s I Just Can’t Wait to be King, Aladdin’s A Whole New World – and I surprised myself that I still remember the lyrics after all these years.

We rode in a boat through a river where we saw Tarzan’s house and a bunch of other artificial animals doing animal things. We made sure to ride the “English” boat with an English-speaking tour guide who explained everything we saw as well as constantly tell people to please sit down. It was quite fun and nobody got wet, even though at some point they will trick you into thinking that you are about to be drenched.

I had read that The Festival of the Lion King was one of the best shows in Disneyland, so we made it a point to look for the place and ask for the time slots so we could go back in time for it. There were so many people though that even though we came a bit earlier than the show time, we still didn’t get front row seats. The theatre was filled with seats in a circle surrounding the stage. During the show, the performers revolved so that they faced different portions of the audience so that everyone got to see their stage front at one point or another.

The show, by the way, is a live stage musical of the abbreviated story of The Lion King movie, and they use the same songs from that movie. There is dancing, singing, acrobatics and even a fire twirling. It was really enchanting. Now I want to watch The Lion King movie again!

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is beautiful and majestic but the age is showing, and I couldn’t help but notice it because I have seen Far Far Away Castle in Singapore’s Universal Studios which is a lot newer and more striking.

Family pictures with a castle. I honestly never imagined we’d ever have a picture like this.
 There were helpful “picture spot” guides like this all over the place. They even had a sample picture so you know exactly where to pose and how to angle the camera.
This was a banquet hall inside the castle. So pretty!
 Mystic Manor. “Pretend that this is your mansion and proudly showcase it!” I instructed my parents in this picture. They did a good job, no? Haha.
 Mystic Point is a new part of Disneyland which just opened recently. I really loved the Mystic Manor and took several pictures. We also went inside and rode the Mystic Magneto-Electric Carriage, a fun, non-scary ride that took us on a journey where we watched treasures come to life.
 Mystic Point’s Garden of Wonders contained a few pictorial spots where you can create 3D illusions using sculptures and paintings. This one is the Lamassu Bas Relief. Why is Bernice so much bigger than my mom and me? Therein lies the illusion!
Neptune Oblique Anamorphic Mosaic. Boy that was a mouthful. Lookie, we’re stepping on top of pillars and I look like a freaking flying squirrel!
Toy Story Land. So this is how it feels to be a small toy in a land of giant humans.
 The popsicle stick benches are so cute! I make a really good toy soldier, don’t I? Say no and I’ll shoot you!
Random pics of the ‘rents. When they’re younger, parents take pics of the kids. But when you get old, the roles reverse! 😀
Time to head back. Back to the main streets of USA, this time with a hint of a sunset in the sky.
More random pics on the streets.
 And it’s time to leave. Huhu. Bye Disneyland! Sad face.
We couldn’t stay to catch the famous fireworks because we had a plane to catch. We saw this sunset on our way off the train, though, like it was trying to make up for what we missed. I love sunsets! They’re so beautiful.

I admit that I was not as impressed as I would have been if I hadn’t been to the much newer Universal Studios in Singapore, but it was still a magical trip that brought me back to my childhood and most importantly, the whole family enjoyed it. 🙂

P.S. Check out my Sunday Comics. The pictures used there were also taken in Disneyland.

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4 Comments

  1. Oh goodness. What a fun trip! I've never been to Disneyland or Disneyworld here in the US and I always love seeing pictures. Your parents are adorable, I just want to hug both of them.

    Reply

  3. Hk disneyland is too small, I guess. It's barely equivalent to a section of disneyworld florida. But, I love it just the same. I'm headed there next week in fact, for my 4th disney park visit in year, 😀

    Reply

  4. I had no clue there was a Disneyland in Hong Kong, loved all your photos and looks like you had such a nice time with your family. This makes me want to head to Florida in the U.S., that is my favorite one, I like the one in California too but I have to admit Florida&#39;s Disney World is quite awesome :)<br /><br />Lucy from <a href="http://www.lucysreality.com/&quot; rel="nofollow">Lucy&#39;s

    Reply

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