Hong Kong Disneyland Day 1 - 5th Anniversary of Hong Kong Disneyland
To be honest, I didn't know what to expect from Hong Kong Disneyland. I've never been to any of the Disneylands located around the world so I departed for Hong Kong with an open mind. I don't quite know how to explain this but I immediately became happier the moment I stepped into the hotel lobby. It's just this great feeling! For all I know, it could very well be the magic of Disney.
We reached the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel slightly after noon and like most hotels around the world, they have a standard check-in time. With the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, it’s 3.00pm, To the credit of the front desk staff, they tried their best to get us checked in earlier. So instead of waiting around, we left our luggage with the hotel and had lunch at Crystal Lotus.
On the menu was Dim Sum. I absolutely love Dim Sum and this was something I had to try. After all, with the restaurant crowded, the food had to be good!
Entrance to Crystal Lotus
The restaurant
I love the lotus lighting!!!
Steamed Piggy Mask Buns. Aren’t they cute?!
Roasted Suckling Pig with Cucumber and Sweetened Paste
Wok-fried Shrimps and Disney Root Vegetables
Fried-rice with Tasmanian Crabmeat. I love the presentation!
It tasted good too!
Red-braised Pork Loin stuffed in Whole Chinese Pear. It took me awhile to eat this. It looked too good to eat!!!
It’s absolutely divine!
Little Pig Barbecue Pork Bun & Little Green Men Pork and Vegetable Bun
Braised Seafood Pumpkin Puree Soup
Chilled “Mickey’s “ Red Bean Honey Pudding and Chilled Mickey’s Green Tea Jelly.
After that awesome lunch, we hopped on the shuttle bus for a quick ride to Disneyland. And minutes later, we were in the compounds of the Magical Kingdom!
The first thing we did after entering the park was to attend the Flights of Fantasy Parade. The Flights of Fantasy Parade was specially created for Hong Kong Disneyland’s 5th Anniversary. It was really nice to see the colorful floats and of course my favorite Disney characters like Timon and Buzz Lightyear.
The Marching Parade Band
My favourite duck, Donald Duck!
My son joined the parade festivities too!
One of my fav characters from The Lion King, Timon!!!
It’s amazing how high these performers are catapulted to!
Up they go!!!!
What’s a Disney parade without the Princesses gracing it?!
The highlight of the Flights of Fantasy Parade was Woody coming up to shake Drayden’s hand. Drayden loves Woody so meeting him was just awesome!
Here’s Woody shaking Drayden’s hand! It was totally unexpected so I didn’t have time to move back to take a better picture. Sorry Drayden!!!!
After the parade, we went on the “it’s a small world” interior boat cruise located in Fantasyland. “it’s a small world” features over 300 brightly costumed audio-animatronics dolls in the style of children of the world, frolicking in a spirit of international unity, and singing “it’s a small world”. I think World Leaders might learn a thing or two from this boat cruise. I’m just saying!
After which, we watched the Golden Mickeys! The Golden Mickeys is a half hour Broadway musical like show. Although it's mostly in Cantonese, yup Mickey Mouse and company speak Cantonese here, I enjoyed the show! Just so you know, they have screens on the side of the stage that flash subtitles in English.
Next up, we went on the ‘The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” ride. I read somewhere that children love this ride and it's so true! Drayden was smiling from start to end. Everything about this ride is cute. From the honey pots that you sit in to the props you see along the ride. If you love dark rides, you’ll be glad to know that this is only one of two in Hong Kong Disneyland. The other is the Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters.
Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of this 4D show we watched called 'Mickey’s PhilharMagic' but it's something you have to experience when you're here! The 4D glasses you get transports you to a whole world where objects seem like they are flying right at you. I saw a bunch of people sitting in front of me unconsciously try to reach out to gems and other objects. There's a part where you'll feel wind blowing right at you and water sprays down on you! My favorite part of 'Mickey’s PhilharMagic' was when Aladdin flew on his magic carpet. It looked so real, I wanted to jump on the carpet!
Just before we headed to dinner, we walked over to the Adventureland and boarded the ‘Jungle River Cruise’. This is another attraction that I love! Though I can’t say the same about my son. He doesn't like anything too loud. But...he slept through the fireworks at the end of the night. Go figure!!!
Ok he’s still smiling here…
The Jungle River Cruise
Crocodiles!!! Snap snap snap!
Hmmmm….
Don’t these elephants look real? Anyhow, that crane in the background is working on the new Toy Story Land which is on schedule to open in November this year!
That baby elephant is so cuteeeee! And no, I’m not talking about popular Malaysian blogger Kenny Sia…
There’s my son at the end of the ride. He recovered in under a minute and was asking us to buy stuff from the souvenir store…
After all that walking, we were hungry! Actually my wife and kid was hungry. I wasn’t thanks to the huge turkey leg I bought while walking to the restaurant. Sigh… Anyhow, we settled for dinner at Plaza Inn. Plaza Inn was inspired by another of my favourite Disney movies, Mulan. On the menu was a 7 course Cantonese style dinner. It was YUUUUUMMMMMY!!!! Here are five of the dishes we had…
Barbecue meats…
Fried-rice…This was really good!
These little jellies are the bomb! I ate them all when my wife went to the toilet. She wasn’t too happy when she returned. LOL!
Before we left Disneyland, we watched the Tinker Bell Castle Illumination and the crowd favorite Disney In The Stars fireworks display.
Tinker Bell’s Castle at night…
We got back to the hotel close to 9.30pm and finally checked into our room. We had a gorgeous room that faced the sea. Check out these pictures of our room...
The walk way to our room…
Our key cards…
The all so comfy bed!
What’s a holiday without some TV time right?
Complimentary toiletries in each room. I reckon it adds a nice touch!
And my…I was in the Jacuzzi three days in a row!
The touch-screen phone displays the Cyclone warning and latest weather update. There’s also a bedtime story feature that Drayden loves. He sat through Toy Story and Monsters Inc.
I’ll be posting these pictures and more from Day 1 on my Facebook account. Do check back soon for Day 2 of our of Disneyland trip!
Looks like a great option for spending a few hours until check in time! I want to get over there, sounds like I have a restaurant to check out while I'm there.
ReplyDeleteThe food is so cute!!! It must have such an awesome magical filled trip for dray!!! Shaking woody's hand!!!! Aw!!! And join the parade all!!!!
ReplyDeleteThere is a disney land in hong kong???
ReplyDeleteJake: It's not too far from the airport. We took a taxi and arrived at the hotel in 20 minutes. The food is pretty darn good but the x factor is the experience you get. It's 100% Disney. Do you visit Hong Kong often?
ReplyDeleteteacher: When they served the first dish, I went "oh wow". I kept going "oh wow" like an idiot! Hahaha! I can imagine what was going through Drayden's mind. All his favourite characters were life sized and walking around. It's was so nice seeing him go bonkers and smiling like there was no tomorrow.
Anonymous: Errr...yup! Hong Kong Disneyland opened its doors 5 years ago. It's the smallest among the Disneylands but it makes up for it in many other ways.