Hong Kong - The Disney Day

A few weeks ago, E and I went on a 3-day Hong Kong holiday. With us were my girl friends Pat, Jes and Riri, plus Riri’s mom. We shopped at every corner, ate whatever looked interesting and toured until our feet hurt.

The culmination to our Hong Kong vacation was an overnight stay at Disney’s Hollywood Hotel and a full day of reliving our childhood in Hong Kong Disneyland. (Read about our other HK adventures here and here.)



After our second day of touring, we packed our bags and took the MTR to the happiest place on earth. Even while we were still on the train, we already felt the Disney spirit.


  

Finally, we arrived at our destination. It was raining a bit but we were hopeful that the next day would be bright and sunny.



Checking in at the hotel was fast and easy. The hotel has a classic Hollywood feel with a touch of Disney. We saw old Disney movie posters on the walls and ‘50s instrumental music filled the air.

Their room’s just like your standard hotel room except for the touches of Disney everywhere.The only downside? For the price that we paid, breakfast wasn't included yet.


After arranging our things and freshening up, we took a walk and explored the hotel and the grounds. Here we are in front of the Hollywood Hotel sign, looking demure. (Eliel took the photos that's why he’s not in them.hehe)



But in the end, we just couldn’t contain ourselves.haha!



That night, we slept late and bonded over beer/cream soda and chips, and a Tagalog movie on Eliel’s laptop which doubled as our DVD player. Not telling you which Tagalog movie we saw. Clue: It was about crazy girls stuck on an island. Because it doesn’t take a lot to make us laugh, the movie entertained us and no one went to bed ahead of the others. =p

The next morning, breakfast was on Tita Ceres (thanks, Tita!). We ate at Hollywood and Dine, one of the diners inside the hotel. E and I got the American style breakfast which included toast, eggs, meat loaf, oatmeal and coffee. Jessa, like a true Hong Kong local, chose the Hong Kong style breakfast which was basically noodles topped with meat loaf and a sausage, and coffee. We were so full afterwards, but then again we needed all the energy we could get for the long day ahead.



A shuttle bus took us from the hotel to the theme park in less than ten minutes.



It was a rainy day (not what we hoped for) and Disney earned a lot from raincoat sales alone. Each adult-size raincoat costs 45HKD. Since it was raining on and off the whole day, we really put those raincoats to good use. Super sulit. It was much more convenient than opening our umbrellas every time. The plus side about the rain was that there weren’t too many people inside Disneyland. This meant shorter lines and more time to visit all the attractions.



Our priority was to watch the shows before going on the rides. Lucky us, we were able to catch The Golden Mickeys show. The Golden Mickeys is a musical variety show featuring Disney’s golden moments (hence, the title). It showcases well-loved characters – classics like Mickey and Minnie, favorite Disney princesses, to the more recent characters like the guys from Toy Story.



The coolest thing about the show was that the girl who played the lead, Bebe, was none other than a fellow Cebuana, Raki Vega. :) A lot of the performers are also Filipinos.



The second show that we caught was The Festival of the Lion King. I know Jessa’s been looking forward to this because The Lion King is her favorite Disney movie of all time. I love The Lion King, too, and I can’t wait to see the 3D movie that’s coming soon.



The show was nothing short of amazing. We loved the familiar songs, beautiful costumes, the cool effects, the versatile stage AND the hot fire dancer.
  

We also went on the Jungle River Cruise later that night. The photo below is of another group who went on the cruise during the day. I think the night cruise was a lot more exciting and even creepier. Haha. This is a must-see attraction. :)



Later that afternoon, we caught the Flights of Fantasy parade celebrating Hong Kong Disneyland’s 5th year anniversary. All the bright colors, the sight of the dancing bumble bees/toys solidiers/jars of “hunny” and fancy floats got my eyes glued to the parade.



All the familiar characters were present.

 


And look at this super adorable shot of the kids holding the cord at the end of the parade line. Aaaw. :)



Christmas is in the air at Hong Kong Disneyland. I like the huge Christmas tree and the giant candy canes.



Then of course, we couldn’t miss Space Mountain. The whole rollercoaster is indoor and in darkness, so you feel like you’re in outer space. All you see are stars everywhere. It’s not that scary, so it’s the perfect roller coaster ride for me. We went out a bit dizzy and with jelly legs but I wanted to go on the ride again (sadly, we didn’t have time). This is officially my new favorite ride. :)



I also liked It’s a Small World, wherein we rode some gondolas and went on some sort of mini tour around the world. Everything’s bright and colorful here. Total eye candy.


Then, there’s the requisite photo session with the most famous Disney characters. We didn’t plan on having our photos taken with them, but when we saw how short the lines were (thank you, rain), we had to do it. And I’m glad we did. :)



Throughout the years, Disney has made an impact in so many children’s lives, mine included. Disneyland really brought back a lot of memories to us and gave us new, happy memories, too. I love how they make even the fallen leaves extra special.



Before sunset, we went back to the entrance have some photos taken in front of the landscaped Mickey. We weren’t able to take photos on the way in because it was raining.



We also went on a show called the “Stitch Encounter,” wherein the audience got to interact with Stitch from the famous movie, “Lilo and Stitch.” He’s so cute. The best part was when he asked Ria to be his girlfriend. Lucky Riri. :D

That night, we waited for Tinkerbell's Castle Illumination and the fireworks display. The castle illumination is a light show featuring a very sparkly castle (like it was sprinkled with fairy dust). The lights and effects changed along with the music (our fave Disney songs <3 ).

The fireworks display, on the other hand, did not turn out so well because of the weather. The wind was strong so the fireworks kept swaying and going to the other direction. It still kept us entertained, though.



In between all the stuff we did, the girls went inside practically every single gift shop (which, by the way, is on every corner) for last-minute pasalubong shopping.  This part bored E to death. Hihi. But I guess you just can’t stop the girls from shopping.

After a long day, it was time to say goodbye to Disneyland and to Hong Kong.




Fresh from Disneyland, we went straight to the airport to catch our late night flight. Then it was goodbye Hong Kong for us. We will be back soon. Crossing my fingers Jessa ends up working there! Hahaha:)

Until our next trip!

Photo Credits: Yza Urgel, Eliel Sarmiento, Ria Geromo

xoxo,