Originally Posted By Liberty Belle The Hong Kong trip is over and we're safely home! Here's a bit of a report for anyone who's interested. My first trip report, so be gentle with me ... Wednesday - after a 9-hour flight, we landed in HK at about 6.30pm. I was really excited to see Disneyland from the plane, because I hadn't experienced that before. We headed to our hotel and hit the Irish pub for dinner - my sister Raechel was easing me into the Hong Kong experience I think, since I don't like Chinese food! We had a nice meal but were falling asleep at our table by 8pm - it was only 10pm at home, but the flying really took it out of us. We walked back the hotel, browsing some shops on the way, and had an early night. The next day - Disneyland! We'd decided on 2 days because we could get our second for HK$100 (less than $15 Aus). This meant we could take it easy, definitely appreciated because it was disgustingly hot and humid. We booked lunch for 12.30 and spent the morning taking lots of photos and hitting the shops. By midday we hadn't been on a single attraction, so hopped on Dumbo because the line was short, then headed to lunch. We went to a Chinese restaurant and I got noodles with mushroom and broccoli as well as a side of steamed rice, which were absolutely delicious and forced me to somewhat rethink my stance on Chinese food! The restaurant was gorgeous too, and as Raechel pointed out, you couldn't even tell that you were at Disneyland. She then surprised (and amused) me by saying they should incorporate subtle hidden Mickeys into the stained glass - I should add she's not a Disney fan. After lunch we went to Adventureland and went on the 'English' version of the Jungle Cruise, which was handy, since the English language boat was ready to leave and we got to skip a huge line! Then we hit our favourite spot of the day - the Liki Tikis. They're just simple tikis that spit out water but on a blistering hot day like that we were in love with them, and couldn't believe that no one else was in the area - we decided it was because they were a bit out of the way. We emerged drenched and happy, and headed over to Tarzan's Treehouse via the rafts, where we spent a happy half hour sitting in the shade and just people-watching. We tried to see the Festival of the Lion King show, but it wasn't on for another couple of hours so we headed back to Fantasyland, where we went on a couple of rides before stumbling across the Mickey's Waterworks Parade. We loved the chance to get soaking wet while watching the parade, and were upset that everywhere we went people were using their sun umbrellas to keep the water off them and, in turn, us! We still got nice and wet though, and then went on it's a small world. Raechel HATES iasw, but actually enjoyed it that day for 2 reasons - she liked the chance to sit in air conditioning for 15 minutes, and because there weren't all the other dark rides there like at the other Disney parks. I know people complain about the characters, and I don't want them to hit Disneyland (even though I know they're going to) but I actually quite liked them at HKDL - I like having something a bit different with the 'cloned' attractions, and they were fun and cute. I'm sure most people will disagree with me! After iasw we sat and waited for Golden Dreams. I saw this on the Cruise, but had no real recollection of the show at all so I'm not really sure if it was exactly the same. Anyway, I absolutely loved the show, it was beautifully done. My sister enjoyed it, too. By the time the show got out it was nearly 6 so we went to the Fantasyland Banquet Hall for dinner, where my sister could get Chinese food and I could get unsophisticated mouse-shaped margarita pizza. After that we finished off a couple more rides in Fantasyland, then headed to Main St to get a place for the fireworks. The crowd was already gathering, so we ended up sitting and waiting for nearly an hour - but the good news is we got a brilliant front-row spot right in front of the Castle. The fireworks are one of my favourite parts of a Disneyland day, and they didn't disappoint. Our plan had been to do a Hong Kong city tour the next day and do Disneyland on Friday, but by the time we were heading back to our hotel at 9pm on the subway with bags and bags of shopping we were far too tired to consider doing an 8-hour tour - and Raechel was teaching on Friday evening, and she wondered how she could possibly do it after a full day at the park. In the end, we decided not to bother booking the tour and instead planned to do the Ngong Ping cable cars the following day, followed by an afternoon at HKDL. If we'd have known we were going to do 2 park days in a row we'd have stayed at one of the resort hotels - especially since Chel's uni would have paid for it! - and definitely if I went again I'd do that. We got to sleep in till 8.30 the next morning, and knew we'd made the right choice skipping the tour (which would have had us up at 6)! We had a leisurely breakfast, then caught the train to the station where the cable cars departed from. It was an absolutely amazing 6km trip crossing Tung Chung Bay and going to the Ngong Ping village, a little Chinese village with shopping, dining and an awesome view of the Tian Tan Buddha statue. We wandered around the village for a while, then decided to head back and make our way to HKDL. We joked when arriving at the theme park that we felt like we'd already done a full day - weird considering we'd basically been sitting on a subway and in the gondolas, but I guess that's what the heat does to you! It was after 1 by the time we arrived at Disneyland, so we headed straight to Tomorrowland - the only land we hadn't tackled - for lunch and fastpasses for the Astro Blasters. We went on Autopia - much, much more comfortable cars (or flying saucers, or whatever) than at the American parks, which was a nice surprise. Space Mountain came next - with a 25-minute queue we parted ways and went on as single riders, and walked straight on. We loved it and thought it seemed a fair bit longer than the DLR and WDW versions, and after BLAB decided to hop on again. And then - the UFO Zone. Okay, I'm starting to think I'm a little bit sick how much I'm going on about water, but I really hate summer and vowed back in '99 to never again hit a Disney park at that time of the year! Anyway, obviously the Hong Kong public doesn't really share our love of getting cold and wet, because they were staring at us in horror while we ran around under the water jets getting soaked to the bone. All the kids loved us, though, and took full advantage of our willingness to stand there and let them pelt us with cold water. Silly unsophisticated Aussies We missed the Stitch Encounter show by 20 minutes, and the next English language version wasn't until 7pm - we planned to be long gone by that point to avoid the crush getting out the door and onto the subway, so I'm not sure what that show's like. Hopefully we didn't miss much! We went back to Fantasyland to finish off the few attractions we hadn't yet done. Philharmagic had to be the craziest experience I've ever had! I don't know if the Chinese aren't used to 3D shows, but the crowd was huge and as soon as the doors opened everyone began clapping and cheering and running inside. The reaction to the show was HUGE. Every 2 minutes people would begin clapping, and they were constantly laughing loudly, gasping, and crying out. We were in hysterics for the first couple of minutes, and after that began joining in just for the fun of it - clapping and cheering and calling out when everyone else did. It was a lot of fun being so enthusiastic!! We then did the train, which was only doing one-way trips from Fantasyland to Main St - I have no idea why, and the ride was pretty uneventful. I love the train at Disneyland in CA, but this really wasn't the same, maybe because of the short voyage. Anyway, we needed to buy gifts for everyone at the Emporium so we hopped off and spent the next hour shopping and spending more money than I'd like to think about - although in my defense, it sounds a lot better when you convert Hong Kong currency to Australian! As we were leaving I spotted Donald and Daisy. It's been years since I've seen Daisy, and I don't think I've EVER had a photo of the two of them together, so Raechel sat down with our (mounds and mounds of) shopping bags while I queued. By the time we left it was about 6.30, so a bit later than we expected. We got back to the hotel, dropped our stuff off and headed to Knutsford Steps for dinner - Italian, which we were both craving. Dinner was expensive, but beautiful. The following day we took full advantage of our lazy, relaxed schedule by sleeping till 10. We decided to skip breakfast and go to TGI Friday's for lunch instead - the closest one to us is Melbourne, so we had to do it at some point. Unfortunately, I overdid it (I have no idea why - all I had was mozarella sticks, chips and a burger and an Oreo ice-cream dessert plus several Pepsis) and combined with the heat, felt sick for the rest of the day. We did some shopping, then went to the cinema to see "The Dark Knight", which was English with Chinese subtitles. I'd been chomping at the bit to see it, although we were a bit put off by the small screen and smaller seats! We loved the movie though, and by the time it was finished Raechel had to head to work for the night. I went back to the hotel, still not feeling brilliant, and relaxed with a magazine for the evening. Saturday Raechel had a work meeting, so we headed over to a different part of HK (the name escapes me) and were surprised to find it was raining. The locals stood under shades, even the ones with umbrellas, but the rain didn't bother us one bit! We got there early and went to Maccas to fill in time while we waited. I sat outside the office reading while Chel was in the meeting (I had planned to shop or go to a cafe, but there was really nothing around), and the time passed quickly. We were out of there by 10.30 and went back to the city for massages, which were exactly what our poor sore backs and legs needed! Raechel had to teach at 2, after which I met her at about 5 for dinner (Spaghetti House!) and the night markets. They were really cool - we bought some bags, I got chopsticks in a fancy little Chinese case (no, I don't actually use chopsticks) and we wandered and bartered with the salespeople for a couple of hours. Sunday was our last day, and Chel's longest teaching day - 9-4. I got up and went to Maccas for breakfast with her, then I came back to the hotel and had a much needed nap (at about 9.30am!) I basically read till midday, when I went to meet her for lunch. We went to a Chinese restaurant, which was nice although we were a bit worried about what we were eating - our waiter spoke virtually no English, and we were concerned that he didn't really know what we were saying when we asked for vegetarian! We decided it was safe, though. After lunch, without my noticing, the waiter gave me their credit card slip back along with my own copy. We headed to the shop next door for a browse, then went in different directions - me to the hotel, Raechel to work. The waiter chased Raechel down the street and stopped her outside her work, telling her (in very broken English) that I had "taken" the credit card slip. She called me, and I ended up having to walk about 15 minutes back to the restaurant to return the stupid slip - not terrible, unless you're in 40 degree heat and only have the hotel room for another hour! By the time I went to a couple more shops to buy a Wii game and cologne for a friend, I got back to the room it was 1.30, and I quickly did the rest of my packing and relaxed for a few minutes before heading downstairs to vacate the room. I went to a cafe, where I excitedly discovered free internet, and stayed on there for about an hour, then went back up to the foyer to read. Raechel arrived, we sat and ate KFC chips (which were like funny hash browns) and then cabbed it to the airport. The flight was a disaster - we were seated separately (in rows 36 and 63!) and neither of us slept for more than about an hour in total (the flight left at 9pm, arriving into Sydney at 8am Sydney time). The girl beside me was really nice and we chatted for about 3 hours at the beginning of the flight, but the rest of the flight was basically trying to read (I didn't really feel like a movie) and trying in vain to sleep. My legs were sore and swelled up to about twice their normal size, and I could hardly walk by the time we arrived in Sydney. They're still a little swollen and sore a day later! Also, I ended up with a stomachache and the food was totally uninspiring. I was desperate to get off the plane by the time we arrived in Sydney, and felt rather bitter that I still had to clear customs, get my luggage, go to the domestic airport, check my bags in again and then catch the flight home! It took an hour to get through customs, and we vowed never to travel again. When I arrived in Brisbane I discovered that my hand luggage bag - which I had checked in Sydney to "make things easier" - hadn't made the journey. Fortunately it didn't have any presents or anything important in there, but it still cost me about 20 minutes between waiting for and reporting the bag - not what you need over 19 hours after arriving at the first airport! Anyway, it's good to be home, although part of me would still like to be on holidays! Hopefully I'll have photos up in the next day and can share a link if anyone wants to see
Originally Posted By debtee It sounds like you had a lovely time with your sister in HK Kez. Apart from your trip home. Did they find your bag? I can't beleive that someone who lives in QUEENSLAND thinks that HK is hot and humid! That cracked me up! LOL I would like to see your pix when you get them up.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle Hahaha - I live in Brisbane though ... it's hot, but not usually too humid! Of course I used to go to Townsville every Christmas (have you ever been there? Dis-gus-ting), so HK *must* be bad Thanks for your comments and I'll definitely let you know once I've got my photos online. Yeah, they delivered my bag yesterday, which was good. Glad to have it back - it had my new Oroton sunglasses that I'd bought on the way over, so I didn't like being away from them for too long!!
Originally Posted By Mr X Cool report! Thanks. Glad you enjoyed yourself overall, sorry to hear about the bad flight though. ***hopped on Dumbo because the line was short*** I think that must be a magic kingdom first! ;p
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle >>I think that must be a magic kingdom first! ;p<< I know - crazy huh! I nearly put that in the report, actually. We were surprised and decided we had to take advantage. Pictures should be up by this time tomorrow!
Originally Posted By RockyMtnMinnie Sounds like a fun trip. Thanks for sharing. I'll be waiting for the photos.
Originally Posted By Malin Fantastic Trip Report Liberty Belle, and you proved my point that you can easily enjoy a full day at this park. I too took full advantage of the Tea Cups and Dumbo as the lines were to go to pass up. I love watching Mickey's Philarmagic in Hong Kong the crowd love it and it makes for such an enjoyable experience. Also agree with your thoughts on the Golden Mickey's, the best character show in any Disney Resort today, and I've seen them all! Can't wait to see the pics
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: I like the Golden Mickey's, too, Malin but always wondered why they left out the Snow White and Sleeping Beauty segments that were part of the Cruise ship versions.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle >>Fantastic Trip Report Liberty Belle, and you proved my point that you can easily enjoy a full day at this park<< Thanks! Yeah, I found filling the day really easy to do and there were even some attractions (like Autopia) that we didn't get done. Still, I've always said that I'm the slowest Disney-park-goer in the world! I can happily take photos and soak up the atmosphere for hours.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle Success! The photos are up. I ended up doing a Disneyland album and a Hong Kong city album. Hong Kong: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50466&l=bf841&id=741881718" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/album....41881718</a> Hong Kong Disneyland: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50457&l=f152d&id=741881718" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/album....41881718</a> Hope you enjoy!
Originally Posted By Malin <<< I like the Golden Mickey's, too, Malin but always wondered why they left out the Snow White and Sleeping Beauty segments that were part of the Cruise ship versions. >>> I guess the Imagineers felt the show would not work with these segmets or perhaps there was another reason, I'm sure someone like Lee would know the real reason. I personally have never seen the Cruise Ship version may have to YouTube it later on, but I think the show works perfectly without the segmets and I could only imagine the Romance part of the show needed to be trimmed down a little. <<< I've always said that I'm the slowest Disney-park-goer in the world! I can happily take photos and soak up the atmosphere for hours. >>> I think I could fall into that category too, and it makes me realise that despite us all sharing a common love for Disney and the parks, we all view them in differnt ways. And everyone has a differnt agenda when visiting the parks, which sadly makes a park like Hong Kong Disneyland not everyone's cup of tea. By the way love the pics and I think its great Mickey and Minnie are out in Summer casual's.
Originally Posted By Mr X AWESOME character pics there, LB! I especially loved seeing beaker and honeydew! (I've never seen them before, that's in a parade!?) Excellent photos all around (I didn't even realize you could share the FaceBook albums like that...I saw them once then clicked on here and saw them again lol).
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: Thank you so much for the nice pictures and the interesting report, Liberty Belle, duckling! ORDDU: Indeed! The entire thing was a fun read. ORWEN: As for YOU, Malin, duckling. You can NEVER have too much romance--in Life or a stage show. So, I really think the Golden Mickeys would be even BETTER if they'd left both the Snow White and Sleeping Beauty segments in them. ORGOCH: Got Valentines?
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle Thanks everyone for looking at the photos and for your comments! >>You need to hold your chopsticks a lot further back, by the way. << lol - I CANNOT use chopsticks. Partly because I don't eat Chinese food, so I never need to use them and therefore never learnt! But yeah, trying to eat with them was a frustrating experience for me!
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle Actually Witches, despite my aforementioned Golden-Mickey-Cruise-show-related-amnesia, I did think that the romance part at HKDL was a little short. They had like 4 sections for heroes or something, and then just the one for romance - I thought that was a bit strange!
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle *sigh* I'm starting to wish that I checked I'd actually said everything I needed to BEFORE hitting submit!! >>I especially loved seeing beaker and honeydew! (I've never seen them before, that's in a parade!?)<< No, that was the 'Muppet Mobile Lab' that just roams around and interacts with guests ... sort of like Push. I was excited to see them when we were on Main St waiting in line for Mickey and Minnie!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Fab pictures and trip report catfish. I am still freaking that you are not a fan of chinese food!!!! You really asuaged my fears too. I think we could easily spend 2 days at HKDL and have a great time. Even if it is way too toony for my tastes. Thank you for taking the time to write and put pictures up, fab!
