Originally Posted By TDLFAN I visited HKDL on February 16th and got to enjoy the park during this unique and very festive time in all of China. The park was decorated for the ocasion and a lovely and colorful show was presented at the Castle Forecourt to celebrate the Year of the Pig. (Sorry but every time I say the Pig word, I am reminded of my favorite line on MuppetVision 3D "Too bad they had to spoil it... with a Pig", in addition to an ex- of mine..) This is my 6th visit to HKDL so far and I have to admit that the more I visit this little Kingdom, the more I like it for it cosmetic beauty and improved classic feel of it. I am a sucker for Penny's Bay framing mountains as well so that adds to the ambiance for me. This time, as the major holiday was about to begin in China, I found the park busy...Upon entering Main Street, all seemed calm, and quiet. However, the further you went into the park, the more crowded it got. By nightfall...the park was packed! It was my very first time seeing the park busy, which compared to crowds at the other parks, this was still modest. But still... 45 mins wait for the Orbitron is quite long here. The only complaint I had was a certain lack of crowd control by the castle as more and more guests crammed to fill in every possible micro-inch of space to catch "Disney's Chinese New Year" show. But with the exception of a few pushy people, most everyone was well behaved, to a certain degree. Why do the chinese have to scream so much when they talk to one another?!?! Must be cultural.. Oh well.. The special show at the castle did NOT disappoint. Chinese pageantry with thundering drums and playful dragons... it was a fabulous treat. Made "Scream Along with Tricky" at the MK look like an episode of Barney on PBS. The only sored spot was the temporary set up of the stage which blocked the castle in the daytime, but that was quickly forgiven by the cheer spectacle and colorful lighting they put up during this show, which was also painfully short at 12 mins long. I would have added some chinese acrobats a la Mulan show at DLP, and stretched it to at least 20 mins. However.. all in all, it was a small spectacular and the crowd loved it. I certainly did! KUDOS to the HKDL entertainment division. KUDOS also to the maintenance and custodials. The park still looks sparkling clean and well kept all over. Great job! Anyways... here are the photos from my afternoon at HKDL. They are a bit dark because it was very overcast the entire day with some little pesky showers every now and then... but nothing to cause discomfort. This is a MEGA-photo album with 214 photos... so enjoy and feel free to ask any questions or comment. Each photo is captioned to improve your experience and for me to praise/critique/be funny? etc etc... So ENJOY!!! <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3cvlgl" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/3cvlgl</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Thanks so much for this! The park looks great, like always. I've only had time to get through the Main Street pictures, but it looks really festive. I know fireworks are traditional Chinese celebration items, but it looks like they're about to blow the whole area up. Maybe next year they will do that a little differently. I'm not positive, but I think the trees through the park are peachtrees. That's what a quick Yahoo search seemed to turn up at least, and they look similar. That Mickey head in the hub looks more impressive each time I see a picture of it! I wonder how long they have been growing it, since I doubt trees grow very quickly (I assume it's real). Hopefully they will let this keep growing, and it will become the park's hallmark for this time of year. Great pictures and thanks again for posting them!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I am not sure the Mickey head flowers are real. For once thing... I never got close enough to touch them. The trees at Town Square and the hotel lobbies sure were real trees, and beautiful. Thanks for doing that search for info on the trees..
Originally Posted By dl1956 Just wondering if/how elements from the Hub show could somehow be brought over to DCA, either as a show or part of a parade, perhaps as part of a Chinese New Year event during February. Any thoughts on that, TDL, based on your viewing of the show?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That show looks amazing! It seemed like at first the park was having some trouble integrating the traditional Chinese culture with Disney stuff, but it looks like they have worked it out really well. I do wish that the stage wasn't so big and ugly during the day, but there is little that they can do about that, since it's only temporary. If they plan on having shows there in the future (and from the looks of it, they definately should), they should build some permanent light towers that fit in better. Either use the turret style ones like at TDL or the ones that are hidden during the day, like Fantasmic! at DL, or the Waterfront Park in TDS. It's great to see the park looking so alive, but the promenade to the hotels looked completely dead. It was the same way when I was there last summer too. I wonder when they will start using the ferry dock, since that would allow more people to see the great plants and fountains along the way. It would also make getting out at night a lot easier, since some people would head to the ferries while others headed to the train. Either way, it's great to see the park so full, and hopefully they have found a celebration that they can repeat in future years.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I honestly do not have much of an opinion in regards to DCA getting something similar to this show for Chinese New year. Ëureka! Parade used to have a chinese section if I recall and it would be nice to have an event that would celebrate an integral part of CA's community but, other than that, I am affraid I could not give a knowledgeable opinion on the matter, and I don't want to speculate either.
Originally Posted By Mr X Okay, can you (TDLFAN) or someone tell me, once and for all, how to do that "tiny URL" thing?? It has been explained to me, but I am a dummy and have not figured it out for some reason!!
Originally Posted By Mr X By the way, RE. picture number 4... TDLFAN, have you been working out?? Wow...you are looking VERY handsome these days! Also, it's so weird to see friends standing in "exotic" locations where I've also been (I have a picture, in fact, of WorldDisney and myself standing in almost that exact same spot!! Weird (only "weird" cause it's freakin Hong Kong China!! If it were WDW or something, it wouldn't seem like anything at all!).
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>how to do that "tiny URL" thing??<< www.tinyurl.com copy the tiny url and the paste it in the box you see on that link above, then click on "make a tiny url" next to the box where you pasted the long url. Labuda showed me that. >>TDLFAN, have you been working out?? Wow...you are looking VERY handsome these days!<< No, not really. But yes, I am handsome.
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Why does the back side of this train station look so plain? Is it a different color than DL's rockwork? <a href="http://tinyurl.com/35n3t9" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/35n3t9</a> (thank you tiny URL!!!)
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct I love the snack photos <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2ql3kx" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/2ql3kx</a>
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct I just finished the whole lot of photos. Truly wonderful TDLFAN ... you have a fantastic eye for photography. Thank you for taking the time to do this. Your photos make me want to visit HKDL.
Originally Posted By Mr X And I'm sure you will, long before you ever get your butt to Urayasu to see DisneySea. *rolls eyes*
Originally Posted By FerretAfros At DL, the train station has larger trees in front of it. When it opened, it also had the bare walls that we now see at HKDL, but it grew in with time. They also have some ivy in certain areas that is growing in a diamond pattern, which helps add something more to that area (I believe it's mostly along the sides, just before the tunnels, or after if you're entering the park).
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Yes, Disneyland's Train Station looked the same way after opening. Ferret is right, it's just grown in rather well and is hidden by trees and ivy. It's too bad they had to use grey flagstones though, because it would look better if it was a warmer color like a sandstone color or something, but whatever...
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Here are a couple postcards from Disneyland's early days where you can see how bare the Train Station was. The color is not the best, but hey... <a href="http://www.disneylandpostcards.com/mstsquare5.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.disneylandpostcards .com/mstsquare5.jpg</a> <a href="http://www.disneylandpostcards.com/mstsquarep3.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.disneylandpostcards .com/mstsquarep3.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By disneymum I absolutely loved your pics! I am a fan of HKDL since my DD, DS and I visited least November and it was nice to see it all decorated for New Years. My DD was also there that day and told me she was disappointed the show was so short. She and her friends also went on Space Mtn. 15 times on Saturday and she thought the crowds weren't that bad! Of course I can tell by your pics that it was a lot more crowded than our last visit.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Dennis... the trees are a lot smaller at HKDL when compared to DL. maybe that is the reason why the Station looks so... bare to you? Anyways... glad you all are enjoying the photos. I in the meantime am baskingin the lovely pacific weather here in Honolulu! I did Waikiki today.. Aloha! from Paradise.
