The Chronicles of SAR: A Day at Hong Kong Disneyland (Day 04)

Merry Christmas everyone!  One of the happiest seasons of the year is here, and because of this I thought of fast-forwarding this chronicle to our day at the “happiest place” on Earth, Disneyland!

This is part of a series

It was a Tuesday and while most people are at work, we’re on our way towards Hong Kong Disneyland as tourists.  And we’re some lucky tourists, it’s Hong Kong Disneyland’s fifth anniversary!

Our journey starts here: iSquare in Tsim Sha Tsui
A Christmas tree made of Ferrero Rocher: yum!
Walking towards breakfast
What’s news? 😀

Since we don’t have much time to look for breakfast we ended up, again, with McDonald’s!  Well, it’s the same familiar fastfood, but it doesn’t mean that I have to eat the same familiar food.  McDonald’s Hong Kong have some food not available in the Philippines, and one of them is this Grilled Chicken Twisty Pasta.  Not bad but quite bland for my taste though.

Grilled Chicken Twisty Pasta
Not quite the usual macaroni we’re used to
One of the things I would love to have in McCafé Philippines: Gingerbread Latte
Even their cakes look interesting!

It was also here where I brought my snack (a sandwich) for Disneyland.  Note though that Disneyland does not allow hamburgers inside the resort, but they do allow sandwiches and water.  After having breakfast and getting our takeouts, we were off for the MTR.

Hong Kong MTR Central Station
Hong Kong rush hour
Here’s our line: bound for Tung Chung
Since it’s a weekday and we’re at the first station, there’s hardly any passenger
At the MTR station bound for Disneyland
Here’s our train!
The distinct window of Disneyland-bound trains
Inside are small statues of Disney characters
Even the handrails are Disney-themed
Another train bound for Disneyland
The front (or tail) of the train: notice that the center can be used as an exit during emergencies
We have arrived! Yipee!
Disneyland Resort Station
Travel Tip: You may want to consider getting your return tickets upon arrival to save time
Hi Mickey!
One of the first thing you’d see at the resort: this wonderful fountain!
Haha, poor Donald, he sunk his ship!
Queuing up for tickets
Here it is! Woohoo!
First glimpse of Disneyland resort
Let’s go!
The City Hall
They even have a Fire Department! 🙂
And of course, a huge Christmas tree
Despite being a Tuesday, there were so many visitors to the resort
Looking back at the tree
There it is: I’ve waited my whole life to see a Disneyland castle
A manhole on the main road
One of the very entertaining street performers of the resort
One of my childhood dreams come true!
My first food from Disneyland: this is easily the best caramel popcorn I have ever tasted! No kidding!
Going through the castle…
The castle from behind

When I was a lot younger I really thought that a Disneyland castle was huge!  Yes, it’s still big but it wasn’t as big as I had expected.  Anyhow, crossing this landmark feature will take you to the resort’s attractions, and our first stop: Hong Kong Disneyland’s latest attraction, Toy Story Land.

This way, yehey!
Group picture!
Inside Toy Story Land you feel like one of Andy’s toys
A broader view of Toy Story Land
One of the first “toys” that “played” with us were these toy soldiers. I remember having toys like these when I was little.
Slinky Dog Spin: for very young kids or those who want to take it “easy”
Toy Soldier Parachute Drop: For bigger kids, this should give them some added thrill, although not as much for adults
The ride brings you up slowly and then drops you—in a very controlled manner so it’s more intimidating than it actually is. Great view at the top though!
It’s our turn! Yipee!
Now this is the ultimate: RC Racer
It takes you so high and so fast, it’s quite a rush! Too bad that it only takes about a minute to complete.
Pathway leading to the queue to the RC Racer
Some safety reminders

I wasn’t exactly carrying a compact so I wasn’t able to bring along my camera for the ride, so no pictures during the ride but it was definitely awesome!

Riding Tip: If you intend to ride all the attractions in Toy Story Land, I advise that you start with Slinky Dog Spin and end with RC Racer.  We skipped Slinky and started with RC Racer, making the Parachute Drop feel dull.

Meet Cubot, a robot which has spinning blocks: looks like he caught someone’s attention
I remember having these monkeys as well
The gang with Woody and Jessie at the Barrel of Fun
Of course Rex is also here! (Looks like he tangled himself up again)

After becoming toys ourselves in Toy Story Land, we were back to being big kids and went to our next stop: Philhar Magic.  Think of it as Mickey’s orchestra, and although it’s not live, it is in 4D!

I like that attractions in Disneyland have timers that estimate on how long you’d wait in line
It won’t be 4D if it doesn’t at least have 3D!
Show’s about to start, shhh…
After the show, I was so tempted to get this wizard Mickey toy! (Control, control)
Instead I got this (secret :D)

After the show, it was lunchtime!  There are a lot of places to eat around Disneyland, but we were away from most of them so we just ate our snacks. Oh, I also got this:

Thai Chicken: it doesn’t look appetizing but it actually tastes better than it looks
These birds aren’t afraid of people, in fact they love eating leftovers, particularly corn and popcorn!

At that time we did realize that a day is not enough to cover Disneyland, and since we were running out of time, we skipped the attractions with long lines to maximize our coverage.

Adventure Land, land of the Lion King
Some drums you can play with
Tarzan’s tree house

Of course, a trip to Disneyland won’t be complete if we didn’t meet, greet, and have a picture with the stars of Disneyworld.

Look who we stumbled into: it’s Minnie!
My favorite sailor duck, Donald
Playing with Pluto!
Even if I only had this picture during this trip, I’d be satisfied! With my favorite mouse, Mickey! So glad to have finally met you!

To further improve our “coverage,” we hopped onto Disneyland’s train, coming from Fantasy Land Station at the back of the resort.

Mickey is also here
Wait! Someone got left behind 🙂
Fantasy Land Station
All aboard!
Aboard the train. Choo, choo!
I knew it! Aliens do exist! See, they even took our pictures!
Disneyland Station: this is the one that we first saw in front of the resort

We were still able to squeeze in a quick visit to some attractions, including an interactive encounter with Stitch (where we all found out that he’s my former cellmate :D).  Then it’s time for the Disneyland afternoon parade.  The entire resort stops for this afternoon highlight and we were fortunate enough to pick a good spot.

Lotsa balloons
Of course this parade is really for kids 🙂
The hungry birds are also here
Dumbo starts the parade (there was an earlier float but I missed it when I went to the restroom :()
Marching bands
Dancers before Mickey and company’s float
Here they are!
Notice they changed outfits for the parade
Mickey on his flying ship
Here comes Winnie the Pooh and the gang
More “hunny”
Here comes the Disney Princesses
The Princesses
Here comes the Jungle Book and Lion King floats
Wild!
Tinkerbell
Inside her kettle
Even the kids get to be part of the show
Here comes Stitch (with Lilo of course)
And finally, Toy Story
That marks the end of the parade

As much as we’d love to stay longer for the fireworks display, we simply can’t.  We had a ferry to catch to bring us back to Macau, so it was time for us to say goodbye to Hong Kong Disneyland.  A day is simply too short to explore the resort completely, but despite having only hours we were able to bring back our youthful years as we get to relive being kids inside Disneyland.

Time to say goodbye
Heading out
I’ll be back!
Back at MTR station, returning to Hong Kong island

However short this Disneyland trip was, it fulfilled my childhood dream of going to Disneyland and meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and the rest of the gang.  For a day I got to relive being a kid (or felt like a kid) and I had so much fun so imagine what I was like for the kids we were with!  Yes, Disneyland is indeed a happy place: it’s like it’s Christmas there every day!

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The Chronicles of SAR:

3 Comments Add yours

  1. Kontador says:

    wow! so nice Dens! i love all your pictures! =)

    Like

    1. dhenztm says:

      Thank you very much! 😀

      Like

  2. james says:

    wow. may toy story land na pala. thanks. this reminds me of so much memories. =)

    Like

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