Day 4 - Disneyland Here We Come

Mid day 9 December 2007

It was Disneyland right in front of our very eyes. I've never been to Disneyland before. Those 4 years in the States didn't quite give me the chance to be there. Well, when one was on a government scholarship, what could you expect. As a student, the scholarship money was just enough to cover for the basic necessities. There wasn't much left for traveling. But that was many, many years ago. And now here we were at the gates of Disneyland.

Hong Kong Disneyland park is located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay on Lantau Island. The magic Kingdom style park first opened its gates to visitors on 12 September 2005.

The park has 3 main areas - Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Adventureland.

The walk into the park was a pleasant one. The immaculate and beautiful landscape provided a warm welcome to visitors. Obviously, many of these "spots" became a favourite for photo takes.

As we were walking into the park, I heard a familiar language. A couple of ladies, were speaking in a lingo similar to the one spoken by Bibik and her friends in their morning gatherings back home. Waduh!!! Kamu ni "neng" (young girls) dari Indon ya??

My guess was right. They were Indonesian maids working in Hong Kong. Sunday is their hari libur (off day) and they were off to Disneyland. They must be making a lot, I guess. Just entrance ticket to the park cost HK$295 per person and that didn't include the food and drinks, which was on the premium side.

One of them was funny enough to say that she is now so "gendut" (fat) and udah rupa (looks like) Donald Duck!!

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Nissa and Mickey & Minnie in the background

After stopping at all the MUST take photo areas, we were finally in the park. Wow.....it was some beauty!!! We passed through the Main Street USA heading towards the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Fantasyland. Fantasyland had a couple of interesting rides.

ABE took Nissa on the Cinderella Carousel while the girls and I queued to go on the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride.

Me & Ayna on the Dumbo ride

For starters, the ride was alright and pretty harmless. As for Mom, she sat happily on the bench by the side while watching us run up and down for our rides.

After those "intro" rides, we went to see the Mickey PhilharMagic Show. It was a 3-D show of Mickey Mouse and friends. A very good show I must say. The 3-D effects made Princess Jasmine and Aladdin flew on their carpet right before your very eyes!!!

Queue for the Jungle River Cruise

Next was the Adventureland. We decided to go on the Jungle River Cruise. Beware it said...you may get wet!!!

ABE, Mom and girls seated at the back of the boat

This ride was OK lah.... not so scarry as what was mentioned earlier. I was a bit disappointed with the guide's distinct Chinese slang in his English. Well, what was I expecting... this was Hong Kong Disneyland. But kids...no complaints. They enjoyed themselves for sure.

Here comes the train..

By the time we finished the river cruise, it was almost 2.45pm. We wanted to go see the Christmas Parade at the Main Street USA which was to start at 3.15pm. So we walked back to Fantasyland and took the train back to the Main Street USA. When we arrived, the crowd was just starting to build up.

Mom asked if there was a place where she could perform her solat. I told her from the looks of things I didn't think there was any. She then said that in a "darurat" (emergency) situation like this it was OK to perform your prayers while sitting. Well...ok...you know best Mom. Faris took out the compass and checked out the direction of the Kiblat and then they took turns to perform their solat. As for me....heh..heh....red flag mahhh....cuti!!!

At 3.15pm the parade started. The Disney characters danced and walked passed us. It was some show they put on. At the end of it, snow (huh...snow in HK?? Manmade one lah from soap bubbles!!!) came down from the sky.

Kids punyer la bergambar sakan...ala-ala tengah snowing.

After the Christmas parade, we moved on to Tomorrowland. It was here that we spent most of our time.

ABE took Nissa to go up a ride called the Orbitron. It was quite a wait till their turns came. Mom said she wanted to get something to eat. I surveyed the eating places and they didn't look like they serve HALAL food anywhere. ABE mentioned that he had sneaked in a Maggie cup and Mom could have that first until we finished the ride. So I got the Maggie cup from him and passed to Mom. She went to the food counter and asked for some hot water. She wanted to pay for it, but the girl was kind enough to just let her have the water for her noodles.

I then queued up to go on the Orbitron with the girls and Faris told me that he wanted to go on the Space Mountain. Naik je la...apa-apa yang suka....have fun!!!

When we came down the Orbitron, we were all so, so hungry. Time to eat before any of the kids fall flat. I went to check out the fastfood join in Tomorrowland and got ourselves the fish burgers and fries. Kids finished their burgers in a jiffy and they were ready to go again. This time they said,"Let's try the space mountain!!!".

Muka lepas naik Space Mountain

OK..I must confess, my days of roller coaster rides are definitely OVER. The Space Mountain ride if compared to those in Six Flags America was nothing close. I have ridden on many other challenging and terrifying rides before. The Edge, The Wooden Roller Coaster, The Cockscrew...you name it. I've been on most of them. But now at 40 something, I guess I shall pass. However, for the sake of having fun with the kids, what the heck....I braved myself and went up the Space Mountain ride not once but twice!!!

After the second Space Mountain ride, I was beat tired. ABE dah lama surrender. So he sat and accompanied Mom. Not long after that, I too had to sit down and catch my breath. The kids went on a few more times on the Space Mountain.

Then kids ajak me to go on the Mad Hatter tea cups ride. Fuhhh...that was some spinning ride. At the end of it, I almost saw "stars"!!!

Nissa wanted to watch the Stitch Encounter show. So we queued and waited for the show. We were the first ones in the queue. Yet another interesting show where kids got to interact with Stitch and his misadventures.

Let's light up the castle...one...

Two....

Three!!!

By the time we came out from Stitch Encounter it was already dark. Not long after that, we saw the lighting up of the Sleeping Beauty Castle. What a stunning beauty!!!

Fireworks..just warming up

This was the best view of fireworks I could capture on my compact digital camera

People now had started to gather at the Castle area to wait for the grand finale - the Disney in Stars Fireworks. At 8.15pm the skies over Disneyland was all lighted up with sparkling fireworks display. ABE carried Nissa on his shoulders so that she could get a better view. Huh...that was some 20 something kilos he had on his shoulders!!!

All buildings lighted up

Lighted and standing tall... the Xmas Tree

After the fireworks display, we walked slowly passed the Main Street USA and snapped a couple more shots. Tired but satisfied...that was what I could read from the children's faces.

One final family photo..before we left the park

Too bad....every beginning has got to come to an end. For me, I was glad that everything went well and the children had enjoyed themselves. After all this vacation was all planned for them to have a good time.

We then walked out to the place where we were supposed to wait for our pick up. There were some confusion over the bus and who were supposed to be on it. Anyhow, as what was advised our HK guide, we just stayed put on the bus. Too bad that some other people had to get down and wait for another bus to pick them up.

It was a long ride back to our hotel. Tired from the day's excitement, kids dozed off during the journey back. As for me, Alhamdullilah, everything turned out as how we had wanted this vacation to be.