So, Hong Kong Disneyland. The thing about Disneyland is that is appeals to the child in all of us, regardless of age. I must say I saw more adults than children there. The performances are rather entertaining for grownups. I loved the ‘Golden Mickeys’, a show imitating the Academy Awards. All the famous Disney movie songs were performed splendidly, with amazing costumes and props. There was also a Broadway theatre style, summarized, rendition of The Lion King which I enjoyed. The children liked the singing and dancing High School Musical show and also the 3D Mickey show. That was funny, the kids were actually standing up and reaching out to try to grab things which were seemingly popping out from the screen!Oh yes, then we have the grand finale, the fireworks display. For the first night, we just caught the show at the sidelines and thought it was pretty cool. On the second night, we reserved seats half an hour earlier, smack front and centre of Sleeping Beauty Castle, the centerpiece of the whole theme park. Wow, I tell you, we didn’t expect it to be so much more spectacular! It was like a totally different experience! The fireworks synchronized with the music just sent you into another, magical world! It was definitely worth the pins and needles! After the show, when everyone was still agape in awe, Eva nonchalantly got up and announced, “Our house also got le”, implying, ‘what’s the big deal?’ You see, hubby spends tonnes of money every Chinese New Year on obviously illegal fireworks. It has become tradition to come over to our house every Chinese New Year eve if you want to see pyrotechnics. So I guess it’s all the same to her, never mind the wonderful songs, impeccable synchronization and super lighting effects! Annie however, was asking how they manage to light so many fireworks so fast. I guess in her mind she sees dad running up and down lighting fireworks with a cigarette lighter!
The rides were more for children though, like Flying Dumbo, Spinning Teacups, etc… Annie was trying to act ‘cool’, like a High School Musical teenager I suppose, so she complained that the Cinderella Carousel and other such kiddy rides were boring. So, when we got to Tomorrowland, we let her go on the Buzz Lightyear ride with her dad. It turned out to be a roller coaster ride in the dark! Annie is truly afraid of the dark, so we didn’t hear anymore complaints after that!
Luckily the children are not crazy about being photographed with the characters. We spent more than half an hour waiting to take a picture with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger! After that, I didn’t bother anymore with Mickey and Minnie, because they had the longest queue. Thank goodness Annie has grown out of that. When we went to Brisbane, a long time ago, Annie was almost 3 yrs old and insisted on taking photos with every character/mascot and refused to leave the theme park until we found some more characters for her to hug! Claire is indifferent to cuddly creatures, I think she might prefer Ultraman! Eva is terrified of them even, which is why I had to be in the picture as well, otherwise she refused to get near them!
One thing though, many of the performances or narration is done in Cantonese. Suddenly, all of Troy and Gabriella’s school mates have turned into Asians and speak Chinese! But this didn’t prove to be much of a problem anyway.Well, next stop, Disneyland, USA! Wonder how much that would cost? The thought of flying in a cramped plane for a whole day with cranky kids is enough to scare me away from that thought. What more to say covering a theme park many, many times bigger! This shorter trip to a smaller park already drained every bit of energy from us. But like childbirth, I guess we will soon forget the suffering and look back with rose tinted glasses. So maybe in say, 10 years time? Yes, I think that just might do.
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