A Whole New World

The Disney theme song 'A Whole New World' is racing around my head and won't leave.  I don't know how the staff ("cast-members") live with the constant noise, hustle and bustle that is Disneyland - I am convinced I would go crazy in no time at all :-)

The boys are shattered - I told them they had dark rings unders their eyes on the way home in the train and they happily informed me 'you do too - actually you have wrinkles as well!'   Guess that will teach me for making comments on their appearance.  I have not heard a peep out of them since they headed to bed - I think they were asleep even faster than after coming back from Macau.  Braden was hungry when he got home - but only until he heard that crackers and cheese was all I was offering.   All thought of  hunger quickly dissipated and he happily headed off down the hall way.   Evidently my selection of three different types of crackers did not make the grade!

So where to start... we headed out the door at 9am this morning to catch a taxi and then a train out to Disney Land.  (We walked back in the door just after 9pm, so it was a loooong day!)  I am learning about the 10am hunger pangs,  so we stopped at the bakery and picked up a pastry to nibble on while we were waiting for Disneyland to open at 10.30.  

Excitement Building on the train with Mickey Mouse shaped windows

Disneyland Hong Kong looks just like Disneyland LA and  Disneyland Tokyo.  They sure have the branding down to perfection.  The Disney Princesses were predominately Asian skin-toned here, but other than that we really could have been anywhere in the world.

Go Jordan Go!!

The boys had sorted a route they wanted to take, and so we quickly moved into Tomorrow World and the Buzz Lightyear 'Astro-Blast" ride.  By the end of the day they would have done this five times (I gave up and left them to it after three!) so I guess you could say it was a hit.  The car driving was next (they drive as badly as you Kyla!) before much deliberation over what to do about Space Mountain.  They had decided the night before that they wanted to give it a try.... but when we arrived there were notices saying it was done out in 'terrifying ghost style" for Halloween.   Braving a scary roller-coaster was one thing.  Doing it with ghosts jumping out at you was quite another!  In the end Braden was keen, Jordan not so much.  We decided to think about it some more - I was not prepared to send Braden in alone, but nor was I prepared to leave Jordan on his own outside so it really needed to be an unanimous decision.  Later in the day sense prevailed and we decided that the roller coasters at Ocean Park will be just as much fun so we skipped Ghostly Space Mountain.

Waiting for Dumbo to take off

Cheeky grins on the tea cups

Winnie the Pooh was an unexpected hit (we visited twice) with a cute story about Poohs 'very windy day' being told as we floated along in Hunny Pots.   Must admit that I had expected to be told that Winnie he Pooh was for little kids - but they were keen to repeat the ride and even talked at one stage about going back again (Astro-Blaster won the toss!).  The Mad-Hatters Tea Party, Flying Dumbo and the River Cruise were also popular.

Burgers for lunch - yes the camera got left on the table as excitement about the next ride kicked in (they would hate to disappoint you by not providing a single camera story on any given day...).  I looked back to check the table - never have to check up on Andrew that way so it is all a bit knew to me - and there is was sitting looking lonely beside Braden's place at the table.  Guess at least it did not make a boat trip :-)

Spin us Braden!

Faster! Faster!

We rounded the day out with a couple of shows (Disney really are great at those as well - both the 3-D presentation and the live show were great), watching the parade, slurping coke slushies (yes we know Braden is not allowed Coke - we made an exception!), checking out the tree-house, riding Astro-blast again and again and again and then settling in to watch the Tinkerbell Illumination and then the Sleeping Beauty fireworks.



All in all a great day - we are still all talking to each other after Day 5, and looking forward to perhaps heading out to the wetlands tomorrow.  The HK weather really has been exceptional - not toooo hot, but lovely blue skies.  Unusual for this time of year (we had T-8 Typhoon warnings up the week before last), so we feel blessed.

Tarzans Island where I sent them when I needed a break :-)

 Sonia