Hong Kong Trip 2013 Day 3: Disneyland

Day 1 itinerary can be found here.

Day 2 itinerary can be found here.

After an 8 hour of sleep, Pat and I woke up with a jolly Disney mood! ٩(^‿^)۶ Minutes after we woke up, Pat exclaimed excitedly to me that she is finally going to have the opportunity to meet her all-time idol, Mr Mickey. It's Disneyland! After 'dolling' ourselves up, we took a quick breakfast at one of the 茶餐厅 near our hotel. We decided to visit Wong Tai Sin temple first since it's still too early to meet Mickey and friends.

Wong Tai Sin temple is one of the most famous temples in Hong Kong and is renowned for its sacredness and accurate lots predictions. The architecture of the temple itself is worth a visit there. Large red pillars, memorial archways and golden roofs are some of the icons of the temple. Massive crowd of people, both locals and tourists, would flock to this temple everyday. It is a magnificent place to visit even if you are not a believer.

Each prayer is restricted to offer only 9 joss sticks. I am not sure why, but I suppose there's a religious reason behind it. Or maybe it's an effort to promote environmental friendliness. |◔◡◉| We saw many devotees practicing kau cim (asking for a fortune stick) in front of the temple's main altar. Pat and I didn't join in the practice as there were too many people. As we were nearing the exit, there came a sudden heavy downpour. The rain came so abruptly that everyone hurried to seek for the nearest shelter. Pardon me about this, I actually thought that the deities were going to descend to the world. HAHAHA. I know I sound really ridiculous, but how could the heavy rain came so suddenly? Plus the wind was really very strong then! (✖╭╮✖) Me and Pat were drenched from the heavy downpour despite us having an umbrella. Therefore we decided to go back to the hotel to take a warm shower and change into some fresh clothings before we head out to Disneyland.

Entrance of the temple

The main altar

People offering their prayers

We took the train down along Tung Chung line to Sunny Bay station before transferring to the Disneyland Resort line. In our opinion, the fastest and most rewarding way to get to Disneyland is via the MTR. This is because we get to travel in the Disney themed trains that link Sunny Bay station to the Victorian-themed Disneyland Resort station. The interior decor of the train is such that:

(1) handles are shaped in the form of mickey's face

(2) windows are shaped in the form of mickey's face

(3) walls of cabins are decorated with pictures of the various Disney characters

 We could no longer control our excitement and we rushed towards the counter immediately upon arrival just to get our tickets and a map of the entire park. For your information, the park is divided into more smaller parks, namely toy story land, tomorrowland, fantasyland, adventureland, mystic point, grizzly gulch and the main street.

There are many small shops on the main street selling the various Disney related products and food. Pat and I ended up spending an hour plus there because there are just too many cute stuff in each and every shop. The photos taken are quite misleading because it seem like these shops only sell Mickey and Minnie related products. But no, believe me they sell all the other Disney characters related products too. ᵔᴥᵔ

Enough with the talking! Let the photos do the talking instead!

To Disneyland Resort, lets go !

Disney themed train that brings us to the magical world of Disneyland

Picture of Mr Mickey inside the train

On our way there, yayyyyyyy! ٩◔‿◔۶

The handles of the train are so cuteeeeeeee (｡◕‿◕｡)

Pat took this photo without me knowing

An army of shot cups

Mugs and other kitchen utensils

Mickey and Minnie magnet plushies (I arranged them neatly on the shelf, cute right!) (｡◕‿◕｡)

Me and a random Minnie plushie that I grabbed off the shelves

Mickey and Minnie key chains

Small lovely bags for the kids

The happy girl with both Minnie and Mickey plushies

Everyone has their own inner child, so don't judge ┌( ಠ‿ಠ)┘

Hot, fresh, delicious mickey face-shaped waffles *drooling*

After that, Pat and I decided to try out the various rides in the park. We played some family rides such as 'the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh', 'Cinderella Carousel', 'Autopia' and many others. One of the rides that left a rather deep impression on Pat (she told me about it) is 'its a small world'. It is more of those relaxing and enchanted rides in which you set yourself seated comfortably on the sailing boat and enjoying scenes of various dolls and characters as the boat sails through. Most of the dolls are not stationary, meaning that some would either dance along with the music or perform whatever actions that they are doing.

The enchanting boat ride

If you look at the previous photo, there's a piggie at the bottom left hand corner of the photo. It's her!

Dolls dancing along with the music that was being played

A colorfully designed hot air balloon

Another random doll

Another bunch of dolls dancing along with a different set of music

This time round, the dolls are performing some spinning-of-plates stunts

The climax of that magical day, of course, was the photo taking session with the various Disney characters! Mickey is so cheeky while Minnie is so vain with her 1001 poses. ♪ ヘ(^o^ヘ)(ノ^o^)ノ ♪

Goofy, as usual, is in its sloppy, clumsy look. Pluto looks really cute but mischievous though.The greeting session was hilarious and I believe that everyone enjoyed themselves during the session. Mickey was damn funny as he pretended to be afraid of Pat because Pat was wearing the Givenchy wolf head shirt. ٩(-̮̮̃•̃)

Us with Mickey! I don't know what is Pat doing. Trying to cling onto Mickey? (^▽ﾟ*)

What is this cheeky doing?

Oh I see, he wants a hug (*ﾟｪﾟ*)

Told you she's very happy!

Us with Goofy

Naughty Pluto walking around the park

Mickey and Minnie holding hands and greeting the public

Lovely couple (｡◕‿◕｡)

We explored the park for a full 5 hours but didn't manage to complete our expedition. In the end, we missed out the newly built mystic point and grizzly gulch. (╥﹏╥) My advice to all who are planning a trip there, please arrive at the park as early as possible because there are just too many attractions not to be missed! Park opens at 10:30am and ends off with its Disney in the Stars fireworks at 8:00pm.

At about 7:40pm, Pat and I made our way to the Sleeping Beauty Castle located in the main street and waited patiently for the fireworks display. When we reached there, it was already packed with hundreds or even thousands of park visitors! Most of them were already seated on the brick floor awaiting for the display.

Massive crowd of audience waiting for the fireworks display

Ignite the light and let it shine

Fireworks illuminating the night sky

When the fireworks blare...

Walt Disney once said this: Disneyland is the world of imagination, hopes, and dreams. In this timeless land of enchantment, the age of chivalry, magic and make-believe are reborn - and fairy tales come true. I feel that this magical land has indeed brought about laughter and unforgettable joy to everyone. Hong Kong Disneyland is the smallest Disneyland in the world. Nonetheless, it has something for everyone.