It’s a ( Not So) Small World!

 

SO….my friend Diane has a little bit of a weather disorder…and believe me…the last few weeks here have been DISMAL.  Seattle, take note…if ANYONE says how gloomy and rainy and drab Seattle is…point them to Hong Kong and tell them to SHUT UP.

WITH this in mind, Diane decided she needed a mood lifter.  After not too much thought, she came up with one answer

“I want to see it snow in Hong Kong”.

If this is your wish….there is only one place we could think of that could accommodate her:

Now, Diane is also a HUGE Toy Story fan, and since Toy Story land just opened here, well, she could get her fix for that.  (Woody is her fav, BTW)

Before we even got to this entrance…we got to ride on the happiest MTR train on earth!

We were pleasantly surprised when we got to the Sunny Bay MTR station and our “coach” awaited…

First…the windows…yep…Mickey’s head.  The seats are curved, and cushioned and VERY comfy (for the 8 minute ride…but we appreciated that!)

Here’s Diane relaxing, waiting to exit the train

She coordinated with the seats!

Next…the “hangers” ???  You guessed it…

Yep…there’s that shape again!

I was very cautious and held on with TWO hands!

 

Diane got to see Woody before we even entered.  the whole walkway is lined with these flags of all of the different characters. 

HUGE fountain before we even get to the turnstiles…and then….

Look familiar? 

Now, I have never been to WDW, but I know Disneyland looks just like this!

It was all decorated for Christmas!

We had the entire day, and Disneyland HK is known to be very small and aimed at very little people.  With this in mind, we just wandered, found things to see, snapped pics and went on to the next thing.

The other thing about this being a mini-version of Disneyland…is that we could take time to do things we don’t normally do…parades, shows, etc.

Our first stop was Mickey’s PhilharMagic.  It’s a 3D movie of Donald Duck chasing Mickey’s hat from Fantasia through all the different Disney movies…VERY cute!  You even get spritzed and wind blown. 

Next was Toy Story land to find Woody…

But alas…NO Woody.  So we wandered away, took a peak at the new “mansion” being built

  Saw one of many Mickey’s posing for pictures:

Then decided to go BACK through Toy Story land to make our way to the Lion King (in the round) show.

WAIT…WHO IS THAT TAKING PICTURES???

Diane’s dream  almost came true…but alas…the lady would not let us in line to get a picture with Woody…   Woody was tired….(WHAT?) So we had to settle for pictures from afar.

Sigh.

To cheer ourselves up, we went over to Fantasy Land to see if we could get on the Winnie the Pooh ride.  NO JOY!  50 minute wait and Fast Pass time was 3 hours away…SO…we went on

It’s a Small World!  To prove a point that most of us know…we WALKED on this ride…which tells me that song is annoying IN EVERY COUNTRY…

We managed to get on before the huge group of school children…THANK heaven!

Next it was off to the Lion King show where we only had to wait about 15 minutes before we could go in.  The show is in the Round…which is cool. 

To get in though…it was sort of a “trample the weak” situation…which I can not imagine happening at the other parks….but we got nice seats. The theater holds 2000 people…so I can’t even imagine how hard it is to run in during the busier months (and believe me…it was busy this day!)

After the show…it was PARADE TIME!  Like I said…because this was not all about “rides” we watched and did things I would normally pass on.  We actually watched THREE parades!

The first was characters on parade…

 

Then, Mickey’s Toyriffic Parade!

CLICK ON THIS…you can see the parade…THROUGH THIS DUDE’S IPAD! 

There was snow during this parade…but snow is VERY hard to photograph… trust me…it happened!

there were many dressed up children…

and having so much fun IS EXHAUSTING

These are the same everywhere:  and yes, they light up at night!

Soon it was time to light the tree

It’s not huge like the tree at Disneyland…but it is pretty!

I think Disneyland is magical after dark!

after dark VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We  walked around a little more…had dinner (croutons shaped like Mickey’s head…OF COURSE!) Rode Astroblasters, Space Mountain (Diane rode JUST that for me) Dumbo and finally made it on the Winnie the Pooh ride…

Soon the park would be closing, it was time to head out before the masses…so we made our way to the exit:

Back to the Disneyland train…back to Hong Kong

Back to reality.

What a fun fun fun day!  I am so glad we went!