Jun 2011: HK Disneyland

My parents used to bring us to Genting Highlands for fun ride and kart racing.
Best of all, we got a chance to chill in the cool and refreshing weather;
stay in the hotel for a night or two;
dine in the restaurant up there.
Family holiday, I recalled.

That was the only themed park during those days, I reckon.
Or, perhaps it was that much of spending that my parents could afford to on 3 of us.
Or, maybe my papa had a chance to sneak out to casino at anytime he could.
One stone kills 2 birds, so called.

Anyway, many roller coaster years later.
I brought them to Disneyland, for the first time. 
To experience the true fantasy of young children.
To wind back our memories of spinning and riding.
To laugh as much as possible under the hot sun, and so on..

They are more like a body guard and a babysitter though.
Watched the girls as alert as an eagle; 
While explored the Park as curious as little Bomber.
Trying to figure out, what so fun about Disneyland!? I think.

It was a tired day for all of us. 
Being watchful and being playful in the colourful amusement park.
They conquered the place, half, at least. 
They stretched their body part and burnt calories most in a day, perhaps.
They had adventurously fun, I hope.

Many years later, we will reminisce this trip, 
as much as we talk about our stories in Genting. 
Till the girls are older, we will find another way of family bonding. I promise:).

M i s s   t h e m,  I  a m.

Hong Kong: Disneyland

Disneyland Park is open at 10am daily. So we tried to checked-out from Royal Plaza Hotel in Mongkok right after our breakfast in Sea View Congee House. SC booked Disneyland Hotel for staying over 1 night.

One thing Disneyland Hotel pleased me very much is the flexibility they give to the guests, For example: 

1. Allowing us to check-in, store our luggage at the Bell Desk to upon our early arrival and enjoy the Disneyland Park right away.
2. We came back to hotel for 'check-in' into our room at about 4pm (after indulged into the Flights of Fantasy Parade), my parents also get to rest while Jiejie and SC went on the fun.
3. Some children programs to continue the Disney fun while they are away from the theme park, like bedtime story, modelling and photographic service (glad my girl didn't ask for this), Mickey Maze and 1 nice activity room mainly for kid to play, to doodle and to craft.
4. List of Revitalise and Refresh activities can be found here.
5. Not to mention they have many goodies and surprises for you to bring home, ie the room access card:).
6. A highlight of Enchanted Garden Restaurant in the Hotel is, there are visits from Disney Characters to delight your meal time. But we drop the idea to go there, since Jiejie get to snap picture with Mickey and Minnie in the Park already. My parents prefer Chinese food, so we ate at Crystal Lotus. 
7. Upon our check-out of the hotel, we also get to store our luggage, again, at the Bell Desk. We went on to have our lunch in Crystal Lotus, some souvenir shopping and let the kids played in the activity room till about 2/3pm. The Bell Desk helped us to call a taxi to airport. Hassle-free and fast arrival of the taxi too. Our flight was in the late afternoon.

Disneyland Park is truly a huge playground for the kids. Jiejie and Ian were so joyful and energetic for the entire visit to the Park until the end of the fireworks which led to closure of the Park. I would think that it is the great success influence of the Disney cartoon in the television to the children. A visit to the Disneyland Park to me was, hmmm... got to see the cartoon characters 'alive', and the hard work (including the investment) and the creativity proudly smiled, walked, spun or swung in front of me.

Well, clearly I'm not a person with childish heart. All I could remember was carrying little Bomber and danced during the Fantasy Parade in Main Street, USA, under the heat ;P. But SC did enjoy the fun with Jiejie. They particularly like "it's a small world". Fantasyland has most attraction and entertainment that are suitable our kids. We had to skip Adventureland as timid Jiejie really got frighten with the "adventurous sound" projected from the jungle even we were just passing by the main entrance. Also, a compliment from my parents about the spectacular musical extravaganza in The Golden Mickeys in the Fantasyland had relieved me as I was afraid the Park would bored them whole day. They are old and really conservative about kids' fun. They probably enjoy the girls' laugh and simple play more than perspiring and watchful to the girls in theme park. A "very nice show" feedback means really NICE and stole their aged heart in the theater. The kids missed the chance to watch the show as there were too many attractions for them and they seemed impatience to queue for the Golden Mickeys. 

By the way, there is Disney's FASTPASS service for us to queue for a specific and long waiting queue attraction the Park so that we can leave and enjoy other attraction while waiting. However, it was a weekday and off-peak season, we didn't use any of the FASTPASS at all. 

After enjoyed our selves in the Fantasy Parade, we return to Hotel for our check-in. It was a good rest for my parents. We went back to the Park at about 7pm for the firework. We were allowed for re-entry to the Park for our 1-day ticket. We had our dinner and watched the "Disney in the Stars" Fireworks at 8pm. Oh, be prepare to walk, walk and walk for the whole day. It seemed like forever walk for me to return from the park to the bus terminal for taking free shuttle bus service back to the hotels. I was totally drained!

It was our intention to keep Disneyland Park as last destination for our trip to Hong Kong, due to the following reasons:

1. Distance to airport is close, both are situated in Lantau Island. approximately 15 mins taxi ride for us to reach HK airport.
2. Keep the very last attraction for the kid(s) till the end so that they will 'cooperative' throughout the 1 week urban trip.

"Have fun and do keep an eye on meimei, dear."

"meimei, want to try this?"

"Oh yay! Blue man is a giant sprinkle!!"

"Stupid blue man making me wet, later mama will scold!"

"Where is jiejie? Wasn't it fun?"

By the way, be alert and watchful to your child(ren) while you are in Disneyland. I have heard enough of cases of missing kid(s).


The Park Map is here.

Hong Kong: Ocean Park

After hearing from us mentioning how fun can Ocean Park Hong Kong be, Jiejie was ecstatic to step down form the bus and see Whiskers, the mascot, in front of her.

Kids at Ocean Square.

Games
It was a hot summer day. But it didn't melt the excitement of Ian and Jiejie. Kids are kids, just can't resist the fun that created by any amusement park. They immersed themselves in various kind of Merry-go-round, a trip of Balloon Up-up-and-away, Bouncer House, Frog-hopper, and some skill games. They giggled from ear to ear, wiggled from one end to another.

Whiskers Harbour seems having most games that suitable our kids.

First hop ever for her [photo courtesy of Fong]

Animals
Comparatively, Amazing Asian Animals became less interested to them. Visiting Gait Panda Habitat was eye-opening for the girls. Little Bomber first ever meeting with huge panda bear and beautiful goldfishes. She was extremely happy to roam around the Goldfish Treasures. I bet those goldfishes love to see her too.

[sorry, forgot this is An An or Jia Jia]

"Don't you be naughty and make your mama angry!"

I personally marvel into The Grand Aquarium in the Aqua City, meeting all kinds of sea creatures eye-to-eye by walking through a 13m wide acrylic tunnel. It was awesome, and honestly, it is spacious and much comfortable strolling and watching the sea creatures than in UnderWater World in Sentosa :p.

Ray fish came and said hello:).

But... Jiejie was horrified by the blow hole upon our arrival. It is the power of ocean, so called, welcoming the visitors. Needless to say, timid her hesitated to walk through the darkest depth of the ocean floor. We kept giving her cuddles and pats and at last, she stood and watched fishes swam in front of her. Little Bomber, on the other hand, was "ohhh" and "ahhh" all the way and wanted to "poke" the glass so much. I think she wanted interaction with the fishes beyond the glass.

As usual, she took some time to overcome her fear.

We didn't cover all the attractions in the Park. It is a huge park, obviously. Too much activities for a big group like us. Ian wanted to take a ride on to the helium balloon badly, but time didn't permit us to do so. We didn't step into the Adventure Land and Headland Rides, as our kids are too young for a try.

Beautiful air balloon that we missed to take a ride up.

Shuttles
87 hectares of lands separated by a mountain into two areas: The Summit and The Waterfront. It took us almost 5 hours to enjoy the fun in (half of) The Waterfront before we headed to The Summit for Ocean Theatre (3.30pm show) via the Ocean Express. It was like a submersible train, offering a vivid experience that simulates a journey through the ocean's depths. It was a quick ride compare to cable car.

Probably due to the scorching heat, none of us mentioned about trying the world's second longest outdoor escalator. 

The panoramic view of The Waterfront.

Live Show
This is the highlight of our visit: "Sea Dream!" in the Ocean Theatre. It is a aquatic adventure with touching narration (in English, Cantonese and Mandarin), featuring dolphins and sea lions in an inspirational story about the importance of marine conservation. 

Unbelievable packed with audiences when we arrived at 3pm

It shocked me when I saw such a huge spectator gallery. It shocked me more when I saw it was fully occupied upon our arrival. 

Little Bomber was tucked and napped in the carrier.

The stunning performance by the dolphins, sea lions and the trainers not only conveyed the conversation between a grandpa and his grandchild, sending the message on peaceful co-existence of humans and animals. It is also showcased the effort and passion behind the marine conservation. I was truly moved.

I wasn't realise the whole intention of Ocean Park until I saw this show. It was like a bang to my head that the whole park is not just a amusement park but carrying a very serious mission to operate as observatories, education department and wildlife funds for projects.

You mustn't miss the live show in the Ocean Theatre if you are in Ocean Park. 

After "Sea Dream!" ended, we headed to the cable car station. The wait for the cable car was insane! Thank goodness we had some tidbits for the kids to munch. 

Hazy aerial view from cable car.

Yet, we enjoyed the breeze from South China Sea via ten minutes cable car ride from The Summit back to The Waterfront. It was almost 5pm by the time we returned to Ocean Square and took a bus back to Admiralty MTR station, which caused us stuck in traffic jam badly.

Question always asked, why bother to bring kid for travel.
Well, the smile on her face tells why.

Little Bomber who had enough nap and was finally allowed to roam at the Ocean Square, while daddy went on to find bus to the nearest MRT Station. 

It can tell that we had uncountable joy, unforgettable fun and unavoidable tanned skin.