2010 Birthday Trip: Hong Kong Disneyland

Sometime in late August, when we were doing last-minute brainstorming on ways to celebrate the boys' birthdays, the hubby suggested splurging the budget on a trip to the Hong Kong Disneyland instead.

I wasn't sure if the boys would be fond of the idea since they don't even watch Mickey Mouse on TV! But E was rather adamant on his plan and went ahead to convince the boys. They were swayed by daddy's persuasiveness and E booked the trip before I could even whisper "Wait a minute!".

Six days later, we checked into the Disney Hollywood Hotel in Hong Kong, all full of excitement and anticipation. Even I was thrilled to be in Disneyland and couldn't wait to try out all the rides! Haha.... signs of a deprived childhood.

First sign of a good holiday - the hotel was great! And the kids had so much fun feasting their eyes on cartoons, cartoons and MORE cartoons. We practically had to drag them out of the hotel room to check out the city.

For the first day, we spent a few hours at the Victoria Peak (one of my favourite spots in HK) to watch sunset and be mesmerized by the changing hues of the magnificent skyline, along with the hundreds of people there. The boys were utterly impressed by the experiential tram rides, as I knew they would, and that alone would have made the stop at the Peak totally worthwhile.

At 5.45pm.

Photo taken by Marcus.

Dinner was yummy giant prawns (Chipsy's special request) at the Bubble Gump (from the Forrest Gump movie) before calling it a day.

A wise decision indeed, considering we ended up spending over 8 hours per day in the park. Lots of walking and overdose of sun exposure and Vitamin D!

Armed with our 2-day passes, we really took our time on the first day, spending most part of the day in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We were so blessed with the weather AND the queues. Throughout the two days, we didn't have to queue for more than 5 minutes at any attraction.

Chipsy's favourite part of the park is this "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh".

I can understand how amazing and magical it must be for him to come so close to the characters in the story. The narrator's voice, the wobbly "seat", the wind, the smell and all other accompanying sounds are so well-synchronized to make the story come alive! I especially love the way the doors to each scene would open to reveal a new adventure.

The cutest part of it all was how he would wave at Piglet every time he saw him pop up throughout the ride.

It was so enjoyable for him (and I really, really like it too!) that he insisted on going through it for over 15 times!

This particular part of the ride was most memorable to little Chip. He couldn't stop talking about it since the first time he saw it. He remembered it so well that he could even hum the whole Heffalumps and Woozles tune, complete with the sound effects!

For Marcus, the Tea Cups was his favourite. Before I sat in one of these, I thought it would be boring after two tries. Oh I couldn't be more wrong.

He chuckled with a cheeky glint in his eyes when I spun it real fast. The whole time, he just kept ordering "Faster! Faster! Make it go faster, Mummy! His lack of strong biceps meant I had to do all the hard work of spinning!

After our 10th ride, I gladly obliged when he asked for more. The tally - we went for at least 15 times in the two days. :>

I find Carousels boring. Luckily for me, my boys thought so too. Two attempts were enough for them.

Oh and oh, I must not forget to mention the BIG feast for our eyes - the CHARMING parade!



Every moment was magical. The costumes, the moves and the NOISE!! The performers must be melting under those layers, but if they had felt any discomfort, not a sign of it showed. It was an incredible parade of charisma, enchanting all adults and kids alike!

Besides the Toy Story characters, Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh and his gang, my boys were ignorant of the other widely popular Disney characters like Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs etc. So compared to other kids who were jumping up and down with excitement, mine didn't seem particularly impressed.

But the line of stores presented a different kind of attraction and a whole series of temptations.

Well, for a start, E already announced even before we reached HK that my boys would be coming home with a suitcase full of Walt Disney merchandise. Yeah, he is an easy target in touristy places!

In the end (thankfully), we only took home a small loot of a Mickey watch for my Mickey (a.k.a. Marcus), a Piglet pen for my Piggy (a.k.a. Chipsy), two identical collared shirts for the boys and a cooking utensil with Mickey on its handle for me. I needed one of these anyway, so when we saw how cute it looked with a Mickey Mouse handle, it was hard to resist.

When Chipsy saw this little Piglet in one of stores, his eyes just lit up like light bulbs! It turned out to be a fridge magnet. If he had insisted more, I probably would have given in and bought one for him. But as it turned out, he had other plans.

Hmm... will it work just as well if I stick Piggy upside down? How about all in a row?

Oh... how about 2 rows?? :D

My little boy is definitely a cuddly toy lover. I offered to buy him a Chipmunk, but he was quick to decline insisting that he doesn't love the Chipmunk enough to want to bring one home. Fair enough!

But in the end, a smaller version of the Chipmunk made its way back to Singapore with us. The hubby thought I would love (or maybe need) a cuddly toy too, so he smuggled it back in my suitcase without me noticing! Hahaha.... The night the Chipmunk showed up under my duvet covers, Chipsy borrowed it. And ever since, he had claimed ownership of the cutie. I doubt it will ever be returned. :>

Throughout the trip, both boys were really good with waiting. They played enthusiastically the game of "Scissors, paper, stone" whenever they had to wait for something. Then they drew all sorts of things whenever we whipped out papers and stationery. Chipsy was especially entertained by Tic-Tac-Toe and would draw up plenty of "difficult" mazes to challenge us.

I love this photo of them, especially with those expressions. We were all hot and sticky and really thirsty! But instead of looking bothered, their cheekiness was aptly captured.

Crazy 10 minutes of "bubble-shower" and attempting to "pop" the bubbles outside the gift shop while waiting for the fireworks. Bubbles never fail to please!

Tomorrowland was lots of fun too, but we spent most of our time at the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

An awesome 15 entries in total to kill the evil Emperor Zurg! Woah! Boys went nuts there. They got to hold a "gun" and actually shoot something without having to worry about being told off by Mummy, because the Mummy was also shooting and killing aliens and apparently having a wild time too! Hee hee ...

Though my boys used to adore Buzz Lightyear, this space ranger has lost his magic on them. Both refused to smile or have their photos taken with him. E and I were probably more thrilled to be standing next to a life-size Buzz.

In fact, the kids were NOT keen at all to join any of the meet-and-greet sessions. So no photos up close and personal with Mickey, Donald and the gang. (Not that I have expected them to anyway. They have never been keen to meet the characters even in Singapore). Perhaps if there was a Piglet, Chipsy could be persuaded.

Oh I love this ride in Tomorrowland. But the adults must really be the one driving if you want a smooth ride.

Posing just before watching Mickey and Donald in 3D! Beware of splashes! *wink*

At the end of two tiring days of walking in the hot sun, even a Mickey-Mouse shaped chocolate ice-cream couldn't bring a smile to my boy's face.

The next few photos were from Adventureland, the part of the park which we spent the least time in. I love the river cruise because it was so full of surprises. But Marcus was so taken by surprise at one point by one of the special effects that he burst into tears. Poor kid!

Unfortunately, Chipsy missed the cruise as he fell asleep. By the time he woke up, we were all too tired and didn't bother to check it out again with him.

This last photo is kind of creepy. Think human sacrifice, cannibalism and massacre!

There were so much more that we had enjoyed - the dazzling fireworks, the enchanting Small World (I think I was the only one who loved this, but it is REALLY a girly attraction), the Dumbo Flying Elephant ride and I also love the hilarious Stitch Encounter. But my boys didn't think highly of it though. They thought Stitch was too ugly! Haha.

When we left the park on the second night, my boys finally realized that the fun was over. They were a little emotional at first, but this time, the blues was nothing that two gigantic cones of ice-cream in an air-conditioned room couldn't chase away.

We feasted for a well-deserved meal to replenish all the calories burnt in the day (umm... though we also stuffed our faces at lunch with giant burgers). Boys were delighted, as you can see. But we also did our best at guaranteeing pleasure really, as we granted permissions all-too-freely for them to partake in a total of 4 ice-creams per child in two days!

Instead of two separate birthday parties, we had heaps of fun and over 400 photos to remember our fun by. And of course, the precious memories of awesome experience.

The boys have been missing Disneyland ever since we left. In the last 7 weeks, they asked "when can we go back to Hong Kong Disneyland" almost on a daily basis.

That is a sure good sign of money well-spent.

(Phew! I am finally done with this post. Because of how much the kids love this holiday, I wanted to document it as best as I could to preserve the memories. Such blogging is real hard work!)