Fantasyland with One Difference
There are significantly less rides in Fantasyland than in WDW and definitely even less rides in DLR. Fantasyland in DLR is just amazing because of the number of classical Disney attractions crammed into a relatively small space. Plus with the older attractions like Snow White, Pinocchio and Peter Pan, the crowd control barriers are actual works of art, in my opinion. I love touching the woodwork, well-polished from millions of visitor’s hands moving over them as they move towards the loading areas.
Fantasyland in WDW also has more attractions than HKDL and with the expansion due to be completed by the end of this year, it may well be a land that will be even more crowded than before. The sheer size of the Sleeping Beauty castle at WDW alone puts HKDL fantasyland into a lesser shadow.
I was missing Peter Pan, Snow White, Alice and Pinocchio; and the Toontown attractions. With TeaCups, IaSM, the Carousel, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Winnie the Pooh and one other attraction available, the Fantasyland in HKDL would have been sub-par to adequate on anyone’s comparison scale.
However, that one other attraction is, at this point in time, the difference between adequate and acceptable in my view. That attraction is the Golden Mickey’s show.
For those of you that cruise the high seas with Disney, you will find that the Golden Mickey’s show here is really a Mini-Me or a Mini-Mickey of the show done on the Wonder and the Magic. I believe that the cruise line version goes for about an hour or so. The HKDL version goes for about 30 minutes.
I get seasick…it’s the only form of travel that I do get sick on; therefore it is highly unlikely that I will ever see the long version of Golden Mickeys.
I also love live theatre and stage musical productions. So for me, the Golden Mickey show was something that was different and if done well…was going to make or break Fantasyland HKDL for me.
I loved the show. My tears told me so.
Thus far, I have cried happy tears every time I stepped on to a Disney property except for HKDL.
Yes, it was wonderful to be back on Disney property but I was amazed that there were no happy tears when I walked through the Disney gates on Day 1; nor on Day 2. I’d put it down to the fact that this was Hong Kong and that it was just a little ‘bent’.
Not so in the Golden Mickey’s theatre. Tears, and lots of them, flowed freely. It was there that I felt…..home.
The Golden Mickeys is a musical revue-style stage show presented in the style of an awards ceremony with characters from Disney films being nominated for awards including heroism, symphony, villains, friendship, and romance.
A mini-me version of the show is performed at the Storybook Theatre in Fantasyland. The show is narrated in Cantonese, with simplified Chinese and English subtitles. All of the songs are performed in English.
I got us tickets….
Naturally, I got us some pictures as well.
I will say that Zanzibar and I had a little discussion about whether pictures were allowed in the shows like the Golden Mickeys on her TR. I can only say that on this day, there were any numbers of fruit products and fruit alternatives on offer taking pictures of the Golden Mickeys. Neither I, nor the fruit products and alternatives, were hailed by a CM to stop taking pictures. As always, flash photography was and is prohibited.
(Continued in Next Post)