A Tale Of Four Cities

[dolphingirl47]

We soon arrived at the station for the Victoria Peak Tram. It turned out that skip the line was not an entirely accurate description of the tickets we had. When we got there, a member of staff checked our tickets and then directed us to a line for a window where we had to exchange this for their tickets. The line was a lot shorter than the regular ticket line and moved very quickly and this was no issue.



Once we had our tickets, we moved towards the platform. There were a lot of people waiting there. In the waiting area there were all kinds of displays about the history of the Victoria Peak Tram, but unfortunately the lighting in the area made it next to impossible to take photos. It was still very interesting though. The Victoria Peak Tram is celebrating its 130th birthday this year. The name Victoria Peak Tram is actually misleading. Rather than a tram, it is a funicular railway. It covers a distance of just under a mile and an elevation of just under 400 meters with a gradient of up to 48%. So this is quite an experience. Shortly after we arrived, a tram came and left and I thought that it would have to wait out at least one more tram, but we were on the next one. They are surprisingly spacious, but not very comfortable with narrow and hard wooden benches. The view more than makes up for this though.







I have to say I had certain romantic notions about Victoria Peak and they could not have been further from the truth. I think there is a good reason why the photos that are online either show the views or the Victoria Peak Tram. I had envisaged standing on a mountain top surrounded by green landscapes enjoying the views. The views are definitely spectacular, but the reality is that the tram takes you to the Peak Tower, which consists of multiple levels with restaurants, shops and entertainment venues. On top of the Peak Tower is the highest 360° viewing platform - The Sky Terrace 428. Access to this was included as part of our ticket. To get there, we had to go past the different venues. The views from the top are absolutely amazing. We were looking at some of the mansions on Victoria Peak, but also had amazing views over the bay and the Hong Kong skyline. We had timed this that we would be up there for the sunset, but due to the heavy clouds, there was no sunset forthcoming.













Once we had enough, we made our way back down. While we were waiting for the Victoria Peak Tram, I spotted an advert featuring Dim Sum, which is what I was graving. So we went to the restaurant on our way down. This is called Lú Fēng and features a wide range of Cantonese dishes, but also has a separate Dim Sum menu. Whereas the main menu is a posh leather covered affair, the Dim Sum menu is printed on paper and comes with a pencil. You then circle what you want and it is brought to you. We started with some sparkling mineral water. I was quite surprised that there was no tea on the menu, but I spotted an entry on the main menu that Chinese tea is available for 20 Hong Kong Dollar per person so we had some of this.

I had chosen some items from the Dim Sum menu and Graham had chosen something from the main menu. Our server collected my Dim Sim menu, picked up the other menus and left. She had obviously thought that I had ordered for both of us. Graham was OK with this turn of event and it turned out that I nearly ordered enough for the two of us anyway. We had steamed barbecue pork buns, fried pork dumplings and deep fried rice rolls filled with pork. The steamed barbecue pork buns were the favourite for both of us. All dishes came with odd numbers of pieces. The steamed barbecue pork buns where quite easy to split. With the other dishes, this was a bit more tricky. Graham had a slight preference for the fried pork dumplings and had an extra one of those and I had an extra deep fried rice roll. Once we had finished our food, we still had a little hole and debated whether we should have dessert or another order of barbecue pork buns. The barbecue pork buns won out. By the time we had finished those, we were stuffed.





We made our way back to the Victoria Peak Tram. The departure platform is accessed from outside the Peak Tower. Unfortunately another have shower passed through and the line started outside the building. We got a little wet, but the line moved quite quickly and soon we were under a canopy that they had set up outside, which kept most of the rain off. I think we must have waited out 3 or 4 trams, but soon we were back on our way down.

The rain had stopped again when we got to the bottom. We debated if we should take the MTR back or the tram. As we had the free tram pass, the tram won out. We learned that evening that trams in Hong Kong seem to be pack hunters. Usually you end up with three in a row and then there is a bit of a gap. There was a tram going to North Point when we got to the tram stop, but this was absolutely packed so we decided to wait for the next one. The next two did not go far enough and then we had to wait a while until another one came along. This one was going where we wanted to go and was not too busy. There is a tram stop just past the hotel we were staying at so that worked out perfectly. It was still relatively early, but we had a long and busy day and we were both tired. Graham went straight to bed. I spent about 30 minutes catching up online and then I went to bed, too.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I think since it is a smaller ship that I would really like it.

The Jade is definitely a smaller ship. It is about 10,000 GT bigger than the Magic and the Wonder, but smaller than what we are used to nowadays. My favourite ship is about twice the size of the Magic. Still, the layout of the Jade is a little strange and it actually seems to take longer to get from A to B than it does on the significantly bigger Quantum or Ovation. Whoever designed Jade did not like straight lines. Often you have to go up and down stairs to get from point A to point B on the same deck.

And the idea of taking a train to Hamburg, see Aladdin or the Lion King and then board a ship to Norway sounds like a pretty awesome vacation to me.

That sounds like an amazing trip. I am finally doing a Baltic cruise next year and the Norwegian Fjords are high on the list of possible destinations for 2020, but we would go from Southampton.

Where did you board the ship?

We boarded at the Altona Cruise Centre.

Corinna

 

[tiggrbaby]

Another very full day! Glad that the rain did not make much of an impact.

We like NCL for the casual dining. I do like the older ships better, but the larger new ships are great when I don't really care about getting off at ports.

 

[franandaj]

Welcome on board. Well, my good intentions to update twice a week have already been derailed so that should help you get caught up.

Well considering I spent the two days after you posted this running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get ready for my cruise on the Fantasy, I'm just now getting caught up with the $8 per day WiFi on the plane home! Got through Days 1 & 2.

It amazes me that people think they can just show up at an airport in the nick of time and think that they will be fast tracked through everything to their flights. Like Pam said, even with traffic and stuff they couldn't have left with nearly enough time to properly get to the gate on time.

Too bad your sleep vs non sleep plans didn't work out as planned, but as soon as you said you put on Moana, "You're Welcome" started playing on my Disney playlist that I'm listening to!

The Monastery and Buddha sound fascinating! The tourist trap not so much. It always amazes me how you and Graham can go to bed without supper. I would lie awake with my stomach growling!

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like you had a great and full third day. The Dim Sum sounds delicious! Now I'm all caught up!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 4

We were awake quite early again and today, this suited me very well. I was heading to Hong Kong Disneyland for the day, which was the last Disney park I had not been to. The excitement may well have had something to do with the fact that I was awake early, too. I got up, had a shower, got dressed and had a bottle of water. Then I headed out. Graham was just getting up as I was leaving. He had a full program for the day, too.

On the way to the MTR station, I came past a McDonalds. I decided that this may be a good opportunity to get some breakfast before heading to the park. I had spiral pasta and vegetables in chicken broth, a chicken and egg muffin and a cup of milk tea. As far as the chicken and egg muffin was concerned, this was what I had ordered anyway, but when I bit into it, it tasted distinctly fishy. I had a look at the wrapper and indeed, I had been given a Filet-O-Fish burger instead. The writing was in Chinese and then much smaller in English, so I had not spotted this. I wrapped the burger up again and once I had finished the rest of my meal, I took this downstairs and explained what had happened. They gave me sandwich I should have had.



While waiting for my tea to cool down a little, I tried to sort out my Photopass. I had downloaded the app before I left the UK. It let me purchase it and it was showing that I had a Photopass linked to my account, but it did not let me activate it. I Googled this and did not find the solution of the problem. However, something else positive came out of this. One of the links referred to a meal plan that is available to purchase, which covers either one or two meals at a quick service restaurant and either an ice cream bar or a small portion of popcorn. The price for this was very fair and the article stated that this could be booked through Klook with a discount. I decided to book this. It was a good job that I did this before I was too far from the hotel. For virtually everything in Hong Kong, an electronic voucher was sufficient, but for this one, I needed the print out. They had a couple of free to use computers in the hotel reception and I was able to print out the voucher there. It was free, which was even better.

I bumped into Graham who was just leaving when I came back to the hotel. He saw my breakfast sandwich and decided that he would head to McDonalds for some breakfast as well. I bumped into him once more when I finally made my way to the MTR station. The journey to Hong Kong Disneyland went very smoothly despite the fact that it was still morning rush hour and the journey involved three changes. I was very impressed with the resort line, which has Mickey head windows and character statues near the doors. I was almost sad that I was only on there for one stop.







As soon as I got out of the station, I saw the archway for the park ahead. I stopped to take a photo and then I moved towards the park. There is a nice walkway lined with hedges between the station and the park. Just before you get to the entrance, there is an absolutely beautiful fountain. I knew that I had to redeem the print out for the meal plan for proper vouchers, so I headed towards a ticket window. I was redirected to the Guest Services counter, which was just to the left of the entrance. I did not only get my meal vouchers, but they also exchanged my eticket for a proper ticket. This is normally done at the turnstiles. Then I was free to explore. I was hoping that there would be Photopass photographer by the floral Mickey, but this was not the case. I pushed on. I was surprised how like Disneyland Paris Town Square and Main Street are.













I was utterly delighted when I realized that the spring festival was still in full swing. This used to be one of my favourite seasons at Disneyland Paris, but it has not happened the last couple of years because of the 25th anniversary. I was so happy when I spotted character eggs and other spring decorations. Mickey and Minnie were meeting in the pavilion at Town Square. They were in their spring outfits and looked absolutely precious. The line did not look too long either. I got in line. There were a few spits of rain early on, but with it being so hot, this was actually rather pleasant. Nearer the pavilion, they had big umbrellas set up. I am sure that they are meant to provide shade, but I was under the first one when the heavens opened, and they definitely kept off the rain as well. While I was in line, I learned how one can tell people from Hong Kong and from Mainland China apart. I was under the impression before this trip that all people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese and historically, this may well have been the case, but I heard more Mandarin than I heard Cantonese. However, as soon as there was a line involved, you could clearly tell where people are from. If they are standing so close to the person in front that they almost touch, then they are from Mainland China. If they keep a respectable distance to the person in front, then they are from Hong Kong. I have to admit that I gave a few people my stern teacher look for crowding me. I actually felt that this was more of an issue at Hong Kong Disneyland than it was in Shanghai.











Just before it was my turn to see Mickey and Minnie, they went in for a very short break. They were gone less than 5 minutes and when they came back, there was only one rather large family and two ladies from Japan in front of me. Both of the groups took a while, but I did not mind at all. It was actually really fun to watch. Then it was my turn. Mickey can towards me to get me and both Mickey and Minnie said "hi". Initially there was just high fives, but I did eventually get a hug. I had a lovely interaction with them and got some really nice photos. I also got chatting with the Photopass photographer who really liked my t-shirt. I mentioned that I was hoping to see Duffy and ShellieMay and she said that Duffy was definitely meeting, but she thought that Gelatoni was with him that day, I would have loved to see ShellieMay again, but I never had met Gelatoni, so I was not too upset about this either.

 

[dolphingirl47]

After the meet and greet, I decided to get my Photopass sorted out. The Photopass store was just across the way so I headed there next. It turns out that in Hong Kong, you can only activate the Photopass once you have a photo taken. The cast member linked the Photopass card I had been given at the Mickey and Minnie meet and greet to the Photopass and this then activated it. I had a look around the other shops. There is a whole shop with just Duffy and friends merchandise on Main Street. I also had a look in the jewellery shop at the Pandora charms and looked at the pins. I was hoping for a Dooney and Bourke bag, but I was out of luck. I did not buy anything at this point, but pushed on towards the hub.





As soon as I entered the hub area, I came across the board with the waiting times. One entry made me very happy. Mystic Manor was listed with a waiting time of 5 minutes. A waiting time of 5 minutes in a Disney park is pretty sweet at the best of times and even more so if it is for a unique attraction. However, the reason why I was so happy is that this ride had shown as closed on the Hong Kong Disneyland app ever since I had downloaded it two weeks earlier and was still doing so now. I checked with the cast members near the board if it was definitely open and they confirmed this. I then asked what the fastest way to get to Mystic Manor was. They gave we some instructions and I was on my way.

Hong Kong Disneyland is a bit of a construction zone at the moment. They are reimagining the castle at the moment and there are building fences around the hub, Fantasyland and Adventureland connected with this. I did stop near the beautiful fountain at the hub to take some photos before pushing on. Unfortunately, Hong Kong Disneyland like Disneyland Paris has proved a bit of a bottomless pit. As beautiful and charming as this park is, it has consistently performed below target and has been making an ever-increasing loss for the past three years. When Hong Kong Disneyland first opened, it only consisted of four lands: Main Street USA, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. I am sure this did not exactly help matters. Between 2011 and 2013, three further lands were added: Toy Story Land, Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point. As nice as they are, they were obviously an afterthought and feel kind of disjointed from the rest of the park. Two further lands will be added in 2021 and 2023 and it will be interesting to see how they will fit in and are connected to the rest of the park. The currently newest lands are all outside the railway track and this is probably the main reason why access is a bit of a pain.



My plan to get to Mystic Manor as quickly as possible was ever so slightly derailed. I walked the whole length of Adventureland. Just as I was starting to walk down the hill to Toy Story Land the heavens opened. I had a windbreaker with me that I thought was waterproof. It turned out that it was merely water resistant and definitely no match for the water that was coming down. I went looking for shelter, but got side-tracked. I spotted Jessie. She was in a barn and there was one family with her and another one waiting. There were huge umbrellas in the waiting area, so I decided to go for it. A couple of minutes later I was meeting with Jessie. Once I had said goodbye to her, I took shelter in a nearby shop. I had timed this just right as an impressive thunderstorm passed through just as I got inside. I had a look around the shop. I was delighted to find straps for Apple watches and I got a Tsum Tsum strap. I also got a poncho. Ironically, out of all the souvenirs I got, this is one of my favourites. It has Mickey and the castle on it and lists all the Disney resorts around the world. This was very fitting as this marked the day that I could finally say that I had been to every Disney park in the world.



Fortunately, the thunderstorm soon blew over and the rain started to ease. I put on my poncho and headed out again. I did not stop again in Toy Story Land as this looks very similar to the one in Paris and even that is of limited appeal to me as I detest two of the rides there. It did not take long until I was at Mystic Point, which was my destination. There are restrooms, the Explorer’s Club Restaurant, a couple of walkthrough attractions that based on the description are basically glorified photo spots and then the signature attraction, Mystic Manor. I had a quick look at the menu at Explorer’s Club Restaurant and decided that I would come back for dinner. I then went to Mystic Manor. The posted waiting time was still 5 minutes. As I was entering, I was asked by the cast member to take off my poncho. I was kind of surprised by this and wondered if this was because it was quite loose fitting. However, later in the day I noticed that a family wearing normal jackets were also asked to take them off. Anyway, I was happy to comply, and I was on my way. This is the kind of ride where it is almost desirable to stand in line as there is so much to look at and the displays kind of set the mood for what is to come. I had a quick look as I was walking through and once I got to the end of the line, the doors to the pre-show just opened.



I have read multiple accounts that described Mystic Mansion as Hong Kong Disneyland’s version of the Haunted Mansion. I think that this does the attraction a disservice. This is totally unique and the only parallel to the Haunted Mansions around the world is that it is set in a mansion. Mystic Manor uses a trackless ride system similar to that used in Pooh's Hunny Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland and Ratatouille at Walt Disney Studios in Paris. Mystic Manor tells the story of the explorer Lord Henry Mystic and his monkey Albert. Having recently acquired an enchanted music box, Albert opens the box and brings everything inside the house to life. The ride starts and ends in the Acquisitions and Cataloguing Room and passes through 8 different themed galleries with the most amazing special effects. That ride alone is worth the admission price.

I was tempted to go again, but I decided to push on to the final of the new lands, Grizzly Gulch. Grizzly Gulch is Hong Kong Disneyland’s answer to Frontierland. Again, there is only one ride in this area, but it is a bit special. There is a water play area there and various buildings that you can explore. However, I had come for Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. I was in two minds about this before the trip. From the descriptions I read, this is kind of a cross between Big Thunder Mountain, which I love and Expedition Everest, which scares the living daylights out of me. I decided to check it out and make a decision then. Unfortunately, when I got there, there were some rumbles of thunder in the distance and the ride was closed. I followed the path along and ended up at the opposite end of Adventureland.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I ended up at Karibuni Marketplace, which is an area with games, souvenir stalls and pavilions for character meet and greets. Unfortunately, there were no characters present so I moved on. I had a look at a shop nearby and they had a bunch of Duffy and friends merchandise and I made a mental note of its location. I then crossed over into Fantasyland.

Of all the Fantasylands around the world, this is the most colourful one. Rather than using pastel colours, they used bright primary colours here. This gives the place a completely different feel. I was ready for some lunch and I thought Clopin's Festival of Foods would be just what I was looking for. They have four different food stations serving food from different regions of China. Unfortunately, almost all the seating is outside, and it was starting to rain again. A cast member saw that I was hesitating and came over to offer his help. He recommended Royal Banquet Hall. His motives for that may not have been as pure as they could have been assuming that as a Westerner I may look for Western food, but it was fabulous advice. The theming is amazing, and all the seating is under cover. There are four food stations: a grill serving steaks, roast chicken, burgers and a mixed grill, Japanese food, Guang Dong cuisine from the south of China and International food like pasta and pizza. I decided on the Japanese food and had the pork katsu curry bento box with rice, salad with creamy sesame dressing and watermelon. My meal also came with a drink and I had a Fanta. I was not too sure about the salad when I ordered this, but I absolutely loved it. The food was delicious, but there was just too much, and I left some rice.



I then went to explore Fantasyland. I came past The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and this had a posted waiting time of 20 minutes. On a different day or a different park, I would have been all over this. However, if the big headline attractions have waiting times between 5 and 10 minutes, then 20 minutes for a fairly standard dark ride that I have done many times before seemed excessive. Instead I pushed on towards It’s A Small World. I would have done this ride whatever the waiting time was. The ride was one of the opening day attractions. Hong Kong Disneyland was the first park that added Disney characters to the ride. When I first heard about this, I was up in arms and even more so when it was announced that Disneyland in California would get the same additions. However, when I did this ride at Disneyland for the first time after the refurbishment, it completely won me over as the characters are all in the Mary Blair style. I could not wait to do this ride in Hong Kong. The characters here are even more subtle. There is also an extended Asia area featuring Korea and the Philippines and a larger China area. There is also a Middle East and North Africa area. Hands down the highlight of the ride are the fibre optic effects in the final room though. This is now my favourite version of the ride.



















My tour through Fantasyland then brought me to Fantasy Gardens. At the entrance is a beautiful fountain featuring Sorcerer Mickey. The garden itself is themed after Fantasia with beautiful topiaries. There are also a lot of pavilions there for character meet and greets. Unfortunately, even though it had stopped training, there were no characters present.

I moved on to Tomorrowland. On the way, I decided to redeem my snack coupon for a Lotso sherbet bar. I liked this a lot. I could not identify the taste, but it is was sweet and tart in equal measures and really refreshing. Supposedly it is meant to be strawberry flavour, but I did not get this at all. I enjoyed this while I walked over to Tomorrowland.



As soon as I entered Tomorrowland, a cast member tried to convince me to come inside Star Wars: Command Post, which is a meet and greet area where Chewbacca, R2-D2 and BB-8 are taking turns meeting and greeting people. I was still finishing my Lotso bar and told him I would be back. I moved on to Hyperspace Mountain, which I loved. The ride vehicles and layout are the same as Space Mountain at Disneyland, but I loved the Star Wars theme. I then went back to Star Wars: Command Post and did not have to wait very long. I was hoping to meet Chewbacca, but met R2-D2, which was fine with me, too.





By that stage, I had seen and done pretty much everything on my to do list. I headed for an attraction that I had dismissed out of hand before the trip, Iron Man Experience. Iron Man Experience uses the same technology as Star Tours and this ride sets off my motion sickness. However, in a fit of madness, I decided to give this a go. The 10-minute waiting time was definitely an incentive. I am glad I did. I loved this ride. It started off with a kind of dynamic Soarin over Hong Kong and then morphed into something that was quite similar to the Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure. Fortunately, I suffered no ill effects from this ride.

As I was in the area anyway, I thought I may as well see Iron Man. This must be the most involved meet and greet that I have ever encountered, and it was a lot of fun. The whole experience was themed as the Iron Man Tech Showcase. The line showcased various various Iron Man armour suits. This then leads to a holding pen where special effects simulate a security scan and then you are allowed in a room for “a presentation of the latest innovations at Stark Expo”. This is then hi-jacked by Iron Man. I was the last person to see Iron Man in our group and I spent a fair bit of time with him.

 

[dolphingirl47]

By the time I had said goodbye to Iron Man, it was nearly time for the mini parade, Disney Friends Springtime Processional. Even though I had only arrived about 5 minutes ahead of time, I got a front row spot. This was very cute, and I did enjoy it. I then spent some time shopping. I wanted to get some pins and a Hong Kong Disneyland exclusive Pandora charm. In the end, I went with the castle dangle charm to go with my Walt Disney World 45th anniversary castle, Shanghai Disneyland castle and Disneyland Paris castle. I also had a look at the Emporium, but I did not buy anything at the time.













I then went back to Main Street Cinema: My Journeys with Duffy. I could not understand that I had not seen any evidence of a Duffy and Friends meet and greet. I decided to ask one of the cast members in the shop. He pointed me in the right direction and told me that the last meet and greet of the day would be between 17:00 and 17:30. It was just before 17:00 at the time. There was a family from the USA already waiting and we were all kind of surprised that there was no line set up. 17:00 came and went and there was no sign of anything happening. More people started appearing and at 17:20 a cast member started to set up the line. The meet and greet was actually from 17:30 to 18:00. At least I had good company and I was second in line.

Just before 18:00, the door opened and Duffy and Gelatoni came to the door to invite people in. Soon it was my turn. Duffy was delighted that he was on my t-shirt and Gelatoni wanted to know why he was not on there. I had a great interaction and although I had been hoping to meet ShellieMay, it was great to meet Gelatoni.









Once I had said goodbye to them, I headed back to Tomorrowland. I went to Star Wars: Command Post to check who was meeting and greeting at the moment. It was R2-D2 again, but I found out that Chewbacca was due to be out 20 minutes later. I headed back to Hyperspace Mountain for another go and this was as close to a walk on as makes no difference. When I came off Hyperspace Mountain, I headed back to Star Wars: Command Post. Fortunately, I did check my app on the way and realized that the three new lands close some time before the rest of the park. I had a decision to make and, in the end, I decided that I wanted to ride Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars more than I wanted to meet Chewbacca.



I returned to the hub, cut through Adventureland and speed walked through Toy Story Land and Mystic Point. When I got to Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, I wondered if the ride was closed again as there was nobody in the area. I headed to the entrance and the ride was open. The posted waiting time was 10 minutes, but was closer to 5 minutes. When I was waiting at the loading dock, I did wonder if this was a wise decision. However, I decided to be brave and I did not regret it. I really did enjoy the ride. It is more thrilling than Big Thunder Mountain, but nowhere near as scary as Expedition Everest. I was absolutely fine with the backwards section. I would have loved to go again, but I was aware that I then would probably run out of time to have dinner. I returned to Mystic Point.

As planned, I went to Explorer's Club Restaurant for dinner. The restaurant consists of 5 themed rooms - China, India, Russia, Morocco and Egypt. I went with China. The restaurant is kind of an extension of Mystic Manor and contains treasures that Lord Mystic brought back from the exotic regions that he explored. The food was also pretty good. I had the Nasi Goreng combo, which consisted of Nasi Goreng, a hard-boiled egg, jumbo shrimp, a chicken leg, chicken satay and the biggest prawn cracker I have ever seen. A drink was again included, and I had a Coke.







Once I had finished my meal, I still had time for another ride on Mystic Manor, so this is what I did. I stopped for some photos on the way. This time I had to wait a few minutes until we were allowed into the pre-show. I think I need to do the ride a few more times to appreciate all the clever detail. There was plenty I discovered on this ride the I had not spotted in the morning. I had a quick look around the shop and then I made my way back to Adventureland.





I stopped at the shop I looked at earlier in the day. I have had a Lotso medium tsum tsum ever since 2015 and I love this dearly. On my most recent visit to Disneyland Paris, I spotted a ShellieMay mini tsum tsum and fell in love with this. I was hoping that they would have this in the medium size at Hong Kong Disneyland. I was disappointed that they did not have this at Main Street Cinema: My Journeys with Duffy. I was however in luck at the shop in Adventureland and I am now the proud owner of a medium ShellieMay tsum tsum.

At this point, I was essentially all parked out. For a minute or two, I was considering calling it a day. However, I really wanted to watch Paint the Night Parade as I had really loved this at Disneyland in 2015 and I know that this originally came from Hong Kong. It was nearly time for the “We Love Mickey!” Projection Show on Main Street and I originally had planned to watch this, but I was done standing for the day. So instead I found myself a spot on the herb just in front of the times board and sat down. This happened to be the perfect spot for the Paint the Night Parade. I used the waiting time to go through my Photopass photos and to catch up online.

I definitely did not regret that I stayed. I loved this version every bit as much as the one at Disneyland. They are very similar, but the Hong Kong version does not have the Frozen float. It was a little strange though to hear the familiar soundtrack in Cantonese. The songs from the films were in English though. Once the parade was over, I cut through the Emporium and I ended up getting another strap for my Apple Watch. This one has Duffy and friends on it. Then it was time to leave the park and head back to the MTR station.



















I was lucky, and the connections worked really well. I managed to get a seat apart from the last leg of the journey. As this was only a handful of stops, I did not mind. When I got back to the hotel, Graham was asleep, but he woke up and we chatted for a bit about our respective days. I then got ready for bed and we both settled down for the night.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Once again, I am so impressed with how much you manage to accomplish in a single day!

Your photos are stunning!

 

[franandaj]

Great that you accomplished everything that you wanted to do that day.

I have a recollection of hearing the story of Mystic Manor, and perhaps doing some amount of a virtual ride through. Perhaps it was at another trip to Imagineering beyond the one where I did the virtual ride through of Ratatoille.

The Big Grizzly Mountain ride sounds like a lot of fun. And you had a very interesting conclusion of Hong Kong residents vs. Mainland Chinese.

I take it that Nasi Goreng is Chinese for Fried Rice?

You're right PTN is pretty much exactly the same, but it would sound weird in Cantonese.

Nice that you also had an easy trip back to the hotel.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Glad that the rain did not make much of an impact.

It turned out that we had seen nothing yet as far as rain was concerned.

We like NCL for the casual dining.

I absolutely hated it when we first experienced this in 2009, but they have learned from their mistakes and upped their game. This time round it was a very positive experience.

It amazes me that people think they can just show up at an airport in the nick of time and think that they will be fast tracked through everything to their flights.

I will never get this either. In November I asked for the early shift the day I fly out to Hong Kong, which means I finish at 15:30 and will head straight to the airport for a 21:00 flight. I should be at the airport by 16:30 or 17:00 the latest. I rather spend some time shopping and having dinner at the airport then rushing around.

but as soon as you said you put on Moana, "You're Welcome" started playing on my Disney playlist that I'm listening to!

That made me smile.

The Monastery and Buddha sound fascinating!

They definitely were. We are planning to head back there in November and actually climb up to the Buddha. The temperatures and humidity should be much more pleasant then.

It always amazes me how you and Graham can go to bed without supper. I would lie awake with my stomach growling!

I think we are both the other way round. Being tired is dominant over being hungry.

The Dim Sum sounds delicious!

I am a big fan of Dim Sum.

Once again, I am so impressed with how much you manage to accomplish in a single day!

Having a relatively empty park definitely helped

Your photos are stunning!

Thanks.

The Big Grizzly Mountain ride sounds like a lot of fun.

It is a lot of fun and I can't wait to ride this again.

I take it that Nasi Goreng is Chinese for Fried Rice?

It is actually an Indonesian dish rather than Chinese, but yes, it is pretty much fried rice.

You're right PTN is pretty much exactly the same, but it would sound weird in Cantonese.

It definitely was strange.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 5

And just like this, our time in Hong Kong was over. We had a bit of a lie in and then got up around 9:30. I was awake a little before Graham. I used this time to do a bit more research on how to get to the port. We had found out that there is a ferry that goes from North Point Ferry Pier to the port. We also found out the previous day that the buses to North Point Ferry Pier left right around the corner from the hotel. This sounded perfect. However, all the time tables for the ferry I could find were 5 years old or older and this did not sit easy with me. That morning I finally found some up to date information buried deep in the results and it showed I was right to be concerned. Essentially there is only a ferry service stopping at the port hourly on weekends now. There are two token services on weekdays, but the first one had been and gone and would have been way too early anyway and the second was too late. I checked if Uber operates in Hong Kong and the price for this was very fair. When Graham woke up, I reported my findings and we decided that we would check with reception what they suggest.

We took turns having a shower and packed our last odds and end. Then we went downstairs to check out. That itself was quite an under taking. The hotel is in a high-rise building with two small lifts. There were a lot of people on the move and by the time the lifts got to us, they were full. Graham eventually got on one and I waited a little longer with a couple from Canada. Once I had also reached the ground floor, we checked out. I asked the receptionist what the best way was to get to the port and he said that the only option is a taxi. I then asked him if he would recommend a taxi rather than Uber and he said that if we have the Uber app, this would be much better. I summonsed an Uber. There was a little bit of confusion about the pick-up point. The app showed me that the pickup point was by the front entrance, which was where we were waiting. However, at some stage the app updated that the driver had arrived, but we could not see him. I decided to go around the corner and sure enough, the driver was waiting there for us. We loaded our luggage and then we were on our way.

We made good progress through Hong Kong Island and soon I got my first glimpse of Ovation. Yes, there was a tear or two. We had to cross onto the Kowloon side through a tunnel and shortly after we got out of the tunnel, things ground to a hold. I think it took us about half an hour to cover a mile. There is a lot of construction going on in this area and we wondered if this was the reason for the delays, but there was actually an accident. Once we were past this, traffic started to flow again and not long afterwards, we made it to the port.

The port is very unusual, and this is probably because this used to be the old Hong Kong airport. Rather than pulling up outside the terminal building, you actually drive inside the building. From there, the process was very similar to other ports we have been to. Porters were waiting in the drop off area and as soon as our driver pulled up just outside an entrance to the check in area, a porter approached. He had started to unload the car while we were still getting out. He did point out that it is customary to tip the porter, which was a bit of a cheek, especially as it is not customary in Hong Kong to tip with a few exceptions. I did wonder what kind of reception he would get from the locals, but I rather suspect that he had more sense than to try. He did do a good job though and we slipped him 20 Hong Kong Dollars, which is just short of £2 and he was happy with this. He told us that he would have a beer on us after work. He walked us the short distance to the entrance and then he headed off with the luggage.

As soon as we entered the building, our passports and Set Sail Passes were checked. Then we were directed down a line. There were separate lines for Chinese and Indian nationals and everybody else. I was not surprised that there was a separate line for Chinese nationals as a lot of the people living in Hong Kong are technically Chinese and the cruises from Hong Kong also attract a lot of people from Mainland China. Having a separate line for Indian nationals came as a bit of a surprise. Once we headed down our line, we came across security almost straightaway and this time there was no holdup due to satsumas or other food. When we had gone through security, we went up an escalator to the check in area. Our Set Sail Passes were checked again, and we directed towards the priority line for Platinum Crown and Anchor Society members and higher. This line was very short, and our documents were checked yet again. We were then directed to a desk to fill out a health questionnaire for the Philippines. The health questionnaire was more involved than what we usually get, but we did not have to fill out a separate health questionnaire for the ship. Once all the paperwork was done, we went back to the line and were sent to a check in desk straightaway. There was a little bit of a hold up and some scratching of head from the check in agent. I am not sure what the matter was, but we had our Sea Pass cards a few minutes later and we were on our way.

The next part was somewhat unusual. They had the embarkation photos set up in the waiting area between check in and immigration, which essentially is a long corridor with seats on either side. There were two different backdrops and also some members of the photography team in costumes. We stopped for some photos and then we headed to immigration. Immigration was pretty harmless even though the lines looked huge. It took us less than 10 minutes to get through. We then had to walk through customs and I waited for Graham just after the customs area. At this point the lines were split again according to nationalities and tables had been set up for the collection of passports. This process was a lot smoother than in Shanghai last year. After this, we headed to the gangway. I was quite surprised when we encountered a fairly slow mowing line at this stage. Sure, they scan the Sea Pass cards as you get on the ship, but that normally takes seconds. It did only take a few minutes until it was our turn to get our Sea Pass cards scanned, but there was another line to get inside. That really surprised me. It turned out that Philippine immigration had set up shop just inside the ship and at this point, they collected the health questionnaires and did the quarantine inspection, which consisted of a cursory look at us and a check if the health questionnaire had been filled in completely. Let’s just say, somebody would have to be very poorly for this to be picked up on this inspection.





Once we were on the ship, we decided to check if our cabin was available as we were on the ship a little later than usual. However, the stateroom corridors where still closed off. We headed to the Windjammer Cafe. The lifts were absolutely packed. We walked up to deck 14. The Windjammer Cafe was also packed, but me managed to find a table in the back room. We were soon joined by another family. Graham went to get some food first. He got a burger, steak fries and a hot dog. I could not resist the soup noodles. That choice nearly backfired on me. I had put all my ingredients in a bowl and was just about to add the broth when my legs went out from underneath me. Within seconds crew came running from everywhere. I thought they would cart me off to medical centre at one stage. I was a little stunned at first, but that was more because I could not figure out what happened, rather than due to any injury. I was surrounded by crew. I got up slowly to make sure that everything was in good working order, which it was. After a short chat with one of the officers, I was then free to go. There was one server who kept an eye on me. He was from China and was approached by some Chinese guests and he then told me that somebody had spilled some broth and just walked away without telling anybody. This is what I must have slipped on. It did smart a little and I developed a rather impressive bruise a couple of days later, but that was all there was to it.

One positive thing came out of this. On Quantum, they had instant soup noodles and I assumed this was the same here. You just put some broth over the noodles and added vegetables, meat and condiments to taste and you were good to go. On Ovation, they had proper noodles that had to be cooked first. As mine had ended up all over the floor, I got back in line to get some rice noodles, beef, onions and beansprouts. I then handed my bowl to a chef who cooked them for me. Only then did I add the broth and some condiments. This was absolutely delicious.

As my flying lesson had delayed me somewhat, Graham was ready for a second plate by the time I finally got back. He tried a sample of some Chinese wok fried dishes and once I finished my soup noodles I went to get some steak fries and burger. I also picked up some dessert. Supposedly it was green tea pound cake. It was most certainly green. So much so that I wondered if it may glow in the dark. It had a lovely texture, but I could not detect any green tea flavour. It tasted just sweet.

As soon as we finished our food, we moved on. There were periodical announcements asking people to leave once they had finished their meals so that other people could sit down to have their meals. As there was still no announcement that the cabins were ready, we headed for the Solarium. I had read that while the ship is in Asia, the Solarium is an area that is exclusive to suite guests. I was a little surprised that is was an adult only area on this sailing. Either was fine by me. I found myself a round lounger and Graham went to check the temperature of the pool. It was not as warm as it was when we were previously on Ovation, but a lot warmer than it had been on Quantum. Graham had the foresight to pack some swimming trunks in his hand luggage and he went for a swim. I had not thought to do this, so I read while he went for a paddle. I noticed that the drink of the day was Blue Margarita, so I had one of those. It was very nice. I figured that this warranted a selfie. Once Graham had enough watery fun, he got dried off and then we made our way to our cabin.



I could not wait to see our cabin. I had liked our junior suit on Quantum, but I liked this even more. We had a few lovely surprises waiting. We had some water and Coke waiting as a gift from the Crown and Anchor Society. We had a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of sparkling wine courtesy of the Royal Caribbean sales manager for the company I work for. I felt absolutely spoiled. We had a little bit of down time and I even got treated to the Wash Your Hands video. This is when it really sunk in that I was back on Ovation.

All too soon it was time for the muster drill. Our muster station was American Icon, which is one of the restaurants that replace the main dining room on this class of ship. There was plenty of room and everybody was able to sit down. Crew was walking around with signs indicating that mobile phones were not allowed and there were still plenty of people using them even after repeatedly being asked by Chinese crew members to put them away. I cannot remember this being such an issue on Quantum even though the proportion of Chinese guests was higher. Apart from this, the muster drill was pretty painless, and we were soon on our way again.

We went back to the cabin and our luggage had arrived. Graham picked up his telescope and headed straight up to the Solarium. I got changed into my swimsuit and put our magnets on the door and then I went to join Graham. This time it was my turn to have a swim. Soon I decided to check out the hot tubs. The hot tubs in the Solarium are at the front facing the floor to ceiling windows. This was the perfect spot to watch the sail out, especially as I had a hot tub to myself. This is what I did. I have to say this is a very civilized way to spend sail away. I was left undisturbed apart from a photographer briefly coming by to take a photo.



Once we were out in the open water, I came out of the hot tub and got dried off. I headed back to the cabin to get showered and changed and then I unpacked. While I was doing this, our stateroom host came to introduce himself. I got what essentially amounted to what was a lecture about using the toilet. In all my cruises, I never had anything like this and I have to admit that this made me feel more than just a little uncomfortable. It was only once I visited a more rural part of China later in the trip that I could understand why this was done as hygiene conventions are definitely different in rural China from what we and the cruise line is used to. However, I still think this was inappropriate as it was quite obvious that we were international guests rather than from rural China.

Shortly afterwards, Graham appeared. I finished what I was doing and then had a look at the Daily Compass. I noticed that Puss in Boots was due to be out for a photo op. This clashed slightly with our dinner reservation, but not by much. I arranged to meet with Graham outside Coastal Kitchen just after 19:45 and then I went down to the Royal Esplanade. When I got there, Princess Fiona was still out to take photos and I went to meet her first. I then waited for Puss in Boots to appear. He turned up not long afterwards and I was first in line. It was great to see him again. Then I went up to Coastal Kitchen. Graham was not there yet but arrived shortly afterwards.





There was definitely no issue with us being a little late. It was not that Coastal Kitchen was ever full on Quantum, but this was positively deserted. There were three tables occupied when we got there. We were shown to our table and our server came to introduce himself. He was from China and very nice. During the course of the cruise, we moved through Coastal Kitchen a little, but our server was always the same. Something else that remained the same throughout was the menu. On Quantum we changed menus halfway through the cruise, but on Ovation the menu remained the same for the whole cruise. Fortunately, there were plenty of tempting dishes.






Graham started with the Escargots À La Bourguignonne with shallots, garlic, parsley, Pernot, butter and crispy crostini. I had Crispy Pork Belly with parsnip purée, apple slaw and port wine reduction. This seemed to be a bit of an unusual appetizer, but this was a whole explosion of flavours on a plate. The parsnip purée was my favourite. I could have happily made a meal out of a plate of this. For his main course, Graham had Herb Crusted Rump of Lamb, olive oil potato purée, eggplant tian, artichoke, sautéed spinach and rosemary jus. I had Grilled Sirloin Steak with truffle potato purée, asparagus and Bordelaise sauce. One thing amused us. Whoever deals with provisions on Ovation must have got a special deal on pak choy that week. Whatever you had, it included all the ingredients listed on the menu, but also pak choy. I quite like pak choy in Chinese food, but I got more than a little sick and tired of it by the end of the week.









At least there was no pak choy with dessert. I had the Ivory Mousse, which was served with almond shortbread and peppermint gelato. As cruise line desserts go, this was not bad. Graham had the Apple Pie À La Mode with vanilla ice cream. He seemed to like this well enough.



[url=https://flic.kr/p/27iMcjU]

After dinner, we headed back to our cabin. We both had a look through the Daily Compass to see if there was anything that interested us and there were a few things. Then we got ready for bed. I read for a bit before switching the light out and settling down to sleep.[/url]

 

[tiggrbaby]

Oh my goodness I am glad you were not hurt badly with your fall!

Love the pic in the hot tub and your pink gown is lovely!

 

[buteraa]

Your room is beautiful! Looking forward to seeing more of the ship.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Oh my goodness I am glad you were not hurt badly with your fall!

Fortunately I tend to bounce.

Love the pic in the hot tub and your pink gown is lovely!

Thanks.

Looking forward to seeing more of the ship.

I took very few photos this time round as we were on this ship for 16 days in 2016 and I took a ton of photos then. However, there will be some photos.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 6

We were awake bright and early shortly after 7:00. The Windjammer Cafe was already open, and we decided to get up and get some breakfast. Even though it was still early, it was pretty busy already. We headed straight to the back part of seating area and there was space there. As an added bonus, we were just around the corner from where they normally have an omelette station, but on this cruise, it was a soup noodle station. I was in heaven. I had some soup noodles with beef. Graham had some fruit and yoghurt followed by scrambled egg, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes. I tried some steamed pork buns. On Quantum last year, the steamed pork buns were absolutely delicious with a moist and flavourful barbecue pork filling. The ones I had that morning were nowhere near as nice. I wondered if they had been mislabelled, but somehow steamed wallpaper paste buns does not seem to have the right ring about it. What amused me a lot that morning was that there were a lot of people dressed up to nines already that early in the morning. That evening was formal night, but people were getting in the spirit rather early. I started to feel rather underdressed in my leggings and plain swing top.





The Windjammer Cafe started to fill up quite quickly. Once we had finished our food, we decided to go elsewhere for some coffee. We went downstairs to Cafe Promenade. Once we had our coffee, we then went to sit down next door at Sorrento’s. The coffee was as bad as ever. When we had finished our coffee, we headed up to the Schooner Bar for morning trivia. The turnout was pretty good, and the questions were fiendishly difficult. We did OK and came second. After trivia, we briefly went back to the cabin. I picked up my iPad and Graham got his telescope and then we went to the solarium to chill.



Our next commitment was another round of trivia. This one was visual trivia about flags. There were a couple that eluded us and a couple more we got wrong and other people did better. Still, it was a lot of fun. After trivia, we went up to the Windjammer Cafe for some lunch. I was not inspired by the choices that day. Graham had some salad with cold cuts and I had roast pork, steak fries, some cheesy pasta and a burger. I had a few mini cakes, who satisfied my sweet tooth, but were not very memorable. After lunch, we headed back to the solarium for a while to chill out.





Graham had spotted that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was due to be shown in the theatre this afternoon. He quite fancied going to see it. I have never rated the original and had no wish on watching the new version. On the flip side, I had nothing else to do so I decided to go with Graham. Well, to may utter surprise I really enjoyed it. Well, at least the 75% of it I managed to watch. The comfortable seat, the gentle rocking of the ship and the darkness made me fall asleep for a bit at some stage. I really need to make the point to watch this in full.

Once the movie was over, we went back to the Solarium for a bit to relax. About 17:30, we were on the move again. There was a session of bumper cars in the Seaplex at 18:00. Unlike on Quantum last year, there was no charge to ride the bumper cars. Also, unlike Quantum, the line was huge already at this point. We decided to sit down and watch how this was going to develop. More and more people kept on coming. Before the session started, the line was once around the Seaplex. At that stage, I decided to give up. However efficiently they were going to run the session, the waiting time would be huge.

There was something else that I wanted to do, but that had the potential to draw a long line and that was the Captain’s photo. We went down to deck 5 where we could overlook the Royal Esplanade. It did not look too busy at all. I went up to the cabin to get changed. Graham stayed to people watch. It did not take me long to get changed. I had invested in a new gown for the gala night at a work conference. This was a bit more understated than the other gowns that I have owned over the years, but I absolutely love this. It just makes me feel very special wearing this. Originally, I was not going to take this on this trip, but then I had a change of heart and brought it after all. About a week before we left, I decided that this gown needed to be accessorized with a fascinator and this works really well. I quickly got changed and put some make up on. Then I headed back down to deck 5.

When I got back to where I had left Graham, he had disappeared. It turned out that he had decided to watch the sunset on the promenade deck. I figured that I would catch up with him again soon enough. I headed forward to go downstairs as the staircase leading straight down to the Royal Esplanade was blocked off. I got as far as the Bionic Bar when I was stopped for the first time. I was addressed in fluent English by a Chinese gentleman saying that he does not wish to cause any offence, but he would really love to have a photo with me. I was somewhat taken aback by this. The issue was not that he wanted a photo with me. This is par of the course in China as I had found last year. What surprised me is that he thought this would cause offence. I told him that this was no problem at all and he had the biggest smile on his face. Of course, Chinese people on the ships tend to travel in extended families and friendship groups and this man was no exception. All over sudden I was surrounded by people and they all wanted photos with me. I will never understand this, but I am more than happy to play along. I am enormously privileged that I am able to travel to so many beautiful and diverse places. If this is the way of giving something back, then so be it. I definitely seemed to have made their day and it took about 5 minutes out of day. Most of the group did not speak English, but they all said "thank you” in English. They were not the only people that left with a big smile on their faces. I did, too. It is those little moments where you connect with people beyond cultural differences, language barriers and anything else that could set you apart that I live and travel for.

There may have been a bit of a bounce in my step as I carried on to where I had been heading. I had just got down to deck 4 when I stopped again. This time it was because I wanted a photo. The penguins from Madagascar were out for photos. I am not sure how I had missed this fact in the Daily Compass. I am not sure what I found so amusing in the professional photos, but it was an amazing interaction. I was just about to say goodbye to the penguins when the character manager, who was in attendance, asked if I had a camera or phone with me. I told him that I had, and he offered to take some photos. I was more than a little surprised about this as there is normally a strict no own camera rule when the professional photos are in attendance. Indeed, this had been strictly enforced the previous day. Still, I was not going to argue and handed him my mobile. He took some photos and I said goodbye to the penguins. I stopped for some photos on the staircase and then I went over to the Royal Esplanade.







It was not immediately obvious where the captain’s photo was going to be. There were plenty of people milling around on the Royal Esplanade, but there was no obvious line. I was offered a glass of sparkling wine on my wanders, which I happily accepted. About halfway down the Royal Esplanade, I got intercepted by a Chinese lady who told me that her husband really would like a photo with me but did not want to cause offence. I told her that this was not the first time that somebody wanted a photo with me. There was an animated discussion in Mandarin, which was followed by the biggest smile on the man’s face. His wife took a photo of him and me and then the rest of the extended party took turns getting a photo with me as well. In the meantime, a little line had formed and there were a few other families as well that wanted their photo taken with me. I almost felt like a celebrity. The whole thing made me think though. Twice within half an hour, it was mentioned to me that people did not want to cause offence by asking for a photo with me. This did not happen on Quantum last year nor did this happen on either of my visits to mainland China. I started to wonder if the Chinese guests had been given a pep talk by either their tour operators or Royal Caribbean or even both. Unfortunately, I have since found out that this is precisely what is happening on ex-China cruises nowadays. This makes me both sad and a little angry. It is a very sad state of affairs if people in their own country get told to modify their cultural behaviour as to not to offend the foreigners that are travelling to their home country rather than expecting the visitors to adapt to their environment.

I then went off to find the location for the captain’s photo. I did find it tucked away near one of the lounges. There was one family with the captain and another family in front of me, so I only had a very short wait. Once I had my photo, I made the round of the other photo opportunities and then went back to the cabin as I figured sooner or later, Graham would turn up. I was right about this. He came back shortly afterwards. He had watched the sunset on the promenade deck. While I was waiting for him, I completed the landing cards for the Philippines. Most of it had already been filled out for us, which was great.










Graham got changed and then we headed up to Coastal Kitchen for dinner. Graham started with the Slow Smoked Salmon with pumpernickel, horseradish crème fraÎche and caviar. I had the shrimp wonton soup with noodles, chicken stock and bok choy. For his main course, Graham went with the grilled Sirloin steak with truffle potato purée, asparagus and Bordelaise sauce. I stayed with the Chinese theme and had the Kung Pao chicken with rice. For dessert Graham had the seasonal fruit medley and I had the Baked Alaska. The whole fest was washed down with a bottle of Caliterra, which is rapidly becoming my favourite wine.













After dinner we made the rounds of the photo opportunities together. During that process we bumped into two photographers that we had met on our Transpacific cruise last year. It was nice seeing them again. Once we had finished our round, we headed back to the cabin. We had been left a towel animal. We checked out the Daily Compass for the next day and then got ready for bed.

 

[buteraa]

Such a beautiful dress, the color is perfect on you. Really interesting about the photo requests...

 

[tiggrbaby]

Your gown is stunning! You probably got so many requests because you looked so elegant!

 

[jedijill]

Catching up. That blue gown is stunning and is probably my favorite of all your gowns over the years! Minus the fall, sounds like a wonderful start to your cruise.

Jill in CO