Jenny Sanders
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2007
Looking forward to it...
An Asian Disney and Universal Adventure - Trip Report COMPLETED 6/23
- Thread starter RachelleBeaney
- Start date
Looking forward to it...
RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Day 3 - Part 3 - Sunsets and Lights
I'm pleased to advise they we made it to the Singapore Flyer at 7pm on the dot! As in we were about to board a car right at that time. It was spectacular! The views were amazing. The cars themselves were great, windows on all four sides and plenty of places for people to stand and see and photograph the view. Jared struck up a conversation with a very friendly local lady called Angema. She and her husband were very impressed by his camera, and even asked if he'd send her some of his shots, because she wanted some really good ones and she never took her good camera with her! An adorable request so of course we grabbed her details and agreed. The reason that she wanted copies of the photos will become apparent when I show you the view. The sunset, and descending blue hour were perfect that night, and the timing of our trip on the flyer could not have been better!!!
I think this shot is my favourite!
So, that pretty much describes better than I can what we saw from the Flyer! It was beautiful, peaceful, a great way to find yourself above the busy city street! It's also the perfect way to view Singapore City and I reckon sunset is the perfect time to go up! The entire rotation takes about 30 minutes.
Anyway, after we were done with the Flyer we headed out to take some shots of Gardens by the Bay, the city and Marina Bay Sands, before heading over to Gardens by the Bay for the 9pm showing of the Super Tree Lights Show. As we were heading out of the Flyer we saw some kids rehearsing for a parade, dancing along to Cartoon Hero by Aqua (a song I haven't heard since my youth). It created such a fun atmosphere as we strolled down to the boardwalk!
We set up to take some long exposure shots of Gardens by the Bay and saw some guys with drones getting ready to set up for their pictures. It was fun to watch the drones taking off, and coming into land, I'd imagine they would of got some amazing shots! In addition, as we were setting up for the photos the 8pm Super Tree Lights Show started, so we got to see if from a distance too!
When we were done on the boardwalk in front of the Flyer we proceeded over to the DNA bridge (well that's what I called it anyway, not sure what it's actually called) to get some more shots of the city and Marina Bay Sands. We'd also have to use this bridge to get across the water to Gardens by the Bay.
The Marina Bay Sands hotel is really unique, architecturally speaking. It's top, which I didn't realise until about 30 minutes after we started photographing it, is a boat! And it's lit up beautifully at night!
I'm also not sure what the lotus like building it in front of the hotel, but it was a great element that added a lot of uniqueness to Singapore cities skyline!
And so we finished up with the city and headed back into Gardens by the Bay.
Continued in Next Post...
I'm pleased to advise they we made it to the Singapore Flyer at 7pm on the dot! As in we were about to board a car right at that time. It was spectacular! The views were amazing. The cars themselves were great, windows on all four sides and plenty of places for people to stand and see and photograph the view. Jared struck up a conversation with a very friendly local lady called Angema. She and her husband were very impressed by his camera, and even asked if he'd send her some of his shots, because she wanted some really good ones and she never took her good camera with her! An adorable request so of course we grabbed her details and agreed. The reason that she wanted copies of the photos will become apparent when I show you the view. The sunset, and descending blue hour were perfect that night, and the timing of our trip on the flyer could not have been better!!!
I think this shot is my favourite!
So, that pretty much describes better than I can what we saw from the Flyer! It was beautiful, peaceful, a great way to find yourself above the busy city street! It's also the perfect way to view Singapore City and I reckon sunset is the perfect time to go up! The entire rotation takes about 30 minutes.
Anyway, after we were done with the Flyer we headed out to take some shots of Gardens by the Bay, the city and Marina Bay Sands, before heading over to Gardens by the Bay for the 9pm showing of the Super Tree Lights Show. As we were heading out of the Flyer we saw some kids rehearsing for a parade, dancing along to Cartoon Hero by Aqua (a song I haven't heard since my youth). It created such a fun atmosphere as we strolled down to the boardwalk!
We set up to take some long exposure shots of Gardens by the Bay and saw some guys with drones getting ready to set up for their pictures. It was fun to watch the drones taking off, and coming into land, I'd imagine they would of got some amazing shots! In addition, as we were setting up for the photos the 8pm Super Tree Lights Show started, so we got to see if from a distance too!
When we were done on the boardwalk in front of the Flyer we proceeded over to the DNA bridge (well that's what I called it anyway, not sure what it's actually called) to get some more shots of the city and Marina Bay Sands. We'd also have to use this bridge to get across the water to Gardens by the Bay.
The Marina Bay Sands hotel is really unique, architecturally speaking. It's top, which I didn't realise until about 30 minutes after we started photographing it, is a boat! And it's lit up beautifully at night!
I'm also not sure what the lotus like building it in front of the hotel, but it was a great element that added a lot of uniqueness to Singapore cities skyline!
And so we finished up with the city and headed back into Gardens by the Bay.
Continued in Next Post...
Last edited:
RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Day 3 - Part 4 - Super Trees and Super Friends
And so we finally made it to the Gardens by the Bay for the evening lights show. On our way into the Super Tree Grove section of the gardens we ran into an American Couple, who asked us for directions to the show! Rather funny as we hadn't actually been there before (we told them as much). Still we thought we had an idea of how to get there so they followed us and we chatted to them as we went. They were nice enough to comment that Australians, in their opinion, were always the friendliest of travellers (we do try
).
We arrived at the circular grass area in front of the super trees probably about 10 minutes or so before the start of the show. The show itself was beautiful and relaxing, everything Lake of Disappointment wasn't! It was set to different styles of Asia music, and the lights on the trees danced beautifully along to these tunes. It was really hard to capture the detail of the show on the camera, so it doesn't really do it justice but sufficed to say we really enjoyed it! It's really a must see when you go to Singapore.
After the show finished we were planning to meet up with a friend, Ais, who I knew from my cheerleading days (yes I was did cheerleading competitions with one of the first cheer gyms in Australia back in the day) at the Super Trees. While I was waiting for her Jared took a few more photos. He claims he had to lie on the ground to get this one (given the angle of the shot it's probably less a claim and more a fact!).
Ais was happy to just walk with us and chat while Jared took more pictures, so we did that for a while, enjoying the beautiful Super Trees from lots of angles.
When we were done Ais suggested we catch the MRT to Clarke Quay, a popular nightlife spot for Singaporean locals. We had seen it quickly on our way back to the Singapore Flyer after we ate dinner at Chili's, but it was much more beautiful at night!
We just chilled for a while at the Quay, and chatted with Ais. She's an amazing woman! Owns and runs her own business, is a property investment guru (most of her investments are in the states too) and she is also a mentor and life coach, plus she has 17 rescued cats! It was really great to catch up with her
. Pretty soon though we had to get going as we had to be up at 4am for our flight to Hong Kong, so we sadly said goodbye and promised to come back one day and spend more time with her! Here are some photos we took at the end of the evening to mark our time together.
And that was it for our time in Singapore. We absolutely loved it, and really want to go back again, as there is so much we didn't get to see and experience. I'd highly recommend it as a great 'starter' city for Asia. It's very westernised, and English is an official language so it feels little more familiar if the unfamiliarity of Asia culture is a concern for you!
Anyway, stay tuned for our next update - our first day at Disney!
Continued in Next Post...
And so we finally made it to the Gardens by the Bay for the evening lights show. On our way into the Super Tree Grove section of the gardens we ran into an American Couple, who asked us for directions to the show! Rather funny as we hadn't actually been there before (we told them as much). Still we thought we had an idea of how to get there so they followed us and we chatted to them as we went. They were nice enough to comment that Australians, in their opinion, were always the friendliest of travellers (we do try
).We arrived at the circular grass area in front of the super trees probably about 10 minutes or so before the start of the show. The show itself was beautiful and relaxing, everything Lake of Disappointment wasn't! It was set to different styles of Asia music, and the lights on the trees danced beautifully along to these tunes. It was really hard to capture the detail of the show on the camera, so it doesn't really do it justice but sufficed to say we really enjoyed it! It's really a must see when you go to Singapore.
After the show finished we were planning to meet up with a friend, Ais, who I knew from my cheerleading days (yes I was did cheerleading competitions with one of the first cheer gyms in Australia back in the day) at the Super Trees. While I was waiting for her Jared took a few more photos. He claims he had to lie on the ground to get this one (given the angle of the shot it's probably less a claim and more a fact!).
Ais was happy to just walk with us and chat while Jared took more pictures, so we did that for a while, enjoying the beautiful Super Trees from lots of angles.
When we were done Ais suggested we catch the MRT to Clarke Quay, a popular nightlife spot for Singaporean locals. We had seen it quickly on our way back to the Singapore Flyer after we ate dinner at Chili's, but it was much more beautiful at night!
We just chilled for a while at the Quay, and chatted with Ais. She's an amazing woman! Owns and runs her own business, is a property investment guru (most of her investments are in the states too) and she is also a mentor and life coach, plus she has 17 rescued cats! It was really great to catch up with her
. Pretty soon though we had to get going as we had to be up at 4am for our flight to Hong Kong, so we sadly said goodbye and promised to come back one day and spend more time with her! Here are some photos we took at the end of the evening to mark our time together.And that was it for our time in Singapore. We absolutely loved it, and really want to go back again, as there is so much we didn't get to see and experience. I'd highly recommend it as a great 'starter' city for Asia. It's very westernised, and English is an official language so it feels little more familiar if the unfamiliarity of Asia culture is a concern for you!
Anyway, stay tuned for our next update - our first day at Disney!
Continued in Next Post...
Last edited:
RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Day 4 - Part 1 - Disney and Dim Sum, here we come!
Usually, getting up at 4am sucks! However, getting up at 4am knowing you're on your way to Disney is not so bad! That was our morning. Up at 4, off to Singapore Airport and onto our flight to Hong Kong. Everything went smoothly except of course the slight issue with the cab to Singapore Airport only accepting cash. We breezed through customs in Hong Kong and hopped straight in a cab towards the Hong Kong Disney Resort. The drive to Lantau Island was interesting, definitely not pretty, but as soon as we arrived inside the Disney resort it felt like another world, tropical plants everywhere, beautifully manicured gardens and pretty street lamps all indicated we had found a place where Disney magic resided.
I had been worried about making our Crystal Lotus reservation at 2pm, however we landed in Hong Kong at 11am and got to the Disney resort at 11:50am! It was so easy. It was a different story when we went to check in to the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. We had arrived on a Sunday, apparently a busy day for check ins. We had to change and do a few things before we hopped in line but we ended up waiting an hour in the check in line! I was not completely impressed, still the staff were doing their best. My main concern had been getting passes to ride the Iron Man Experience which, from what I understood, was open only to hotel guests for soft openings on the Sunday, and was closing the Monday (our full day in the park) ready for it's grand opening on the Tuesday. Luckily a friendly greeter came around with these passes while we waited in line, he tried to give us passes for 3pm ish but we advised him we had lunch reservations and so he provided us with passes for around 4:30pm - 6pm. As it turns out we discovered that we needn't have fretted because the ride was in soft openings for anyone at the park, but that hotel guests could use the rides Fastpass entrance to skip the queue. Anyway once we were finally checked in we advised the staff we had a 2pm reservation at Crystal Lotus and they advised us that the restaurant could just seat us right away (an hour early). Given that we were longing to get to the park we were quite pleased by this!
So, why were we off to the Crystal Lotus restaurant? Or perhaps you are asking, what is the Crystal Lotus restaurant. Well, Crystal Lotus is the premier Chinese restaurant at the Hong Kong Disneyland resort and it is very famous for it's....wait for it....Disney themed Dim Sum! You may have heard of it, but Hong Kong Disneyland does INCREDIBLE Disney character themed Dim Sum. You have to book the Dim Sum at least three days in advance, and we did this very early on, requesting a few special dietary requirements as well, and so we were ready to finally experience what we'd heard was an amazing eating experience at Crystal Lotus!
We had ordered 2 x Green Men Alien Dim Sum, 2 x Three Little Pigs Dim Sum, 2 x Baymax Dim Sum, 1 x Shellie May and Duffy Dim Sum and 1 x Olaf Dim Sum. When they bought all the food out, and even when we ordered it my first thought was that it would be wayy too much food but it turned out to be ok. The second thought I had was "OMG, this is too adorable to eat!". Of course before we got eating we took a million photos of it all!
Here they all are!
Shellie May and Duffy
Baymax, they were adorable!
Green Alien Men
Three Little Pigs
Olaf!
The Dim Sum was delicious too, incredibly well made, the perfect balance of flavour and soft doughy goodness!
As you can see we took a million pictures, so we could remember the adorableness, and then we devoured all their cute little faces! After the Dim Sum we were bought a mango Mickey pudding with sweet condensed milk. I am not the biggest fan of Mango and didn't think I'd like this, but was surprised by how much I did. The sweet condensed milk cute through the fruitiness beautifully, adding an extra layer of yummy to everything.
We sat for a while just soaking up the ambience of Crystal Lotus, and then took some pictures before heading back out into the hotel.
By the time were were done with our wonderful lunch our room was ready. and we'll get to that in the next post...
Continued in Next Post...
Usually, getting up at 4am sucks! However, getting up at 4am knowing you're on your way to Disney is not so bad! That was our morning. Up at 4, off to Singapore Airport and onto our flight to Hong Kong. Everything went smoothly except of course the slight issue with the cab to Singapore Airport only accepting cash. We breezed through customs in Hong Kong and hopped straight in a cab towards the Hong Kong Disney Resort. The drive to Lantau Island was interesting, definitely not pretty, but as soon as we arrived inside the Disney resort it felt like another world, tropical plants everywhere, beautifully manicured gardens and pretty street lamps all indicated we had found a place where Disney magic resided.
I had been worried about making our Crystal Lotus reservation at 2pm, however we landed in Hong Kong at 11am and got to the Disney resort at 11:50am! It was so easy. It was a different story when we went to check in to the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. We had arrived on a Sunday, apparently a busy day for check ins. We had to change and do a few things before we hopped in line but we ended up waiting an hour in the check in line! I was not completely impressed, still the staff were doing their best. My main concern had been getting passes to ride the Iron Man Experience which, from what I understood, was open only to hotel guests for soft openings on the Sunday, and was closing the Monday (our full day in the park) ready for it's grand opening on the Tuesday. Luckily a friendly greeter came around with these passes while we waited in line, he tried to give us passes for 3pm ish but we advised him we had lunch reservations and so he provided us with passes for around 4:30pm - 6pm. As it turns out we discovered that we needn't have fretted because the ride was in soft openings for anyone at the park, but that hotel guests could use the rides Fastpass entrance to skip the queue. Anyway once we were finally checked in we advised the staff we had a 2pm reservation at Crystal Lotus and they advised us that the restaurant could just seat us right away (an hour early). Given that we were longing to get to the park we were quite pleased by this!
So, why were we off to the Crystal Lotus restaurant? Or perhaps you are asking, what is the Crystal Lotus restaurant. Well, Crystal Lotus is the premier Chinese restaurant at the Hong Kong Disneyland resort and it is very famous for it's....wait for it....Disney themed Dim Sum! You may have heard of it, but Hong Kong Disneyland does INCREDIBLE Disney character themed Dim Sum. You have to book the Dim Sum at least three days in advance, and we did this very early on, requesting a few special dietary requirements as well, and so we were ready to finally experience what we'd heard was an amazing eating experience at Crystal Lotus!
We had ordered 2 x Green Men Alien Dim Sum, 2 x Three Little Pigs Dim Sum, 2 x Baymax Dim Sum, 1 x Shellie May and Duffy Dim Sum and 1 x Olaf Dim Sum. When they bought all the food out, and even when we ordered it my first thought was that it would be wayy too much food but it turned out to be ok. The second thought I had was "OMG, this is too adorable to eat!". Of course before we got eating we took a million photos of it all!
Here they all are!
Shellie May and Duffy
Baymax, they were adorable!
Green Alien Men
Three Little Pigs
Olaf!
The Dim Sum was delicious too, incredibly well made, the perfect balance of flavour and soft doughy goodness!
As you can see we took a million pictures, so we could remember the adorableness, and then we devoured all their cute little faces! After the Dim Sum we were bought a mango Mickey pudding with sweet condensed milk. I am not the biggest fan of Mango and didn't think I'd like this, but was surprised by how much I did. The sweet condensed milk cute through the fruitiness beautifully, adding an extra layer of yummy to everything.
We sat for a while just soaking up the ambience of Crystal Lotus, and then took some pictures before heading back out into the hotel.
By the time were were done with our wonderful lunch our room was ready. and we'll get to that in the next post...
Continued in Next Post...
Last edited:
RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Day 4 - Part 2 - Into the Park
So we found our way to our room quickly, it happened to be on the ground floor, and it also happened to be one of those corner rooms that people always covet at the various Disney hotels, the ones with all the extra space! We'd not requested it, nor had we ever experienced one before, so it was really exciting to us. The room was just huge, and very beautifully decorated!
There were Hidden Mickey's everywhere
The bathroom was amazing, with a seperate shower and bath room, all completely tiled in marble!
The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel itself was also beautiful, very similar to the Grand Floridian in design influence, but the depth of detail was not as apparent. It was still beautiful, just perhaps a little less involved - this would become a theme with most of the original part of the Hong Kong Disneyland park (though is definitely not true of it's newer areas).
We were itching to get to the park and use our Iron Man passes though, so we headed out. The hotel provides busses to the park, so we jumped in one of those. You can also walk, and it's an easy 20 minute stroll.
As we arrived at the bus stop at the park, we exited the bus to find no Disney music playing! Heading toward the big Hong Kong Disneyland entrance sign the same issue, so I started to hum "when you wish upon a star" as it seemed appropriate and set the right mood for us as we walked into the park. As we approached the fountain in front of the main entrance walkway we started to hear the Disney music playing, and you'll never guess what it was (yep, when you wish upon a star)! Seems I had a little moment of clairvoyance.
I'm afraid to say we don't have any pictures of our entrance to the park this day, as we made a beeline for the attractions. Sufficed to say my first impressions of Hong Kong Disneyland's main street was of course happiness (it was our first Disney park of the trip and the only one at which we'd experience a traditional style main street) and a little disappointment, as it was clear to me something seemed missing from Hong Kong Disneyland's main street. I later realised that it was the fact that the buildings were more obviously facades on the second story, and there was a lack of depth to the detail provided. In addition there were no side streets. Knowing that Hong Kong Disneyland was made in a somewhat rushed and cheap manner it didn't surprise me to find this around most of the original areas of the park. Still, it had it's own interesting charm, especially as the castle sat right up against Lantau Island's mountains! While it does make the castle look very small (in fact I believe they are rectifying this with a overhaul of Hong Kong's castle to make it original soon), it also adds a unique element to Hong Kong Disneyland.
Anyway, when we got into the hub we still had 45 minutes until our Iron Man passes become valid, so we decided to head over to the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. Yes, that is actually its name and yes, it become such a pain to try and remember all of the words and the order in which they should be placed that we ended up just calling the ride Big Grizzly ...insert fake throat clearing sound and trail off into nothingness here. You'll probably notice from now on I will try and find other humorous ways to name this coaster, as typing out it's entire name is really a huge chore!
On our way into Big Grizzly zoom zoom we passed through Adventureland. Unlike all other Disney parks, where the majority of land can be accessed from the Main Hub, the three new lands at Hong Kong Disneyland, Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point and Toy Story Playland were all built outside the berm of the park and can only be accessed through each other, with the bookend lands ,Grizzly Gulch and Toy Story Playland, accessed through Adventureland (Grizzly Gulch) and Fantasyland (Toy Story Playland). It's like taking the long way around from Adventureland to Fantasyland through these three areas. Anyway, as we headed towards Grizzly Gulch I actually noted how impressed I was with Adventureland (one of the original lands at the park, so I didn't think I would be that impressed by it). The area was so all encompassing, beautifully landscaped and so stylistically specific, unlike many other Adventurelands, that I found myself really feeling like I'd been taken away to a land of adventure and romance. I think the key was it was themed to one tropical region, rather than many. The area had a Polynesian style and feel, like sections of other Adventureland's in the other parks, and in addition it pulled off the tropical feeling extremely well.
I'll apologise again for the lack of photos at this point, we were clearly having too much fun taking in this new Disney park for the first time to take pictures! I do promise we have lots to share of these areas later. Still it was just hitting us at this point that this was a new Disney park for us. The last time we had experienced a new park was our first time at Tokyo Disney in 2013. While it's great to be a Disney veteran, there is nothing like being able to experience a park with fresh eyes on your first visit, not knowing exactly what to expect and finding the little things at the park that make it such a magical place for you. Every Disney park we've visited for the first time has had moments like this for us and I think this time, at Hong Kong Disneyland this first day (in which we pretty much did a loop of the park just taking it in) was that moment for us.
Anyway we headed over to the Big Grizzly Coaster Thing, through Grizzly Gulch which was of course one of the newer areas at the park and subsequently waaayyy more amazing than any of the original areas that preceded it. Because of it's isolation from the rest of the park, and the lack of other visuals, it really felt like you could be in a small western town in the 1850's. There was so much charm and detail to this area it was completely impressive. Anyway as it turned out Big Grizzly Bear Safari had a wait of 30 minutes, so we decided to catch that in the morning and head on past it to my most anticipated ride at Hong Kong Disneyland, Mystic Manor. I'm sure all of you Disney fans will have heard tales of the wonder of Mystic Manor, the spectacular use of trackless technology, the wonderful blending of attractions like Indiana Jones and the Haunted Mansion to create a ride with a story and a theme sure to be treasured for decades to come. A wonder stroke of Disney engineering with an original story so lacking in many new Disney attractions. Well, Mystic Manor was all these things and more! The first 5 minutes of the ride I literally had my mouth open in awe! The scale of the thing, the detail, the animatronics, effects, the adorableness of Albert the Monkey (the main character of the attraction) made it a completely breathtaking attraction. Sufficed to say we loved it, and it easily become of favourite Disney attraction of all time (it would soon be surpassed, if only slightly, by an attraction at Shanghai Disney, but still it is one of the best things Disney has ever done I'd say!).
Anyway, it was finally time for us to use our Iron Man Passes so we headed over to the ride. It actually still took about 25 minutes to get through the Fastpass line with our passes (I'd say the regular wait was about 30 minutes at this point) but we made sure to take lots of pictures of the ride as we went through, so it didn't feel too long. I've never actually gotten to experience an attraction during soft openings before, so this was a milestone moment for me! The line for the attraction was themed around a Stark Expo that you were visiting, where you got to see some of Tony Stark's inventions, as well as his new unmanned emergency vehicle prototypes designed to service cities without the need for human drivers etc (wink wink, back story for the explanation for your ride vehicle). There were some fun props and the line was well put together, if not a little utilitarian, but I suppose it was meant to look "modern". The lighting in the area was amazing though.
The ride itself was pretty much Star Tours but with an Iron Man story. Still, I'd encourage anyone who would be turned off riding it because it uses the same ride system as Star Tours to give it a try, because it was amazing fun, and a unique attraction even with the same ride vehicle as Star Tours. The ride itself was a lot better than Star Tours, in my opinion. The screen resolution was incredible, plus there was an element of realism to it all because you fly over and through the streets of Hong Kong, and they actually filmed Hong Kong for these parts of the attraction which makes it like an action version of Soarin'. There were also some really funny moments (Tony Stark spoke English, while the narrator Jarvis spoke Cantonese) which made it a little more comedic than Star Tours. Lastly the 3D seemed to work better here, there were a lot of things crashing through the windshield in a much more convincing way that in Star Tours. The ride was a lot smoother than Star Tours too, I guess they had tweaked the mechanics of the motions sensors a little.
After we rode we decided that we'd hope in the standby line and do the ride again, because we knew we wouldn't have the opportunity too the next day, being that it would be shutting in preparation for it's big opening day on the 11th Jan. Ironically, we only waited about 10 minutes in the standby line (as opposed to 25 with our "Fastpass") - perhaps they were loading more cars at this point testing for heavier crowds.
At this point we had thought we'd try get some sunset shots in the hub, but unfortunately for us our whole trip to Hong Kong was marred by smog that is very characteristic of the city (though it is usually less frequent in January than the middle of the year). Instead we took a few shots of the castle and Main Street as the Main Street marching band played the day out.
There are no partners status at Hong Kong Disneyland, the main hub garden bed can contain any number of displays depending on the time of year. As it was still around Christmas, and Chinese New Year the garden bed was filled with beautiful red poinsettias
I apologise for how wordy this update has been, when I come back next I promise lots of night pictures of Hong Kong Disneyland!
Continued in Next Post...
So we found our way to our room quickly, it happened to be on the ground floor, and it also happened to be one of those corner rooms that people always covet at the various Disney hotels, the ones with all the extra space! We'd not requested it, nor had we ever experienced one before, so it was really exciting to us. The room was just huge, and very beautifully decorated!
There were Hidden Mickey's everywhere
The bathroom was amazing, with a seperate shower and bath room, all completely tiled in marble!
The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel itself was also beautiful, very similar to the Grand Floridian in design influence, but the depth of detail was not as apparent. It was still beautiful, just perhaps a little less involved - this would become a theme with most of the original part of the Hong Kong Disneyland park (though is definitely not true of it's newer areas).
We were itching to get to the park and use our Iron Man passes though, so we headed out. The hotel provides busses to the park, so we jumped in one of those. You can also walk, and it's an easy 20 minute stroll.
As we arrived at the bus stop at the park, we exited the bus to find no Disney music playing! Heading toward the big Hong Kong Disneyland entrance sign the same issue, so I started to hum "when you wish upon a star" as it seemed appropriate and set the right mood for us as we walked into the park. As we approached the fountain in front of the main entrance walkway we started to hear the Disney music playing, and you'll never guess what it was (yep, when you wish upon a star)! Seems I had a little moment of clairvoyance.
I'm afraid to say we don't have any pictures of our entrance to the park this day, as we made a beeline for the attractions. Sufficed to say my first impressions of Hong Kong Disneyland's main street was of course happiness (it was our first Disney park of the trip and the only one at which we'd experience a traditional style main street) and a little disappointment, as it was clear to me something seemed missing from Hong Kong Disneyland's main street. I later realised that it was the fact that the buildings were more obviously facades on the second story, and there was a lack of depth to the detail provided. In addition there were no side streets. Knowing that Hong Kong Disneyland was made in a somewhat rushed and cheap manner it didn't surprise me to find this around most of the original areas of the park. Still, it had it's own interesting charm, especially as the castle sat right up against Lantau Island's mountains! While it does make the castle look very small (in fact I believe they are rectifying this with a overhaul of Hong Kong's castle to make it original soon), it also adds a unique element to Hong Kong Disneyland.
Anyway, when we got into the hub we still had 45 minutes until our Iron Man passes become valid, so we decided to head over to the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. Yes, that is actually its name and yes, it become such a pain to try and remember all of the words and the order in which they should be placed that we ended up just calling the ride Big Grizzly ...insert fake throat clearing sound and trail off into nothingness here. You'll probably notice from now on I will try and find other humorous ways to name this coaster, as typing out it's entire name is really a huge chore!
On our way into Big Grizzly zoom zoom we passed through Adventureland. Unlike all other Disney parks, where the majority of land can be accessed from the Main Hub, the three new lands at Hong Kong Disneyland, Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point and Toy Story Playland were all built outside the berm of the park and can only be accessed through each other, with the bookend lands ,Grizzly Gulch and Toy Story Playland, accessed through Adventureland (Grizzly Gulch) and Fantasyland (Toy Story Playland). It's like taking the long way around from Adventureland to Fantasyland through these three areas. Anyway, as we headed towards Grizzly Gulch I actually noted how impressed I was with Adventureland (one of the original lands at the park, so I didn't think I would be that impressed by it). The area was so all encompassing, beautifully landscaped and so stylistically specific, unlike many other Adventurelands, that I found myself really feeling like I'd been taken away to a land of adventure and romance. I think the key was it was themed to one tropical region, rather than many. The area had a Polynesian style and feel, like sections of other Adventureland's in the other parks, and in addition it pulled off the tropical feeling extremely well.
I'll apologise again for the lack of photos at this point, we were clearly having too much fun taking in this new Disney park for the first time to take pictures! I do promise we have lots to share of these areas later. Still it was just hitting us at this point that this was a new Disney park for us. The last time we had experienced a new park was our first time at Tokyo Disney in 2013. While it's great to be a Disney veteran, there is nothing like being able to experience a park with fresh eyes on your first visit, not knowing exactly what to expect and finding the little things at the park that make it such a magical place for you. Every Disney park we've visited for the first time has had moments like this for us and I think this time, at Hong Kong Disneyland this first day (in which we pretty much did a loop of the park just taking it in) was that moment for us.
Anyway we headed over to the Big Grizzly Coaster Thing, through Grizzly Gulch which was of course one of the newer areas at the park and subsequently waaayyy more amazing than any of the original areas that preceded it. Because of it's isolation from the rest of the park, and the lack of other visuals, it really felt like you could be in a small western town in the 1850's. There was so much charm and detail to this area it was completely impressive. Anyway as it turned out Big Grizzly Bear Safari had a wait of 30 minutes, so we decided to catch that in the morning and head on past it to my most anticipated ride at Hong Kong Disneyland, Mystic Manor. I'm sure all of you Disney fans will have heard tales of the wonder of Mystic Manor, the spectacular use of trackless technology, the wonderful blending of attractions like Indiana Jones and the Haunted Mansion to create a ride with a story and a theme sure to be treasured for decades to come. A wonder stroke of Disney engineering with an original story so lacking in many new Disney attractions. Well, Mystic Manor was all these things and more! The first 5 minutes of the ride I literally had my mouth open in awe! The scale of the thing, the detail, the animatronics, effects, the adorableness of Albert the Monkey (the main character of the attraction) made it a completely breathtaking attraction. Sufficed to say we loved it, and it easily become of favourite Disney attraction of all time (it would soon be surpassed, if only slightly, by an attraction at Shanghai Disney, but still it is one of the best things Disney has ever done I'd say!).
Anyway, it was finally time for us to use our Iron Man Passes so we headed over to the ride. It actually still took about 25 minutes to get through the Fastpass line with our passes (I'd say the regular wait was about 30 minutes at this point) but we made sure to take lots of pictures of the ride as we went through, so it didn't feel too long. I've never actually gotten to experience an attraction during soft openings before, so this was a milestone moment for me! The line for the attraction was themed around a Stark Expo that you were visiting, where you got to see some of Tony Stark's inventions, as well as his new unmanned emergency vehicle prototypes designed to service cities without the need for human drivers etc (wink wink, back story for the explanation for your ride vehicle). There were some fun props and the line was well put together, if not a little utilitarian, but I suppose it was meant to look "modern". The lighting in the area was amazing though.
The ride itself was pretty much Star Tours but with an Iron Man story. Still, I'd encourage anyone who would be turned off riding it because it uses the same ride system as Star Tours to give it a try, because it was amazing fun, and a unique attraction even with the same ride vehicle as Star Tours. The ride itself was a lot better than Star Tours, in my opinion. The screen resolution was incredible, plus there was an element of realism to it all because you fly over and through the streets of Hong Kong, and they actually filmed Hong Kong for these parts of the attraction which makes it like an action version of Soarin'. There were also some really funny moments (Tony Stark spoke English, while the narrator Jarvis spoke Cantonese) which made it a little more comedic than Star Tours. Lastly the 3D seemed to work better here, there were a lot of things crashing through the windshield in a much more convincing way that in Star Tours. The ride was a lot smoother than Star Tours too, I guess they had tweaked the mechanics of the motions sensors a little.
After we rode we decided that we'd hope in the standby line and do the ride again, because we knew we wouldn't have the opportunity too the next day, being that it would be shutting in preparation for it's big opening day on the 11th Jan. Ironically, we only waited about 10 minutes in the standby line (as opposed to 25 with our "Fastpass") - perhaps they were loading more cars at this point testing for heavier crowds.
At this point we had thought we'd try get some sunset shots in the hub, but unfortunately for us our whole trip to Hong Kong was marred by smog that is very characteristic of the city (though it is usually less frequent in January than the middle of the year). Instead we took a few shots of the castle and Main Street as the Main Street marching band played the day out.
There are no partners status at Hong Kong Disneyland, the main hub garden bed can contain any number of displays depending on the time of year. As it was still around Christmas, and Chinese New Year the garden bed was filled with beautiful red poinsettias
I apologise for how wordy this update has been, when I come back next I promise lots of night pictures of Hong Kong Disneyland!
Continued in Next Post...
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RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Thanks I'm glad you enjoyed them
1983DisneyFanatic
New DVC member 2020
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2015
I am really loving your trip report. I really appreciate your frequent updates too. My husband and I plan on taking two of our kids to Asia for their high school graduation gift in 2022, but seeing all this makes me want to take a trip here much sooner. I hope Crystal Lotus is still making those adorable dim sum when we finally get there. Singapore wasn't in our plans, but maybe we can addd that on. I would love to go to that zoo and their Universal seems worth a trip.
RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Oh my gosh, those pictures of the gardens were incredible!
That dim sum is so cuteExcited to see the Disney portions, but really loved seeing Singapore!
The garden was really beautiful, hence the great pictures! And yes the Disney Dim Sum was incredible too! I'm glad you are enjoying the whole trip report...It's nice to hear people want to hear about the Disney parts, and the non-Disney parts
Thanks, I appreciate that you appreciate the frequent updates. I don't love reports where you have to wait ages between posts. I'll keep doing my best though we are moving house next week which might stall me for a bit! That sounds like an awesome trip though I do understand wanting to do it sooner (our next trip probably won't be until 2020 now and I'm wishing it was sooner than that). I'm sure Crystal Lotus will continue doing the Disney Dim Sum (it's hugely popular, we saw at least 5 other groups having it while we were there). Singapore is an incredible place to visit, if you have time it's highly recommended. And yes, Universal there is lots of fun even though it's small.
RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Thanks so much - I really blown away by the lovely feedback on our pictures - we have so much fun taking them!
minniebeth
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2006
Hi Rachelle! I was just clicking around on some trip reports yesterday, trying to beat the winter blues around here (although it has been a super mild winter, we never see the sun!) and I am SO SO glad I found yours!! Your trip is AMAZING! My DD and I spent a good part of the evening reading through it and enjoying it so very much!
We love to travel, and love all things Disney, so we are vicariously enjoying a tour around the world through you sharing your experiences!
I have to say, Singapore was never really a place I thought about travelling to, but after seeing your photos, I think it may be a place we would put on our list! I love your point about it being a great introduction to Asia since it is an English speaking country and very Westernized. Your sharing has opened our eyes to a whole new world of possible adventure!
Your photos are TRUE works of ART! Reading through your report, we enjoyed a night of color and beauty. What talent!
My DD really loves art and she loved your photos at the Trick Eye Museum! Very cool and fun!
Your other Singapore experiences are incredible! In your report, I learned about what the blue hour is~ your photos taken at those times are incredible.
The Disney dim sum is adorable! Do you mind me asking what was inside each of the varieties you had?
So looking forward to continue to follow you on your on your amazing journey!
We love to travel, and love all things Disney, so we are vicariously enjoying a tour around the world through you sharing your experiences!
I have to say, Singapore was never really a place I thought about travelling to, but after seeing your photos, I think it may be a place we would put on our list! I love your point about it being a great introduction to Asia since it is an English speaking country and very Westernized. Your sharing has opened our eyes to a whole new world of possible adventure!
Your photos are TRUE works of ART! Reading through your report, we enjoyed a night of color and beauty. What talent!
My DD really loves art and she loved your photos at the Trick Eye Museum! Very cool and fun!
Your other Singapore experiences are incredible! In your report, I learned about what the blue hour is~ your photos taken at those times are incredible.
The Disney dim sum is adorable! Do you mind me asking what was inside each of the varieties you had?
So looking forward to continue to follow you on your on your amazing journey!
RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Just wanted to say thank you so much for your lovely encouraging words regarding my report! It's so nice to hear that people are enjoying it, and it's helping curb the "not at Disney" blues (I understand these so well), and that it's keeping you entertained during what sounds like a really un-fun time of year (weather wise). Speaking of un-fun weather, I have to say your lovely comment also helped calm me through some awful weather too. We had a massive thunderstorm in Perth last night, though it's summer and still hot, and I couldn't sleep, and I logged into to DIS boards and read your lovely comment and it helped relax me and get me back to sleep! This was what we were experiencing last night:
Anyway, I'm glad you are enjoying travelling to Asia with me. It is so much fun to feel like you can experience trips along with people reading the trip reports here, that's the whole reason I write mine as I know how much other peoples help me when I just want a holiday but don't have one planned!
Singapore is really wonderful! I think it gets forgotten a lot in Asia because there are so many other cities, and Singapore is tucked away closer to South East Asia than Asia proper. People from Perth do regularly visit because it's so close to us (only 5 hours, about the same as flying to the East Coast of Australia) and it's a great relaxing getaway. I'm glad your DD is enjoying the report too and yes, the Trick Eye Museum would be so much fun for an art enthusiast, getting to put yourself in the art work.
Thank you for your kind words about the photos, and I'm glad I could help you learn about blue hour. Most people call it dusk or twilight but really photographers just call it blue hour because there is still enough light in the sky for it to come out a brilliant blue in photos, making it the best time to take photos after the sun has set.
I had to go back over our original Pre-trip report RE the flavours of the Dim Sum, they were all so yummy but I did forget what exactly it was we ate. I will say the Three Pigs and Green Aliens were my favourite.
So the breakdown of flavours is as follows:
- Duffy and ShellieMay's were sweet buns (there was no description as to what flavour)
- Olaf's were red bean buns
- Baymax Buns were originally shellfish (prawns, or as you Americans say shrimp I believe) but I am allergic so we changed it to chicken
- Three Little Pig's were pork BBQ
- Little Green Men were pork and vegetable
- And of course the Mickey pudding was mango
RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Day 4 - Part 3 - Night Lights
So the next two chapters of the report will be very photo heavy, word light. I think I don't really need to say much. The most beautiful part of any Disney park, in my opinion, is the way they are lit at night, and the completely different atmosphere created in the park at night. Hong Kong Disneyland was no exception and we had a wonderful time trying to capture that beauty, as well as take in the sparkling lights, neon colours and charming atmosphere of the park at night.
We knew we wanted to spend most of this evening taking night photos in the park, so we grabbed a quick dinner at the Starliner Diner (luckily they had a gluten free option - steak, even though it was a pretty poor excuse for a steak!) and then we headed out into the park.
Blue hour didn't come off hugely well, due to the smog, and it was a little light when we started, still I was pretty happy with the results.
The lights projecting off Big Grizzly Mountain created a very beautiful purple hour when mixed with the grey smog though!
Mystic Point was definitely my favourite area of the park, and we had a lot of fun photographing it this evening, there were so many fun angles to try!
Into Toy Story Land I was disappointed that the lights strung above the whole area were not more colourful (they seemed as though they were 1990's incandescent bulbs rather than bright colourful LED's). Still the area was much prettier at night than during the day.
Fantasyland looked great at night!
Just as we were setting up for the shots below, Paint the Night started to the right of the it's a small world area, heading past Fantasyland towards the hub! We tried really hard not to look and spoil it for the next night when we would be watching it but we couldn't help it, the music was so catchy we just had to look! Jared was so excited by the snippets he saw (he LOVES night parades) he couldn't wait until the next day! I had seen videos of the parade where as he hadn't, but even still from what I could see the parade was everything I would have hoped and more.
Continued in Next Post...
So the next two chapters of the report will be very photo heavy, word light. I think I don't really need to say much. The most beautiful part of any Disney park, in my opinion, is the way they are lit at night, and the completely different atmosphere created in the park at night. Hong Kong Disneyland was no exception and we had a wonderful time trying to capture that beauty, as well as take in the sparkling lights, neon colours and charming atmosphere of the park at night.
We knew we wanted to spend most of this evening taking night photos in the park, so we grabbed a quick dinner at the Starliner Diner (luckily they had a gluten free option - steak, even though it was a pretty poor excuse for a steak!) and then we headed out into the park.
Blue hour didn't come off hugely well, due to the smog, and it was a little light when we started, still I was pretty happy with the results.
The lights projecting off Big Grizzly Mountain created a very beautiful purple hour when mixed with the grey smog though!
Mystic Point was definitely my favourite area of the park, and we had a lot of fun photographing it this evening, there were so many fun angles to try!
Into Toy Story Land I was disappointed that the lights strung above the whole area were not more colourful (they seemed as though they were 1990's incandescent bulbs rather than bright colourful LED's). Still the area was much prettier at night than during the day.
Fantasyland looked great at night!
Just as we were setting up for the shots below, Paint the Night started to the right of the it's a small world area, heading past Fantasyland towards the hub! We tried really hard not to look and spoil it for the next night when we would be watching it but we couldn't help it, the music was so catchy we just had to look! Jared was so excited by the snippets he saw (he LOVES night parades) he couldn't wait until the next day! I had seen videos of the parade where as he hadn't, but even still from what I could see the parade was everything I would have hoped and more.
Continued in Next Post...
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RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Day 4 - Part 3 - Closing down the park
From the Fantasyland drawbridge we got another sneak peak at Paint the Night
And then we headed into Adventureland
Tarzan's Treehouse stands where Tom Sawyer Island would be at Disneyland/Magic Kingdom. It's quite a site to behold at night all the lights going up the tree!
When were done in Adventureland we had wanted to head back into Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Manor for a few more shots of some of the main areas, as we assumed less people would be around. It was 7:30 at this point, half an hour before park closing, and we knew the attractions in the new lands (Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor and Toy Story Playland) closed half an hour before the park, so we figured less people would be around. What we didn't count on was that the entire lands closed 30 minutes before the park did, so you couldn't even get back in them! I couldn't believe it, but I guess given the areas are towards the back of the park they try and clear people through so they don't accidentally leave anyone back there. Still it annoyed me. I'm sure it was a cost saving measure but if you are going to open the park, open the whole park (the same thing was true in reverse in the mornings, the new areas opened half an hour after the rest of the park).
Anyway, we headed over to Tomorrowland
It appears Hong Kong Disneyland's version of Hyperspace Mountain is permanent, more on that in Day 5's update.
At park close we found ourselves in Fantasyland, and we thought we'd take the opportunity to test Jared's ND Filter by taking shots of the fireworks from behind the castle. It actually made for some really interesting photos!
As you can see there were quite a few people milling around who thought this was a good way to see the fireworks as well!
We sat in Fantasyland for a while, trying to wait out the crowds as we had a plan to close down the park. We managed to be the very last people out of Fantasyland, and the last ones in the front half of the hub area! I was super proud!
We then waited around like an hour and a half trying to wait for security to clear everyone off Main Street. The shops were obviously open until 9, but they were so busy that at 9:30 there were still people (not many but a few) sitting on Main Street, taking in the atmosphere. We got some fairly empty street shots, and had planned to be the last ones out, but decided we couldn't be bothered waiting any longer so we decided to be the second last ones out!
And so, for the very first time, we "almost" closed down the park!
Continued in Next Post...
From the Fantasyland drawbridge we got another sneak peak at Paint the Night
And then we headed into Adventureland
Tarzan's Treehouse stands where Tom Sawyer Island would be at Disneyland/Magic Kingdom. It's quite a site to behold at night all the lights going up the tree!
When were done in Adventureland we had wanted to head back into Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Manor for a few more shots of some of the main areas, as we assumed less people would be around. It was 7:30 at this point, half an hour before park closing, and we knew the attractions in the new lands (Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor and Toy Story Playland) closed half an hour before the park, so we figured less people would be around. What we didn't count on was that the entire lands closed 30 minutes before the park did, so you couldn't even get back in them! I couldn't believe it, but I guess given the areas are towards the back of the park they try and clear people through so they don't accidentally leave anyone back there. Still it annoyed me. I'm sure it was a cost saving measure but if you are going to open the park, open the whole park (the same thing was true in reverse in the mornings, the new areas opened half an hour after the rest of the park).
Anyway, we headed over to Tomorrowland
It appears Hong Kong Disneyland's version of Hyperspace Mountain is permanent, more on that in Day 5's update.
At park close we found ourselves in Fantasyland, and we thought we'd take the opportunity to test Jared's ND Filter by taking shots of the fireworks from behind the castle. It actually made for some really interesting photos!
As you can see there were quite a few people milling around who thought this was a good way to see the fireworks as well!
We sat in Fantasyland for a while, trying to wait out the crowds as we had a plan to close down the park. We managed to be the very last people out of Fantasyland, and the last ones in the front half of the hub area! I was super proud!
We then waited around like an hour and a half trying to wait for security to clear everyone off Main Street. The shops were obviously open until 9, but they were so busy that at 9:30 there were still people (not many but a few) sitting on Main Street, taking in the atmosphere. We got some fairly empty street shots, and had planned to be the last ones out, but decided we couldn't be bothered waiting any longer so we decided to be the second last ones out!
And so, for the very first time, we "almost" closed down the park!
Continued in Next Post...
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RachelleBeaney
PrincessShelle
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2012
Day 4 - Part 5 - Kiss Goodnight, Hong Kong Disneyland style
By the time we decided to leave the park we were absolutely wrecked. In Singapore, I'd somehow managed to get a blister on my foot right where the arch of my shoe sat, and as a result I'd been walking around for a few days with my foot hurting every time I took a step. The blister had popped by this stage and was sorer than ever.
I was dreading the walk back to the buses on my super sore foot, I was now limping to try and avoid the worst of the pain, and so it was with a bit of reluctance that we left the park, as much from the thought of getting back to the hotel as the thought of leaving. We decided to stop at the Mickey fountain first to have a break between the long walk from the park to the buses, and so we did, taking some photos as we rested. As we started to set up, the fountain started to play a collection of classic Disney tunes, while it danced and flashed different colours. This adorable little lights show, which was very akin in feeling to the Kiss Goodnight at the Magic Kingdom, was such a beautiful way for Hong Kong Disneyland to say goodnight to us, such a beautiful way to finish up our first day at Disney, we got a little misty eyed. The fact that we were exhausted, had felt a little rushed off our feet from all the photo taking, and that my foot was so sore, just sort of melted away as Hong Kong Disneyland bid us farewell for the night. It was the perfect reminder that slowing down at taking in all the little Disney details is what we love so much about the parks, and what keeps us coming back! We took a million photos of the show, and the few below are only a small sampling! It doesn't capture how wonderful it was though! In the end we were glad we waited around 1.5 hours after closing, if only to experience this (I'm sure they did it a few times a night but we would likely not have seen it had we left on time).
And so we said goodnight to Hong Kong Disneyland, though it wasn't so sad as we knew it wasn't a final farewell just yet, we'd be back in the morning!
After Jared had successfully deposited me, and my sore foot, back in our room back at the hotel, he headed out to take some photographs of the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.
There was a beautiful maze out the back of the hotel that made a stunning foreground for photos! And as you can see, it looks very similar in style to the Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World.
Still like I said earlier, the hotel didn't have the level of depth and detail of some of the Disney hotels I've been in. It was beautiful, and as a stand alone hotel very stunning, but couldn't compare with the likes of the Tokyo Disney Resort official hotels, or even some of the Walt Disney World hotels we've stayed at.
Elements of the hotel were stunning though. These Chandeliers were beautiful! And the stained glass above them so detailed. But notice the lack of other detail on the ceiling. That's what I mean when I say it wasn't as details or perhaps layered as other Disney hotels.
Anyway we had had a long day, so we drifted off into a deep sleep in no time, ready for a full day of theme parking in the morning!
Continued in Next Post...
By the time we decided to leave the park we were absolutely wrecked. In Singapore, I'd somehow managed to get a blister on my foot right where the arch of my shoe sat, and as a result I'd been walking around for a few days with my foot hurting every time I took a step. The blister had popped by this stage and was sorer than ever.
I was dreading the walk back to the buses on my super sore foot, I was now limping to try and avoid the worst of the pain, and so it was with a bit of reluctance that we left the park, as much from the thought of getting back to the hotel as the thought of leaving. We decided to stop at the Mickey fountain first to have a break between the long walk from the park to the buses, and so we did, taking some photos as we rested. As we started to set up, the fountain started to play a collection of classic Disney tunes, while it danced and flashed different colours. This adorable little lights show, which was very akin in feeling to the Kiss Goodnight at the Magic Kingdom, was such a beautiful way for Hong Kong Disneyland to say goodnight to us, such a beautiful way to finish up our first day at Disney, we got a little misty eyed. The fact that we were exhausted, had felt a little rushed off our feet from all the photo taking, and that my foot was so sore, just sort of melted away as Hong Kong Disneyland bid us farewell for the night. It was the perfect reminder that slowing down at taking in all the little Disney details is what we love so much about the parks, and what keeps us coming back! We took a million photos of the show, and the few below are only a small sampling! It doesn't capture how wonderful it was though! In the end we were glad we waited around 1.5 hours after closing, if only to experience this (I'm sure they did it a few times a night but we would likely not have seen it had we left on time).
And so we said goodnight to Hong Kong Disneyland, though it wasn't so sad as we knew it wasn't a final farewell just yet, we'd be back in the morning!
After Jared had successfully deposited me, and my sore foot, back in our room back at the hotel, he headed out to take some photographs of the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.
There was a beautiful maze out the back of the hotel that made a stunning foreground for photos! And as you can see, it looks very similar in style to the Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World.
Still like I said earlier, the hotel didn't have the level of depth and detail of some of the Disney hotels I've been in. It was beautiful, and as a stand alone hotel very stunning, but couldn't compare with the likes of the Tokyo Disney Resort official hotels, or even some of the Walt Disney World hotels we've stayed at.
Elements of the hotel were stunning though. These Chandeliers were beautiful! And the stained glass above them so detailed. But notice the lack of other detail on the ceiling. That's what I mean when I say it wasn't as details or perhaps layered as other Disney hotels.
Anyway we had had a long day, so we drifted off into a deep sleep in no time, ready for a full day of theme parking in the morning!
Continued in Next Post...
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