Where Dreams Come True

When I was five, my parents took my elder sister and I to Disneyland in Orlando, Florida.  I was young enough that I remember nothing from that trip.  At age 20 I returned to Disney, this time in Hong Kong.  While perhaps not the realization of my wildest dreams, I did enjoy my experience at the park.

Getting there

The only way to travel in Hong Kong is via MTR (the subway system).  It is faster, easier, and more comfortable than traveling by bus.  That being said, the MTR is very popular with the locals as well as with the visitors.  Leaving at 9:00am, I entered the MTR during rush hours.  It felt somewhat like this:
After transferring four times between different MTR lines I arrived at the Disney station and staggered out into the heat to meet up with my friend Sakura. 

Ready, set, go!

I decided to get a year-long student pass as that was considerably cheaper than paying the entrance fee twice.  After going through the process to get our passes, we were allowed to enter the first set of gates:

We walked into a 1890's version of Main Street USA half an hour before the rest of the park opened.  We browsed through a few shops and found out we were not the only ones waiting for the park to open.
Goofy waiting for the people to come out and play with him

Roller coasters, here we come!

This Disneyland had 6 different sections: Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventure Land, Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point, and Toy Story Land.  We bounced from roller coaster to roller coaster.  Tomorrowland had a Star Wars ride with sharp turns, curves, and incredible speed - all within one building in the pitch dark.  Grizzly Gulch had a Roller Coaster that halfway through suddenly went backwards.  Toy Story Land had a race-car-themed ride that scared me half to death by going full out from the start rather than gradually building up momentum like the rides in the US:

This is steeper than it looks and went all the way to the ends of the tracks from the get go (and half of the time you are moving backwards)

That time of year

The beginning of October signaled the beginning of Halloween celebrations.  The entire park was decked out in pumpkins and Halloween decorations.  There was even a trick-or-treat section where we picked up some free candy.
 

Last impressions

My first encounter with Disney as an adult was a good one.  We saw the entire park in one day and had a blast trying out the different rides.  The park is geared towards children and there were certainly aspects of the park that would have appealed more to a younger group, such as meeting with the different characters and going on the safari ride. Nonetheless, it was nice revisiting my childhood memories:
I was very excited to learn that Winnie the Pooh was Disney
A very cute design for a toy store

 

Memories

Mickey and the magic brooms
The sun in "It's a Small World"




Meeting one of my childhood icons



Waiting for an amazing 3D show
No dancing on roller coasters




The end to a lovely day
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amazing

Image
"The summer weather here is amazing!" - Finnish girl in my class  Class eyed her in disbelief as the average day here is 90 °F with a humidity level  ranging between 70 - 90%.  But it got me thinking...       I concur
Read more

Surviving the airport

Image
Also known as " how long is my layover?!" As you prepare to travel internationally you will soon realize that there is no such thing as a direct flight from Des Moines to your destination.  When I applied to study in Hong Kong I had no idea that the city I'd end up fixating on in my travels was Los Angeles (LA).  I can only shake my head in amazed disbelief at the fact that I have had two twenty-plus hour layovers in LA.  Layovers, security, and the airplane rides themselves are all things that lie between you and your destination.  Below are some lessons and observations I have gleaned from my travels that will hopefully help you get through the different ordeals and survive the airport. Packing your carry-on The sad truth is that regardless of how well thought out and carefully packed your suitcase is, the very first thing you do once beginning your journey is to say goodbye to your suitcase at the check-in counter.  From there on out you must rely on your c
Read more

Mistakes to expect when learning about a place

Image
"Welcome to Hong Kong, your new home for the next four months and a place beyond your wildest dreams."  I mean that quite literally as I was apparently imagining a completely different city, a fact that became clear within my first few days in Hong Kong.  Growing up in the US, when I think of cities I automatically picture New York City.  Hearing that Hong Kong had over 8 million people in a very small area I figured that it would look much like Manhattan - dense with lots of high-rises.  And looking at pictures of the two, I unconsciously decided that they must be very similar, at least in layout. New York Apparent Similarities: 1) Concrete masses 2) Skyscrapers 3) Lovely city night lights 4) Large populations and thus many things to do Hong Kong Differences upon arrival : 1) Hong Kong is tropical (which i knew) and thus is part jungle (which was completely unexpected). Note: New York = concrete mass + Central Park 2) Hong Kong is built on hills.
Read more