Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Hong Kong Day 2 at Disneyland

Before flying off to Hong Kong, I have done my research on Hong Kong Disneyland, of it's schedules of shows and meet and greet sessions. Nowhere in my mind I could imagine myself arranging my trip to Hong Kong Disneyland in such detail.
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My plans were to arrive at 10.30am, which was their official opening hour. However, I woke up a little later and took my time at the breakfast buffet in my hotel.
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In the end, I only arrived Disneyland at 11am after taking the Mickey train from the hotel MTR station, Tseung Kwan O.
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Before collecting my entrance tickets, I had a staff take a picture for me. After all, going in alone will need all the help I get, before using my monopod, or in other words, selfie stick. Selfie stick is specially designed for "forever alone" people like me I guess, and it is so useful!!!
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While everyone else was busy taking photos and queueing up for rides at Main Street and places around Main Street, I made a smart choice by following my planned itinerary, which was to start from the middle of nowhere. I started at Grizzly Gulch and got to take a ride at the Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. There wasn't a queue and the ride I was on was actually quite empty. It was such a cool ride! It's a roller coaster that goes up and up and up and suddenly zooms down reversed! It was my top 3 rides in there.
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As I got off my ride, I spotted Mickey and Minnie in their cowboy suits at the meet and greet session. I got to take a picture with Mickey and Minnie after 15 minutes. They were very cute and they kept flirting with each other in between our picture sessions.
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Next stop was Mystic Point. From the brochure online, I didn't expect to go for any rides whatsoever because the descriptions did not catch my interest. However, the staff welcomed me to enter one of the rides and I had fun in the end! It was a story telling ride which was magical. There were lots of musical instruments shown at the ride. Educational, I would call it.
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Then, I headed to Toy Story Land. I followed my schedule just like I planned although I started off late. I started with some picture taking of the surroundings and Woody, before taking the RC Racer ride. RC Racer is more like Pirate ship, but in a larger impact due to the mechanisms and such. Top 3 goes to RC Racer too! I sat all the way up front!!!
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Since I still had time, I went to Fantasy Land for Mickey's Philharmagic, which was a 3D musical show of Donald making a Boo Boo. Although it was my second time there, it seemed like it was still so good.
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After the show, I walked back to Adventure Land for the Festival of Lion King at 2pm. I was there early, so I got a very good seat. I even had some videos recorded!!! The show was very highly rated and so I kept my hopes high and wasn't disappointed. Lots of dances were seen and the story of Lion King was very well interpreted.
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There was a little more time to spare before the 3pm Flights of Fantasy Parade. Walking around for only 3 hours made me a professional in getting to the designated place in minutes. I guess that is the pros of traveling alone. You don't have to worry about wasting time or walking faster than others.
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I walked off when the parade was about to end. I didn't want to be caught up in the human jam that was definitely going to happen right after. I walked over to Tomorrowland for the Space Mountain, which was the pitch black roller coaster. This ride however, did not thrill me like how it did years ago. It wasn't thrilling at all. It was a disappointment.
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Since I had loads of time to spare and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was nearby, I decided to have a go in this ride. The ride required us to aim and shoot at designated spots. Since it had some problems in between that caused it to keep stopping dead at its tracks, I scored with really high marks. This ride is made mainly for kids. Not recommended.
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The Stitch Encounter was just at the pathway leading to Fantasy Land. The next session was up in 10 minutes, so I went for it too. Without knowing what it is about, I entered a hall, realizing what a mistake I have done. It was just conversations that "Stitch" makes with the public. Someone was faking his voice to entertain the crowd. There were also cameras everywhere. It was funny but also, a little waste of time.

The Golden Mickeys were up next at 4.45pm in Fantasy Land. I reached there 10 minutes to the show and the queue was long. Luckily, it was a big hall. I managed to get a middle seat at the back. The Show consisted of so many Disney Movie clips and I loved the show. The only thumbs down would be the Emcee. Her English was not very understandable as she had a funny accent. I think she needs brushing up in her English.
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There was a slight drizzle by the time we got out of the show. I walked on to the Fantasy Garden to take pictures with the Disney Characters since I had to also seek for shelter. I'm so happy to finally get to take nice pictures with them individually. I had to wait for 10 minutes at a few of the booths because the mascots had to take a break. That was most time consuming.
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A guy approached me after exiting the garden. He wanted me to do a little survey for him. I had more than enough time so I just went ahead with it. It was a survey on how the Fantasy Garden was and how I rated it and the rest of Disneyland. It only took me about 10 minutes and he gave me postcards and a small book of stickers as an appreciation gift for my time.

Next up was the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. From outside, it looked like it was a kid's ride. I don't remember entering this ride before though there were moments of dejavu. I went for the ride just because I was curious to know whether I was on it before.

I then walked around, taking pictures of everything I see, before I walked back to the Main Street for Disney Paint the Night parade at 7pm. It was so good! It seems like I have covered all the parades there in one day! Not forgetting all the rides I planned on going for.

Before settling down in one spot for the 8pm Disney In The Stars Fireworks, I went into the shops to purchase some merchandise. I was surprised to see that the stuff sold there were not so expensive after all!!! After a purchase of 200 or 400hkd, you are entitled to have a purchase for purchase item. You could buy as many as you want. I got a luggage bag for only 108 HKD and a towel at 78 HKD. I regret not buying more...

I finally also bought a Swarovski pen with my name carved on it on the spot. There were a lot of handicraft and personalized items for sale there too.
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The fireworks was amazing. But I guess it would be more amazing if it came out with a Disney logo at the end.
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I stopped by the shops again after the fireworks and sat down at the bench near the exit to rest before I start my 45 minutes journey back to the hotel. Sitting at the bench, I made some friends. It appears that the 2 families sitting at the benches beside mine were Malaysians. We exchanged our experience in Hong Kong for the past week and chatted for about half an hour.

It was such a great day at Disneyland alone that I totally forgot to eat anything throughout.

I think I have fallen in love with traveling alone...


Meals consumed throughout the day:
Breakfast at the hotel

Hours spent walking:
12 hours