Hong Kong #3: Disneyland

The next item in Hong Kong was Disneyland – our 14 yo daughter was fast approaching that age beyond which Disneyland would not attract her. Of course, she’d been to other amusement parks like WonderLa in Bangalore and Universal Studios in Singapore, but Disneyland is the bigger brand. Also, we’d been putting off a Disney visit when our daughter was still small, fearing she wouldn’t remember anything and/or be too short for most rides. 


The rides at this Disneyland were pretty tame – no roller coasters, for example. Which was a good thing for me, since I am more terrified than thrilled in the rides. Though my daughter would have enjoyed it more if the rides were wilder.

 

We’d bought the fast-track tickets to go faster through the queues. Unfortunately, those tickets are applicable for specific rides only, not the entire park. The queues being as long as they were (but they are still much better than the US, I am told), we went to whichever rides those tickets entitled us (Star Wars, Iron Man, Frozen and a mini-roller coaster). There are other fast-track tickets tied to other specific rides, but none that apply to the entire park. I guess these tickets make sense for people visiting often, who know the rides and which ones they care for; it is not really for one/first-timers like us. WonderLa is so much better on this front. Plus, Disneyland doesn’t sell all tickets via the same site. Weird.

 

It was amusing that the Disney characters spoke English, Mandarin and Cantonese! Then again, I am sure the Paris Disney characters speak French.

 

Around 5 pm, the Disney parade started – it’s like a Republic Day parade where all the Disney characters (Mickey, Donald, plus the movie-based ones) come in costume and dance. That part was really nice.

 

The moment the parade ended, there was a scramble to the exits and the train taking you back to the city was jam packed (Disneyland is on a separate island). I guess most parents had had enough and the kids were tired and ready to get cranky (The park itself would stay open for several more hours).

 

My daughter enjoyed the trip though, even wanting to go back another time. That made Disneyland worth the trip.

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