Disneyland

14th December is Geoff’s and Nigel’s birthday. Nigel would like to spend his birthday at Disneyland but his uncle, Geoff, is not a big fan of Disneyland. To this day, Geoff has yet to visit Hong Kong Disneyland. Anyways, to cut a long story short, we all went to Disneyland that day.

Both Geoff and I took a day off work on 14th December to attend Tasha’s school concert in the morning. It was a very well put together concert considering all the children were only around 5-7 years old. After the concert, we drove to Disneyland. For all your information, we got Tasha an annual pass (Andrea is free), so if anyone would like to visit Hong Kong and take Tasha to Disneyland again (she has been there 4 times already!), you are most welcomed!

The day did not start well. We got there just after 2 pm and it continued to drizzle. The park was not very crowded (not surprising considering the temperature (about 17C or so - finally, our first “cold” day this winter) and weather (been raining for the past few days). We managed to pack in 2 Buzz Lightyear rides before we have to leave to position ourselves by the Main Street for the best view of the parade. The daddies were very excited, still on their Buzz Lightyear high (both scored hundreds of point while saving the earth), they positioned themselves in strategic locations hoping to try out their new toys (a Nikon D200 and a Nikon D80). Unfortunately, it continued to drizzle. So, instead of a full 30-minute parade of dancing characters, we had a 5-minute parade of characters on a couple of train carriage. Needless to say, all were very disappointed.

Ironically, the rain stopped shortly after the parade. We went for a few more rides and a 3D show. Tasha refused to watch the 3D show again (she didn’t like it the first time – say she was scared) but was forced to (she was more afraid to wait for us outside by herself). She was pleasantly surprised when she found that the show was not as scary as she remembered. Another lesson learnt! Andrea, on the other hand, enjoyed most of it. She willingly put on the 3D glasses when she realised that the screen was not much fun without the glasses. Smart baby!

The highlights of the day started when the sun went down – the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Main Square. I missed it as I had to secure a table for dinner. But, I was told that it was beautifully done with characters and Santa Claus and complete with fake snow. With the light, the cold and the fake snow……..it makes you want to believe in Santa! The children loved it. So did Geoff.

After dinner came the fire works. It was awesome! We all got separate after dinner, hoping to pack in last minute shopping/photo session. I had Tasha. We moved as far front as we could but most people were still taller than Tasha. Since I could not carry her on my shoulder, I carried her and yank her as high as I could (back suffered after that but worth it). She enjoyed every minute of it, especially when they played “a whole new world”, twice! Geoff had Andrea. He said she was half asleep before the fireworks started but was totally awake and mesmerized by it. Nigel was with Danny and Ai-lin and I am sure he too had a ball!

Before leaving, the children were allowed to choose a gift each. And, of course, we ended with more than 1 gift each…….All in all, it was a wonderful and festive day.

I am still in the middle of sorting out the photos. Check back in a few days and the photo link will be up.