Sunday,
November 7, 2010
We woke up reeeeeeaaally excited for what was in store for
today. Gemma would be taking her first trip to Disneyland. What
a far cry from the life she had just a few days ago. We'll just
need to make sure she understands that this lifestyle is only
temporary until we get back home and the reality of daily life
in the U.S. starts. Our friends Kim and Tyler had once again
come through with arrangements for us. One of their friends in
Discovery Bay works for Disney and arranged for us to get in for
the day at no charge. Thanks a million Judy and Thereon!!
Now we just had the not-so-small task of getting our luggage
from Wanchai to The Hollywood Hotel at HK Disneyland by 9:30 so
that we could get the bags in the hold and be at the park to
meet Judy by 10:00. To take a cab that distance would be fairly
expensive, so last night Tyler had given us the whole lowdown
about which MTR lines to take to get to Disney. Boy does it pay
to know the transit system in Hong Kong, and it is actually very
simple! The whole trip from Wanchai to Disney cost us
HK$72/USD$9.50. We were able to get an Airport Express shuttle
from the Renaissance for free, and it had plenty of cargo racks.
The driver dropped us at the curb for Hong Kong Central Station
and we went inside well ahead of time. April stopped for a quick
tea at Starbucks and we rounded the corner to head down to the
Tung Chung/Disney platform.
Right about then we noticed something not quite right with Gemma.
She'd had her morning noodles back at the hotel and was making a
motion that something was going to come back up. Since that
little pantomime is pretty universal, I quickly whisked her away
to a corner out of the foot traffic where she promptly emptied
the contents of her stomach all over the pristine floor. A nice
lady saw our predicament and handed us a plastic bag to catch
the rest. Being the savvy mother she is, April reasoned that it
was probably nerves since Gemma wasn't exhibiting any other
signs of being sick. We hadn't yet told her we were going to
Disneyland because we wanted it to be a surprise, but in our
effort to surprise her, we'd caused her a lot of anxiety. For
all she knew, we were getting on the plane today to leave
everything she's ever known.
I figured there was no time like the present to let her in on
the big secret. You should have seen the delight on her face
when we told her! And yes, the tummy aches were instantly gone.
I just wish she didn't have to endure that in the first place.
We headed down an escalator that had to be almost as long as the
buddha's steps (elevators are not prevalent in train stations
for whatever reason), got our subway tickets, and off we went on
the Tung Chung line. The train made several stops but between
the stops it accelerates to a top speed of 83 MPH. At the Sunny
Bay stop, the doors opened and we rolled our luggage 30-40 feet
across the platform straight onto the Disney line. Talk about
convenience! The train emptied at the park itself and we just
had one more leg to the hotel, which was on one of the Disney
buses. The buses have plenty of cargo area underneath so it was
no problem getting it stowed for the short ride. It was only
9:30 and we'd left Central Station downtown at 9:00! To go all
the way from the financial district, through Kowloon and out to
the middle of Lantau Island is quite a drive by car, but we were
already here, dropping our bags at the luggage hold…for $9.50.
We checked in, got the keys, and then it was time to head to the
park. The Disney buses have a small screen up in front that
plays continuous ads of HK Disneyland. Gemma was riveted and had
no idea what was in store for her.
Walking into the park, we met Judy at our designated meeting
spot. She gave us four tickets and a ton of moral support for
what we're doing with our adoption. Kim says she and her husband
are always generous this way with visiting friends and
acquaintances. Judy, a generous lady we had not known before,
had gone out of her way to meet us at the park AND deliver some
free tickets. We are very blessed to have such friends looking
out for us!
The rain had finally stopped and the sun was blazing bright and
warm. The temperature was perfect, especially since we'd been in
our sweatshirts every other day in Hong Kong. Today was once
again a shorts and t-shirt day. It was also a good day for
sunglasses and Gemma was clearly uncomfortable in the bright
light. We sprang for a little Disney bling and got her some cute
little princess shades. That seemed to be the cure.
Hong Kong Disney is quite a bit smaller than the U.S. Disney
parks. Imagine Disneyland Anaheim minus Splash Mountain, Big
Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours, Pirates, Haunted Mansion,
Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Toontown,
Matterhorn, Nemo, and Indiana Jones and you've imagined HK
Disney. It so happens that Space Mountain was closed today and
there were no parades either. Gavin was pretty bummed that there
weren't any real thrill rides, but this day was all about Gemma
so he eventually became a little less bummed. She wouldn't care
about what was missing because she doesn't know any better.
We figured we were in for a long day when Gemma halted at the
first ride, which was just Dumbo. I think she still remembered
the barf incident from earlier and had some reservations, but we
made her go on the ride and she ended up loving it. From there,
she'd ride anything. She had the camera we had given her and was
snapping photos madly. I'll have to do a post with some of her
more interesting shots later. One by one we checked off all the
attractions in Disneyland and kept everyone well-nourished with
goodies here and there. The good news about HK Disney is that if
you only have one day to do it, it can be accomplished.
Gavin and I entertained ourselves by trying to make sure we
captured the most interesting cast member names. In HK Disney,
since most of the workers are Chinese, they will take an English
name. Sometimes this just means they will take an English word.
We've met Elvis, a girl named Marco, a guy named Lorry, several
girls named Joey, Gladys, Jones, Milly, Champy, Phoenix, Wing,
Blue, Energy, Cake, and Winky. The most popular name for the
girls is Wendy. What a hoot! We managed to get several character
photos with Gemma, including the Big Cheese himself. It started
to get dark so it was time to pick up some pins for the kids
back home, get Gemma her very own Minnie hat, and then
skedaddle.
The park closed at 7:00 so for the evening lineup we took a trip
over to the Disneyland Hotel. It's the fancier of the two hotel
properties at the park and we'd known it had a hedge maze so we
wanted to check it out. The kids ran around surprising each
other at each corner of the maze. It was dark out but you knew
where they were in the maze by the "boo", followed by the
scream.
Heading back to our room at the Disney Hollywood Hotel, we
quickly changed into our swim trunks for one last evening of yuo
yong. The pool is shaped like a giant piano, with black and
white tiles making up the keys. It has a small slide that snakes
through a rocky area and Gemma got to try her first water slide.
She came down just laughing away while I watched in the splash
down area to make sure she didn't go under. We played in the
mostly heated pool for about an hour or so. April and I had
wanted to soak in the hot tub after a day of walking in the park
but unfortunately it was out of service.
We had gotten a package deal on the room which was a park view
room including the Chef Mickey breakfast. Our room was in
between the "O" and the "L" in "HOLLYWOOD" and we were looking
straight out at Space Mountain. The "park view" is kind of a
misnomer. The castle at HK Disney is the tiniest of any in the
world. It's the first thing that strikes you as you enter the
park expecting to see the grand castle down Main Street. The
park itself is within a large bowl, the sides of which are
almost as tall as the castle. So the "park view" is really a
view of Space Mountain and a lot of foliage. It was still a
great view. Also visible were four or five cranes as Disney
builds all new lands to coincide with the opening of Shanghai
Disneyland in 2012. Hopefully they'll add all the attractions
from the other Magic Kingdom parks that are missing here.
To cap off our trip to China, we had a very tender moment
tonight as we settled in our room. Gemma was very excited and
bouncing on the double beds knowing that she wouldn't have to
sleep on an air mattress again. She then pulled out a pad of
letterhead and wrote Chinese with an English translation: "My
today very happy. Very much. Yes."
Success. |
Obligatory castle shot
Afraid to ride at first but then she was diggin' it!
Waiting for Philharmagic
April adopting the customary Chinese pose to highlight whatever
it is behind you
Gavinator at Autopia
Gemma with the Big Cheese
After all these boys we're still getting used to the idea of
princesses
Spontaneous arm in arm strolling
Hedge maze at the Disneyland Hotel
Hollywood Hotel where we are staying |
