"The Happiest place on earth"

Disneyland, “the Happiest place on earth”. I have now visited all but one Disneyland in the world! The only place missing in my Disney life is Disneyland in Japan. I know we will make it there one of these days.

Disney parks are enchanting. Disneyland, Disney World or Epcot; it does not matter what they are called you know that you will be met with professionalism and extreme attention to details. No matter how old the park is, it looks impeccable. Of course Disneyland Hong Kong lived up to all this.  

First time I ever visited a Disney park was in 1992, the year Euro Disney opened outside Paris. I was 15 years old and on my way to Eastbourne, UK, with one of my best friends to attend a four week English course (including live-in at a British family). I honestly do not remember much of that Disney because A) it was too crowded (the line to one ride was at least two hours long), B) we were 15 years old and “too cool” to care about cartoons.

Disneyland Hong Kong is by far the smallest of Disney parks I have been to, which is not surprising considering how everything related to living areas in Hong Kong is small. It took about ten minutes to walk from the entrance to Toy Story land (all the way in the back of the park), and a very leisurely walk too, to not collapse in the heat. But it got the details; the perfectly cute Main Street, the smallest Princess castle I have seen, "It's a small world"-ride in Fantasy land, the outstanding fire works right before the park closes and much more. 



In Disneyland you have to visit the shows, all included in the 399 HKD entrance fee. Their shows are outstanding! The first show we watched was the Lion King show in Adventure Land. I have to say it was absolutely fantastic! It was a half hour show with amazing costumes, professional dancers and singers and just an outstanding performance! Nothing was left untouched, every detail down to the shoes was perfect. For all I know they could have very well performed this on Broadway. 


Of course the sun was blasting viciously all day. It was soooooooo hot! I was almost catatonic from the heat every time we had to walk in the open between shows or rides. But it was fun, we both enjoyed Disneyland a lot! A welcomed surprise was a water parade in the afternoon where they sprayed water on the audience, and we both loved it. And guess what? We got the year pass! Yeah, I could not help it. If we just go there for one more visit the year pass already paid off, so it's all good. Disney makes me happy, despite the blistering sun :). 


Oh, one last thing; something that really surprised me was the food! I mean, it was basically fast food, we ordered fish and chips, and a cheese burger meal, reasonably priced, but it was pretty darn tasty!