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Hong Kong Disneyland PTR, June 2012

Mike

Giga Poster
After my Study Abroad exchange finished in Australia earlier this year, my Cathay Pacific flight home had a stop-over in Hong Kong, and I would have been a bit of an idiot if I didn’t take the opportunity to visit and explore my first ever Asian city! It has been a few months since I visited, so some of my recollections may be a bit fuzzy in places, but at least it’s better late than never in writing this report! :p

So, being on a late night flight from Brisbane, my flight landed at about 7:30am Hong Kong time. Luckily, as Hong Kong time is behind Queensland time, this allowed me to get quite a bit of sleep on the flight over, although not too much. Being armed with an army of maps and directions for how to get to my hotel, I set off from Hong Kong International with a sense of trepidation but also excited.

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The Airport Express train runs directly from the airport to Tsing Yi, Kowloon and Hong Kong Central. Just in case you’ve got no idea how long of a journey you’ve got left, this helpful bar ticks along as you get closer to the stations.

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Bored of the journey? Why not watch a bit of TV! Not a fan of Ice Hockey or don’t want to listen to the sound? Turn your seat’s own headrest speakers down! :)

As my hotel was located near the Yau Ma Tei station in the middle of Kowloon island, I decided to avoid Hong Kong Central station and instead get myself used to changing trains on their Metro system by changing at Tsing Yi and Lai King…

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Here’s a map of the Hong Kong Metro, so you at least have some idea of what the hell I’m on about.
What I hadn’t accounted for, however, was how I would be arriving right in the middle of morning rush hour, and all the trains were jam-packed full of people. I didn’t manage to get any photos of this as I was too busy trying to find my way through the maze of people, but the amount of people heading toward Hong Kong island was insane.

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This train is emptied compared to the first morning. It does make me glad that I didn’t decide to go all the way to Central though!

Anyway, after finding my way to Yay Ma Tei, and then coming out completely the wrong exit for my hotel and having to cross over Nathan Street, I found my hotel within a minute of the station. As it was still early, I had to drop my bags off at concierge, and after a quick change of shirts and quickly grabbing out a bit of cash from my suitcase, I headed off towards my first activity of the trip; Disneyland! :D

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My hotel for the visit; the 4* Cityview hotel located just off the main Nathan Road shopping and dining district of Kowloon island and right next to the Yau Ma Tei Metro station. The hotel had the feel of a fairly luxurious 4* British hotel, but with the price of a 2* British hotel!

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I approve of 3D Metro advertising signs! :)

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I also approve of the non-3D signs! :D

Hong Kong Disneyland is incredibly easy to find with pretty much every Metro station through Kowloon and the main Hong Kong islands having signs for it. After arriving at Sunny Bay, you can jump straight onto the Disneyland Resort line that takes you straight to the park.

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You know you’ve found the right train once everything goes Disneyfied!

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The inside of the carriages were full of Hidden Mickeys, such as these awesome Mickey rail things.

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Proof that I was actually there. I had to wear my Disney shirt for the day. :)

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The carriages also had a few more nice touches, such as these brass figurines lining the sides…

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…And photos of Walt showing his love of trains.

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Hooray, finally there! :D

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The path towards the entrance was fairly bare but featured these pictures of a ton of Disney characters. Anything with Simba in is good in my books. :)

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Just before the main gates, there is a fountain area featuring all of the Mickey Mouse gang. Here’s Mickey just casually surfing on Monstro’s back… Well, I assume it’s Monstro, but just a bit high?

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Goofy is getting the hell away from there!

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Disneyland costs around £55 for a one-day ticket and Magic Kingdom costs a little bit more. Hong Kong Disneyland, however, for a park which is just as good as Magic Kingdom and possible a little bit better than Disneyland, is a whopping £20 cheaper at just £35 entrance!

After being more than willing to pay this amazing entrance price, and having budgeted and withdrawn plenty of Hong Kong $ for the trip, I proceeded to hand over my money, only to have it given back to me with the lady pointing out that I had given her the Yuan that I had got out for Shenzhen, and I had actually left all of my money in the hotel! :oops:

Err, woops!

So after paying with my card, I was finally in the park!...

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:D

Still to come:
Hong Kong Disneyland
Ocean Park
Hong Kong Sight-seeing and shopping
 

Mike

Giga Poster
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Arrival & Entering Di

After the embarrassment with the money situation, I finally made it into Hong Kong Disneyland. Having already been to the Paris, Orlando and Anaheim versions of the park, I would say I am pretty well versed up with what to expect from the park, but even though each park has the same basic Disney principals, I always find that each park has its own unique charm and atmospheres which make them all awesome, and this park is no different.

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When I visited, Grizzly Gulch was not yet fully built and Toy Story Land was still the big new area. Having never been to a Toy Story Land before, I was excited to see what this had to offer, and thinking this would get the largest queues throughout the day, it’s where I headed off to first.

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Before I got there though, I had to take possibly the most classic picture in any Disney park; a look down Main Street USA. Hong Kong is known for it's picturesque views and stunning geographical features along it's coast, and you might notice the hills behind the castle. This park is surrounded by mountains, which makes it quite a spectacular setting!

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The Main Street Philharmonic were providing the morning entertainment, playing the old favourites and usual suspects.

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The castle is rather disappointing really. For a newer park, I wish it had followed Paris’ lead and built a huge castle with gardens running down the front, but this version is just a bit bare and small… Still, it’s bigger than Disneyland’s version!

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The next few years are looking pretty incredible for Hong Kong Disneyland. Grizzly Gulch looks utterly stunning and I am gutted that I never got to experience this area. If Mystic Point is even half as good as Grizzly or Toy Story Land, it is going to be epic!

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Talking about Toy Story Land, I guess I’m heading in the right direction!

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The path to the area is a bit long and winding, and with the only other entrance through Grizzly, this was the only way in for my visit.

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Woody welcomes you to his area. First impressions are very positive so far!

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Of course, the first ride I would head towards would be the Intamin Half Pipe Coaster; RC Racer.

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Just in case you didn’t know who RC was; it’s this guy!

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The queue line is all giant Scalectrix track; a very cool feature and nice touch in my opinion.

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Nyooooown!

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The theming once inside the station building is minimal. I would rather have seen some kind of full-size model, but I guess you can’t have everything.

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Every time the ride starts, this flicks over from “Off” to “Fast”

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Here’s the ride in action.

Luckily, the crowds (of what there were) had not made it over to Toy Story Land yet, presumably getting stuck in Fantasyland along the way. This meant that everything in the area was a walk-on, which is lucky as I wouldn’t really want to wait too long for this ride. It’s fun, but the ride cycle is very short, only getting to the top a couple of times. The Intamin HPs with the spinning cars (Avatar and Surfrider) both feel a lot faster and you feel a lot more free in the seats, but obviously RC was created with the younger generation in mind, and certainly the Chinese seemed to love it (well, those who were willing to ride it, as it seemed most guests had an Intensity Rating of less than 3 or something), so the ride works pretty well for the park.

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The second ride in the area is Slinky Dog Spin, a rather simple spin n not-much-spew ride.

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If you didn’t want to ride, you could go in the seated and shaded viewing area. More parks should use this idea.

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The queue was inside a building providing plenty of shade, and was full of these character cut-outs and other wall murals and paintings.

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Make sure you get your ‘Barking’ Pass before you get on!

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I don’t really have a lot to say about the ride really. Very, very slow, but can fit a ton of people on which would be good for busier days.

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Howdy to you too! A strong nod to Woody’s Round-Up in Toy Story 2.

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Another nice feature of the area were the fans themed to K’nex.

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The final ride in the area is the Kamikaze Drop… Oh, err, wrong country… The Toy Soldier Parachute Drop!

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This kid is just landing from his successful solo skydive , assisted by the Cast Members dressed as green army men jumping with you.

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Oh, wait, the ride’s actually this parachute drop tower! Fooled ya, didn’t I! ;)

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The tower is only about 30cm tall, and you are shrunk down to the 2cm figurine when you get close to it.
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How else would you be the same height as this army man and toy car?

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Night fever, night feve-e-er!

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I wish I had been given a megaphone when I was working on Fantasmic. It would have helped A LOT!

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Once again, this is a very fun ride. Not very fast, but still provides the willy life butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling as you drop down. The ride also provided an excellent view of the Grizzly Gulch area being built, but I didn’t take my camera on!

So that is pretty much it of Toy Story Land. There definitely isn’t a lot in the area, but what there is is rather good and caters for the low-intensity Hong Kong/China market excellently. The theming in the area is top notch, as expected by Disney, but there is room for a few more touches here and there (the RC Racer car, for example).

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So, tell me what you think of the report so far!

Too long and with too many pictures?
Not enough
Is anybody even interested enough in this report for me to continue it?

As Hong Kong Disneyland is such a large park, and I took so many photos, I have decided to split it up a bit, and this section has just looked at Toy Story Land.

Hope you have enjoyed, and see you next time!

Mike.
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Toy Story Land

Awesome so far Mike! It's good to see an in depth look at the park, keep it coming :)
 

Ben

CF Legend
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Toy Story Land

I loved Disneyland HK too, it's just so awesome.

I think once more and more areas are added, it'll be the nicest main park by far (except Tokyo which I haven't done yet. Spite).
 

marc

CF Legend
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Toy Story Land

Great report so far Mike.

I really want to go there but am holding off until the new areas are complete.
 

Martyn B

CF Legend
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Toy Story Land

Enjoyed reading that, and I look forward to the next part!
 

peep

CF Legend
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Toy Story Land

Yay for HKDL trip report with plenty of details! The castle really does look pathetic but oh well, the rest of the park just looks fantastic. Look forward to the next instalment of your report!
 

Mike

Giga Poster
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Toy Story Land

Thanks for the comments guys. I really appreciate them! :)

Moving on out of Toy Story Land, I wasn’t quite sure how to tackle the park. In Magic Kingdom, I usually started in Adventureland, moving around into Frontierland and Liberty Square, then Tomorrowland and would maybe voyage into Fantasyland if the park wasn’t too busy. With Hong Kong, though, the park is half the size and hasn’t got half of these areas, so I pretty much headed off into a random direction and just did what I came to!

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And what did I come to? I hear you ask. Well, Fantasyland of course!

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AJ was out mincing with the guests whilst Aurora was having a fag on the girl’s shirt.

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I think I found where all the guests were disappearing to! Although, saying that, when I went past Dumbo earlier it only had a 10 minute wait; I should have taken the chance whilst it was there!

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Just in case you didn’t know what Dumbo looked like. One thing I never understood about MK was how Aladdin’s Carpets would only ever get a 15 minute wait whilst Dumbo got to 90, for basically exactly the same ride! Weird.

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I’d queue to ride the Flying Aardvarks!

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Anyway, enough of looking at the poor suckers waiting an hour to ride a mediocre Spin n Spew, as by this time it was BOILING outside. The humidity over there kills you if you aren’t used to it, and so some sort of shelter was sought.

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As luck would have it, PhilharMagic was playing in the concert hall on the day I went. Well, I say luck, but PhilharMagic is rubbish, and this version was an exact copy of all the other versions out there (or is it only MK that has it? Either way, it’s still rubbish and outdated).

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A ha! “Sea”. Get it? Like, you must “sea” the show. Genius!

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I’m actually holding my camera at chest-height here. It’s just that the Chinese are really, REALLY small.

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Fantasia statue. I never managed to get through all of the film when I tried watching it, but I seem to remember that Mickey was being a bit of a bastard to these brooms?

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Winnie the Pooh also makes an appearance at the park, but the queue was about 40 minutes, so I decided to FastPass it up.

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Chinese FastPass!

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Meanwhile, I explored the area a bit more and found that the area didn’t really have anything unique in it, which was a bit of a disappointment. Like pretty much every Disney park, Fantasyland is at the back of the castle.

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Ooooh, why?!

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I must say I was loving the exterior of this building!

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I hear the Super Adventure Club has the same slogan!

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And off we go into the world of imagination! I’m pleased to report there are no goons waving at you telling you to do the chicken dance on this version! :)

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Less than three!

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Stereotypically Canadian, eh!

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I always use the ride to play “Spot your favourite Disney characters”. Poca is definitely up there!

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100% politically correct!

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Hawaiian roller coaster ride!

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Small World always intrigues me. How can a ride be so racially and politically offensive and incorrect to almost every nation out there, yet loved by people all over the world? :p

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Here’s something I REALLY disliked about the park; large, open and bland spaces.

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Back to Winnie I go to use my FP. This version is almost an exact replica of Disney World’s version, from the queue line theming, to the ride vehicles, to the story of the ride itself…

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Stoned much?

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By the time I got off Pooh, it was about lunch time, and having not really eaten much that day so far, I was starving! It was always a major worry of mine that I wouldn’t like any Chinese food, but boy was I wrong…

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This seems like as good a place as any to grab a bite to eat.

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If you were looking for the typical burger/chicken nuggets and chips, you may be severely disappointed at this park. Instead, you can get some of the best pork, chicken, beef and whatnot that I have ever seen served on a bed of rice or noodles! :D This is seriously some of the best theme park food I’ve ever had or seen!

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And how much would all of this fantastic food cost you? Why just around £5.50 of course!

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I plumped for the BBQ Pork & Rice, and it was AMAZING. I failed miserable with the chopsticks and had to ask for a knife and fork, making the Cast Member have to search in the storeroom somewhere to find a set for me. :p The wait was worth it though, as this was quite possibly the best theme park meal I’ve ever had, and at the ridiculously good value, you can’t go wrong with any of the dishes on the menu!

I’ll look at the Mickeys of Hollywood show later, but for now this wraps up Fantasyland. I was very disappointed with this area really, with nothing unique and a lot of blandness throughout the area, despite the amazing food and the excellent Small World area they had.

Next part will look at Tomorrowland, so until then, I hope you’ve enjoyed this section! :)

-Mike-
 

Mike

Giga Poster
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Fantasyland

It’s already been 2 months since I posted the last part of this?! Err, woops. That’s what disgusting final-year university work will do to you I guess! I’ve still got a couple of weeks left until I go back to uni, so instead of revising I guess I can write some more of this report. :)

So, after finishing up my meal in Fantasyland, I made my way around to Tomorrowland. I always felt that Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland felt very enclosed, especially with the PeopleMover building in the middle and the MILF and Stitch buildings at the entrance. Without these, Hong Kong’s area feels a lot more open, but doesn’t feel like there’s as much to do.

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Sign being held up by some English kids. You can see just how open the area is!

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Disney has always excelled at sideshow attractions playing on the walkways, as demonstrated by these guys playing the buckets. More parks need things like this.

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Disney has never been short on restaurants. This place served Western-style food like hot dogs and burgers. Gimme the BBQ Pork again please!

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It’s not a Tomorrowland without an Orbitron.

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Nor is it a Tomorrowland without Space Mountain!

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Single rider line? YES PLEASE!

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Imma firin’ mah lazar.

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It’s space-themed, ya see.

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According to Wikipedia, this version has exactly the same layout as California’s version, bar a few lighting effects. Well, these effects must have made some difference, because I think I definitely preferred this version to its Californian counterpart. Florida’s version is still my personal favourite, though.

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Does ANYONE actually buy Space Mountain photos?


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Next to Space Mountain was a Stitch attraction. I think it was something like Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, although really I’ve got no idea and I’m still not sure why I skipped doing it.

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Florida NEEDs this. Water is good!

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Where we're going, we don't need roads!... But this is Disney, so there version of the future is slow moving cars on a track passing by a bunch of scenery. :(

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You don’t even want to know some of the things I imagine!

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Astro Blaster time. Another staple attraction for any Disney park.

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I tried to take a photo of Buzz, but some berk was standing in the way.

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Here’s Buzz showing off the new NASA Z-1 spacesuit.

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Err, do I win? Well, I definitely didn’t get over a million, so I guess not, but who knows?!
This Astro Blaster was pretty much exactly the same as most of the other versions out there, but they’re always a lot of fun (even if I do suck at them).
That’s really it from Tomorrowland. Foolishly, I missed the only unique attraction in the area. Space Mountain was very enjoyable as usual and Astro Blaster is as it is.

Hopefully it won’t take another 2 months to write another part to this, but we’ll see. :p
 

Mike

Giga Poster
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Tomorrowland

Not quite two months, but it has still taken me a month to be bothered to carry on this report; not that anyone actually cares anymore, and rather pointless as there have been a couple of Hong Kong reports written since my last post, but oh well. :p

Moving on from Tomorrowland, I really only had Adventureland to do, so let’s dive straight into it! I can’t really be bothered (or remember) to write stuff in chronological order anymore, not that anyone ever does anyway!

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The classic-style Adventureland entrance. A lot of things in this park are very, very generic and can be found in every other Disney park, but I still adored this place. When Mystic Point opens, along with Grizzly Gulch opening last year, this park will become truly fantastic.

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It seems authentic. Sue, any confirmation? ;)

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The ‘major’ attraction in Adventureland is the “World Famous” Jungle River Cruise. This was a favourite of mine in Florida; I love the cheesy jokes and crappy models, but it is a ride which almost wholly depends on how good the ride op is at giving the spiel. It’ll be interesting to see how the Chinese do this…

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Not that this photo is very clear, but there are two lines for this ride for an English spiel (well, more Chinglish really) and a Chinese.

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I’m pretty sure to pick their English names, east Asian people just pick a random word from the dictionary. Here’s my skipper for the cruise, ‘Swan’.

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The weird thing about this version is how it crosses the path of the raft to Tarzan’s tree house. Well, that’s not too weird, although I reckon there’d be a guaranteed crash if they did this in America.

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“Ahh! Look how big that spider is! Very very scary, yes?” seemed to be the extent of Swan’s joke-making skills. :lol: At least she tried I guess! :p

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It’s theming like this that makes Disney the best theme parks in the world.

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This version includes fire…

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And explosions!

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But the baby elephant comes out safe and sound in the end. The Jungle Cruise doesn’t really work when you have people who can hardly speak English taking you through the ride. :p

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Tarzan’s Tree House is a walkthrough attraction where you trudge around a tree looking at various scenes from Tarzan… It’s crap.

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Going up the tree does allow for a nice view over Grizzly Gulch, though. This place looked nowhere near completion when I went, but it opened less than a month later!

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OH YES! Excitement levels have just risen massively. The best theme park show in the world is also at Hong Kong! :D

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Here were go! :)

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So I instantly found out that this version wasn’t really like the American version at all. Instead of just doing a montage of acrobatics and songs, this version actually more takes you through the story of The Lion King.

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The show and songs are mostly in English, although these monkeys talk every now and then in Chinese to update the crowd on what’s going on.

I didn’t take too many photos as I wanted to enjoy the show, plus it’s hard to get any decent photos in the low light anyway.

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Despite a lack of gymnastics, the show still has plenty going on

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Here’s Scar. What a bastard!

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Can you feel the love tonight?

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Hooray!

Photos don’t do this show justice, but if you’re a Lion King, Disney or even just a show fan in general then FotLK is a MUST-watch. Kong Kong’s version wasn’t as good as Animal Kingdom’s version in my opinion, but it’s still a brilliant show, plus it doesn’t have any Brazilian guests ruining the show for everyone else!

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So that’s it for Adventureland, and that pretty much covers the whole park as far as attractions go.
 

Mike

Giga Poster
Re: Hong Kong Trip Report, June 2012 - Tomorrowland

I’ve still to show you Main Street, the Flights of Fantasy parade and the Mickeys of Hollywood show, so let’s jump straight to it!

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One of my favourite shops in Magic Kingdom, but no huge blocks of chocolate fudge in this park is no good. :(

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I heard this is where the cat got killed.

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In case you haven’t figured out by now, this place is no different than any other Main Street.
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The bakery, but there’s something extremely odd going on in the corner…

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The guy in the green shirt was photographing a sort of love scene between the man and the woman, where the lady was pushing the man back against the wall and going to kiss him. It didn’t seem very ‘Disney’ at all, and when the photographer noticed people starting to take pictures of what was going on, he quickly tried to usher them away and whilst saying “No pictures allowed!”. Strange. :?

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This guy was just chilling playing Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah on the piano.

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The park’s opening plaque.

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Anybody wanna buy the solid silver castle set for me?

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You’ve gotta feel sorry for the Main Street Operations CMs being made to wear these costumes! These almost look as bad as the Dinoland costumes! :p

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Parade time! I didn’t realise that this parade stopped down Main Street, so I didn’t really get any photos of the show, but have some generic shots of them passing anyway…

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Gay Pride float.

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Anyway, that’s enough of that. You should all know what Disney parades look like, and this one really wasn’t anything special.

Going back to watch the final showing of The Golden Mickeys meant going back through Fantasy Land…
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Chinese Merlin was out!

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As was this Diabolo dude who was fairly decent.

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I must admit that I had no idea what to expect from this show, and really thought it was a children’s show, and that’s why I put off from watching until the very end. :p

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The show’s actually a series of scenes and songs from various movies, and each scene is a nomination to win a Golden Mickey statue.

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Again my photos aren’t that great because of the poor lighting, but I tried my best. The show kicks off with the usual award-show razzamatazz.

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What I really enjoyed about this show was how it wasn’t your usual suspects of Disney songs playing, but a rather more eclectic mix instead. Here’s You’ve Got a Friend in Me.
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Hunchback of Notre Dame.

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Tarzan swung around on this rope for a good couple of minutes, including going horizontal whilst spinning around.

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Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride!

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The host (Bebe) had quite a large role to play, and she did an excellent job.

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Beauty and the Beast.

Unfortunately, this is the point where my camera cut out, so I couldn’t get any more photos that day. :(

The Mickeys of Hollywood show is excellent. I really wasn’t expecting much, but it just blew me away. Again, photos don’t really do it justice, but if you ever get a chance to go on a Disney Cruise or you visit Hong Kong Disneyland, this show is highly, highly recommended.

As my camera ran out of battery, it meant that I couldn’t get any pictures of Disney in the Stars firework show (although with the quality of the other images, I probably wouldn’t have even captures them anyway :p). These fireworks REALLY disappointed me. Hong Kong has massive light pollution, meaning I couldn’t really see the different colours of the fireworks. :( They could be really good if the sky was darker, but I guess we’ll never know…

And that finally concludes my Hong Kong Disneyland trip report!

Even though a lot of the stuff in this park is very generic, the fireworks and parade are rubbish and the castle is tiny and relatively bland, I still absolutely loved this place. It has that charm and uniqueness that you feel with every (well, almost every, at least) Disney park. I’m gutted that I was a bit too early for Grizzly Gulch as that coaster looks amazing, but this park has excellent things ahead of it once Mystic Point and more areas start opening.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this report. I will eventually get round to writing more about Hong Kong in general and Ocean Park, but I didn’t take any photos of the Shenzhen parks so won’t go through them.

Until then, ciao. :)

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peep

CF Legend
I've taken my sweet time reading your last instalments but I must say it was a great and very interesting read. I've heard so many good things about that Golden Mickeys show and it does look great. That Jungle cruise looks good too (as Nic would say, "Fire makes everything better").

Once Mystic Manor opens it's on my 'must visit' list.
 
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