All In The Cause Of Research!!!

Thursday 31 August

This morning started with a short panic – I went to post the blogs for 29th and 30th and the first one had gone “missing”. I knew I had saved it – but I couldn’t find it in the menu. Colin looked and he couldn’t find it either. After frantic searching I found it lurking under 20th – I had obviously misnamed it – Phew,didn’t want to have to write it up again. Also, once on line, Hong Kong is surprising the slowest to connect to email, the blog and other web pages – it takes absolutely ages – sometimes 15 to 20 minutes – I thought here with all its technology, the service would be at least as fast as Russia.

I have been told these entries are getting longer. This is true, mainly because, as well as telling everyone at home what we are up to, it is a reminder for me when I get home of everything we have done. Millie, our friend from America, who we met on the train, has been sending me her journal entries for the Russia trip, and they contain lots more info than mine, and jog my memory about little anecdotes I would have otherwise forgotten. So sorry if they are getting longer – but I am sure this will change when we go to Koh Samui on Saturday.

Getting back to today – our trip was all in the interests of research – for Sandy, Adam and Alex – the grandchildren – we went to Disneyland Hong Kong style. I have always promised I would take them to Disney when they were old enough to appreciate the visit – and that time is approaching fast.

We were picked up and after a transfer of coaches in a small but manic side street, we arrived at this funland shortly before midday. It is situated about half way to the airport out on a peninsula. Having got our passes – mine was Minnie Mouse and Colin had Donald Duck - we made our way up the boulevard towards a fountain with a bronze Micky Mouse standing on top of Moby Dick, and water gushing everywhere that marked the start of the park.

This is another first for me at 60 – I have never been to a Disneyland before – and I was quite excited - when I was small I used to love the fun fair at home, and particularly remember an aunt of mine, who must have been in her sixties herself, almost begging to take me – aged about four - on the roller coaster at Great Yarmouth – it was great fun.

We had been given a map, with short descriptions of all the rides, restaurants, toilets, shops etc. As we had missed breakfast we decided to hit an eaterie early before the crowds arrived. When you entered the gates you arrived in the Main Street USA section – an old fashioned street and shops , with an old style bus and taxi, a bit like Bemish, but not so detailed - so we chose the Main Street Corner Café for some sustenance, which was fine – Indian vegetables turned out to be lots of diced cucumber, with tomatoes, peppers and onion – also diced – on a lettuce leaf – I presume this was an American Indian not an Asian Indian as I had thought when ordering!

Being refreshed, we set out to find some rides – our first was a jungle river trip, which warned you may get wet was you sailed passed elephants, crocodiles, piranhas and natives into a ‘gorge’ of broiling water that suddenly burst into flames with clouds of smoke. This was a good start.

Other attractions we visited were the Dumbo Flying Elephants – really for children, but aren’t we all big kids here for the day – the Cinderella’s Horse Carousel, the Mad Hatters Teacups and the Fantasyland train around the park. We also went to The Golden Mickeys – a live musical celebration of singing and dancing to Disney music – and Mickey’s PhilarMagic Show. This was a 3D adventure of clips of Disney films where things like musical instruments and fish and the Disney characters themselves flew right up to your face – these special effects were achieved by wearing special glasses – and at one point, as Donald Duck was being rained on, we were all splattered with water too. It was all great fun and one of the highlights of the day. Another highlight was the Space Mountain, which we arrived at late in the afternoon. A high speed roller coaster ride through the dark universe, with sudden stops and flashes of lights. We started off slowly upwards with a gentle turn at the top, but then began a sudden hurtling journey down and up and round one way and then the other, at alarming angles, at scary speeds. We were all screaming as we felt we were going to fall out of the little carriages at any moment. AAAHHHHH! Although it probably only lasted a few minutes, it seemed like ages in the dark and we were all wobbly when we got out. Luckily we hadn’t had our dinner before this ride!

The only attraction we didn’t actually get to was the Festival of the Lion King, which was our fault as we left it too late.

The final attraction was a 15 minute Firework Display around the Sleeping Beauty Castle, set to more Disney music. It was an impressive colourful display with the castle itself changing colour and showing pictures of Disney characters moving on the walls in time to the music. There were lots of ooohs and aaahs from the children. It was like watching Fireworks in the Park to the 1812 and other classics. We had to sit on the pavement which was very hot when you first sat down and you felt you may scorch your bum, even through your shorts! I thought many visitors may not stay for this – after all it quite was a long hot day - but I was wrong. In the half an hour before the display started, the crowds swelled all around the Castle and the throng stretched all the way down Main Street as we crawled our way back to the coach.

You had to queue for all the rides, but the crowds here weren’t horrendous, - the longest ride we queued for was the Flying Elephants!! The day was very hot – mid 30’s with little breeze – so quests for shade and regular drinks were essential. The whole of this Disneyland can easily be seen in a day – I don’t think this is the case in America – and would be good for young visitors – like us!! We had a great time and I am already thinking about visiting a Disneyland again.