Disneyland

We've been making plans to go to Hong Kong Disneyland on my niece's birthday when my sister's family visit  us next month. However, last weekend I attended an autism conference where all the delegates were given a free ticket to Disneyland to be used within the week. A colleague also gave me her unwanted ticket, so it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We loved the way our friends the Sweeneys surprised their children with the outing, so we kept the tickets a secret from our kids and simply told them we were taking the train out near the airport. When we got closer, Jemilla begged to be allowed to at least look inside the special train that carries passengers to the resort, so we agreed. Once inside we showed them the tickets and enjoyed their excitement.

Look at the cute Mickey Mouse hand straps!

Here we are at the entry gates. We had such a fantastic day! The weather was fine, and the crowds were down, so we hardly had to wait at all for turns on the rides. Friends had warned us that people might try to push in front of us in line, but I didn't notice any of that. We were also prepared for a majority of the program to be in Chinese. It goes without saying that the whole amusement park is propaganda for Disney merchandise, but our three children loved it all.

Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Cinderella Carousel

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Mad Hatter Tea Cups

This was a great ride showing children around the world and various Disney characters. We did this ride twice.

North Pole

Jungle Book

Africa

Toy Story

Australia (supposedly)

Aladdin

Holland

The Little Mermaid

China

New Zealand

We missed out on doing a few activities due to time constraints, such as Winnie the Pooh's storybook journey.

Keegan thought that this park section was called Tomorrowland because you have to come back tomorrow to get in.

Space Mountain was a big roller coaster which Keegan vows he will never go on as long as he lives. He was absolutely petrified.

This, on the other hand, was Keegans' favourite ride. He did it three times.

Buzz Lightyear explained the mission....

...which involved shooting lots of laser beams. Bowen and Flynn will love this ride!

Where are our two space explorers?

This Autopia ride had a 45 minute queue, so we didn't bother doing it.

Orbitron

The children weren't really keen to line up to meet Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Winnie the Pooh (thank goodness!) If we had seen Cinderella or Buzz Lightyear it would have been another story.

Every afternoon there is a Disney parade with music and dancing and floats.

Yummy fairy floss (a first for Tirzah)

This was Jemilla's favourite experience at Disneyland. Known as "The Golden Mickeys", it's a musical celebration of many famous Disney movies.

No flash photography was allowed, hence the blurry images. I tried in vain to get a good photo of Ariel for you, Craig Lupton. You'll just have to come and see Disneyland for yourself.

Here's Jemilla with the streamers that fell down at the end of the show.

We took a little ride on the Disneyland railway.

View from the train

Keegan enjoyed the bongo drums in Adventureland.

We stayed until the fireworks display at 8 pm.

Tirzah was not scared of the fireworks at all, unlike Keegan at this age. If you can be bothered watching the fireworks video above, you can hear her at the very end asking for more.

Of course there are numerous stores in Disneyland in which to purchase their merchandise. We allowed the children to each choose one item as a souvenir. Tirzah had a great time trying everything.

Keep dreaming, Jemilla.

Keegan liked all the Buzz Lightyear and Mickey soccer products.

In the end, Keegan decided on a Disney drink bottle, Tirzah bought a pair of mouse ears, and Jemilla chose a Disney Princess frame for a friend's photo. Thank you, Hong Kong Disneyland, for a fantastic day!