The Happiest Place on Earth (Besides Orlando, Anaheim, Paris, and Tokyo)

You’ve been waiting on pins and needles for days to hear about our time in Hong Kong Disneyland. The time has come. (Don’t get too excited. This post isn’t that thrilling.) Hanna loves the Disney parks not because of the characters or movies; she just loves the magic. Seriously. We visited Hong Kong Disneyland on our last big trip and enjoyed it (despite its small size). Here are some of the highlights from this visit:

• There was lots of running this time around…and not by us. The park was very empty, and no ride had a line longer than 10 minutes. That didn’t stop park guests from hauling ass from ride to ride. Our favorite game became to fan out at the beginning of the switchbacks so that the very excited runners had to slowly amble behind us. Suckers.
• We quite enjoyed sitting on the curb to watch the afternoon parade, especially Mike who was lucky enough to have this woman (photo below) sit down in his lap:
  

  Someone Needs to Tell Her to Get Longer Shorts.

  The woman then giggled and moved off of Mike’s lap. It didn’t stop her husband (who was standing directly behind Mike) from shoving his crotch and man purse into the back of Mike’s head every fifteen seconds or so. Personal space please.

• The afternoon parade featured delightful performers. We especially enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear dancers. Watch the video below, and tell us she shouldn’t go pro:
  
  

  Hanna Enjoys a Good Marching Band. Note Mick in the Back.

  

  We Quite Enjoyed This Disney Sass.

  

  Perfection. Every Few Minutes She Would Drop to the Floor and Hide in the Hunny Pot.

• The names of the employees cracked us up. Our favorites included Whisky, Strawberry, Mulder, and Dickson (a girl).
• Pixar created a zoetrope of Toy Story characters, and we had actually seen this at the Museum of Modern Art. Still cool today:
  
• Toy Story Land just opened, and it feels like a carnival set in the land of toys:
  

  Hey Howdy Hey.

  

  Rawr.

  

  Hanna’s Favorite Bench in the Park: Stained Popsicle Sticks.

• Hanna was pissed that It’s a Small World was closed for renovations. It’s not a Disney trip until she sings that song about thirty times.
  

  Hanna Thinks This Ride Looks So Magical.

• Mike loves how awkward Hanna becomes when talking to characters. Meeting Miss Alison Wonderland did not disappoint:
  

  Not Sure What We Are Doing Here. She Told Us To.

  The magic swiftly ended when Mike forced Hanna to go on a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad-type ride…and she felt like she was going to puke. No, we didn’t stay until closing. We left two hours before the park closed and still felt like we saw everything. Give us three months, and Hanna will probably force Mike into booking a trip to Disneyland in California.

  

  Pure Magic.

Hong Kong Disneyland

Though we were initially hesitant about going to Hong Kong Disneyland because it seemed pretty small, we are glad we went. The day began with a ride on the Disneyland metro line and a welcome from Surfing Mickey:

Totally the Hogwarts Express of Disney.

Mickey Rose and Fell with the Water.

The day was much more relaxed than Tokyo Disney; the crowds in Hong Kong were almost non-existent:

Morning on Main Street USA. The Emptiest We’ve Ever Seen It.

The longest we waited for a ride was about 30 minutes for the Main Street Haunted Hotel, and that was a total aberration. Most rides had waits of about 5-10 minutes or absolutely no wait at all. We were the first ones to ride Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and we didn’t even have to run to it. We ended up riding it 3 times throughout the day and never had to wait at all.

Though They Don’t Even Serve Alcohol in the Park, These Signs Were Posted at Almost Every Ride.

Mike Was Going to Wear This Outfit But Changed His Mind at the Last Minute.

Notice the Mountains in the Background. Notice Mickey and Minnie in the Midground.

Fully Cultivated Rattail.

The park is pretty small, and it doesn’t have a lot of the big attractions. No Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight, Splash Mountain, or the Hall of Presidents. (We were shocked it didn’t have the last one!) We filled our day by seeing all of the shows and parades and basically going on every ride. We even saw the show “The Golden Mickeys” twice because Hanna loved it. Basically it was an awards show for Disney characters. Bebe (the world-famous reporter…you don’t know her?) got roped into many musical numbers from Disney movies, and it was quite entertaining to hear the characters speak in Cantonese:

Don’t worry. The show had subtitles, and all of the songs were in English. We didn’t miss a single plot point.

Luckily we were at the park during their Halloween celebration. (The word “celebration” is worked into almost every Disneyland song. Seriously.) We’ve never been to a Disney park during a holiday season, so it was cool to see all of the decorations and themed parades:

The Employees Got into the Halloween Spirit By Wearing Horns.

She Took Over the Park. Commence Spookiness.

Even Mick and Min Got into the Halloween Spirit.

Mr. Skellington at the Night Parade.

They had two haunted houses (the aforementioned hotel and a demon jungle), and though Mike is a wimp and doesn’t like haunted attractions, we had fun getting spooked by ghouls who popped out from nowhere.

Main Street USA turned into Ghost Town at night, and fog engulfed the street. Zombies wandered up and down and randomly performed a dance number:

Flash Mob on Main Street.

Check out the dancers in action. The video’s a bit dark, but that was, uh, intentional to capture proper ambiance:

After the nice little dance, the zombies continued to roam the street, mingling with passersby at random:

She Wishes.

All in all it was a good day. We’re glad we didn’t skip this small park because it was one of the more delightful Disney experiences we have had: no heat or humidity, no lines, no running, no rushing around, and the caramel corn was delicious.

One last note: No Duffy sightings at Hong Kong Disneyland. He must be imprisoned at Tokyo Disney.

Where Did We Go Today?

Short post today. You want to know why? It’s because we are at Hong Kong Disney. Yes, friends, once this day is complete, we can officially say that we have been to every Disney park in the world except California Adventure. Hand us the Disney Freaks membership card now.

Hanna was very indecisive about whether we were going to go or not because the park is quite small. We can imagine your shock about Hanna even considering NOT going to Disney. In the end, her common sense returned, and we decided to go. (Mike lovingly was okay with any decision she made.)

A full report is to come.

The U.S. Destinations

When we leave New York City on July 27, we will be making a few extremely exciting domestic stops before we head to Tokyo.

First up, Cleveland! We are heading to Cleveland (well, really Chagrin Falls, Ohio—also the hometown of the creator of Calvin & Hobbes, the director of Toy Story 3, and the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots) for a week to visit Mike’s family and load up on some free food.

Things we are looking forward to in Cleveland:

• A possible Indians game
• Food!
• Friendly’s! Specifically the peanut butter sauce on their sundaes….yum.  Maybe we might even try heart attack city.
• Seeing lots of family
• Notso Fries
• BBQ

Next up is Spokane, WA, where Hanna is from. We will be in Spokane for a week.

Things we are looking forward to in Spokane:

• Garbage Eating Goat (Google it!)
• Rosauers’ cake
• Going to the lake
• Brunch at the Couer d’Alene Resort
• Seeing family
• More BBQ

Are you sensing a trend here? We really like food…especially when it’s free!  Thanks, family.

After Spokane we head to Portland for a few days to visit these cute kids:

Things we are looking forward to in Portland:

• Spending some time with Hanna’s Aunt Sherry, cousin Courtney, and Courtney’s cool kids.
• The Oregon Coast (and more importantly, Hanna’s favorite shopping town, Depoe Bay
• More BBQ

After Portland we head to L.A. for one night before we fly to Tokyo. We are grateful to have friends that will give us a free place to stay and some good conversation too.

Things we are looking forward to in L.A.:

• Yogurtland!
• Disneyland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Hanna is still trying to convince Mike that our one day in L.A. should be spent entirely at Disneyland.)
• Sprinkles cupcakes
• In-N-Out burgers (Mike has had it…Hanna has not.  Hanna will love it.)

Once all of these things have been seen/eaten, we are off to Tokyo to begin the great adventure. Make sure to check back to see what each city has in store for us.

Readers who have been to Cleveland, Spokane, Portland or L.A: any suggestions on what else we should see or consume?