Postby KeithS » Mon Mar 31, 2014 12:44 am
Day 7 - 30 March 2014 – Hong Kong Disneyland
I met Rapunzel today – but before I get to that, let’s rewind to this morning when we woke up. It was an early start this morning as we had a character breakfast booked at the Enchanted Garden. We headed down there at 7:30am, ate our food, then met a few old friends – Goofy, Pluto, Mickey and Daisy! Daisy was so cool as we hadn’t seen her yet this trip. As soon as breakfast was over, we did another quick walk through the shop prior to heading off to the park again. We took our umbrella today as it looked like it might rain again but for the time being, it was dry.
We got to the park right on opening and went straight into Town Square to get our photos with Mickey and Minnie. Of course – many other people had decided to do the same thing so we lined up for over an hour! I popped out of line for a bit to get a locker, then rejoined with plenty of time to spare. Eventually, we got our photo taken with them and had a few good laughs.
After photos, we walked down Main Street and past Snow White near her wishing well. We also ran into Belle and Cinderella as they were leaving a Bibiddi-Bobiddi-Boutique meet and greet. We headed into Toy Story Land and I grabbed a churro and Della had a yogurt with nuts and Oreo crumbs. We then went into Mystic Point to grab some presents. In Grizzly Gulch, Della wanted a selfie and as we had our backs to a geyser, it erupted all over us – very funny.
We then headed back to Main Street for lunch of muffins, sandwiches and iced chocolate which we ate in Town Square again. We went into the photo shop and picked up our photos with Mickey and Minnie. Della wanted to check out the jewellery store once more so she went in there while I put the photos in the locker. I joined her shortly afterwards but there was nothing new she wanted. Next up, we headed to Crystal Arts and bought a few more little gifts.
After a little wander around, we headed back down Main Street to visit City Hall - this is because we were the Grand Marshals of today’s parade! We had been asked to visit City Hall by 2:45pm, but we got there at 2:30pm. We were met by Matt who greeted us by name. He took us into a small room inside City Hall with pictures of American Presidents who had visited the US parks. We sat on the lounge and Matt gave us our Grand Marshal ears with our names on them. We took lots of photos of us and gave us a certificate to show we had been Grand Marshals. He also gave us a gift back of pictures and stickers – it was great!
Around 3pm, we got our Mickey-hand gloves and then walked with Matt up to the beginning of the parade route. Matt told us about is background and working in Disney on the way. When we got to the top of the parade route, we met Peter, the Grand Marshal vehicle driver and got a photo with him. We jumped aboard the vehicle and started waving like mad-people! All the way down the parade route, people were waving and taking photos. As we turned into the hub, I saw an Australian flag waving and realised it the Aloyious and Bonnie – the couple we met the day before at the Duffy cake decorating! They were waving the flags and we waved back! They also followed us all the way to the end of Main Street – so much fun!
Eventually, our ride ended and we went back to City Hall with Matt. Inside, we handed back our gloves and said thanks to all the City Hall cast members and to Matt. We went outside and caught up with Aloyious and Bonnie and they introduced us to three more of their friends, Agnes, Penny, and Thomas who were all Hong Kong locals and mad Disney fans too. Aloyious gave us a bunch of lovely gifts including a photo album, buttons, stickers and cards, and Penny gave us a Chinese New Year Disney pin. We were very touched by these great Disney fans – I only wish we had something we could have given them in return! We’ll send them something when we get back to Australia.
While we were talking outside City Hall, we had complete strangers coming up to us to get photos with us! It was very strange but cool at the same time! We then headed to the hub with our friends and got some castle photos, before they headed off to see The Lion King. We couldn’t go with them as we had another appointment back at the hotel to meet. Instead, we went over to the castle and lined up for a photo with Rapunzel (see – I told you I’ve met Rapunzel!). She was great too – she told me about how she had her helpers get her hair ready each day and all the brushing that was required!
After Rapunzel, we went for a quick walk around the park (and got stopped for photos again) before heading to Crystal Arts for more gifts. We picked up our gear from the locker, and said a final goodbye to the folks at City Hall, before walking back to the hotel at around 5:30.
At 6pm, we went to the front desk and were escorted up to the hotel’s Kingdom Club for nibbles, drinks and fireworks. We got up there and found a great table near the window. As we were sitting there eating, we could see flashes in the sky as a massive stormfront came straight toward Disneyland! Next thing you know – crazy lightning, heavy (HEAVY) rain and loud thunder came crashing down. We were so glad we weren’t in the park waiting for the fireworks. Around 7:50pm, they came around the Kingdom Club saying a black rain weather warning had been issued and the park closed and fireworks cancelled – that didn’t upset us though as we were dry and watching the most amazing lightning display we’d ever seen!
Of course – around 8:15pm, we heard some kids squeeling, as around the corner into the club comes Minnie Mouse in her PJs! Then I realised, it wasn’t just the kids squeeling, but Della too! Minnie had her pink PJs with red polka dots and fluffy slippers – she was so cute! We got photos with her and then watched the kids go to the bedtime story session. We had a wonderful night up in the club.
We then went to the lobby and ordered our Duffy cakes to be delivered to our room. Room service arrived with our two cakes, and Della had the hard job of slicing one of them up. When we started eating it, we realised how delicious they were! As we had two cakes and couldn’t possibly eat them both, we took the second untouched cake down to the front desk and donated it to the cast members who were very happy to get it!
It is now 10:20pm, the storm is still raging and we are about to begin packing – another amazing holiday is almost over, although we still have tomorrow morning in the park ahead.
Our special thanks go out to Barry and Narelle for arranging such a wonderful experience!
Keith
Trip history:
DLR: 2005, 06, 09, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18
DLRP: 2006
HKDL: 2006 (Mar & Sept), 11 (Apr & Dec), 14, 19
SDR: 2017
TDR: 2008, 10, 17
WDW: 2006, 13 (Mar & Sept), 16, 19
DCL: 2013, 15 (Alaska & Hawaii), 18
Aulani: 2015