31 December 2011
We got up early this morning so we could head to the 7:30am session at the Enchanted Garden character breakfast. We sat next to another Australian lady Amanda with her daughter April who we chatted with throughout the morning and ran into a number of times in the park. We ate the usual bacon, eggs, hash browns etc, and finished just in time for the characters appearance. We had Mickey, Goofy, Pluto and Daisy, and they were all in their Christmas gear! It was terrific fun.
After breakfast, we headed to the park for rope drop. As we were going through the entrance tunnel, I heard someone beside me talking about going to Toy Story Land, and weirdly, I knew the voice so I turned to look, and sure enough, it was an old colleague of Della and mine from the Commonwealth Bank – Trina! We all laughed and took photos with her and her family, it was great to catch up as we hadn’t seen each other in years – and here we were in Hong Kong Disneyland!
Della and I headed to the Hub and after rope drop, we lined up for photos with Chip and Dale in their Christmas gear. Then we headed straight to Toy Story Land to ride Slinky Dog. We ran into Trina again and she asked us to take her daughter Jasmine on the RC Racer ride as they were all too scared, so we were happy to go along with her. Then we went to the parachute drop which was fun too.
Early morning with Chip 'n' Dale
On the parachute jump
You get a good view from up high
Slinky Dog Spin is also a fun kids ride
After Toy Story, we ran into Amanda and April from breakfast who told us that she’d managed to find a cast member who would pull a Christmas Mickey and Minnie from the window display, so Della and I headed to the Main Street shop to ask for the same. We left our name and hotel room number with a cast member and a request for the Mickey and Minnie, as well as a gingerbread man – all these items had been previously sold out, so only the window display remained. They said they'd call us if they could get them out overnight.
After visiting the shops, we headed into Tomorrowland and went for a ride on Buzz Lightyear. We also got a Fastpass for Space Mountain which was for after lunch. We then went into the Starliner Diner for a bite to eat and ran into Trina and her family again, so we sat down together and had a good catch up.
We then went to Space Mountain to use our Fastpass and while we were in the queue, it broke down again, but this time it was only temporary and they got it working pretty quickly so we were able to ride it.
From there, we headed back to Fantasyland to ride Della’s favourite – the teacups. We then took a side trip through Adventureland before doing Della’s other favourite – Jewellery Shopping!
To help me recover from the jewellery store, we headed up to the Tomorrowland parade corridor so I could photograph the Princess float in the Flights of Fantasy Parade.
We then headed through Adventureland and back to the Main Street shops before going to the Christmas tree in Main Street to get some photos of the xmas stockings around its base. We then grabbed a spot in Main Street to watch the Toy-Riffic Street Party.
After the parade, we headed up to the new Toy Story Land to see it lit up at night – it looked really good. We then walked back to Main Street via Fantasyland and Tomorrowland to view the Christmas Illumination ceremony. After the ceremony, we went to dinner at the bakery in Main Street and sat on the porch of 320 Main Street to watch all the people pass us by.
We then grabbed a good spot in the Hub for the final fireworks display of 2011, followed by the walk through the snow down Main Street and a return to the hotel.
When we got back to the hotel, we found party hats, party horns, masks, and an invitation to the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel countdown party which was beginning at 10:30pm. We got ourselves ready and headed down to the lobby where there was already a large crowd. Princess Aurora and her Prince were there to start with. Then Mickey and Minnie came out in their masquerade ball gear. We also had members of the Disneyland band entertain us right up to the countdown. After 2012 was announced, a DJ took over and the crowd all started dancing, led by a couple of Chinese guys who had the disco moves going! It was hilarious and we had a great time. We went back to the room around 12:45.