Day 2 (Tuesday, 28th December 2010)
Related posts: Hong Kong Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6
On the second day, our sole plan was to go to Disneyland. We planned this trip by purchasing the Disneyland tickets online a few weeks back.
We woke up quite early in the morning and I needed a good breakfast. After searching online, I found out there’s a famous western diner that offers excellent breakfast (this was what the online review said). What was even more surprising was that the shop, called The Flying Pan, was located in Wan Chai.
Note: click on images to enlarge
On the way to the The Flying Plan, we walked through the daily market located in between the streets in Wan Chai. It’s interesting to see the shops (despite being a market) maintains a very clean environment. You would also observe a police officer walking around to ensure everything is safe and in order.
It took us around 15-20 minutes to get to the The Flying Pan, which was located on the 3rd floor of a building on Lockhart Road. True to the reviews, their breakfast lived up to our expectations.
After a hearty breakfast, we made our way to Disneyland. Below was our MTR route from Wan Chai to Disneyland.
- Wan Chai MTR to Central MTR
- We walked from Central MTR via the underground passageway to Hong Kong station, where we took the Tung Chung line to Sunny Bay (in Lantau Island).
- At Sunny Bay station we took the Disneyland Resort Line, a dedicated train to Disneyland.
The underground passageway between Central MTR and Hong Kong station was very comfortable. It’s underground and fully air-conditioned. If you’re unfamiliar with Hong Kong’s MTR network, refer to the map I provided in my Day post (map link here). You can see that Central MTR and Hong Kong station is quite the walking distance.
The Disneyland Resort train line was really attractive. I would imagine if I was still a kid, I would get really excited looking at all the Mickey Mouse designs on the trains’ exterior and interior (even the train handles were Mickey designed!). Upon arriving at Disneyland’s train station, it was a 10 minute walk to the entrance. I was really glad that we bought our tickets online after I saw the queue.
As you can see, the online ticket collection booth was almost empty. With that, we started our Disney tour. We arrived just in time for the morning parade.
It was my first time coming to Disneyland, and it was awesome. I was told by other friends who have visited various Disneylands around the world and they said the one in Hong Kong is of modest size. The one in Japan and the US are way too massive. To me, the Hong Kong one is just perfect for a family holiday as you could cover all rides within a 1 day trip. I tried queuing up for some of the rides but then the queue was just too long. In the end I just took the Circle Train around Disneyland.
One thing I have to highlight about Disneyland is that the food was good. I was in Hong Kong in December, and that’s winter. The weather was slightly chilled and having hot food while exploring Disneyland was enjoyable. I can still remember the taste of the Mickey pancake and the hot potato with its special gravy.
Later we went to the Lion King show which was quite entertaining. I have seen the actual Lion King broadway performance back in Melbourne, and I have to say this Disney performance in Hong Kong has its own uniqueness.
The highlight of the trip was the fireworks show at 9PM. We waited with the crowd outside of Snow White’s castle. The fireworks lasted aroudn 15 minutes and it was absolutely beautiful! To think that they have a fireworks of this magnitude on a daily basis is just amazing! All in all I had a great time at Disneyland. Hopefully one day I will be able to visit the ones in Japan and the US.
The rest of my Disneyland photos are available on my Flickr page here.
Related posts: Hong Kong Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6
Imran Jaafar 