Saturday, January 02, 2010
10:33 AM

Happy 2010!

In order to make the money paid worth it, we were determined to fully explore Hong Kong Disneyland from opening to closing hour, and we did. Honestly, it's not that huge. I've never been to other Disneylands, but according to those who have been, others are bigger and probably neverending fun.

MTR actually came up with a special Mickey-themed train from Sunny Bay to Disneyland Resort! Though we never got to sit on the cushiony seats because there were just too many people, it was nice to experience Disney-ness even before reaching the resort. The advantage of arriving early is that there's so much space (by Hong Kong standard) and hardly any queue. So we did our space mountain and autopia before the real queue came in. Space Mountain was the only exciting ride in the whole resort, with amazing effects to make you feel like you are travelling in space! Utter fun and dizziness after that. Autopia was the driving in the car-luge, but was stupid as it was on the track, kinda meant for kids. On the other hand, the astro blasters was fun, as we got to shoot "aliens" with our guns and get points!

The Golden Mickeys was entertaining with musicals from almost all their famous stories - Under the Sea, Beauty and the Beast, etc. But the 3D show was more interesting. PhilharMagic had surprises hidden within - water dropping, the duck flying out, etc. The Disney parade is a must-see too, because it's a showcase of all their much-prided characters.

Snow White

Alice in Wonderland

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was pretty childish fun, but the Jungle River Cruise was really amazing! Among my favourite rides, they have life-sized elephants shooting water from their trunks, hippotamuses threatening to gobble up the ship, and piranhas jumping in the water! Later, we entered the geiser region where hot steam and fire was all around us, such that it scared a little girl to tears! Also within the AdventureLand, Tarzan's treehouse is on an island surrounded by the jungle river cruise, only accessible by raft. I finally had a clearer understanding of the difference between Tarzan and JungleBook. Thereafter, the Festival of the Lion King was an amazing musical with excellent voices, intense fire performances, and lovely dances, the lion included, doing his lively head shakes.

Hippotamus!

Fire!

Tarzan

Lion King!

Swinging the fire torches!

As the sky darkens, all the buildings started to light up, and all the Christmas lightings became visible. Earlier, we were given the hologram specs to see the lights and fireworks with. It immediately transformed spots of light into hexagonal snowflakes! Among the nicest buildings, was the huge "It's a Small World", Santa's toy factory, featuring toys and puppets from various cultures and stories! The colours were so amazing, it was simply a very happy experience to be in there!

Lovely lights!

It's a Small World!

Sleeping Beauty Castle!

I never watched Lilo and Stitch, so never really had a thing for Stitch, but to make our $ well worth it, we decided to give Stitch Encounter a shot despite the long queue. To me, it was entertaining, and the technology amazing! It's neither a ride nor a show. It was like a stand-up comedy by Stitch itself, in cartoon form! It was so amazing how they could create the natural-looking reactions while replying the audience, and think up witty answers to the audience's questions!

Last but not least, it was the much awaited fireworks show! This had to be my favourite part of the day, because the fireworks were so colourful, the music so dramatic, and the snow after the fireworks ended, so befitting of the festive season!

But then the festive period for me was spent falling sick, rather alone as most people went back home, in a foreign country. I rarely fall so sick, but this time, I could hardly move out of bed, probably because of the weather and the bad air here too.

So much has happened in 2009 and I can't believe the new year is here already! I enjoyed my final semester, graduated, went on grad trip, worked in ISES, went diving, and then move to a new country and started work! Anyway here goes my New Year Resolution:

1. Achieve all objectives on my Performance Review for the year, and exceed expectations.

2. Go to the gym 2-3 times a week.

3. Eat healthier. Less cha chan teng and more salad/ sandwich bars pls.

4. Meet my savings target.

5. Go diving at least once.