Disneyland Magic

Just got back from a tiring yet really fun trip to HK Disneyland. HK was very hot and expensive. It's true that the exchange rate is now better compared to few years ago (~HKD 6 to SGD 1) but the price increase has been exponential too.

Anyway, for this trip we bought a package from a travel agency, considering the discounts and the special closed door event in Disney park. Included in the package were return flight on C*thay P*cific, 1 night stay in HK, 2 nights stay in Disneyland resort, and 2-day tickets to Disneyland theme park.

I am used to arranging my own trip, so much so that it did not feel right when I did not have to take care of flight bookings, hotel bookings and itinerary. I am also so used to flying budget airlines, I actually planned of bringing an empty water bottle and snacks to the aircraft :p

We reached Changi T1 at 5.20am for our 8am flight on Wed, 10 September to meet up with the tour guide. I am still not sure why such free and easy tour needs a guide, but, whatever, I didn't have a say on that. A section of seats had been reserved for the group, so we followed the seat numbers arranged by the tour guide, not the seats given by the airline. Some people did not know that, resulting in some confusion on board the plane.

On board the plane

The flight was a little bumpy (no hot beverages were served) but otherwise uneventful. Reached HK Int'l Airport by noon and only reached our hotel room 2 hours later - courtesy of waiting here and there, the not-so-good part of travelling in tour group.

The first hotel was Metropark Hotel in Mongkok. It has good location with MTR station, shops and convenient store nearby. But the room was small and the carpet looked worn and dirty. Didn't bother to check out their swimming pool and try their restaurants.

We only had half a day in the city, and we visited Avenue of Stars, took Star Ferry to Central Pier and went to The Peak.

Exploring the city

Taking a ride on Star Ferry was a great choice. For a cheap fare (HKD 6.50 for 2 adults and 1 child) we got to enjoy HK skyline while crossing Victoria Harbour.

However, a visit to The Peak by tram was totally not worth it, in my opinion. Firstly, I've been there a few years ago, and nothing has changed. And then it was really crowded in The Sky Terrace we had to fight for space to get a good spot for phototaking. A much better option would be to ride Bus no 15 to The Peak (forget the tram unless you're there in off-peak hours), and have a leisurely stroll back down while taking photos (forget paying to enter The Sky Terrace). The mesmerizing city skyline is visible from other parts as well, including a section in The Peak building that is non-ticketed. It would be better if they limit the number of people allowed in the Sky Terrace - it is THAT crowded.

Hong Kong skyline

In the morning the following day, we checked out from hotel and went to Disney Resort. We chose Disneyland Hotel over Hollywood Hotel and it's a good choice. It has lovely architecture, with huge lobby, high ceilings and pretty chandeliers. It's overlooking the sea and there's a ferry pier at the back of the hotel, separated by a promenade and a well manicured garden. The garden has flower bed, maze and children playground. The room was clean, very spacious and well stocked. The robes and room slippers came in kids' sizes as well. 4 bottles of water were provided, doubled than the usual 2 bottles given by other hotels.

There's a Disney merchandise store located at the lobby, a very convenient way to shop as you can immediately store your loot in the room, rather than lugging it around in the park.

There's a range of children activities in the Storybook Playroom throughout the day. They are mostly free (magic card, learn to draw Disney characters, button making, towel art, etc). For some activities that require equipments, one set was priced at HKD100. The room itself was stocked with mini playground, mini theatre playing Disney movies, story books and toys.

There are 3 restaurants in Disneyland Hotel. We had dinner and breakfast in Walt's cafe and the food was really good. Breakfast was served semi-buffet style: a continental buffet and one choice of hot meal.

The theme park is accessible from Disneyland Hotel by shuttle bus (every 10 mins, loops from theme park-Disneyland Hotel-Hollywood Hotel) and by a pretty pathway. On good weather, it's much better to walk on the pathway compared to taking the bus. It's mostly empty and the amount of walk is not much different compared to taking bus, as the bus stops are located in quite a distance from hotel entrance and theme park entrance.

Disney experience itself was magical. I guess the characters made all the difference as we grew up with them. In 2 days, we enjoyed 2 Disney in the Stars fireworks displays, 3 Flights of Fantasy parades and many, many rides.

Despite what I heard about the themepark being small and the undesirable attitude exhibited by certain visitors, I did not share the same opinion. In 2 days, we did not manage to try every single rides, but some rides we went for a few times. It's too bad that some attractions are only available in Cantonese, like Animation Academy.

The hot and humid weather was close to unbearable but then the good thing was, queues were usually very short. We did not even bother to take any fast pass. On first day it's scorching hot throughout the day, and on second day it's a little cloudy with occasional rain.

Park was clean, well maintained, with enough facilities like toilets, restaurants and stroller parking areas. Food sold were alright, albeit a little pricey. Staff were polite and paid good attention to safety on the rides.

My favorite ride was The Runaway Mine Cart, a roller coaster ride, of course. I found Space Mountain a little disappointing somehow. Mystic Manor was good too - we toured the antique
collections that came alive in a manor.

On the first day we watched the 7.30pm fireworks from Fantasyland, as we arrived when the Main Street USA was already packed. The staff already advised us that the best view would be from in front of the castle, but we stayed in Fantasyland as there were far less people. It turned out that Fantasyland was in the middle of the show, literally at the heart of the hot actions: fire explosions from the left, lights and fireworks from the front (Sleeping Beauty castle), and another set of fireworks from behind. It got very really hot and smoky after the show was over. It's a good experience, though. On the second night we watched it from Main Street USA and it was crazy crowded.

The closed door event was called Disney Paint the Night, where special Disney characters made their glamorous appearances in the night parade. The park and the rides were open until 11pm. Special attractions to celebrate Halloween were open too for preview. There were face painting, night fair, and 2 haunted houses. I went in to one of them and didn't understand as all the ghosts spoke in Cantonese :p The other house had perpetually long queue so I didn't bother to try.

Tickets and special passes

We enjoyed the last day in the resort, before our flight back home at 5pm. All in all, it's an exciting trip. Glad to be able to experience the Disney Magic one more time!

Macau & HK Trip

- The Intro -

Macau is a charming, vivacious city that has an apparent combination of historical and modern influences. We had a short trip to Macau last weekend (1-4 Nov '08). This area is so famous as center of casinos, so much so that when a friend heard about my plan, his first comment was that I was going there for gambling, haha..

- The Flight -

We booked our flight on Jetstar as its timing was better compared to Tiger airways, but too bad, they had a last minute change that delayed the departure time by 2 hours. They did a good job by notifying us early for the delay of the return flight, but we only found the delay on the Sg-Macau flight after we reached Changi. It's not a good start.
Thankfully Changi lived up to its name, we didn't have time to get bored at Changi at all, thanks to its free internet and xbox games! After 3.5 hours, we finally reached Macau at 7.30pm last Saturday, 1 November.

- The Hotel -

We stayed for 2 nights at Pousada de Mong-Ha. Pousada is a Portuguese word meaning "a place of blessed repose". Mong-Ha is the name of the hill on which the inn is located. We chose this place based on fantastic reviews from previous guests, and also its affordable price, despite its location which is a little out of the way. And we didn't regret it.
This inn is run by students from IFT (Institute for Tourism Studies), with warm greetings and eager service. The room was spacious with nice bathroom, and room service was really responsive. They all speak good English. And extra touch was given by providing complimentary cookies in a bamboo basket in the room, complete with a card. Newspapers were delivered early in the morning, and what made me impressed was that they took note of the guests' preference, although we didn't indicate it. On the second day two girls delivered a Chinese newspaper to our room by mistake and they quickly went back to exchange it to an English newspaper while apologizing profusely. The nice surroundings of Mong-Ha Fortess and Park helped, too.

On the third day we moved to Grand Waldo hotel in Taipa, as there was no more available room in Pousada de Mong-Ha. For a room twice more expensive, the comfort was not as satisfactory. The mattress was so hard I had problems sleeping.

- The Food -

In general the food in Macau tasted great and was affordable. Our only problem was when the menu was written completely in Chinese and the waitress only spoke Cantonese/Mandarin. Other than that, we could just point at the menu to get the message across.
Portuguese egg tarts were mouthwatering.. they smelt great, too. There is this street connecting Senado Square with St. Paul's Ruins which is full of stores selling local favorites. Peanut candies, almond cookies, egg tarts, piggy buns, steamboat, roasted pork slices, egg rolls, etc. Some of the sellers stand along the street to distribute samples. One famous store even provides water to drink after trying the food. You can just walk back and forth for a few times and feel full.. most of the tourists passing by that street were walking while munching something.

We tried the local steamboat: it is basically various kind of meatballs with sausages and also crab sticks cooked in flavorful soup. small bowl costs MOP10 or MOP15 in tourist place. Delicious.

- The Transport -

We relied a lot on taxis for our transportation. It was always the same ritual: we got in, told the driver the English name of our destination, got that blank look, produced a map while pointing on the location we wanted to go to. It worked.
Buses are small in size, and a flat rate of MOP2.5 is imposed for each ride. Certain buses cost MOP5 per ride. All roads are named in Portuguese and Cantonese. The road names are commonly written in blue ink on top of white ceramic tiles.
People who have plenty of time can always make full use of the free shuttle bus services provided by almost all of the casinos. Most of them ferry guests between ferry terminal and the casinos. This is quite useful for crossing the bridge between Taipa and Macau Peninsula.

- The Historical Macau -

On our first day, we explored the historical area in Macau peninsula on foot. First visit was to the famous A-Ma Temple, followed by Moorish Barracks, Lilau Square, Church of St. Lawrence, St. Joseph's Seminary and Church, Senado Square, St. Dominic's Church, St. Paul Ruins, Na-Tcha Temple, Mount Fortress, Church of St. Augustine, and then Guia Fort.

Senado Square (Largo do Senado) is a popular venue for public gathering and celebrations. On weekends it was packed by locals and tourists alike. It's surrounded by pastel coloured buildings, street market, stores and restaurants.

Among the many famous landmarks, my favorite was St. Paul Ruins (Ruinas de Sao Paulo), although only the facade remains. There is a small museum built at its basement.

Just across the famous church ruins is Mount Fortress. To get to the top of Mount Fortress, you can choose either to climb the stairs or to take the escalators under the air conditioned rooms of Macau Museum. Too bad that we found this out only after we climbed the stairs up, haha.. but exercise is always good.

Guia Fortress (Fortaleza da Guia) is located on Guia Hill. We reached the top by taking cable car which costs MOP3 for return trip (MOP2 for one way). Another alternative is to climb on foot via the Flora Garden. Upon reaching the top, after a short walk, we arrived at the Guia Chapel and light house. Guia Chapel was established by Clarist nuns, and its frescoes depict representations of western and Chinese themes. Too bad the light house is not open for public.

Celebrated Sunday Mass at Macau Cathedral (Igreja da Sé) in English. The mass was mostly attended by Filipino community, even the text is printed in Makati. Some of the hymns were familiar too us. We noticed that they're still using the now-forbidden 'Y' word.
After mass we went to Nam Van Lake. The plan was actually to watch a laser cum music performance on the lake, but we didn't see any show there. Luckily there was a night market along the lake where we found this nice meatball steamboat.

- The Modern Macau -

On the following days, we visited Macau Tower, Fisherman's Wharf, Venetian Macau, and also a few of the casinos: Grand Waldo's, Venetian's, and Sands.

Venetian Macau was grand. They built the whole place to imitate Venice, complete with false roof (painted in sky blue with clouds), pretty windows with flowers, domes, canals, gondolas and the singing gondoliers. They sang wonderfully, especially with the echo from the false ceilings.

There were also artists who painted their whole body and display themselves like statues. There were no money box for donation, instead there was security guard looking after the artist, but yet people put money near the artists' feet.

- The short Hong Kong trip -

Visited Hong Kong for a short while. Strolled along Tsim Sha Tsui area, all the way to the promenade to get to Avenue of Stars. Went up to the Victoria Peak by taking the touristy tram. The view of Hong Kong night skyline was worth it.

- Footnote -

Macau was easily accessible for us since there's no visa requirement. Another good thing is, all famous landmarks do not impose any entrance fee, with an exception of Macau museum (MOP15 for adults). The city is very well maintained, with clean public facilities.

The city's preparing for F1 Grand Prix in mid November, so fences and barriers were being put up, colorful seats were set up along the main routes.

However Macau Patacas (MOP) are not sold in Singapore's money changer. And the HKD note that we got was too big for day-to-day, normal expenses. So we eventually exchanged the HKD to MOP there.