When in Disneyland

For the boys, 2012 would be the year of theme parks. Before Japan, we were in Hong Kong for a short trip where we visited Disneyland and Ocean Park Hong Kong. By the end of our Japan trip, both Terence and I were theme parked-out while the boys (especially Kit) were still asking for more. Though Terence would probably never visit Disneyland again without the kids, I still like Disneyland because... c'mon, it's Disneyland! Here are the things that make Disneyland still a magical experience for me.

Mickey Mouse Ice Cream

In Japan: Orange ice cream for the boys and vanilla wafer ice cream for us to share.

In Hong Kong: Chocolate covered vanilla ice cream for the boys and simulated-strawberry flavored Minnie Mouse ice cream for me.

Who doesn't love ice creams, especially Mickey-shaped ones?

Mickey Mouse train into Disneyland

Peering out the train window in Hong Kong.

I feel like I'm starting on a magical journey when I board the Mickey Mouse train into Disneyland. It starts with the Mickey Mouse train station icons, then you'd see the Mickey Mouse-shaped windows and Mickey Mouse handle bars when the train pulls in. The boys are always excited to board the Mickey Mouse train.

Disneyland at night

I hated "It's a Small World" ride in Orlando but doing the ride again at night with the boys in Hong Kong was one of the most memorable, happy rides.

If you have a chance, stay for the night parade and the fireworks display. And if the park opens till late, do the rides at night! With only the moonlight and the street lamps to light my path to each ride, which is lit beautifully, I felt like a kid all over again. Everything looked so magical, dreamlike, happy.

The park may celebrate a festival/holiday with a themed parade so check their parade schedule. For instance, we were in Hong Kong near Halloween so the park had a halloween-themed night parade with Halloween props (e.g. ghouls, skeletons, spiders, spiderwebs, pumpkins) sprinkled all over the park.

Queues for the rides may or may not be shorter. In Japan, the queue for the more popular rides is still more than an hour but queues in general for Disneyland in Hong Kong at night were much shorter.

The parades

Kit peering anxiously, trying to see the first float to come round the corner.

As a parent, the parade is a GREAT time to sit down and relax. There's a lot of walking and waiting in Disneyland so everyone is usually very grateful for a 'time-out'. My boys know something exciting is about to happen and would be content to sit and stop horsing around until the parade is over.

Kit, accompanied by his toy alligator, really enjoyed the parades. 

Happy kids = Happy parents

As you can see, I'm not writing about the rides in Disneyland but some to-dos that'd make the experience complete, if not a happier one. Hope you'd enjoy Disneyland as much as we did. :)