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. :)

Cafe Deco and service in HK

My succulent grilled lamb from Cafe Deco Bar & Grill

It took us almost an hour to get up to The Peak on a wet Sunday afternoon (Ferry ride to Hong Kong Island, walk from ferry terminal to Peak Tram station, queue up to buy tickets, queue for the tram.) My back was aching by the time we got to the Cafe Deco Bar & Grill. It came highly recommended, but I suspect it was more for the view than the food.

The service was FANTASTIC though.

A trainee waiter spilled apple cidar on Terence, and there was a flurry of activity after that. It all zoomed past like a video on fast forward mode. Waiters apologised profusely ("He's new, please forgive him!"), someone cleaned up the table, removed the bottle, handed Terence wet towels, and ushered him off to the toilet. It all happened in a blink of an eye. One minute Terence was there, the next second gone. I was left nursing my latte with the view in front of me.

Manager came over to apologise personally after that. They waived the apple cidar and desserts for both of us were free! Terence was little embarrassed; he didn't even kick up a fuss. I said: "Well, you could be wearing a pair of pants from LV or something and they didn't want you to sue."

"Well, I'm not wearing LV pants!" he said. (He doesn't own one. The reason why I said LV was because a female tourist from China behind us was wearing a lilac-coloured LV pants. The famous LV monograms were all over. A nouveau rich with lousy taste or is it fake?)

We ordered the fish and lamb by the visiting chef who's supposedly worked with Jamie Oliver before. It was nice, but I wish my lamb was little more pink. The molten chocolate cake was overdone though I won't complain. It was free!

A HK date

It's nice to get away for a few days without Kai. Sure, I feel guilty for leaving him behind and for leaving him with MIL. But for just that few days I don't have to think about baby food, diaper change, making sure he's got books to read over lunch, whether he's drinking enough water, dragging my feet to his room when he cries in the middle of the night, whether he's warm enough at night... you get the picture.

Yet we're always thinking of him. Here's us before heading to Harbour City for shopping... to look for warm clothes for Kai (for the Perth trip) and the toddler size Thomas the Tank Engine toy.

Lunch that day was...

...Krispy Kreme.

My hands were shaking when I messaged Terence.

I had a small ice lemon tea and one Rich N' Dark. It came up to S$5.60! And the drink was more expensive than the doughnut at S$3.20. *FAINT*

Frankly, I preferred the glaze and doughnuts at Doughnut Factory. Terence said I should try the original Krispy Kreme--the one with the plain sugar glaze.

What else did I find?

Om... look and you shall find... I stood outside Omm like an idiot until I realised the door ain't gonna open for me--I needed to pull the lever of the Yoni-Lingam towards me. Subsequently I couldn't get out; the lever inside the shop was spoilt. I medidated for a few seconds, plucked up my courage before I asked the shop assistant for help.

Really old school

HK is well-known for its colourful signs. I liked this in particular. It reminded me of those old school Hainanese Western food stalls. Yes, I was hungry.

Getting lost in HK

Lanterns outside Island Beverly

One thing I love to do in HK is just getting lost. I do that when Terence goes for his conference, which means I'm left to my own devices.

All you need is an idea of where your final destination is, and head in the general direction. You'd be surprised at what you find along the way. I started off at Island Beverly (opposite Sogo at Causeway Bay) and my fancy took me towards Lee Gardens Two. (Island Beverly is similar to what you find in Singapore's Far East Plaza/Lucky Plaza--lots of tiny little shops filled with racks that are crowded with locally-designed and made clothes/accessories.)

Original intent was just to check out the kids section at Lee Gardens Two (Causeway Bay). I found:

Sistyr Moon (their web site's not up at press time). Perfect place for followers of off-beat cult brands. It is reported to carry a range of imported foreign labels the likes of Karen Walker, Jill Stuart, Robert Cary-Williams, Roberto Cavalli and paper cloth denim. I fell in love with a pair of "jelly shoes" from Melissa.

Hip, rock wear for kids at Hysteric Mini. Think Ed Hardy and Bejewelled. But a t-shirt easily costs S$100+. Why would a growing toddler need such an expensive t? It's just cool.

What's in? Maybe it's leopord print for jackets. (This could be a windown display of a Vivienne Westwood boutique. I can't remember...)

An unexpected find: Avenue Restaurant and Bar

Terence was invited to a drug trip to Hong Kong, and he asked if I wanted to tag along. An overseas date with my husband. A long weekend just to sleep-in, eat, shop and sleep late was just too tempting a proposal.

Of course I said yes.

All the meals for the doctors (and their spouse) on the trip were catered for. I had ZERO expectations, and so was pleasantly surprised by our first meal after touch down.

This little find is situated right at our hotel, the Holiday Inn Golden Mile. Called the Avenue Restaurant and Bar, it has been named one of HK's Best Restaurants by HK Tatler for four consecutive years. It was a sit-down lunch with a really classy long table setting, and the selection for your mains is placed at each plate. The appetisers and desserts are buffet style.

First impression: It definitely stinks of a typical hotel Western buffet. Mass produced, lousy quality.

But we were suitably impressed by the appetisers. Even if it was in a buffet style, the quality was definitely a cut above the usual buffet fare. We both had the beef for our mains. It was so tender that at one time, Terence was just slicing it with his fork.

Service? Perfect. The staff took note of who ordered what. No one asked: "Who's having the fish? Who's having the beef?" And we were a table of 20.

I'm always get ahead of myself when it comes to food. By the time I remember I need to take a photo for the blog, the food's already in my stomach. So no, oops, no photos of our beef. :p

Quick post from HK

Posting this from the HK MTR (Central). Found Krispy Kremes. Expensive affair.

Was looking forward to roast goose from Yung Gei, but the China government banned imports of geese for the week. *SCREAM*

Went to H&M. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

I'm limited to just 15 minute at the free Internet terminal. 2:54 min left.

Ciao. Back to the boring hotel room.