Hong Kong (or why I love Disneyland)

It's been a busy couple of weeks for all of us. My mom was able to extend her trip and stay until Jan 14th. First of all, Grace turned 3 on January 3rd. No party this year- we brought a Dora cake (of course) to school, threw some party hats on the kids, and sang Happy Birthday in Chinese and English. Of course we had the celebratory dinner at Hooters per Grace's request. And the pacifier fairy came and took away her pacifier on the night of her birthday but left a Dora toy instead. It's been a rough couple weeks since then but I guess that's to be expected when you quit an addiction.

We were also lucky enough to be invited to a friend's traditional Chinese wedding in Hong Kong but I am going to do a separate post about the actual ceremony. We were in HK for 4 days and had a great time. It is MUCH more westernized than Shanghai due to the British influences of course. All the cabbies spoke English- what a refreshing change. Since we were there we decided to bite the bullet and take the kids to HK Disneyland. What an awesome day it turned out to be! I never thought I would be raving about a daytrip to Disney but here goes. In typical Disney style, everything was done exactly right. We took the metro train from our hotel and as we switched onto the last train to take us to Disneyland, a beautiful new train pulled up with Mickey Mouse shaped windows, plush blue velvet seats, and bronze statues inside the train of all the characters. And of course I can't forget the classical Disney songs being piped throughout the station.

Thankfully this is the smallest of all the Disney parks with only 3 main sections which was perfect for us. And since we went on a weekday there were no crowds. We started in Fantasyland and literally rode the carousel and the Winnie the Pooh ride at least 6 times each. Not to mention several trips to take photos with the various characters around the park. The most fun happened when Grace threw a fit getting off the carousel (big shock, I know) but upon exiting we were chosen as the "Magical Moment" family for the day :)

So Grace and Audrey got to take a private walk with Cinderella and ride the carousel with her.

We also hit tomorrowland and adventureland but there are really only about 4 little rides in each section. We also watched the Main Street parade and Grace was so overwhelmed that she started crying when it was over. Even so, we were at the park for over 7 hours! And we are definitely going to hit it again next year. It was also Sev's first trip to Disneyland and he was so smitten he wants to check out the one in Tokyo as well!

Oh yeah, one last thing- no split pants allowed so we weren't worried about bare butt being on the rides prior to us.

The train to Disneyland- Audrey "picked" a good seat

Grace running to greet Mickey

Cinderella and Grace taking a walk together

Audrey getting ready to go on the Pooh ride- again.

Audrey on the carousel

Who can escape Disneyland without this classic family photo?

Grace and her Dora cake