My birthday was on the Monday before Thanksgiving. This year's Thanksgiving was on the Thursday after my birthday. When they are closer together, we sometimes have a combination birthday/Thanksgiving dinner. Since pretty much no one else in my current life grew up with or cares about Thanksgiving, those tend to be more birthday celebrations to everyone else and Thanksgiving to me. Sometimes, they are several days or even a week apart. Then we have a Thanksgiving dinner that everyone acknowledges is Thanksgiving. This year, they were a few days apart with different activities in different countries.
For my birthday, Lily and I went to Disneyland. It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time. We first met each other while working at Disneyland, what feels like a lifetime ago. She quit in early 2016. I left a year later. Neither of us has been back since 2018.
Hong Kong Disneyland is in the middle of a massive expansion and renovation, including two entire lands. Frozenland was originally going to open in 2020. Now, it is supposed to open next year. Marvel Land is currently scheduled for 2023. Those are not the real names. Frozenland is Arendelle: World of Frozen, built on empty land that was always intended for such an expansion. The other one is something equally stupid, like Iron Man Expo or Marvel Something, built over the former Autopia and empty space. They should call it Avengerland, which would cause all kinds of confusion with Adventureland on the opposite side of the park. As it is, there is no Land in the name. Not that it ever stopped Grizzly Gulch or Mystic Point. But Mystic Point is more of a small neighborhood than a full land. Grizzly Gulch, however, has always been Hong Kong's version of Frontierland.
An obvious difference from our time, that we could clearly see, was the castle. Back in our day, Sleeping Beauty Castle was a copy of the one at Disneyland California. When they announced the remodeling, a lot of people liked the idea of having a castle that did not look just like another park's castle, though there were rumors that the new castle would be more like Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant at Disneyland Paris. Today, it is the Castle of Magical Dreams, and looks more like Cinderella Castle at Disney World in Florida. They spent millions of dollars to go from California to Florida. The fireworks show over the castle was suspended during the renovation. They say it will resume on New Year's Day 2022. So, no fireworks for my birthday.
The park was closed from the Wednesday to Friday before we went. On 17 November, they closed because one cast member or guest tested positive for that popular virus. To avoid any bad publicity, and maybe disinfect the place, they shut down for a few days. They also tested everyone who works there and encouraged visitors to get tested as well. We went fully aware that any number of problems could prevent us from going or lead to a phone call from the government after we left. So far, no one has told us that we came in contact with anyone more contagious than usual.
The closure and hullabaloo over a single person with the plague entering the park made no difference to us, as long as it was open when we showed up. The benefit was that the place was far less crowded than usual. There are no holidays in Hong Kong between Double Nine and Christmas. November is a month of nothing, and generally a good time to go to Disneyland. A November day without fireworks, parades, and after everyone freaks out is even better.
One of the best things about working at Disneyland was that we could get in for free. Now that we no longer work there, we have to pay. Not full price, fortunately. The cheapest one day ticket that includes nothing but entrance to the park is currently HK$639 per person. As high as that sounds, it is still 20% less than Disneyland California, for a slightly smaller park. Food throughout Hong Kong is dirt cheap, except at Disneyland. You can easily spend HK$99 (US$12.75) on a single cafeteria meal. The restaurants are even more. I looked around and people are spending over US$20 (HK$156) per meal at Disneyland California. Ironically, a standard cup of pop is HK$30 and US$3.99, which is practically the same.
No matter what you do, you are going to spend too much money at Disneyland. Unless it is your birthday. Then you can get a birthday button at City Hall on Main Street, USA for free. My complimentary birthday button is destined to take a place of pride in a box in my closet.
At most Disney parks, I used to follow the same general pattern, depending on each park's layout. After a walk up Main Street, USA, I turned left through Adventureland into New Orleans Square and headed straight for Pirates of the Caribbean, followed by the Haunted Mansion. From there, I would travel clockwise, more or less. Hong Kong Disneyland has no Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion or New Orleans Square. There is a Mystic Manor in Mystic Point, which some people like to compare with the Haunted Mansion, but other than a dark ride inside a “house”, they have nothing in common. Mystic Manor is a decent ride in its own way, but it is no Haunted Mansion.
In Hong Kong, instead of turning left from Main Street, USA, I used to turn right into Tomorrowland and head straight for Space Mountain. But then they turned Tomorrowland into Star Wars: Tomorrowland Takeover and changed Space Mountain to Hyperspace Mountain, though the ride is basically the same. Now, Tomorrowland is Stark Expo. At least until the new Marvel Land is finished. Since the two lands will be right next to each other, Marvel rides are bleeding into Tomorrowland as they gradually open. So far, they have the Iron Man Experience, a motion simulation ride like Star Tours, and Ant Man and the Wasp, which is the new version of the old Buzz Lightyear shoot 'em up ride.
On Monday, we headed up Main Street, USA and straight into Fantasyland, which is in the same location at every park. Neither Lily nor I have a particular ride order, but we will always hit it's a small world, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Cinderella Carousel. I used to like the Mad Hatter Tea Cups, but my head does not approve of getting dizzy anymore.
Hong Kong's Adventureland only has one real ride, the Jungle Cruise, which takes up most of the lake/river. The rest of the Land is Tarzan's Treehouse, food, and shopping. Just past the Karibuni Marketplace, which is souvenir shopping, is the entrance to Grizzly Gulch, home to my favorite Disney ride, Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, a faster and less predictable version of Big Thunder Mountain. Geyser Gulch, with its fountain and water pistols, is an excellent place to cool off on a humid summer day. November is not especially hot, making it an even emptier time to go. Frontierland is called Grizzly Gulch in Hong Kong for the same reason it is Westernland in Tokyo. Unlike fantasy, adventure, and tomorrow, frontier does not mean the same thing in Chinese and Japanese as it does in English.
The opposite entrance to Grizzly Gulch leads to Mystic Point and Mystic Manor. Continuing through Mystic Point is Toy Story Land, which has a couple of fast rides for teenagers and a lot of fluff for children. The other entrance to Toy Story Land leads back to Adventureland and Fantasyland, and will lead to Arendelle in the future.
Hong Kong Disneyland is the smallest Disney park in the world. A single day is more than enough time to ride everything we are interested in, sit down to lunch, catch a show or two, and snack too much along the way. A good deal of the space is dedicated to walk-throughs and places to take pictures. The overwhelming majority of guests are Chinese, who have loved to photograph everywhere they go since long before Facebook and Instagram were invented.
Despite the small size, the railroad can be a convenient way to get to a different side of the park on crowded days. When it was first built, it ran around the outside perimeter, just like every other park. But Hong Kong Disneyland was specifically designed to expand gradually over the years. Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point, and Toy Story Land are on the other side of the tracks. When Arendelle and Marvel Land are finished, half the park will be outside the original perimeter. Instead of surrounding the park, the railroad will be an inner ring. What I always found interesting was that they built Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point, and Toy Story Land to the south, toward their hotels and a large body of water. If you stay at the Disneyland Hotel, you are only 100 meters from Grizzly Gulch, but of course cannot get in unless you go a kilometer around the corner to the park's entrance. Arendelle and Marvel Land are being built just to the west and north, where there has always been ample room. When I first set foot in Hong Kong Disneyland, I assumed they would expand to the east, where there is a large patch of absolutely nothing. Maybe they are saving that for whatever comes next.
2005-2018
RIP
