If You Keep On Believing – Hong Kong – [03/12/2013]

Every time I come back there is a small part of me that is terrified that this time it won’t ‘work’; that something will somehow be broken, or missing, or I’ll have gotten too used to it or…something.

But then I find myself standing in the opening line-up, there before the park opens for the first time in nearly twenty years, and it hits me all over again. I watched the great green iron-wrought gates swing open and felt my eyes well up and realized that no…no somehow, some way, this will always ‘work’.

Ladies and Gentlemen boys and girls welcome to Disneyland…

Main Street opens at ten am; the rest of the park doesn’t open until half an hour later. Because I walked away a bit to make the phone call home (which I will always do no matter how much it costs), I lost my place at the front of the crowd and so couldn’t’ see the actual ribbon cutting (though I saw Cinderella come out to perform it), but I did manage to get some excellent photographs of fantasy land when it was completely empty; something I honestly don’t ever remember seeing before. Then again, the last time I would have seen such a thing I would have been much smaller.

The first thing I did, more for the fun of the memory it brings than anything else, was to jump into the line for Dumbo the Flying Elephant. For reasons completely unknown to anyone this ride always has an abnormally long line. Sometimes as much as 45 minutes!  45 minutes for a five minute ride that is similar to one you could find at any country fair! But I have hilarious memories of waiting in line for it with my mum, and I’ve not really been on it since. So, since it was early in the day and the line was short, I collected my circus-themed boarding pass and got an excellent view of fantasy land from a dozen or so feet in the air while the piping voice of Timothy Mouse reminding me to keep my various limbs inside the ride.

Once Dumbo had landed safely I wandered over and onto It’s A Small World, which remains the ride that has the most poingnant message delievered by way of one of the most annoying ‘earworm’ songs ever. That said, I still have a soft spot for the ride as I used to adore it when I was about the size of the dolls in it, and would drag my parents through it multiple times. I don’t know how they put up with it looking back! Besides, the line is never more than ten minutes long and you can make your way through the multiple gleaming empty switchbacks very quickly before boarding your little boat to take you through the world. However I, like my mum, remain quietly irate that Canada still only rates a buck-tooth Mountie with an eagle on it’s head. We’re the second largest country in the world!! There is more to us than buck-tooth Mounties! Er…anyway….

Throughout the day, I found myself slightly aggravated this season that I kept running into guests every so often. With a three day stop in Hong Kong I suppose they have more time to come and be kids like the rest of us! And really, more power to them….the thing is, I’ve come to think of this once-a-season day as my own personal sanctuary and I found myself wishing to just be left alone. That said, it’s nice to say hello to people once in a while, and few recognise me when I’m not in company colours anyway.

Anyway just as I was about to start letting the unexpected intrusion (such as it was ) get to me, I saw something on a sign post right in front of me that drove all of that out of my head and made me burst into giggles.

Big Grizzly Mountain: Run Away Mine Cars

The ‘main cable lift’ of Big Grizzly Mountain, just before the brakes let go and send you flying backwards!

Big Thunder! Under a different name of course, but Big Thunder none the less. My all-time favourite coaster ride (for ages the only one I would ride at all, tame though it is I know), has finally saddled up and come to Hong Kong. I couldn’t get there fast enough, and I still didn’t really believe it until I actually saw it.

Every version of Big Thunder is different- for example the one in Paris actually goes under the water! But this one did something I honestly never expected (and I wasn’t watching the coaster before I boarded it, so I didn’t see it before hand). The train zooms around a corner and starts ratcheting up a particularly steep slope, and just when you’re thinking that the drop from the top is going to be impressive? The brakes let go and the darn thing goes backwards!! BACKWARDS!! BACKWARDS REALLY REALLY FAST! It then proceeds to go forwards again at triple the speed before rocketing to a stop back in the main station.

Hang on to yer hats and glasses! ‘Cause this here is the wildest ride in the wilderness.

*grin*

Yes, I definitely rode that one a few times. Especially since as a single rider I rarely had to wait more than five minutes. As usual this always gets the odd glare from the people in the winding switch back line next to you as you saunter past, but it’s one of the few perks of visiting a park by yourself J The second time I rode, they put me in the back car of the train by myself. As any roller coaster fan will tell you, the best place to be on a coaster is either in the front car (where you get the view from the top of the drops) or the back car. That was one amazing ride. Terrifying, but amazing!

The beginnings of Mystic Manor

Nearby to Grizzly Gulch is a vast purple semi-Victorian style fence, behind which you can just see the tops of Arabian-esque turrets and spires brushing against the sky. All purples and blues and mystery. Standing on my very very tip toes like a toddler so that I could see through the top of the fence, I could see the construction barriers in place on the other side, and the framework of a vast Arabian style mansion with a tantalizing sign reading ‘Mystic Manor’ in front of it. This then, will be Mystic point…and it means that Hong Kong Disney is finally adding their own version of the Haunted Mansion. It won’t be open for some months yet, though the signs say it is coming sometime this year. The little ‘kid sister’ park is slowly but surely growing up, and it’s going to be more and more difficult to see all of it in a day! But for now, whatever secrets Mystic Manor holds remain safely hidden away behind that big purple fence.

I also took a turn or two through Space Mountain, which always seems darker and faster than I remember it. Although by the fourth time through my eyes were adjusting and I found myself able to see the tracks L But that first time through it was pitch dark and I emerged dizzy and blinking. I also bought the photo, which looked much better on the viewing screen than when I actually bought it, in the version I ended up with they zoomed in on just me and I look slightly…possessed. Thus continuing the family tradition of ridiculous looking ride photos…

Eventually I was able to make my way to the Story Book Theatre in Fantasyland for the ‘Golden Mickeys’ stage show. Despite the slight silliness of the name, the show was actually pretty awesome. It had some of the most amazing silk and areal work I’d seen. Of course, it also featured a flying mermaid….er…lol, no actually the way they handled Ariel was kind of neat. It’s true she was technically flying – as in she was suspended above the stage with fly cables – but the effect actually made it look like she was swimming, which was a far cry better than other attempts I’ve seen at stage productions trying to handle a character who doesn’t walk!

I managed to get a picture with Mickey and Minnie. I suspect they were somewhat surprised that I gave them a hug – spontaneous hugging of Disney characters must be a western thing – but the pictures turned out well. I also lucked out and got a picture with Tinker Bell (she’s not exactly out for meet n’ greets very often). I happened to be wearing my London Peter Pan shirt that day, which she found very entertaining. I was also witness to a marriage proposal! The girl said yes, which drew applause from everyone including Tink.

As it turned out viewing the parade was a difficult endeavour since I hadn’t gotten to the parade route early enough to stake out a seat on the curb. I certainly don’t mind standing to watch, but Hong Kong residents are…now how can I put this…pushy? Really really pushy? Let’s just say I got pushed and shoved a lot and people would shove their way in front of me without so much as a ‘pardon me’` a heck of a lot. It made me a bit grumpy at the time (more frustrated I think really), but I quickly got over it.

It seemed that I hadn’t turned around twice before dusk was falling. I took one final ‘grand circle tour’ on the Disneyland Railroad, munching on carmel corn while the park slid by in front of me, before a glance at my cell phone told me that I really had to go otherwise there was no way  I was going to make it back in time to relieve my co-worker at 7:30.

Never have I been so reluctant to join the throngs of people heading under the arches of Main Street Station and into the real world. Few people really realize that the reason I always come back to Disney Parks is because they’re a link to home, they fill up the emptiness that comes from being away a lot from the people you love. If you ‘never had’ a childhood, they give you one, if you had a childhood, it gives it back to you…

Contracts like this, where the days are long and the politics heavy…I am so so grateful that the magic always works.