To All Who Come To This Happy Place…- Hong Kong/Disneyland – 10/24/2011

“You’re gonna love this place Larry. It really brings out the kid in you” – WDW Commercial circa 1990

Those of you who know me well know how much of a Disneyland person I am, those of you who know me really well (or are related to me, in either a literal or a non-literal sense) know why the park means so very, very much to me.

It comes down to this: usually if there’s a Disney park within a reasonable distance of where I am, you’ll probably find me there…

Many die-hard Disney park fans grouse that Hong Kong Disneyland is the weakest of the Disney parks family. The poor country cousin of it’s better established sister parks. It’s true that the park is smaller, and has few attractions than its counter-parts in the states and in Europe, but this is one of those cases where that doesn’t matter. Small though it is, it still…has that…something that all Disney parks have. That ability to make you feel like a kid again. I’ve never been able t pin down exactly what that element is, nor what it springs from. Faith? Trust? Everyone’s Inner child? (I can hear the cynics among my readers muttering “rampant capitalism” under their breaths. Witness me not listening.)

All I know for certain is this: You don’t need the Mickey Mouse shaped windows, the bronze character statuettes or the specialty designed seats to tell you that you’re on the Disneyland bound train. That train could be the plainest in the world, and you would still know it for what it was without a single sign posted anywhere. It’s in the eyes of every child that runs across the platform and sits with their nose pressed to the glass, determined not t miss that first magical glance of Disneyland station – that tells them that yes, yes they really are here. They really did make it. It’s not a dream.

You find yourself wondering if any of them slept the night before. You might also remind yourself that you didn’t either.

Hong Kong Disneyland was designed with the principals of Feng Sheui , (in fact, the thing I really noticed though was that the lack of attractions was made up for in the sheer beauty of the park itself. I’ve never seen so many gardens in one place before. It was very peaceful and very much in line with the culture for which it was built)… so there’s a long winding causeway leading up to the park itself (to prevent positive energy from flowing into the sea), which means you actually don’t see the park for a while after leaving the train station. It’s a long walk, lined by sculpted hedges with a huge intricate fountain at the far end. It feels even longer in the Hong Kong heat.

But it’s worth the walk at least; it is if you’re anything like me. Turning that final corner, you’re suddenly presented with the first view of the Main Street Disneyland Railroad Station, rising up behind the ticket booths and looking exactly like you remember it as a child.

Standing there, with the soundtrack to Peter Pan drifting through the outside speakers, not even having bought my ticket yet – and supposedly old enough to be well beyond such things…standing there I was suddenly five years old again. Standing at the park gates with my parents. I wept then…, and I wept today.

There’s a reason why I would never ever consider wearing mascara to a Disney park.

I also did something I swore I wouldn’t do this contract; I turned on my cell phone for the duration of one long distance call. As I was standing in front Sleeping Beauty’s Castle – with the tears drying in the heat – I realized I had to call home.  I had to. It wasn’t an option. Expensive? Oh doubtlessly. But worth it. And, as I said, necessary.

The nice thing about going to the park alone – about the only advantage to be honest – is that you’re free to do whatever you want. Originally I had intended to go with my coworkers today, but in the end I discovered that I was glad to be there alone. Disneyland – any Disneyland – is oddly personal to me for a lot of reasons, and I’m oddly choosy about who I want to experience it with. I’m afraid if I go with someone who doesn’t know me quite well enough, they wouldn’t “get” it…

How do you describe a day that went by in a blur? That richoted you back in your own life? Hong Kong may not have replicated the Anaheim park – far from it in fact, but there are enough elements that are identical that I kept looking around for people who weren’t there. I will admit I had great fun duplicating old photographs. The good thing about being in China is there is always someone willing to take your photograph. Of course some things never change: an attempt to film It’s A Small World reminds you that the only way to do so is to ride the attraction twice, once for one side and once for the other (and it became a doubly moot point anyway, as it turned out I’d not pressed the record button), the fact that Canada is still only represented in said ride by a buck-toothed Mountie with an eagle on its head still both makes me laugh and ticks me off….and my continued efforts to obtain a complete video of the amazing Festival of the Lion King stage show remain daunted by my video camera’s battery.

The show is incredible. Take the Lion King Musical and compress it into a half hour, and you have something that might come close to describing Festival of the Lion King, though in some ways I actually like the park show better than the full length one. The costumes are exquisite, and the dancing – particularly the silk-work that’s performed during Can You Feel The Love Tonight is worth whatever length of line there is to get into the theatre.

Of course since it’s a Monday in the middle of October, there wasn’t much in the way of lines.

I bought my requisite pair of mouse ears (the traditional kind of course, none of these new hair-band styles for me, and no crazy decorations, just my name embroidered on the back) , and even sat to have my silhouette portrait made. In the hopes that eventually it’ll go up on the wall alongside the ones from when I was little.

Inevitably, almost out of a sense of tradition, I found myself standing in front of the castle, studying the map of the parade route, hearing my father’s voice in my head

The sweet spot for viewing is always where it turns the corner…right….

Here I pointed a finger at the map

There….

Hong Kong Sleeping Beauty Castle By Night

So it was that I was sitting on the edge of the curb, with a jacket spread underneath me to protect my legs from the heat of the pavement, watching the 5^th Anniversary Parade. Watching it partially through my video camera lens, but nonetheless. One thing you can say for Disneyland is that they always know how to put on one heck of a parade, and this one was no exception. Stilt walkers, dancers, singers, character actors, everything but jugglers…and I’m sure that was an oversight.

When I came out of the second showing of the Lion King show (and yes, I went twice, like I said when you’re by yourself you can do what you wish), it was dark. The park by night has its own kind of magic, the lights bring it all to life, and of course the castle itself lights up. As it’s gradually emptying out, you start to feel like you’re the only one there, just you, and your childhood, and the thought that you hope you’ve taken enough photographs…and will your battery last long enough for just one more shot of the castle at night.

No matter how long your day has been, how tired you are, or how ready you are to go home, your walk back to the ticket booth is always slow. Your steps start to hitch a bit, and you turn and you look back at the train station, all lit up against the night sky and you can hear yourself almost whispering:

Just five more minutes…do I have to go back? Do I have to…?

If you’re me, you do the ultimately geeky thing and actually walk backwards for a few steps down the causeway, determined not to turn your back till the last minute until you absolutely have to.

You look around on the train that’s returning you to reality, just a normal train now, at the children who are either asleep on their parents’ shoulders, or still so full of energy that they’re bouncing off the train walls. You listen to the off duty cast members (I can spot them surprisingly easily) chit-chat next to you…and before you know it, you’re standing in the glaring lights of the main street of Hong Kong…with a camera full of photographs and a bag of souvenirs…

And a much, much lighter heart…

To all who come to this happy place…welcome…