My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
September 2024
This is another one of my top five days of this contract. After being so close to Tokyo for four months, I had wanted to go to the Disneyland there, but it was turnaround day, so even if I had the most time off possible, it didn’t seem like there would be enough time to get there, enjoy the park and then get back in time to be dressed for the Sail Away Celebration. Plus in the summer it started getting so hot and humid that going anywhere was more difficult. So I will just have to visit Disneyland in Tokyo later. And Tokyo. But during the crossing we had one day in Hong Kong. I had never been to Hong Kong or China, and while I wanted to do something to experience this new country, I really wanted to go to Disneyland. When Lexi, the Production Manager in Club Fusion mentioned that she wanted to go, I asked her if I could join her – now I not only had a buddy, but also had someone to help figure out how we were going to make this happen. Then Lexi said that Ksenia, the Senior Production Manager, wanted to come too. I definitely wanted to hang out with Ksenia more. This was already shaping up to be an amazing day.
As I tell the guests as part of my introduction to any Disney trivia I host, I am a legitimate Disney fan. Growing up, my mom’s friend from college lived in Long Beach, California, so we would often go stay with her and visit Disneyland. Then when I got my driver’s permit, my mom surprised the family with a trip to Disneyland for five days where we did every single attraction and adventure the park had to offer (we learned that there are no rides – just attractions and adventures). Those days, the difference in price between a five-day visit to the park and an annual pass was nominal, so my mom got all of us annual passes. It was so luxurious. That year we drove down to Disneyland (6-8 hours depending on bathroom and lunch stops) every chance we got. We brought friends, we celebrated birthdays as well as pretty much every holiday and three day weekend and felt like Disneyland was our vacation home. So I learned to drive going up and down I-5 in California. After I graduated from high school, we went to Disney World for 9 days and that was an experience in itself. We had to stop at Disneyland on our way back, of course, because that was home. So I had been to Disneyland quite a bit, but the last time was in the summer of 2001. Then in 2017 I went to Disneyland in Paris, which you can read about in that blog post. Lexi is from San Diego and has been to Disneyland a lot – mostly in the last 20 years that I’ve missed. And Ksenia had never been to Disneyland. Any of them. Anywhere. So not only did we enjoy hanging out together in general, but being able to experience the park from these three different perspectives was just so… (appropriately) magical.
We bought our tickets online, met up early and took an Uber from the port to the park. The driver dropped us off just outside the nearest parking lot. Like the park in California, there was a long promenade to get to the entrance. I don’t know if it is meant to build up the suspense, but that’s absolutely what it did.
We were already hot and sweaty. And so happy!
None of us could contain our excitement as we stepped through the gates toward Main Street. It was like an alternate reality with a different castle at the end.
Where do we even start?! I hadn’t been to Disney since smart phones were a thing- I’d heard that everything had changed. I’d heard that we would have to reserve places and times on the app. But there were hardly any people in the park that day so everywhere we went there was practically no wait. I explained to Ksenia that part of the fun of Disneyland is waiting in line with your friends. Not waiting in line, however, was okay too.
It was so hot that it was obvious where we should head first.
We walked into the land of Frozen. The name of it had been the answer to one of my trivia questions during the crossing, but I don’t remember what it is now. I know – scandalous.
The air conditioning brought our body temperatures back down and we enjoyed the little boat ride. All of us were smiling from ear to ear.
We walked out and there was my favorite attraction/adventure.
I loved that Ksenia loved when the little soldiers came out on the quarter hour. Cause I loved it too.
It was so fun to see the countries represented, but now, over 20 years later, not only have I been to more of these places but I know people from these countries.
And then everywhere I’ve registered to vote was all snuggled up next to each other:
And then it was time for the most ridiculous, over-indulgent ice cream for breakfast.
They had regular toilets, but they also had squatty potties because we were in Asia.
We rode Space Mountain and the one that’s equivalent to the star wars one. It felt like Lexi and I knew a language that Ksenia didn’t (the language being the original Disneyland) so we would speak quickly to each other and then pause to interpret for Ksenia.
We were racing through the park from attraction to adventure (not that we knew which was which).
We went on the jungle cruise, which was only running in Mandarin. Lexi and I tried to explain that the cheesy jokes were better in English. We tried to remember the jokes, but we couldn’t tell them as well as the professionals.
We found the equivalent of the haunted house which was more animated than the one in Anaheim. Many of the rides… er… attractions and adventures were newer, but simpler and didn’t have the charm of the original attractions.
But it’s nice when my memories are even better than what I thought I had been missing out on.
My mom had told me that she liked Disneyland Hong Kong (she’s been to all of them) because it was the most different – like you could really felt like you were in Asia. Especially when it came to the food.
And there it was. We could have ordered chicken fingers, but this was our only day in China – we didn’t come this far to eat American food! So we didn’t really know exactly what we were eating but we enjoyed the experience and offered bites off of each other’s plates.
And then we rode the carousel.
Like I said, it was the best day. We traveled well together. We had great conversations. We treasured the diversity of our experiences which colored getting to experience these new but varyingly familiar experiences today. We were able to do everything we wanted to do in the time we had. We bought so many souvenirs. And just when we were satisfied it was time to go back to the ship.
Sounds like a great day