last-minute change of plans

Friday morning in Hong Kong.

We got on the MTR with the other hundred thousand commuters and headed over to Hong Kong Island for a doctors appointment at 9am. Why we keep scheduling doctors appointments for 9am is still a mystery to me.

We finished early and were walking to the Pier to take a Ferry across the harbor, back to the peninsula side. It was a beautiful day. Blue skies. Cool breeze. All those little phrases used to describe, well,...perfect days.

"Too bad we didn't plan today for Disneyland!" Josh says to me. "It would have been the perfect day to go."

I was silent for a moment. Then: "Let's go. We're right here at the subway stop. Let's just go! I have a diaper in my purse, the camera is already with us. Why not?"

We laughed at each other and the spontaneity of the situation. We kept walking a few minutes down to the pier (as originally planned) and picked up a few Subway Sandwiches before buying our tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland.

The girls waited outside the Subway Sandwich shop, totally oblivious to our change in plans. We hadn't breathed a word to them about our idea.

We walked down to the MTR stop - while josh bought some bottled water at 7-11, the girls debated on whether or not they really needed their own ticket. They do.
We rode the yellow line all the way to the interchange for the Disney line. That's when the girls started getting suspicious. Finally, when the Mickey Mouse-themed subway pulled up, they were confused/excited/shocked/hysterical.

"Oh no!" we told them. "We got off at the wrong stop! This is the stop to go to Disneyland! What should we do?"
We should get on, of course! [PS - I love the mickey subway. It starts priming you for Disney long before you step foot on the grounds.]
Soon after entering the park, we stumbled upon the princesses. Emma had a heart to heart with Princess Aurora:
...and, speaking of Aurora, she left a lipstickey kiss on Abby's cheek. Abby was skeptical and unsure of the lady, princess or not.
But Samantha was perfectly at ease!
The princesses are so fun to see because they can actually talk to you. They ask the girls such funny questions, and the girls give them equally funny answers. They shower them with compliments and make my kids feel like princesses themselves. It's all very special and emotional. I have no idea why I always feel so teary.
This trip, perhaps because it was unexpected from the start, put us going through the park backwards from how we've done it in the past. We ended up at Mad Hatter's Tea Party next. Abby and I rode together:
...while Josh spinned Emma and Samantha until they couldn't see straight. You can see what torture it was for them.
While we were waiting in line for the Dumbo ride, another unexpected thing happened: Minnie, Mickey, and Goofy came out of their little character spots and got on the Dumbo ride. How bizarre it was! But the girls thought it was totally cool - and Dumbo became the new favorite ride.

This picture was taken during the Dumbo ride by Josh - who was NOT in charge of wrangling Abby during this ride - and proves why Hong Kong Disneyland is the best Disney park for young children. Do you see all those people? The huge crowds? The masses of people waiting for a glimpse of their favorite mouse?

I don't either.

It's because there's hardly anyone there, at least compared to the insane amounts of people at the other Disney parks. This is heaven and bliss for people who don't like crowds.

While we were flying through the sky with everyone's favorite pachyderm, I spied Jiminy Cricket over in one corner of the park. Once we safely disembarked the elephants, we hurried over to see the Cricket.

Emma and Samantha (and Daddy) have no idea who he is or where he is from, but that didn't dampen their enthusiasm. And we got a cute picture of all of us, looking at the camera even!
We stayed in "character mode" and went over to visit Minnie and friends.
Then we got tired of standing around and went over to Small World. Love that Small World ride, I tell you. It's my fave.
This was by far our best Disney trip. Why? One reason, the biggest reason, was the weather. It was our first time to really be in Hong Kong when we weren't dripping with sweat and planning the entire day around how we can get back indoors. The weather has been beautiful and has made it so enjoyable to be outside.

Another reason is that we kept stumbling onto things we'd never seen or done before. Like the guy with the Chinese yo-yo spinny things outside of Small World! Can you believe it? The spinny things - like with Acrobat Mom! At Disneyland! I was....shocked! This guy was doing a little show in the courtyard and was really good. He needed a volunteer, so my eldest daughter ran right up there.
She looked so cute in his green hat!
After Emma's turn was over, Samantha decided she wanted to help out too. I was slurping down my Coke Slush while all this was happening, so Josh dutifully took over picture taking.
Then we all had an ice cream cone, just to celebrate our children's great accomplishment. Well, actually, we just had the ice cream cone. Do you really need a reason to have an ice cream cone?

Next Unexpected Surprise: Woody and Jessie! We've never seen Woody and Jessie before and we were all so very, very excited. [No, I'm not being sarcastic. We were all really that excited. Okay, maybe not Josh. But the rest of us were.]

After waiting a bit, we were welcomed like long lost friends.


Though it was hard to guess what they were saying with their big-suit-sign-language, I'm convinced they really liked us and wished we never had to part.
Whaat? How did Josh sneak a kiss in to Jessie? Personally, I thought he was more of a germophobe than that, but I guess not...

Would you believe that right after we finished seeing Woody and Jessie, we saw Buzz? Actually, we were getting in line for a ride when Buzz walked out from behind a gate to go greet some people. Emma and Samantha were asked to escort him to his spot - they loved it! (And I'm sure he did, too.)

They still had to wait in line, but that was no problem. Do you see that guy in the green shirt? I really like him. A lot.

Wow - after seeing Woody and Jessie and Buzz, we could have called it a day and gone home. But since we got to the park later than usual, we were going to try to stay for the fireworks at the end....since we'd never actually done that. Or the parade. We're such bad parents.

On the way to the Jungle River Cruise (another thing we'd never done before - remember, I have girls. Nothing about "Jungle River Cruise" sounds remotely enticing to them.) we stopped at the castle for a family pic. Please disregard the fact that Emma is holding her head. We're all still a little unsure what was going on at that time.
We stopped and listened to the band, and looked at all their instruments.
And after the Jungle River Cruise, I grabbed a spot to wait for the parade while Josh went in search of snackable eats. He came back with Cotton Candy for the girls and Caramel Popcorn for us. I'd say he did a good job!
The parade was fun, except for the girl sitting next to Samantha that kept telling her to shush. I wanted to tell her to shush and revoke her park pass. How can you tell someone to shush at Disneyland??
By 5pm, Abby had had enough. Unfortunately, this nap only lasted about 15 minutes.
We unexpectedly ran into some friends and spent dinner with them, and then all stayed to watch the fireworks together. We made it! And did the parade! And did the fireworks!

And then I went home and collapsed on the bed.

The End.