Hong Kong, then and now

A few weeks before Christmas, we made the trek to Hong Kong to get our visas renewed.  It really is a bear of a trip, but the bonus is that there's Outback Steakhouse and Disneyland on the other side.  

This was our first time in Hong Kong during the holidays since before we had kids!  We squeezed in a half-day trip to the cleverly-named House of Mouse and got to see the park decorated beautifully for Christmas!

 Just as we got there, the princesses were getting set up for their first session with visitors.  Abby, Silas and I hurried to the line with Snow White (Abby's been DYING to meet her!) and Josh took the older girls to see Belle and Sleeping Beauty.

Apparently, their line went faster because they were done and able to join in our line before it was even our turn to see Snow White.  I was a little sad that Abby didn't get a chance to talk to them herself, because when her older sisters around, she really defers to them and lets them do a lot of the talking.  She still managed to tell Snow White that she had her sticker at home - a very important message she'd been remembering to tell her ALL DAY.

Though this was probably our quickest Disney trip so far, it was still really fun.  It's kinda like seeing that friend that you love but don't get to see very often; it feels very familiar and comfortable, so there's no rush to get to all the topics right away. The big event for this trip, though was the opening of Toy Story Land - more on that in a separate post.  =)

As we were leaving the park, we asked our girls to sit up on the wall in front of the main railroad station for a picture.  It seems like almost every time we visit, we take a picture there - but we've got to make it snappy!  The park attendants do not like us doing this and they rush to the wall, yelling at us to get our children down....but usually by then, we've already snapped the picture.

So, do you want to see something interesting?  This picture is from our very first trip to HK Disney, July 2008:

Now - December, 2011:

 Then - August, 2009:

 Then - April 2010:

 April 2010:

And now - December 2011:

 I never thought I'd be someone who owned a Disney Season Pass.  Being from Oklahoma and faaaaar away from any disneypark, it just seemed impossible.  We've enjoyed our trips to the HK park and have made some really fun family memories.