The (4th) Happiest Place on Earth

I lived for many years in Korea just across a small sea from Japan and Tokyo Disneyland, and I never went. Maybe some day in the future.

I was recently in Hong Kong, and I decided I had better visit Disneyland Hong Kong now, so I don't have to come back later.

I wasn't first in line, and I didn't run to get this picture.

It was a really nice day. I got there early, to beat the crowds, only to find out that the park opened one hour later than I thought it did and that there was no crowd. It was a Wednesday so maybe that is why.

Disneyland HK is very nearly a copy of the early original Disneyland. But I did notice that everything is smaller. And I don't just mean smaller in land area. The buildings on MainStreet are smaller in scale. Sleeping Beauty's castle is much smaller than the original. And some other things just struck me as being not quite right. Maybe everything is smaller in scale because Asians are generally smaller. Ha ha, that's a joke ma' boy.


Actually, a combination of the park being smaller and me arriving on a week day meant that I really only would have needed the afternoon and evening hours to see everything. As it was, I did see everything, including all the shows, and rode several of the rides twice. The whole day was rather leisurely paced, which was nice for a change.


Everything was very familiar, but it was a bit disconcerting hearing Mickey and the other characters speak in Cantonese. In Hong Kong, Mickey's name is pronounced "my-ee-kay". And not that I can understand Cantonese, but Donald Duck was completely unintelligible.

Even the western characters spoke Chinese during the parade.

The whole park was decorated for the Halloween holiday and two of the rides had a slightly Halloween theme. Also at night, they had a special Halloween parade.

Yes, that is a "white" pumpkin for Donald and I don't know what his bill is supposed to be made of.

Wooo, Spooky!

One highlight of the visit had to be the firework show. Disneyland sure knows how to amaze.

Enjoy the rest of the photos.