Thursday Treasures
July 7,
2011 by Justin Dodge
A (not so) long time ago, in a place far, far away
(relative to Wisconsin), a young man ventured into unknown (but well
charted) territories: Hong Kong, China! He had a few missions while
he was there: attend a business meeting, pick up a Hard Rock Cafe
shirt for his one brother, and a Hong Kong Disneyland shirt for one
of his other brothers.

Unlike so many heroes who must conquer the seemingly
impossible on their trek to their goals, this young man just got on
an airplane that took him to his destination without any real
problems. The flight was smooth and even the plane food wasn't too
bad.. they served Tim Tams for a snack, which are an Australian
delicacy (basically chocolate Kit-Kats).

The first objective, the meeting was pretty straight
forward, the second, a Hard Rock Cafe shirt was stumbled upon by
accident, but the third, a shirt from Hong Kong Disneyland required
much time, dedication, and de-coding the city's subway map. The time
he had, dedication was never a doubt, but the subway map... well,
that was pretty straight forward as well. Disney actually makes it
quite easy to find and get to Hong Kong Disneyland, which is close
to the city's airport.

The subway to Hong Kong Disneyland has windows
shaped like Mickey and the cars contain statues of Disney
characters, like Jiminy Cricket. This subway line only goes to Hong
Kong Disneyland, and when you exit the subway, you step up through
an eloquent staircase in a train station with a historic feel. The
park itself is another ten minute walk, but Disney keeps you
occupied as you pass under the welcome sign and beyond a pond with a
statue of Monstro the whale.

Again, Disney makes life easy at the ticket counter,
where employees speak at least Contonese and English, if not
additional languages. Plus they allow guest to pay in Hong Kong
dollars, US dollars, or Japanese yen, helping you avoid outrageous
currency conversion fees. The park maps are just as easy to navigate
as you are greeted by plenty of them printed in both Cantonese and
English welcoming you to the park. This young man (who is me by the
way) took about 50 maps to give to his brother (and his friends),
then used one as his navigational guide for the day.

As I walked around the park, it reminded me of
Disneyland in Anaheim, but smaller; the look is the same, the feel
is similar, and, much like it's counterpart in California, here it
is also unbearably hot and sunny.

The lands in the park include Main Street, USA,
Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and Adventureland. Each is similar to
what you would find in California or Florida, but there are
substantial changes as well. Mickey's PhilharMagic is identical to
Disney World's, and the horseless carriages are similar as well, but
other rides have slight alterations, like Autopia and the Jungle
Cruise.


The most striking thing about the park is the rides
offered and the people here. There are few rides catered to the
teenager or young adult and this is reflected in the guests; there
were very few people here without young children (under the age of
10) and almost no teenagers. The wait for Winnie the Pooh seemed to
be at, or over, and hour all day, but Space Mountain was practically
a walk-on (in fact it was a walk on in the single rider line).
Throughout my travels in China, Winnie the Pooh and Mickey were seen
everywhere, which probably contributes to the popularity of the
Winnie the Pooh ride.

After going on Space Mountain three times, among
other rides, I made my way over to Jungle Cruise, which was offered
in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Oddly, the English line was the
longest, as the park contained many Japanese, Indian, and Filipino
tourists, in addition to the small handful of Europeans and
Americans. In fact, the Mandarin line had almost no one in it. The
ride was highly entertaining, but the guide spoke poor English, and
missed quite a few of the punch lines; fortunately no one seemed to
notice as many of the guests were more interested in taking pictures
of the scenery and talking.

After the Jungle Cruise, I glanced at my watch,
despite being in the park for a couple hours, I had yet to
accomplish my goal of getting a Hong Kong Disneyland shirt for my
brother. I considered the time, ran over to Space Mountain once
more; afterwards, I glanced at my watch again, then ran over to Buzz
Lightyear Astro Blasters one more time. I could finally relax; I had
plenty of time to get that shirt and make my evening flight to
Beijing... until disaster struck: The Flights of Fantasy Parade!

I rushed to Main Street, USA only to find myself on
the wrong side of the street. The clothing store was on the opposite
side and there multiple floats of smiling, waving characters
taunting me as I could not pass. After concocting a plan to climb a
nearby light pole and swing across the street Indiana Jones-style
using a string of lights, the parade ended so I instead crossed the
street without any real trouble, but my problems were just
beginning... What shirt should I buy?!

There was only one shirt in Chinese and it was
rather tacky. Most of the shirts were very "busy," containing nearly
every Disney character one can think of, and the shirt with the
simple logo on it was made of felt? Really, felt? Yes, felt. The
debate raged for 2-3 minutes, but I had a flight to catch so I went
with the logo shirt (appearing soon on a W.E.D.nesday Show near
you). Much like the trip in, transportation out of the park and to
the airport was a breeze; only a half hour after leaving the park I
was checked into my flight to Beijing with all three missions
accomplished.

To learn more about Justin's trip to Hong Kong,
visit his site:
www.safaritheglobe.com/china_hong_kong.aspx
Return to
Thursday Treasures