Our Final Day At Disneyland.

We ended our year with a bang at Disneyland, taking full advantage of the final time to use our season passes before they expired. It was definitely worth the price of our season passes, since we spent so much time at Disneyland in 2015. Because it was the holiday season, the lines for the rides and the shows were long. We picked up as many fast passes as we could which helped out a lot.

We stayed for the evening tree lighting ceremony and the snow fall that happens on Main Street. Even though it was machine generated snow, it's fun to experience white fluffy stuff falling from the sky during the Christmas season. We also stayed for the final fireworks show to take our Disneyland experience with a bang! Thanks for the great year, Disney!!!!

Halloween At Disneyland.

Halloween is advertised to be celebrated in three prominent places here in Hong Kong. Disneyland, Ocean Park, and LKF. We've enjoyed going to Ocean Park and taking part in their Halloween festivities, so we figured we would check out what Disneyland had to offer this week.

The kids put on their Halloween costumes for this year and we met up with some friends. We went at the perfect time... during the week when most kids were in school. There was no waiting in line for any of the rides, and there were no crowds to deal with! Disneyland was perfect. 

Disneyland On My Own With Two Kids.

We are officially on summer vacation! The day after school let out, I took the kids on my own to Disneyland since my husband had to work. We arrived armed with a plan and our rides mapped out. We were each allotted a choice of two rides. 

I have discovered in my years of parenting, that keeping my kids full of food and well hydrated are some keys to a successful adventure. It's always best to be prepared and have a plan which is not my typical go with the flow attitude I like to have, rather when I have the two kids on my own I like to stick to a stricter schedule which sets rules in place for my kids to follow. 

Hong Kong right now is ridiculously hot and humid. We were sweating continuously. I think you could probably have wrung water out of our clothing and watched while it puddled on the ground. We tried to stick to the shade as much as possible, and we took in a couple shows with air conditioning in the theatres. 

Umbrella's Are Out When The Sun Is Out.

I took these pictures when we were at Disneyland this past weekend. Just to show you, my readers, how Asian's love to bring out their umbrella's when the sun is blasting down and there are no rain clouds in sight. Umbrella's in the sun was a common sight for me as I grew up in the Philippines. It was part of the culture there as well as here in Hong Kong. Growing up, my family never participated in this custom, and even now, I don't indulge with my own family. 

There are a couple reasons for why Asian's bring out the umbrella when the sun is shining. The first is probably vanity. They don't want their skin to get any darker. Over here in Asia, you can find many skin whitening products on drugstore shelves. They think having a pale complexion is a sign of beauty, and unlike Caucasians who spray tan and lay out on the beach to get darker, Asians try to get lighter. 

The second reason is probably because the sun is hot. It just beats down on you as you walk around the streets of Manila or Hong Kong. So the umbrella's create a little bit of shade while you're walking to your next destination. 

Disneyland {Again} Animation Academy.

We're so thankful we purchased season passes to Disneyland at the beginning of the year. The park is large and the crowds are always larger, which means that the lines can take a long time to get through one ride. We've been able to experience something new every time we've gone. 

This past weekend, we brought the kids to the happiest place in Hong Kong again. One of my favorite things that we got to do this trip, was to take part in their Animation Academy. We stood in line for fifteen minutes before they brought us into a lovely studio, where a staff member drew their own character which was projected on a screen at the front of the room and they instructed us as we drew one for ourselves. 

I had a lot of fun with the activity, although it was a little fast paced for my six and eight year old kids. They got a little frustrated with how fast the instructor went through the steps. That being said, the instructor went through each step methodically and I found it easy to replicate the image that was up on the screen.

Of course we all continued to eat and ride our way through Disneyland. With our season passes, we enjoy working our way through the park and repeating the rides that we love the most. We made it a point to arrive as soon as the park opened to avoid some of the crowd, and made a bee line to the ride that was at the top of the kid's list. It's a car ride in Tomorrowland that we waited ninety minutes for the last time we were here. This time we waited ten minutes, and the kids enjoyed driving their cars. 

My daughter is still a little scared of some of the rides, however, we've been able to talk our son into riding most of them! That does put a little bit of a damper on the experience since not everyone can ride then. But my husband and I will take turns and one will ride with our son while the other one stays with our daughter. Her favorite ride that she rides every time is the teacups. Also, I've decided my son and I need a picture with this guy every time we go to Disneyland!

We Went To Disneyland During CNY.

We thought the crowds at Disneyland wouldn't be too bad since it was Chinese New Year. We were very wrong. As soon as we got on the train line headed towards Disneyland, we knew we were in trouble. There was standing room only and we were rubbing elbows with the person next to us. 

We were thankful that we have season passes, because the lines were too long to take full advantage of the rides. Lines were averaging an hour wait time. We stood in line for 90 minutes to ride a 2 minute car ride in Tomorrowland. Our kids got to make friends with the other kids that were standing in the long line together. 

With the lines being so long for everything, our family focused more on experiencing street food {we love food in general}. My daughter loved the fried squid from the street vendors. Talk about a sugar high after ingesting cotton candy and ice cream! We barely redeemed ourselves with our corn on the cob!

Hong Kong Disneyland.

We finally made it to the "happiest place on earth" in Hong Kong. I'm not sure who was more excited, my kids or myself! This was the first time for the three of us to make it to any Disney theme park. With the kids out for a couple weeks for the Christmas holiday, we figured this would be the perfect time to go.

Here in Hong Kong, Disneyland has it's own rail line and as soon as we saw the train pull into the station the kids were ecstatic. The windows of the train were in the shape of Mickey's silhouette, the long bench was cushioned {typically benches on the train are just hard plastic to sit on}, there were Disney character figurines encased in glass, and the ring to hold onto while you're standing was in the iconic shape of Mickey Mouse's head. 

There was plenty to do and see at the park. We had intentionally chosen to visit during a weekday when the crowds are thinner and the lines shorter. After spending a full twelve hours there, we still did not get to ride every single ride or see every single thing. There is an incredible amount to do and discover at Disneyland.

One of our neighbor's gave us a great tip when purchasing tickets for Disneyland Hong Kong. You can purchase the ticket for the day and at the end of the night, you can upgrade your current ticket to a seasonal pass. Bonus for us, we were able to take advantage of a Hong Kong resident discount that is valid until the January 10, 2015.