Are you ready, cue the confetti! {Hong Kong Disneyland}

Never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be doing this long haul flight back to Asia so soon but 3 years later, here we are. 

My work trip was taken care of from Orlando to Tokyo, so I had to go Orlando to Toronto with a 2 hour layover in between. I prefer the aisle seat and got lucky on the first 3 hour flight with no one in the middle seat next to me and on my 14 flight front Toronto to Narita Tokyo also middle empty. However my window seat buddy left the window shade up half the entire flight and it was incredibly bright for the whole plane. 

 14 hours later we landed in Narita Tokyo and I had to recheck my luggage and rush to another terminal for my last 5 hour flight Hong Kong. When I first started hearing Cantonese, it was just like I had never left. My very good friend Nick met me at the airport to drive me back to his place in Tung Chung to stay for the night. He was such an angel for hosting me and it was nice to wake up to the beautiful, green mountains of HK.  

I surprisingly slept well through the night and was up bright and early for my day at Hong Kong Disneyland! It also happened to be the second day of Lunar New Year, so there were many guests visiting from China. It was a busy day but didn’t feel too crowded now that there is more lands for the guests to spread out into. 

Walking into the park I was almost immediately emotional being back at a place that means so much to me. I was beaming as I ran past my castle, my home.

I rushed to World of Frozen, what I had come to see. My breath was taken away the second I walked in, while Show Yourself was playing and making me feel emotional. The whole land was better than I could even imagine. It was really beautifully done with so many perfect details. 

 

 

My first stop was to go rope drop Wandering Oakens Sliding Sleighs. The ride was short but so good, and I got to ride with one of Oakens number 1 fans! 

Next I went to Frozen Ever After boat Ride, which was very similar to Epcots, but I did like the addition of Cantonese lines to include more guests. 

Also while I was in line, Kristoff an Anna made a surprise visit!! 

World of Frozen was so beautiful though and I’m very excited I finally got to see it. I spent most of the day running back here to meet up with surprise visits from folks, like Mossie! The sassy troll. Kristoff and Elsa were also walking around the kingdom saying hello to folks. 

It was time for me to do literally anything else in the park, so I met up with my friend Darci on her break and absolutely killed her in Ant Man. I’m pretty sure I actually got my highest score yet! 

While in the Marvel area, you never know who you’re going to see. We happened to run into Captain Marvel saving the day! 

There was so many meet and greets that happened while here, and I was so excited to get to hug so many familiar faces! You all absolutely made my day so special. 

I loved watching the new Friendtastic parade. It was about time HK deserved a new parade and it was done very well. 

It wouldn’t be a trip to HKDL without visiting the Storybook Theater. I thought I would be more emotional visiting Mickey and the Wondrous Book, but it was actually a very joyful experience. 

Meeting Goofy after for a special moment was a huge highlight too! 

I love you HK, but you are not really known for your amazing food, in my opinion. For lunch, Darci and I both had the kids chicken naan meal served with hashbrown and veggies. It was surprisingly pretty good. We also shared the fried banana fritters, and I liked those too.

The only real thing I had on my list to try was back in Frozen. I wanted to try the vanilla Olaf ice cream, and it was pretty straight forward but a cutie little guy. 

Finally full it was time to watch the new castle show for the 20th anniversary. I really enjoyed the show compared to previous castle shows, especially cool seeing the princesses in some new outfits. 

 

A big majority of my day was spent at the Elsa and Anna’s Playhouse. There’s several versions of the show you can get, so I wanted to see a couple. I was really proud of Elsa and how far she’s come and what wonderful magic she was creating! 

In the evening, I couldn’t believe the dark was coming so fast, and I had already done so much and yet so much left. I watched the Lion King show because it really is one of kind compared to other parks versions and saw some familiar faces! 

I barely had time for any attractions, but of course it would not be a complete trip without Small World, Grizzly Gulch, and Mystic Manor. 

I actually feel like really failed taking photos today of the regular stuff in the park because I really did not stop all day. The adrenaline thankfully was keeping me awake. I finished my evening with some shopping and saying goodbye to World of Frozen. The area was lit up so beautifully and an acoustic version of All is Found was playing making me kind of emotional. 

It was such an amazing trip. It felt so short but I got to see almost everyone I was hoping to see, and experience something I wasn’t sure I’d get to visit. Visiting Hong Kong is just like coming home every time. I’m happy to get to visit! 

 

 

I took the MTR to stay at Darci’s that night and that was even more strange.

Heading to where we used to live was eerily so normal. We had Pepper lunch for dinner, which is so nice it’s right in the building for expats now. It was slightly different though cause it was takeaway, so no hot plate, but it was so late and I needed to get to bed. 

After spending the night at HPRC, where I lived for so many years, I spent the morning walking around Tin Shui Wai a bit. Everything was so eerily similar to when I had left it three years ago and it was weirdly therapeutic walking around knowing how much I love this place but also knowing this is no longer where I’m meant to be. 

It was also nice seeing HK like it once was before Covid, because we still were kind of dealing with the apocalyptic times when we left. 

Darci and I went to Yuen Long for brunch at Days in Sun before my flight back to Tokyo. We had mini pancakes, dumplings, and red and pink lattes! 

It was weird leaving HK this time but it’s the same as always, me thinking I’ll never be back, and somehow every 3 years I find myself here again. Hong Kong will forever be my Home Kong, and I was so grateful for the short time I got to spend.

Now we’re off to Tokyo for a little sightseeing before we get to work!