Currently listening to:Teenage love affair by Alicia Keys
Status:Exhausted.
Hi guys
Full post on the fine, fine magic that is Disneyland after the jump. Took me nearly three hours to finish because its so long- videos of the fireworks at the end!
So most of you know (mostly because i won’t shut up about it over various social media platforms, not the point, moving on,) that thursday was my first time visiting Disneyland EVER. This is mainly due to the fact that i’ve never been to 1. Japan 2. Paris or 3. California, leading to a childhood peppered with my classmates coming back from summer holidays showing off their Disneyland Japan/Orlando/California photos and trinkets (bitches) while i comforted myself with the knowledge that i could NAME THAT POKEMON! accurately 90% of the time on Saturday mornings 10am during the advertisement break.
I think i went a little off track but okay anyway, the point is, FIRST TIME VISITING DISNEYLAND LED TO ME LOOKING LIKE THIS:
and i hadn’t even entered Disneyland. I grabbed this off the racks of one of those touristy pushcarts before the entrance.
Would like to take this time to point out that although 1. yes i am nineteen and 2. i am not, by normal social standards, supposed to get so unreasonably hyperventilated-ly excited about disneyland when i am slightly shy of the big twenties,
but
I GREW UP ON DISNEY CARTOONS OKAY. I mean yes, there was Channel 12 (that was what Kids Central was called before it became Okto, what the hell is Okto supposed to mean anyway WHO COMES UP WITH THESE NAMES) but mostly, Disney.
So this was a really big deal for me.
Entrance shot with the sisters. Middle (left) had already been to the eponymous Disneyland Hongkong last year when she came on competition with her choir, so she didnt get as excited about Disneyland as us. Baby and I were screaming out chords to When you wish upon a star from the Pinocchio OST by now.
Oh and on a side note, there was Disney music dating back from the 1950s playing cheerfully out of the speakers (nostalgic or what), elves walking around taking photos, the weather was deliciously cold, and the air smelt like Christmas, so.. PRETTY MUCH THE BEST DAY EVER, WHAT, UP.
When we entered Disneyland, the first section was the Main Street USA which was basically a bunch of shophouses in old USA style, which reminded me more of Vienna 2008 rather than USA actually. The entire thing was gorgeous, right down to the cobblestone streets (although somehow i had gotten it into my head that it would be a good day to wear my platforms. Seriously sometimes i don’t know what to say to myself.)
Got really excited over this glass blowing dude. Check out the bell jar rose from Beauty and the Beast!
Mickey Mouse Waffles!!!! And those things smelt really good on a cold, cold day.
Duffy mascot walking around for photo taking. I usually don’t like kids but that little girl was so adorable!
Hahah Duffy looks so shocked. Middle isn’t in these photos because she was affecting an unimpressed *been there done that* air but i bet she was just as excited as us deep down inside.
really deep down inside.
Trying on the Stitch hats at the gift store! If you ever visit Disneyland, you have to go for the Stitch Encounter. Its this interactive performance experience thingy and it was AMAZINGLY FUNNY. Loved it so much!!!! Like i said in my previous post, Disneyland Hongkong aint that great thrill-wise for rides, but the performances are off the charts.
oh yeah speaking of rides,
they have this sign on all the rides you take, which i found hilarious. THE FIGURES LOOK LIKE THEY DECIDED TO GET UP AND START DANCING DURING THE RIDES. CHECK OUT THE ADULT FIGURE HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA WHEN I SAW IT I COULDNT STOP LAUGHING WHAT ON EARTH SERIOUSLY WHAT ON-
waitaminute. actually, with the entire disney atmosphere, people upping-and-dancing during the rides might actually be quite plausible.
hmm.
Middle embracing her inner-DJ during the Mad Hatter Teacup ride.
Toldja she was sekretly excited about all this.
Okay anyway after this, we decided to go for a ride on the Disney Express- a train engine that chugs around the entire disneyland, because the queues for the rest of the rides were really insanely long which was annoying because 1. who doesn’t hate long queues and 2. PEOPLE KEPT TRYING TO CUT OUR QUEUES. And they shoved and stuff, which got me all like, Umm, what happened to the disney spirit of good cheer and friendship and NOT SHOVING where r ur manners huh so i went up to this dude and was all like Excuse me, you just cut the queue, uh-uh, get back in line mister, and he just stared at me blankly and i realized
DUDE DIDNT SPEAK ENGLISH
in fact, don’t know if its just us, but most of the people who jumped queue didnt. Or pretended not to. He just rambled on in cantonese (which i don’t speak) and i tried replying in chinese (which i am terrible at, not by choice) but i forgot the chinese word for Cut Queue so i gave up and just gave him the You are Dead To Me look ala Lily Aldrin but HE STILL DIDNT SEEM ASHAMED OF HIMSELF OR ANYTHING so i really gave up.
Anyway since then my higher-chinese-genius-baby-sister has duly informed me that the chinese word for queue cutting is cha dui, so.
Guess who popped out to say hi.
SO ADORABLE they even made that whole signature Oooooh Clawww sound when we passed by.
Went to watch The Golden Mickeys performance after that, which was spectacular. Besides the fact that they mostly spoke in Cantonese which i still couldn’t understand despite my conviction that a week in hongkong would bestow upon me the miraculous ability to speak fluent canto, the entire show was amazing. SO MUCH TALENT. Even the emcee sang really really well, inspiring a total WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE, I AM GOING TO QUIT SCHOOL AND JOIN DISNEYLAND AS A PERFORMER moment which my parents cheerfully squished.
After that i was just kind of bummed about the mediocrity that is my life (wake up go to school study for exams no background music no singing no disney characters seriously why do i even try) so we went to get ice cream.
By the way just so all’s on the table, i really love college. Its just the post-disney effect talking.
Middle snapped the last shot of me while we were walking to Toy Story Land when i was in the middle of finishing the last bit of my cone. She also took it upon herself to inform me that i looked like an idiot. Thanks sister. Thanks.
Oh by the way here’s baby with a drawing of chip n dale on the floor.
she used to play the chip and dale car racing game on her friend’s play station after school so she got appropriately excited about this.
Shot of this pretty angmoh girl that middle spent about the next five minutes surreptitiously following her with my DSLR trying to get a photo of.
Bumming around in toy story land because we really really didnt want to queue up. We ended up only taking the caterpillar ride which is something like the typical Viking, but on a track.
Pixie’s Hollow! Thanks to J.K. Rowling, everytime i hear the word Hollow i think of Godric’s Hollow immediately lol.
“Been there done that” face
Right after this, we ran into an ongoing parade (they have a lot of parades dancing up and down different parts of disneyland) and i saw THIS:
?!?!?!?!?
I THOUGHT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE “JUST FRIENDS”
FOREVER SCARRED NOW. MY ENTIRE CHILDHOOD HAS BEEN A LIE. I mean i do not care if the paid actors in those suits want to be all Boom Chicka Wow Wow and stuff, but please! THINK OF THE IMAGE YOU REPRESENT. JESSIE AND WOODY. THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE JUST FRIENDS/BORDERING ON SIBLING-ISH.
went to Adventureland to watch the Festival Of The Lion King show, which was ALSO AMAZING. I can’t decide if the golden mickeys or the lion king show was better. Both were stunning, but while the golden mickeys ignited a swelling of emotional nostalgia, the lion king parade was so full of vocal talent and an amazing set.. WELL ANYWAY if you’re going to disneyland make sure you go for both. Phenomenal.
Waiting in line for the Mickey’s PhilharMagic Orchestra 4D show for the second time, because that’s how good it was. Twelve minutes of raw reminiscence and sentimentality, blended with scenes from Disney’s Fantasia, The little mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and so on.
She’s really feeling this whole inner-DJ/Rockstar thing today.
Anyway, such was the realism of the 3D rendering of Ariel that i actually gasped out loud when she turned those plaintive eyes towards the screen during Part of Your World. i know i grew up watching this (i even watched the little mermaid 2) but 3D ARIEL IS SO GORGEOUS.
SO GORGEOUS.
I REALIZE SHE WAS JUST A BUNCH OF PIXELS BUT SHE WAS REALLY BREATHTAKINGLY GORGEOUS I WAS LIKE, IF I WERE A DUDE, I WOULD TOTALLY BE TRYING TO GET PRINCE ERIC OUT OF THE WAY AND MARRY THIS GIRL. THOSE EYES. AND LASHES. AND EYES. THEY’RE HUGE. HAVE I YET MENTIONED HER EYES?
ok enough about that because i think I’m starting to come off as a little strange. 3D ariel is really pretty is what i was trying to say.
ahem.
Around this time we went back to USA Main Street for the Christmas parade, which was lovely, but then IT STARTED SNOWING.
IT WAS LIKE MAGIC.
ok, it was fake snow, churning out from the rooftops, which also dissolved into a slightly sticky mess later on, but the point was, SNOW.
I got really really excited over this because I HAVE NEVER SEEN SNOW. i used to shuffle to and fro New Zealand a lot as a kid but Auckland (where i used to stay when i was there) doesn’t ever snow. all my previous europe trips on competition to vienna, italy, germany and so on also all happened to coincide with summers and my new york trip earlier this year was pretty much riding the crescent between summer and fall.
ergo, NEVER SEEING SNOW BEFORE. Ive never even seen fake snow because I’ve never been to singapore’s snow city. i keep meaning to go, but it somehow never materializes. i must put that down on my list of to-dos before i turn twenty.
Okay, between not seeing snow and never being to disneyland before thursday, I’m really starting to sound like some sad kid. I assure you, my childhood was sufficiently enriching, what with hot wheels and beyblades and uh, barbie dolls, but snow, snow was not part of it.
After this i got the genius idea that i would stick out my tongue and taste snowflakes just like how they do on tv, conveniently forgetting that these were not real snowdrops, but made out of soap foam. It kind of ruined the magical moment. Oh well.
It got dark real fast after that, and the rest of my family was kind of tired from all the roaming around (also, see above point about not wanting to queue) so Baby and i took off on our own because she really wanted to ride on the carousel.
Iconic disney castle.
CHECK IT OUT GUYS, ITS THE ICONIC DISNEY CASTLE. CAN YOU IMAGINE LIVING IN THAT?!
GUYS, I WANT A CASTLE.
ok not feasible, plan of ‘accidentally bumping’ into prince henry/prince carl philips outside their castle fell through previously because of unforeseen circumstances ie. no money for airfare to uk/sweden.
fine
GUYS I WANT TO GET MARRIED IN A CASTLE.
i don’t know anyone who owns a real castle.
fine
GUYS I WANT TO GET MARRIED IN A DISNEYLAND CASTLE
i keep compromising on my marriage terms, dammit.
The street square:
i stood in the middle of the square mesmerized by this for the longest time. have such a weakness for sparkly things and bright lights. yes i am aware that i am starting to sound like a magpie, i am doing a very bad job at this whole portraying yourself thing.
oh well.
Ohai there winnie the pooh!
Another mesmerizing moment.
just look at that.
you could practically hear choirs of angels singing in the background.
magical.
it also got ridonkulously cold after this so we headed back to drop baby off with the family at the main street square where everyone was waiting for the fireworks to start, while i went off wandering alone in the square because i wanted some keepsakes from disneyland.
a problem i did not foresee: ALL ANNOUNCEMENTS MADE IN DISNEYLAND WERE IN CANTONESE. didnt understand anything, which made me really really panicky when i was queueing up to pay for this ring i wanted because the speakers kept rambling off in rapid and cheerful cantonese and THE DUDE IN FRONT OF ME IN THE QUEUE WAS BEING AN UNAFFECTED ASSHOLE.
After paying for his stuff, he literally went, ho hum, look, i might want to grab a little more stuff so i can rack up a certain amount on my credit card so he HELD UP THE ENTIRE LINE with his stuff at the counter while he started looking at other trinkets at the shelves near the counter, and the cashier couldn’t check out our stuff first because she had already rung up half his stuff.
AT THIS POINT I WAS READY TO PUNCH THIS GUY BUT HE WAS A LOT BIGGER THAN ME AND I LIKE HAVING MY FACE IN ONE UNBROKEN PIECE.
BUT JUST SO YOU KNOW IF HE WERE NOT THAT HUGE WITH SUCH A CORRELATIONAL LIKELIHOOD TO POSSIBLY DO SOME SERIOUS DAMAGE REARRANGING THE FEATURES ON MY FACE BECAUSE HE TOTALLY LOOKED LIKE THE KIND OF ASSHOLE WITH ANGER MANAGEMENT ISSUES, THIS WAS HOW IT WOULD HAVE TOTALLY WENT DOWN.
The bottom line was after he had finally finished being such an ass and paid for all his stuff, i literally shoved my mastercard in the cashier’s face and ran out of there because i really really really didnt want to miss the fireworks. This also meant i left my wallet on the counter accidentally leading to a minor heart attack approximately half an hour later but i got it back in the end so long story not going into it.
As it was, the fireworks started when i was running back, which was just about when i started to seriously curse myself for thinking it would be a good idea to wear platforms to disneyland.
worth it.
so worth it.
you know that kind of feeling you get when you’re already out of breath but you see something and it takes your breath away again, breath you didnt know you still had in you, and all that cheesy cliche shit happens like stars aligning and everything being right with the world and bubbling warmth like a stream starts flowing rapidly out of the corners of your corneas which really doesnt make sense because its so damn cold and you could really use not losing any bit of warmth you have but you don’t really care?
yeah, that.
As promised, here are the videos i took. Its almost the whole thing.
the second video’s my favorite:
it was just-
there are no words.
you have to be there in person to really feel it, but i hope you enjoy the videos anyhow.
we went for dinner after that at House of Beijing, in the mall opposite our hotel.
returned to the hotel that night still reeling from disneyland. it felt like someone shook tinker bell’s fairy dust all over us, stretching till late that night we stayed up, pressing our noses to the huge glass window in our room, trying to squint hard enough till the city lights started resembling the twinkling disney ones.
best day ever.
i really, really love disneyland.
x
♥jem