China Day 9 (HK Day 3)

Merry Christmas everyone!
Woke up early, feeling super groggy because of my late night. Also woke up to foggy weather and light rain, which was bad news, considering we were going to Disneyland.

But as I've always said, the show must go on!


There were quite a large number of people going to Disneyland today. Considering it's Christmas Day, it's no surprise. I heard they have special Christmas parades, so I was super excited to see.
The Disneyland train is gorgeous. The Mickey Mouse themed windows and handles are a nice installment.




Disneyland itself isn't really for my age. Not the one in HK at least (from what I remember), but I was so keen to take photos. You don't get such great theme parks in Australia
But I can assure you that I liked it quite a bit. The details that they put into their buildings and everything in general is so beautiful and stunning.




It was a shame that poor weather decided to strike, and the sheer mass amounts of people made it extremely difficult to take photos.
Thank the lords for weather sealing and stylish rain ponchos (from Ocean Park)




It was a wet day. 


I also happened to get lost for a few moments (okay, more like half an hour), in the rain, which was slightly terrifying but also okay.


Something I started to notice, amidst the hour-long queues for rides, and pricey Chow Sing Sing Disney jewelry stores, was that Disney has an empire.

I mean honestly, to have a jewelry store in Disneyland, selling things for hundreds of thousands of HK dollars? That's an entire kingdom.


Disney? It has its own kingdom. So much merchandise, so many fans (of all ages), and so much popularity that it's astounding. 











It's a franchise which has lasted far beyond its time, and continues to impress over and over. I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not one of the people who are captivated by Disney, because I am, but even I can see that in a city like HK, with such high prices for their products, they must have a very faithful and dedicated fan base in order to sell.
Myself? Well, my brother and I each purchased a Disney Tsum Tsum plushie each (Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, respectively). They were too cute to resist.





Frozen is so big that they even have to have purchase restrictions.
The rain kept going the entire day, and was a big dampener on the day. It just made it cold and difficult to get around, slippery, and just a general mood-downer. But, to see things in a wholelistic view, it is kind of hard to be sad at Disneyland.


The little details that they put into Disneyland was incredible though. Everywhere you went, there were little minute details that most people skim over and miss.


I think in general, the atmosphere of Disneyland is what it thrives on. Disneyland is an empire that happiness seems to emit from -- considering the sheer popularity of it among all age groups, it's no wonder that there's such a positive aura surrounding it.




Unfortunately, the parade had to be cancelled due to wet weather, and instead, the 'Rainy Day Express' train replaced it.
Hong Kong's Disneyland isn't that big. It's an alright theme park, don't get me wrong, but from what I've heard about the other Disneylands in the world, the HK one is lacking.

None-the-less, we managed to spend an entire day and I did take a lot of photos, as evident in this blog post.





You'd think with the poor weather, there'd be a lot less people.

But nope. People persisted. With waiting times up to an hour, sometimes just to take a photo with a costumed character, it's no wonder people can spend an entire day here -- you just spend most of it waiting in line.


I don't like lines. I really don't. So I spent most of my time wandering around the park and taking photos of various things that happened to look aesthetic. Or in general just trying to soak in the atmosphere and take-in the surroundings.


Even the little birds were trying to find shelter.
But constantly I was just amazed by the detail of everything, and the over-arching themes.

Toy Story World

The jungle area
As per tradition, we went to see the Lion King show, which involved waiting among a crowd for a good half an hour in the rain.


We also went to a 3D show, which wasn't very long, but was a really great experience. With sprays of water, smells, and very extreme 3D projections, let's just say it really felt like you were immersed into the video.


The late night Christmas fireworks were unfortunately cancelled due to the poor weather conditions, so we left early and just had dinner at McDonalds LOL (first Macca's of the trip!)

Goodbye Disneyland; till next time.
And then we ended up just walking around Elements and shopping for a bit.

No surprise that I ended up back in H&M and purchased a pair of loose black pants which were sooooo comfy (wow) and only $50 HK dollars! Bargain alert.
Also had a snoop around other stores that didn't have sales and gasped everytime I flipped a price tag. Stumbled across a watch in the seven-digit range. Ooft.
"Soon Manjekah, soon."

That's a >1 million HK dollar watch there.
Ahh, but the Christmas spirit was getting to me. I loved it. I love the atmosphere of Christmas. Not for the fact of religious belief, or for presents, or for giving, or shop sales. None of that.
I love Christmas because of the happiness it brings.

It seems like there's an unanimous agreement that smiles are compulsory. Greetings of "Merry Christmas!" and a smile, free lollies, and snow-fights and laughs of young children. Ahh. If only life could always be so content and beautiful.


Headed off home early, arriving back by 10:15, which is a new record! It's been an exhausting day of rain, cold, and a lot of walking. We all needed a break, especially since tomorrow is a full day of shopping. (Keen).

Later my brother and I stayed at home and mucked around a bit whilst my parents went out a bit more to celebrate the last hours of Christmas.


Loot from Disneyland.

But either way, Disney was a nice refresher. HK's isn't the biggest, or the brightest, especially when compared to America's, but it's decent and it's the only one I've been to, so I'm not one to judge! It's better than not having one at all! (Oh Sydney, when's it our turn?)



It's been a good Christmas Day.


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Hello! I'm a student from Australia. I like photography, am aspiring to be a Doctor, have fallen in love with many things that life has to offer, and hope to see more of it. I've been blogging for a while and over the years what it means to me has changed. Currently still trying to figure that out, but here I am in a weird hybridisation of photography, film, blogging, and the confusion of a young adult, you'll find me here writing about my experiences and life. Or whatever tickles my fancy. Whether that's entertaining or not is yours to decide. Stay hydrated, kids.