Our day two started with a breakfast at KFC, the nearest one from our Hostel. It lies along the Cameron Road, which is two blocks away from the Mirador Mansion. I climbed up the 13th floor right after meal to claim our Disneyland ticket. I was told yesterday that the ticket will be available at nine in the morning, the best time we to reach the Disneyland gate at opening time. I climbed up the USA Hostel reception desk twice for the ticket. Had it not because of the Filipino hostel crew that entertained me while waiting, I would stone there on a stool facing at the frowning Liza, the Chinese owner. Well, she can converse in English well but I doubt if she will spend time during this frenzy morning for her to reciprocate any point of discussion I will open with her. This once again irritated me. Putting me to wait is not really my cup of tea; “patience is not one of my virtues,” I used to tell my friends who used to be late at our agreed meeting time. Or maybe that was how she felt that morning having promised me the 9am ticket availability. Or maybe this is how most Chinese behave at early morning, because last time, usually nighttime, when Dupong and I encountered Liza in the lobby, she projected warm and jolly mood. Or maybe I was just paranoid to observe her inside the reception cage cold and moody.
Finally at quarter of ten the ticket lady arrived. I mean the young lady who brought the ticket arrived. I climbed the back stairs hastily two floors down to our room where Erick was waiting. We run to the nearest subway train at Tsim Sha Tsui station, which I believed is just under the buildings around the block, Mirador Mansion included. We passed through the nearest entrance marked D1, right at the side of the building. This is one good thing in Hong Kong; all surrounding streets have corresponding entry/exit passages to and from every MTR stations. This saved everyone of us the traffic and the pollution (well, I can not really say there is pollution of any sort in Hong Kong, except the flocking of Indian citizens along Nathan Road that offer every passerby stuff on sale) up the busy roads. In our case, upon reaching the ground floor, we will be greeted then by the open (from 6am to 12mn) mouth of the D1 underpass. We boarded the MTR red line bound to Tseun Wan, otherwise known as Tseun Wan line (obviously), one of the eight MTRs that crossed around the country, with two drop offs, one at the Lai King interchange to transfer to the orange line or Tung Chung line and another at the Sunny Bay interchange to transfer to the Disney train. The fast subway transport helped us reach the Disneyland just in time that the gate was opened for public.
This second time of wandering around this wonderland, I ventured into more fun, watched more shows, enjoyed more rides with Erick that I have not experienced the last time with Dupong. One of which was the Space Mountain in Disney’s Tomorrowland. It felt like riding a space shuttle or rocket amid the dark expanse of the virtually real outer space. It was actually a roller coaster ride, with special contrasting effects of the darkness and the lights that resemble stars and galaxies, except for the absence of loops. But for me, the roller coaster ride in the dark is more intense emotionally and more exhaustive physically. I also tried the Pooh’s journey which was under construction during my last year’s visit. The ride of the Pooh’s adventure was okay, only that it is highly recommended for little kids. I love Winnie the Pooh but I least enjoy his journey, among others. I never let rain stopped me from witnessing the Lion King Show, entitled the Festival of the Lion King, this time, unlike last year that Dupong and I decided to stay at the restaurant than to look for the theater under the heavy rainshowers. Erick was actually near upset at my suicidal stunt to reach the assigned theater in the middle of the Adventureland. I was upset too upon reaching the gate wet and found out that the next show will start at 4:30 in the afternoon, it was yet 2:00 in the afternoon when we wandered under the rain. One lesson I picked up was never to visit Hong Kong in June because it’s raining month. But I don’t think I will learn from it owing to the fact that the airfare during this month is very low and therefore highly affordable.
We went back at four, of course, and have in fact enjoyed the sing and dance presentation filled with effects, smokes, fires, flying trapeze, and gigantic floats. I did a repeat viewing, for the benefit of Erick who’s a first-timer here, of the Golden Mickey’s and the PhilHarmagic. We both enjoyed the It’s a Small World boat ride that we did it twice that day. We took the Jungle Cruise and the Disney Train. However, the course of the railway transit was cut in half, only from Fantasyland station to the Main Street station. I did not exactly inquire for the reason but I just noticed that the railroad for the turnaround that is from Main Street back to the Fantasyland was closed and covered. I guess there was construction of any sort related to Disneyland adventures going on. The most anticipated and inescapable finale for a day in Disneyland was the Disney in the Stars. This is absolutely fantastic rhythmic fireworks display closed our second day of Hong Kong tour. This grand finale is the time when all you can hear from the deafening crowd was the cry of OWs and WOWs.
Being at Disneyland is in fact a relief for us Pinoy-born whose staple food is rice which the Disney Foodcourts have plenty to offer. Even in the Banquet Hall that you do not only enjoy the food but also the interior make up of the hall where the towering statues of dancing Disney characters in tandem can be seen around, the likes of the Prince and Cinderella, and Beauty and Beast. Our day’s meals has always been a dine at McDo with fried chicken with fries are the only known recipe and edible for us. Thus, we regarded Disney’s eating experience a superb and enjoyable opportunity to savor rice menus or rice toppings as we call it in the Philippines. All roasted meats in the menu are mouthwatering; Erick chose the roasted chicken and I chose the roasted pork for lunch and for dinner was a variant of the same meat. We frolicked the whole ten hours, that is from 10 am to 8 pm, with intermittent rain as the only disturbance. Then we headed back to the hostel to retire for the night.
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