The HKDL Source

Update for December 10  to December 16 - News and Commentary

 

Skip To: Current Closures, Refurbishment and Construction |  Events & Important Dates | Current Discounts/Promotions | Park Hours/Schedule/Annual Pass Blockout Days | Make a Comment

 

---

News This Week: It's A Small Construction Site | Chief Spy Trip Report - 6 December 2007 | HK SAR Speaks on HKDL

 

With the shackles of burden weighing heavy on my typing wrists - that is, the ones at the ends of my hands - I'm starting to wonder at what point maintaining this "fun diversion" of a site became a job. Already being in a position where I'm counting down the days until my next Disneytacular holiday, I need another job like a hole in the head. Well, my mouth and ears aside. Plus the nostrils. (Never forget the nostrils). So if anybody out there is willing to start paying us for this, or at least set us up inside some kind of tax shelter, then we'd be most grateful. Disney? Unofficial Guides? Lonely Planet? Anyone?

 

Oh well, guess we better shine our shoes and keep on our Sunday best as we launch into another week in Hong Kong Disneyland - the little park that could, and then could some more. Joking aside, it does get hard to maintain this little venture every week, but I'm constantly surprised by the genuine affection that we get down here at the Ol' Source Ranch. We love the photos you guys send in, and the well-wishes we often receive, and for every bit of negativity there is just a little ray of sunshiny goodness that sneaks in the most unlikely of entrances. The Internet is a notorious breeding-ground for "fan" criticism, and HKDL has received a fair bit of less-than-constructive advice over the years. Then I go and find this wonderful little thread at our good friends, Mice Chat. It's called "I've Fallen in love with Hong Kong Disneyland" and it's author, DisneyMickey, pretty much caps it all when they declare: "If they keep up with it, the resort will remain the beautiful, vibrant oasis I found". Of course, the whole thing descends into a strange play on words with my online name of Loomis, but hey - you don't worry when they talk about you, darling. You only worry when they aren't!

 

It's A Small World Construction Update

 

Before we get into weekly round-up, we should drop in on our favourite construction site - it's a small world. Our Chief Spy has sent in some recent construction pictures, and we think they speak for themselves. Check out that fence work!

 

 

 

MORE PHOTOS: Our complete collection of photos can be found in our IASW Construction Gallery.

 

Chief Spy Trip Report - 6th December 2007

 

To the readers of the weekly page at HKDLSource, you'll all be glad to know that with the help of a thesaurus I have expanded my vocabulary this week. While Disney is still amazing, I've found a few new words to describe it.

 

So here it comes...We got to the park around 4 pm after a fit of tears, the little one lost her Octopus Card. She was terrified we would punish her, so the tears were still streaming when we got through the gate. A couple of cast members noticed and tried to help calm her down. (I still don't understand this upset, mom bought a new card. Accidents happen, maybe it's the whole "Santa is watching you thing.") The snowman glasses, a couple of stickers, some nice people who knew her name talking to her, and she forgot about the card and the tears stopped. First stop, Animation Academy, but they had just shut the doors, so we had to wander around for 20 minutes. Over to Main Street Emporium for a few Christmas cards, and a candy filled Chip (Christmas tree) and Dale (snowman) plush. Back to the Animation Academy for a picture of Pooh in a scarf. As we left and were going to head down Main Street, I saw a surprise on the ground. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Stitch. Someone had painted the sidewalk! We saw the Dapper Dans, and they called their Seasons Greetings to us. They didn't sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" though. Maybe next time. We then went to see Santa.

 

 

Now my little one was scared. She thought Santa would know she was crying, and she thought Santa would know she is faltering in her belief of him. Kids at school are mean things aren't they? They've been whispering in her ear that Santa isn't real and that he's for babies. [That is definitely not true! - Richard] To make matters worse, yesterday was St. Nicholas Day, and being of a certain religious faith and ethnic background, St. Nicholas filled her shoes with toys and goodies last night. Since most of the world doesn't celebrate this tradition, it just added fuel to the fire for those nasty kids at school. I'm digressing, Mom is a clever duck, and Santa has been sending letters to the little one for the past 4 years. Today, he had a letter to deliver from Disneyland. (No time to send it in the post I guess). I handed the letter to a Cast Member, who passed it to Santa. When we got into the room, Santa called her by name! (It was on the outside of the envelope) Her eyes lit up. He also said she shouldn't cry over a silly lost Octopus Card because mom doesn't get mad over things like that. (Word travels fast in Disney--ok, it was about an hour later, but it was wonderful of someone to tell Santa her fear). She was like a fountain being unstuck. She asked Santa a million questions. From how does he get in our house without a chimney, to how many elves he has. Did you know he doesn't know because there are so many elves, they have lost count, but he did say he just recruited a new blue elf yesterday. (I'd like to see that one!) Then, Santa did the most amazing thing - he gave her the letter. She gave him the biggest hug and told him she thought he wasn't going to write to her anymore because she wasn't sure last week if he was real. Her last statement to him was "I knew you were real!" The elves, and the guests lined up for a picture with Santa were all great! Everyone was very patient, and enjoying listening to a little girl have her faith confirmed. One older lady met us outside, and told me she thought it was great the trouble I went through to keep the little one's beliefs in such a fast growing and non-believing world. (Those letters take me a long time to write, but they are worth it, especially when Santa is so willing to give her one!) Hats off to Disney for finding such an understanding Santa, and to the Cast for relaying the word about the lost card. All the way over to the Golden Mickey's she just kept saying "I knew, I knew".

 

 

Before the parade, I went over and snapped a picture of it's a small world (see above). I think you can see clearly now where the clock will be. It's the big circle in the middle of the picture with the little hole in the middle. We had to go to the Golden Mickeys not to see the show, but to watch the Parade. Once it was over, Little One jumped up and marched along. She danced all the way to the end. About half way through, the elf on the rope turned around and said something about her ability to keep up, that she was so good, and she never stopped dancing. (She practices at home you know! Her dream right now is to be a dancer at Disney. I do hope she'll grow out of that one.) Donald spent a lot of time looking out the back of the float. He was dancing and little one was copying. Some of the moves had changed, but it was great fun watching them copy each other. At one point, Donald plugged his nose and pretended to swim. That I KNOW was not in the script. As we got to Main Street, I saw a lovely sight. It was snowing! Ok, bubbles I know, but the effect is amazing (wonderful, stupendous, enchanting, awesome?) The bubbles were collecting on the ground, and I've added a picture of the float tracks in the "snow" a sight I thought I would never see in Hong Kong. The parade line today was filled with children. No parents on the ropes this time. Another sight I never thought I would see. All the Cast Members at the end of the parade were full of smiles. As it should be. I am sure their smiles were for the children just like mine were.

 

After the parade it was over to the Jungle River Cruise. I promised little one 3 rides in the dark, and it was 3 rides she got. The first ride was in English, and Ginger was wonderful. If she wasn't a native speaker, she was darned close. For once the jokes were funny, no mouth diarrhea. My little one asked her how much longer she would be there driving the boat, and we ran - ran -  back into line, unfortunately, there was a change of drivers, but he was ok too. Not as good as the first one though. Daddy came and met us, and it was a ride in Cantonese. One of the Cast Members pointed out the ride was in Chinese as we were getting into the boat, (in all fairness he had just seen us on the English ride, and my blonde hair does stand out a bit), but I have to hand it to him, he didn't blink when I answered in Cantonese that it was ok. He laughed and said something like "daddy's here now isn't he." I tuned out the speech the driver was giving, and watched the people on the boat. Lots of background noise though, a warning to put down an umbrella, and a bit of a fracas over a helium balloon that a child wanted to put outside the boat, and what seemed like a lifetime later, we got back to the dock. Since daddy was with us, it was one last trip to see Santa again so we could have a picture with Daddy in it too. Santa stood up, shook Daddy's hand said something about what a nice little girl we have, took a picture with us, then took another. As we were leaving, he came around and gave the little one a big hug, and told her not to cry over little accidents. Enchanting! Daddy wanted to know what that was all about, but Santa told him it was a secret between him and the little one!

 

 

We stopped at the Emporium on the way out to say hello to a friend and take some pictures of the doll house for Richard. (Daddy is tall enough to do it!) Final stop, City Hall so mom could write a thank you to Santa for helping me keep a little one's belief in him. He really did do an astounding job and I was so grateful. Kids grow up too fast, and 6 is just too young to stop believing in the simple things in life.

 

 

It was off to Tsing Yi for dinner at the little one's request...and SURPRISE! This is one of the eight MTR owned shopping centers that was done up by Disney..but strangely done. Toy Story aliens and Monster's INC. together. Scully is a full storey tall (see above) We went inside the Monsters INC. village after being forced to make a donation to the Red Cross (I think was the charity). Little one paid it. Mike was there, and his girlfriend too. Boo's room was there as well. As we were leaving, we ran into some "friends from Disney" - those lovely ladies who play with my little one in Fantasyland! They were so sweet and all stopped us to say hello. We didn't go into Fantasyland today, so they told her they missed her because it was Thursday. Priceless! In the taxi on the way home, Daddy said he was glad he got the upgrade, because Disney is sooo nice to see at night. I think his words were something like I now know why you don't mind 3 or 4 hours every week. It's truly wonderful! Words from the mouth of a die-hard Disney hater (until he went this summer.) Just another great day at Hong Kong Disneyland.

 

The Chief Spy.....

 

MORE PHOTOS: Don't forget that more of the Chief Spy's Photos can be found in the Christmas 2007 Gallery and the Scenes from the Park Gallery.

 

HKSAR Speaks on HKDL...

 

...and it's not all good. Reuters reports that the HKSAR feels that the first two years worth of figures at HKDL have been "not satisfactory" and that they "would keep pushing for improvements" to the park to see an increase in bodies through the gate.

 

Although speaking of the park's positive role as an employer of entertainers and how many families with children were visiting the park, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Frederick Ma, commented that "The government will continue to urge the park management to formulate cost-effective business strategies, improve the park's operational efficiency and work more closely with the local travel trade, with a view to harnessing the full economic potentials of this international theme park."

 

While this is a sharp turn of events from the government that was unwilling to sink any more money into the underperforming ship a few months back, it is unsurprising given that the HKSAR is still a 57% stakeholder in the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. That said, is anybody else worried by the term "cost effective"?

 

Standard Sign Out Section

 

Remember, as always, if you have any news, photos, trip reports or just a question, feel free to contact us.  We like to think of ourselves as the people's site.

 

Also, don't forget that you can now subscribe to The HKDL Source Newsfeed via the links below:

 

	Subscribe to RSS Feed

 

If you have any trouble using the feed, or have spotted some pesky bugs, please feel free to Contact Us and we'll try and sort it out.

 

Current and Forthcoming Closures, Refurbishments and Construction

 

• Disney on Parade will be temporarily replaced with the Let it Snow Christmas Parade.
• Fantasyland: No closures in Fantasyland, but there is constant construction going on ‘beyond the berm’ for the forthcoming it’s a small world attraction (Coming April 2008).
• Land appears to be cleared and built upon behind Adventureland and the Promenade for as-yet-undisclosed project. While some contend that this land has always been in this state, we have reports that some construction was seen to be going on in this area. Others still say that this is prep-work for a Downtown Disney style area and the Pirates extension to Adventureland. The HK Building Department reports this as a 'Dangerous Goods Storage Area'. We now have an indication that a hotel will be going up in the area. Time will tell.
• Construction work is being carried out near the main gates, allegedly for some new toilets and Cast Member break room.

 

Events & Important Dates

 

If you know of any events that should be listed here, please let us know. 

 

November/December

• Christmas: From 23 November until New Year's Eve (December 31), Hong Kong Disneyland's Main Street will become a Winter Wonderland, with a castle lighting ceremony; musical events; special meals and the big man himself, Santa. A new parade is in the works as well, we're told.
• Magical New Year and Countdown: Concluding the Christmas festivities, this big event will be a dance party for some; some old-school shindigging for others and an excuse to have fun for all. Count down to midnight in the park, and then go back and drain the hotels of all alcohol.

 

January 2008

• High School Musical: A hybrid version of the bafflingly popular US TV hit will come to HKDL in January 2008.

 

April 2008

• it’s a small world (April 2008): RTHK News reports that the attraction is set to open in April 2008, which is consistent with Disney’s official line of ‘early 2008’. You can follow the progress in our Construction Photo Gallery .

 

May 2008

• Richard visits Hong Kong Disneyland late in the month. Prepare the fortifications!

 

Current Discounts/Promotions

• Annual Passholders: September to December Passholder deals can be found here. Discounts for early renewals are also available.
• Interest Free Installment when Purchasing Annual Passes: Purchase Annual Pass now with a Standard Chartered VISA Card or MANHATTAN VISA Card to enjoy a 12-month interest free installment. Offer Period: 1 December, 2006 – 31 December, 2007. See here for details. 
• Stay and Play for 2 Days: Book a hotel stay and enjoy an extra day at Hong Kong Disneyland when you purchase a one-day ticket! The offer has been extended until September 2008!
• Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel Victorian Escape Package for 2 Persons: Enjoy the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel Victorian Escape Package at the starting price of HK$2,280 and indulge in a relaxing spa with your beloved or friends! Offer period: 27 November, 2007 to 31 March, 2008. See here for details.
• Dining Deal: Book breakfast in advance and receive 30% off. Conditions apply.
• Cathay Pacific and Dragonair Deal: From now until 31 January, 2008*, you can take advantage of the "Buy 2 get 1 Free" or "Buy 3 get 1 Free" travel package from Cathay Pacific and its partner airline Dragonair, featuring an array of value-added benefits. See Offer Details.

 

Park Hours/Schedule/Annual Pass Block-out Days

 

Throughout December, hours will extend to the later time of 8:00 PM, as the Christmas festivities begin. All weekends will be Peak Ticket days, and the ticket prices will be reflected accordingly. December 21 to December 30 hours will be 10:00 AM to 11:00PM. New Year's Eve will extend those hours to 12:30 AM.

 

Value Annual Passholders will have the remaining weekends blocked to them during November, as well as December 21 to 31. Deluxe Annual Passholders also have December 21 to 31 blocked to them.

Comments

Leave a Comment

You Must Be Logged In to Post a Comment