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Hong Kong Day 7

If yesterday was an early morning, then today was even earlier. We needed to meet our contacts inside the park two hours before the park opened. That meant an 8am arrival at HKDL, which means we had to leave the condo by 6:30 and pray that we don’t get Crazy Taxi or Crazy bus. We attempted to get a minibus first, but were not successful so we hailed a cab and set off for the MTR station. Thankfully, this cab driver knew how to get there and we made it in about 20 minutes. I did notice that the cab fare for yesterday was only HK$20 dollars more than today – I thought the delay yesterday would have added more.

We made it to the park around 7:45 so with some time to kill I meandered around the esplanade area of the park taking photos of the bus and taxi area and some signage. Hellas met us promptly at 8am and led us backstage. We toured costuming and saw one off the employee cafeterias before heading out to the area. Vance tagged along with us to Buzz while Hellas waited for word from Space Mountain. After walking the track, Hellas took Vance over to Space while I watched the cast members go through opening procedures. It is funny being halfway around the world from my park and seeing people do the same things!

After the overviews, we headed to the Employee store and picked up some merchandise for ourselves and for friends and then headed out to the esplanade. It was then time to return to the park. Having been BBQ’ed yesterday by the sun, I opted to wear my new HKDL hat and then changed into some shorts. I forgot to bring my t-shirt with me so I had to sick with the shirt I wore for the overview. We then went to Jungle River Cruise to track down Matt. After a few tries, we finally met up with him and he drove the boat around us and gave the spiel. It was then time to say goodbye. We were not sure if we were going to see Matt again due to his schedule and ours. He walked us out to the main entrance and from there Vance and I headed over to the Disneyland Hotel. I wanted to see both hotels, but it is a very long walk just to the first hotel. The Hollywood Hotel is a long, long walk in the heat and humidity so we passed.

The Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel is very nice. It looks like the Grand Floridian hotel at Walt Disney World mixed with some refinements from the Disneyland Hotel Paris. Some of the features included a hedge maze, spectacular bay views, and some great restaurants. We poked around the Golden Lotus restaurant that features some awesome decor and this cool digital koi pond. The pond is just a touch screen on the floor. When you step on the fish, they swim away. It was pretty neat and kept me and some kids entertained for a bit. After a bit of shopping in the store, we hoofed it back to Disneyland. We spent the rest of the day leisurely walking around – eating at the Tahitian Terrace, riding the round rides in Fantasyland, revisiting the Golden Mickey’s Show as well as the old standbys Space and Buzz.

We stayed till about 7pm and by then we were both dog tired and red as beets. With a twinge of sadness we walked out the park. It was an amazing place to visit and I hope to one day grace its walkways again.

Back to the condo we went – due to our tiredness, the minibus trip from the MTR station seemed particularly long. Tomorrow is the day we depart, but since we got most of our shopping errands done, we knew we were going to be able to relax and sleep in before our flight.