A Pregnant Pause

We’re just back from our Hong Kong holiday. Yes, we’re CRAZY to join the summer crowd but we had no choice because:

1) Lucas needs his oils / lotions as his eczema acted up last winter – severe drying and scaling all over his stomach and legs – major itching!

2) I needed to find some shoes because the maximum shoe size in most of China is 38 – only ugly, chunky ones are available for 39 and 40 (I may have big feet but I think they can look nice too),

3) Many of the items we’re looking for are either EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE in China, due to government protection on local products or there’s no demand for such items here or I haven’t got the time to look for them,

4) Hubby wanted to get away for a family holiday

We really wanted to go relax amidst the beauty of Hangzhou but in the end, Lucas’ lotions took priority.

While we were there, we visited this kiddyland. Interestingly, Disneyland didn’t amuse Lucas much because he isn’t a big Disney fan (thank God!) plus it was HOT AS HELL walking around this concrete jungle.

It’s pathetic if your kid isn’t excited in a kiddyland and both of us had to actually up the promotions & marketing by pointing out Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh but I know he’s only interested in Tigger. Unfortunately, Tigger bounced into view only once

Thankfully, we saw and heard this train approaching Main Street when we walked in:

THE DISNEYLAND EXPRESS TRAIN

The real, live steam train got him really excited!!! He was stuck at the miniature versionfor ages…

I was panicking because the lines were building up and mind you, all the “happy” people in lines get defensive when they thought this Mother and child were cutting queues.

Sigh, I had to put on a thick face and made a big show of passing Lucas to Hubby who was holding our spot at the front!

Just so he’d have fun at this place, we rode the train at least 6 times.

He wanted to sit as close as possible to the engine and the driver and hear the bell clang.

Disneyland Hong Kong isn’t that big, with only stops at Fantasyland, Adventureland and Main Street etc, which means we had to endure the radio announcements, fake scenery and fake animals over and over again.

Aaargh…it’s pure torture for us but seeing his happy, excited face made it all worth it

Regardless, I think we’d do it again and again too LOL

THE KIDDY RIDES

Besides the train, we went for the Cinderella Carousel, which was quite magical for this Mummy Lucas was in front of me on a large horse – it took me a while to get my butt up LOL

When we stopped, I thought he’d like another go but he couldn’t wait for me to carry him down…

At the Flying Dumbo we met one of the most kiasu (Chinese=competitive, selfish) mothers in the world. The lines are well managed but can you believe that even so, some parents (I doubt the kids are paying attention) are so detailed as to aim for a particular seat?

I think kids are already bug-eyed in this giant kiddyland – I doubt they’re plotting,

“The seats are different not only due to the colours, this seat is better because da da da…”

On the Flying Dumbo, only 2 people can get into a seat. Hubby wanted to get into the one in front of us so he could capture a shot of Lucas and me. We stood in line, we got our passes and headed for 2 seats when the gate opened.

Hubby almost had his foot in when a 6-7 year old boy dashed in front of him and plumped his butt in! Of course, Hubby didn’t want to fight a ride with a kid but then the mother came running with a giant Nikon camera and seated herself next to him.

Considering how late she is, we suspect that she’s last in line but got her son to reserve the spot. As there was an empty Dumbo in front of her, we tried telling her to go to that one since Hubby wanted to be close us.

This woman refused to budge!!!

Not wanting to cause an ugly scene, Hubby went for the empty seat and we sat back to enjoy the ride. Of course, he couldn’t get a shot of us as he’s too far away…and soon, it dawned on me WHY the lady wouldn’t move.

Not all of Mr. Disney’s (or his enterprising and cost-saving descendants or executives) Flying Dumbos went up and down all the time. Interestingly, the ones we were in only rose and descended 1-2 times throughout the ride. For a bloody extra 1-2 times of going up and down, this w*tch kept us apart!!!

I shudder to think of the values that kid is growing up with:

“My Mum taught me to use my kid status to push a father away from his rightful place, separate him from his wife and son on their family holiday. The best thing part about this? I got an extra 1-2 times bopping up and down in a plastic Dumbo! My Mum is the best!”

Did Lucas enjoy the rides? I couldn’t tell because he’s got Mr. Bean’s bored, ho-hum expression during the rollercoaster ride. I think I was more excited for him

I think his mind was set on trains because the rides stopped, he went,

“You-cas want sit train!”

He also remembers the exact route to the train station even though it was crowded – we just let this Thomas the Tank Engine fan lead us there LOL

He also had fun at driving in this sportscar (see the kor-kors and jie-jies crowding around for a turn already?). The line at the space car in Tomorrowland ride was too, too, too long

DINING AT DISNEYLAND
We headed for the Grand Banquet Hall for the air conditioning and also lunch. The poor fella was melting under all that heat – he had his water bottle latched to his mouth and many of his hankies were drenched with sweat.

Be prepared to pay HKD55 (RM25+) for a simple meal of burger and fries, bento lunch or chicken rice. We spent HKD38 (RM15+) on Lucas’ kiddy lunch of creamy chicken on rice and a box of Mengniu brand milk. Seriously inflated prices and he didn’t even eat his rice!!!

After he knocked off for his nap, I plonked my head on the table and slept too. This Mummy just HAD to plonk her head flat on the table for a nap…hehe, many folks were dozing away too.

I was really, really exhausted because I had to haul him all over the place! It was unbearably hot even though I was in a tank top (and ok, a silly pair of calf-length culottes because I only brought one pair of shorts).

Lucas must have been tired from the heat, he wanted me to carry him all the time! Hubby offered to take him a few time but after a while each time, he’d whine,

“Mummy, carry carry carry carry!”

With temperatures as high as 35-36 deg C, who wants to leave an air-conditioned room?

MICKEY’S PHILARMAGIC 3D SHOW
When Lucas woke up, we wandered around to see what else we could do at this EXPENSIVE amusement park. We went for Mickey’s Philarmagic 3D show, which was quite interesting…

You enter a cinema-like room and put on a pair of orange-rimmed 3D dark glasses. I was a bit cynical about the glasses, thinking that it’s a con job to “sweeten” the experience of watching just another cartoon.

Surprisingly, those 3D glasses work! With the glasses on, the characters and actions (based on “Fantasia” but is a medley of other popular Disney characters e.g. Ariel and Sebastian the crab from “The Little Mermaid” and also “Aladdin”) appear larger than life and seem to fly out at you, almost right to the tip of your nose!

The surround sound system is fantastic because it makes you feel as if Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie and Goofy are in different spots around the room.

Lucas was frightened by a few of the 3D segments (and the loud music) that he ended up on my lap. I had to reassure him several times that it’s just a cartoon, not real and also took off the 3D glasses when the characters “flew” off the screen…

Thankfully, the show isn’t that long because towards the end, he didn’t want to watch it anymore and cried to go home.

PHOTO TAKING SESSIONS
Various Disney characters are on site for photo sessions, which again you have to line up for. Just for the fun of it, we managed a family pic with Donald Duck.

Mickey and Minnie waved at us many times when we were on the train…

We were on the look-out for Tigger but he was nowhere to be found!

Then, we spotted Buzz Lightyear in a corner with only 3-4 people in line and aimed straight for him. Guess what? Buzz decides to go for a pee break!

Haha, the public relations script he got was,

“Buzz needs to return to the Space Station!”

Yeah, right. He’s probably going to his room to strip off the swelteringly thick plastic/rubber suit to dance about in his singlet and shorts, take a few smokes and drown himself in a gallon of Coke…

TA TA FOR EVER!
Initially, we thought we’d stay on for the pyrotechnics display at 8 pm but since Lucas didn’t eat a good lunch and was a sack of potatoes in my arms, we decided to go home.

To make this Disneyland trip more fun for him, we went for ANOTHER ride on the train. And we also had a PURPLE (blackcurrant flavour) ice jelly and a Mickey Mouse shaped ice cream at HKD12 each.

The purple popsicle’s quite nice I wanted another one but Hubby said NO

We left at 6 pm because it was a Friday evening and we didn’t want to get caught on the MTR with the working folks…

Now that we’re HKD700 (2 adult summer period tickets), HKD100+ for food and HKD120 for my Winnie the Pooh cap poorer, this Mummy definitely need to work (or blog) harder after this…

Will we go back? Maybe when he’s older and if there’s a promotional package

TIPS FOR TODDLERS:
1. Bring a stroller for your kid to rest in – strollers on rental are HKD50 per day
2. Bring his favourite snacks and water – esp if he’s a fussy eater. Most of the snack foods retail at HK12 each and were those regular dry, tasteless or horribly salty/sweet types which are not exactly toddler tasty.
3. Wear the thinnest clothes you have, the comfiest pair of shoes and yup, your own umbrella and caps! Unless you want a HKD120 one
4. Children under 3 years old get in FREE but unless they are big Disney fans, there are only a few rides to amuse them. Many toddlers were crying from the exhaustion, heat and probably, overwhelming crowd and stimulating environment.
5. Wait times for rides and shows are indicated in front of each booth – we only went for those with 10 minutes wait. We wanted to go for the racecars, which Lucas’ height qualifies him but it was a 45 minute wait!
6. The taller your toddler, the better for him/her because the safety regulations in place require kids to reach a certain height