That statement is absolutely true. You cannot step into Disneyland without having this ridiculous grin on your face for no apparent reason. I think you have to be happy there. If you don't I think Disney's "happy-patrol" will detect sulleness and will swamp on you in Disney licensed character costumes like Mickey or Donald and will escort you away and put you into a Goofy suit until you start smiling again and can't stop skipping! My good fortune has taken me to 3 Disney locations, Disney World in Orlando, Disneyland in Anaheim and Disneyland in Hong Kong.
Of the three, Disney World was the one that was newer, had more stuff and a lot larger but Disneyland Hong Kong was my most fun even though it was the smallest because I was there with my family. I was, for the first time, sharing my childhood dream with my children and for a while transported back to being a kid....wait a minute.....what do you mean dim sum and char siew rice for 4 people cost HKD360??? @#&$%*
My first trip was way back in 1997 to Disney World in Orlando. Back then Microsoft was a heck lot more generous and everything was paid for. There were 3 other parks, Treasure Island, Disney Hollywood Studios and Epcot Center. The cool thing about Disney World was that all the hotels were connected by bus, monorail or boat...yes boat!!! I stayed at the Dolphin Hotel which was very posh and some of my buddies stayed at the Boardwalk, which had a jetty-like wooden platform for its path way. We then took a steamboat to the parks and other hotels! How cool is that!!!
Treasure Island was a fun fair type of amusement park where you can eat cotton candy and pop corn while rotting your teeth and innards and play toss the ring, toss the coin and toss the ball. Actually they seem more like toss the money. I did win a mini-basketball with an aligator on it.
It was more than 10 years ago so I this trip was kinda sketchy. I think Cinderella's castle was made out of pink cotton candy...not sure what to make of it. I remembered staying back a week with 5 other friends to visit the parks. I remembered Space Mountain was something we really enjoyed. There was a ride in Epcot Center where you traveled through the heart and my advice is not to go in with a full stomach. Back then the exchange rate was RM2.50 to the USD1. So I also shopped like CRAZY!!
I can't remember which year I was at Disneyland Anaheim but I do remember it was with my God brother Alex, my brown brother (another Chindian) Patrick and John (John is just John). We stayed at San Pedro (LA's harbour town, pretty much like Port Klang) where it was cheaper. The populace was very predominant Hispanic, so Pat and I felt right at home! We were treated very well by the Sunday crowd when we had lunch by the pier. They gave dirty looks to Alex and John. Maybe they thought these Twisties-eating office geeks (they even look it for goodness sake) was going to bust a Bruce Lee move when the most demanding thing we did then was digesting cold shrimps.
When we were at Disneyland's ticket counter, we were surrounded by summer-holiday-kids and there we were 4 towering adults queueing up for our tickets. The lady asked in a chirpy voice "How many?". I said, "4 adults pls" to which she asked "And?". I looked at her and in a very straight face said "Just us 4 adults going back to our childhood". She smiled and said, "That's nice. That will be 4 bazillion dollars pls. Have a nice day!"
We went to all the rides and waited for hours in line but with a wide grin on our faces. We were in Disneyland! How can you not grin?! (Also we don't want to go into the Goofy suit). Again, I can't remember much except for the Haunted Mansion ride and the Twilight Zone Hotel ride where they strap you down into a car that was made to ride like an elevator. They took you up, opened up a wall so that you can see how high we are and then dropped us free falling into an abyss of darkness! HAHA! What fun! Disneyland is so fortunate I am not a disgruntled lawyer!
Hong Kong Disneyland was wierd. First it was smaller and there was hardly any queue at any of the rides. I mean there was but shorter. Also hearing Mickey and Minnie speaking Cantonese was just plain FREAKY! It was smaller but they had that Autopia ride where you just sit in a car and it took you around and that Buzz Lightyear shooting thing. You get points when you hit the lighted targets. I don't wanna brag but I scored highest with 500,000 points with Mikey coming in next at 300,000. Mandy had about 90,000 and goodness only knows what Melissa was shooting at since she scored about 3,000 points.
I have to look back at my photos to refresh my memory on our activities. I think there was a time when we tried to invite some Malaysian Airlines Stewardesses who stayed at our hotel to dinner. WE had walkie talkies and send Pat "James Bond" Dutton and Alex "Simon Templar" Fong on this mission while John and I waited in the getaway car. We needed to get away FAST in case we fail so that we don't get embarassed. Needless to say, I drove VERY fast that night.
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