Today we rode the Escalator DOWN... went to Hong Kong Disneyland and then rode back UP

So get this - between 8am and 10am the Mid-Level Escaltors run downwards to help get everyone down to the City to work and shop! So this morning we got to ride all the way down to the bottom :-) We then grabbed brekkie at our usual haunt (McD's - its cheap and it's NOT noodles!) and jumped on train to Hong Kong Disneyland.

I am somewhat of a Disney fanatic having been to Disneyworld Florida 7 times, Disneyland California twice and Paris 3 times so was quite excited to check out one of the Asian efforts (There is also a Disney Park in Tokyo but unfortunately we're not going to Japan). I must say that with the exception of choice and variety of rides it beats Paris hands down for atmosphere. The people are extremely friendly and smiley and must have been sent to the USA for happy face lessons. We went into Mickey's House and were virtually escorted round as smiley Cast Members announced we were now in "Mickey's Bedroom" (the big bed kinda gave it away) and Mickey's Kitchen (again, the huge fridge was a clue) but they are so lovely we just smiled and said thanks.

I also tried on Mickey's shoes...

Ben's favourite ride as I predicted was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters - we sit in a small spaceship-car equipped with lazer guns which we use to help Buzz save the Universe from the evil Emperor Zurg by zapping as many Z's symbols as we can and get points for doing so.

As you might imagine it becomes a fierce competition and apart from the first ride which I won, Ben won the next 5 times. Yes we went on 6 times, like I said it was Ben's favourite ride :-)

Adrenaline rides are the seriously lacking at HK Disney. They've done a great job with Space Mountain which left us both feeling slightly nauseous even though it doesn't go upside down but otherwise all the rides are incredibly sedate.

Everything is in Mandarin, Cantonese (two Chinese dialects) and English and most times is done very well. However on the Jungle Cruise we may as well have been on a Chinese speaking boat as neither of us had any idea what the girl was going on about despite it supposedly being in English. But again she was a lovely smiley girl we didn't mind and laughed about it.

We had our pic with Mickey and Minnie when we arrived and we also saw Winnie the Pooh and Buzz himself! The weather was gorgeous all day - not too hot but the sun shone all day with beautiful blue sky.

We stayed for the fireworks at 8pm which were great.