7th Birthday

My husband, Jun, and I surprised Bea on her 7th birthday by bringing her to a place every child would probably dream of going - at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Here are some of our most memorable experiences that  Bea still loves to reminisce and recall every now and then.

Early morning on Bea's birthday, we were on our way to the then newly operational NAIA Terminal 3.  She had no idea where we were going until I filled-up the Immigration form.  Her eyes widened when she saw the word 'Hong Kong' as our place of destination.  As I was preparing our payment for the travel tax (Php1620/pax) and terminal fee (Php750/pax),  Bea kept on asking what we were going to do in Hong Kong. We simply kept mum and just left her hanging and guessing =).

After we checked-in, we had our snacks in the airport since there were already opened food stalls and coffee shops that early morning.

After an hour or two, we boarded the Cebu Pacific's first flight for Hong Kong. This was the very first time that we were travelling abroad as a family and it was also the first time that Bea  was boarding an airplane. Inside, Bea was amazed and at the same time visibly nervous though it was obvious in her eyes that she was still very sleepy.  Perhaps, the anticipation and excitement of the new experience kept her awake until we reached our destination.

Upon arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport and after a VERY long walk from the Arrival Area to the Immigration Area, we had this funny and strange experience when we claimed our baggages.  We noticed that the airport representatives assigned to check and release our baggages were only standing at one end of the conveyor and were just literally watching everyone as we got our own baggages. At this point, Jun was mischievously kidding me that had we gone silly and bad that very moment, we could have simply picked up somebody else's baggage and immediately left without being caught and noticed at all.... quite sure everyone was thinking of doing the same...hihihi...

At the main exit of the airport's arrival hall,  we saw an array of restaurants and we decided to eat breakfast at Burger King. There, we ordered the typical value meal of burger, fries and drinks. We spent approximately HK$120 for these.   Right beside Burger King is the Airport Express train.  A nice lady taught us how to get our tickets from the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) vendo machine.  It was also amazing that we could get the entire fare in one ticket even if we would be transferring from  one train to another (Airport-Tsing Yi-Sunny Bay-Disneyland Resort).

Bea still had no idea where our next stop would be until we reached the terminal where we saw and boarded the Mickey Mouse train that would take us to Lantau Island - where Hongkong Disneyland Resort is located.

From the Disneyland terminal, there was an escalator going up to the famous Disneyland Welcome Arch.  As we went ahead, we saw an image of Mickey Mouse surfing atop the splashing waters of the central  fountain area.  Bea's eyes beamed and glared like Alice in Wonderland when she caught sight of it.  After that structure,  the entrance gate of Disneyland was there ready to be opened to the public; but due to so much excitement, we forgot that we still had our baggages and we had yet to check-in in our hotel.    

We went back and found the free tourist bus in the bus terminal to be able to go to the Disney Hollywood Hotel (though a bit costly and aside from its proximity to the park, we chose this hotel to grab a reserved two-day ticket pass).  While waiting for our time to check-in (the hotel had this service of early baggage check-in in the bell service), we decided to have our lunch at the hotel's main dining place - the  Chef Mickey's Restaurant located at the ground floor of the hotel.

After dropping our baggages and taking a short rest  and a quick shower in our room (we chose a room with  the park view (instead of the sea front view) only to find out that  it was not the view of the THEME park;   but rather the view of the actual hotel PARKING lot...hahaha!), we excitedly went back to the theme park.  The service bus was waiting in the area where we were dropped earlier.

In the park,  we arrived just in time to witness the parade of Disney characters.  We saw all them festively dancing at the Main Street.

We went around and saw  the Adventureland, where we found the house of Tarzan and various relics of the jungle world.

We ended our day (1) by viewing the overwhelming dancing lights and fireworks display as the back drop of the Disney Castle located  at the center stage of Fantasyland.  As we made our exile on Main Street, we felt the coolness of the December breeze as  snowfall drizzled upon us. And though  artificial as the snow was,  Bea's happiness came to us so genuine... so real..something that  really came from within!...Priceless! =)  

(Cebu Pacific Air's reservation hotline is +63-2-70-20-888)


Related post/s:
7th Birthday - Day 2