On our second day noon in Hong Kong Disneyland, we had lunch at Corner Cafe at Main Street, before heading to Fantasyland. Like all the other restaurants in Hong Kong Disneyland, Corner Cafe is very kids-friendly with a special menu for kids, baby chairs and appropriate tableware.
Asher seems to know what to expect at restaurants in Hong Kong Disneyland and was always very happy and excited during meal times. In fact, when our food arrived and his did not, he started yelling for our attention to get him some food asap!
Between us, Rachel and I shared a Wagyu Beef Burger and a High Tea Set (Chinese). Asher has his own kid’s meal. We also ordered some refreshing sodas to fight the heat.
The high tea set is an attention-grabber with the fancy plating and presentation. Asher loved it and I am sure other kids would too.
Some of the items from the set:
After we got our tummies filled, we were off exploring Fantasyland!
Our first stop was to the Cinderella Carousel – a beautiful merry-go-round with colourful wooden horses which Rachel was immediately drawn to. She took Asher with her to enjoy a quick spin.
Next, we headed for the Golden Mickeys show. This is a musical revue-style stage show presented in the style of an awards ceremony with characters from Disney films being nominated for awards including heroism, symphony, villains, friendship, and romance. It is like a fun, mini Oscars for Disney characters.
The Golden Mickeys is performed at the Storybook Theatre in the Fantasyland area at scheduled timings. It is narrated in Cantonese, with simplified Chinese and English subtitles. All of the songs are performed in English, making it accessible to those who do not know Cantonese or Chinese.
The show featured costume characters from Toy Story 2, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast performing songs from these films. The show also includes aerial acrobatics, martial arts, puppetry and fireworks.
For Rachel and I who grew up watching many of these Disney movies, it was like a walk down memory lane. The songs were lovely and brings back wonderful memories from our adolescent years to parenthood.
Asher was asleep for most of the show, but woke up towards the end. He managed to catch some of the amazing song and dance as well as fireworks finale and was totally mesmerised.
After the show, we took Asher to ride on the “it’s a small world” musical boat ride:
I love this song and the boat ride. I first experienced it myself when I was around 10 years old in Tokyo Disneyland with my parents and sister. It is amazing how a decade later, I am bringing my son to the same ride in Hong Kong to go through the same experience.
As this ride is not fronted by prominent Disney characters, the queue tends to be shorter. However, I highly recommend it as the song has a rich history and tradition, dating back to its debute at the 1964 New York World’s Fair’s UNICEF pavilion sponsored by Pepsi, designed by Disney.
Via wikipedia on the song development:
“Children of the World” was the working title of the attraction. Its tentative soundtrack featured the national anthems of the countries represented throughout the ride all playing all at once, which resulted in a cacophonous noise. Walt Disney showed a scale model of the attraction to his staff songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, saying “I need one song that can be easily translated into many languages and be played as a round.” The Sherman Brothers then wrote “it’s a small world (after all)” in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which influenced the song’s message of peace and brotherhood. When they first presented it to Walt, they played it as a slow ballad. Walt requested something more cheerful, so they sped up the tempo and sang in counterpoint. Walt was so delighted with the final result that he renamed the attraction “it’s a small world” after the Sherman Brothers’ song.
It is argued that this song is the single most performed and most translated piece of music on Earth. The song can be heard worldwide on musical devices ranging from keyboard demos to ice cream trucks.
Interesting nugget of information isn’t it? There is so much history behind this understated musical boat ride!
I like the theme of peace and friendship and look forward to imparting these values to Asher when he grow up. For now, the ride was a good way to introduce him to this catchy little song which he danced and frolicked to through the ride.
This ended our noon session on our second day in Hong Kong Disneyland. Up next- the very popular “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” ride and dinner at Walt’s Cafe to round up. Stay tuned to my next update. 🙂
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