Pa Tau Kwu

We'd played with the idea of visiting Disneyland in Florida some years ago but decided against it for cost reasons. However, as we were already nearby, we decided to spend the day at the Hong Kong version to see what it was like. We arrived early for the 10 a.m. opening, and as we walked up the drive to the entrance, we both felt the excitement building.

After getting through, we started with a train ride around the park to figure out the layout. We then decided to go clockwise and began with the Space Mountain ride. James had assured me this first ride was gentle and not too intense; however, we quickly realized how wrong he was. It was a very fast, very twisty indoor dark thrill ride, which I was not prepared for. I finished feeling a bit shaky in my legs and needed to sit quietly for a few minutes. James loved it. I then felt a bit traumatized by that first ride and was cautious about the rest of the rides.

We did a few more mellow rides, including an Ant-Man and The Wasp ride in the Marvel area and then a boat trip in a lagoon that included a waterfall that was on fire. We then went to the mining village, where we got on another thrilling ride, which was incredible, long, and really loopy and mad. It ended up being our favorite ride, and we had a second go on it before finishing our time in Disneyland.

We did some more rides and saw a Lion King show, which was a bit cheesy but fun, before heading to Toy Story Land, which was one of James's favorites. We went on the Toy Soldiers ride, which was a drop-type ride that I hated and screamed the whole way through (see video), and the toy car ride, which I point-blank refused to go on, as I hate swinging rides after a bad experience on one in the past. James enjoyed it thoroughly.

The new Frozen Land was gorgeous, and we arrived just at sunset, which made everything seem even prettier. The rollercoaster ride was a bit disappointing, though, as it was extremely short, and we'd waited in line longer than the ride lasted. We then did the classic It's A Small World boat ride, which was actually really pleasant, and then we went back to the mining ride for a second turn. It was then dark, and the park was looking twinkly and beautiful as we got some tasty dinner and decided to wander around before the evening firework display. There was a beautiful maze with little miniature princess scenes, which was lovely, and then we rode the teacups before taking up our spot for the display and fireworks. They went on for ages and were very pretty. It was a lovely ending to a really fun day.Read more