Tuesday, June 29, 2010

House of Mouse

Hello, dear readers!

Let me begin this entry by apologizing for my absence. You've always been in my mind and the photos in my hard drive, but I unfortunately ran out of time to post. I do hope to make it up to you with these new entries that will bring you back to your childhood.

When you were a kid, did you ever want to stay at a Disneyland hotel but never got to?

Well, my family decided vacay to the wonderful world of Disney but in Hong Kong, and was it an adventure!

First off, my yaya (nanny) didn't have the proper docs to get a passport so this was our first trip without one.
Secondly, there was an amazing deal on Cebu Pacific so we left through Clark.

Disclaimer: I will never again fall for an "Any Juan Can Fly Promo" of Cebu Pacific for it is all a sham, sham, sham! Hidden charges and inflexibility will make you want to wring their necks later on, aside from the fact that they play annoying games while you try to sleep on the plane. My only condolence was that Enzo got sick on the plane ride back to Manila so we left a goody bag for the flight attendants to find.

But it was a very good trip and bonding experience; a special one for Enzo's memory banks.

Since Enzo didn't know what he was in for, I think hubby and I were more excited than he was.

When we finally arrived at the hotel at noon (from a flight time of 7AM, don't ask), we ate at the Chinese restaurant, the Crystal Lotus. I was too tired to take photos of the food but here are the interiors:






They also provide special plate ware for the kiddos:



But Enzo had Burger King at the airport so he just pretended to eat. Pooped from the day's travels, we just had room service for dinner.


Early next morning, we headed to the Enchanted Gardens for buffet breakfast, and they say there is a queue so its good we went early. This is what HK$250/ adult, $150/ child gets you:

Mickey-shaped pancakes!


Mickey waffles!
Breakfast of champions (Caloy)

Breakfast of skinny Minnies (me)














But this is not why its so popular. Guess who we got to meet? Enzo took our photos:






Everyone got so excited to meet and eat with the characters that they, well, forgot to eat. Disney employees had to tell guests to sit down.

The next day, away from the mania, we chose to eat breakfast in the more dignified saloon.












By this time, we were quite tired of everything Disney, plus we had exhausted eating at all three restaurants and room service. I wanted to show Enzo the "real" Hong Kong (read: eat somewhere else and do a little shopping not Disney-related) so we took the train to Kowloon.

After checking out Muji at Ocean Terminal, we ate Japanese food. They had these awesome lunch deals! By this time, I had to adjust my order to what Enzo liked to eat, and what he wanted was beef. So I ordered the Surf n Turf for HK$188- what a steal compared to Disney Hotel prices where they charge you $100 for a hot dog!






When we got back to Manila, for lunch we had some good old KFC in the car. Nothing like some junk food after 3 days of hotel food!