Recently, I discovered at K Box a Karen Mok version of 'When You Wish Upon a Star'. It is a pleasant enough version but, you know, Karen Mok ain't no cricket, and I would associate wishing upon a star with Jiminy Cricket and Tinkerbell, not Karen. That is something like what I feel about Hong Kong Disneyland. It's alright as a theme park but as a Disney theme park, sorry to be so harsh, it cannot make it, lah.
Tokyo Disneyland is my only point of reference. The Japanese are really into cute things and theme parks, so the park has a great atmosphere. There's also something about excitable Japanese children and their parents that brings the place to life.
Most memorable was this superbly uncommunicative Main
Street double-decker bus driver. Now, this bus goes at snail's pace because you can't have a bus speeding in the park and knocking visitors down, right? So, as it was driving along, we asked him where we could get on. He waved his hand in the general direction of the entrance. We only realised where the bus stop was when he stopped the bus there.
This was roughly the 'conversation' that took place at the bus stop:
Visitor 1: Can we go up?
Bus Driver: (no answer - he was putting up a sign at the bus stop)
Visitor 2: Can we bring the stroller up the bus?
Bus Driver: (no answer)
Some other crew member (also waiting for the bus, trying to be helpful): You have to flod it.
Visitor 2: Flod?
(Visitor 2 figures out what 'flod' means but of course doesn't know how to flod the stroller because it's not his, because it's borrowed from the park, and neither Bus Driver nor the 2 crew members there offer to help. Aiyoh, so infuriating, right?)
Wordlessly, Bus Driver ushers people to sit on the upper deck.
Visitor 3: Can we sit below?
Bus Driver: (no answer)
Equally wordlessly, Bus Driver flods the stroller while the remaining visitors fill up the lower deck on their own accord.
And then, HK Disneyland is so small. M, who lives in HK, tells me that it is being set up in stages, and it will be expanded sometime down the road. That makes sense because I couldn't find 'It's a Small World' , and what's Disneyland without 'It's a Small World'? (though I found the ride too long; after a few bends, I started wondering how many more languages we had to endure the song in) I also couldn't find the Peter Pan ride that I had enjoyed in Tokyo.
Well, as we were leaving, Disney reminded me that it is a small world after all. First, we bumped into old friends of my husband (2 families travelling together), and one of the guys happens to be married to my primary school classmate. Then, we also bumped into happy newly-weds J and LY. Now, what are they chances of bumping into honeymooners whose wedding you missed? Must be the magic of Disney.
Tokyo Disneyland is my only point of reference. The Japanese are really into cute things and theme parks, so the park has a great atmosphere. There's also something about excitable Japanese children and their parents that brings the place to life.As for HK Disneyland, there is some atmosphere but the place is just so Chinese and Chinese
aren't exactly well known as lovers of cute things and theme parks. It's weird watching adults scream that they want to take a picture with Snow White as they run towards Cinderella. And with us Singaporeans forming a large percentage of the crowd in June (exam time in HK and PRC), you can imagine the rather muted response where audience participation is required. The life of the party, I would say, were the Filipino visitors.
A sight not to be missed!! Sleeping Beauty and her twin sister, out of costume, doing what they do best.
aren't exactly well known as lovers of cute things and theme parks. It's weird watching adults scream that they want to take a picture with Snow White as they run towards Cinderella. And with us Singaporeans forming a large percentage of the crowd in June (exam time in HK and PRC), you can imagine the rather muted response where audience participation is required. The life of the party, I would say, were the Filipino visitors.A sight not to be missed!! Sleeping Beauty and her twin sister, out of costume, doing what they do best.
Apart from those dressed in costume as Disney characters, whom I thought played their roles convincingly, the crew was surprisingly and definitely less-than-Disney. Before you enter the park, there are these guys who do bag checks and some of them actually sound slightly rude while explaining the bag checks or ordering (yes, ordering) people to unzip the zips in/on their bags. Maybe they should invest in x-ray machines, which would also help ease the bottlenecks created by these checks. As for the crew members manning the rides, they could do with a lot more enthusiasm. I remember that in Tokyo, even the crew sweeping up litter would do their job with a smile, a hop and a skip, you know, very zip-a-dee-doo-dah-ish.
Most memorable was this superbly uncommunicative Main
Street double-decker bus driver. Now, this bus goes at snail's pace because you can't have a bus speeding in the park and knocking visitors down, right? So, as it was driving along, we asked him where we could get on. He waved his hand in the general direction of the entrance. We only realised where the bus stop was when he stopped the bus there.This was roughly the 'conversation' that took place at the bus stop:
Visitor 1: Can we go up?
Bus Driver: (no answer - he was putting up a sign at the bus stop)
Visitor 2: Can we bring the stroller up the bus?
Bus Driver: (no answer)
Some other crew member (also waiting for the bus, trying to be helpful): You have to flod it.
Visitor 2: Flod?
(Visitor 2 figures out what 'flod' means but of course doesn't know how to flod the stroller because it's not his, because it's borrowed from the park, and neither Bus Driver nor the 2 crew members there offer to help. Aiyoh, so infuriating, right?)
Wordlessly, Bus Driver ushers people to sit on the upper deck.
Visitor 3: Can we sit below?
Bus Driver: (no answer)
Equally wordlessly, Bus Driver flods the stroller while the remaining visitors fill up the lower deck on their own accord.
And then, HK Disneyland is so small. M, who lives in HK, tells me that it is being set up in stages, and it will be expanded sometime down the road. That makes sense because I couldn't find 'It's a Small World' , and what's Disneyland without 'It's a Small World'? (though I found the ride too long; after a few bends, I started wondering how many more languages we had to endure the song in) I also couldn't find the Peter Pan ride that I had enjoyed in Tokyo.
Well, as we were leaving, Disney reminded me that it is a small world after all. First, we bumped into old friends of my husband (2 families travelling together), and one of the guys happens to be married to my primary school classmate. Then, we also bumped into happy newly-weds J and LY. Now, what are they chances of bumping into honeymooners whose wedding you missed? Must be the magic of Disney.
Comments
"When you wish upon a star, Makes no difference who you are, Anything your heart desires, will come true...," lyrics by Ned Washington and composed by Leigh Harline for Walt Disney's Pinocchio won the Best Original Song Oscar in 1940. Translated into many languages, its one of the all time hits. Is there a Chinese version for this song? Could you provide a link to either the song file or the lyrics? I managed to get some links for Arabic, Danish, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish. Any other languages welcome.
I don't know of a Chinese version. There might be but I'm afraid I don't know it. The one by Karen Mok is in English.
Sorry!