Monday, October 22, 2007

Disneyland Hong Kong

We slept over for a night at the Disney Hollywood Hotel, which resembles a convention center in the morning, with all the tour groups and noisy Mainlanders milling about the smallish lobby. We enjoyed our stay- we were upgraded to a parkview room, little boy played in the chilly waters of the swimming pool and could not get enough of the slide, and the burgers at the Sunset Terrace were huge and reasonably priced.

The Disney hotel, which is Victorian in design, is much more elegant, although pricier as well. There's a cool maze at the back, and for breakfast we ate at the much-hyped Enchanted Garden, where Pluto, Goofy, Minnie and Mickey wend their way around the tables and pose with mostly kids and some adults (including us!)who acted as if they didn't know it was just scrawny locals stuffed inside cute costumes who they were going ga-ga for.

Little boy was major-ly SCARED of the mascots. Good thing mom-in-law and I liked the food or else hubby would have called it a day. It's the usual hotel buffet breakfast, complete with Japanese and Chinese goodies like miso soup, cod teriyaki, congee, wonton, turnip cake and pile upon pile of fattening Western stuff like an omelette station, eggs all ways, sausages, Virginia ham, bacon and beans. Healthy stuff were in a small table in the middle, and only a small percentage tried the muesli, cereal and oats. I mean hey, if it's a toss up between bacon and muesli, I'm sure most of us would hug the hog.

What I enjoyed the most, and ended up getting platefuls of, were the Babylon cheese (cut to resemble a garlic clove), air-dried meats like salami, rockmelon and its sweet and juicy cousin the honeydew, the grapefruit juice, and the Mickey Mouse waffle! Yes, the waffle is a sure winner- crisp edges, airy and soft centers, each bite went perfectly with the maple syrup and strawberry jam I smeared. Forget the mini pancakes, they were as hard as frisbees and as tasteless as cardboard. But get the waffle. Lots and lots of waffle.






There was a lady there whose job was to snip off the uneven edges of each Mickey waffle that came out of the waffle maker. Hmmm, tough job that one, having all that sweet crunchiness in front of you, but having to resist popping them in your mouth. Hubby loved the roasted Nuremberg sausage all coiled up like a reposing snake, unaware that a sharp knife was about to cut a piece off of it to serve to my hungry hubby.




Food aside, if you ever go to Disney, look at the trees and mountains and spend time in the gardens of the hotel, views you will never find in the city center. Watch the 2 Broadway style shows: The Golden Mickeys and The Lion King. The performers, especially the Pinoys, are AWESOME! Never mind the rides. The shows alone are worth the entrance ticket price.