Nrthwnd

Now that I have ridden it... HKDL's Grizzly Gulch Runaway Mine Cars It's fun, has some good speed in parts, the hills and launch are great, there's a quick airtime pop in there... And assuming my body can't take it in later years, it'll be perfect! This part of it is great. Bunny hops, then air time into a speedy (sort of) figure eight.

Are we there yet? (Looks great. Awesome probable view.)

So now that The Festival of The Lion King is out of the way, here is the rest of the same day Jon and I returned to Hong Kong Disney. The day everybody else left for their respective home cities. (Sat/Sept/29) Jon had a flight returning home, later the afternoon, so the morning part of exploring the park, was mainly up to him.Then we headed back to the hotel, he got ready to leave, I hung around the hotel for a rest up, then went back into the park for whatever happened in the evening, etc. We did repeat rides on Mine Cars of course, along with Space Mountain, Winnie The Pooh...and the Parachute Drop in Toy Story Land, which gave us a great "backstage view" of theshow building and other buildings (gift shop; restaurant) making up the attraction Mystic Manor. It's huge,and I can't wait to come back (2016?) and see what's inside! So after we returned to the hotel, and Jon left, and I returned back to the park, I just did what I wanted to do, without rushing around. I rode Autopia at night which was pretty cool, with the roadways, signs, landscaping lit up. Halloween decorations were all enhanced with nice eery, spooky lighting on them, so that was great to see as well as how the park itself was lit. Then, I had me a "minor accident" after riding one of the many, many times I rode Mine Cars at Grizzly Gulch. In my overzealous....uh....giddiness to ride the coaster again and again and again, i tripped on an edged garden area beside the attraction's entrance buildings, down I went, and skidded on one knee, taking off some skin, and looking like a bit of a bloody mess!!! Fortunately, somehow, it did look a lot worse than it turned out to be, so after hobbling over to the food place in the Gulch, I grabbed a handful of napkins, blotted what I could, and then...that was it for my evening at the park, lol! Sad but true. And I went back to the hotel, and used a few of the Fabulous TPR Band-aids that come with every TPR tour goody bag! And after that was done, I was done too, so to bed, and a half more day back the park - and leaving Hong Kong for home, as well. Jon and I on Main Street, HKDL. This was a nice-looking castle, I thought. And with hills in the background was... different! After seeing the first showing of The Lion King, we headed (of course) to the Gulch. In the Mine Cars queue, I noticed a nice group shot of an early TPR Tour. Hi guys! So after the Mine Cars a few times (I never seemed to take any pix of it; but then, everybody else has, lol.) We headed to Toy Story Land, passing by The Manor. This part will be the gift shop and restaurant of Mystic Manor.....Land? (o; Looking out to the rest of TSL, from the Parchute Drop ride. A kind of blocked view of the MM building, from where we sat on the Parachute Drop But then, to the right of it - all of that show building in the back there, lol! So here's a train of mine cars being shot out of a mine! Cool, huh? And eventually, the train ends up over here. A very cool mine train ride it was! On our way out of the park, we came across this. Very cool to see done in the park. I've seen it done in TokyoDL and DLParis as well. Fun. And all too brief too. A definite (to me) shout out to the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki, Tiki Room! In front of the Tahitian Terrace Restaurant. Hmmm. This whole area is a shout out to the original, in Disneyland, heh heh. Yes! I will! But first, a hotel break.

^ "Queen"?

Nothing would bring people together like a TAGADA! It could be opposite our hot tub in the backyard. The perfect party flat! I would have as a coaster, a mad mouse-type thing that I could wind all around the house and mostly in the back yard - around the Tagada! "Put your hands up!" Best shot I got of the Tagada on last year's TPR China Tour, but you know what they look like - and do.

Wow. This is looking like a lot of construction around a lot of the park there, Peter. Can't wait for.....2014? Thanks for sharing the pix, Peter. (EDIT to add: ... )

I am not sure where and when this has/will finished, yet. But - I wanted to again thank BRANDY for doing all of the organizing work for this Secret Santa exchange. Big BEARhugs to you Brandy!

Will miss his constant input to Disney. My fave photo ever of him, was always the one with him leaning over the table model of the first Big Thunder. Pointing out something to somebody about the attraction. Am very glad he was part of my Disney life, lol.

Hopefully maybe... Next year (2014) is the 50th anniversary of an old original Canadian musical comedy - "Anne of Green Gables". This is during the annual Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island) Festival...and I was in the 10th Anniversary production of "Anne", way back in....1974! Had the fourth lead, Anne's 'suitor' Gilbert Blythe. And this Festival is what got me my Actor's EQUITY card, too! Fun times.... Anyway, am considering heading to the other side of Canada, to take part in whatever they have planned, next summer. That would be cool, running into people you haven't seen or worked on stage with, for .....40 years??? I am hoping, also, my health is good too. Which makes it a sort-of Bucket List thing to want to do, heh heh. (EDIT to Add the pic of the Festival poster below. Have it framed in the house, upstairs.) Musical theatre in rep - it was an awesome learning experience. And we visited Toronto too, doing a show at the O'Keefe Centre.

The sheep falling, did it.

....and The Official (?) TPR Artsy Fartsy Gallery makes it's debut!

You haven't LIVED until you've tried one! (Or three, or seven or twelve or 18 or...)

^ Awww. I wish I'd found those At Ocean Park. Definitely would have bought a few of them. And send (at least) one to Elissa for her birthday! What I got, is there in the middle of all his other "theme park buddies". Red Pandas RULE!

"lots of green stuff" Including the water there, LOL. Also, this was one of the places you noticed all of the apartment/condo buildings standing there, totally uninhabited. And been standing there for what, a few years? (What I remember hearing.) Wierd. Just strange. But bribery is A Good Thing!

A Tagada brings people together. Nice action shot, Hanno. Karl (blue) looks like he's about to lose it, LOL. Or, crying that he wants off. And Dan (green) just giggles and giggles.

^ Rent the movie that the musical is based on. It's really good, IMhO.

Of all the places to find one.... You are epic. I am in awe.

We just got our tix to see "Billy Elliot" when this current tour reaches us, beginning of April. Got excellent seats, too. Looking forward to it.

My - first - corkscrew. Actually, one of the first of it's kind, in the world, right? We rode it in Sept.1975, after first visiting Disneyland and before that, the newly-opened Magic Mountain! We saw the land they were clearing at the time, for the First 360' Loop coaster, The Revolution! The corkscrew ride was great, not really knowing what to expect, right? But afterwards, I remember being amazed they had finally figured out inversions on a coaster, heh heh. Just do it in steel, hmm?

This is such a trippy find. Just picked up a ticket to see this lauded production at local professional theatre... RIDE THE CYCLONE Got to http://www.artsclub.com/index.html to get the real back-story on this unusual musical, but this is their second time here, and it's rumored that the production may be heading to New York too! Let's just say, it's about a teenage choir...and a roller coaster accident. (Edit to add: Am so hoping there's some kind of cast recording of it. If not, will wait for NY.) Here's the poster for it. Also the artwork to look for if you go to the (Arts Club) theatre company's site.

"Cross The Line" from recently closed broadway show BRING IT ON, The Musical Hope it gets nominated for TONYs.

^ Yeah, seeing the shows definitely makes your day(s) there more filled, lol. But I lucked out in seeing both the main shows there (Mickeys and Lion King) in their first showing of the day, the two full days I had there. So extending my stay there was good for the seeing the shows without rushing it.

The second day at Hong Kong Disneyland. And a look at a show. Most of the tour group left for their respective homes this day, but I had wanted to spend more time at the park, so I opted to get an extra night at the hotel, and get myself a two- day pass to the park online. It worked out to $33 a day visiting HKDL! Even as small as the park was, with the limited number of attractions there, I was still impressed, lol! So, I met up with JonLocke for breakfast and we headed over to the park together. His flight wasn't leaving until later in the afternoon, so he got himself a one-day pass, checked out, parked the bags at the front of the hotel, and we went over. As part of our visit there, we took in The Festival of The Lion King in Adventureland. I had never seen any production of this before (this is the one like in AK at WDW, yes?) and since the crowds were light during our tour there, this was a good time to see it. The production is a sort-of "look back" at the Lion King's past, when then involves stuff from the movie. A kind of "This Is Your Life" deal, heh heh. Lots of colour, music, dancing and acrobatics, and great moving floats with animated animals on them. I really enjoyed it. So here's the set of photos I took there inside the Theater In The Wild. And please pardon all the blurriness and out-of-focus on some of the pix. I am still learning with my new digital camera. This is what the seating and stage area looks like when you first enter the theater. "Circle of Life" as the number used to open the show. This looks kind of creepy if I do say so, lol. And then The Floats start rumbling in. All very impressive considering the small size of each float. The Giraffe Float! They circle each other a bit, then back into their corners for the rest of the show to continue. Scar and his hyena minions. That Couple and the kids doing "I Just Can't Wait To Be King". The guy finally finds his love, Nala. And then a white 'bird' starts flying all over the place, for True Love. Awww. You can never do too wrong with FIRE. A firey confrontation. I think this is where Scar got "defeated". Not killed. Can't have that happen. Has to come back for FINALE! So grown up Lion King liked all the "looking back" production. Roared his approval. And the monkey person brings it all back home, with "Cicrle of Life." And the centre stage starts to rise and turn. Ooooo. Forming a circle seems to be the way to end it all. Music getting louder, voices harmonizing more and more. The stage still turning. And - ta dah - Lion King Birthday Cake ending! Then the floats start to move to the stage centre. Do a bit of a U-turn and back up to centre. And - The End! It was a very well done production, and I might see it again, when I get back to HKDL.

"Dreamgirls" DREAMGIRLS In Concert (2001)

Great photos there, especially of the nighttime fireworks, media show on the castle! Very impressive. And I totally missed those manhole covers with the various other parks' opening dates! (Reminding myself to find those, when we next visit and stay there onsite.) I would love to do the Paris and Asian parks with snow on them. Only once, each. And accept whatever attractions are not open etc. It's part of the chances you take, when you go to a park, this way. And there are usually indoor shows to enjoy, too. They always look so nice and beautiful covered in the white stuff.