Countdown to HK

So in less than one week, we are leaving on our long awaited trip to Hong Kong where we will be living it up at Disneyland among other things. I think I am probably more excited than the kids. I can't wait to be able to share the Disney experience with them. They have already come to know and love the Disney characters by watching some classic Disney shorts on DVD and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney channel. So, it should be fun.

I thought this experience, taking the kids to a Disney theme park, wouldn't happen until the kids were 8 or 10 or something. Justin has always been intent on not wanting to take his own children until they were old enough to keep up with his frenzied pace of riding rides without crying and whining because they were hot and tired. It's the happiest place on earth, right? Anyways, anyone who has been to Disney with the Bethancourt family knows that going to these theme parks means serious business. And I would just like to take this opportunity to recount for you one of my favorite experiences that testifies to this fact.

The year is 2000. Phillip has just graduated from high school, so in celebration, the family heads to Orlando for a vacation. In preparation for our trip, John buys a book on Disneyworld. I can't remember the exact name of the book, something like "Everything You Need to Know About Going to Disneyworld" or "The Dummies Guide to Disney". Anyway in the guide, there were some suggested itineraries for each park to help you ride the most amount of rides with the least amount of wait time. Our day came that we had dedicated to going to Epcot first. Being the good park-goers that we were, we made sure to arrive at the park before it opened so as to hit as many of the good rides as possible before the crowds showed up. On this day it seemed we were at the park a little earlier than normal. So with time to spare, John pulled out his itinerary on Epcot (that he had torn out of the book and packed neatly away in his fanny pack) for us to review. The first item on the list said...

1. Walk, do not run, to the Test Track

At the time, this was one of the newest rides in Epcot and so it had the potential for a long wait if you didn't get there early. So we all agreed that we would follow the books advice and head there first.

Time came for the park to open and we all started walking toward Test Track. That is until we spotted another family making a beeline in the same direction. Before they opened the park, we had seen this family looking at some plans, I mean papers. And when they started in our same direction, this cemented the fact that they must indeed be following the same guide. So our paced quickened. But remember, the guide said "walk, DO NOT RUN", so at this point we had sped up to an aerobic walk. But the pressure was just too much for John. And before we knew it, he was jogging/running. He beat us all to the ride that day. The oldest one in the bunch, our example. Disneyworld brings out the kids in all of us, doesn't it?

We really had a great time on that trip. Lots of great memories. This trip is sure to be much different. But I am excited to see Disney through our children's eyes.

So you may be wondering how I convinced Justin to take our kids here. Well, Hong Kong Disneyland is only around 2 years old. So they don't have near the amount of rides and attractions was Disneyworld or Disneyland in California. In fact, our kids will be able to ride everything except for Space Mountain and even Alex is right near the height minimum for that. It will be a good way to break the kids in and hopefully convince Justin that the triplets, at least, can handle it. If this goes well, who knows. Maybe next will be Disneyland in Tokoyo or California OR maybe even Disneyworld in a couple of years.