It’s a small world after all…

I’m not sure why it has taken me so long to write this magical post…I think it has a lot to do with my current “bah humbug” Christmas attitude, getting sick, and afraid of how sad I will be reminiscing/reliving this trip. Alas, here I finally go…the second half of our trip to Hong Kong!

I last left you with the anticipation of Disney with a picture of the metro we were hopping onto.  Let me tell you, the monorail has nothing on the Hong Kong Disneyland metro.  It is MAGICAL. After living in both Florida and California and having access to Disney theme parks whenever I want, I didn’t realize just how much I missed them until stepping onto this train.  Oh my goodness.  Tributes to the mouse that started it all everywhere–windows shaped like Mickey, the hand holds shaped like Mickey, character statues, pictures of Walt, etc. I mean, this is the way to start your getting you into the Disney spirit.
  Once we were off the metro, it was a bit of a walk to the hotel.  We technically could’ve taken a bus over, but where’s the fun/magic in that?! We wanted to walk the grounds since it was our first time here.  After our hiking early in the morning, walking around Hong Kong, and our time climbing the stares at the giant Buddha, our feet were feeling it, but this was worth it.
As we walked through the empty walkway between the park and hotel, Christmas music flooded the air, Christmas lines were strung on all of the trees, and we even walked through a little fountain park.  I mean seriously, this was just absolutely magical.  The fact that it was empty alone would’ve been magical enough for me, everything else was just icing on the cake!  When we walked up to the hotel, we smiled at the familiar facade.  It looks so similar to the Grand Floridian at Disney World.  Ah, this was going to be a perfect day and a half. Once Bryant got us all checked in (fortunately with no hiccups considering one family kept trying to randomly cut us off), we enjoyed checking out the beautiful room.  It was massive and wonderful.  I mean, it had a DOOR on the bathroom, haha. I think our room from the night before could’ve fit two in this room.
We decided to clean up after the crazy day, and then explore the hotel.  It was just perfection.  So new, yet so familiar. Of course we had to get a picture by the big Christmas Tree.  It was December 1st after all, so it was allowed.
 Instead of grabbing another late dinner, we grabbed a snack and drink at the lounge in front of the Crystal Lotus restaurant which is a restaurant that actually makes dim sum in the shape of Disney characters. We thought about grabbing a bite there, but decided time (and my picky eating) didn’t make it suitable for this trip…but maybe next time (and yes, I plan on next time already).We got a good night’s sleep considering we were in bed by 10pm. The early bedtime made for an early morning.  I was just too excited to sleep, so I was up with the sun at 6am, showered, got ready, and prepared for the day before waking up a reluctant husband.  Since the park wouldn’t be open until 10am, we grabbed a nice sit-down breakfast at the hotel at Walt’s Cafe.  For those of you who know me, I don’t tend to eat a large breakfast or enjoy buffets.  Walt’s Cafe may have changed my mind completely on this. Oh my goodness. My new weird favorite phrase is “all the noms” when I think something is delicious (yes, I realize it’s a weird phrase) and let me tell you, this was ALL THE NOMS. You order a plate from the chef (of course I got a Mickey waffle) and then can enjoy a the “continental breakfast.” I wish everyone thought this was what continental breakfast meant.  The incredible platters of fruit caught my eye first as berries in Shanghai tend to be ridiculously expensive and then the amazing large piece of honeycomb dripping honey into a bowl to enjoy was also a big hit with me.  I mean seriously, this is by far the best food I’ve had since being in China. I could go on and on about this, but there’s a lot of Disney to still cover… After breakfast, we still had plenty of time before we needed to head to the park.  We explored the hotel more, this time enjoying the beauty in daylight.  I mentioned before that Hong Kong Disneyland  is on Lantau Island.  Oh my goodness.  The views from the hotel were INCREDIBLE.
   They even had a mini maze you could meander through…although Bryant could see over the top, I’m still short enough like a child that I couldn’t…
 The views over the water and seeing across the other side of the island…seriously?! Can I just live here?! 

 After a fun exploration and taking in all of those gorgeous views, it was time to head to the park!!!!!!!! Even our walk to the park was gorgeous, in true Disney fashion. 

 When we saw the front of the park, it was that excitement of Disney for the first time all over again.  Which, it was Hong Kong Disneyland for the first time…and yet, that same feeling of familiarity hit just right.
  
  
   HK Disneyland has a few of the same “lands” as the US parks, but it also has a few unique ones.  It was divided into Main Street USA, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Grizzly Gulch, Toy Story Land, and Mystic Point.
Walking down Main Street USA was beyond magical as you look to the end to see the castle with a mountain back drop! Just stunning! First things first, we got our adorable castle picture…and then it was time for rides! We went to Tomorrowland first, with the idea of starting at Autopia since it was recommended to check it off the list first, because the line tends to back up.  When we learned the ride was not open yet, we decided to just take it off the list and get the rest of our day on. Unlike the lines we often find starting up at Space Mountain, HK’s was absolutely empty! We’ve quickly learned that Asian culture doesn’t like thrill rides; they preference the calmer, more detail-oriented rides. There was even a warning for being the last chance to exit the ride. Their space mountain was set up more like Disneyland’s in California, and was a perfect ride to start the day! Since there was no line at Buzz Lightyear, we decided to knock that one out next.  It was the same ride as both Disneyland and Disney World, nostalgia made that nice. Of course, Bryant beat me per usual.

 Next, in our true Disney fashion, we crossed the park completely.  We had hopes of riding Jungle Cruise next, but, like Autopia, it wasn’t open yet. So, off to the next thrill ride we went!  This time, Big Grizzly Mountain! Everyone had hyped up the  Mystic Manor already for us, but we hadn’t heard much about this ride.  In case anyone reading this ends up visiting the park, I won’t give too much away…I will say it is the smoothest coaster I’ve ever been on, and it may very well be my most favorite ride in that park! It even makes my top 5 Disney rides list!!
  
 Next up, a favorite among all of our Disney friends: Mystic Manor.  In basic terms, it’s their Haunted Mansion.  A lot of people built this ride up for us, and I will admit, it did not disappoint.  The ride was adorable and so well designed.  We loved every bit of it.  We may have even ridden it 3 times, just like Grizzly Mountain. 


  Making our way around the park, we went to Toy Story Land, where we rode a lot of the “kiddie” rides, which also surprisingly did not disappoint.  They were adorable, well themed, and actually a lot of fun.  There was an RC car ride that even made my stomach drop in the best way and even the parachute ride was adorable, too.  We laughed at the warning about being sober to ride the ride.  It’s even funnier because this was another dry Disney park. 
   Making our way back over to Adventureland, we hopped on their Jungle Cruise.  Again, I don’t want to give spoilers, but they have quite the finale on this one. Another nice feature is selecting the language for the ride.  Their are 3 lines: Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. English was surprisingly the longest line, and I was shocked that it was our longest line of the day.  You want to hear something amazing? We waited under 20 minutes…and that was the longest line of the day! What a perfect park day…
  
Taking a break from the rides, we enjoyed watching Festival of the Lion King.  The one in Florida is more of a crazy celebration of Lion King, while this one worked more on telling the story of the Lion King.  I may have to say I like this one better.  The storytelling, the fire twirling, the acrobats, the ascending stage, etc. It was just a beautiful show.
   We went over to Fantasyland for a few rides after grabbing some lunch and watched an old favorite, PhilarMagic.  After that, we meandered over to It’s a Small World.  Their small world had a mountain back drop…seriously, this park is gorgeous. We liked the little touch of the Statue of Liberty and a bigger role for the US section… 🙂

 Feeling that afternoon lull kicking in, we just walked around the park some more, going through the shops and enjoying Main Street.  I even got to take a picture holding the balloons, a silly Disney dream I’ve had for a while.  They even have it as a legit picture stop, and they do their best to hold the balloons and crouch behind you…although you can totally tell they are there, it was still a super fun picture! 
  
  
 Like Disney California Adventure has and Hollywood Studios used to have (I’m really hoping they bring it back), HK Disneyland has a drawing class.  Their classroom for it is adorable!  The class is only conducted in Cantonese, but it is easy to follow along. Since it’s a character we haven’t drawn yet, and with all the hype around the new Star Wars movie, we decided to get in line to draw R2-D2. It was so fun! 🙂 

We decided to take it easy until the projection show, and I snapped my favorite picture of the day! It was fun being at the park for its 10th anniversary!
  More silly wandering…
  
  Castle projected in gold with a large 10 for the anniversary celebration.  The projection show for this was so tiny…and we decided to forego the Frozen Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony for more ride times on Mystic and Grizzly!  We came back for the parade, although we had already seen the similar parade in Disneyland California.  This was the original one and we enjoyed hearing the song in Cantonese.
  Between parade time and fireworks, we rode the classic Astro orbiters and went on Space Mountain, again. 🙂
   We got ready for the fireworks by scoping out some space on Main Street (although it was no where near as crowded as we are used to in the states) and grabbing some delicious hot chocolate…

 The fireworks show was adorable.  It is not the large show like Disney World, but I will say I liked the flow of the music a lot more than the new 60th anniversary fireworks show at Disneyland California.
  
After the fireworks, they made it “snow” like the US parks. So silly, yet so magical.
  Since the park was closed so early (it was before 9pm), we decided to grab a bite to eat and drinks at the neighboring Hollywood Hotel…
  This curry may have been the best curry I’ve ever had.
   Awe, just like our California home.  Raise your hand if you do not miss traffic on the 101… ::raises hand::
    Feeling like we had gotten the most of our day, we went back to enjoy some sleep for our last night in Hong Kong…

The next morning, we basically did a repeat of the previous morning with a delicious breakfast at Walt’s Cafe and a walk along the water…what an amazing trip.

  
 Saying goodbye was so difficult. We sadly walked past the Thank you For Visiting sign and hopped on the beautiful Mickey Metro, enjoying all the views…

 When we got to the airport, we got through everything fairly quickly despite the longer lines.  As a bonus, I was even able to get my one and only peppermint mocha of the season (they don’t serve these in Shanghai, oh the sadness) and enjoy a stunning view of the water…

 What an amazing trip this was!  I’m so very ready to go back!

Look, there’s a great big hunk of world down there, with no fence around it

Our first trip outside of Shanghai! Can you believe it FINALLY happened?!

We got our passports back after much waiting, so it was time to make our way out of the limits of Shanghai.  After much deliberation with back and forth ideas for this first trip, we decided to play it “safe” with a trip to Hong Kong! We’ve had many of our Shanghai friends say a visit there would give a sense of “home” and familiarity.  With having the holiday blues and missing our families, we decided something familiar sounded like the perfect idea to get us out of our homesickness…

We wanted to plan our trip with as much detail as possible since it would only be a long weekend visit.  We would spend a day and a half around Hong Kong and a day and a half in Hong Kong Disneyland.  We researched flights, and were fortunate our friends recommended an airline for great bargains and little hassle. For hotels, our original thought was to spend 2 nights in downtown HK and one night at HK Disneyland, but Bryant surprised me with a 2-night booking at the HK Disneyland Hotel (well, he also accidentally booked two nights in downtown, it happens). All of our arrangements were set, we just had to wait two (slightly torturous) weeks to depart…but it finally came!

When planning our trip, we knew we had to keep the packing light because our bags would be with us quite often on our adventure-packed time. If we hadn’t booked such fancy hotels to stay in, we could’ve been mistaken for backpackers or poor college students the way we looked!  Alas, it ended up being an incredibly smart idea, but check out how silly we looked on our way to the Shanghai airport… We arrived at the airport fairly early, since my last time there was less than ideal and packed with crazy lines.  Fortunately, we didn’t run into any problems checking into our flight or getting through security.  We had plenty of extra time, so we grabbed lunch and sat and waited for a while.  Since time was seeming to take forever, we walked around all the little shops and decided to get some skittles.  Bryant should not be trusted with skittles.  Have you seen the How I Met Your Mother episode where Marshall drops a bag of skittles at an art show? This was exactly like that.  One skittle drop, two skittle drop, all skittles drop.  It was as if it was happening in slow motion, and there was no way to move quickly enough to stop it.  With skittles all over the ground, Bryant frantically began picking them up (like the good kid he is), and I went to get him a new bag…haha. The hilarity of the situation did help our airport time pass, though.  Over the loud speaker, we heard the announcement for our flight boarding…but we wouldn’t be boarding the plane from our gate.  Nope, we had to take a bus first. We packed in like sardines into a bus that shuttled us over to the plane.  I never enjoy these claustrophobic moments, but being in China, they are definitely no a rare occasion.

Once we were able to push through the crowd and board the plane, the trip was on! To my surprise, the plane was relatively clean and legroom was more spacious than I was expecting.  It was a no frills kind of flight, there were no TV screens or anything really.  You couldn’t even recline your seat, which I actually enjoyed since it meant the person in front of me also could not recline.  The biggest kicker: no mobile phone usage allowed, even in airplane mode! Oh the horror…I thought it would be the longest flight ever since I would have nothing to do, but the people watching in itself was rather entertaining…

The airline we used, like I mentioned, was a super cheap flight. One way they are able to keep the flight cheap is by advertising and selling different products during the flight.  As they spoke super quickly in Mandarin, I’m not exactly sure how they were describing the items, but I was imagining it as an infomercial-style dialog. I couldn’t imagine anyone buying the items, but to both my and Bryant’s surprise, the facial scrubbing product was flying off the cart! The flight attendants must have made more than a dozen sales.  I couldn’t believe it.  In the states, I doubt anyone would’ve really purchased it. One of those cultural differences I guess?
After going through all of the infomercial sales, the plane began its descent!  Before preparing the cabin for landing, the flight attendants lead the passengers in some funny little stretching exercises.  It makes a lot of sense, but it was just too hilarious at the same time.  That was all in the back of my head, as I could barely contain my excitement for landing!  We had to go through the process of pushing ourselves into the aisle as it is a free-for-all style line up instead of the organized front of the plan exit first.  Seriously, I’m going to come back to the United States and just push my way through lines and look like a crazy person at this rate!

We went through the usual long lines at customs, but excitedly made it through rather efficiently and quickly.  It was onto purchasing a metro card and then our first item on the checklist: “A Symphony of Lights” the Hong Kong skyline light show! We were so excited, and we could not believe the crowds of people! I kept thinking, “Wow, this must be amazing,” since there were just so many people lined up for it.  We set our eyes on skyscraper after skyscraper across the water all lit up.  What a site!  It was beautiful.  The light show was about to begin, and we were getting pushed and shoved every which way.  When the show started, though, we were a little dumbfounded.  I guess Disney has ruined us for nighttime spectaculars, but it was quite underwhelming to see the “light show” before us.  Not feeling impressed and wanting to get ahead of the crowd, we left before it was over…and I don’t think we missed much. Again, at least the skyline itself was beautiful.  
With our time being so limited, we moved onto the next part of the checklist: Temple Street Market. Rather than go by metro, we decided to explore more of the city by walking there.  I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but there were an overwhelming amount of people out and about.  I was actually shocked as it was a Sunday evening, but it was person after person, just like Shanghai. We made the most of it, though, and enjoyed taking in Christmas lights, neon lit stores, and many paintings on stairs and buildings.  We took in as much as we could during the walk.  When we got to Temple Street, it was no different.  Walking between the stores was tight and cramped.  There was vendor upon vendor and just soooooo much stuff for sale.  After a few stalls, it just seemed like the same cheap items over and over again.  Nothing stuck out as special, either.  All of the items I could just imagine getting in Shanghai, and for a better price.  Temple Street is in a bunch of movies, so that aspect of visiting was neat, but I couldn’t quite understand why everyone had made such a big deal about me liking Hong Kong at this point. Feeling a little defeated and super hungry (we hadn’t eaten in 8 hours at this point), we decided to go find our hotel.
Finding our hotel felt a little strange.  The roads that were packed where we once were faded into incredibly empty streets that gave a little creepy feel to it.  I wasn’t sure what to think, but when we came upon the hotel, I was happy to see it looked really nice. We checked in, and went to our room. It was incredibly high, on the 33rd floor! Entering into the hallway from the elevator was a little crazy.  It was mirror upon mirror that felt like some disorienting maze at first.  We found our room and laughed at how little it was.  We had already read reviews that said the rooms were small, but Hong Kong travelers mentioned that for Hong Kong, the rooms were actually large.  Thinking of this room as large was a little comical, but we would only be there for a night. The part that I had a hard time getting past was the glass door into the bathroom.  I’m barely sure why there was a door–you could see everything.  It’s safe to say we are thankful we weren’t traveling with friends and sharing a room…haha.Once we were settled, we had two more things on the agenda: first and foremost, FOOD, and second, Lan Kwai, the most famous bar street in Hong Kong with some 80+ restaurants and bars.  Going back to the metro, my hangry mood came out.  I got cut off and people were randomly stopping in front of me to look at phones and more.  I had a breakdown.  How on earth did anyone think I would like Hong Kong so much?! This was just as miserable as Shanghai at this point.  Being the smart and amazing husband he is, Bryant acted quickly to find me a bite to eat to hold me over.  Remembering seeing the Mrs. Fields cookie shop on the way in, he bought me some! I know they are super unhealthy, but it was a taste of home, which was comforting in and of itself.
Strangely rejuvenated from my cookies, Bryant and I continued on our way to Lan Kwai.  Again, I was underwhelmed. It was just a loud street of bars and crazy drunk people.  It felt like what Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney in Florida was like during the 90s. The smell of smoke and alcohol was ever prevalent, and I was bored.  Bryant decided to let me choose the restaurant, and I picked one away from the crazy, and of course, western cuisine! Boqueria was like finding a diamond in the rough.  It was peaceful, smelled great, and the wait staff was so kind.  Even better, the tapas menu was amazing.  We got a bruschetta dish, pimiento peppers, patatas bravas and croquetas filled with wagyu beef.  All of these were simple tapas menu items, but everything was just so amazing.  I’m not sure if it was from the hunger, the fact that western food isn’t done as well as this in Shanghai, or what…but it was delicious. Bryant even made a random friend out of one of the crazy waiters who kept trying to talk to him in Spanish and also had 6 fingers on one hand…to which Bryant found it difficult to stop staring at after the realization. With our bellies full, we decided to call it a night, so we could be ready for a full day of exploring…
After a quick night of sleep, it was time to get going on our planned whirlwind of a day! Since we knew it would be a busy and predominantly outdoorsy day, we started with the free breakfast at the hotel.  We needed to keep our energy up, and it was a relaxing way to start the morning.
From there, we hopped on the metro (again) and rode it all the way until the last stop.  There, we exited and found our bus stop.  Bryant did an amazing job planning out all the transportation we would need, so it was easy to find. We weren’t surprised with how full the bus was; this particular bus was used to take people to both beautiful hiking trails and beaches. I was, however, shocked with the terrifying ride.  It was a double-decker bus, and we got to ride up top and in front.  It was both an awesome and horrifying idea. The bus whipped around corners and up, up, up hills as quickly as it could.  It felt like we were being shaken back and forth a lot, but the views were spectacular, even just from the bus! I will say I was definitely excited to step off the bus once we arrived to our destination: The Hong Kong Trail.  With time not being on our side for getting everything we wanted to done in a day, we chose one of the shorter and very well rated hikes: Dragon’s Back.  It was a combination of well-groomed trails, crazy stairs, and extremely amazing views.  I felt so at home and alive doing this…I can’t even begin to describe how rejuvenating it felt to be hiking again.  It made me yearn for my beautiful hikes back in Glendale with my Toph (my adorable mini aussie currently residing with my in-laws) and my great friend and hiking buddy, Stephanie (yes, we share a name; no, I’m not talking about myself, haha). I mean it was truly breathtaking.  And, like all of my experiences hiking, the people on the trails are just so kind…something I had also been missing: random courtesy and smiles from others. Seriously, the views and the feeling of being in the great outdoors, away from people, were incredible. I felt like a completely different person than the one that had a meltdown in the city the previous night. What a difference the peace of being outdoors and away from it all makes. This was the side of Hong Kong that people knew I would love.
 
  
Reluctantly, we ended our hike.  We took the same terrifying bus back down to the metro and made our way toward the next item on the list: Victoria’s Peak!

I think there are technically a few ways to get to Victoria’s Peak, but of course, we had to take the touristy/sightseeing way, the Peak Tram. This was yet another terrifying way up the mountain, a trolley.  This time, though the line was long, they did not pack the trams, but made sure each person had a seat. I will say I am quite thankful for that after being on the crowded metro.Once we got to the top, it came as no surprise that we were dumped into a mall.  I swear all of China is just one big shopping excursion.  We made our way through the labyrinth of shops to the insane amount of escalators.  We climbed, and climbed, and climbed again.  We eventually reached the top, called the sky terrace!

The 360 view from the top was just as gorgeous as mentioned online, but I will say I still prefer the authenticity of a view from hiking…and the lack of people, as well. 😉 We took our time enjoying the views and taking it all in.  Bryant loved pointing out the building that had been featured in “The Dark Knight” and we had a few good laughs.  Once we felt like we had gotten it all in, it was definitely time for more food before my hangry mood returned.

We found a surprisingly empty restaurant just 2 floors below the 360 view, with beautiful views of its own.  And, you guessed it, a western style menu! Ah, all the food happiness.  I settled on some pizza and Bryant chose a risotto that came with a salad bar and dessert bar.  It was all delicious and the view just made it even better! Once lunch was over, we made our way back down the mountain and back to our hotel.
Once back at the hotel, we gathered our belongings, checked out, and were on our way again. We decided to go in search of some whiskey that’s made near my hometown! I had failed and found just their order and shipment office, but Bryant wasn’t about to give up. To my surprise, we found it! Bear Claw whiskey (a whiskey they make, but can’t be tasted in the tasting room or sold in the U.S.) from Belmont Farms Distillery in Culpeper, VA was on the shelf of an expat store in the middle of Hong Kong.  It was too awesome to pass up the purchase and add to our little whiskey collection back in Shanghai, so we got it! I mean, it did make its way from small town Virginia to Hong Kong, just like us after all!
With the whiskey packed up as safely as it could be, we made our way to the metro once more…but this time to Lantau Island! I would so live in Lantau Island.  This place is gorgeous…it has great views, amazing beaches, lots of hiking trails, a beautiful mountain top temple, Disney, and more!  It also isn’t as grown up as the heart of downtown Hong Kong, so of course, I love it! Our last thing on the list before we could make our way to Disney was the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery.  To go with the theme of our day, it was yet another line…and terrifying transportation to the top of a mountain.  This time in the form of a cable car. I was trying to access any and all memories, and I’m pretty sure this was my very first cable car.  I love hiking, but ironically, I’m terrified of heights.  Bryant thankfully agreed to ride in one of the regular cars instead of one with the glass bottom.  I was seriously so thankful.While quite terrifying, the cable car ride was also extremely beautiful.  We had views of the mountains and water as we went up and up and up.  I was surprised the ride lasted at least 20 minutes. While beautiful, I was really glad when we were able to get off.
After hiking and walking all day, I was not expecting what was to come next.  As I meandered through the little store fronts over to get to the Big Buddha, I noticed: stairs.  Bryant had failed to mention there would be lots of stairs to climb.  At that moment, I really wish I would’ve packed a lighter backpack, but we did it! Up and up the stairs we went!  It was quite worth it, too.  To see the Big Buddha up close and to enjoy the views from the top was just incredible.  We walked around the entire statue as it is said to be “good luck” and walked through the inside as well.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t take picture from the inside.  There was beautiful art and artifacts everywhere. It was all so breathtaking.
  Once we were finished, we made our way down the many stairs, and over to the monastery.  The monastery was also stunning, but there happened to be a ton of burning incense, which made an instant headache for me.  But, it was worth it when we got to go inside!
Again, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but below is an outside picture that can give you a little idea of what it looked like.  Inside was just beautiful.  The ceiling was the most intricate design and so much to behold!  Bryant told me each temple is known for its own special thing, and this one was for this room: the grand hall of a thousand Buddhas.  I didn’t sit and count them all, but seeing how many there were, I would definitely take their word for it. It made me tempted to go purchase a Buddha statue to add to the corner of the room just so it could be the room of 1,001 Buddhas, but I respectfully refrained.When we were done at the monastery, we made our way back through the shops.  A funny part of it, though, was the animals just out and about.  There were so many cows and stray dogs.  They all seemed well fed and super happy, too.  And yes, below is definitely me taking a selfie with a cow…that happened. With all the animals, comes the waste of animals as well.  We had to be careful where we stepped.
Knowing we had to be in line for the tram before 6, Bryant and I grabbed some coffee to give us a little boost of caffeine after going 12 miles on foot. Yes, Starbucks is definitely everywhere.  We got Starbucks at a Buddhist temple grounds.

We went to line up for the cable car and couldn’t believe the 85-minute wait sign!  We took advantage of technology (it just seemed so out of place to be on a cell phone there) and decided to watch some shows on Bryant’s phone.  Surprisingly, that made the wait go a lot quicker than we expected, even with backpacks on and the wait being more than the 85-minute estimate.  It was all worth it, though.  We enjoyed the views from the cable car, again.  This time, lights over the little city area were on and it was the perfect end to this amazing day of adventure!
  With completing everything on our to do list, there was only one more thing to do…go to Disneyland!!!!

Look, there’s a great big hunk of world down there, with no fence around it. -Tramp, Lady and the Tramp