Welcome to the Jungle: Hanging with our Favorite Mouse

Oh Baby! After our time hanging out and waiting for the park to open we were ready for Mickey. Just outside the entrance there is this great fountain of Mickey riding the blowhole of a whale on a surfboard. There is a picture of it below. It was pretty cool.

After getting through the gate we had no real plan other than to try and get to everything possible and take as many pictures with characters as possible. Here are a few of the highlights.

• The Jungle Cruise at HKD seemed the same when you got on but without the corny jokes. Asian humor is a little different than Western humor mostly in the sense here is Asia if it isn't physical humor it isn't funny.

• Its a Small World is like the gift that keeps on giving. Just like the one back home the song gets stuck in your head and you wish you had worn earmuffs.
Aside: One thing that I have learned about Asia while I have lived here is the idea that directions whether given orally or on signs are merely suggestions. If you have every been on a flight in Asia you know that the "fasten seat belt sign" means nothing. As soon as the plane touches the runway you hear a chorus of seat belts unbuckling and people trying to grab bags out of the overhead compartment. The Disney connection to this is when the woman in our boat in Small World stands up while going through the ride taking pictures and rocking the boat each time.

• While we were having lunch outside one of the restaurants we noticed that "Merlin" from The Sorcerer and the Stone was performing close by. Kade and Syd went to go check it out while the rest of us finished up lunch.

Merlin was having people from the audience try and pull the sword out of the stone. No one could do it. Then Merlin looked to the crowd and pulled Kade out there with him and had him try. At first Kade had no luck. Merlin gave Kade some of advice and some magic words to say and sent him back for one more try. All the while the crowd was looking on and wondering if Kade was the "chosen one." After Kade spoke the magic words he was able to pull the sword from the stone.

This feat did not go unappreciated. The crowd gave him a great ovation and he was crowned King of all the land by Merlin. Kade had a ball! He loved it and really liked the idea of him being a King. In fact he was ordering his subject, ur, sisters around the rest of the day.

• At around 4 PM there was a parade. Kade and Brooklyn were both pulled from the crowd to be a part of it. They were able to dance with the performers from the Toy Story themed parade.

• Brooklyn was able to spend some time with Snow White and Aurora. The lines are not nearly as long as we are used to so you really have a chance to interact with the characters. That is something you can spend a lot of time waiting for in other parks.

• Later in the day we met up with our friends from Rumbai. They went with Brooklyn to see the princesses and we all rode some of the rides together. We ended the day watching the fireworks again and just enjoying the fact that we were able to have this opportunity.