Hongkong-Macau Trip 2015: Days 3 & 4 (Victoria Harbour, Hongkong Disneyland)

Day 3 - Hongkong Harbour / Disneyland

My favorite part of our Hongkong itinerary, of course, is Disneyland! And since it's the highlight of the trip (for me), I dedicated our last full day in Hongkong to this place! Ever since I was a kid, I envy those children who were fortunate enough to visit the so-called "Happiest Place on Earth" during their younger days. Never had I imagine that someday I would be able to visit my dream place-to-be with my own hard-earned money! And I will always be grateful to God for all the blessings bestowed upon me and family. Thank You, Lord, talaga!

Since we were out literally the entire day during our Macau day trip, I told my Aunts and Mom that we can rest (err, sleep!) longer than the usual to recharge and recover for the next day. But before heading to our destination, we walked to the harbour for some nice morning view.

We tried to visit also the Avenue of the Stars but to our dismay, it was closed for renovation.
Nevertheless, the view was amazing!

We ate our late breakfast at the Citygate Outlets while waiting for the shops to open. My Mom decided to buy the Michael Kors bag that she has been eyeing during our first day in Hongkong, hence, the need for a side trip to the mall.

Traveling to Disneyland via piblic transpo is pretty easy. Just take the Tung Chung Line and alight at Sunny Bay Station. From there you will transfer to Disneyland Resort Line where a train will take you to the venue.

The Disneyland train has all the Mickey details that you can think of! From the windows...

To hand rails. So cute! :)

I wonder how some of my friends managed to take a pic with this arch without any photobombers?
There are a LOT of tourists posing here all day err day!

Mandatory selfie with my Mom! :)

We bought our discounted tickets from HotelinHongkong for HKD 444/pax. Upon paying online, we received an email containing the e-vouchers which we will use to redeem our actual tickets. It's pretty cool since Disneyland Hongkong has this AutoMagic Ticket Redemption Machine that scans the QR code on your vouchers and automatically prints your ticket! Again, my Aunts and Mom were spared from the long queue! Hooray!

Your Disneyland ticket may also serve as a souvenir card!

Hongkong Disneyland currently occupies 49.9 hectares and hosts 7.92 million to 8.92 million visitors annually. The park is divided into different themed areas namely:

• Main Street, U.S.A. - designed to resemble an early 20th-century Midwest Town;
• Adventureland - featuring jungle-themed adventures;
• Fantasyland - bringing to life characters and places from Disney's movies for children;
• Tommorowland- an optimistic vision of the future;
• Toy Story Land - based on Disney-Pixar film series Toy Story;
• Grizzly Gulch - reminiscing an abandoned mining town set amidst mountains and woods; and
• Mystic Point - heart of a dense, uncharted rain forest where supernatural events take place.

Source: Wikipedia

At Sleeping Beauty's Castle <3

Since I'm with the "older" company for this trip, we only had "It's A Small World" ride for the entire duration of our stay in Disneyland. The rest were spent in watching the shows, parades and *ehem* shopping. Next time, I shall do more rides!

The It's A Small World ride basically features the different cultures around the globe while singing the children's song It's A Small World. In some areas you'll be able to hear the song in their respective languages. Highly recommended!

Next stop: The Lion King Show.

Very good production and talents! Highly recommended!

Next Stop: Flights of Fantasy Parade 

*I enjoyed the parade so much I was not able to take pictures anymore. Sorry!*

After watching the parade, we decided to walk around the park and chanced upon Woody!

I believe there is a designated time at which the characters from respective themed areas show up. We tried to catch Mickey and Minnie Mouse by the booth upon entering Disneyland but to no avail. Good thing they were in Fantasyland soon after our photo op session with Woody. We were really, really, happy!

Mickey and Minnie were in different booths when we went there so we had to choose which line to prioritize since both queues were quite long (around 30-45min waiting time), but since we're all ladies in the group, we chose Minnie! :) To be honest, we were quite anxious that the Disneyland personnel will just close the booth knowing that the Disney Paint the Night Parade will start anytime soon.

My Mom even bought a Minnie shirt from Uniqlo Philippines for this trip! Haha!
Minnie was so sweet and gentle most specially to little girls!

Simultaneous with Mickey and Minnie are Goofy, Pooh and Pluto on the other side of the circle. Their queues were quite short (only 5min waiting time for Goofy and Pluto) so while waiting for our turn at Minnie's booth, we grabbed the opportunity to have a photo op with Goofy..

... And Pluto! :)

Btw, after taking your pictures with the characters, the Disneyland personnel will hand you a Photopass that you will use to claim your official Disneyland photos in case you decide to purchase them as souvenir.

Next Stop: Paint the Night Sky Parade! :)

Overall, this is pretty much the same as the day-time parade, but I appreciate the effects here more since its harder to "paint the night sky". :)

Our last stop would be the fireworks display, but since it doesn't start until 9pm, my Aunts and Mom decided to walk around to shop *again* and take photos.

And the Disney in the Stars Fireworks Display has begun :)
I was teary-eyed after the show. It was truly a magical experience and a dream-come-true for me! :)

We watched from the side of the Main Street closest to the exit gate so we can leave immediately after the fireworks display. This is to avoid the high volume of people leaving the park. And guess what? We were among the first batch to ride the Disneyland Train back to Sunny Bay Station. Hooray!

Goodbye Disneyland! I'll see you soon! :)

Day 4 - Back to Manila!

Our last day in Hongkong was basically our flight back to Manila. My Mom and I arrived at the Hongkong International Airport quite early so we had ample time for last minute shopping. We also grabbed some breakfast at Starbucks before boarding the plane. Goodbye vacation, hello reality!

See you again soon, Hongkong! Thanks for the memories! :)

 And that ends our Hongkong-Macau trip! Hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did! :)

Hongkong-Macau Trip 2015: Day 2 (Wynn Macau, Senado Square, Ruins of St. Paul, Seak Pai Van Park, Venetian Macau)

Macau is just a 1.5-hour ferry ride away from Hongkong and since we've already gone this far, we took this opportunity to visit the "Las Vegas of Asia"!

We woke up early to catch the 8:00am ferry to Macau. Again, we bought our discounted roundtrip tickets from our hotel for HKD 290. We were given vouchers at the hotel's reception area and had them replaced with actual tickets at the Cotai Water Jet ticketing office located at the Shun Tak Center near IFC Mall and Sheung Wan MTR Station.

Leaving Hongkong via ferry is very similar to traveling via plane. Prior to boarding, you need to fill up and submit your Departure Form and pass by the Immigration. If you're traveling with a luggage, you are allowed to bring up to 20kg with size not exceeding to 56cm x 36cm x 23cm. For more info, you can visit their website.

CotaiJet's interior.

Our journey to Macau was smooth and easy, we had a good 1.5-hour of rest before our walking adventure begins. Upon arrival, you will pass through the Immigration again. Philippine passport holders are allowed to stay in Macau for thirty (30) days without a visa. I personally think 30 days is way too much specially if you will go there for leisure. Macau, in general, is very small and you can visit most of its attractions in a day. Of course if you plan to do casino-hopping that's a different story. :)

When you exit the Macau Taipa Ferry Terminal, you will see several shuttle buses offering free rides to their respective hotels. Talking about customer service! We chose the Wynn Hotel shuttle bus to witness the Dragon of Fortune Show which starts at 10:00am with 30-min interval in between.

My weird self forgot to take a photo of the Wynn Hotel shuttle bus! To compensate with my mistake, I took a photo of Conrad bus beside us to give you an idea how a typical hotel shuttle service looks like. I swear, you wouldn't miss them given their very huge labels! Also, though I'm not sure if its a standard for all, the Wynn Hotel shuttle bus has a free wifi in it!

A selfie shot with my Mom wearing our twin denim dress! Haha!

If my memory serves me right, the shuttle bus ride to Macau Peninsula took roughly 30 to 45 minutes tops. Don't worry, the view was amazing (not to mention the wifi service :P) so you wouldn't get bored, AT ALL.

Crossing the bridge from Taipa to Macau Peninsula. There's the Wynn Hotel! Yahoo!

We did a little bit of window shopping inside the Wynn Hotel before heading to the Dragon of Fortune Show's venue. It's free so if you got all amazed with it, you can stay there all day to watch! Really a must-see show! Btw, Wynn Hotel also has Tree of Prosperity and Performance Lake Show which were also good (according to the reviews I read online). Unfortunately, due to very limited time, we were not able to watch them anymore.

While waiting for the show to start. The venue itself is picture-worthy! Not to mention that this is just a common area in the hotel!

We then headed to our next destination, Grand Lisboa and Grand Emperor Hotels! Actually, we just walked past both hotels since we think their interiors are pretty much the same as Wynn Hotel's. So we just walked straight to Salcedo Square for my Aunts and Mom's much-awaited activity - LUNCH! HAHAHAHA! If you will notice, I did not mention nor share anything about food for this trip. This is mainly because we did not eat anything exciting nor different during our entire stay in Hongkong-Macau. But do not worry, on my next visit, I promise to share a lot of foodie stories with you! :) 

Senado Square (Largo do Senado) is a public square in Macau covering an area of 3,700 square meters. In 2005, it was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List as it forms part of the Historic Center of Macau. (Source: Travel China Guide)

My Mom and her sisters posing in front of St. Dominic's Church (Igreja de Sao Domingos), It is a late 16th-century Baroque-style church that serves within the Cathedral Parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau.

After eating our lunch, my Aunts and Mom then proceeded with their second mission which is shopping! There are shops around Senado Square like Giordano, The Face Shop, Bossini which makes them all so excited. After an hour or so of hoarding, we walked straight to a semi-narrow road  - which I call "beef jerky haven" because of the never-ending stalls of beef jerky, almond cookies and egg tarts along the way! Oh and did I mention that the beef jerky vendors offer free-taste-all-you-can? LOL! - leading to the Ruins of St. Paul. 

The Ruins of St. Paul's are the ruins of a 16th-century complex in Macau including what was originally St. Paul's College and the Church of St. Paul (a.k.a. Mater Dei) - a 17th-century Portuguese church dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle. The building was destroyed by fire during a typhoon on 26 January 1835. Years later, it was restored by the Macanese government into a museum. (Source:Wikipedia)

After appreciating the historical site of Macau, we headed to my favorite part of our itinerary - the Giant Panda Pavilion!! :) We took bus A21 to Colanne Quarry where Seac Pai Van Park is located. The bus ride lasted for 45-minutes (ours got longer because we rode on the wrong side of the street and battled the language barrier to ask the locals for directions going to the park *sighs*.) But I tell you, it was all worth it!! :) 

Seac Pai Van Park (Parque de Seak Pai Van) is a 20-hectare park built in the wooded hills on the western side of Cotai (Coloane) where the Macau Giant Panda Pavilion is located. It also has a lake with swans and flamingos, a walk-through aviary and a variety of monkeys living in it.

How I wish we have parks like this back home! It's so nice and properly maintained!

Entrance Fee to the Giant Panda Pavilion costs MOP 10 which was good for one (1) hour.

The outlook of the Panda Pavilion is designed to mimic nature. The Pavilion houses two (2) pandas namely Xin Xin and Kai Kai. We were lucky enough to visit them on their feeding time. The two cuties were walking around their "home" eating bamboo. Soooo cuuuuute! :)

With a little less than 2 hours before heading back to Hongkong, we went on to our last stop: The Venetian Macau! We rode the same bus route which stops right in front of The Venetian. The hotel-casino is so big that you wouldn't miss it while you're on the road. Other nearby hotels are Four Seasons and City of Dreams Macau. I personally think going around this area is way better than the Macau Peninsula. But if you want to experience Macau's culture and local ways, the former is always the best option.

The Venetian Hotel Macau is a luxury hotel and casino resort in Macau owned by the American Las Vegas Sands company. The Venetian is a 29-story, casino hotel on the Cotai Strip of Macau. It is the largest building in the world and the largest single structure hotel building in Asia. (Source: Wikipedia)

 Here I am posing beside the indoor canal of the hotel with its ceiling painted like a bright blue sky! :)

Just like in Venice, there are gondolas in the indoor canal which you can rent for MOP 128 per 20-min ride. You can buy tickets at The Venetian website or if you want to avail the discounted ones, you can try klook.com! :)

We were able to try the original egg tarts at The Venetian! It's sooo yummy, I think I can eat a dozen in one sitting!

After walking around for some pasalubong shopping, we headed to the shuttle terminal that will take us back to Taipa Ferry Terminal, again, for free! From there we rode a ferry to Hongkong.

Goodbye and I will see you again soon, Macau!

I guess our shopping spree in Macau was not enough and we still had enough energy to visit the Ladies' Market afterwards. I was not able to take photos anymore because, well, shopping happened. Haha! Next stop, Disneyland! :)