Thursday, April 29, 2010

Disney's Hollywood Hotel

Read all about my family's trip to HK Disneyland. Click on menu bar above to see all blog posts!

For the remaining 3 nights of our stay in Hong Kong, we moved to Disney's Hollywood Hotel nearby - also within Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. The hotel is a 4-star hotel - very modern.



We got an upgrade from Garden View room to Park View room. The park view room is on the top most floor and has a view of the Disneyland park. This time, we got ourselves a king-sized bed. Room is not very spacious and the bathroom is half the size of the one at HK Disneyland Hotel. Both rooms are equipped with iron/ironing board/bathrobes/hair-dryer/TV. 


The hotel also has a children's room called Malibu Toy Shop - it's quite similar to the one at HK Disneyland Hotel. There's also a gift shop, swimming pool, playground and restaurants :
1) Chef Mickey (buffet & a la carte)
2) Hollywood & Dine (for quick bites & snacks)
3) Sunset Terrace (poolside)


Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel

Read all about my family's trip to HK Disneyland. Click on menu bar above to see all blog posts!

We stayed at the HK Disneyland Hotel for 3 nights. Very beautiful and classy 5-star hotel - full of Victorian charm and splendour - excellent service and a wonderfully magical stay. The current promotion rate for Annual Pass holders is 35% off published rates. We booked a Garden View room which is HKD$1800(published rate). Breakfast not included.

There are 2 double beds in the room on the ground floor which overlooks the garden. Absolutely spacious room with an equally spacious bathroom.

Room decor was Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs. Nice details in the mirror frame & toiletries.



Baby cots or bed rails are available upon request. We requested for bed rails so the kids won't fall off the bed. Bathrobes are provided together with towels. Bedroom slippers are also complimentary (or rather it's paid for). Free internet connection in-room as well. 


There's a children's room called Prince Eric room to keep kids occupied. Lots of wooden toys, books and tables/chairs for coloring etc. Bedtime story is read every night by a cast member on duty.

There are quite a number of restaurants here :-
1) Enchanted Garden - featuring buffet meals with Disney characters meet & greet
2) Crystal Lotus - Disney Dim Sum
3) Grand Salon - a la carte dining
4) Sorcerer's Lounge - a la carte dining

There's also a spa, swimming pool and a gift shop. called Kingdom Gifts. Overall, highly recommended hotel to stay in while visiting Disneyland.

I Love.....

I had a blast at Hong Kong Disneyland during my family holiday last week. So....just to share some of the things I love during the short stay there!

It's a great place to go to..... and indulge in all things Mickey, Minnie and Jiminy Cricket! Well..... Jiminy Cricket is the spokes-cricket for Earth Day at HK Disneyland. The entire week I was there - it was Earth Week (Earth Day was celebrated on 22nd April 2010).
There were special activities for kids and adults alike e.g. fun recycling-themed games, green tutorials etc.

 
 Evan took a photo with Jiminy Cricket at Fantasyland.



There are so many places to shop to your hearts content here in Hong Kong Disneyland e.g. in Main Street USA itself, there is a crystal art shop, bakery and  souvenir shops. HK Disneyland also sells reusable shopping bags priced at HKD$20 but during the Earth Week, it was on promo price for HKD$10. So I snagged one of it!


Burns calories and is good for the environment. We took nice and leisurely walks around the gardens of HK Disneyland Hotel and Disney's Hollywood Hotel. We also walked a lot exploring Disneyland. We rented a stroller to push Marissa around. Cost of rental is HKD$60 per day. A HKD$40 deposit is required.


Marissa was fascinated with the Stitch bubble machine


Dim Sum and Chinese cuisine are aplenty here in HK Disneyland. We ate dim sum almost everyday and it's soooo yummy! My little girl loves to snack too - the eco-friendly way. All I have to do is eat a little extra food and drink a little extra water and I am able to produce quality breastmilk for her. Breastfeeding is very environmental friendly compared to artificial feeding which adds to environmental pollution in its manufacture, packaging, transport and preparation. I do not need to lug around bottles/formula/water or use up energy to boil water or use any water to wash bottles at all. There's a baby care centre in Disneyland which has 2 nursing rooms, each equipped with a table and rocking chairs. 

Marissa snacked here....

.... while we snacked here : Comet Cafe in Tomorrowland


Spotted lots of recycling bins around the entire park! Extremely convenient to separate rubbish for recycling. Check these out! 

Spotted this recycling bin on Main Street USA. Jiminy Cricket again on the bin!


While on the topic of recylcing..... I would like to mention here that Sloggi has recently launched its Love World Love Sloggi collection of lingerie made from recylced materials (plastic bottles included!). Wow! This is indeed a positive step towards a greener future for all of us. I hope to see eco-friendly nursing bras from Sloggi in the near future! Anyway, in Tomorrowland....

.........another set of recycling bins. 

Finally - my favourite ride in HK Disneyland : It's A Small World

 

The best ever present we can ever give to our kids is a trip to Disneyland ... not!
Actually, the best thing we can ever give to our children is LOVE! 

Love our world - Love our children - Love our planet

Monday, April 26, 2010

HK Disneyland : Character shots

Read all about my family's trip to HK Disneyland. Click on menu bar above to see all blog posts!

Famliy holiday 18-24 April 2010 @ Hong Kong.
We spent most of our time at Disneyland.... here are some pics taken with favourite Disney characters. Didn't manage to take any with the princesses though. 
Evan's Buzz Lightyear costume was bought from Mothercare and Marissa's Snow White costume (pre-loved) was purchased online on ebay UK.



Sunday, April 18, 2010

Another 2 months to 2 years

Marissa is now 22 months! She's still very petite and can still fit into some of her Gymboree 12-18 months clothing. Her height is about 82cm and weight is about 10kg.
She loves singing nursery rhymes and whatever songs she hears on CD or TV. She recognizes most colors and a few numbers/alphabets. She's more and more vocal now and speaks in sentences.

Some of the activities that she likes include finger painting, drawing, coloring, playing with her brother's toys and reading. She's quite jealous of her brother because whenever I read a story to Evan, she will be pushing him away so that she can get some attention for herself. She is also capable of pulling Evan's hair when she is displeased plus she can scream and cry to draw attention to herself.

She loves to go walk-walk and she still loves to nen-nen - don't know when she will stop..... my production is very low now.... hopefully she will self-wean when she's two. However, she's not a fan of formula milk - my MIL has to force her to drink up whenever I go to work.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Afternoon Nap



Evan fell asleep while reading Manga Mutiny (Manga style bible on Genesis & Exodus). He was reading about Adam and Eve. Under the blankie, he's only clad in his underwear.... I guess he wanted to be like Adam in the book.

He reads his manga bibles every night with Hubby before sleeping and during the afternoon, he will read his manga bible on his own before taking his nap.

Friday, April 16, 2010

35 years old

Hubby's 35th birthday dinner celebration at Jack's Place, 1 Utama! Evan ate fish and chips & drank orange juice. He even ate french beans and carrots  like he was being fed poison. Anyway he soon reaped his reward of a single scoop strawberry ice cream which he walloped so fast that we didn't get the opportunity to nag him to finish it.
The birthday boy had steak that came with a very delicious baked potato.... and myself - Jack's special fried rice with egg which I shared with Marissa. She ate quite a bit of the complimentary garilc bread.

After dinner, we went shopping at Parkson Grand using vouchers redeemed from Bonuslink points. 
Then, we had dessert at home - french vanilla millecrepe from Humble Beginnings. Got this at a special promotion rate of RM31.00 (50% off regular price).

Hubby loves the texture of the cake. I like it too - something different. Lastly, it was present-opening time - sorry no pic - maybe next time.....
 

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Strega Nona


I bought a few books by Tomie dePaola sometime ago for Marissa and Evan. The books are a series featuring Strega Nona. Marissa loves listening to the stories of Strega Nona. On the other hand, Evan wasn't that keen. Oh well, he is very content with his Manga Metamorphosis & Manga Mutiny books.


As for me, I am sooooo into the cute illustrations and stories! I love all the illustrations by Tomie dePaola in all his books! Feel like collecting all of them! 

In case you are wondering....Strega is the Italian word for witch. Strega Nona is actually a 'grandma witch' beloved by the townsfolk of Calabria (a region in southern Italy). Strega Nona provides relief for headaches, cures warts on noses and restores hair to bald heads. She also helps in matchmaking young girls and boys of marriageable age. 

Strega Nona owns a magic pasta pot inherited from her Grandma Concetta who was also a strega. Big Anthony is her helper who tends to the goats and feeds the peacock. He is a very forgetful and silly person - and he gets into trouble whenever he doesn't pay attention. The illustration below shows Big Anthony serving pasta from the magic pasta pot.

All the stories contain common Italian words and most importantly there's a lesson to be learnt.



The books in our collection :
 Strega Nona (Caldecott Medal Book 1979) Paperback Edition

Strega Nona Takes a Vacation - Hardcover edition

 Strega Nona Meets Her Match - Hardcover Edition

Big Anthony His Story - Hardcover Edition

Strega Nona Her Story - Paperback Edition

 Strega Nona's Magic Lessons

These other titles are on our wishlist :
Strega Nona's Harvest

Big Anthony and the Magic Ring

Brava Strega Nona! A Pop-up Book

Merry Christmas Strega Nona