Hello!

I am back with part II of #Goldcoast2012 post.
If you have yet to read Part I, it is HERE.

The remaining three days in Gold Coast were just as exciting as the first four days. If only we had more time. Yup, we did not have enough time to really explore Gold Coast. We were initially pretty confident that we would have more than enough time prior to the trip because we had after all, SEVEN LONG DAYS!

Gold Coast is really a beautiful place to spend your vacation at. I just love the lifestyle of the Gold Coast – everyone is so relaxed and down to earth. It’s like when you are there, you do not see people parading around with their luxury bags or cars. Not a single Louis Vuitton, Prada or Chanel spotted in fact when I was there. There’s more to life than just branded bags and never-ending competition when you are there.

DAY 5:

It was time to get wet day…at SEA WORLD!
But first, we must dress up.

Once again, it was very fortunate that we had pre-paid passes. So no queues at all for us! We went straight through the gates while those who had to buy their tickets on the day itself queued and waited. Tatek checked the daily show guide first as usual, and we planned which of the shows we wanted to see first and later.

I cannot stress enough already on this- always plan your itinerary around the shows first, and where you want to go after the shows so that you do not have to walk up and down the very big park.

We watched the Dora’s Best Friend Adventure show first.

It was actually pretty draggy, if truth be told. No matter how much my girls adore Dora The Explorer, they started being restless after barely ten minutes.

JUST LOOK AT THIS NYONYA!

The show was about twenty minutes long, by the way! We did not wait for the show to end but instead made our way to the next show – The Imagine Dolphin Show. It was quite a long walk, what more with the hot sun! But the thing about summer in Australia is this – you will not exactly feel the heat and you will definitely not perspire buckets. But when you look at yourself in the mirror, you will see a darker version of yourself. That’s about all.

And oh, let’s not forget the dry skin too despite lots and lots of moisturizing.

I was super amazed by the dolphins and their impressive jumps, flips, dives, walking on top of their flukes on the surface of the water, synchronized leaps, and their occasional waving to the crowd. Dolphins are indeed intelligent and friendly animals. How is it that they can be trained to delight audiences with their feats? There is hardly any reason for anyone to not love them! Oh do you know that training dolphins keeps them alert and mentally flexible, and prevents them from becoming bored in captivity? So they actually enjoy performing for everyone.

Once the dolphin show was over, we headed to the Shark Bay to see…

THE SHARKS!

We did not stay long here because the girls were like screaming in fear. Sharleez went,“Mummy, I don’t want. Later the shark will eat us up.” So we did not go to the underwater viewing deck as a result. I would have loved to watch the sharks but it is just too bad that my guniangs did not want to do likewise.

Do you how much it took us to persuade the girls to touch the starfish?

And then, it was time to get ourselves really wet at Castaway Bay’s Battle Boats. When I told the girls that we would be sitting on a battle boat and shoot water cannons at each other, they cringed. In fact, they really cringed. But too bad too late, we were already queuing for it. I told them this, “It’s okay to get wet because we will have the sun later to get us all dried up again. You will feel like there’s aircon stuck to your body.”

See this super cute girl?

Well, we shot water cannons at her minutes later.

So yes, we sat on the battle boat. We shot water cannons. Others shot water cannons at us.

We ended up like this. Check out Sharleez’s very unhappy face. Lol.

To seek revenge for all of us, Tatek shot the water cannons at those on the battle boats. Haha very childish but very fun indeed!

For lunch, it was just fish burger for us. Given the strictly no outside food policy imposed by Sea World and basically all the theme parks, I found the choices available a little disappointing. Never mind the fact that there are no Halal certified food joints there.

After lunch, we went for the Fish Detectives Sea Lion Show. If you visit Sea World, you must not miss this show. It is very hilarious and will definitely tickle both the young and older audience. We were definitely entertained especially by the very smart sea lion.

We saw the penguins too! I like how so cool and composed they always are. Do you know a very interesting fact about the penguins? The Emperor male penguins will incubate their eggs for two months in the winter without eating while the females are at sea. During that period, they will live off their fat reserves and may even lose half of their body weight. When the females return shortly after the chicks hatch, they will switch their parental duties.

This cute little penguin here came very near to the lady who offered it a drink. Too bad they were both separated by the glass pane.

And then it was time for some rides. Kiddy rides for us parents too, all for the girls’ sake. Bleargh.

And a bit of shopping for the girls.

And that was our Sea World adventure. Despite us getting drenched and all, I actually enjoyed Sea World more than Movie World.

It was Surfers’ Paradise next. Sharleez and Mysha fell asleep on our way there so they were in the twin stroller. Myreen got to enjoy the waves with us.

She was curious as to why people were lying down on the sand under the super hot sun.

“Mummy, why they sleep on the sand like that?”
“Why they never wear their clothes?”
“Why their swimming costume like bra and panties?”
“Why they never wake up?”

Dear Myreen, that is what we call, suntanning. Some people suntan to make themselves more tan and feel better about themselves. Suntanning in the sun brings a psychological feeling of well being and relation. But of course, we do not need to suntan as we are already sun-tanned naturally.

I really love this shot of Myreen. She is really photogenic, I think. Don’t mind the hands behind her. We were just super scared she would lose balance.

Before we went back to the apartment, guess where we went again.

You are absolutely right. COLES!

DAY 6:

Finally, it was time for Dream World. Farha from ROAM  was telling me prior to the trip that no matter what, we must visit Dream World. But before that, I had to buy my morning fix so that the journey would not keep us hungry.

As usual, the girls were super excited at the beginning…

And they fell asleep minutes later.

See that thrill ride behind us? My goodness, my jaw dropped when I saw how ‘thrilling’ it was. The people on the ride were practically screaming their lungs out!

Dream World is where Dorothy The Dinosaur and The Wiggles are.

Dorothy the Dinosaur and her friends took the stage and basically got all the young audience to sing and dance along to their songs like:

• I’m Dorothy the Dinosaur
• Come on let’s jump
• We’re dancing with Wags the Dog
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Dorothy’s Party

I am sorry to reveal that it was only then that I found out that Dorothy the Dinosaur loves to eat roses. Yes, she loves to eat roses. No wonder I saw roses everywhere! It was just too bad that we did not get to see the Wiggles.

Dream World is also where the tigers are. ROAAAARRRRRR.

We missed the tiger show but at least we managed to see the tigers in action for a bit.
And this little cub here too. Hehehe.

At the Australian Wildlife Experience, we got to see all the iconic animals of Australia like the kangaroo and koala bear, which also happen to be the girls’ favourite animals.

We even saw Tazmanian Devil! Sadly we could get a proper shot of it because it was forever hiding.

So we made do with this.

We had to pay about AUS39.90 for a family picture with the koala bear. A bit pricey but then again, it was worth it since it was definitely not an everyday experience.

We even went for the Australian Sheep Sheering show. The genuine shearers will demonstrate life on an Australian farm to the audience. They will even sheer a sheep. Frankly speaking, I did not enjoy the show because I was so distracted by my itching nose. I knew that I was about to get my sinus, no thanks at all to the raw wool and my super sensitive nose. True enough, by the time the show was over, I was already sneezing all the way. No pictures of the shearing because I was busy sneezing. Thank goodness, we brought along our medicine for the trip.

Lunch was at Billabong Buffet Restaurant.

It is HALAL CERTIFIED! It is air-conditioned. It is all-you-can-eat style buffet. It has a wide variety of modern cuisine to mouth-watering desserts. So without a doubt, lunch was super good and filling.

Tatek was so full that he fell asleep..NOT!

He was just pretending! Hahahaha.

Expect to see a lot of thrill rides when you visit Dream World. Tatek and I were so tempted to try out at least one thrill ride but I chickened out with the excuse that there would be nobody to attend to the girls. But then again, that was such a valid excuse because there was *really* nobody to attend to the girls.

Well, at least we took the Thunder River Rapid Ride.

And ended up really wet yet again.

But then again, we were holding on tight to each other’s hands throughout the ride because well, the girls were really scared. Again!

Rides like that do not appeal to the girls.

Rides like Dorothy’s Rosy Teacup Ride does.

I ended up with a massive headache right after the ride as a result. I hate it when that happens. I therefore conclude that as far as rides in theme parks are concerned, it is always better to end up wet than with a headache. Who’s with me?

There are a lot more kid friendly rides over there like:

• Big Red Car Ride
• Kite Flyer
• Avalanche
• Sky Rocket
• Mighty Go Round
• Rainforest Rampage

You can find out more about their rides HERE.

The girls basically went crazy at the Fairytale Treasures shop.

How not to when they have all these inside?

Before calling it a day at Dream World, we bought a big box of Krispy Kreme donuts because I have been told that they are halal. Too sweet for my liking though because they use icing on top of the donuts . I prefer our very own J.Co donuts anytime.

We decided to explore the pool at the apartment for a bit the moment we got back. Just for your information, Meriton Serviced Apartment has both an indoor and outdoor pool.

Sharleez and Mysha insisted on giving Myreen a full body massage.

DAY 7:

It was finally closer to reality – WE WERE GOING BACK TO SINGAPORE. We had to check out from the apartment at 10 a.m and make our way to Novotel Hotel Brisbane airport to check in. Frankly speaking, the girls did not want to leave the apartment because they were just so in love with it. Reality bites. If we were to ever go back to Gold Coast, Meriton Serviced Apartment Broadbeach will still be our first choice.

We decided to buy some more souvenirs at Surfers’ Paradise. They have a whole stretch of souvenir shops over there, if you must know.

Just look at these! Super cute or what? But quite pricey too, so we did not end up buying no matter how tempting they were!

There is even Beach Road over there.

But instead of the usual sup tulang fix at Beach Road Singapore, we had fish and chips at Beach Road Surfers Paradise…in a kebab joint.

We initially ordered just a plate to share but because it was so good (or we were so hungry), we ordered another plate!

With our tummies full, it was time to drive back to Brisbane. That was a good one hour journey because traffic was once again, clear. I got distracted once again by the clouds. I spent the journey cloud watching as a result.

So let me present to you…

MY CLOUD PICTURES!

Believe it or not, there are a lot of benefits of cloud watching. Hahaha! The very silly me googled it and found out that cloud watching helps one to relax and exploit one’s imagination. When you try to figure out what the clouds look like, you are definitely exploiting your imagination. But most importantly, it is a hobby that costs nothing!  Well, I am glad to have found this hobby then. It is not just an obsession anymore. My girls should therefore follow my footsteps and start to cloud watch too.

So anyway, we basically spent the rest of our day at Novotel Hotel Brisbane Airport while waiting for our flight later at night.

This is the beautiful hotel guest room.

Souvenirs from Novotel hotel.

Finally, it was time to check in and come back home to Singapore with our very heavy hearts and luggage.

We managed to grab several books too at the airport because Scholastic books were having this promotion. Buy 2 Get 1 Free, you know?

The chilled out atmosphere and weather in Gold Coast kept us inspired to spend time outdoors despite it being summer. We enjoyed going to Surfers Paradise to just enjoy the breeze, big waves, and the feeling of unbounded space.

So if it is not obvious enough already by now, let me say this once again – we absolutely enjoyed our #goldcoast2012 vacation. We could not have possibly chosen a better spot. Okay wait, of course there is Disneyland, but we have been there too. Haha! Gold Coast is possibly the only place where you can let loose and most importantly, feel free from the stresses of life.

Thank you ROAM once again for making #goldcoast2012 a reality and a dream come true for not only me and my husband, but my three girls as well. We can never thank you enough, Farha because let’s face it, the trip happened because of you. And since thank you is free and nice to give, let me thank you again for planning this entire trip with me, and for giving us nothing but the best. I might have overseen certain things throughout the making of #goldcoast2012 blog posts, and I sincerely apologize for that on my part.

“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than what we give, and it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”

Therefore, we will forever be filled with gratitude.

When I saw how extremely happy my girls were throughout the trip and how super reluctant they were to go back to Singapore, it just made me smile. Nothing makes me happier than to see them that happy.

With salt in our hair, smiles on our lips and sunshine on our cheeks, Gold Coast could not have been better.

But for now, I have to deal with the same question from Mysha and Myreen almost every single day.

“When are we going Movie World again?”

Come on girls, we need to think of another place for our next vacation.

Disneyland Australia, maybe?

Meanwhile, you girls keep on wishing and just keep the faith going.

“There can be miracles, when you believe.”

So what entry is this going to be?

Click HERE.

Yup, I am talking about that much talked about #goldcoast2012 trip. Much talked about because I just could not stop raving about it like a broken record. Right? But who wouldn’t be as excited as I was? It was a vacation for all of us to Gold Coast Australia, not Tanjong Pinang! HELLOOOOO??! As usual, I prepared the girls for the trip as soon as it was confirmed. Made them sit on their respective stools next to the computer while I showed them the different theme parks that we would be visiting. I even had to seek their approval with regards to the choice of apartment, okay? No matter their age, I think it is important to get them involved in the decision-making process. Life is after all, all about making choices. So when they saw pictures of the apartment, they immediately went, “WAHHHHH!” That was an obvious yes, wasn’t it? Thank you for making it easier for me, Nadyas.

Actually I still cannot believe that we managed to plan everything together with Farha & her cool gang Awal & Farhi from ROAM within the span of like, two months? Much thanks to their efficiency, I must say. Farha especially, was really helpful, patient and obliging throughout the entire planning process. I liked how she would always update me on the progress of the trip and bookings, so I did not have to constantly check on the status and all. She understood that the trip was not just a trip, but a bonding period for me and my family – it needed to be perfect. She made it a point to seek my opinion before arranging the trip any further or making the reservations for us.

Here they are – Farhi, Farha & Awal who went the extra mile for us for this #goldcoast2012 trip! So proud of young and very promising entrepreneurs like them, really.

(Sorry Farha, I went to your FB and borrowed this picture. Will return it to you in due time. Hahahaha!)

What I really like about ROAM is their flexibility and their willingness to listen and accommodate. I think the reason why some of us would usually hesitate to approach a travel agency to plan for our vacation is because we think they are only interested in their commissions and nothing else. Some of you even fear that you will end up paying more than you should. Well, that’s where you are wrong, my friends. I strongly believe that ROAM is more interested in building a long-term relationship with every client – it’s not just about the sales! What a professional and trusted travel agency like ROAM does is this – they will help you plan your holiday and make it as cost-saving as possible based on the budget you have.

So the benefits of approaching ROAM for your vacations are:

• They know when is the best time for you to travel.
• You save on all types of reservations.
• You relax while the travel agent does the work.
• You do not have to wonder about your destination – where to stay, modes of transport, what to eat, etc.

But hey, you can always choose to go free & easy too. Australia is an example of a free & easy country, and our trip was therefore, FREE & EASY. ROAM left it to our discretion to decide and plan where we wanted to go for the seven days we were there. Everything else was already booked beforehand by ROAM for us – the flight tickets, the apartment and the car. The only thing we had to worry about was whether the amount of money we brought for our shopping there was enough! Hehehe.

Do you like promotions?

Okay, for a limited time period only, quote ‘ETRANGLE’ to enjoy the following:

1. 10% off their tour packages.
2. 20% off if you are traveling in groups of 6 or more.

Do not forget to LIKE their Facebook here HERE too! Or just get straight to the point and give the friendly team a call at +65 6336 2677.

If ROAM was able to please me, my husband, and my three girls with their awesome planning throughout our seven days in Gold Coast, then they will definitely be able to please you too. My husband especially is very particular when it comes to planning, you know? He is such a detailed person, so to have everything fall into place during our Gold Coast trip made him one happy man! Read on and you will find out why.

Packing wise, we only did it like a day before the trip. Of course, we had a list to rely on just so that we would not miss out on anything. A Holiday Checklist looks something like THIS. We did not have to worry so much about what to bring and wear because it was summer during that period, so it was more or less just like Singapore.

So okay, I bet you are already raring to know about the actual Gold Coast trip right? Just like my previous vacation blog posts, I will try to be as detailed as I can okay so that it makes it easy for those of you who are planning your vacation to Gold Coast Australia!

Let’s go day by day, shall we? Seven days in all.

Or simply…’Tujuh Hari’, like how Sharleez would sing it.

Hahaha!

Okay maybe I will not cover all seven days in just one entry. I can foresee several problems if I were to do this:

1. Pictures in my blog would not load because there are just too many pictures.
2. Readers would email me and ask why they cannot view the pictures.
3. I have to keep explaining that that’s usually the case if there are too many pictures.

NO WAY!

Therefore, I have decided that…

THIS ENTRY WILL ONLY COVER DAY 1 TO 4.

Don’t you just love the suspense and wait? Hahahaha.

Okay moving on.

Everyone was there to send us off at the airport, including Shan Ehan! Hahahaha.

I know my parents were especially emotional about us going away for 7 days. They were saying something like the house feels so empty each time we are away because there are no kids around to shout, sing, and squabble over trivial things. Why, they felt lonely even when we went for staycations..IN SINGAPORE!  And the Gold Coast trip was our first ever family trip without any help from anyone else, so I could sense how worried my parents were. If you could recall, we went to Perth the other time with my parents-in-law, and then Hongkong Disneyland with my previous helper Yani. So Daddy kept reminding us to stay close to one another. He even tweeted the following right after we bid our goodbyes at the airport. To think that he actually already reminded me like minutes ago before this tweet. Hahahaha!

Yes Daddy, we stayed so extremely close throughout the trip. And we survived it all, alright?

THE PLANE RIDE?

Honestly speaking, I was mostly worried about the plane ride because a flight to Brisbane airport is normally about 8 hours long, and that’s considered very long to me. In fact, that was my longest flight ever in my entire life! In my mind hours before the plane ride, I was already wondering whether the girls and I would be alright and whether we would get restless. But thankfully, ours was a midnight flight so by the time we were in the plane, the Nadyas were actually already very groggy. Their bedtime is at 9 pm on normal days, you see? They spent about half an hour being super excited over the fact that they were in the plane, and that the plane was high up in the sky, and another half an hour watching movies before they finally gave in to their heavy eyes. And especially after they had eaten their meals, they immediately went to sleep.

We super love the kid’s meal provided by SIA, by the way!

Need I mention that I was always checking out the flight attendants too? They are just so well-groomed, our SIA flight attendants. I kept telling the girls this each time a flight attendant walked past us - “This is how Mama E and Uncle Bert work in the plane, you know?” Proud sister moment at that point of time. Hahaha I could not help it and kept repeating the same thing over and over again. The next thing I knew, the girls were already sleeping. So yeah, I was basically talking to myself. I managed to wake them up for breakfast and right after just a bit of breakfast, they went back to sleep and continued sleeping till it was close to landing time.

Okay just for your information, Singapore Airline and most airlines do not fly directly to Gold Coast because it is not a city but a region – it is part of Brisbane, and Brisbane is a city. So from Singapore, you have to fly to Brisbane first. Once you are at Brisbane airport, you have the following options to get to Gold Coast:

1. Take a train to Gold Coast.
2. Take a bus to Gold Coast.
3. Take a cab.
4. Rent a car (choose those car rental companies that are located at Brisbane airport) & collect it straight from Brisbane airport once you arrive, and drive yourself to Gold Coast.
5. Rent a car but get a driver to drive you to Gold Coast and around Gold Coast throughout your trip.

Initially, we wanted to choose Option 5 but after much consideration, we thought it would not give us much freedom. It was after all, a free and easy trip! Imagine having a driver to drive us around 24/7? Want to go to the supermarket? Call the driver. Nah!

Which option did we choose eventually? Suspense once again, just for you!

Let’s go to Day 1 first, okay?

DAY 1:

We reached Brisbane at about 10.20 am in the morning (Australian time). So ROAM’s instruction was for us to collect our car from Redspot which is located inside Brisbane Airport itself. Very convenient, I must say!

So yeah, we chose OPTION  4:

Rent a car (choose those car rental companies that are located at Brisbane airport) & collect it straight from Brisbane airport once you arrive, and drive yourself to Gold Coast.

We proceeded straight to Redspot counter (the car rental company) located at the far right of the Arrival Hall, provided Redspot with our booking details, & and that was it. The officer gave us the keys to the car plus TomTom, and told us to collect the car from carpark at the ground level of the airport. Do you know what/who is TomTom? It is a portable GPS car navigation system to enhance your driving experience. So do make sure that your rented car is equipped with it because roads are always changing, and the only way to stay up to date is to use TomTom! Trust me, life in a foreign country just gets so much easier with it. Suddenly, the country is not so foreign anymore, if you get what I mean.

Want to see our ride or not throughout our seven days in Gold Coast?

Here it is!

Very practical for a family with kids, I must say! We actually would be contented with a car that could accommodate the five of us, the twin stroller and our three pieces of luggage, but this Hyundai Luminax left us speechless.

It was definitely MORE than we asked for. So big, so spacious, so perfect. Thank you ROAM for this! We can never thank you guys enough.

Time to dump our luggage and the stroller (and three sleepy girls) into the car!

You know, right after our trip, both Tatek & I mutually agreed that we needed a change of car. Since the girls are bigger and take up more space now, the car needs to be able to accommodate to that. Insya’allah, if it is God’s will, we might just do that soon enough – get a new ride, that is.

I forgot to mention that the moment we reached the airport, the first thing I did was to proceed to Vodafone shop on the same level as Arrival Hall to purchase a prepaid Sim Card. After getting the advice from several friends in Twitter and Fb, we decided to purchase a Vodafone prepaid card instead of activating our auto roaming services. Best choice ever! You can choose to get either a $20 or $50 prepaid card. We chose the $50 of course and mind you, despite me always updating pictures on Instagram, FB and Twitter, and making several calls to Singapore during our trip, the card lasted till our last day in Gold Coast! So you should really consider getting a prepaid card each time you go traveling to save the hassle of worrying about your handphone bill after the trip/fun is over. You know how vacations always make you broke, right? Tatek used his auto roaming services for less than five mins to check on football updates. His bill came and it amounted to $100 plus for that less than five minutes usage. Tsk tsk.

Anywayyyy….

The moment the Nadyas got in the car, they fell asleep, one after another.

Okay lah, I lied a bit. They did not fall asleep exactly one after another.

Mysha took a while to fall asleep because she was singing ‘Tujuh Hari’ on repeated mode.

It was only after she got tired of singing did this happen.

It was a smooth ride all the way to Gold Coast, all thanks to GPS! Traffic was relatively smooth, and let me tell you, the vehicles really speed on the expressway over there. You know, we were like traveling at 100 km/hr and we could still see the big trucks overtaking us all the time! So can you imagine the speed they were travelling at?

I was truly, madly, deeply in love with the clear blue skies there. Out of say 1000 pictures in my camera, maybe 100 pictures are of the skies.

It took about an hour to reach our apartment – our super duper super duper super duper super duper super duper super duper SUPER DUPER awesome apartment, may I add.

Here it is, Meriton Serviced Apartment Broadbeach! Yes, the super duper awesome apartment.

Okay, I am super particular about cleanliness, it’s almost like a disease. I cannot tolerate it a bit even if the place we are staying in is not 100% clean. ROAM left it to our discretion to choose the hotel or apartment we wanted based on our needs and wants and believe me, I spent like about a week choosing the perfect accommodation for our stay. The reason why I decided on an apartment instead of a hotel was because I thought we could not possibly survive on just outside food for the seven days we were there. Besides, I know my husband and Sharleez especially cannot survive a day without rice and homecooked meals. Our main priorities when choosing the accommodation were:

1. A super clean apartment for us with lots of space for girls to play & run wild.
2. Having a full kitchen for me to whip out decent enough dishes for my husband and girls.
3. A fully air-conditioned apartment bearing in mind the hot weather in Gold Coast during our stay.

There are just so many apartments in Gold Coast, I tell you! SO MANY. It all depends on the location, size of apartment, and how particular you are about cleanliness at the end of the day, I think. The moment I chanced upon Meriton Serviced Apartment, I was already in love and I knew I wanted no other apartment. I depended on these pictures, their website, and also the feedback from Trip Advisor.

I was praying so hard that the apartment would look as nice or even better than the pictures. And boy was I not even 0.01% disappointed! Super duper clean, super duper nice, super duper spacious, and super duper accessible to places like Coles Supermarket, Target, Kmart, Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Starbucks, Nandos, Woolworths, and the kebab outlets! In fact, it was like only a 3 mins drive from our apartment to all the places I just mentioned.

My favorite word in this entry has got to be SUPER DUPER, if you have not already noticed and counted already. But I cannot help it, everything was just…SUPER DUPER AWESOME.

Here are the pictures of our actual apartment.

The living area!

The dining area!

The balcony!

We could see these breathtaking views from our apartment!

One of the 2 bedrooms. You can choose from 1 to 3 bedrooms when making your booking!

One of the 2 bathrooms. SUPER CLEAN! I could not even find anything not close to clean actually!

The kitchen! SUPER CLEAN TOO!

And oh, want to see what comes together with the kitchen? You will be so impressed, I tell you!

A fridge & cooking stove!

An oven.

A microwave oven.

Complete set of utensils!

Complete set of cutlery!

The laundry room!

Believe me now when I said the apartment was SUPER DUPER AWESOME? You know, my girls were so in love with the apartment that they kept asking when we would go back to the apartment each time we were out from the apartment for barely five minutes. There’s just something about them and hotels/apartments lah. Maybe we should renovate our house and make it look like a hotel or something. Hahaha! We were very exhausted the moment we reached the apartment so we all took a nap for a while before heading to Coles Supermarket for some grocery shopping!

Coles has quite a wide range of Asian food for us to choose from as compared to Woolworths. This is the Asian food section!

Not bad right? And most of them are Halal.

Our saviour during our stay there had to be ABC Sweet Sauce! Hahaha. It tastes good with almost everything – fried egg, fried chicken, rice, you name it.  I also bought different types of fried rice paste like Nasi Goreng Kampung paste, Oriental Fried Rice paste, and Cantonese Fried Rice paste. So on days when we did not feel like eating plain rice, we had the fried rice paste to save us! And although they do have Halal butchery, we did not take the extra mile to find them. Instead, we just relied on Nandos & the Kebab outlets there! Hahaha. For instance, we bought the whole chicken with lime & herb (not spicy, so girls could eat too), cooked rice once back at the apartment , and ate the chicken with hot rice, sweet sauce, and fried egg! So so nice, I tell you. The leftover chicken I used to fry with fried rice for next day’s menu. So yeah, we survived and most importantly, we enjoyed the food! Nothing beats comfort (& Halal) food, right? It made us feel so much closer to home throughout the seven days, definitely. You should see the state of my hand okay – blistered  and all from the cooking. Poor me. So that was our Day 1 basically. We watched TV for a while after dinner while girls played with their Barbie dolls. Oh yeah, we bought Barbie Dolls for them over there! When you have girls, you can never escape from Barbie Dolls no matter how far you are from Singapore.

We were in bed by about 10 pm Australian time. The bed was just too tempting!

DAY 2:

We decided to do a little bit of shopping on Day 2 because I kept thinking of Harbour Town Shopping Outlet the night before. I even dreamt about it…NOT! Hahaha!

And besides, we wanted to try out Nandos for the first time ever. Since there is Nandos at Harbour Town, might as well we killed two birds with one stone. It was basically just a straight drive to Harbour Town, about 15 mins away from our apartment. Again, I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of GPS! So easy to find our way around, really.

So we had our lunch at Nandos – spicy for us, and lime & herb for the girls! My verdict? Pretty alright, not bad! I still cannot understand the hype about it though. I think it is a bit overrated? But then again, that’s just me. Your tastebud and mine – NOT THE SAME! It would have tasted better with chili sauce but in Australia, they do not provide that. Therefore, do not expect to eat your fast food with chili sauce there. It’s either tomato ketchup or if you are lucky, sweet chili sauce.

We did not exactly do our shopping that day because we wanted to just explore Harbour Town and save the shopping for another day once we already figured out what exactly we wanted to get. Besides, the shopping centers there close at 5 pm! So we figured we would do our massive shopping on Thursday as they close at 7 pm on Thursdays. But trust me, you will go crazy at Harbour Town! It is almost impossible to not spend when you are there. But I was actually quite disappointed to see the Cotton On Kids collection this time round – not much variety and sizes available were limited. In fact, I ended up not shopping a lot for the Nadyas when I had actually anticipated that most of our money would be spent on their clothes and all. From Harbour Town, we decided to drop by the beach which was actually just a three minutes walk from our apartment. Girls had some fun at the playground but my camera battery was already so flat by then, so no pictures of fun at the playground.

Just look at the strong waves!

The Nadya in green was super scared of the sand, and kept tripping and falling as a result of her fear. She just does not like the tingling feeling of  sand. Hahaha I will not embarrass her by mentioning her name here so you can keep on guessing who.

Before calling it a day, we decided to make a trip once again to Coles because girls just wanted more snacks for their TV time later that night! We kept snacking while we were there so our snacks went out of stock pretty fast. We had to keep stocking like almost every single day!

Once back at the apartment, again it was homecooked dinner & comfort food for us. End of Day 2.

DAY 3:

We started Day 3 bright and early because it was Movie World day! Woke up at 7.30 am and planned to reach Movie World at 10 am exactly. But well, we only managed to leave the apartment close to 10 am due to the girls wanting different kinds of breakfast. But it was not that bad, we reached Movie World at about 10.30 a.m. I am just so glad that I decided to purchase the tickets for the theme parks online prior to the trip. Two advantages of doing so:

1. You save $ when you purchase online because there are always like 10% discounts for online purchases.
2. You avoid the terribly long queue once you are at the theme parks & have more time to explore the theme parks.

Got it? So do purchase your tickets beforehand too, okay?

I wish they had something like what the girls were wearing in my size so that I could be a bit shameless and pretend that everyone loves my blog, you know? Hahahaha! Such a shameless confession. But never mind, I am sure you all know by now that my Nadyas take turns to be my alter-ego.

Myreen was gritting her teeth here because she did not want to pose for the camera. She was already too excited to leave for Movie World! Mysha on the other hand, was plain honest. She did not want to even try to look happy for the camera. You can obviously see the boredom in her face. She was like, “When are we going to Movie World? Urghhh.”

Super impatient. Throughout the journey to Movie World, they took turns to ask, “Are we there yet?”

Ssshhh Nadyas!

I super love how super considerate Australians are!

Finally, after surviving a massive traffic, we finally reached Movie World!

Pretty surreal at that moment, I must say. Prior to our trip, I had only seen pictures of Gold Coast from the internet. So to be able to finally be there physically was really beyond my wildest belief. So we did what any overly excited person would do  - we took a picture at the entrance of Movie World. If not, nobody would believe that we did go to Movie World. How typical, right? I am sure you do that all the time too. Hehehehe.

Now, when you are at any theme park, always refer to the map/directory given. Always target the shows first, because showtimes are always pretty limited. Once you have watched the shows, then it is basically free & easy till the theme park closes for the day.

So who did we ‘bump into’ at Movie World?
We saw Marilyn Monroe. She must have gone for a face job because she looked so different from the Marilyn Monroe we all used to know.

Catwoman. A super sexy and pretty Catwoman, may I add. It was literally a jawdropping moment when we saw her.

Austin Powers. I really pitied him because he was just standing there waiting for anyone or someone to take a picture with him. So Tatek was like, “B, poor thing. I take picture with him la, never mind.” Thank you for your sacrifice, Tatek. I am sure Austin Powers appreciated that.

Wonder Woman and gang. She was running around prior to this photoshoot and practically everyone there was just checking out and snapping pictures of her ermmm…rear. I accidentally snapped a picture of that too! But of course I will not put up the picture here.

The Looney Tunes cast. You know, it was our first time seeing the girl bunny. Nadyas told me that she is Bugs Bunny’s girlfriend but none of them knew what her name was at that point of time. So they kept pestering me to find out. Of course I did what I will always do in times of doubt – I GOOGLED IT. Her name is Lola okay, ladies and gentlemen? L O L A.

Scooby Doo Disco Detectives. I grew up watching Scooby Doo. Did you?

Batman. What do I say here? Batman is really just.. Batman. Okay fine, he was so hunky and all. Were those real muscles by the way, Mr Batman?

It was really that easy to have our pictures taken with the costumed characters at Movie World actually. They were practically everywhere. Just as long as you remember to be civilized, queue, and wait for your turn, you will definitely get a picture with everyone of them.

We truly enjoyed the All-Star Parade because while we were expecting just a showcase of the costumed character performers, the Looney Tunes cast surprised us with a shuffle to ‘Party Rock Anthem’. Super hilarious yet cool, I tell you. And unlike the All-Star Parade at HK Disneyland where you cannot really interact or get close to the characters, the costumed character performers at Movie World will actually come to you to give you a high five or hug during the parade itself. The Nadyas had a little squabble thereafter because some of them did not get a high five from some of the characters. They went “I am so sad because Tweety Bird never give me a high five.” and “How come Bugs Bunny’s girlfriend never come to me?” Oh, and a couple of “Hmpfff!” and “Urghhh!” along the way too. Girls will be girls, really.

This is proof of how close Daffy Duck was to me. Seriously, what was he trying to do?

After the All-Star Parade, it was time for rides and games!

Tatek tried his luck.

And won this jester hat! Wow. Hahahaha!

And just as we were walking out of Movie World, we saw Tweety Bird plush toys going at only $10, so we decided to buy a Tweety Bird each for the Nadyas.

Their Tweety Birds were with them almost everywhere they went ever since then for the rest of the trip.

They posed with Tweety Bird and errr.. BIG BIRD?

They slept with Tweety Bird.

They put on shoes with Tweety Bird.

Why, the Tweety Birds even sat on the sofa and watched TV!

That’s how it is like when you have guniangs. So since we already had pretty long day at Movie World, Nadyas fell asleep on our way back to the apartment yet again…but this time with Tweety Bird. Tatek on the other hand, had TomTom as a companion to lead us back.

Since Woolworths supermarket was very near to our apartment, we thought we might as well do our grocery shopping there and check out the Asian food section there. I think Coles is like so many times better in terms of the Asian food section – more variety definitely. So we ended up buying chocolates only.

And was pretty amused by this.

Everybody now LOL! That’s laugh out loud, to those of you who are still clueless.

Day 4:

Day 4 was a Thursday, and the shopping centres close slightly later on Thursdays; 7 pm instead of the usual 5.30 pm. So we figured we should do our major shopping during that day. And we did just that! We went to Target first and spent the rest of the day at Harbour Town. Target has pretty awesome stuff and great deals too! And it was super near to our apartment!

We reached Harbour Town at about noon, and we spent like 6 hours there! Hahahaha. The one thing about going on a holiday is, you will end up shopping for others instead of yourself most of the time. Who’s with me? I actually prepared a list of names prior to our shopping trip. So yeah, I did not exactly shop for myself over there. I was pretty disappointed actually with the Cotton On Kids over there because they did not have that much variety for my girls during our period of visit. As a result, I did not get to shop that much for the Nadyas too. Tatek was the most luckiest person I would say because he got to shop the most.  U N F A I R.

Look at the very happy shopper!

It was a good decision to bring the twin stroller during our shopping day because we knew the girls would not last that long.They were pretty restless and tired after some time, so the stroller was their resting bay. Phew! We did not have to handle three whiny girls as a result. Oh, treats like lollipops did the trick too. You know how kids are, right?

Thank goodness we already visited Harbour Town prior to this so we actually knew where to get what, and what to get for who. It’s all about strategy, my friends.

As usual, we were all very exhausted by the time we were done. So it was straight back to the apartment and homecooked dinner for all. I was actually always excited to cook during our stay there because “If Yan can cook, so can I.” And so can you. Or anybody. I love this catchphrase because I grew up watching Martin Yan’s cooking shows.  I was always so amazed by how he could chop food especially onion frantically while smiling at the camera. And I thought to myself, “I must learn to chop onions like him.”

So that was it. End of Day 4.

Oh my god! Something extremely funny happened on Day 5. Clue: MACADAMINAH.

But my post has to end here for now, you see?

WHAT? THIS CANNOT BE!

Hehehe okay just kidding! Let’s click HERE for Day 5 to 7 of #Goldcoast2012 post!

HAVE YOU HEARD?

We are going Gold Coast come February 2012, insya’allah.

I am super keyed up for it already because the last time we had a proper getaway was to HK Disneyland. And then, due to Studiofrost/makeup assignments, and Tatek’s working schedule, we could only go for staycations. Why,  not that we are complaining now but hey, stay cations do not involve careful planning! So since the opportunity came for us to have a proper vacation finally, I figured why not? After all, family vacations allow us to be fully present with our children, doing things that we would never have done as a family, and stepping out of our comfort zone. Believe me, I step out of my comfort zone BIG time during every vacation.

And yes, my poor husband needs a good break. A really good break.

Conscious parenting is super important, and this is what I want to bring to my parenting time sometimes, if not all the time. It involves connecting with my children on a soul level, while paying close attention to our relationships, our surroundings, our choices. Instead of always switching to our ‘default mode’, it is always good to take a step back to see whether the kids’ needs, wants and interests have changed. From there, we can rethink about the kind of parent that we want to be, and not the kind of parent that we are supposed to be for our kids. It’s expectations we set for ourselves that matter at the end of the day, yes?

And I have a very accommodating & super awesome travel agency to say my BIG thanks to, especially ‘Snow White Auntie’.  I shall blog more about ‘Snow White Auntie’ when everything else is finalized.

Meanwhile, Nadyas are already asking about their Gold Coast trip.

Bet they cannot wait to dress up for Summer!

Stay close for more updates via my Twitter and Facebook as we draw closer to the actual trip!

Wishes do come true. All you need to do is to believe.

I believed, and well… my wishes came true one fine day.

It was really something beyond my wildest belief, to be able to go to HK Disneyland with my daughters and husband finally. You can never imagine how thrilled my girls were when they found out that they were going to visit Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Mickey Mouse! Sharleez could not contain her excitement in fact and kept asking prior to the trip when exactly we would reach HK Disneyland to see the princesses. Myreen on the other hand, wanted to see Mickey Mouse because Mickey House Clubhouse is after all, her favourite TV show. Hot Dog! Mysha being Mysha, wanted to just see whoever Sharleez and Myreen wanted to see so that you know, she got the best of both worlds. Smart girl! Thank you Thank you THANK YOU to everyone involved for making this a reality for us. And to you, my most beloved readers, I know you have been waiting for this entry! After all, I had sooooo many of you tweeting, emailing and leaving me PMs in Facebook to blog about my HK experience as soon as possible.

Okay here you go!

They say HK Disneyland is a magical place. Magical? Just what is so magical about HK Disneyland? Why must every kid and adult go there at least once every year for a holiday? I know of so many friends and acquaintances who keep going to HK Disneyland for their yearly vacation.

Never been there before? Here’s what you have been missing out on. Booo yaaa!

Disneyland is unlike any other fun parks which are built for thrills and hair raising experiences. Disneyland is simply built for that magical enjoyment with your family. When we were there, it really made us forget about the real world for a while. The girl in me and the boy in my husband were unleashed when we were there. We took one ride after another, queued up just for a photo taking session with Minnie Mouse, and shrieked in excitement when we saw the beautiful fireworks at the castle. But this is just a summary of what we did there. A pretty long one. ;p

Come along with me now and enjoy as I take you to Hong Kong and HK Disneyland! Do take note of the 15 great pointers as well for those Muslims out there who are intending to go to HK!

 DAY ONE:

Our flight to HK was as early as 6.45 am so that required us to do some major planning with regards to the girls’ bedtime, our wake up time, and of course packing. We had to reschedule their bedtime the night before and made them sleep by 8 pm so that by the time we woke them up at 3 am the next morning, they would already have 7 hours of sleep and be fresh for the plane ride. Daddy and Mak woke up as early as 3 am too and drove us to the airport. My parents-in-law met us at the airport to send us off too. Thank god for these folks, really! They didn’t have to be there but they still came despite it being in the wee hours of the morning. And I know why – they had to give hugs and kisses to the Nadyas. Thank you Nana, Dada, Nenek and Atok!  We missed all of you terribly while we were away, by the way.

 

 

We reached HK airport at about 11 am. Since Popeye’s at the airport is halal, we decided to have a very heavy lunch before heading to the Cosmo Kowloon hotel for an early check-in. Why not Hotel Disneyland instead? See, during our first two days in Hong Kong, it was free and easy for us – we could go anywhere we wanted to and do the necessary – sightseeing, shopping and explore halal makan places over there.

 

From the airport, we took the airport express MTR to our hotel. Days before our trip, I googled to find out the nearest MTR to the hotel that we would be staying in for the first two days, and also the nearest MTR stations to everywhere we planned to go during our stay in HK. . Save the money for the shopping, not cab fares! And in case you are wondering, the MTR does work the same way as our very own MRT!

 

The weather was cooling, but not cold enough until it required us to put on sweaters, snow caps and our gloves. Wasted I say because we brought along our snow caps and gloves, okayyy? But thank goodness I brought along my brown boots. Nyeh nyeh! Those boots are definitely made for walking! Temperature there was around 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, so yeah it was cold BUT bearable. In fact, the weather was really cooling that we were not even bothered by the hot scorching sun right above us. The result? BBQ version of us when we came back to Singapore. THAT too we did not realize until my Dad made a remark on how dark we all were. Haha!

The moment we reached our hotel, of course we could not wait to see our hotel rooms and just…COLLAPSE. The Nadyas were jumping in joy and shrieking like baby hyenas when they entered the hotel room because they just love hotels so much.

You know, pillow fights and girly stuff like that.

 

Since we were pretty much exhausted still from the early flight and all, everyone napped for about three hours. For dinner, we took a cab to Nathan Road, which was about a 10 mins ride from the hotel. Once there, we went to Chung King Mansion, which is very near to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR and ordered dinner from Bismillah Kebab, Shop No. 75. There were quite a number of Halal Indian food outlets there but somehow, Bismillah Kebab caught our attention, thanks to the extremely friendly staff and the outlook of the eatery. We ordered chicken briyani, chicken fried rice and fish and chips, and decided to take away our dinner instead. We thought it would be nicer to eat together in the hotel room instead. My verdict on Bismillah Kebab? Food is nice and serving is more than generous. No pictures of food because we were too hungry to even think of anything else that would not be able to fill our empty stomach like taking pictures.

After a very heavy dinner, we called it a wrap and slept, exactly at 8 pm. Very healthy lifestyle, I know.

So that was our first day in HK.

Ready for some tips?

Tip 1: Do ensure to prepare some activities or favourite toys for your little ones that will occupy them throughout the entire plane ride. Even though our flight to HK was only about 3 h 15 mins, the girls got bored easily, no thanks to the sitting in the plane.  For a list of great plane activities, click HERE.

Tip 2: Have a good meal at Popeye’s at the airport before heading to your hotel. Pack some biscuits and burger too while you are at it.

Tip 3: Take the MTR if possible because it works exactly the same way as SMRT. However, do plan where you want to go and find out the nearest MTR to the place that you want to go. How to? GOOGLE!

Tip 4: If you go to HK in November, just a jacket or long sleeved top/pants will do. In December, a sweater will do just fine.

Tip 5: Try chicken fried rice from Bismillah Kebab, Shop No. 75 at Chung King Mansion near to Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station. Opening hours is from 9 am to 11.30 pm, and they even do delivery to your hotel. Numbers to call: 27225733/23696786

DAY TWO:

Everyone was awake by 7 am – it was either because we had an early night or we were simply too excited to start the day. I choose the latter because I know I could not wait to venture Hong Kong. For Day 2, since we started the day early and fresh, we were a bit more adventurous and aimed to go to 3 places – the famous Halal Dimsum at Ammar and Osman Ramju mosque for our brunch, Victoria Peak for some sightseeing, and Citygate outlet for some shopping. Did we manage to go to all three places? Well, of course we did! Don’t underestimate the tourist me. I did not research, google, and plan for the entire trip in my Mircrosoft Word for nothing, you know? Since we intended to go out for one whole day, we brought along the twins’ stroller so that they could have their nap in their stroller.

To go to Ammar and Osman Ramju mosque, we took the MTR to Wan Chai station, and took a cab thereafter. The cab ride was less than 5 mins although it involved a lot of turns before we finally reached our destination.  I have to say that our best meal in Hong Kong had to be at Ammar and Osman Ramju mosque. Everyone ate their fill and despite us ordering food enough to feed the entire village, the total bill only came up to 269 HKD. In SGD, that is about $40 only! The dim sum is to die for, seriously. We kept ordering the dim sum because it was just that nice – totally different from the dim sum you find in Singapore, and undeniably the best halal dim sum I have ever tasted this far. I would vouch for it with my name Diah Mastura Roslan! The seafood fried rice, chicken fried rice and noodles are just as nice too. Again, since we were already there, we packed some food to fill our stomach for later.

 

Ammar and Osman Ramju mosque is a must to visit if you intend to go to Hong Kong. It is open daily from 10 am to 9 pm. Friendly staff, nice ambience, and GREAT food.

From the mosque, we took a cab to Victoria Peak. We had wanted to take the MTR but because the twins needed their nap, we chose the cab instead so that they could sleep in the cab and wake up just in time for Victoria Peak. Do you know that Victoria Peak is the highest point within Hong Kong? We should have taken the tram to The Peak but our cab took up all the way up. When you are at Victoria Peak, it is like having a bird eye’s view of Hong Kong. Given the choice, we would have preferred to go to Victoria Peak at night because I have heard that the night view there is really beautiful. But with three small girls, that was not even a choice. And did I mention that it was super cold too over there because we were after all, so high up. Look at Sharleez’s expression – she was frustrated because she was shivering. Haha!

 

 

When you are at Victoria Peak, be sure to also visit Madame Tussauds Wax Museum to view your favourite celebrities wax figures like Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Lee, and… HIDAYAT WAHAB!

Oops, I am sorry for the mix-up. Hidayat Wahab is not even a celebrity to begin with, so how to be a wax figure, right? But seriously, it is amazing how all these wax figures really look like the real McCoy. How to tell the differences, really.

From Victoria Peak, we took a cab to the nearest MTR and headed to Tung Chung station for the Citygate outlets. What’s the biggie about Citygate outlets? Well, they are basically factory outlets of branded stuff like Esprit, Nike, Adidas, Coach, and Crocs. I did my shopping mainly at Crocs because the Crocs for kids were selling at just 144 HKD which converts to 28 SGD! How cheap is that? So yes, the girls each got themselves 3 brand new pairs of CROCS. Nothing for Mummy. Nothing for Daddy.

We did some grocery shopping at the supermarket, and bought some titbits, bread and jam for our breakfast the next morning.

 

Thank god for happy helpers like Myreen!

We took the MTR back to our hotel, and ordered Bismillah Kebab for dinner. They took less than an hour to deliver our dinner, by the way.

We were not as hopeless as we were on day 1 – we did not go to bed right after dinner. The girls had several rounds of story time by Daddy and Mummy and a bit of playtime before it was bedtime. Excellent – I like it when there is still routine no matter where we can be.

So that was our day two in Hong Kong.

Tip 6: If you have to take the cab in HK, make sure you know the name of the road. Knowing the name of the building only will not suffice because Hong Kong is so big.

Tip 7: For those with small children, bringing along a stroller will help you more than you could ever imagine.

Tip 8: It’s better to take a cab from Wan Chai MTR to Sultan Anmar mosque because even though it is only a 5 min cab ride, it is not that easy to find.

DAY THREE:

Once again, we were already up by about 7 am. If we had been excited the days before, we were more than excited on day three because we were checking out from the hotel and heading to Disneyland finally! Pity my girls because they had been waiting to meet Mickey and friends! We could not wait to check out from the hotel but we had to wait a bit before we could check out. So while waiting, the camera became our victim again.

 

Sharleez taught us the Princess pose. Like this!

Since Disneyland was quite a distance from our hotel, we took a cab! We would have taken the MTR instead if not for the luggage plus stroller plus three little Nadyas. The moment we arrived at Disneyland Hotel, I was speechless for a moment. The view was so breathtakingly beautiful.

 

Everyone was super friendly, super nice and super helpful over there, we really felt at home. Again, we were granted an early check-in. The room, oh my god, THE ROOM, was more than we had imagined it to be! We were beyond control the moment we entered the room. Once again, we were given two hotel rooms instead of just one! And do you want to know what’s inside each hotel room? Two queen sized beds, a balcony with a nice view of the swimming pool, a nice big toilet with a nice bathtub, and a wardrobe with three bathrobes for Mummy, Daddy and the little one. But wait I am not done yet. I did mention that we were given two rooms, but did I mention that our rooms were connected to one another. So that makes it 1 very big hotel room with 4 queen sized beds, two balconies, two nice toilets with two nice bathtubs, and two wardrobes with 6 bathrobes for Mummy, Daddy and the little ones! Let me catch my breath for a while now.

 

Shortly after we checked in, we went down to meet up with the HKDL PR and they distributed our passes and coupons for Disneyland Resort.

High Tea was booked for us at the Grand Salon at the lobby of Disneyland hotel in true Victorian Style. We had requested for a no pork no lard menu prior to that. I like the whole idea of a Victorian afternoon tea with the loved ones - it is such a simple yet sophisticated affair altogether. We were served an assortment of cakes, pastries, cookies, salmon sandwiches and of course, TEA.

 

Once high tea was done, we took the shuttle bus from the hotel to Disneyland Resort. It was less than a 5 min ride but since we were too excited, it felt like forever before we finally reached Disneyland Resort. At Disneyland Resort, we had a tour guide for the day, Carmen. Such a nice and friendly lady, indeed. She is one of the many friendly staff working at Disneyland Resort. What Carmen did was to bring us around the entire Disneyland Resort to enjoy the many rides and shows.

First things first, Disneyland park consists of FOUR themed lands:

1. Fantasyland
2. Tomorrowland
3. Adventureland
4. Main Street, U.S.A

We managed to watch the Disney “Let It Snow” Christmas Parade up, very close and almost personal right on time. The Disney “Let It Snow” Christmas Parade is basically a parade by all the Disney characters and their accompanying dancers. So you can imagine us (yes, me and Tatek included) going “Oooooh” and “Waahhhhh!” when the Disney characters walked past us.

 And just because it was a Christmas Parade, there was snow!

 

Of course it was not real snow. It was actually just foam!  But since we were at Disneyland, we made believe that it was real snow.

After the parade, it was basically more tour, more shows and more rides.

We especially enjoyed the “It’s a small world” fun boat ride at Fantasy Land. It was like a boat ride around the world with costumed dolls and Disney characters as we sang along to the song. We took the ride twice so I guess I do not have to elaborate on just how much my girls enjoyed the ride.

   

“Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters” was also really fun and thrilling because during this ride, we had to use our laser guns to blast the enemy targets. Bang! Bang! We relived our childhood there and then.

Of course the girls had difficulties trying to shoot at the target accurately. Why, they were afraid to even hold the guns! I do not blame them because I always tell them that they are not allowed to play with guns – so when they were given laser guns and asked to shoot, they did not know whether to listen to Mummy, or to just have fun for that few minutes. They were all the more confused when they saw me shooting at the targets (hardly accurate, may I add) and hysterically laughing for every target hit and missed. What a contradicting mummy.  :S

Another ride that you must take is “The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh”. In this storytelling and indoor ride through the Hundred Acre Wood, you will be sure to bump into Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore and the rest of the gang. Any kid will enjoy this ride because any kid enjoys storytelling.

 

Besides the rides, we also went for the Golden Mickey show. This musical extravaganza honours all the Disney films and makes you feel like you are really watching an award show. All the characters will also be present to sing a song and perform a dance or two.

 

At night, we waited in front of the gorgeous Sleeping Beauty Castle for the “Disney in the Stars” fireworks. Never in my life have I seen firework displays as spectacular and as breath taking as the ones I saw at Disneyland. They are just so colourful, radiating and mighty. The fireworks are just full of energy. Ahh yes, full of energy best describes the fireworks. My pictures did not justice to what I just stated because well, you just HAVE to be there to witness everything yourself.

 

 The child in me was actually secretly hoping for Sleepy Beauty to wave at us from the castle. She did not of course! Hahaaa!

We did shop a bit at the many Disney stores available at Disneyland Resort! We went crazy. You will too. The Nadyas got for themselves a princess dress set each. To know who chose what, you have to wait for Sharleez’s birthday party!

 

We ended first day at Disneyland Resort with this picture of the very tired us. Even the camera was tired (of us).

 

We could not wait to get back to the hotel to slumber. The Nadyas on the other hand, could not wait to get into the bathtub despite feeling so exhausted already. On normal days, I will never allow them to bathe that late but because we were at Disneyland, everything is/was possible.  Rules were all thrown to one side and would only be collected back on our last day.

Tip 9: To watch the Disney Parade, be sure to arrive at least about 30 mins earlier to get a good spot and view of the entire parade. Believe me, the crowd is madness!

Tip 10: Disneyland will be coming up with a new parade to celebrate its 5^th anniversary next year so you might not want to miss out on this one. They will be coming out with a new parade altogether.

Tip 11: The best period to go to HK is during the November to December period because that’s when HK is the coldest.

Tip 12: For those with small kids like us, start your day early at Disneyland, leave around naptime, go back to the hotel to rest for a bit, and go back to the park once everyone is energized. Cranky kids are not easy to please, right?

 

DAY FOUR:

During our last day in Disneyland hotel, we had to be up early because we had a buffet breakfast booked for us at the Enchanted Garden with the Disney Characters at 9.30 am! Do they like even sleep, these characters? Finally, we were going to rub shoulders with them. Prior to the HK trip even, Tatek and I had told the girls to not be scared of the characters. I mean, it would be such a waste to travel all the way from Singapore and end up not getting a proper picture with at least one Disney Character in Disneyland. And it was really nice to see the Disney characters coming to every table to have their picture taken with us.

 

 

 

 Mickey in his Christmas outfit. How cute!

Goofy!

After breakfast, it was time to go to Disneyland Resort for the last time before we headed back to Singapore later in the evening. MUST SHOP. MUST TAKE MORE PICTURES. MUST TAKE MORE RIDES. MUST USE MAGIC PASSES.

 

Here’s a sneak preview!

 Another thing I really love about Disneyland is the Gingerbread Village located at the Main Street USA, where all the houses are nicely decorated with colourful sweets and candies. Each house belongs to a Disney character and we actually went around looking for all the houses of our favourite characters like Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Daisy Duck and Goofy.

And while the M&Ms were having their nap in their stroller, Sharleez had a picture taken with Minnie Mouse. We actually wanted to wait for the photo taking session with all the princesses in the evening but at the same time, we had a plane to catch back to Singapore. So yeah. Sharleez and the girls would have loved to meet up with the princesses. Come on, girls and princesses and everything pink – do not even bother separating them all. Believe me, I have tried so many times but like I said, do not even bother trying.

 

As expected, the girls did not want to leave Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Hotel because they had so much fun there. When told that we were going to take the aeroplane back to Singapore, Myreen actually cried. “I want to go Dish-ni-land!” L If only I could buy you girls Disneyland, I would. Unfortunately, I could only afford to buy you toys from Disneyland. But hey, I bought all of you the princess gowns complete the gloves and tiaras and wands and purses okay? So go play princess all you want until you get tired of being princesses and everything pink!

 

 

Tip 13: It is good to explore the entire Disneyland before shopping there because believe me, it is so really cumbersome to walk around the park and go for rides with big bags of goodies.

Tip 14: For parents with small kids, fret not if you decide not to bring strollers to HK because you can easily rent one at Town Square (near the entrance) for just HKD 60 (about 10 SGD). Click HERE for more info!

Tip 15: Plan your stay at Disneyland wisely. You need at least 2 days there – one day for the rides, the second day to take pictures with all the characters. Queue to take picture with each character takes at least 20 mins!

 All in all, we really had such a wonderful time in Hong Kong, especially at Hong Kong Disneyland. We came back to Singapore with not only our luggage full of souvenirs, but with memories to last us for a life time.

 

And yes, it was indeed a magical stay.

 

Biggest thanks to HK Disneyland & Nuffnang for making this possible, of course!

For more information on park tickets & reservations, click HERE!

To book a room at Disneyland Hotel & experience what we experienced, click HERE!

Till next time!  Enjoy the remnants of your holiday, ya?

Okay, let me come clean.

I am really very extremely terribly incredibly awfully dreadfully horribly EXCITED about the upcoming trip to Hong Kong Disneyland! I was not this excited UNTIL I received the confirmed itinerary and flight details just today! Everything, from our flight tickets to our accommodation to Hong Kong Disneyland has already been booked and finalized. Thank you HK Disneyland and of course, the wonderful Nuffnang team for this sponsored trip. I am so sure my girls would not be able to contain their excitement when they see Disneyland itself and all the characters come to life.

So how did I spend the entire of today? I did my endless research and planning for our Hong Kong trip, of course! I am a bit apprehensive actually about what we would eat during our 4 days there, but thanks to my VERY fruitful research and wonderful tips from friends, I am now more convinced that we would be able to find Halal food in Hong Kong without much difficulty. 

And because I am paranoid like that, I even had a checklist prepared for every single person in the family who is going for the trip. Let’s just say I am worried we might leave the most important thing behind. You can never be too sure, you know?

I really cannot wait to share my Hong Kong Disneyland experience with all of you but before I can do that, I reckon I should talk less and errr… go to Disneyland first?

Sounds like a plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a good holiday, you all!