April 14, 2011. After lunch, we left “Main Street, U.S.A.” and proceeded to the next section of the park, “Adventureland,” a jungle inspired section with a river and a small island with a giant tree at the center. We rode the “Jungle River Cruise” which took us around the waterway. There were mechanical animals (elephants, hippo’s, gorillas and other monkeys), and other ‘surprises’ at select sections and bends of the ‘river’. The ‘climax’ towards the end is a simulated earthquake and volcanic eruption with real fire and smoke, and with splashes of water.

While we were going through the ‘cruise’, it made me realize how the concept of Westerners exploring the jungle and conquering the land as if it was free for their own taking is constantly reinforced in children’s literature. The native population were portrayed as uncivilized, blood-thirsty tribes with dark skin and unintelligible chanting, worthy and deserving of Western submission.

We skipped Tarzan’s island with the giant tree at the center of Adventureland, because the lines were too long and it didn’t really look too exciting. We also missed the “Festival of the Lion King” show, which runs just thrice throughout the day.

The next section of the park is “Fantasyland,” the fairytale-inspired part of Disneyland. It has quite a number of kid-friendly rides (read, boring), such as the “Dumbo the Flying Elephant” octopus ride of sorts, the usual carousel and a teacup ride. I joined Tisay in riding the Dumbo ride, and we fell in line for almost fifteen minutes for it, only to realize that the boring ride only took us round and round on a baby elephant with big ears for just a minute.

One of the highlights of any visit to Disneyland is to witness the “Flights of Fantasy” parade of Disney characters and floats. We mistakenly thought this was to happen late in the afternoon, so when we saw the parade of Toy Story a few hours after lunch time, we thought it was just some random performance so we moved on after taking a few photos. It turned out to be the tail of the parade, which we effectively did not witness anymore.

The better attraction in Fantasyland is perhaps the “Mickey’s Philharmagic” theater which shows a 3D presentation of clips from some of Disney’s classic animated films, including its theme songs. The show can evoke nostalgia for children of the 90′s. Another ride in Fantasyland is the “It’s a Small World” castle, which takes visitors on a boat ride inside the indoor river that showcases dolls of different costumes in different themed sets. There’s even a a Southeast Asian section with a pair of Philippine dolls singing “It’s a Small World After All” in Filipino.

–
Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2

–
Click here for Hong Kong Tour Packages