It was near 6:00pm in the evening on Christmas Eve, the tree lighting ceremony was about to start. Picture a 60' tree all decorated with large colored balls of gold and blue. Huge decorated presents surrounded the tree just waiting to be opened. People started to gather as a stage rolled out with Santa Goofy dancing around some singers. They started to sing Christmas tunes that had a very happy beat, guests started swaying in the street. Mickey and Minnie then made an entrance digging their hands into a large canvas bag to each take a handful of magic dust to light up the tree. The lights on Main Street U.S.A., then all went out to shroud us all in darkness. Mickey and Minnie threw the magic dust that they had in their hands up at the tree to slowly start the lighting of the tree with magic. The dark tree in stages started to glow until all that was left was the star at the top of the tree. Suddenly the dark star lit up like an ocean of diamonds, and the crowd started to cheer. We then turned around while we stood right in the middle of Main Street to see the lights come back on. To our great amazement it was snowing! Hong Kong has never seen snow, but on this day in Hong Kong Disneyland it was snowing. The kids went nuts, and then I went nuts. My wife and I ran down Main Street with the snow falling on and all around us! Only Disney could make it snow for the very first time in Hong Kong's history. If you are in Hong Kong during the Christmas holiday season you must make sure to visit Hong Kong Disneyland to see it snow. It is super cool for sure, don't miss the magic!

We then walked over to the Hong Kong Disneyland Hollywood Hotel and Resort for our Christmas Eve buffet dinner. We went right to Chef Mickey, three cast members took us right to our table. We were so excited we went right to the buffet for our Christmas Eve dinner. The buffet had everything that anyone could ever want to eat. The desert island features a fountain of chocolate that is perfect for dipping marshmallows into. Oh they were so good, we each had several! My wife and I had a wonderful time, a wonderful dinner, and made possible by super Disneyland cast members. The prices are most reasonable, along with no charge party favors for every person. Our evening was romantic and warm with the clock striking 12, we turned to each other and wished each a very Merry magical Christmas! A magical Christmas for sure.

I pre-purchased tickets for a very Happy New Year party at Hong Kong Disneyland, a party like no other that Hong Kong has ever celebrated before. This would be a Magical Disneyland New Years party, with family fun happening all over the park. We went around all of the lands sampling foods off of carts from around the world. The smoked turkey legs in Adventureland were simply delicious! We had satay kabobs covered with a Thai sauce on Main Street. To top it all off we then in Tomorrowland purchased a huge bucket of Buzz Lightyear popcorn. The bucket had a cool shoulder strap to make it even easier to eat the delicious popcorn. Now we were both so full so we went over to Fantasyland's Royal Banquet Hall to share a German sausage with rice covered with a great tomato sauce. Now we were really full, wow!

It was nearly midnight so we went over to a spot in front of our Sleeping Beauty Castle to count down 2005 and welcome 2006 in full Mickey Mouse style. Just our luck a coffee cart was nearby our spot so we purchased a couple of cups of the hot stuff. With our coffees in our hands, we enjoyed seeing everybody dancing enjoying the Disney tunes playing in the background. The count down started at midnight, hello 2006, we wished each other a Happy New Year! We both thought that that was all nice, but to our surprise Hong Kong Disneyland was not done yet. A huge boom happened, and a giant firework exploded over the Sleeping Beauty Castle, the crowd just stood in awe. Only a few seconds later what Hong Kong Disneyland did next was one of the best firework shows that I ever have seen. This will even include the firework show I stood before during my visit to Walt Disney World at Christmas / New Year in 1971 / 1972. Suddenly fireworks shot and exploded off of Space Mountain, then at the same time Main Street had the rooftops a blaze with explosions and fireworks shooting into the air. Fireworks continued to explode over our Sleeping Beauty Castle. In every direction that one could turn, fireworks were everywhere! My wife and I just could not believe what we were seeing. The explosions were so great that with every blast the crowd roared. At the end of this show that we did not know was even going to happen, all of the buildings set off one last huge explosion and the Hong Kong sky was set on fire with light. What a show, what a great way to welcome in 2006, this was a Hong Kong Disneyland show to beat all other New Year shows possible. We had so much fun jumping up and down with every explosion. Every single person in the crowd wore a huge smile!

Hong Kong Disneyland sure surprised us with a great firework show that night, and we did not even know about that show. Only Disney could have put on a show like we witnessed that night. Only Disney would provide a fun family atmosphere where all can have fun, and dance together in the streets. We walked slowly down Main Street to the exit, enjoying every second of Hong Kong Disneyland that we could enjoy. As I went through the exit at the main gate I said once again to myself.

You are right Walt Disney, Dreams can come true. My dreams came true that evening at Hong Kong Disneyland, an evening my wife an I will never forget.

Thank-you Walt, Happy Magical New 2006 Year To Everybody!