Hong Kong Disneyland

When Disneyland first opened in Hong Kong last fall, most of my students were pretty excited about it--I could tell by the amount of Disney gear they wore or had as cell phone charms. But since its opening (and even before) Disney has been one PR blunder after another. Visitors complained it was too small, too crowded (especially with Mainland tourists who are not popular among Hong Kongers). Then there were the environmental concerns about shark fin soup and fireworks shows every night. Finally, Disney managed to oversell tickets during Lunar New Year, ruining vacations and earning ire.
In spite of all these concerns, we still had to go. And since we were going, we went all the way. And that means wearing Mickey ears. We went on a cold Tuesday afternoon and it was perfect--we never waited in line. The park is small--we rode every ride in one afternoon. In fact, we rode Space Mountain three times.
I kept on wondering why people were smiling at me, but then I remembered I was wearing ears!