As we get older, birthdays can become more of a chore than a celebration. After an awful year, I was determined to ensure that this years birthday was full of love, light, colour and joy. I had known for several years that in 2019, my birthday lands on the first day of the Chinese New Year; as an avid traveler, I have celebrated CNY several times in different countries so I thought it would be really fun to celebrate both these events on the same day. I drew up a list of places I could go and decided to go to Hong Kong with the intention of spending my birthday at the happiest place on Earth… DISNEYLAND! Yes, I can make really adult decisions. I got myself a two day pass for the park as I don’t ever feel that one day is enough and I let the adventure begin!

I didn’t get time to plan a complete Disneybounding outfit so instead, I wore my favorite dress of all time; The Pretty Dress Company Fatale Embroidered Prom Dress in white with red roses. It reminded me of Mary Poppin’s Jolly Holiday outfit, the red rose from Alice in Wonderland and Princess Aurora; it’s not the most practical of dresses to wear to a theme park but believe me when I say I was really comfortable all day. The dress never got in the way and I was actually wishing I had a petticoat to wear underneath to make the skirt more full. I wore my double red rose hair clip from Daisy Jean Floral and white pearl earrings from Deluxe Creations to complete my look.

If you ever plan to go to Hong Kong Disneyland, you simply must take the train. There is a special Disney train that takes you to the Park and everything inside is Disney themed, it’s a really lovely way to arrive at the park and from most parts of the city, the train journey is only a couple of dollars. Unfortunately, HK Disneyland was doing renovations on their castle so it was all barricaded off which was a little sad, but if you still want a castle image, I recommend going to It’s a Small World and taking photos there. It’s not the exact same but it’s still a big and beautiful backdrop. As it was Chinese New Year, the park was decorated with cherry blossoms, ingots, lanterns, firecrackers and a special display featuring the three little pigs right at the front of the park to celebrate it being the year of the pig. The decorations are really special to see and I love how the park goes all out to make the New Year celebrations feel really prominent. Of course, there was also special limited edition New Year merchandise as well.

The first thing I have to go on in any Disneyland is the carousel; I’ve always loved them and think they are so so beautiful. I like to try and pick a horse whilst waiting in line but this time I ended up on a horse with the craziest hair; I felt it understood my struggle to minimize frizz whilst trying to style my hair all pinup. My other favorite ride is the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (the spinning teacups) because it’s a fun few minutes to spin, flail my arms in the air and squeal with glee.

The rest of the day was filled with a few other rides, many photos and being asked to take photos with other park visitors, I literally had parents throw their children over barriers to get a photo with me which took me by surprise. A huge thank you to Wen from Japan who took these stunning photos of me on the carousel and emailed them to me.

We stayed a little while after the Light Up the Night Parade and had dinner at the park. There were so many delicious things to choose from many different restaurants and if you ever go, I recommend the mango pudding! It is yum yum yum!

For the second park day, I wore the Pretty Dress Company Priscilla Gingham Midi Dress in Pink. I was inspired by all the pink ball gowns and it felt both princess-ey and casual. I kind of wish I packed one of my hats but I still felt cute all day. It was really humid that day so I ended up taking my hair out and letting it do its own thing. I didn’t mean to wear The Pretty Dress Company for both days but it just ended up working out that way. The dresses were really comfortable and I didn’t have a problem with my outfit on either day.

On the second day of our park visit, we entered with a bit of a game plan. Being ever so popular, the lines at Disneyland can be really long and tiring so we entered the park a few minutes after they opened and ran to the rollercoaster rides to ensure that there was a short line. By using the HK Disneyland App we were able to see which rides had the shortest lines so we jumped around a fair bit. The longest we had to wait for around 50 minutes for Winnie the Pooh and for the lunch line at the main Banquet Hall.

Here’s the kicker, because we had already watched the parade, from 7 onwards, we raced around the back of the park and were able to go on 9 rides within an hour. We were the last ride for Mystic Manor, the Slinky Dog, and the Parachute drop.

A special shoutout to the wonderful staff at Mystic Manor; wearing the Disney birthday badge, you get a lot of cast members wishing you a happy birthday. When our cart was pulling up to the exit bay, a cast member handed me a special Mystic Manor birthday certificate which made me feel very special.

Both days were a lot of fun and felt truly magical. Disneyland was the perfect way to welcome in my birthday and Chinese New Year and although the park will always be crowded, it was lovely to share so many laughs and unforgetable moments there. It was sad to leave but I hope to return to a Disney park very soon.

More blogs on Hong Kong soon including a video haul of all the amazing skincare I bought.