Thrilled, charmed - and soaked

"Have a magical day," the staff at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel chirp as they pack you onto the shuttle bus headed for the wonder world itself. And it is indeed a great way to start things off.

The bus is lively with kids, some dressed as Disney princesses. In less than 15 minutes we're at the park, the long walkway to the entrance packed with visitors, mostly from mainland China. Everyone's already snapping pictures, the youngsters cheerfully striking poses suitable for magazine covers.

Inside, we're strolling down Main Street USA through a charming American town that's time-travelled from the early 1900s. Near City Hall there's a welcoming centre with maps and schedules for the coming parade, fireworks and stage shows, as well as the ETA for Mickey and his pals.

Beyond Main Street's Victorian shops is Fantasyland, but I'm keen for a quick adrenaline jolt and make a beeline to the Space Mountain rollercoaster in Tomorrowland.

This early in the day the queue is quite short and I can forego the Fastpass service that assigns ride times.

Fortunately my friend thinks he's too old to be rocketed into space, so I empty my pockets into my backpack and toss it into his arms.

I climb aboard, pull down the safety lock and zoom into the dark universe through a flashing field of meteors. At tremendous speed, the rocket soars into the black, then abruptly turns upside-down and drops straight down.

I commence screaming, at the top of my lungs, and don't stop until we've landed again.

For something slightly kinder to my pulse rate, we sign up for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, riding Star Cruisers to help Buzz defend the Earth's supply of batteries from evil Emperor Zurg. We're armed with blasters but my sharp-eyed friends are quicker at finding targets.

Fantasyland offers an escape from the heat of the sun with It's a Small World - a sail around the globe, from the Middle East to Asia, America and Europe, glimpsing different cultures and spotting 38 Disney characters among the tiny dolls and toys.

There's also Sleeping Beauty's Castle and two entertaining shows, "Mickey's PhilharMagic" and "The Golden Mickeys".

In the crowded theatre for "PhilharMagic" we wear 3D "opera glasses" to watch the Main Mouse perform with his PhilharMagic Orchestra. Things go wrong when Donald Duck tries to conduct the orchestra using Mickey's sorcerer hat.

He ends up crashing through scenes from some Disney film favourites, starting with "Beauty and the Beast". He splashes around with Ariel in "The Little Mermaid", shares the spotlight with Simba in "The Lion King" and flies through the air with Peter Pan and then, on a magic carpet, with Aladdin and Jasmine.

The show is actually 4D: As well as having to duck our heads when Donald gets clumsy, we smell the food that's served onscreen and get splashed when the mermaid flips her fins.

And when Ariel reaches out her hands toward us, we instinctively reach back.

"The Golden Mickeys" in the Storybook Theatre is a dazzling, Broadway-style musical, with the singers and dancers presenting more classic Disney scenes. Tarzan's acrobatics on a hanging vine are particularly eye-popping.

Back outside, the heat takes a holiday during Mickey's WaterWorks Parade, in which Goofy, Donald, Buzz, Minnie Mouse and hundreds of others give Disneyland a good drenching.

Joining the gang in Hong Kong for the first time were the Big Bad Wolf and Pinocchio, who also danced along colourful floats equipped with water cannon to soak the spectators. It was great fun, with plenty of photo opportunities between the blasts of water.

The 30-minute "Festival of the Lion King" at Adventureland's Theatre in the Wild is another show not to be missed. The upbeat music, magnificent costumes, fire dances and huge floats generate continuous applause and cheering.

And at 9pm the "Disney in the Stars" fireworks show transforms the sky above Sleeping Beauty Castle with dazzling pyrotechnics choreographed to music.

The fireworks subside, but the magic moments of a magical day live on.

The writer was a guest of Cathay Pacific Airways and Hong Kong Disneyland.

Things get spooky

Disney's Haunted Halloween - every Thursday through Sunday from September 16 to October 30 - promises to give the Hong Kong park a fresh round of thrills.

Maleficent, the Mistress of All Evil, will wrap Sleeping Beauty's Castle in thorns and set it aflame for "The Nightmare in the Sky" and turn Main Street USA into Ghost Town.

Adventureland will become a treacherous Tribal Burial Ground with demented zombies and bedevilled tribal warriors surprising visitors at every turn.

Find out more at http://Park.HongKongDisneyland.com

Catch a ride with Cathay Pacific Airways at www.CathayPacific.com.