Meeting lightning Mcqueen

CEBU, Philippines - With a daily dose of warm kisses and tight embraces, lovable Noah Inigo had his parents - Allen & Jinjin - in a quandary as to a unique gift they could give him for his 3rd birthday last June 13. Well, no party occurred. Instead, Dad & Mom decided to make his dream come true - meet his idol, Lightning McQueen of the movie "Cars" fame. And where else would one's wishes come true but in Disneyland?

Off went the group to Manila last June 23, to take the flight for Hong Kong the next morning, with nanny Angel Caramihan, infant sister Sabrina Noelle -- and me, as "sub nanny." Actually, Daddy Allen was much more excited than Noah in coming up with the best itinerary, making this celebratory vacay a downright smashing one.

Enrolled as a birthday boy, Noah saw his name in the electronic greeting board at the hotel entrance as soon as we checked in at funtastic HK Disneyland Hotel. (The other hotel is Disney's Hollywood Hotel, farther away and somehow less fancy; where we stayed two Decembers ago. HK Disneyland Hotel is always fully booked. We were lucky to get rooms!) Upon check-in, they gave Noah a Birthday Boy pin to wear while in Disneyland, so he would get special treatment wherever he would go. Dad Allen managed to obtain Fastpasses for us at certain rides so we avoided the long queues. (Just check where you can get some.)

One advantage of staying in a Disneyland hotel is that you don't need to line up in the park for a souvenir photo with your favorite Disney character. Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Daisy and friends will be in the two hotels' premises daily, exclusive for in-house guests.

Advance reservation for his birthday dinner was made in Disneyland's Plaza Inn (run by Maxim's Restaurant), where we enjoyed a delicious feast of Chinese haute cuisine, highlighted by roast goose, and some delightful soft shell crabs. A miniature cake appeared on the table, from Mickey Mouse! We all helped blow the candle for him.

Among Noah's first enunciated words were: "Ferrari" and "Lamborghini," his initial faves! He started his growing collection of cast metal cars before he took his first steps. Now, he makes a game of outsmarting his adult companions in identifying car makes and brands on the road, blurting: "BMW, Honda Accord, Hyundai Starex…I'm the winner!"

In Hong Kong, Noah was agog at the parking lot of our hotel - Holiday Inn Golden Mile in Kowloon -- when he stood up close and touched the cars he admired in movies and mags. Looking at the latest models on the roads, he was having the time of his young life!

So the highlight of the two-day visit to Disneyland was the grand entrance of Lightning McQueen, preceded by his rah-rah guys and gals with his own marching band and an a-go-go stage complete with blaring sounds. Noah was totally mesmerized!

We later toured the park, looking for pit stops where we caught other cars from the movie "Cars" for some photo ops. Didn't matter if Noah and Sab were already off to dreamland in the middle of the hot afternoon, Dad & Mom pushed through with it.

The second day however was dreary and wet. Only the brave ones went back to the park: Dad, Mom and Noah. They managed to make a spin in the racetracks, which we could not even get near the previous day. But they missed the Tarzan tree house adventure because of the heavy rains.

Disneyland is now part of Noah's story repertoire and of his happy, happy thoughts…until the next visit, when he would have been the wise guide of his little sister in their new exciting adventures in the Magic Kingdom.

Travel dampers:

My son Allen and wife Jinjin swear never to bring their children back to Ocean Park – and they are spreading the warning among their friends – for all the inconveniences they encountered while there. What was planned as a whole day affair became just less than half a day. It's not a good place to bring young kids as they do not have enough facilities, especially for a hot summer day. Not worth it at all!

The HSBC - Cathay Pacific tie-up of the free Hong Kong ticket promo is such a great inconvenience for provincial travelers. The flight must be taken from Manila, so we had to buy Cebu-Manila-Cebu additional tickets, then book hotel rooms overnight for the morning departure. Paid overweight charges in our Philippine Airlines domestic connections (over P1,000.00 Cebu-Manila; over P3,000.00 Manila-Cebu!) as our luggage weight was for the 20 kg international flight allowance. Then, we had to book again hotel rooms just to sleep over on our arrival date, as the Hong Kong-Manila flight arrives past 8 pm, too late for any Cebu connection. That is not to mention the vans we had to hire for our airport transfers, on departures and upon arrivals. The trip had become much more expensive, than just buying a CX ticket to Hkg ex-Cebu. Caveat emptor! (FREEMAN)