On a sunny Saturday morning in early September, over 200 people gathered at the Central City Hall meeting point, all wearing their CQ hot air balloon t-shirts and ready to visit Hong Kong Disneyland. After taking some group photos, the children started to plan their day by studying the map of the theme park. They excitedly discussed where to visit and planned their schedule hoping to explore all the areas in the theme park in one day.

The most popular attraction among the campers was definitely “Buzz Light-Years”.  The children held out their  “laser guns”, rode on the cruiser and seemed to thoroughly enjoy “Buzz Light-Years Astro Blasters” ride.   Afterwards, they compared their scores with their companions to see who was the best at defeating “the enemies”.  The higher the score, the more they had to show off to others!  Those with lower scores continued to play, until they too mastered the game and achieved high scores.  While lining up for the exciting “Space Mountain”, campers showed their excitement by asking their friends to yell out as loud as possible once they were on the ride. The rocketing speed was thrilling and the beautiful stars inside were mesmerizing. No wonder many of our campers lined up again and again to play.

After the excitement of the morning, many of the group went to enjoy a theatrical extravaganza – “Festival of the Lion King”. It was an outstanding performance by a wonderful cast.  Afterwards, it was time for more excitement, as we all took a ride on the spaceship in  “Stitch Encounter”. It was a ride with a difference as we were confronted and attacked by the space devil, but we defeated the enemy - with Stitch together of course.

We were all tired after the battle, so it was decided that the next couple of rides would be more relaxed and fun, so we all headed to the boat rides in “It’s a Small World”. It was a colourful and visually stunning ride to experience. Next we queued up for “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”.

After recovering from tiredness, we enjoyed the 3D show of “The Golden Mickey” at Disney’s Storybook Theatre.  It was very exciting for our campers when pieces of diamonds, musical instruments and Donald Duck coming flying in front of you!

The children also enjoyed getting back to nature with Tarzan at  “Adventure land”. We were able to first observe the forest environment from the big boat. Afterwards, we rode a smaller boat and entered the forest to experience the environment and visit many places in the wild.

The most enjoyable part for many of us was “Disney in the Stars” fireworks at night. To see the lights light up on the castle and the spectacular fireworks lighting up the sky was truly memorizing. Many tried to capture the magic on camera. The atmosphere was most memorable. Afterwards, it was time for campers and companions to retreat back to Disney’s Hollywood Hotel for bed, knowing that an exciting day tomorrow awaited them all!

On Sunday, it was another early start for Camp Quality campers and companions. So early that there was barely any light outside the wide window. But it was time to wake up! There was a wonderful happy atmosphere at breakfast at Café Mickey since everyone was waiting for the “blast-off” of our hot air balloon over Disneyland.  Whilst waiting for the rides on the hot air balloon, the children were surprised by two special guests; Kenneth Ma from TVB came to visit, as did Vincy Chan. Vincy is Camp Quality’s 10th Anniversary Goodwill Ambassador. She came to offer words of encouragement as well as to give out her copy of our anniversary camp song. Mickey and Minnie also paid the children a special visit, and the children were all lining up happily taking photos with these two cute characters.

All too soon, it was time to depart this magic kingdom and head for home. Our special two days and one night summer camp at Hong Kong Disneyland had come to an end. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The finale, the rides in our hot air balloon brought much joy and excitement to the hearts of our campers. The opportunity to fly up to the clear blue sky with a view looking down over Disneyland is something one doesn't get to do often. Truly magical and very memorable indeed.