Our Chinese New Year 2017

It was that time of year again, all the lanterns are out, the fireworks start from early morning until late night and a lot of things are closed......it must be Chinese New Year!  We literally had fireworks going off at 5am, around 7pm we would look from our 27th floor apartment and see the bright red, green and white lights of fireworks nearby...the kids were in Awe and it was fun to see.....then around 10pm we were still hearing the fireworks....I was not in Awe.  While this continues for 15 days traditionally it seemed that most days there was at least one fireworks display we saw or heard.  A few days we went to Shanghai and since this is the holiday where everyone travels home, the city was almost a ghost town!  

We spent two days at Disneyland....this was our second time at Shanghai Disneyland and while we thought we were going ahead of the holiday and missing the craziness we were wrong.  The happiest place on earth was the most crowded place on earth!  Not only were we bundled up because it was super cold, i even bought the kids lined shoes for the trip, but the line for Soaring over the Horizon was 3 hours and when I was in line for 1 hour to get a fastpass they ran out 5 people ahead of me so I ended up with roaring rapids fast passes.  The other rides all had waits usually at least 30 minutes, then you turn around and it was 60 minutes.  I think we went on 5 rides the first day, saw some shows which also had an hour wait outside before the show even started, and even had people pushing on the sidelines of the afternoon parade.  It was an interesting experience, granted I won't go again during a crazy time, but the kids still had fun, Grace had her photo taken with Winnie the Pooh right away and she was set for the day.  We made reservations at the "nice" restaurant in the castle, the Royal Banquet Hall, we were able to get a photo with Princess Aurora upon entering, then Mickie, Minnie, Donald and Daisy came to see us during our meal.  The food was good and served as a three-course meal.  There are 5 themed rooms in the castle, we were eating in the Snow White room which was fun since the kids have been enjoying Snow White and the 7 dwarfs lately.

Winnie the Pooh!!!

The food was quite good and the kids had a lot of fun!!!

We were able to catch a show in front of the castle that had a lot of characters and songs were all in English.  The parade of Mickie's train and friends, get on some rides and have a  rest.  The highlight it seems for many Chinese is the chance to ride in a canoe and paddle it yourself!  For many Americans this is a summer camp, camping or something you experience our in the wilderness not at a paid amusement park, we skipped this one, especially with a 2 hour line!

Check out those canoes!

Day two was more of the same, long lines and not as much fun as we would like.  Grace was starting to be a bit crabby and I thought she was cold so we went back to the hotel while Blake and Brian stayed to ride another ride and see the night time show.  Later that night we ended up in the ER with Grace, she had a fever and was vomiting, got some medicine and went back to the hotel.  After returning to Changzhou where we live she wasn't getting any better so I took her back to Shanghai and we ended up in the hospital for 5 days with her being treated for pneumonia....our poor little girl.  Luckily now as I write this she has been better for two weeks now but what a holiday!

All the characters were in the Chinese New Year costumes!

Some yummy treats!  Lantern Candy Apples, Mickie and Minnie cookies....and Churros!

Lots of New Year decorations and gifts to be found!  Including Disney Ear cleaning sticks!

Blake and Grace had  Chinese New Year Performance at school, Blake did a great job and learned the song in Chinese, while Grace was just a pretty face on stage!  They did a great job and it was fun for Brian and I to see them with all their friends at school!  In class they also made red paper lanterns and then painted animals on them, Blake was very proud to show us his lantern.

So from all of us, Happy New Year-新年快乐!