Hong Kong — By Jessy DB on December 28, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Filed under: Christmas events, Family Friendly, featuredarticle, ice skating, New Year's Eve, Shopping

The Christmas Express and New Year’s on Ice at Cityplaza

Yesterday I took my seven year old niece ice skating at Cityplaza in Taikoo Shing (map) where we used to live. I grew up in this area and practically visited this mall every week since I was a year old. It’s become tradition for our family to go ice skating here every Christmas holiday so every year I’m excited to see what special displays and showcases they have lined up for the festive celebrations.

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This year they have the Christmas Express at Cityplaza complete with a Cirque du Soleil extravaganza. Contortionists, acrobats, jugglers and other entertainers from Cirque du Soleil and the States are putting on a circus show till January 2010 and everyone is welcome to experience the magic.

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On to ice skating, Cityplaza has one of the oldest skating rinks in the city where I used to take lessons as a child. It’s still always pretty busy, especially during the holidays, as summer programs and other special classes are on offer year-round. Yesterday was no exception, as the rink was packed with children, teenagers and parents taking their kids for a day on the ice. It can get pretty scary at times what with all the excitable children skating about but the staff is always around to make sure everyone is safe and out of harm’s way.

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It costs HKD60 to buy entry to the rink for a whole day. This includes rental of the ice skates. It takes a while to get used to them but once you get the hang of it, it’s a whole lot of fun skating around.

This year, the Ice Palace, as it’s called, is having a special Countdown celebration on Thursday, 31^st December from 8pm to 12.30am to ring in the New Year. Entry fee is HKD75 on the day and HKD55 for early birds. There will be special skating performances as well as musical performances by local pop singers Det Dik and Ken Hung. This is a great opportunity to take the kids to a one-of-a-kind New Year’s party.