Disneyland Shanghai Trip Report

Crazyredheads

Member
Original Poster
Hi everyone, I just finished my trip report about Disneyland Shanghai on my blog. It is a little late but only found the time to review it now. I've been to Walt Disney World over 10 times and I visited the Hong Kong Disneyland a couple of times so I am comparing this park to those two.

I travel to China for work twice a year and found time in my busy schedule to visit this past October.

I stayed onsite at the Shanghai Disneyland Resort. It was a great hotel and lived up to many other of Disney's deluxe resorts. It was very close to the park, only a 5 min. bus ride away and had tons of very nice amenities and a beautiful garden. The rooms were spacious and the beds, very comfortable. The food at the resort was also very good and the character breakfast was great with lots of character interaction.

The park itself was really special and quite different form any other Disney parks. It was designed to appeal to the Chinese market and I think they did a beautiful job with it. The Hong Kong park just seems to be a smaller version of Florida so it was nothing that special compared to this one. This park is very big and has its own vibe. It felt fresh and new and was very well designed.

The park is divided in several sections and each section felt like a different world. The sections were all well themed and had beautiful landscaping. The castle was much bigger and nicer than Hong Kong's version but still felt less magical to me than Cinderlla's castle in Florida.

The best rides were definitely Pirates of the Caribbean which was completely different than the one in Florida with more advanced special effects and the Tron roller coaster which was seriously mind blowing.

I went on a grey/rainy day so it was not very busy but I have heard horror stories about the wait times in this park. I found park entry to be a little disorganized but once in the park, everything ran smoothly. I will say that watching the fireworks was really not pleasant with some Chinese guests pushing and shoving to get into my spot. But other than that everyone was very polite.

Overall it was a great experience and I am happy I found the time to visit. I would definitely bring my kids there if and when I bring them to Shanghai. I will say that now that I've been, I don't know if I would go back anytime soon, but who knows.

Read my full review on my blog for more info and to see pics here: https://disneymommytips.blogspot.ca/2018/03/shanghai-disneyland-trip-report.html
 

Astro_Digital

Active Member
Thanks for the report, got a cruise out of Shanghai almost hoping for a rainy day.
Question when you pay for things like Taxi, buying food I heard nobody takes Visa ?
 

Crazyredheads

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the report, got a cruise out of Shanghai almost hoping for a rainy day.
Question when you pay for things like Taxi, buying food I heard nobody takes Visa ?
I always bring some Yen when I travel to China as many places do not take credit card. If not I buy some when I get to the airport. The best rates are ususally the exchanges spots I find on the streets of China. The restaurants on Disney Property however do take credit cards.
 

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the report, got a cruise out of Shanghai almost hoping for a rainy day.
Question when you pay for things like Taxi, buying food I heard nobody takes Visa ?

On Disney property, you can use a credit card for just about anything, but as @Crazyredheads said, bring some cash anyway. You'll need it for taxis and just about anything else you do outside of the resort.
 

Travel Junkie

Well-Known Member
Word to the wise. Even if your bank charges transaction fees, the best exchange rate is to simply take money out of an ATM in country.

It was rainy most of my trip to Shanghai. Not only did it help the crowds at Disneyland, but also kept the smog out.
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Thanks for the post
I was in SDL in November 2017 and agree with your firework assessment
I found HKDL to be closest to DLR in Anaheim rather than WDW in Florida
Pirates was awesome and Tron was good but I did not ride at night which I hear is much better
I stayed at the toy story hotel which was very cute and well themed

Max
 
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I just got back a few weeks ago from China, went the 5th to the 7th of March to Shanghai Disney. WOW best Disney experience I have ever had. And this is coming from a guy who grew up in Florida and spends half the year in Japan ( so has gone to both Florida, Cali, and Tokyo many many many times. ) To be honest I cant ever go back to Tokyo or Cali with my family again not after our Shangai visit. I will go back to Florida because I live half of the year there and its nearby but my choice of Disney parks is now with NO hesitation Shanghai. Im going to Check out Hong Kong next to compare and hope its as good but again for my family and I, Our home disney park will be shangai. Screw the crowds in Tokyo and Cali.
 

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
I just got back a few weeks ago from China, went the 5th to the 7th of March to Shanghai Disney. WOW best Disney experience I have ever had. And this is coming from a guy who grew up in Florida and spends half the year in Japan ( so has gone to both Florida, Cali, and Tokyo many many many times. ) To be honest I cant ever go back to Tokyo or Cali with my family again not after our Shangai visit. I will go back to Florida because I live half of the year there and its nearby but my choice of Disney parks is now with NO hesitation Shanghai. Im going to Check out Hong Kong next to compare and hope its as good but again for my family and I, Our home disney park will be shangai. Screw the crowds in Tokyo and Cali.

It sounds like you got lucky with crowds at SDL. It can get just as packed as TDR! Glad you had a nice time.
 
It sounds like you got lucky with crowds at SDL. It can get just as packed as TDR! Glad you had a nice time.


Not really lucky, just good planning.


Here is the difference between Tokyo and Shanghai coming from a person who lives in Japan part of the year in an area which is equal distance to shanghai and tokyo, so I have been to Tokyo many many times.

Tokyo,

There are no slow days anymore its 365 days of over crowded hell . I take my kids out of school thinking hey all the kids are in school its going to be slow slow slow but no no no. Slow day at tokyo is 2 hour waits for most attractions, at best. And busy days at Tokyo have 4-7 hour waits for everything.

Shanghai,

Has slow days still , and of course busy days too. Busy days are hell like Tokyo of course, but slow days, slow days are really HEAVEN and can be found pretty easily. Dont go on weekends, dont go on Chinese holidays. we went a few days after chinese new year ended and wow, just wow. There would be a mutiny in my house if I took them back to Tokyo or Cali and they had to wait 4 hours for most rides
 

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