Shanghai Disney Resort July 2019

[made in china]

Just came back from Shanghai Disney Resort. Thought I'd share a few observations...

Well, I've been coming to China for 18 years, so not much surprises me, I'm accustomed to how things are here. I've heard rumors from other foreigners about SHDR. And sure enough......
Yup, a family helping their kid go "potty" right near the security gate. So, the day got started off exactly as I assumed it may!

My wife disregarded my insistence to acquire Disney Premier Access as has been suggested recently for SHDR, she felt FP would be sufficient. Even though I told her FP would run out quickly, she had to find out the hard way. Yup, FP at SHDR absolutely does run out quickly.

There are definitely people in SHDR running a bootleg "VIP" style service. I believe they also put pressure on FP availability. CMs are seemingly cracking down on them, as we saw several instances of CMs checking photos and preventing line jumping. If a CM sees someone cutting or bypassing, they may stop that person and request them to be identified by someone else in line who may be waiting with them. I did see many flagrant instances of the same few people "testing" the system, crossing barriers, trying to negotiate through FP stations, arguing with CMs, etc. Seemed to be the same few people.

Chinese people are super nice, but have a very bad habit, like instinct, to aggressively cut or fill gaps in line. If you're in a group, you'll often find Chinese people become part of your group. Like I said, Chinese are super nice, if you let them know you don't want them cutting through you (assuming they are just cutting by instinct, not to catch up, usually it's instinct....not the latter) they will usually kindly oblige. Some lines are over a 2 hour wait, if you don't do something about the cutting, dozens of people will cut through you. You gotta be firm. If you're in a group, remind everyone to be on "defense" don't allow gaps.
We had one pretty girl cut into our group, and I suggested to her that she was now part of our family, she giggled, realized she was being rude and didn't try to cut again for the remaining 2 hour wait.

The lines, ugh the lines. I guess we all know know about lines at Disney! At SHDR be prepared for high heat and humidity in summer with random downpours, probably just like WDW.

A great thing about SHDR is that we noticed that the rides were "online" more reliably than our recent DL trip. And, surprisingly when Pirates went "down" the CM actually shared with us why it was down: one of the projectors went offline. When has a CM ever been so forthcoming? The issue was resolved quickly.
BTW, for some reason Pirates isn't a popular ride in SHDR. It's an excellent ride, but Chinese have no "back story" about pirates. Pirate stories don't exist in China, so the wait for Pirates is always at least half the wait of other attractions. We rode this one a few times to escape the midday heat.

We ate at the Marvel restaurant in Tomorrowland, and the food was superb.
We didn't find the Dole Whip that was previously seen at the base of the spiral stairs.

Food prices are nearly half of USA Disney parks. Bottle water is only 10RMB, about $1.50. Really no need to bring your own supplies.

Tron was amazing and we rode it 4 times.

Someone in our group insisted on Soarin', so we waited 150 minutes in line just to find out it is exactly the same ride as DL, except they added a bit of Shanghai Bund at the end. I was bummed to waste so much time for what was to me a rerun.

All in all we enjoyed SHDR. It's not "better" than DL to us, it's just different. I have heard people say that there's no "Disney magic" here, but maybe that's just sentimental prejudice? It's a great park.

Final important note: the subway is a great way to get to SHDR. BUT, and a very big BUT, the subway stops at 10:30p. We stayed until 10p, and was on the subway leaving SHDR by 10:10, but we couldn't make our transfer before 10:30p and had to exit the subway to get a taxi. My wife has a Uber style app on her phone so we were able to request a taxi, but these apps are only in Chinese, which fortunately my wife can read Chinese. Otherwise getting a taxi at a subway stop at night is a bit difficult. Initially we tried to hail a taxi the "old school" way, but they were all booked by the app, which was confusing because they'd stop for us and ask (in Chinese of course) if we are "so and so" which would confuse someone who can't speak Chinese well enough.

 

[dennis-in-ct]

Thank you for your impressions and great info about the park. The line-cutting culture is so not cool. Thank you for your tips on how to deal with bad behavior. If you did purchase the premier access, how much would that cost?

Can you talk more about the Shanghai castle and the boat ride that is connected to the castle? It is one of the most interesting things to me about the park - very unique and appears to be very well done.

The interactive/exploratory nature of castle at Disneyland paris is so cool and the Shanghai castle seems to take this approach and surpass Paris based on the photos/videos I have seen. Were you able to see the castle show?

in your opinion, what was the most successful land or themed area at the park? I have read people refer to Shanghai as not immersive theming but rather 'edge" theming. In other words, the large open areas/pathways have only theming on the edge on one side versus an all-around environment.

it's also strange to read how people sell counterfeit merchandise while inside the park. Crazy !!

 

[made in china]

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to explore everything. I would've have preferred 2 days at the park and at least one day with a Disney Premier Access, but my wife.......

We spent a lot of time standing in lines, like the one for Soarin'.....argh!

To me, the theming is fairly robust. The park feels very "new" so it could be that it's not fully "matured" yet. I have heard great stories about the other other international parks, but SHDR is amazingly good for being in China. China has a difficult time with authenticity and quality, so SHDR is surprising to me. But, I have heard that TDL, for example, is good at hiding the outside world. It is true you can see beyond the park from many vantage points, and yes you can see construction cranes at nearby job sites. I suppose soon there will be equally tall buildings visible from those areas.

I only saw bootleg merchandise once, a very crafty looking woman with a backpack trying to sell merch and trying to avoid CMs. It is much worse on the subway.

 

[Clyde Birdbrain]

Great review. We'll be going to China for the first time in September and will be visiting Shanghai Disneyland at the end of our trip for 2 days (our itinerary is Beijing > Xi'an > Luoyang > Zhangjiajie > Hangzhou > Shanghai > Beijing). I'm so excited.

I have also heard about the line cutting, illegal vendors and public urination in the park and am not looking forward to that. Thanks for the tips.

Did you find that there were not enough Cast Members walking around to handle these things? We went to Disneyland Paris in December and were shocked at the lack of CMs there. We are passholders at WDW, and the differences were stark. Some food stands had just a single overwhelmed CM taking care of a huge line, and there were generally no CMs walking around handling the crowd or directing guests. I wonder how DLP compares to SHDL in this regard.

Food prices are nearly half of USA Disney parks. Bottle water is only 10RMB, about $1.50.

That is good to hear. The restaurant prices are not all on the website. I made a reservation for Lumiere's Kitchen, which is character dining, and the total that was quoted to me over the phone was ¥388 + 15% service charge per person, which would come to about $130 total for two people. I find that very expensive, considering food in China is generally much cheaper than here in the US. This is even more than eating at Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios in December.

My wife has a Uber style app on her phone so we were able to request a taxi, but these apps are only in Chinese, which fortunately my wife can read Chinese

I read that the DiDi app is now in English. Drivers can apparently see that you're using the English version of the app, and when you communicate with them via the app it will translate it each way. At least, that's what I've read. I have no experience with it yet.

 

[made in china]

Great review. We'll be going to China for the first time in September and will be visiting Shanghai Disneyland at the end of our trip for 2 days (our itinerary is Beijing > Xi'an > Luoyang > Zhangjiajie > Hangzhou > Shanghai > Beijing). I'm so excited.

Nice! We went at the hottest time of the year! The humidity is brutal. We also went to Xi An, Tian An Men, Great Wall. 41c and 110% humidity! Fortunately it was mostly cloudy and a little stormy at SHDL, 80% of the time was super comfortable. BTW, SHDL is so clean that when it rained the entire park seemed to "suds up", like they are probably fairly aggressive about cleaning the place and that may have been a disinfectant as it also was not slippery.

I have also heard about the line cutting, illegal vendors and public urination in the park and am not looking forward to that. Thanks for the tips.

It happens all over China, but if you asked the majority of middle class and up Chinese they are just as put off by the bad behavior of the "country people".

Did you find that there were not enough Cast Members walking around to handle these things? We went to Disneyland Paris in December and were shocked at the lack of CMs there. We are passholders at WDW, and the differences were stark. Some food stands had just a single overwhelmed CM taking care of a huge line, and there were generally no CMs walking around handling the crowd or directing guests. I wonder how DLP compares to SHDL in this regard.

I feel like there's about as many CM's as Anaheim, or so it appears. There's also a good dose of maintenance people keeping the place clean. There was some trash inside of attractions, but that seemed difficult to remove and may need to be done overnight. Blame that on bad habits, not bad housekeeping. Despite some attempts at crowd cutting, I did feel that overall the crowds were more mellow than Anaheim, and less dense. I liked it enough to not mind the cutting. BTW, I hate to say it, but in USA there can be some "annoying" people in the parks. My wife and I were shocked at the ZERO electric scooters and hardly any strollers. I know some people need a scooter, but I remember clearly in the 80's never seeing a scooter, and last time at Anaheim they were an actual annoyance in the sheer number!


That is good to hear. The restaurant prices are not all on the website. I made a reservation for Lumiere's Kitchen, which is character dining, and the total that was quoted to me over the phone was ¥388 + 15% service charge per person, which would come to about $130 total for two people. I find that very expensive, considering food in China is generally much cheaper than here in the US. This is even more than eating at Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios in December.

Yeah, I can see that character experiences are fairly pricey. But, for example, we bought a huge, delicious spicy chicken sandwhich with good fries and a medium (as in USA medium, might have been a large to them) Pepsi for 105 RMB, which is like $16.50. I feel like this would be 40-50% more in USA? Remember, food is cheap in China UNLESS it is "Western" style or a decent Chinese restaurant. A similar meal at KFC would have been about 50-60RMB, so SH Disneyland price for Western food is about double. I feel like in USA this comparison is like Anaheim is 3x more?? If I recall correctly. BTW, the "service charge" thing.....puhleeze!!! It is NOT typical to tip in China! They are just milking you! Remember, don't bother tipping in China (except for this mandatory 15%, you gotta do that) If you tip in China, you will confuse people and create an awkward situation.



I read that the DiDi app is now in English. Drivers can apparently see that you're using the English version of the app, and when you communicate with them via the app it will translate it each way. At least, that's what I've read. I have no experience with it yet.

That's awesome! Long time coming..... I also heard that We Chat pay is going to support English.