Shanghai Disneyland from a first timers view

[Moon Waffle]

Shanghai is a great park. I've only been once and that was in 2018 shortly after they added Toy Story Land. So I've not seen Zootopia. Will head back after Spider-Man coaster opens.

Tron, Pirates, Peter Pan, Roaring Rapids, Challenge Trails, and Buzz are all absolutely worth it. And the castle is fantastic - we spent several hours exploring and admiring.

Never had any issues with cast members (above and beyond), park cleanliness (immaculate), or safety. A bit of line-pushing/jumping, which is a cultural norm there, and if you stand your ground, you are generally fine. Nothing I don't see regularly in the US parks ("excuse me, I'm catching up with my group...." *eye roll*). A couple of guests smoking and spitting...again, cultural norms that Westerners might find off-putting. We saw one family let their kid pee in the bushes...honestly, have seen this at WDW once before so can't really get too worked up about a one-off like this.

Language barriers are a near non-issue at Shanghai (and in any of the Disney resorts around the world for that matter). You can always find someone that speaks "enough" English to help you with whatever you need.

The food at Shanghai is the weak spot...at least for someone not used to authentic Chinese cuisine. TBH, wasn't too crazy about HKDL cuisine either. Tokyo, on the other hand.....fantastic....

 

[PiratesMansion]

I'm curious about the food comments, as I found the food at SDL (and Hong Kong and Tokyo, for that matter) to be of excellent quality during my 2019 visit; the price was egregious for locals at SDL, but that's a separate issue.

Has the quality of the food declined since then, or is this potentially an individual palette issue?

 

[Haymarket]

... and spitting...again, cultural norms that Westerners might find off-putting.

It's the same in South Korea, where it's just very old men who do it. No one approves of it but they have to tolerate it because it's elders doing it.

It'll be gone in less than a generation in both South Korea and China's more developed coastal regions.

 

[marni1971]

I'm curious about the food comments, as I found the food at SDL (and Hong Kong and Tokyo, for that matter) to be of excellent quality during my 2019 visit; the price was egregious for locals at SDL, but that's a separate issue.

Has the quality of the food declined since then, or is this potentially an individual palette issue?

We found the food (in both parks) to be very good. And I don’t do that much Chinese! And cheap coming from Europe too.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Anything has to be better than the food at Disneyland Paris