Trip Report Shanghai Disneyland Trip Report - March 2018

Greetings all. I'm coming out of long term lurker mode to post a report and pictures from a recent trip I was lucky enough to take to Shanghai Disneyland. I've never done one of these, so apologies in advance for long winded descriptions, poor picture taking, and anything else I manage to screw up.

The Preamble
I was in Bangkok for business. Shanghai Disneyland was the only Disney Park I hadn’t been to, and my OCD, completionist tendencies took over. I had to check the last one off the list, had a weekend to myself on the way home, and Shanghai was “only” 4.5 hours away. That’s a long flight when I’m staring down the barrel of a similar trip from my home in Chicago to Los Angeles, but on the back end of 26 hours of travel from Chicago to Bangkok, 4.5 hours isn’t so bad.

Because I’m impulsive and don’t think things through, I just booked my trip without thinking of pesky issues like, you know, getting a visa so I could legally enter the country. Didn’t even cross my mind.

So, I just booked the flights, and three nights at the Disneyland hotel. I was thrilled with how “cheap” the hotel was. $200 a night or thereabouts. Not cheap by an objective measure necessarily, but when I just paid $320/night for Port Orleans last year...

Anyway, after booking flights and a hotel I decided to actual start researching and planning the trip. Always good to do things in the correct order. About 10 minutes into my research I uncovered the whole visa thing, and a feeling of cold dread ran through my body about all the money I had just gifted to United an ANA.

But, what’s that? A loophole!! I learned about the transit visa in China. Anyone passing through the country, specifically anyone departing to a different country from which they arrived, can enter China for 144 hours without a visa. In typical semi-charmed fashion, my flight from Bangkok to Shanghai, coupled with my flight from Shanghai to Tokyo (and on to Chicago) just so happened to work perfectly.

 

[jrm477]

Travel to Shanghai
So, I think I had a workable plan, but I had read horror stories about people actually executing this strategy. Stories about how your at the mercy of the airlines at your point of departure knowing and understanding this policy. Never having been to Bangkok or flown Thai airlines, I had visions of my English speaking and not at all worldly self running into problems with my Japanese carrier at a Thai speaking airport and being stranded in Bangkok. I got to the airport five hours before my flight hoping to leave plenty of slack time to argue with Thai airport security.

Of course, knowing what I know now, Bangkok airport and ANA personnel speak better English than me and I had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It did mean I had four and a half hours to cool my heels at the BKK international airport.

Still, I was now sweating actually getting into China. Would they bounce me at the border? Would I run into some weird law I didn’t know about where, since I was there for vacation (staying at a Disney hotel) and not their on business or just passing through, would I be denied entry?

I tried to research everything I could to understand the China border control process, the layout of the airport, what questions they would ask, everything so I could be as prepped as possible. I found though that there is precious little information out there I could find about all this.

So, once again, not being all that worldly, my panic flop sweat now transitioned to the thought that I would get to China, but be in an airport where nothing is in English, no one speaks English, that I would be denied entry and that there wouldn’t be anyone I could effectively talk to to explain my predicament.

Due to this low grade panic, and armed with the fear that I would have zero cell service or internet access behind the great firewall of China, I did something I’ve never done before in my international travels: I printed out everything I could think of that might need to be printed out.

I know, I know, this is something you’re supposed to do anyways. Understand, I’m still effectively a child when it comes to doing things responsibly. So, I was very proud of myself for actually coming prepared.

Now, I know I’ve already lost some of you. Two pages, no pictures yet and I haven’t even cleared customs. I’m also realizing what a long winded writer I am. So, apologies about that, but I feel like at least I’m making good use of white space. There will be pictures and interesting things later, I swear.

Anywho...

I’m doing this as a public service to the next poor sucker that is freaking out about this like I did. I couldn’t find any helpful information online, so here it is: the definitive guide to the lazy and uninformed trying to get a transit visa into China.

 

[amjt660]

Hey
Great to hear that you were able to "complete the set"
I went to SDL in November and did the same thing.
Mine was only a two night stay at Toy Story Hotel

My report is here:

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/shanghai-k-nights-and-days-a-max-trip-report-complete.937204/

Looking forward to hearing more.

(and the in transit visa thing was awesome - saved money and time)

Following along

Max

 

[jrm477]

Thanks Max. Believe me, I did read your report, a few times. It was absolutely invaluable in planning my trip, so much appreciated.

 

[amjt660]

Thanks Max. Believe me, I did read your report, a few times. It was absolutely invaluable in planning my trip, so much appreciated.

I am glad I could help out!!

Now get posting - I want your view of SDL!!

Max

 

[jrm477]

Clearing Customs
First thing I learned after I got off the plane, was there was plenty of English signage in Shanghai Pudong airport, so getting around wasn’t a problem. I made my way to border control. The transit visa area is in the same area as the rest of border control. Just go aaaaall the way to the left hand side of the border control area and you’ll see the transit visa area.

The next thing that confused me: there were separate counters for a 72/144 hour transit visa and a one day transit visa. There was only one line leading to both. And it was a long line. So... do I wait in that hour long line only to find out it was the wrong one? Is there some other, much shorter line, that I could use for the 144 hour visa? I suppose I could have just asked someone, but that never occurred to me at the time, and like I said I’m basically a child. So, I got in that long line.

I learned something about Shanghai Pudong: everyone goes through customs. Even if you’re there for a two hour layover, you go through customs, get a transit visa and come back in. So, I was in line behind an entire 787 worth of people from Toronto that we’re just laying over on their way to Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. They were an unhappy bunch, or at least whatever passes for disgruntled in Canada.

As I was waiting in line, off the to left I saw a desk where there should have been forms I needed to fill out to get my visa. It looked like any other customers area, with the little pens on chains, and the little plastic holders that looked like they should have forms in them. No forms to be seen though. No one else seemed concerned about the lack of something to fill out, so I figured the border control agent would tell me if I needed to fill something out.

Finally, I get to the counter. The border agent spoke English, but boy was I glad I had printed out my hotel confirmation including the address. They need to confirm you’re staying at a hotel in order to get the visa. If I didn’t have my printout, with the address in Chinese, I don’t know how that would have gone done.

Another thing that was interesting to me at least: I figured I could just tell the border agent “I’m staying at the Disneyland hotel”. I mean, who doesn’t know about Disneyland? Think the Orlando TSA agents wouldn’t know about Disney World? This Shanghai agent has no idea what the Disneyland hotel was, or at least pretended that she didn’t. So, the whole “where are you staying” process took much longer and was far more nervewracking than than I thought it would be.

 

[jrm477]

Getting To The Hotel
Okay, through security, so now local transit. Disneyland is only 20 minutes from the airport. So, I figured I’d just take a cab. Or, maybe an Uber. I read that Uber works in Shanghai, although I still have no idea if that was the case.

So, I’m walking through the airport, looking like an obvious tourist, and I encountered what I now know to be a fairly normal scam at Shanghai Pudong. A guy approached me wearing a suit jacket saying he was an airport representative and asking me where I was going. I said I was going to get an Uber. In perfect, accentless English he said “no way, Uber is far too dangerous in Shanghai”. What do I know? So, he told me to follow him and my travel weary brain said that was a good idea. About halfway through the terminal the “this is a scam” portion of my brain kicked in and I turned heel and walked away from the guy really fast.

So I’m spooked about the quality of Uber now, but I try to order one anyway. As I learned, Shanghai Disneyland doesn’t show up on the Uber App map or google maps. I know google maps isn’t allowed in China (or wasn’t?), but I figured Disney at least, and their demonstrably good relations with the Chinese government, would make sure there resort was reachable on the Uber app.

So, now Uber is out of the question too. Finally, I get in the taxi queue. The driver spoke no English, but the attendant did. I told him I was going to the Shanghai Disneyland hotel. He too had no idea where that was. I mean, seriously guys, a world class vacation destination is 20 minutes away, have none of you really heard about this place?

Once again, my printout came in handy and I showed him the address and a map of how to get there. They now knew where I was going, but the driver didn’t want to take me there. A tense and serious conversation took place between the driver and the attendant, and finally the attendant told me “it’s okay, get in”.

No meter in the cab. The driver apparently knew some English though, because he told me it would be 100 yuan. No idea if that’s the correct price or if I was being scammed here too, but at this point I didn’t care because I was finally on my way.

 

[jrm477]

Shanghai Disneyland Hotel
Okay, the Chinese travel for dummies portion is over, now on to the actual Disney part. I arrived at the Shanghai Disneyland hotel. My first impression of the hotel, it was…. Nice. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice hotel with all the standard flourishes you’d expect of a Disney property. But, if I’m being honest, it was just a touch underwhelming. The entrance and lobby at least didn’t seem as “grand” to me as the Grand Californian or Grand Floridian (both aptly named I suppose), the Disneyland Paris hotel, or any of the showplace hotels. Don’t get me wrong, it was very nice. It just felt a touch, sterile I suppose.

But, it was definitely a Disney hotel, which after a week of traveling through Asia felt very familiar, comfortable and welcoming. All the trappings you’d expect at any other Disney hotel. Character statues scattered about, Disney music playing, incredibly friendly cast members. It felt like I was home, it was comfortable, which was very relaxing after all that travel.

There was a pretty cool crystal (?) recreation of the Shanghai Disney castle in the lobby.

I encountered my first Disney cast members. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the cast members at the hotel were awesome. As friendly and welcoming and helpful as those you’d encounter at any other resort. There was something more though. It was a sense of pride in their jobs I guess? These guys seemed genuinely excited to be there and to be helping me out. A better welcome than I’ve experienced anywhere else, including Tokyo where the service is top notch.

With my stay at the Disneyland Hotel, I got to select one fast pass for the next day. I’m sure most of you are aware of how Fastpass works in Shanghai, and how it’s different than any other park. You can get individual fast passes throughout the day on your phone just like at WDW. You also have the ability to purchase fast pass access to individual attractions for 50 yuan ($8). Or, you can also buy a super awesome combo pack for 275 yuan ($44) that gets you a fastpass for all seven Fast Pass attractions.

At this point, I was sure how I was going to play this. Since I was only there for one day, I figured I might buy the super awesome combo pack. I mean, after how much I spent just to get to this point, what’s another $44 for a place I likely will never go to again?

I was going to play it by ear though. In my advance work, there were really only three attractions that were must do, Fast Pass worthy attractions to me: Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron and Roaring Rapids. Pirates doesn’t even offer Fast Pass, and like its other cousins around the world its capacity is so high I figured it wouldn’t be a problem. So, I used my hotel Fast Pass for Tron, and figured I would rope drop Roaring Rapids. It was 40 degrees out, so how much competition would there be for Roaring Rapids anyway?

I went to drop my stuff on in my room. I accidentally got in an elevator, even though I was staying on the main floor. It was a pleasant surprise though as I got to experience the Disneyland Hotel elevators. At each floor, when the doors open, you get a nice notification from Mickey saying “First floor” in both English and Mandarin. Finally, I made it to my room.

 

[jrm477]

A heads up here, I’m an awful photographer. Some of these pictures are going to be bad, and I forget to take pictures at key times that would lend themselves to a good trip report narrative. So, we’ll jump around a bunch, there will be gaps, and quality will be questionable. Humbles apologies.

On that note, I neglected to take good photos of the hotel and my room. A couple cool things though. A nice tile inlay of Mickey and Minnie in the shower.

And, something I thought was really cool, when you turn the lights on in your room, you get a little fireworks display in the headboard of the bed.

It was about 7 PM at this point, so I decided to wander the grounds and check out Disney Town. It’s a 10 minute walk or so from the hotel to the park. There’s a nice little garden behind the hotel, with a little Mickey topiary.

Picture of the park from the back of the hotel. Like I said, my photography skills are awful. It was pretty hazy though too, for my entire trip. Don't know if it was just the weather, or pollution, or what.

From all the way across the wishing star lake though, I could hear the Disney Town music blaring. Nothing like Justin Bieber from a half mile away.

To get to the hotel, you walk through a cool garden. You cross a pretty slick cantilevered bridge, that I neglected to take a picture of. I’m sure you can find a picture of it on the Google machine. They seemed to be very proud of this bridge, as there was a big display detailing the history of its construction, all the records it broke, and its general awesomeness.

 

[jrm477]

Through the park and on the other side of the lake, I finally get to Disney Town. You enter Disney Town through a neon Mickey tunnel.

There is a random little outpost of Disney Town out on the point of the lake. They have a Shanghai version of the Disney Springs Boathouse here. This area jutting out into the lake was empty though. It was a little too far from the park and the main part of Disney Town, and isn’t on the way to the parking lot or subway station, so I never saw anyone here. Like I said, it was cold though, so on a nice day I’m guessing the outdoor bar areas of the Boathouse may be more popular.

No, it isn't this blurry in real life.

Looking back at the hotel from across the lake to congratulate myself on my minor amount of exercise.

This picture does provide a little more color to my feelings on the Disneyland Hotel. Maybe it's just me and my eye, but it looks somewhat non-descript. It doesn't have that "wow", grand feeling. This was at night though, so maybe I'd have a different opinion the next day.

I wandered over to the park entrance to take a look at things. It was taunting and teasing me, knowing I wouldn't enter until the next morning.

Something you can only barely make out in this picture, but there were metal barricades stacked up everyone. They clearly break things down at night, but I assumed (and would have it confirmed) that they set everything up as big metal holding pens as people wait to get into the park in the morning. Not a great sign as I was holding out my last, vain hopes for a sparsely crowded day the next day.

A very cool Steamboat Willie fountain right at the entrance. This was about an hour before the park closed so, predictably, not too many people milling about in this area.

 

[jrm477]

Disney Town
I was hungry at this point, so I stopped in at Food Republic, which was a food court type set up.

First I bought a drink. I tried to hand my 10 yuan to the cashier, and got a very confused look in response. She held her arms up making an ‘X’, the universal sign for "you're doing something wrong". I had no idea what that meant? They were closed? I couldn’t buy a drink? So, I just tried to give her my 10 yuan note again. She sighed and accepted.

Next I went to a noodle station an ordered spicy pork noodles with dumplings I got out my 50 yuan for this one. Again, I got the confused look from the cashier, and she pointed over at these kiosks.

It turns out that they don’t take cash at each food station. You have to put cash on a card, and use the card to pay at the cashiers. So, that explains the reaction of the lady at the soft drink station, and my “ugly American” moment where I put cash in her hands in contravention of clearly established Food Republic rules. But, I had a card now, so I was able to eat.

I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Asia a few times, and I love eating there. It’s the best food I’ve had in the world.

But this soup and dumplings…. Wow. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. The soup was spicy. Very spicy. Not so spicy that the flavor wasn't good. Just the kind of spicy where my esophagus involuntarily shut down and said "we're not doing this".

After my first spoonful I immediately had a coughing fit, to the amused looks of the locals around me. I powered through though, and once I figured out how to eat it without inhaling the spice though, it was phenomenal. Noodles were fresh, and it was a flavor I really hadn't experienced before.

And the dumplings were incredible. The taste was great, but they also had these little explosions of delicious dumping juice when I bit into them. Mind blowingly good. Now, this was some random food court at a Disney resort, so I’m guessing it wasn’t all that authentic or great to a local, but this is one of those meals I will remember the rest of my life and will continually disappoint myself in trying to find something similar here in the states.

After dinner, I wandered around Disney Town a bit. It’s similar to any other Downtown Disney concept in many ways. This one seemed much smaller than the others, and was more quaint.

 

[jrm477]

In general, it had the same multi-national chain stores you see anywhere else. There was one really cool little store selling various wooden toys, models, dolls, etc. Another one where I should have take a picture, but didn't.

I took a picture of the Cheesecake factory. I was a little homesick at this point, so just seeing this helped assuage that a bit.

And a big Broadway style theater, the Walt Disney Grand Theater. I didn’t get to go in here at any point, but I did get to take a nice blurry picture of it.

And, finally, the World of Disney store at which, immediately upon entering I heard my wallet make a concerned sound and say "you're on your own here pal."

They had attraction posters from around the world throughout the store. I took a picture of this one as a throwback to days before warehouse, fortress, power plants.

There is a bridge right outside Disney Town over to the parking lot. I took a quick stroll over, just to check out this awesome fountain they have in the traffic circle.

I wandered back to the hotel, hoping to take in the nightly fireworks show from the back balcony. Total bust though. They didn’t pipe the music in at the hotel. I can get Katy Perry blasted at me from Disney Town, but no fireworks music. I believe the fireworks portion of the show was cancelled that night, because it was pretty windy out. Or maybe the pyro in the show is just so slight that I couldn't see it. Who knows

 

[amjt660]

Clearing Customs
I learned something about Shanghai Pudong: everyone goes through customs. Even if you’re there for a two hour layover, you go through customs, get a transit visa and come back in. So, I was in line behind an entire 787 worth of people from Toronto that we’re just laying over on their way to Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. They were an unhappy bunch, or at least whatever passes for disgruntled in Canada.

Before any "smart type person" who knows me on these boards says it - yes , we Canadians can get somewhat disgruntled!!!

Max

 

[amjt660]

Great fountain pictures in the middle of the traffic circle
I rode around it a few times but did not see it at night from the vantage point of your pic

Max

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

It's fun to see different Disney parks, thanks for sharing and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

 

[jrm477]

Up early the next morning to head over to the park. Two things I learned in my admittedly feeble preparatory research: 1) Disney hotel guests have their own, private entrance to the park over in Disney Town, and 2) word on the street is they actually open the gates 20 minutes or so before the scheduled opening time.

Now, use your imagination for this walk over, because here is another case where I absolutely failed in taking pictures. I got in the private hotel line, but the twenty minute early open didn’t materialize. But, none of that mattered at this point, because I stepped across the threshold and officially set foot into my 12th, and final, Disney park.

I took an obligatory castle photo and took some time to admire my surroundings. Okay. Enough that. I’ve got a touring plan I need to execute.

I guess one other thought I had about this special, hotel guest entrance. The themed entertainment design purist in me felt kind of dirty using this separate entrance. The original Disneyland design specifically made sure there was one entrance, and that everyone experienced the same "opening act".

I bypassed that, so my OCD tendencies made me feel like I was somehow having a lesser experience. But, at the same time, I avoided a longer line, so my lazy and impatient tendencies won out and made me okay with it I guess. I did make sure to head back to the main entrance later in the day and experience the opening act as much as I could.

With my limited preparation (again, hat tip Max), I knew that Soarin’ and Roaring Rapids were going to be by far the longest lines. So, I grabbed a Fast Pass for Roaring Rapids, and went and got in the standby line for Soarin’

Now here I have to admit something. I'm not the biggest Soarin' fan. I preferred the California version to the around the world version, but even that one left me feeling kind of flat.

In Shanghai, the exact same ride system, the exact same film, but I enjoyed this experience much more. The pre-show set up, and the story (at least as far as I could gather, it was all in Mandarin), just felt like a richer experience. So, I enjoyed the exact same ride that much more just based on the queue and the pre-show.

The theme, since this is in Adventure Isle, is more about some mystical, magical adventure (maybe? I think?) than the more industrial hang gliding experience out of a hangar.

The queue was in a dark, cave like setting, which set a much better mood IMO than the more sterile environments in California and Florida.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some Patrick Warburton. But this pre-show video that I didn't understand a single word of struck more of a chord with me than the US versions. I think the story is there is some magical falcon-god lady, that gives us the ability to fly with her? Or something like that?

And, yes, I'm pretty sure I saw her give the same thumbs up and Mandarin version of "nice work pal" that we see in the US, which just makes it that much better.

All in all, I think this story set-up and theme are vastly superior to the US versions. I certainly don't think this story would work in the DCA or Epcot settings, which is kind of a shame. But I enjoyed this Soarin' much more than I ever had in the past.

 

[jrm477]

Next up was my Fast Pass for Roaring Rapids. My best case take on rapids rides is mild tolerance mixed with a need to check a box and say I did them. Especially so in a park I figured I'd never visit again. And remember, it was 40 degrees Farenheit or so at this point, so my rapids ride tolerance was at very low ebb. But, I had to check the box, so what are you going to do?

I was already mildly pre-miserable at the idea of getting wet. I entered the Fast Pass queue, looked around and saw that literally every other person had a poncho on. I had no poncho. Where did they get these? I didn't see a poncho dispensary. I didn't see a place to buy one. How did I miss this?

All of these people were going to enjoy this attraction so much more than me.

All in all... it was a fine rapids ride. Better than Kali, similar to Grizzly River Run, at least in terms of the non-cave with giant audio-animatronic lizard aspect of the attraction layout.

Now, the giant animatronic lizard, Q’aráq. Despite my best-cast luke-warm tolerance of rapids rides, I was really looking forward to this encounter. I was hoping it would be like the glory days of pre-disco yeti.

The trip through the part of the cave where he was though: a) caught me by surprise timing wise, b) was briefer than I thought it would be, c) my raft was pointed the wrong way, and d) I was still mostly focusing on silent prayer that I wouldn't get soaked at any point.

So, it may have just been my particular trip down the rapids, but I was kind of let down due to all those factors. I'm sure he was probably impressive, but I just didn't really get a good look to be honest.

Happily, when the ride ended, I don't think I even got a drop of water on me. So there's that. Wondering if they can somehow dial down the splash factor on a cold day?

All in all, this was probably my most disappointing moment on the whole trip. Take that with a grain of salt I guess, owing to the cold and my baseline feeling about a rapids ride. But I felt like this was a fairly standard issue rapids ride with a possibly cool AA that I just didn't get a chance to appreciate or really even see.

And, the queue shortly ballooned to 120 minutes and all Fast Passes were gone, so I wasn't going to get a second chance.

 

[jrm477]

After Roaring Rapids, I felt like I had delayed true gratification long enough to earn what I was absolutely looking forward to most: Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure.

In my giddy anticipation, I took a slow stroll that way and did a better job of taking pictures to commemorate the build-up.

I love this warning sign. They needed to call out that "you should be sober and in good health to ride".

Soarin' and Raging Rapids were over 100 minutes at this point. Pirates, the best attraction in the park, and in the running for best world-wide, was posted at 15 minutes. All praise to our lady of massive theoretical hourly throughput.

I had managed to keep myself completely spoiler free about this attraction. I had read reviews about its awesomeness, but had no idea what the story was, what the show scenes included, or even how its revolutionary ride system worked.

And, I'm not going to discuss any of that here, just in case there are other unsullied out there like me.

I don't want to discuss it because, I'm guessing due to the fact that I had no idea what lay in store, this attraction blew my mind like almost nothing else I've experienced in the last decade, if not longer.

If you don't know what the ride system does, when it first starts kicking in you're in a world where you're experiencing something you've never experienced before. It's disorienting, but in the best possible way.

Couple that with the fact that the show itself is top notch, screens and all. Effects I'm sure you guys have read about that I had no idea were coming, and absolutely blew me away. Sensory overload of video, practical sets, audio, lighting. And all this with a story that was completely in Mandarin that I still, after three more ride throughs, have no idea what it was even about.

Just truly spectacular, and in my opinion at least, as a professional cynic, all the online hyperbole you've read about this attraction is absolutely justified.

 

[jrm477]

A brief note here about cell service: another one of my big concerns before heading out there was whether my phone was going to work at all. Would my cell/data work? If not, would I have wi-fi to join? How big of a problem would the Great Firewall of China be in preventing me from accessing websites, communicating with relatives, etc.

There was a logistical aspect to this as well. Would I be able to manage Fast Passes on my phone? Or would a lack of service torpedo that?

I carry two phones: one is with AT&T and one is with Sprint (don't judge). First things first. Like in the domestic parks there is wi-fi everything. I never actually got it to work once though. So, that was a bust. I had a roaming signal on my AT&T phone, but I couldn't get that to actually work either.

My Sprint phone on the other hand, the data service was so good I might as well have been in the US. I also don't remember a single website I tried to access that I was prevented from viewing. Don't know if I just got lucky (I don't use the Facebook), or if my censorship concerns were overblown.

I sprung for a VPN app before heading out there. It turns out that a) the VPN app (ExpressVPN) didn't work. I couldn't establish a connection, so I'm guessing the Chinese government blocked it. It also turns out that I didn't really need it.

 

[jrm477]

After Pirates, I had a Peter Pan Fast Pass. The end of my one hour window was only four minutes or so after I got off of Pirates. Now, this is a big park. I had no idea if I'd actually be able to make it inside of four minutes. And, if I couldn't, what is the Fast Pass policy? Would I get a grace period? Or would I be out of luck?

So, I booked it over to Peter Pan, exerting much more energy and coming far closer to exercise that I wanted to. I got to the attraction, huffing and puffing, stressed the whole way that I was about to waste a Fast Pass, and...

It was closed. In my mentally compromised state owing to the mildest of physical exertion, I then made a very rookie mistake. I decided to get in the nearest queue for another attraction.... Along with every single other person that got turned away from Peter Pan.

So, I got in what was marked as a 60 minute wait for Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. By the time I got off, the wait was down to 20 minutes. Timing is everything.

My Voyage to the Crystal Grotto experience was interesting. I was largely unspoiled about this one as well, but I know I had read all kinds of online reaction to how lame it is.

Possible as a result of low expectations, I was really, pleasantly surprised. It's a boat ride past outdoor vignettes from various Disney movies. The vignettes themselves are kind of strange and boring, with limited movement. It was the water features accompanying them, timed to music from the movies, though that I thought were really, honestly entertaining.

Which, of course, I timed these pictures so you don't actually see any of those water features whatsoever. Trust me on this one I guess.

I should clarify that about 80% of the ride was enjoyable. The last 20%, the "grand finale" in the crystal grotto itself, was just weird. We were in some cave, and there were some really dim and fuzzy projections on the walls, but I had no idea whatsoever what was going on.

You leave the cave and, boom, ride over. It really was a strange and anticlimatic ending.

When I got home I pulled some videos of this ride up on Youtube to see if I was just missing something. The wall projections in the videos I found were much crisper, brighter and clearer than what I remembered in person. I still have no idea what it all means, but I think that might be due to degradation in the projection quality, coupled with a complete non-understanding of Mandarin.