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

Active Member
Original Poster
A brief cultural/etiquette/social interlude here. And I'll try to be as diplomatic as possible...

Two of the bigger things I had been reading that westerners had noticed were lots of spitting, and aggressive queue management (line cutting). I can say I at least encountered both of these pretty frequently.

There were probably three dozen times over the course of the day that I heard the unmistakable sounds of someone's throat preparing to expectorate, followed by said expectoration in the middle of the walkway, in the drinking fountain, anywhere really. Other than that, the park was pristinely clean, as clean as any other park I've been to. Lots of spitting though.

And the line cutting. I read Max's report, and I was prepared for the eager embrace of the "fill in all the available space" concept in Shanghai. Doesn't matter if that available space is in front of you in line or not, if there's open space someone is going to move ahead of you and try to fill it. I tried the "get wide" approach to try and make it difficult at least for people to squeeze ahead of me. It worked okay, but there were a few times where my arm was just forcibly moved, as an example, as someone just barreled past me and everyone else in front of me.

In the Voyage to the Crystal Grotto queue, I encountered the most glaring instance of all this. We were in a switchback portion of the queue. You know those little doors and gates that can swivel to rearrange the switchback queue to shorten it, lengthen it, etc?

Well, someone made the mistake of allowing a gap to form ahead of us, right where one of those gates was. And it was a jail break. Probably one hundred people just threw that gate open, blatantly cut the queue and stream through and a high rate of speed. I saw the entire queue immediately behind me just empty out as everyone doubled back to cut through the magic gate. I, like a sucker I guess, just stayed there waiting my fair turn.

My description doesn't probably do justice in terms of painting a picture of what I saw, but it was weird.

Other than that, I didn't really encounter any of the other types of things I've seen reported that would appear strange to a westerner. No one selling bootlegged merchandise. No public toileting. Other than those two things it could have been any other park around the world.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
After my voyage through the crystal grotto, I went back to Peter Pan. I had no idea if my Fast Pass would still be honored, or how it would work. Fortunately, the Fast Pass was still good.

Peter Pan is another one that I've never been a huge fan of. I mean, it's fun and interesting and all once you're onboard, but the 45 minute line has never been close to commensurate with my enjoyment of the ride.

Shanghai's version though might be the exception to that. I like this version much better. The ride system itself, with the bigger boats and the more inverted coaster-esque feel. The sets seemed better laid out, more detailed and more interesting. The projections were slick and I thought well integrated. By far, the best version of this attraction I've seen.

After that, I headed over to use my next Fast Pass at Seven Dwarf's Mine Train.

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Remember all my comments above about my general feelings on Peter Pan? Same apply here. The Mine Train is fine, I guess... but with more than a 20 minute wait I don't get it.

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The Shanghai version, to me, was actually far worse than the Florida version. Which is interesting, to me at least, since it's more or less a carbon copy.

The biggest reason is that at the top of the lift in the mine, you come out of the tunnel and the train is pointed at and staring at an industrial complex just outside the park's borders. It's almost like they intentionally made that the view. Which is weird given how much time and effort they put in elsewhere to building berms, strategically planting trees and whatnot. Maybe over time some trees will grow in there and it will all change.

The placement of the ride within the park also contributed to its lesser feeling to me. In Florida, it adds more kinetic energy to the area, especially over by Be Our Guest. In Shanghai it's tucked in the back, so that kinetic value add is missing.

One other note here I guess, up until this point Fast Passes had been so easy to get. Everything was available, the times were always five to minutes later, I was in Fast Pass nirvana. I mistakenly figured it would be like that all day. It was 1 PM or so at this point, I popped open the app to make my next reservation, and at this point almost everything was gone. The only one available was Tron at 7:30 PM, which was fine and I snagged that one.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
At this point, it was time for my first Tron Fast Pass. So, I wandered over from Fantasyland, passing the still under construction Toy Story Land, and into Tomorrowland.

I've seen quite a bit of discussion about the aesthetic of Shanghai's Tomorrowland, should they redo Florida's using the same style, etc.

Here's my take on it: The Shanghai Tomorrowland by far feels the most futuristic of any Tomorrowland I've been in. At least to me 2018 eyes. I'm sure in 1967 Disneyland's Tomorrowland might have looked just as slick. The color palate with the blues and metals, the swooping lines, even the plants and the lighting fixtures, it all does feel very futuristic.

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That being said, it definitely feels a little sterile. It just lacks the charm and the warmth of other Tomorrowlands around the world. I suppose sitting here, I think Shanghai's versions would be a slight upgrade to me over the current aesthetic in Florida. You would lose some of the warmth, but it would definitely put the "Tomorrow" back in Tomorrowland. FWIW, Shanghai's version would be a massive upgrade over Disneyland's or Hong Kong's, but that's only because of the low bar from where those two are starting from.

When I first walked up to the Tron building, I was blown away. I had seen plenty of pictures of the canopy, but it was still so cool and almost overwhelming in person that I had to take even more photos that are almost exactly like those you've already seen.

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And it continues to be just as cool looking and futuristic inside.

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As for the ride itself? I'll put it this way. I can't remember the last time I looked genuinely excited on an on-ride photo. I also have a feigned sense of excitement, or an on-purpose goofy face, or frankly I just forget where the camera is and I look bored sometimes.

On Tron, the on-ride photo is taken during the launch. This launch is one of the coolest sensations I've ever experienced on an attraction. It's a different feeling launch than, say, Rock 'N Roller Coaster. It almost seems to build more slowly, which in a strange way made it more intense and exciting to me. You couple that with the fact that you're sitting in a motorcycle-like seating configuration, and it was just really enjoyable.

And, my biggest regret from Shanghai: I was too lazy and/or cheap to actually buy that on-ride photo, so I can't share it unfortunately. Trust me though, I don't remember the last time seeing a picture where I looked like I was enjoying myself that much.

The rest of the attraction after the launch and canopy portion is okay. Think of it as an upgrade on Rock N Roller coasters indoor sets and aesthetics, but not as exciting.

That launch though. I think you guys in Florida are going to end up loving this one.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
It was lunch time at this point. I wanted to check out the Wandering Moon restaurant. I kept reading it was the sleeper hit of this park, and as noted on the previous page, I am a sucker for Asian food in Asia, even if I have no ability to judge its quality.

As I was walking to lunch I saw the parade coming up behind me. I'm not a parade watcher usually but, who knows if I'll ever be here again, so why not.

It was a cute, but fairly standard issue parade.

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That Tangled float caught me by surprise. First of all, they were singing in English. Up until this point, literally everything was in Mandarin. They hadn't even attempted to pepper in a little English. Here though, all English, which caught me off guard, and got me wondering why they went that direction.

Two, I'm pretty sure, but not positive, that the face characters there were western imports. Every other character I'd seen, even other ones from nominally western stories, were staffed by locals. Then I got to wondering if these two already lived in Shanghai and just responded to a "westerner wanted" ad? Or, did Disney relocate them specifically and only for this parade?

Before I could agonize over it too much, the obligatory Frozen float came by.

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Parade over, I made my way to the Wandering Moon restaurant (through the crowds watching the same parade I had just watched, awesome crowd control planning).

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It was closed!!?! Which is odd, because I had checked the show times guide the hotel handed me the previous day, and it was explicitly listed as being open.

Sadly, I backtracked to the default plan B, which was Mickey & Pals Market Cafe.

I ordered a rib type entree. I was also chasing the dragon trying to recreate that awesome dumpling experience from the night before.

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The dumplings were nowhere near as good as the previous night. To be expected I guess. The sequel is never as good as the first. More importantly, beer! I had enjoyed castle park beer in Paris, but had no idea they offered it in Shanghai, so this was a pleasant surprise.

It also made that warning sign at Pirates asking that guests remain sober make that much more sense.

In fact, I read the warning label on the beer cup, and started to wonder if there was some public drunkenness issue in Shanghai? I certainly never really saw or experienced any.

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amjt660

Premium Member
Loving the report
Keep it coming

I agree with you on Peter Pan being better
I did not notice the mine train view points
I screwed up and never made it on Soarin
Bad FP management on my part

I agree with Tron too
Good start but the rest was just okay
I did not do at night
Hoping you did

Max
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
Since I came in the "wrong" door when I entered the park, after lunch I decided to wander around and check out the entrance and Mickey Avenue, the Shanghai version of Main Street.

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I have no unique opinions to offer here other than what other people have already said. The train station is nice and all... but why have a train station if there's no train? The whole thing just seemed strange. You have this fairly radical departure for the actual Main Street portion of the entrance but, nope, still gotta have a train station at the front.

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Mickey Avenue itself was also precisely and specifically "fine". Not awesome, not awful. I get that they weren't going to plop a "USA" street down at the front of a Chinese park. And the Toontown-lite theming was fine too. It's just that Mickey Avenue is soooo small compared to its cousins around the world (with the possible exception of Tokyo).

It wasn't a grand entrance or opening act. It was a very small and compact shopping courtyard. By far the least impressive opening act of any castle park I've been to.

On the flip side, all of a sudden I didn't feel so bad about going in through the side door in the morning. I almost wonder if that's even a more impressive entrance.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
I kept wandering up towards the castle.

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I walked through the center of it for the first time. The interior is pretty cool, with a nice chandelier type thing in the middle.

I went and got in line for something I didn't even know existed, the "Once Upon a Time Adventure". But, hey, there was a line of people, so I just got in it.

As the line progressed, I started to get the sense this was going to be a walk through the castle diorama thing, similar to the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough in Anaheim.

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Maybe again here it's because I had low expectations, or in this case no expectations since I didn't even know this thing existed, but I found myself really enjoying this.

I mean, it's a walkthrough diorama, so it's all relative. But, the vignettes were lightyears beyond what they have in Anaheim.

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It's a Snow White retelling. The mildly creepy CG Snow White took some getting used to. But it was everything else about these scenes that was really interesting. I couldn't tell which effects were practical, which were CG, where the screen ended and where reality began. It was all blended together really, really well I thought.

And

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The weirdest part was when you get to the end of the walkthrough. They take you out into this courtyard at the top of the castle.

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Which, I guess is cool. Being in the open air at the top of the castle. What was weird though, is that the picture above is the best view you get up there. It's not like you get a unique birds eye view of the park or anything. In the open air courtyard you get a view of.... the open air courtyard. And then you just head back down. Seemed like a missed opportunity.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
Two random merchandise asides.

One, for whatever reason they loved Zootopia here. Zootopia stuff is everywhere. Although, I think I saw it called Zootroplis on some of the stuff. Zootopia was a fine movie and all, don't get me wrong. But why is this the film that caught on in China. It was almost as obscure to me as the Aristocats stuff all over Tokyo.

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Another thing you can kind of see in this picture is that there's a label that says "Star Products". I figured this was the manufacturer? Once I noticed it though, I started seeing it in every store.

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Using my awesome powers of unsophisticated language and cultural translation, I'm guessing this translates to "character merchandise" or something like that. I don't know, I'm probably the only person who finds this interesting, but there it is.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
I was going to go give the canoes a try. At this point though, lines were getting looong. The part of my brain saying "you don't have the patience required to wait in lines" started to win out over the "you'll probably never be here again, who cares how long the wait is" part. The canoes were over 70 minutes at this point. So, I took pictures instead.

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I then wandered over to the ropes course thing. Now this one, I do regret. The line was 120 minutes, and there's no way I was going to wait in that. But I walked by it when the line was 5 minutes long right when it opened. I was focused on getting to Pirates like a laser beam though.

So, learn from my mistakes. If you have any interest in this ropes course, do it right when the park opens. Especially if the other option is Pirates, which I now know has a line that gets much shorter throughout the day.

There is a nice little walking trail through the caves and whatnot that parallels the ropes course, so I took a stroll through that.

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jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
Did I mention that lines were long at this point? I had checked the headliners off my list, and wasn't going to wait 90 minutes for the same Winnie the Pooh ride we have in Florida, so I decided to take in a show. I got in line for the Captain Jack: Eye of the Storm show.

I had no idea what was going on. There were some pirates, maybe? But they weren't really pirates, they were actors pretending to be pirates. But then real pirates show up? Or vice versa?

I don't know, all I know if the end of this show was the most surprising and mind blowing part of my trip. I had no idea what this show was about or what to expect. The finale caught me by surprise and was absolutely incredible. I won't spoil it or go into specifics here. Find it on YouTube if you're interested. Very cool though. Unfortunately, what with OSHA and whatnot, I'm guessing we won't see a similar show coming to the states.

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I just started wandering around at this point, taking in the sites.

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What's this? They have churros here!?!?! Oh yeah, I'm going to get one of those. I'm a churro junkie. Borderline afficianado. I can give you a rank sorting of churro quality from all the carts across Anaheim and Florida. I'm definitely getting a churro here.

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It. Was. Awful. The churro was cold and hard as a rock. My diet pepsi was warm. I don't know how they pulled that trick off. They both must have been the same room temperature, but the drink seemed much warmer than the churro. Disney magic I guess. Gross though, and very disappointing.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
After choking down my churro fail, I noticed I was right next to the entrance to the Alice in Wonderland maze, so I wandered in to check it out.

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This was the biggest miss to me of the entire trip. This maze just did not work for me. If I had to assign an adjective to it, it wouldn't be fun, or even boring. I'd call it annoying, which is not high praise for a theme park attraction.

First of all, the theme just does not work. I thought the Alice in Wonderland maze in Paris was great. Charming, aesthetically pleasing, fun. This new Alice in Wonderland movie just looks weird, if not off-putting, in real life.

The maze itself was kind of boring. To be honest, I don't know that there was really even a maze. Just concrete walkways with a bush here, a bush there. In Paris you feel like you're in an actual maze, winding around hidden corners, with the prize of discovering a new show scene if you figure it out. This just felt like a wide open garden.

And, third, it was crowded beyond belief. Narrow-ish walkways, big groups of people gathered around each prop to take pictures. Just not fun.

Not to make it seem like I'm a totally miserable person, here's another cultural aside. I get fascinated by how each different country handles exit signs. Each country seems to have a different approach. China had one of the cooler ones. They had little illuminated arrows in the floor everywhere pointing you to the nearest exit. Yeah, I think this stuff is fascinating. I'm a nerd.

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Rotel1026

Active Member
Great read so far! That is a pretty interesting ending to the pirates show (via fast forwarding a Youtube video). That exit arrow looks more like a tripping hazard considering it seems not to be completely level with the floor around it.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
The head is indeed creepy, and that picture actually shows how the walkways are kind of narrow. Just out of frame to the right are about 40 people clogging the area waiting to take a picture. I'm not really prone to claustrophobia, but I definitely walked right up to the edge of it here.

The interesting thing to me about the fact that there are videos of that Pirates show on YouTube was that I saw the "no photos/no recording" policy being aggressively enforced, or at least as aggressively as Disney does anything. They definitely walked up to a number of people during the show making them put their phones/cameras away. I was convinced when I snuck my one picture that I was going to spend the night in Chinese Disney jail.
 

jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
I only had one other must do to check off my list at this point, and that was checking out the Shanghai version of the Buzz Lightyear shooter, Buzz Lightyear's Planet Rescue.

It's tucked back in Tomorrowland right under the Tron canopy, and I had to take another glamour shot just because the thing is that cool in person.

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I like the Buzz Lightyear rides quite a bit, although the Florida one ranks waaaay below the Anaheim version in my opinion.

The Shanghai version blows any of them out of the water. They perfected this ride format here. For one, the theme struck me as more interesting. You're not a toy trying to prevent another toy from getting batteries. Or, whatever the storyline is, as I'm writing this here I just realized I don't really understand what it's about, other than crystolic power fusion cells are involved somehow.

The Shanghai version puts you in the actual world of Buzz Lightyear. Zurg is a real bad guy, not just a toy. The whole setting, as a result, feels far more futuristic and inline with being in Tomorrowland, as compared with the other versions. At least I assume it did. I honestly have no idea, it was all in Mandarin.

The ride system itself improves upon the Anaheim version substantially. I'm mildly color blind and have trouble seeing the little red dot in the US versions. Here though, for whatever reason, it was much brighter and very easy to see.

The targets themselves are screens that react in very obvious ways when you shoot them, making it that much more obvious when you're on target. The guns themselves have much better haptic feedback when you hit a target.

In general, just a much better experience that I enjoyed much more. And, most importantly...

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Boom, over a million. I know, I know, it's probably not all that impressive, but I had never topped one million before anywhere, so I was pretty proud of myself.

And, no, the ride didn't stop at any point letting me rack up immobile points. It just turns out that I can actually aim the gun when I can see the little laser point.

Galactic Hero baby!!!

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jrm477

Active Member
Original Poster
At this point, I had done everything I wanted to do, save for riding Tron at night or seeing the fireworks show. So, I took some time to wander around and take things in.

A cool little fountain, water feature in Tomorrowland. Even though Tomorrowland seemed kind of sterile, I did really like the two level setup of it. It's a shame that I don't believe this will really be coming to Florida.

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I did want to try the Jetpacks, but at this point it was a 70 minute wait. I just can't do it. I can't bring myself to wait 70 minutes for a spinner, no matter how cool it looks or if I may never get a chance to ever ride it again. Although, now that I type that, waves of mild regret are washing over me.

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Sun was starting to set

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Here's another thing I couldn't understand. There was a turkey leg stand in the Treasure Cove area. The line for these was massive. Like 50 people deep. They also had a sign limiting the legs to two per purchase. For whatever reason, people really love their turkey legs over there. Apparently enough to lead to a mild turkey leg supply crisis?

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