Just got back from our multi-week stay in Shanghai and Japan, with SHDL marking our last Disney park on the list. Fortunate to be in the Six Castle Club, thought I'd share some of my thoughts below in case anyone is interested. Also made a trip out to Universal Studios Japan for Donkey Kong but not sure if this is the appropriate place to discuss that, but if you're interested in hearing about it let me know.
Happy to answer any questions as best I can!
Shanghai Disneyland:
Overall: A pretty and unique castle park that feels a bit unfinished still, even with Zootopia, and somewhat suffers from a lack of charm that the other castle parks have. At times its massive and somewhat gaudy scale makes it feel closer to a (very good) Universal park than a Disney one, the lands never transition into each other successfully. But Treasure Cove is an absolute triumph of imagineering and Zootopia feels like a perfect addition to the park. It just needs more. Also feels very reminiscent of Iger's tenure in general: technically well done on paper, very IP heavy, and lacking some of the soul you come to the parks for.
I won't comment on the park guest culture because it's obviously different from mine and is in keeping with the rest of the country, but if you aren't a seasoned international traveler and come from the west, I'd be prepared for some culture shock in terms of guest behavior. But anyone traveling anywhere internationally, especially somewhere as unique as China, should be prepared and educated enough on what to expect and keep an open and respectful mind.
Lands: Such a unique take on a hub that is both gorgeous and really works for both the castle and the park. And I'll say the castle looks/works much better in person than over pictures and video. We both were really enamored by it.
Pirates Cove is gorgeous and an absolute home run. A treasure trove of Imagineering detail and a perfect compliment to the marquee attraction. Tomorrowland, despite being pretty sparse, is aesthetically very attractive and will likely stand the test of time much longer than any of the others (save Discoveryland in DLP) have. It's an infinitely better execution of the concept they were clearly trying to emulate for nu-EPCOT (and maybe will for MK's Tomorrowland?). Fantasyland suffers greatly from being very spread out and disjointed, hard to even consider it a land in the traditional sense. Wanted to love Adventure Isle because the volcano/waterfall is gorgeous but it's unfortunately incredibly small and already feels somewhat abandoned. Chip and Dale have fully moved in and taken over much of the original aesthetic. A lot of wasted potential. SHDL takes the award for best Toy Story Land but it's a very low bar. Woody's Roundup and the accompanying music dubbed in the native language adds a lot of charm to a land that is otherwise very off the shelf. It's unfortunate this exact land has been cloned to four different parks but its hard to argue against the added cheap capacity it brings.
Zootopia is very well done, even for someone who doesn't really care for the IP - though it's much too small for something attempting to emulate a city. Even knowing this was going to be the case, the entire land being one attraction and an exit gift shop is shockingly small even by modern standards. It's sorely missing a table service or QSR, some kind of in-door space the way Frozen land in HKDL has. But it's packed with detail and it's very fun to explore. I just hope we can move past the era of building entire lands around a single IP, as this is probably the most egregious example yet despite being executed well.
Attractions: A surprisingly thin line-up for such a large park, felt somewhat similar to Tokyo Disneysea pre Fantasy Springs. Inflated wait times across the board as a result. Some really fun modern updates on classics: Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters, Jet Packs, Peter Pan. Unfortunately the park has very few unique rides at this point if you've been to the others, but acknowledge that's a first class problem. Was looking forward to a modern updated version of DL's Storybook Land Canal Boats but was pretty disappointed with Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. Though the Alice in Wonderland Maze is very charming and sits perfectly right underneath the castle.
As expected POTC: Battle for the Sunken Treasure was the highlight and still holds up all these years later. It's absolutely criminal they haven't co-opted that ride system again for another park in the decade since. We managed to go in completely unspoiled after all these years and there are some genuine jaw dropping moments that I haven't experience since Rise opening. And the scale is completely unmatched. My only qualms are with the screens, which have aged very poorly in the years since. The massive dome ones are fine for the most part because of their scale, but the smaller ones they integrate into the attraction, especially in the finale, degrade from the experience. The ending is also a little abrupt. As is it's definitely one of the best attractions in the world, but if they had been able to make some slightly different decisions it'd be in my top 3. As is, I don't think it quite cracks top 10.
Zootopia was genuinely surprising, our expectations were very low and we both ended up really enjoying it. After Pirates this was the ride we did the most during our stay. Some really fun set pieces, the highlights being the queue and the parts that are driving in and out of the city. Feels a bit like Rise meets an updated Roger Rabbit. The lowlights are of course the screens, and unfortunately there seems to be no end in sight for "your vehicle parks in front of a screen and barely emulates a motion simulator" in modern day imagineering. But thankfully there are still some great physical set pieces. This attraction and land would have been a great replacement for Hollywood Land in DCA, but otherwise should probably stay unique to the park. I'm definitely glad it's not coming to Animal Kingdom.
Food: Excellent and varied, probably second best only to the Tokyo parks.
Tokyo Disneyland/Tokyo DisneySea:
This was our fourth overall visit to TDR since 2019 so we know the parks well. Don't need to discuss the particulars other than Fantasy Springs, which we experienced for the first time. I'll say overall it's nice to see these parks finally returning to their pre-Covid glory days, every visit post Covid has been an improvement. It was also an incredible pleasure to see Country Bear Christmas for the first time since 2019.
Fantasy Springs Overall: What an incredible and worthy addition to the best theme park in the world. A real triumph of design that they managed to create the perfect Fantasyland analogue for such a unique park, and it really rises to the occasion. The park has been in need of capacity for a long time and once the land switches to standby, it'll be a tremendous boon across the board. The land itself is gorgeous, specifically the incredible rock work that serves as the spine for the entire land and does so perfectly. Each individual area has just enough to justify itself, though it is slightly baffling that there is only one gift shop in the entire land and it's attached the hotel. Frozen in particular is really craving for another interior to explore, even if it's just a small gift shop. The major lowlight is the hotel, which seems oddly budget cut and surprisingly ugly, I'm hoping they go back in and fix it if numbers get soft. It doesn't hold a candle to Miracosta. The other surprising lowlight is the food which is all pretty weak, which is surprising when we consider TDR to have the best food on average of any of the parks. But that can be adjusted, and also each of the food locations are some of the best restaurant theming imagineering has done in over a decade plus. My only gripe with the land is how separated it feels from the rest of the park, but maybe that will change with time. Please make more lands with multiple IPs again!
Attractions:
To preface, we experienced each of these attractions at least four times each during our visit and also managed to go in completely blind.
Rapunzel's Lantern Adventure: Very cute "romantic" ride that focuses on the scenes with Flynn and Rapunzel, and does the lantern scene a lot of justice. But the absolute show stopper is the Rapunzel animatronic in her tower that can be enjoyed even outside the attraction. What an absolutely brilliant decision this was, it constantly drew crowds who would stare up, mouth agape to listen to Rapunzel sing. It's one of the most impressive effects I've seen in a Disney park, it genuinely feels like she is alive and in world. Honestly it feels better than the attraction itself, which just feels too short and is missing two more scenes. Considering the first scene is technically outside and can (mostly) be absorbed before you get on the ride, you get off of it feeling like it's missing something. Especially for how good what is in there is, you leave wanting a little more.
Fairy Tinker Bell's Busy Buggies: Talk about a ride punching well above it's weight. I was really enamored with this ride, which is mostly just a modernized version of Heimlich's Chew Chew Train from DCA (rest in peace). They really went above and beyond to make what should be a children's attraction that can be easily skipped, into something a grown adult will want to ride when they visit. I may genuinely like this ride more than Rapunzel.
Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey: As stated by everyone who has ridden it this is definitely the ultimate blueprint for what a classic Disney storybook dark ride can be. Blown away that every single sequence somehow contains at least one A1000 animatronic and many of them more than one. My only minor gripe is that it feels like many of the sequences only have the animatronic to look at, an issue I have with many new modern dark rides including BaTB in TDL and Tianas in MK. Many of these rides seem designed to keep your attention on the most impressive thing in the room which is fair, but at least for me it detracts from the excitement of wanting to ride it again and again if I can absorb everything on the first run. But this is again a first class problem, and its undoubtedly going to be the marquee attraction for many years to come.
Peter Pan's Never Land Adventure: By far this was the biggest surprise of the trip for both of us. To preface, I have next to no built in love for Peter Pan outside of my love of the classic dark ride in the parks, of which I rarely do anyway given the wait times they tend to command. And like many of us I'm really not a fan of the screen heavy rides in any park, so I had expected to think this was just ok. I couldn't have been more wrong, I love this attraction. The animation style is incredible, a perfect modern 3D re-interpretation of the Peter 2D style that feels perfectly in line with the original movie and also feels bespoke (not like the kind of "generic" 3D modeling in Philharmagic, where everything looks the same). The blending of screens with the set design feels more seamless than any other ride of this style, and the ride system is so pleasant and responsive, it genuinely feels like you are responding to the action you're seeing on screen, which is the highest praise I can give to a simulator like this. The ride length is perfect, the music is wonderful, across the board it's an absolute homerun. It's honestly so good that I'm scared it'll impress OLC enough to continue to invest in screen heavy rides, but it's hard to argue against how good the attraction is. It's the ride I wanted to re-ride the most, and I honestly enjoyed it more than Frozen Journey, which feels absurd to even say. It's the ride I look forward to riding the most again when we return, and I certainly won't be upset if they ever clone it to one of our domestic parks.
If anything, it's just nice to see Fantasy Springs serve as a testament to the fact that imagineering still has the talent internally to create projects like they used to, with the proper leadership and budget. I hope at least some (if not all) of the domestic expansion projects on the horizon are given even a fraction of care and attention FS was allowed to have.
Happy to answer any questions as best I can!
Shanghai Disneyland:
Overall: A pretty and unique castle park that feels a bit unfinished still, even with Zootopia, and somewhat suffers from a lack of charm that the other castle parks have. At times its massive and somewhat gaudy scale makes it feel closer to a (very good) Universal park than a Disney one, the lands never transition into each other successfully. But Treasure Cove is an absolute triumph of imagineering and Zootopia feels like a perfect addition to the park. It just needs more. Also feels very reminiscent of Iger's tenure in general: technically well done on paper, very IP heavy, and lacking some of the soul you come to the parks for.
I won't comment on the park guest culture because it's obviously different from mine and is in keeping with the rest of the country, but if you aren't a seasoned international traveler and come from the west, I'd be prepared for some culture shock in terms of guest behavior. But anyone traveling anywhere internationally, especially somewhere as unique as China, should be prepared and educated enough on what to expect and keep an open and respectful mind.
Lands: Such a unique take on a hub that is both gorgeous and really works for both the castle and the park. And I'll say the castle looks/works much better in person than over pictures and video. We both were really enamored by it.
Pirates Cove is gorgeous and an absolute home run. A treasure trove of Imagineering detail and a perfect compliment to the marquee attraction. Tomorrowland, despite being pretty sparse, is aesthetically very attractive and will likely stand the test of time much longer than any of the others (save Discoveryland in DLP) have. It's an infinitely better execution of the concept they were clearly trying to emulate for nu-EPCOT (and maybe will for MK's Tomorrowland?). Fantasyland suffers greatly from being very spread out and disjointed, hard to even consider it a land in the traditional sense. Wanted to love Adventure Isle because the volcano/waterfall is gorgeous but it's unfortunately incredibly small and already feels somewhat abandoned. Chip and Dale have fully moved in and taken over much of the original aesthetic. A lot of wasted potential. SHDL takes the award for best Toy Story Land but it's a very low bar. Woody's Roundup and the accompanying music dubbed in the native language adds a lot of charm to a land that is otherwise very off the shelf. It's unfortunate this exact land has been cloned to four different parks but its hard to argue against the added cheap capacity it brings.
Zootopia is very well done, even for someone who doesn't really care for the IP - though it's much too small for something attempting to emulate a city. Even knowing this was going to be the case, the entire land being one attraction and an exit gift shop is shockingly small even by modern standards. It's sorely missing a table service or QSR, some kind of in-door space the way Frozen land in HKDL has. But it's packed with detail and it's very fun to explore. I just hope we can move past the era of building entire lands around a single IP, as this is probably the most egregious example yet despite being executed well.
Attractions: A surprisingly thin line-up for such a large park, felt somewhat similar to Tokyo Disneysea pre Fantasy Springs. Inflated wait times across the board as a result. Some really fun modern updates on classics: Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters, Jet Packs, Peter Pan. Unfortunately the park has very few unique rides at this point if you've been to the others, but acknowledge that's a first class problem. Was looking forward to a modern updated version of DL's Storybook Land Canal Boats but was pretty disappointed with Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. Though the Alice in Wonderland Maze is very charming and sits perfectly right underneath the castle.
As expected POTC: Battle for the Sunken Treasure was the highlight and still holds up all these years later. It's absolutely criminal they haven't co-opted that ride system again for another park in the decade since. We managed to go in completely unspoiled after all these years and there are some genuine jaw dropping moments that I haven't experience since Rise opening. And the scale is completely unmatched. My only qualms are with the screens, which have aged very poorly in the years since. The massive dome ones are fine for the most part because of their scale, but the smaller ones they integrate into the attraction, especially in the finale, degrade from the experience. The ending is also a little abrupt. As is it's definitely one of the best attractions in the world, but if they had been able to make some slightly different decisions it'd be in my top 3. As is, I don't think it quite cracks top 10.
Zootopia was genuinely surprising, our expectations were very low and we both ended up really enjoying it. After Pirates this was the ride we did the most during our stay. Some really fun set pieces, the highlights being the queue and the parts that are driving in and out of the city. Feels a bit like Rise meets an updated Roger Rabbit. The lowlights are of course the screens, and unfortunately there seems to be no end in sight for "your vehicle parks in front of a screen and barely emulates a motion simulator" in modern day imagineering. But thankfully there are still some great physical set pieces. This attraction and land would have been a great replacement for Hollywood Land in DCA, but otherwise should probably stay unique to the park. I'm definitely glad it's not coming to Animal Kingdom.
Food: Excellent and varied, probably second best only to the Tokyo parks.
Tokyo Disneyland/Tokyo DisneySea:
This was our fourth overall visit to TDR since 2019 so we know the parks well. Don't need to discuss the particulars other than Fantasy Springs, which we experienced for the first time. I'll say overall it's nice to see these parks finally returning to their pre-Covid glory days, every visit post Covid has been an improvement. It was also an incredible pleasure to see Country Bear Christmas for the first time since 2019.
Fantasy Springs Overall: What an incredible and worthy addition to the best theme park in the world. A real triumph of design that they managed to create the perfect Fantasyland analogue for such a unique park, and it really rises to the occasion. The park has been in need of capacity for a long time and once the land switches to standby, it'll be a tremendous boon across the board. The land itself is gorgeous, specifically the incredible rock work that serves as the spine for the entire land and does so perfectly. Each individual area has just enough to justify itself, though it is slightly baffling that there is only one gift shop in the entire land and it's attached the hotel. Frozen in particular is really craving for another interior to explore, even if it's just a small gift shop. The major lowlight is the hotel, which seems oddly budget cut and surprisingly ugly, I'm hoping they go back in and fix it if numbers get soft. It doesn't hold a candle to Miracosta. The other surprising lowlight is the food which is all pretty weak, which is surprising when we consider TDR to have the best food on average of any of the parks. But that can be adjusted, and also each of the food locations are some of the best restaurant theming imagineering has done in over a decade plus. My only gripe with the land is how separated it feels from the rest of the park, but maybe that will change with time. Please make more lands with multiple IPs again!
Attractions:
To preface, we experienced each of these attractions at least four times each during our visit and also managed to go in completely blind.
Rapunzel's Lantern Adventure: Very cute "romantic" ride that focuses on the scenes with Flynn and Rapunzel, and does the lantern scene a lot of justice. But the absolute show stopper is the Rapunzel animatronic in her tower that can be enjoyed even outside the attraction. What an absolutely brilliant decision this was, it constantly drew crowds who would stare up, mouth agape to listen to Rapunzel sing. It's one of the most impressive effects I've seen in a Disney park, it genuinely feels like she is alive and in world. Honestly it feels better than the attraction itself, which just feels too short and is missing two more scenes. Considering the first scene is technically outside and can (mostly) be absorbed before you get on the ride, you get off of it feeling like it's missing something. Especially for how good what is in there is, you leave wanting a little more.
Fairy Tinker Bell's Busy Buggies: Talk about a ride punching well above it's weight. I was really enamored with this ride, which is mostly just a modernized version of Heimlich's Chew Chew Train from DCA (rest in peace). They really went above and beyond to make what should be a children's attraction that can be easily skipped, into something a grown adult will want to ride when they visit. I may genuinely like this ride more than Rapunzel.
Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey: As stated by everyone who has ridden it this is definitely the ultimate blueprint for what a classic Disney storybook dark ride can be. Blown away that every single sequence somehow contains at least one A1000 animatronic and many of them more than one. My only minor gripe is that it feels like many of the sequences only have the animatronic to look at, an issue I have with many new modern dark rides including BaTB in TDL and Tianas in MK. Many of these rides seem designed to keep your attention on the most impressive thing in the room which is fair, but at least for me it detracts from the excitement of wanting to ride it again and again if I can absorb everything on the first run. But this is again a first class problem, and its undoubtedly going to be the marquee attraction for many years to come.
Peter Pan's Never Land Adventure: By far this was the biggest surprise of the trip for both of us. To preface, I have next to no built in love for Peter Pan outside of my love of the classic dark ride in the parks, of which I rarely do anyway given the wait times they tend to command. And like many of us I'm really not a fan of the screen heavy rides in any park, so I had expected to think this was just ok. I couldn't have been more wrong, I love this attraction. The animation style is incredible, a perfect modern 3D re-interpretation of the Peter 2D style that feels perfectly in line with the original movie and also feels bespoke (not like the kind of "generic" 3D modeling in Philharmagic, where everything looks the same). The blending of screens with the set design feels more seamless than any other ride of this style, and the ride system is so pleasant and responsive, it genuinely feels like you are responding to the action you're seeing on screen, which is the highest praise I can give to a simulator like this. The ride length is perfect, the music is wonderful, across the board it's an absolute homerun. It's honestly so good that I'm scared it'll impress OLC enough to continue to invest in screen heavy rides, but it's hard to argue against how good the attraction is. It's the ride I wanted to re-ride the most, and I honestly enjoyed it more than Frozen Journey, which feels absurd to even say. It's the ride I look forward to riding the most again when we return, and I certainly won't be upset if they ever clone it to one of our domestic parks.
If anything, it's just nice to see Fantasy Springs serve as a testament to the fact that imagineering still has the talent internally to create projects like they used to, with the proper leadership and budget. I hope at least some (if not all) of the domestic expansion projects on the horizon are given even a fraction of care and attention FS was allowed to have.
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