Trip Report Well...this is different. Shanghai Disney trip.

So, it's not WDW, but we tried something different this time. A little backstory: I live in Belgium and my first Disney experience was when I visited Disneyland in 1989... this was quite a trip and since that first visit I was sold. I was so happy when DLP opened in 1992, because now I could visit a Disney-park within a 3 hour drive! We visited DLP about 13 times untill the place started slowly falling apart... and DLP started to lose it's charm. We were fortunate to be able to visit WDW (our honeymoon in 2000.. again in 2004/2006 and with our 2 year old son in 2012... again in 2015 and 2016.) and Tokyo Disney in 2008. WDW really stole our heart. We stayed at Carribean Beach and loved it. We decided to skip a year (so that next year we can experience pandora and toystory land) and we took the challenge to make a trip to china to visit Hong Kong Disney and Shanghai Disney.

I'm not very good at trip reports... so it will be 'quick and dirty' :)
I'll handle Shanghai Disney first, as this was the most intense experience...and maybe I'll tackle Hong Kong Disney later.

We first stayed for 4 days in the center of Shanghai to do some sightseeing and after that we moved to The Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. We took the subway (with all our luggage) which wasn't too bad. The trip took about 40 minutes.

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When we arrived at the Disney resort metro station we walked to the nearby bus stops and asked a staff-member which bus we had to take for the hotel and this was the first time we realized that language (english) could be a problem sometimes. He didn't understand us but he did understand the word 'Disney' and managed to show us the correct stop for the resort shuttle. When the bus arrived the bus driver did a better job of understanding us. We put our luggage in a special luggage compartment in the front of the bus and off we went...we were the only ones on the bus (my wife, son and me). After a few stops we arrived at the Shanghai Disney hotel.

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The cast-members were really friendly and offered us to assist with the luggage. Check-in was really quick. As we arrived early, our room was not ready yet, but they already did a pre-register and we were able to store our luggage with bell services. This was also when we realized that you need your passport for a lot of things. Hotels scan your passport (all of them) for security reasons. The cast-members at the hotel desk spoke and understood english reasonably.

The first impression of the hotel was amazing. It looks really great. It has an amazing art-nouveau style and looks very luxurious. It also smells amazing :) . There was a person playing live piano. We checked out the lobby and nearby restaurant/shop and were amazed by the nice details and little Disney touches. If you have to choose between the Toy story hotel and this one and you can spend the extra money... then I would recommend to do the upgrade and go for this one.

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The cast-member at the front desk explained us the transportation options. You can take the bus (every 10 minutes) or the ferry (every 20 minutes) or you can walk (don't). We went outside through the garden to the ferry stop which would take us across the lake to the park. We took the resort shuttle once but the long walk from the park to the bus stop, the waiting for the bus and the drive to the hotel took longer than the ferry. So from then on, we decided the ferry was the quickest way to get to the park and back.

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We walked to the entrance of the park... (around 1 pm) stood in line for a bag check... and went to the turnstiles to enter the park. I had to give my passport which they scanned. They found the tickets I had purchased. (1-day ticket for the day we arrived and 2 day-tickets for the next 2 days). They took our picture (it's linked to your ticket to prevent scams) and printed the tickets. Everything went smooth and we were in!! yey! But things wouldn't keep going smooth.... :)

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to be continued.
 
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LowesChevy

Well-Known Member
Yes, thank you for the trip report. I do not think I would ever visit the park, but really cool to see the buildings and attractions. My cousins visited Hong Kong Disneyland and from what they described it was quite a shock, for instance the Phantom Manor didn't focus on ghosts. Interesting to see how things differ from one side of the Earth to the other!
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Thank you for sharing
Based on your report I am going to HKDL for my next Asian Disney
Shanghai can wait for awhile

Max
 

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