My Shanghai Disneyland Grand Opening Experience Trip Report & FAQ Answered

Corbisblue

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
EDIT: Added the last of the trip report for as the 4th part!

Hey, everyone! We just got back from Shanghai and what an incredible experience it was. Not only did we get to experience the park for the opening (which is fantastic by the way) we met so many great Disney fans from around the world (Australia, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Canada, United States, and Japan). It was an experience I will always cherish.

I just finished writing a preliminary report on my thoughts and first impressions along with answering some questions that I got quite a bit. I am sure some have been addressed already in other threads too. I will continue working on a proper trip report going into more detail of the trip along with reviews of restaurants and the hotels (we stayed at both).

I will post the links here and continue updating them as I write them. I can try and answer any questions people have as well.

Trip Report:

Reviews:
Podcast:
Videos:

 
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I appreciate that it's difficult to give a concrete answer, but how many days would you suggest for a visit to Shanghai Disney early to mid next year. Would two days be sufficient to experience ALL rides and most other entertainment? Or would three or four days be required?
 
Great to see another Opening Day report! I agree with most of your points. I saw most of those behaviours too, but it was mostly isolated incidents and certainly didn't take anything away from my general enjoyment of the park.

Just a couple of things to add that you might be interested in (I will go into these in more detail later in my TR). I was in line for opening at about 10am. Once we'd been through security, we lined up at the ticket window to exchange our printed tickets. Then we lined up at the turnstiles to get our photos taken. We were then directed to a holding area where we waited until opening and were escorted to the park entrance. The park actually opened slightly early - it would have been closer to 11:45am when the first official guests entered.

I didn't get to do Roaring Rapids either, but I did experience Camp Discovery and the Challenge Trails. The 'caves' in Camp Discovery were lovely and cool in the heat of the afternoon, and there were great views of the mountain. It was a nice place to just wander and have a bit of a rest. The Challenge Trails were also fun and I would recommend people give it a go! I also did the Seven Dwarves Mine Train twice - both times at night. This was a fun ride too, I imagine quite similar to the one at WDW. One of the highlights for me was the perfect view of the castle coming over one of the hills.

I stayed at both hotels too, and did try the walk from the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. There is a special gate at the back of the hotel just for guests, which serves as a gateway to Wishing Star Park. You need to use your room key to enter or exit through this gate (or show the guard your booking - I didn't have my room key yet). Once in Wishing Star Park, it's only about a 10 minute walk through the gardens and over a couple of cool bridges to Disney Town. Having said that, it didn't appear to be possible to enter Wishing Star Park from the Disneyland end after hours, so I couldn't take the shortcut back to the hotel and just caught the bus. It would be a long walk without being able to cut through the park.

I love your photos so far, and can't wait to read more of your report!
 
Yay! Another report! :)
I would love to hear more about the shows, parade and evening entertainment! And pictures. I need pictures. Lots and lots of them!

About the hotels, there is also a thread about it, but besides proximity, what are the perks of staying at a Disney hotel?

Another question, the garden of the 12 friends with the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. I take it's just a walk through, but is there any explanation on for example character descriptions? I can imagine they didn't as the park is designed for locals, but also cannot imagine it's completely without signage for international visitors.

Bit disappointed that Voyage to the Crystal Grotto is indeed just as it looks on the videos. I think the similar versions of storybook boat rides in Paris and Anaheim are better designed. I think my disappointment comes from the mysterious name, that created a lot of expectations and an episode of Princess Sofia. About a year ago on my timeline concept art of the ride appeared in combination with this episode and the video looked so similar I was convinced they would take inspiration from it. Unfortunately they apparently didn't. But the only one to blame for this is my overly active imagination. ;)
 


I just found this by doing a search for Shanghai. It might be nice if these TR's could be linked to the opening day trip planning thread for those of us who have been following that one.

Thanks! Now off to read about your trips!

ETA: I'm back after reading through your TR - wow!! Great job! Thanks so much for sharing all of the information and great photos!
 
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I appreciate that it's difficult to give a concrete answer, but how many days would you suggest for a visit to Shanghai Disney early to mid next year. Would two days be sufficient to experience ALL rides and most other entertainment? Or would three or four days be required?

I would say that 2 days would be enough if you rushed everything. My gut feeling is 3 days to get a good grasp on the park and see everything without being rushed. 4 days if you want to relax at one of the Hotels (Disneyland Hotel is fantastic and the pool is nice) and take in Disneytown. It's really a huge park and you spend a lot of time walking.
 
Thanks so much for this - I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the park! Just FYI, what makes you think they will offer early entry for hotel guests in the future? Is it just based on other Disney parks policy or did you hear rumors while there? It hasn't even been hinted at on the website. We are staying at the Toy Story Hotel in January and I'd love to be able to get early entry from staying onsite?
 


Thanks so much for this - I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the park! Just FYI, what makes you think they will offer early entry for hotel guests in the future? Is it just based on other Disney parks policy or did you hear rumors while there? It hasn't even been hinted at on the website. We are staying at the Toy Story Hotel in January and I'd love to be able to get early entry from staying onsite?

We asked the front desk and they told us that it was "not ready yet". That was as much information I could get. So unless there was a miscommunication (that may be the case I am not sure), it sounds like it will be coming in the future.
 
We asked the front desk and they told us that it was "not ready yet". That was as much information I could get. So unless there was a miscommunication (that may be the case I am not sure), it sounds like it will be coming in the future.

Thanks! That's still promising news that it may be coming though! Will have to keep my eye on that for the January trip :) :)
 
Thank you for the review!

I had also wondered about it being a princess-dinner. But when I look at the website I see my mix up. In the park there is a restaurant called 'Royal Banquet Hall' where Aurora (or maybe other princess, although I saw Aurora also in Zanzibar's report) does the welcome and Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Daisy meet, and in the Disneyland Hotel there is a restaurant called 'Aurora', but that's only themed after her story. I had expected Aurora to be in her own restaurant.

As I will be travelling with a Sleeping Beauty fanatic, have you seen Aurora meeting in the park as well, or only in the restaurant? I read another thread Cinderella & Rapunzel are meeting, but not much about the other characters yet.
 
Enjoyed the review! How did you get reservations there- did you just call? I'm a bit nervous about calling foreign countries because I worry that I won't be able to communicate.

All these opening week trip reports are definitely getting me excited for planning my fall trip. And, since I booked airplane tickets last week, I guess I'm really going!
 
Enjoyed the review! How did you get reservations there- did you just call? I'm a bit nervous about calling foreign countries because I worry that I won't be able to communicate.

All these opening week trip reports are definitely getting me excited for planning my fall trip. And, since I booked airplane tickets last week, I guess I'm really going!

I called them a few times and never had any problems communicating. I think they keep some of their best English speakers for phone based roles.
 
Thank you so much for your review! I will have to get back to it and read it thoroughly, when I have more time! I've already mentioned to my DH about going to Shanghai Disneyland, and he didn't flat out tell me "no", so there is hope!
 
Thank you for the review!

I had also wondered about it being a princess-dinner. But when I look at the website I see my mix up. In the park there is a restaurant called 'Royal Banquet Hall' where Aurora (or maybe other princess, although I saw Aurora also in Zanzibar's report) does the welcome and Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Daisy meet, and in the Disneyland Hotel there is a restaurant called 'Aurora', but that's only themed after her story. I had expected Aurora to be in her own restaurant.

As I will be travelling with a Sleeping Beauty fanatic, have you seen Aurora meeting in the park as well, or only in the restaurant? I read another thread Cinderella & Rapunzel are meeting, but not much about the other characters yet.

I only saw Aurora at the restaurant. I didn't notice other Princesses around either, but I wasn't keeping an eye out for them.

Enjoyed the review! How did you get reservations there- did you just call? I'm a bit nervous about calling foreign countries because I worry that I won't be able to communicate.

All these opening week trip reports are definitely getting me excited for planning my fall trip. And, since I booked airplane tickets last week, I guess I'm really going!

We just called and had no issues communicating. They have English speaking staff to help you out.
 

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