Shanghai Disneyland planning help 4/26-4/28

Thank you so much for writing this! I’m sorry you missed the finishing show.
Not sure we would have stayed that long anyway, and if we had, we might have tried to use that time for another ride on Pirates while the crowd was pulled away.

With these recent long wait times, I’m not sure I’ll take the time to hang out much (or go at all) to Disneytown. Maybe shop a little after fireworks. Sort of confirms my early plan to not take the time for table service, especially going stag. it’s funny that at first, based on the number of atttactions, I thought I’d breeze through all of them in a day easily. An article I read - the author claimed this to be a half day park. Must have been when it newer, more obscure, nowhere near as popular.
We were touring counter-clockwise from Pirates and ended up at Tron right around lunch time. To get to the rides remaining, we had to walk pretty much past Disneytown anyway, so it was an easy jump for us. If you are over by Pirates at lunch, it would be a large time sink to make the walk over to Disneytown unless you planned on doing something in that area after lunch.

The walking alone makes this park tough to do quickly. I don't have the times, but we got in the park a few minutes after the official opening, and stayed probably 10 hours (minus the ~hour we took for lunch). We had FPs for every ride that had FP at the time and we still didn't get to everything.

We aren't fast walkers, so that worked against us.

We were there on a sold out day and were able to do, in order: some shopping, Pirates (no FP), Challenge Trails (no FP), 7DMT (FP), Peter Pan (FP), Buzz (FP), Tron (FP), lunch, Roaring Rapids (FP), Soaring (FP), Tarzan show, shopping, Tron (paper FP).

We waited about 45 minutes for the next Tarzan show, so that was time 'wasted', and all heck broke loose with the weather after that. We camped out in the Tarzan theater for over an hour for the storm to pass. Shopping after that was insane - most of the rides were closed for the day, so everyone was jammed in the shops. We waited probably 45 more minutes until Tron started running again and we used the paper FP we had.

The only things we wanted to do, but weren't able to were: Jack Sparrow show (we had this timed perfectly to head there after the Tarzan show, but the storm put an end to that), 12 more rides on Pirates ;), and another 2 or 3 runs on Tron.

We had a Pooh FP, but skipped it to save some time. Crystal Grotto was never lower than an hour wait, so we skipped that.

I’d have been ok with sdl sticking with just paper FPs. Would have made it more simple for me and gave me a competitive leg up. Get up early and power to the attraction of choice, without getting help/figuring out app. Although 5:30 is pretty early (still dark) when you’re on vacation!
We were there in July, at 5:30 AM, it looked, and felt, like noon at home. It was bright, hot, and humid. It was easily in the mid 80s at 530 lol Mu wife is an early riser every day of the year. I get up as late as possible every day of the year... except when I am on vacation. I like to get my money's worth on vacation; I can rest after we get home. ;) Not for everyone, I know. But it works for me. ;)

The risk of umbrella eye poking injuries...
Maybe the high incidence of umbrellas in Shanghai are not just for uv protection or to ward off the fashion police - but to help protect your personal space. You just twirl your open umbrella around like a bumper shield as crowds close in.

As a banker, I whine to coworkers when I get a tiny paper cut. I can’t wait to tell them about my umbrella eye injury when I get back. :crutches:
By about our 3rd day in China, we were ready to join the locals and use our umbrellas as sun shades.
 
So many helpful hints and tips and so many things I’d love to comment on...but I’m worn out. We leave in about 36 hours, and I feel like I still have tons to do. Maybe after our first overseas adventure, it’ll get easier...We won’t go to SDL until Thursday, so I still have a little more time to plan. I just peeked at the wait times - scary! The park is open until 10 both the days we are there, so that’s something good (hopefully).

Hope you have a great trip Robin! Please let us know how it goes.

Happy Easter everyone!
 
So I've sent several emails and yesterday I actually made 2 very long (30+ min) phone calls to CMs. And they've said the new rules are that you aren't allowed to bring in any food/drinks. They will toss anything they find at security.



My wife will told me that I've created a mess once we canceled Novotel and then booked Toy Story for 3 nights, added 1 & 2 day park ticket package - in order to get the advance FPs we discussed here on this blog. I decided to cancel this booking to go for a Spring/Summer Season Pass. The weekday one for 1235CNY is only slightly more than the 1040cny for the 1 & 2 day, but you can use it for 10% off your Disney hotel, and get 20% off all merchandise and restaurant purchases (even quick service and disneytown/hotel restaurants). The weekday one includes Sat 4/28 because of either Labor Day being that following Mon. or the Toy Story opening (prob. the former)... so it works out for me. If we had seen this earlier, it was on sale until 3/18 for like 900 something cny. It's still at that price on weChat, but we couldn't get that work. Because we're supposed to bind via wechat, your season pass to get the coupon book (with 100 cny off quick service, merchandise, x off photopass, etc.), I may not get this perk. I will also likely no longer get the advance FP booking. But I'm still going to ask concierge and argue that the season pass is an upgrade (CM thinks it will be a no). I will have to go to the hotel to hold my bags, maybe request for a room near the bus stop if the line isn't long, and activate my season pass at Guest Services (w/ passport and confirmation # on hand). Guest services is past security and to the right. Overall I had like 80-100cny savings off the room/tickets I would have purchased and I'll enjoy that 20% off food/merchandise. You can't buy the season pass on the Disney web site. You would be able to buy it online at an auth dealer Disney mentions but foreigners can't properly activate it in order to get the 10% hotel savings (you'd have to buy the season pass and then activate it at the park and then go back to the hotel to book and hope there is space). see web page for perks/details.
https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/ticket/

VZW charges 2.49/min to call to China. I added the global calling plan that is $15/mo, and canceled it after 1 day ($0.49 prorated). I figured I'd be on hold or have trouble interpreting a CM (and I did, I had to call back for another CM). Operating hours for the CMs were 8am to like 8pm which was like 7pm and later Central U.S. +86 21 3158-0000 (the 400 number wouldn't dial without the China county code). So CM canceled my prior package (web site will state that you can't refund tickets, only exchange). She booked my season pass, then gave me 10% off on Toy Story.


The information here is already paying off! I read the part about the seasonal pass and since we plan on visiting SDL for 3 days during the week, it only made sense to calculate the costs. After going through my spreadsheet, I actually save a bit over $300 going with a weekday seasonal pass with the 10% hotel savings. I just called the reservation number and choose English and had a CM that had very good English. We setup my seasonal passes for my family and then he gave me the 10% off my current hotel booking, so that was pretty painless. Now we also get 20% off food and shopping in the park, so my savings will get even better when we are there. I am okay with not getting the coupon book if that is the case along with the additional FP, but I will know for sure if that is case when Nick6300 goes as we are not going until June. As for my phone call cost, Vonage only charges 2 center per minute to call China, so my total cost to call was $0.43. Thanks for the info!
 
The information here is already paying off! I read the part about the seasonal pass and since we plan on visiting SDL for 3 days during the week, it only made sense to calculate the costs. After going through my spreadsheet, I actually save a bit over $300 going with a weekday seasonal pass with the 10% hotel savings. I just called the reservation number and choose English and had a CM that had very good English. We setup my seasonal passes for my family and then he gave me the 10% off my current hotel booking, so that was pretty painless. Now we also get 20% off food and shopping in the park, so my savings will get even better when we are there. I am okay with not getting the coupon book if that is the case along with the additional FP, but I will know for sure if that is case when Nick6300 goes as we are not going until June. As for my phone call cost, Vonage only charges 2 center per minute to call China, so my total cost to call was $0.43. Thanks for the info!

Great that you were able to get the pass and save too! Seems like many of us are stating just a day or 2. we are still working on getting a refund (cm said it could take a month) from our first hotel/ticket package we booked ourselves prior to getting the season pass. The cm had accidentally booked my room in separate day charges instead of a single transaction. It sort of seems like I lost out a little in the credit card conversion that way. But I’m more concerned with how split stays are a pain at wdw and hopefully the separate transactions won’t mean checking in and out several times (Idt so).

I’ll let you know on the discount booklet and regarding the advance FP at the conceirge. I think the food and merchandise savings will be nice. Like I stated cm said we’d have to go to guest services to the right, after turnstiles... show your passport and purchase confirmation number.. (I saved a note in my phone) in order for them to activate our passes.

Currently thinking about switching from Verizon (had my carrier for 20 years) to T mobile for the zero roaming, free unlimited texting in China (140 countries), unlimited data (but up to 2g there which I’m not sure would do any good) and .20/min. It’s $25 mo. Extra for the unlimited talk included but you could always add it for a month and change back (texting if sufficient for me). Kind of a bummer that the free mlb network promo is ending tomorrow night... don’t want to sign up until the day before I leave. But there’s free Netflix inc. still and the $120 unlimited 2 lines with autopay discount.

So it’s 1230 there right now and wait times are much better than they havd been (but still high)... 165 minutes soaring, 135 SDMT, 90 tron, 75 rapids, 70 Pooh, 65 Pan, 55 dumbo. Challenge trails still closed for maintenance- hopeful that it’s back up in a couple weeks. Web site states nothing closed for refurb.
 


Not sure we would have stayed that long anyway, and if we had, we might have tried to use that time for another ride on Pirates while the crowd was pulled away.


We were touring counter-clockwise from Pirates and ended up at Tron right around lunch time. To get to the rides remaining, we had to walk pretty much past Disneytown anyway, so it was an easy jump for us. If you are over by Pirates at lunch, it would be a large time sink to make the walk over to Disneytown unless you planned on doing something in that area after lunch.

The walking alone makes this park tough to do quickly. I don't have the times, but we got in the park a few minutes after the official opening, and stayed probably 10 hours (minus the ~hour we took for lunch). We had FPs for every ride that had FP at the time and we still didn't get to everything.

We aren't fast walkers, so that worked against us.

We were there on a sold out day and were able to do, in order: some shopping, Pirates (no FP), Challenge Trails (no FP), 7DMT (FP), Peter Pan (FP), Buzz (FP), Tron (FP), lunch, Roaring Rapids (FP), Soaring (FP), Tarzan show, shopping, Tron (paper FP).

We waited about 45 minutes for the next Tarzan show, so that was time 'wasted', and all heck broke loose with the weather after that. We camped out in the Tarzan theater for over an hour for the storm to pass. Shopping after that was insane - most of the rides were closed for the day, so everyone was jammed in the shops. We waited probably 45 more minutes until Tron started running again and we used the paper FP we had.

The only things we wanted to do, but weren't able to were: Jack Sparrow show (we had this timed perfectly to head there after the Tarzan show, but the storm put an end to that), 12 more rides on Pirates ;), and another 2 or 3 runs on Tron.

We had a Pooh FP, but skipped it to save some time. Crystal Grotto was never lower than an hour wait, so we skipped that.


We were there in July, at 5:30 AM, it looked, and felt, like noon at home. It was bright, hot, and humid. It was easily in the mid 80s at 530 lol Mu wife is an early riser every day of the year. I get up as late as possible every day of the year... except when I am on vacation. I like to get my money's worth on vacation; I can rest after we get home. ;) Not for everyone, I know. But it works for me. ;)


By about our 3rd day in China, we were ready to join the locals and use our umbrellas as sun shades.

No ceiling on FPs would have been nice vs the 3 cap currently. But I not sure I’d get more than 1-2 before they're gone at 1030-11 (besides Pooh and maybe Pan). The reviews I’ve seen are all from 2016 when wait times were much lower (“you could experience over 30 min wait for the less popular attractions”... try 75 min for the carousel). But one review that seemed more comprehensive suggested to try to do tron at night (but it’s busier since everyone wants to do it at night when it’s lit up). The article suggests soaring first then rapids, SDMT.

Couldn’t remember the reason but they suggested to not do table service in park - instead go to Disneytown or limit to quick service (I wasn’t going to do table service anyhow).

The author also found a sim/WiFi egg service that shipped to your hotel and left you a bag to return a rental at the hotel desk for them to pick up (assuming you’d only return the WiFi and not a sim). 3G services. Just $3.5 for airport or hotel shipping. Still don’t know for sure if having vpn is sufficient for getting at least access to everting while on WiFi or does the WiFi at hits and park suck and I need the sim/data?
 
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I don't think there are many table service options in the park. I think the only one is the character meal in the castle. I've seen good reviews of that, but it's not something we were interested in.

We didn't have much issue with the in-park WiFi and the park app. During the storm, we tried using WiFi and it was very slow. Surprisingly, not a single person around us in the theater was looking at weather maps. We tried finding a site that showed live radar, but we could not find one. I'm not sure if that's a 'thing' in China or if we just couldn't find it because the WiFi was bogged down with all the people playing games while waiting out the storm.

The only other issue was that WiFi was spotty in Disneytown - in the park, I don't remember having any issues.
 
I'm fairly sure we haven't covered this yet - but are there any experiences to relate on dining in Disneytown? We're hoping to eat a lunch somewhere in the park (I've heard Barbarossa's in POTC is nice), but to exit to Disneytown for a dinner at one of the restos there, then back for late rides and/or the finale show. I'm curious about queues to get in, the need (or even possibilities) for reservations, etc. Any wisdom on this subject?

Mark
 


I'm fairly sure we haven't covered this yet - but are there any experiences to relate on dining in Disneytown? We're hoping to eat a lunch somewhere in the park (I've heard Barbarossa's in POTC is nice), but to exit to Disneytown for a dinner at one of the restos there, then back for late rides and/or the finale show. I'm curious about queues to get in, the need (or even possibilities) for reservations, etc. Any wisdom on this subject?

Mark

Mark, was hoping someone who's actually been there responded to you. I had found these articles as a quick refresher (including what to do to get the visa exemptions) from all of your research:
https://tdrexplorer.com/shanghai-disneyland-planning-guide/
http://www.disneytouristblog.com/shanghai-disneyland-trip-planning-guide/

Recommendations
The Park consists of quick service restaurants, all of which offer varying numbers of options. Here’s a quick list of where to get specific types of food:

  • Pizza: Pinocchio Village Kitchen
  • Burgers: Stargazer Grill
  • BBQ Ribs: Barbossa’s Bounty
  • Chinese Cuisine: Wandering Moon Restaurant
Dining Tips
  • The official website has their menus online for restaurants
  • Make a reservation at the Royal Banquet Hall ahead of time, which is done over the phone.
  • Make reservations at Aurora and Lumiére’s Kitchen when you arrive at the Resort.
  • Bring a water bottle—your hotel should offer free bottles of water—to refill at the Park. The fountains are labeled as “Drinking Water,” so you know it’s safe.
  • Guests seem to take breaks in the quick service restaurants, even during off-peak dining hours. Check if you can find a table before you order.
  • Pepsi products are available in the Parks, while Coke products are not offered. If you’re not a fan of Pepsi, then stick with tea, juice, or other Pepsi products.
  • If a Cast Member doesn’t speak English, there are menus which you can point at that have selections written in English. All menus have English on them.
Like Cschaaf mentioned, there's just the Royal Banquet for table service at the Park (other than the 2 at S. Disneyland Hotel + ones at Disneytown), which requires the advance resie and most seem to like it. The author liked Chip/Dales, Il Paperinos in the park for snacks. I watched videos of people dining - and thought that the patisserie is one of the places I was going to go for snacks, along with the ice cream shop near the entrance. A couple of people thought the Stargazers western did the job for them as they're not adventurous for items like octopus at Barbossa's. A lot of the quick service combos include the tiny 20oz or 12oz cold/hot drinks - different from the U.S. parks. Carmel hot chocolate is an option.

I've seen guests choosing cheesecake factory, Starbucks, and getting noodles/ramen at Disneytown, and comments that the quick service seems cheaper/better at Disneytown. There is a spring themed show at Disneytown going on and I think there might be Beauty and the Beast broadway there. I'm likely to only take the time to go to Disneytown after the the park is closed (8-830 for park vs. 10-10 for Disneytown hours are posted on app but not on web site very far out) to shop World of Disney for merchandise. I saw on the app that Wolfgang Pucks was in Disneytown - I've always liked their food at the locations at Disney Springs, WDW.

I noticed that the app had Toy Story Land on the map. Challenge Trails was open again after refurb. The wait times have been better in recent days but still something like 120-135min for Soaring, 90-105 for SDMT, 70-105 for Rapids. There was still a FP avail for Buzz into 1pm, with most gone at 1045am. Several of the non Soaring/SDMT wait times had peaked early and went down by 4pm (I couldn't sleep). While most people recommend going to the right and counterclockwise (i.e. Soaring, Rapids, SDMT...). For my stay, I think a lot of people will start out going straight for Toy Story to the left (right of Tron). I also noticed that Challenge Trails lists that closed toe shoes (no sandals or open heal - I'm guessing even the strap ones) are not allowed. I was planning on taking sandals.

https://tdrexplorer.com/disney-premier-access-now-available-at-shanghai-disneyland/

Found that the premier access is for the set of 1 time use of FPs not for unlimited rides that day, as I had hoped. Looks like you can buy 5 for the price of the set. So it's probably better to wait towards the end of the trip - see what you didn't get to experience and didn't get as a FP the last day and potentially buy a select 1-3. I wouldn't buy one for Soaring or SDMT unless really itching to see that different ending to Soaring. It looked like you could test buying one via the app (did that last night) and they were sold out for Soaring in the afternoon. I think I'd mainly consider Rapids and Tron at night time.

Yesterday, I ordered a sim - 2GB of data only from 3GSolutions https://www.3gsolutions.com.cn/page/mifirental/. I'm going to switch off to T Mobile sim while in S. Korea, and back to the 3G Solutions sim for my Disney trip. It was about $33, delivered to my hotel. We will also get the express VPN too.
 
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Fantastic - your insomnia is to the benefit of all!

For connectivity, we're also using 3G solutions to equip our two phones. I didn't realize that our package also comes with phone numbers - hopefully that means I'll be able to receive the PIN number I need when we arrive at the park, so we can get online and get into those FP ressies.

I also examined the wait times before going to bed and then waking up the following morning. I looked at things around 11am in Shanghai and Soaring, Rapids, and SDMT were all up over 100 minutes (Soaring was at the 135 mark, the highest I'd seen). Pirates was at 50 minutes. In the morning, it was around 7pm there and and everything was down to less than an hour, with Soaring still ruling the roost at 55 minutes - Tron was 50, probably for folks who wanted to do it at night.

I didn't know that Disneytown remained open after the park "closes" at 8. So much the better to catch everyone leaving for last-minute shopping and snacks before the ride home or trek to the hotels.

As for food, as much as I'm okay doing street food and convenience stores during an entire trip (especially in Japan - you can eat like a King in a 7-11, IMO), for my family's sake I do want to step things up. Barbarossa's sounds like a good option (always wanted to dine while watching people float by, themselves hungry from an hour or more in the line) and Wandering Moon sounds like a good option for sanitized local cuisine. I've still an eye on Disneytown for dinner though, and the Crystal Jade is enticing - a franchise also found elsewhere in Shanghai it seems, and one worth trying out there, so should be good here too. Definitely gonna report back when it's all said and done.

I'll be there a week from today. Excitement mounting!

Mark
 
Fantastic - your insomnia is to the benefit of all!

For connectivity, we're also using 3G solutions to equip our two phones. I didn't realize that our package also comes with phone numbers - hopefully that means I'll be able to receive the PIN number I need when we arrive at the park, so we can get online and get into those FP ressies.

I also examined the wait times before going to bed and then waking up the following morning. I looked at things around 11am in Shanghai and Soaring, Rapids, and SDMT were all up over 100 minutes (Soaring was at the 135 mark, the highest I'd seen). Pirates was at 50 minutes. In the morning, it was around 7pm there and and everything was down to less than an hour, with Soaring still ruling the roost at 55 minutes - Tron was 50, probably for folks who wanted to do it at night.

I didn't know that Disneytown remained open after the park "closes" at 8. So much the better to catch everyone leaving for last-minute shopping and snacks before the ride home or trek to the hotels.

As for food, as much as I'm okay doing street food and convenience stores during an entire trip (especially in Japan - you can eat like a King in a 7-11, IMO), for my family's sake I do want to step things up. Barbarossa's sounds like a good option (always wanted to dine while watching people float by, themselves hungry from an hour or more in the line) and Wandering Moon sounds like a good option for sanitized local cuisine. I've still an eye on Disneytown for dinner though, and the Crystal Jade is enticing - a franchise also found elsewhere in Shanghai it seems, and one worth trying out there, so should be good here too. Definitely gonna report back when it's all said and done.

I'll be there a week from today. Excitement mounting!

Mark

I recall you saying you got the data only Sim (not the mifi). I know that if you got mifi, that's only data, and you'd have to get VPN for the firewall access. The Sim, like you said... think you get a local number. I'm trying to make sure getting VPN on top of sim is necessary for firewall access or if the sim is sufficient and VPN only gets you added security while on wifi. VPN Express is money back gty though. Are you going just with the sim or also getting VPN? I didn't get the texting or calling options added to sim because I figured I could just weChat or whatever app we decided to add will work well there. Think I've seen 3GSolutions bloggers state they got instructions with the sim.

Trying to decide if I'll be able to squeeze 12 days of stuff (t shirts and shorts) in a carryon and back pack to avoid baggage claim and not knowing for sure if my bag on my long layover in China will arrive in S. Korea or not. I prob. won't be able to do it.

leaning towards not taking any cash, hitting the atm at the airport for the taxi.

Been seeing Soaring consistently hitting 180 nearly every am until the past few days it's been in the 135 peak. While everything seems to hit that high early on, and drift down, I can understand the desire to go on Tron at night with it all lit up in fluorescents. Plus a lot of people are working the park counterclockwise and ending at Tron. Even if I'm able to land Soaring FP, I'm not ever going to Mine Train 1st - if it's anything like the WDW version, it breaks down 1st thing a lot/stuck at the front of a RD line while everything gets crowded. I think I'd go Roaring or even the ropes because of the limited lockers. The 7pm down times you described is pretty typical of the Disney parks late if you think about it... as you get close to fireworks time, a lot of people are grabbing their spots and not on the rides. I'm probably doing the fireworks only once and taking advantage of the lower wait times. One of the articles I posted today recommends hitting Tron at 5 min. before park closes. So they must let you stay in line after the park's closed. There are certain attractions that close earlier, the Canoes closes like at 430 (can't be on water at night), many of the shows stop like at 5 something it seems.

Excited for you, a week will fly by.
 
I used the TDRexplorer guide when we did TDL and I even met him while waiting in line to check in at the Disneyland Hotel there. Very nice guy and his main base is TDL, so while his guide is a decent start, I feel that SDL is ever changing and certain things apply while others do not anymore. I like watching Natasha's videos as she is the most current person to have gone there and show everyone. I watched the same video from her with regards to the fastpass on the phone and found that extremely helpful and much easier to use.

With regards to the VPN for Nick6300, you only need the VPN software if you want to access things like Google or Facebook as they are blocked by the Great Firewall. If you plan on just doing the normal things like accessing the disney app, wechat, etc, then you should be fine. VPN also does give you added security since the Great Firewall logs everything. I am in IT and that alone is enough for me to have it on all the time. :)
 
Actually, I did forget to mention - in addition to the VPN that 3G gave us (I configured one of our phones yesterday, it seems to work fine), I also got a subscription with Strong VPN as a backup. Apparently China will block services or servers with no particular pattern or reason, so I wanted to be doubly sure.

Mark
 
Transportation: Someone in this thread or maybe another thread, I can't remember mentioned something about how they wished there was Uber or something. Well, there is! It's called DiDi! And it's in English! A nice alternative to taxi's and usually a little bit cheaper. I use it everyday. I recommend.

+1 for DiDi. It's incredibly cheap: we paid for short trips the equivalent of $1-2, with 30 minutes trip being around $10-15.
Another big advantage is that you can search for your destination in the app so you don't have to have it written in advance in chinese (as no taxi driver speaks english). The drawback is that they will probably call you on your chinese number to try and communicate. DiDi has a few premade sentences you can send via text to the driver, I found that sending "My GPS location is accurate please reach me here" or something like that was enough to avoid being called.
No problem getting a DiDi to the park, but getting back wasn't possible: the resort is a bit isolated from the city so no driver hangs around waiting for customers. We ended taking a taxi which was only 10% more expensive.

I would reccommend avoiding the free shuttle from and to the hotels. At least, I had a bad experience: when the park closes the coach parking for the hotel shuttles fills to capacity so our shuttle wasn't let in until most of the others left. It was a huge delay and also a bit worrying as we weren't sure what was happing and couldn't find our shuttle. Also that parking is the furthest away and it quite a hike after a full day in the park. A taxi is cheap enough to not have to deal with that madness.

The park app works well without a VPN. Actually it works better.
 
I used the TDRexplorer guide when we did TDL and I even met him while waiting in line to check in at the Disneyland Hotel there. Very nice guy and his main base is TDL, so while his guide is a decent start, I feel that SDL is ever changing and certain things apply while others do not anymore. I like watching Natasha's videos as she is the most current person to have gone there and show everyone. I watched the same video from her with regards to the fastpass on the phone and found that extremely helpful and much easier to use.

With regards to the VPN for Nick6300, you only need the VPN software if you want to access things like Google or Facebook as they are blocked by the Great Firewall. If you plan on just doing the normal things like accessing the disney app, wechat, etc, then you should be fine. VPN also does give you added security since the Great Firewall logs everything. I am in IT and that alone is enough for me to have it on all the time. :)

It would be awesome to visit TDL. I only just discovered TDR (since we haven’t ventured outside the U.S. parks).

@Nomarian,
With the 3GSolutions Sim being shipped to my hostel on 4/19, I can't load it in before entering Shanghai. Hope no issues there. Going to Korea 4/20-early 4/26. I believe I have to remove the sim and replace with my U.S. sim (cycle phone) since the Chinese one might not work in S. Korea? And then reinsert the Chinese one on 4/26? Hope no issues changing sims back and forth. Heard of someone getting their phones locked when swapping sims back to U.S. sim.

For deciding on VPN: apps - we were thinking WeChat for texting because less likely blocked (but it takes up more space than others). Microsoft translator was recommended here on my post over Google translator. I think I'll add DiDi per zavandor, and perhaps some sort of currency converter app. Not really sure what's blocked when having that 3GSolutions Sim - I can live without FB.

Haven't focused much on learning how to do the FP on your phone. I only got that Chinese text confirming purchase of the season pass. So hopefully simply showing that (having confirm# handy too) + passport at Guest Services will get me either a paper pass or text (preferably something printed). I don't have any hopes of getting a FP the 1st day (getting their around 12 after dropping bags/pre check in). But I can ask concierge that night if they're willing to allow advance FP or at worst get me squared away for adding in the am.

@zavandor,
thanks for the transportation tips. I had wondered if riding the bus to hotel at night would be an issue but also wondered if many of the Chinese didn't stay on site. At WDW, we typically either skip the fireworks in favor of last rides and stay later until the park clears more or sacrifice viewing a bit more and be among the first out. I was mainly planning on last ride/shopping at Disneytown and staying out later.

Do you have to get a locker if you just have a phone/wallet/passport for Tron? I get that you have to have everything out of your pockets for the rope challenges and should for Rapids.

Only saw the Toy Story Land photos for the first time yesterday - that Rex's ride looks a little scary to me! I'm not sure I want to be the 1st g. pig.
There were 4 hour wait times for Soaring yesterday (200+ for Roaring/7DMT too)... hopefully able to ride more than 2 attractions per day.

What do you guys think on approx. cash (in USD) on hand per day needed for 1. Dining/merchandise at SDL should accept Visa so I'm thinking just transportation (up to $25 max per trip) and any food in the city.
 
I have used 3GSolutions Sims for my trip. All Google apps (Gmail, maps, translator, Drive, google.com...), Facebook, Instagram were blocked. Didn't try Twitter but I bet it was blocked. WeChat and DiDi did work, as well as the SDL app. I have used pureVPN but we had often problems connecting.
The SIM did work in an Iphone to create a wifi hotspot to allow other devices to share the internet connection, but it didn't work in an Android phone (3 different models, so it wasn't a brand issue).

Park closed at 8pm, Disneytown officially at 9pm. I didn't stay after that time to see if they actually closed everything, but I wouldn't plan a sit down meal after park close.

We didn't stay onsite so I cannot comment on the shuttle situation for the onsite hotels. What I experienced was for a shuttle for an offsite hotel.

Lockers at Tron were not in use. CM let us in with out bags and then asked to put all the bags in a box that they then moved to the disembark station. It doesn't seem 100% secure and I wouldn't leave anything valuable or a passport in the bag.

At the gate they used the passport number to retrieve our tickets. I brought with me the confirmation email but they didn't look at it. I went the evening before to guest services to havethe ticket printed in advance, I wasn't sure if that would have saved us any time, but they told us that we had to get the tickets at the gate the next day. As soon as you pass the gate, scan the tickets with the app and you're ready to book your first FP.
 
@zavandor what was your experience getting online with the app with your 3G SIM? Did you go to Guest Services?

I have the DiDi app but am trying to avoid registering my credit card. I'm doing an improv show while I'm there and the locals say they can hook me up if needed though. :)

Mark
 
@Nick6300
Yes, you will have to replace your US SIM with the 3G one if you want that to work in China with the local number. I don't think the China one will work in Korea, but you can test. :) I have not heard of phones getting locked because you swapped out SIMs. If the phone is unlocked, then you can insert whatever SIM you want.

As for translators, I would also recommend Microsoft Translator as that is not blocked yet, but Google Translator is blocked and won't work without a VPN. WeChat and DiDi are local apps, so they are not blocked. I have a good friend that goes to China all the time and he is going to lend me this device while I am there as he uses it all the time. https://www.travistranslator.com/

The Fastpass on the phone is pretty slick. You will register your ticket and your families tickets as a group and then you can just book the fastpass on the app. The park is so huge, that running to get the FPs is just crazy. Just standing in line and using the app is much easier and saves so much time. It will also allow you to maximize your fast passes.

I am in the same boat as you. We arrive at the parks around 1pm our first day. I plan to use that day to sort out our tickets, photopass and any other items that need to be taken care of to make the next few days easier. My seasonal passes are tied to my passport as well and I was told to get that done before I can check into the hotel there.

As for Tron, if you watch that video that Impromark posted about Natasha, she films getting on the ride and they have these big blue bins that you drop your bags into before the ride and then pick them up once you get off. I guess if you are the only riders for that platform, it should be fairly secure, but I would not leave valuables in there.
 
So just for the record, I’m in Shanghai now and both the 3G Solutions SIM and its bundled VPN work fine, as does the StrongVPN we got separately. You have to flip it back on periodically for some reason, but it gets the job done and we can access everything we need to outside the Great Firewall, including this site. :)

Two more sleeps till our Disney day! Hoping the jet lag abates by then, it’s almost 2am local and here I am typing stuff wide awake. :P

Mark
 
The Tron ride vehicles also have a little storage bin. We had the Premier Access passes and they required you to show your phone, so I had to carry it with me. I stored my phone in the ride vehicle bin. There was enough room for a wallet, phone, and passport.

I worried the entire ride that I'd forget to collect my phone at the end, though.
 

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