The 'I survived SDL's Opening Day' TR!

zanzibar138

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
For those who are unfamiliar with my story, attending an Opening Day was on my Disney bucket list, and Shanghai gave me a great opportunity to tick that one off! You can catch up on my PTR here.

In a nutshell, when the opening date was announced, I sweet-talked my boss into letting me have the week off, sweet-talked my husband into letting me chip into our holiday money, and tried to find a travel buddy to go with. When no one was interested, I decided to just go solo.

I'm very excited to be able to share with you one of the very first experiences of SDL, and I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed 'researching'!

Contents
General Observations
* Shanghai City
* Disneyland Park in general
* CMs
* The general public

The Journey to China and Navigating the Train System
* Singapore Airlines flights
* Maglev train
* Shanghai metro trains and stations
* City hotel

A Walk Around the Century Park and Shanghai Science Area
* Sightseeing in the area

A Quick Note About the Dorsett Shanghai
* City hotel for consideration

A Wander Around Downtown Pudong
* Sightseeing and eating around Lujiazui station and waterfront area

A Little Bit of Disney in the Big City
* Shanghai Disney Store

A Quick Note About Facebook Access
* Tips on getting around the Great Firewall

The Journey to Disneyland
* Catching the train to the resort area
* Disney metro station

All the Shuttle Buses
* Shuttle buses around the resort
* A little bit on the Toy Story Hotel

The Disneyland Hotel and Wishing Star Park
* Checking in at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel
* Quick walk around the public areas at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel
* Path to Disneyland through Wishing Star park

The Final Countdown to Opening!
* Entry procedures for opening day including bag check and ticket redemption

The Road to Tron
* First impressions of Gardens of Imagination and Tomorrowland
* Full review of Tron

Focus on Tomorrowland
* Tron FPs
* Full review of Buzz Lightyear
* Brief overview of Tomorrowland

Focus on Gardens of Imagination
* Enchanted Storybook Castle from the front and sides
* A little bit on Photopass
* Garden of the Twelve Friends
* Fantasia Carousel

Shopping on Mickey Avenue
* Brief overview of Mickey Avenue
* Photos from the pin shop and candy shop
* Meet and greets with Minnie, Goofy and Pluto

Mickey's Storybook Express Part 1 & Part 2
* Mickey's Storybook Express parade ;)

Finally, Some Lunch!
* A brief mention of Tron by FP
* Full review of Wandering Moon Teahouse
* A little bit on Disney Town
* More on shuttle buses
* A little bit on guest behaviour

Lounging at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel
* Club lounge at the hotel
* My room at the hotel

A Walk to the Park
* Lobby and Hakuna Matata Oasis at Shanghai Disneyland Hotel
* Wishing Star Park

And Speaking of Tinkerbell
* Brief mention of Mickey Avenue
* Full review of Peter Pan's Flight

An Update on PhotoPass
* Brief explanation about what happened with my PP

Night Time in Tomorrowland
* Short comparison of Tron at night
* Show lighting in Tomorrowland

Igniting the Dream Part 1 and Part 2
* Ignite the Dream night time spectacular ;)

Ignite the Dream - Grand Opening Special
* Special Grand Opening finale

And the Park Emptied Out...
* Full review of Seven Dwarves Mine Train
 
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I have sooooo many photos to go through before I can start my TR for real, but I wanted to get something down while it's all still so fresh in my mind. So here I'll be sharing a few observations and general impressions from my few days.

Shanghai City
Well, this specifically relates to the Pudong side as I never actually made it to the old part of town. Pudong is much newer and more westernised than I was expecting. It actually reminded me of Singapore! It seemed pretty easy to get around (I took the train as far as the river that divides old and new Shanghai), and has some great parklands and new public spaces with lots of artwork and new architectural buildings.

Disneyland Park in General
The best word I could think of to describe the park is 'spacious'. The paths are wide and there are a lot of open spaces and garden areas. Because of this, it is able to absorb a large crowd and still be reasonably pleasant to visit. However, the crowds obviously do gravitate towards the attractions and therefore the lines get pretty long. FPs are gone within a couple of hours to mid-afternoon, depending on the ride. Surprisingly, characters had pretty short waits. There are lots of mature trees scattered throughout the park providing shade, and most queues are cleverly covered (so the covering is actually part of the theming, not just a generic roof structure).

CMs
Communication was a bit hit and miss. The CMs at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel spoke great English, at the Toy Story Hotel they spoke decent English, at the park in customer facing roles they varied reasonable to pretty basic. Non customer facing CMs, like bus drivers and security staff (who still obviously need to communicate with guests) were very poor at English, and struggled to understand the most basic phrases like 'Disneyland Hotel'. CMs in general seemed enthusiastic and happy to be there, and generally made up for communication issues with general friendliness and genuinely wanting to help.

The Public
I'm very pleased to report that for the most part, park goers were very civilised, sometimes even downright friendly and helpful! Someone pointed out to me before I went that people like to fill the space in lines. This is exactly how I would describe it. If the queue area is wide enough for 2 people to fit side by side, 2 'mini queues' will form in the space of one. People will move between these 2 lines whenever there is a gap. If you are not literally touching the people next to you, someone will see a gap there and squeeze their way in. As much as it was an annoyance (it's actually really hard to keep your spot in line), it's really not cutting, it's just a cultural difference, and it's hard to get too upset over. There was also plenty of people making their way through the line to meet up with other members of their party. Again, this seemed to be widely accepted. Toilets seemed to remain in pretty good condition from what I saw. This was probably helped by most of the toilets being squat toilets. There were just a few western style ones in each block.

Of course I did see some examples of the behaviours that we were expecting. There were some lines that became a bit of a crush. I saw a couple of people pull down their toddlers pants and hold them over a puddle or garden bed, even when there a toilet 20m away. I also saw someone have their toddler pee in a bottle while in line. On the surface this appears to be a great solution. However, the toddler didn't have a good aim and there was quite a bit that didn't make it to the bottle. Then the parents just left the bottle right there in the queue. There were a few suspicious looking small puddles around which I avoided just in case. I only saw a couple of people spitting, and it was into a bin or garden bed, which I don't mind so much. There was also the odd person wandering around the park smoking. Queues were definitely looking past their best by about lunch time, with what I would call a reasonable amount of rubbish on the ground and stuffed into crevices around the queue. I did see a couple of heated moments between guests, which nearly ended with fist fights, but there was plenty of security around and they were on the scene very quickly.


Well, I've leave it there for now and go prepare to board my flight! Will add more when I can.
 
Thanks for your trip report! Great that you were able to make this memory of being there at the open of a new Disney park.

Of course I did see some examples of the behaviours that we were expecting. There were some lines that became a bit of a crush. I saw a couple of people pull down their toddlers pants and hold them over a puddle or garden bed, even when there a toilet 20m away. I also saw someone have their toddler pee in a bottle while in line. On the surface this appears to be a great solution. However, the toddler didn't have a good aim and there was quite a bit that didn't make it to the bottle. Then the parents just left the bottle right there in the queue. There were a few suspicious looking small puddles around which I avoided just in case. I only saw a couple of people spitting, and it was into a bin or garden bed, which I don't mind so much. There was also the odd person wandering around the park smoking. Queues were definitely looking past their best by about lunch time, with what I would call a reasonable amount of rubbish on the ground and stuffed into crevices around the queue. I did see a couple of heated moments between guests, which nearly ended with fist fights, but there was plenty of security around and they were on the scene very quickly.

That's all okay then. lol. Actually, this fills me with a bit of horror. I hope that Disney gets on top of this to firmly establish a culture of what's acceptable and what isn't in this park. Establish this early and it will continue into the future. I hope it doesn't get a bit Disneyland Paris; where they have rules but no one will ever ever enforce them.
 
Thanks for the posts and I look forward to reading more! I'm still in the planning stages for a fall trip to SDL so I'm eager to hear about everyone's experiences there this week.
 


I also want to thank you for posting! I got so excited looking at the pics of Shanghai Disney from opening day that I may just use my kids' inheritance to book me a trip! (j/k....maybe :rolleyes1) Hope you will be able to post a few pics when you have a chance!
 
oh that a great overall summary, thanks for sharing. I'll look forward to all the detail and of course the pictures, when you get some time !
 


That's all okay then. lol. Actually, this fills me with a bit of horror. I hope that Disney gets on top of this to firmly establish a culture of what's acceptable and what isn't in this park. Establish this early and it will continue into the future. I hope it doesn't get a bit Disneyland Paris; where they have rules but no one will ever ever enforce them.

I don't think that will make a difference. There will continuously coming new parents with their young children to the parks, you will have behavior as described. Because it's considered normal to have young children doing their business on the streets, or spitting, you cannot expect people to know or understand that there is a tiny place in their huge country where different behavior is desired. It's the same with Disneyland Paris and smoking. Not until the general idea about smoking is changed in the whole of France, you will see a change in Disneyland Paris in guest and CM behavior.

This does make me replanning the order of my trip to Asia next year, maybe put Shanghai first, then Hong Kong and end with Tokyo. As the manners between Chinese & Japanese is quite different and as the last impression stays with you the longest, I think I want to remember Japanese guests more than I want to remember Chinese guests.

For the language issue, I read that in Japan if a CM doesn't understand English, they get someone who does. Did that happen in Shanghai, Zanzibar138?
Eitherway, bring on the pictures! And the reviews about the rides and shows etc, I saw a video of the Voyage of the Crystal Grotto, but what happens inside the grotto was hard to see.
 
Thanks for your trip report! Great that you were able to make this memory of being there at the open of a new Disney park.



That's all okay then. lol. Actually, this fills me with a bit of horror. I hope that Disney gets on top of this to firmly establish a culture of what's acceptable and what isn't in this park. Establish this early and it will continue into the future. I hope it doesn't get a bit Disneyland Paris; where they have rules but no one will ever ever enforce them.

Welcome aboard :wave2:

Please don't get me wrong - these were just isolated incidents, it wasn't like it was everywhere you looked. Just like any other Disney park around the world, 99% of guests were very civilised.

Thanks for the posts and I look forward to reading more! I'm still in the planning stages for a fall trip to SDL so I'm eager to hear about everyone's experiences there this week.

Welcome aboard :wave2:

Hopefully I'll manage to get onto this quickly enough to help you out with your planning!

I also want to thank you for posting! I got so excited looking at the pics of Shanghai Disney from opening day that I may just use my kids' inheritance to book me a trip! (j/k....maybe :rolleyes1) Hope you will be able to post a few pics when you have a chance!

Welcome aboard :wave2:

Pics will be coming soon!

oh that a great overall summary, thanks for sharing. I'll look forward to all the detail and of course the pictures, when you get some time !

Welcome aboard :wave2:

If anything, you might find I go into too much detail lol!

Thanks for sharing your experience, looking forward to the rest!

Welcome aboard :wave2:

I don't think that will make a difference. There will continuously coming new parents with their young children to the parks, you will have behavior as described. Because it's considered normal to have young children doing their business on the streets, or spitting, you cannot expect people to know or understand that there is a tiny place in their huge country where different behavior is desired. It's the same with Disneyland Paris and smoking. Not until the general idea about smoking is changed in the whole of France, you will see a change in Disneyland Paris in guest and CM behavior.

This does make me replanning the order of my trip to Asia next year, maybe put Shanghai first, then Hong Kong and end with Tokyo. As the manners between Chinese & Japanese is quite different and as the last impression stays with you the longest, I think I want to remember Japanese guests more than I want to remember Chinese guests.

For the language issue, I read that in Japan if a CM doesn't understand English, they get someone who does. Did that happen in Shanghai, Zanzibar138?
Eitherway, bring on the pictures! And the reviews about the rides and shows etc, I saw a video of the Voyage of the Crystal Grotto, but what happens inside the grotto was hard to see.

Welcome aboard :wave2:

I think you're on the money with the ingrained behaviour. It will be difficult for CMs, but they were doing their best. They stepped in quickly to defuse any arguments, I saw them telling people off for smoking and using selfie sticks, and they were doing a great job of directing people to the back of the line in the shops etc.

I did have a couple of CMs find someone else to help me, but not always. To be fair to them, it wasn't always a practical solution (like on the bus, or in the middle of an attraction etc).
 
While I'm not certain I'll ever brave Shanghai to see this park I'm so glad you did and are sharing! Thank you! :D
 
Wait just a second... You were saying about squat toilets being the majority, but were you talking about the park? I'm confused. There's no way there would be major amounts of squat toilets in the park! Please tell me I am reading this wrong :crazy2:
 
Some of you may be aware that I actually started my trip with a long weekend in Perth. This was mainly for catching up with my family who live there, and I'm sure no one is that interested, so I'll just skip straight to the exciting bit!

The Journey to China and Navigating the Train System

On Tuesday night (well, technically first thing Wednesday morning), I took the Singapore Airlines flight leaving Perth at 1:10am. Flight time to Singapore was 5h 25m. During that time I caught up on Zootopia, then fell asleep while watching Kung Fu Panda 2. We were served drinks just after take off, but no food until just before landing when we were served breakfast.



I had a 1h 30m layover at Singapore airport. This would have been a real rush if I'd had to change terminals, but lucky for me, I just had to walk to the gate literally next door to the one we'd landed at. I had been planning to log on to the free wifi at the airport and have a quick catch up on facebook etc, but it's all registered use now and they send a PIN to your phone. Since I wasn't planning to use international roaming, I had no phone to receive a PIN, so I just did some of my puzzle book instead. It wasn't long anyway before we were boarding again.

The next flight left at 8:05am, with a flight time of 5h 20m (so yes, Singapore is pretty much exactly half way between Perth and Shanghai!). We were served breakfast again after take off. This was much the same as the first flight - I dozed on and off between movies/TV shows.



I was so excited when we finally landed in China! Immigration wasn't too painful, and my luggage was already there when I got to the carousel. I had nothing to declare, so walked straight through customs and followed the signs to the Maglev train. There was plenty of English signage around the airport, and it was quite easy to get around.

China is still very much a cash based society, and I knew that I would need some local currency to purchase my train tickets. I'm not sure if you can buy Maglev tickets with a credit card, but definitely not metro tickets. I found the ticket window, and managed to get across that I wanted 1 Maglev ticket by using some words, but mainly gesturing. I actually had great timing, and there was a train waiting at the platform when I arrived. I just had time to stash my luggage on the racks and settle into my seat, then we were off! The train was fairly empty, and it was kind of a nice introduction to China. It was all very straight forward and comfortable. It's not necessarily the cheapest option though - a one way ticket cost me 50 yuan. The train got up to 301kph, and very soon we were arriving at the other end.









This is where it started to get a little tricky. I needed to transfer to Line 2 to get to my hotel. It was relatively easy to follow the signage (which was all still in English) and the maps, but transferring platforms meant that I had to go up and down levels, and not all the escalators were working, so I did have to lug my bags up and down steps occasionally. This is definitely not a city built for the mobility impaired! It was easy enough to buy my ticket for the metro line. Again, there is an English option on the screen, and you just choose the station that you want to go to. I only needed to go one station, which cost me all of 3 yuan. The machines accepted $1 coins, or $5, $10, $20 or $50 notes. One of the trickiest bits was getting through the turnstiles with all my luggage, but I found a little trick to it which came in handy for the rest of the trip - if I held my luggage handle low, it went through fairly easily. Trains were frequent and I was soon on my way again.

I had studied the exits for the next station at home, and was planning to take exit 3. Again, it was easy enough to find the exit, but there was no option except a long flight of stairs. I was just standing there weighing up my options when I was approached by a friendly fellow asking where I was trying to go and whether I needed any help. It turned out that I could also take exit 2, which had an escalator. The kind man escorted me to my hotel - the Yangjianhua Hotel on Meihua Road), as it was on his way. We chatted as we walked and I found out that he was actually a Kiwi living in Shanghai, and he was on his way to pick up his son from school. He was planning to go to Disneyland on the 19th. At the hotel we said our goodbyes and I went to check in.

The hotel staff didn't speak English, and weren't very welcoming. The whole check in process was pretty much completed in silence. I was given a room on the ground floor, and had to pretty much find it myself. Luckily it was only a small hotel! The room itself was basic, fairly small, and not the cleanest I've seen, but it did the job. For my purposes, I had definitely been prioritising location and price over luxury.



 
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Yeahhh you're back... I can't wait to see the pics and get the details :-)

Welcome aboard :wave2:

While I'm not certain I'll ever brave Shanghai to see this park I'm so glad you did and are sharing! Thank you! :D

Welcome aboard :wave2:

Shanghai itself is actually quite non-threatening. If you can handle Singapore or Hong Kong, I'd say you'd be ok. But glad to share anyway :goodvibes

Wait just a second... You were saying about squat toilets being the majority, but were you talking about the park? I'm confused. There's no way there would be major amounts of squat toilets in the park! Please tell me I am reading this wrong :crazy2:

Welcome aboard :wave2:

Yes, you did read correctly. The majority of toilets at Disneyland (within the park) are squat toilets. It really doesn't make any difference though. There are still western style toilets in every toilet block for those who'd prefer to use them. You have to remember that this park was built for a local audience who are more comfortable with squat toilets. I actually preferred it - the western style toilets were pretty much always vacant and clean! In fact, the toilet blocks in general were always clean. Despite my trepidations before the trip, I never saw anything disturbing in the toilets.

Interestingly, at the hotels (which are obviously built for visitors), the toilets are all western style.
 
Thanks for sharing your trip review, can't wait to read the rest!

Welcome aboard :wave2:

I can't wait to get to the exciting stuff! But I thought it was worth including information about getting to and around Shanghai proper as well so that people can know what to expect there too.
 
This does make me replanning the order of my trip to Asia next year, maybe put Shanghai first, then Hong Kong and end with Tokyo. As the manners between Chinese & Japanese is quite different and as the last impression stays with you the longest, I think I want to remember Japanese guests more than I want to remember Chinese guests.

That sounds like a good idea to me. Even with Shanghai now open, I think most people would still consider DisneySea to be the best Disney theme park, if not one of the best of all theme parks.
 
You are so brave to travel alone! I was so worried when that gentleman helped you at the station (I'll confess that I tend to worry over the littlest of things) - so happy you ended up at your hotel safe and sound! Love reading about your adventure!!
 
That sounds like a good idea to me. Even with Shanghai now open, I think most people would still consider DisneySea to be the best Disney theme park, if not one of the best of all theme parks.

Welcome aboard :wave2:

I think I would go Hong Kong, Shanghai, then Tokyo :thumbsup2

You are so brave to travel alone! I was so worried when that gentleman helped you at the station (I'll confess that I tend to worry over the littlest of things) - so happy you ended up at your hotel safe and sound! Love reading about your adventure!!

I don't really consider myself brave lol! I have to admit I was a little worried about 'stranger danger' too, but I figured as long as we were out on the street in full public view it would be ok.
 
Excited to find your TR!! I am going at the very beginning of August and look forward to reading all of your experiences and tips!

Oh, just thought of my first question: did you see if they take Disney gift cards at the restaurants/quick service places and gift shops in the park? What about Disney Visa cards? Or will I need to be prepared with local currency?
 
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