Went to Shanghai Disney Today!

DisneyRegulars

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 20, 2011
Holy Moly! I will hopefully be writing a full trip report, but wanted to share a few thoughts about my last few days.

We just spent the last two days at Shanghai Disney, Thursday June 15th and Friday the 16th. The crowds were INSANE!!!! For example, the park opened today at 9:00, and we were at the park entrance by 7:30am, and were waaaaaay back in the line. We only managed to actually make it into the park at 9:20!!!

From there we walked almost straight to the fast pass line for Soarin and Raging Rapids, hoping to get a fast pass for raging rapids, and I encountered the most humongous fast pass line I have ever seen. It must have been over two hours long. At any rate there was no way I was standing in that line, let's just go ride raging rapids right? Nope! It already had a 90 minute wait! So holy balogna be prepared for lines.

If you imagine for a minute the park without insane lines it is incredible. INCREDIBLE!!!! Pirates was every bit as good as everyone says. Tron was fun, like a longer Rockin Rollercoaster without the loops.

Be prepared to hold your ground in lines or people will push right past you. It will be infuriating, but you just have to let it go.

If you get in a photopass line and think "yeah I'm next!" don't be surprised that next is actually ten minutes away as the photopass guys instruct the Chinese guests through 30-40 different poses. It's nuts! As a foreigner you will get one pose plus one with a thumbs up.

Today we did the Challenge Climbs at the mountain. We had a blast. My seven year old loved them.

You can get a white chocolate mickey bar with strawberry ice cream.

Everyone was so friendly. I don't speak a lick of Chinese beyond Nihau and Xie xie (hello and thank you), but everyone was so nice as I used a combination of charades and a translator ap to communicate. I thought the Disney cast members were every bit as nice, if not nicer than the Florida cast members.

There is definitely an interesting cultural difference between the Chinese and American Disney park goers. I saw little kids peeing in a variety of places that were not bathrooms. Trash dropped all sorts of places that were not trash cans. Umbrellas being used as sun shields (advice: wear sunglasses to avoid having your eye poked out). And last but not least, the running!! The second they enter the park, they just start sprinting!

Disney does their best to keep up with these cultural differences and keep it Disney though. The park was spotless. The trash dropped carelessly on the ground was quickly picked up.

Anyways, I give this park an A++++. It was beautiful, huge, the rides were amazing, and it was a great experience even if the crowds were enormous. The only thing I didn't like was the night time show. It was just a castle projection show with a few tiny fireworks thrown in. Totally worth skipping. Although it was interesting to hear the crowd gasp in awe at every tiny firework. I can see why they don't use bigger ones, the tiny ones seemed to impress the audience quite a bit, so why bother with fancier ones.

If you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them, and I will write a full report soon I think.
 
I was there twice last year.
I could have written the same report.

Except the line for the FastPass moves a lot quicker than you think. When I was there, it doubled back all the way past the Soarin' entrance. But it was only a half hour wait, at most. And a FastPass for soarin' is worth the wait.
I never had a chance to ride Raging Rapids...was it worth the wait?

It was very hot when I was there (August 2016 and September 2016). I found my self hopping from air-conditioning to air-conditioning. How was the weather in June?
 
I was there twice last year.
I could have written the same report.

Except the line for the FastPass moves a lot quicker than you think. When I was there, it doubled back all the way past the Soarin' entrance. But it was only a half hour wait, at most. And a FastPass for soarin' is worth the wait.
I never had a chance to ride Raging Rapids...was it worth the wait?

It was very hot when I was there (August 2016 and September 2016). I found my self hopping from air-conditioning to air-conditioning. How was the weather in June?

The weather was quite pleasant both days we were there. It was high seventies and sunny both days, so hot, but not excruciatingly hot as long as you weren't in a crowd of people. We were hottest waiting in line for Pirates and waiting in the mob to enter the park. Also, the sky was blue so I have nice castle pictures.
 
Anything else tip wise you can add? We are thinking of going for a day next May. Hoping the weather will be good but I have heard of sandstorms.

Loved reading your post! Thank you!
 


Re: Roaring Rapids

We rode it twice in April. It was good. A lot ... rougher than equivalent rides. But, both times the dinosaur was broken so the main highlight / surprise was non existent. The smaller greenery also doesn't do a great job of theming the ride since you often see other parks of the parks, various cast member areas, etc.
 
Anything else tip wise you can add? We are thinking of going for a day next May. Hoping the weather will be good but I have heard of sandstorms.

Loved reading your post! Thank you!

My biggest tip: If you aren't going at a peak time, buy your tickets at the park day of. When you buy your tickets at the park you get to go through a separate entrance and it is much much faster because EVERYONE buys their tickets online, and then to get your actual tickets they have to enter in everyone's ids and passport information which takes forever!

If you have two days, you can easily spend two days there. If you have only one day, for sure, splurge and get the premier fast pass. We were only ever able to get a single fast pass a day, so don't count on much use of those.

When you redeem your fast pass they check your park ticket! Your park ticket must match the number on your fast pass. I was caught off guard by this.

We stayed at the Toy Story Hotel and it was very nice, and very very easy to get to. They didn't let us check in a minute early. Check in was at 3:00, don't bother trying sooner unless you want to drop off bags with bell services.

If you are into photopass photos you can buy a daily pass for 199 yuan. It allows you to download all the photos you take in a single day. I bought mine at the end of the day, and the lady helped me set everything up on my phone because the ap was all in Chinese!
 
My biggest tip: If you aren't going at a peak time, buy your tickets at the park day of. When you buy your tickets at the park you get to go through a separate entrance and it is much much faster because EVERYONE buys their tickets online, and then to get your actual tickets they have to enter in everyone's ids and passport information which takes forever!

If you have two days, you can easily spend two days there. If you have only one day, for sure, splurge and get the premier fast pass. We were only ever able to get a single fast pass a day, so don't count on much use of those.

When you redeem your fast pass they check your park ticket! Your park ticket must match the number on your fast pass. I was caught off guard by this.

We stayed at the Toy Story Hotel and it was very nice, and very very easy to get to. They didn't let us check in a minute early. Check in was at 3:00, don't bother trying sooner unless you want to drop off bags with bell services.

If you are into photopass photos you can buy a daily pass for 199 yuan. It allows you to download all the photos you take in a single day. I bought mine at the end of the day, and the lady helped me set everything up on my phone because the ap was all in Chinese!


Thank you for the advice. Interesting how different it can all be from the parks in Florida and California. Can't wait to read a full trip report.
 


UPDATE!!!

We read in the newspaper today that Friday was the one year anniversary of Shanghai Disney. That helps to explain the mammoth crowds that day! I did get a one year anniversary mug, but didn't realize we were there on the actual anniversary.
 
Anything else tip wise you can add? We are thinking of going for a day next May. Hoping the weather will be good but I have heard of sandstorms.

Loved reading your post! Thank you!
Zero chance of sandstorms. Shanghai has the same weather as Orlando.
1. Those who wear glasses should bring a glasses strap. On TRON, you will be forced to put your glasses in a container on your ride vehicle - and if your eyesight is bad enough, you will miss out on the full experience. OTOH, if you can demonstrate (by tugging on your glasses) that they won't come off because you are wearing a strap, they'll let you wear your glasses on the ride.
2. The standby line for Pirates is poorly ventilated. It can get stuffy or downright uncomfortable. I recommend the single rider line. It isn't a marked line and is only available in the morning. You have to ask the CM to enter the single rider line (hold up one finger).
3. Soarin' is immensely popular. Either make it your first ride right at rope drop, or better - get a fast pass. The fastpass line will appear to be very very long, but it moves fast.
4. If you're a foodie, the SDL food is somewhere between a 5 and a 7 on a scale of 10. Also, there is very little indoor seating in the SDL restaurants. Consider going to Disneytown next door for a good selection of restaurants that are an 8 or better, with plenty of indoor AND outdoor seating.
5. Try not to let the line cutting and shoving ruin your day. It ranges from non-existent (most of the time) to downright rude.
6. Journey to the Crystal Grotto is low priority. Everything else is worth seeing. Even the familiar attractions are different.
 
Zero chance of sandstorms. Shanghai has the same weather as Orlando.
1. Those who wear glasses should bring a glasses strap. On TRON, you will be forced to put your glasses in a container on your ride vehicle - and if your eyesight is bad enough, you will miss out on the full experience. OTOH, if you can demonstrate (by tugging on your glasses) that they won't come off because you are wearing a strap, they'll let you wear your glasses on the ride.
2. The standby line for Pirates is poorly ventilated. It can get stuffy or downright uncomfortable. I recommend the single rider line. It isn't a marked line and is only available in the morning. You have to ask the CM to enter the single rider line (hold up one finger).
3. Soarin' is immensely popular. Either make it your first ride right at rope drop, or better - get a fast pass. The fastpass line will appear to be very very long, but it moves fast.
4. If you're a foodie, the SDL food is somewhere between a 5 and a 7 on a scale of 10. Also, there is very little indoor seating in the SDL restaurants. Consider going to Disneytown next door for a good selection of restaurants that are an 8 or better, with plenty of indoor AND outdoor seating.
5. Try not to let the line cutting and shoving ruin your day. It ranges from non-existent (most of the time) to downright rude.
6. Journey to the Crystal Grotto is low priority. Everything else is worth seeing. Even the familiar attractions are different.


Kidd_freeper - Thank you for the ride information. I really appreciate it. Would love to try Tron but it may be one step out of my element. Looks a bit scary.

As for the sandstorms.... http://shanghaiist.com/2017/05/05/sandstorm.php

The agency I was working with also mentioned that there is a possibility of sandstorms that time of year. Not likely I imagine but they didn't really say how common they were. Weather otherwise is supposed to be good.

Thanks again for the tips!
 
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I wasn't surprised to hear that you had such huge crowds with it being the first anniversary. Sounds pretty similar to my experiences at opening day. Glad you managed to pick yourself up some souvenirs!

FWIW, the night time show is low on fireworks primarily due to the air pollution laws in China. Personally I don't think fireworks are the be all and end all, and enjoyed the other aspects of the show. Having said that, this is not a great show to watch from afar as the fireworks are few and far between, and if you can't see the castle there's not much to entertain you in the meantime.
 
My biggest tip: If you aren't going at a peak time, buy your tickets at the park day of. When you buy your tickets at the park you get to go through a separate entrance and it is much much faster because EVERYONE buys their tickets online, and then to get your actual tickets they have to enter in everyone's ids and passport information which takes forever!

If you have two days, you can easily spend two days there. If you have only one day, for sure, splurge and get the premier fast pass. We were only ever able to get a single fast pass a day, so don't count on much use of those.

When you redeem your fast pass they check your park ticket! Your park ticket must match the number on your fast pass. I was caught off guard by this.

We stayed at the Toy Story Hotel and it was very nice, and very very easy to get to. They didn't let us check in a minute early. Check in was at 3:00, don't bother trying sooner unless you want to drop off bags with bell services.

If you are into photopass photos you can buy a daily pass for 199 yuan. It allows you to download all the photos you take in a single day. I bought mine at the end of the day, and the lady helped me set everything up on my phone because the ap was all in Chinese!

Questions, as we are going in October:

1) did you take a taxi from the airport or use public transportation?
2) we are also booked for 2 nights at the Toy Story Hotel. Did you walk to the park or take the bus?
3) we are only going to be there the evening we arrive, Thursday and Friday morning (we decided to go up to the Great Wall outside Beijing before moving on to Japan) so I decided I am going to buy the Fastpass set. Did you buy the singles or are you saying you just got in the fast pass line to get a fast pass and they checked it against your ticket when you went on the ride?
4) Photopass - is it like it is here in our US parks where a photographer takes your photo and give you a card? You buy the photos for the day then you can download an app? Were there a lot of photo ops? Sorry for asking the details on this, but that Thursday will actually be my birthday and I would get this to celebrate the day...

Thanks!
 
1) did you take a taxi from the airport or use public transportation?

I have taken public transport and a taxi on different trips. Taxi is definitely the more convenient way of doing it, especially if you are arriving later in the evening and/or have lots of luggage. Public transport requires 3 different train lines, and many of the stations (generally) don't have operational lifts/escalators, meaning you could have to traipse up stairs with all your luggage. Takes far longer than a taxi too as you have to take the train practically into the city and then back out.

If you are taking a taxi, I would recommend taking a print out of your hotel name and address in Mandarin as a minimum. Personally I would probably try to take a map and directions in Mandarin too, or maybe have the hotel phone number on standby so they can direct your driver. Most taxi drivers don't speak a single word of English, and many are still very unfamiliar with the Disney area.

2) we are also booked for 2 nights at the Toy Story Hotel. Did you walk to the park or take the bus?

I have done both of these too. It's about a 20 minute walk. It's not a pretty walk - you just follow the roads. It's all clean and nicely landscaped (and I felt perfectly safe too, even on my run at 6am when it was dark and the roads were deserted), but there aren't any specific Disney touches until you reach Disney Town. There's a bit of doubling back having to walk all the way up to the hotel entrance and then follow the driveway back and around to get to the actual hotel, but unfortunately there is no shortcut for pedestrians. We were reprimanded for trying to take a shortcut across the lawn and told that we needed to use the path. I didn't mind the walk at all, but I do a lot of walking and didn't have any little kids with me or anything.

The buses are fine though. They're pretty frequent and I never really felt squished in or anything. Most of the time I got a seat, but I had to stand one night when I left the park right on closing time. It's only a 5 minute ride so it wasn't an issue. The bus stops are undercover so it's a good option if it's raining. It's easy to see which bus you need to catch too - all the information at the bus stop is in both Mandarin and English.

3) we are only going to be there the evening we arrive, Thursday and Friday morning (we decided to go up to the Great Wall outside Beijing before moving on to Japan) so I decided I am going to buy the Fastpass set. Did you buy the singles or are you saying you just got in the fast pass line to get a fast pass and they checked it against your ticket when you went on the ride?

The premium FP option only came in just after my last trip, so I can't comment on that. However, they had started checking our tickets against our regular FPs when we used them. This is due to the FP scalping that goes on.

4) Photopass - is it like it is here in our US parks where a photographer takes your photo and give you a card? You buy the photos for the day then you can download an app? Were there a lot of photo ops?!

Yep, it's pretty much exactly the same system. I have been told that you can combine up to three different PP cards from a single day, or you can combine three days on one single PP card. We tried to combine multiple cards over multiple days and it didn't like it. There were heaps of photo ops, and most characters had a PP with them as well.

Hope that helps!
 
We were at there on the 16th too! I had no idea it was the 1 year anniversary. We went prepared for crowds and was totally overwhelmed by the mob of people waiting to get thru security. We arrived at 8:15am (later than we intended) and waited about an hour just to get thru the security mob.

We were only able to get one fastpass - Tron. By the time our fastpass window opened up, all the rides that we wanted were gone. BUT glad we got Tron since it had a 2 hour wait or more for most of the day. I thought it was a cool ride but short! I would have been irritated to wait 2+ hours for a 45 second ride (also my complaint with 7DMT).

The park is amazing and new and shiny but dodging pee puddles and trash all over the queue lines detracted from the overall appearance of the park (we also saw a pile of #2 on a sidewalk and I didn't see any service dogs around). That and crowds (which you get at any Disney park) were my only complaints.

I'm glad we went and would go again if it was during an off peak time of the year.
 
UPDATE!!!

We read in the newspaper today that Friday was the one year anniversary of Shanghai Disney. That helps to explain the mammoth crowds that day! I did get a one year anniversary mug, but didn't realize we were there on the actual anniversary.
I bought a one year anniversary mug and some pins! I also bought vinlymations from their Chinese zodiac friends series. We may have gone overboard since we didn't think we would be back.
 
Great stuff, we are saving right now (and no kids for this one!).
Can's wait to see the pictures.
 
Great stuff, we are saving right now (and no kids for this one!).
Can's wait to see the pictures.

I tried to upload some pictures in China and all but one of them got flagged as "forbidden content" on the imgur ap. It was kind of creepy, so i didn't try again. Should have a couple of pictures soon. We are going to Hong Kong Disney tomorrow.
 
Questions, as we are going in October:

1) did you take a taxi from the airport or use public transportation?

We were staying way across town, I'm not sure the relation to the airport, but our taxi fair was 86 yuan for about an hour taxi ride. My parents wanted to take the subway, which would have been easy enough, but all the busses and subways were starting to make me motion sick, so i didn't want to start off my Disney day feeling yucky.
 
My biggest tip: If you aren't going at a peak time, buy your tickets at the park day of. When you buy your tickets at the park you get to go through a separate entrance and it is much much faster because EVERYONE buys their tickets online, and then to get your actual tickets they have to enter in everyone's ids and passport information which takes forever!

We went about 10 days later and picked up our online tickets at customer service. The line was long (4 agents) and we waited about 45 minutes. With that, we were given a pass to use the 'you've just picked up your tickets gate' so we bypassed the long lines for everyone else. The next day we had to use them so both days we waited up to an hour to get in the park after about 30 minutes for security. Our bad luck was due to a school vacation in late June. Check the calendar for Chinese Holidays and School breaks before booking.
 
Questions, as we are going in October:

1) did you take a taxi from the airport or use public transportation?

We took the Maglev from the airport to its only station in town. It's one of the few examples of this technology in use around the world today. The track goes close enough to Disneyland so you can see the castle and Tron (left side along straight away). The track is 19 miles long, it takes 8 minutes, while the max. speed is 180-260mph (time of day) and the fare is $6.40 OW for those with an airline ticket (VIP is double). We schlepped our bags across the street to catch metro lines 16 connecting to 11 back (a few dollars per person) to Shanghai Disneyland Resort as our hotel (Novotel Clover) was near the last second to the last stop. I didn't mind it, but it was a little bit of trek to transfer from the Maglev to the Metro. I'd recommend taking a taxi with your hotel address in Chinese to show the driver.

We also took a taxi into town and back to the airport from our hotel and found them safe and reasonable. I think we paid $20 to the airport and $30 to downtown (including tip). The subway back to our hotel from Shanghai was clean, safe and a little less expensive (~$15).

We used the free hotel shuttle bus to the resort so we never took the metro from our hotel; however, the shuttle buses park near the Toy Story hotel so its at least a half-a-mile walk to the entrance (Metro station is much closer). We had to run the gauntlet of vendors selling Disney merch on the way back to the bus station. It's hard to say if they are still there as I've heard that the park is cracking down. Foreigners probably have complained about it as we found it took away from the experience (Tijuana).
 

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