Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo

Time of Year to go:
-Check the regular holidays for China/Japan to make sure that crowds aren't going to be CRAZY. Make sure that your Tokyo Disney days are WEEKDAYS, Shanghai, try to do the same, whereas it doesn't really matter in HK. Tokyo is the busiest of the parks, and a regular weekend feels like a peak time in the states parks
-Tokyo has the most seasonal events going on, you want to avoid the opening/closing weekends of those as well, crowds will also be a little lighter during the week in between events (ie, Frozen Fantasy closes, then there's a week of nothing special before Easter starts). They have daily operational entertainment special for Halloween, Christmas, Summer, Easter, and others.
-Consider weather for time of year too, Tokyo can get cold enough to snow over the winter, but is scorching hot during the summers, spring/fall seem to be the best times (April after the school term starts, before Easter, or the first few weeks of May I believe are the best for crowds). We were there Oct 11-14th, crowds were good, lines were longer for some rides but the park didn't feel congested, and the weather was nice, but we did need layers once the sun went down. Also be careful in the Halloween season, Tokyo has "costume days" and those will be much more congested than the days where costumes are not allowed

Shanghai:
-Starting more details here because this park is the hardest to find information about!
You will find the most culture shock here/anywhere in China specifically, in the crowded situations, there is no such thing as personal space, be prepared for people pushing/shoving and potentially cutting in lines. The worst of this is usually right at park opening/during a fp run. I'd suggest rope drop straight to Soaring, ride Pirates, then circle back to the fp kiosk to pick up something for later. (we wasted the first 30 minutes of park opening getting a soaring fp)
-Squat toilets. They are in majority here, there ARE Western toilets in each bathroom though, and the bonus is most locals don't want to use them, so there's never a line (pertaining to Disney, outside the resort, it's hit or miss, but most places should have at least 1 stall that's Westernized.
-I did touch on food a bit in the earlier post, but again, a few Americanized items here & there, when in the city, you'll have no problem finding chain restaurants, heck my roommate had her first Hooter's experience in Shanghai lol!!
-Fast passes: are the paper fast pass style, there is a kiosk in each land that holds fp's for ALL attractions in that land (that have fast passes). This is what makes the morning fp run so chaotic, and why I'd advise to just ride things standby first, then go back to pull fp's later. This is especially true with Tron, so that you get to ride it at night when it's all lit up!
-Characters: all have set m&g spots! Stitch pops up in Tomorrowland, Princesses are right behind the castle and will swap out every 30 mins, Jack Sparrow si over in Treasure Cove, and over by the Tarzan theater you can find Judy &Nick or Timon & friends/Jungle Book characters. Fab 5 & Duffy crew all on Mickey ave in the morning.

-Shanghai City: we did 2 days, one in Shanghai where we hit the popular spots like the Bund, Pudong (Disney store here is amazing, also where you find the Pearl tower) French Concession, Yuyuan Gardens/shopping bazaar, then did a little trip out to Zhujiajiao Town, a river town with canals everywhere, popular tourist spot, lots of shopping/authentic stuff.
-BRING/BUY FACE MASKS!!! YOU WILL MOST LIKELY NEED THEM! Download an air quality app for your phone (and make sure it's set to American standards, not China lol) If anyone in your group is feeling sick, or has respiratory issues (I've got mild asthma) they're going to be bothered by it when you're spending all day everyday outside. Smog wasn't too much of an issue for us, we were blessed with blue skies for the first 2 days of Disney, but after spending 3 days in a row outside in the parks with no masks, I was definitely feeling it and opted to stay in the next afternoon when my friends went out.
-Transit is pretty easy here, the trains are pretty self explanatory, and English signs are found easily.
-Make sure to have a VPN app on your phone/tablet while in China!! EVERYTHING is blocked, google, facebook, instagram, etc. It's a hot mess, WiFi in general is also legit just the worst thing ever in China, the best we found was at Disney (connection/speed wise, it was pretty readily available). Consider downloading We-Chat simply just to stay connected with your friends if you can't text and the VPN isn't working
-Trains are super cheap in China
-DO NOT drink the tap water, buy bottles, we were staying right beside a grocery store, so I bought a couple huge bottles to fill up a smaller one that I'd take into the parks with me. There ARE fountains that have filtered drinking water scattered around the parks as well!


Tokyo
-This is where you'll have to do the most research on what you want to do, there is simply SO MUCH in the city that you could spend a week in the city and barely scratch the surface! We're in the midst of planning a 2nd trip to Tokyo and we have a week in the city and are doing 100% different things! IT'S INSANE! I suggest taking the time to at least check out the following: -Senso-Ji temple, Ueno Park, Harajuku, Shibuya Crossing/shopping area. There's a Disney store in the last 2 areas, and the Shibuya one is incredible! (you can also buy Tokyo Disney park tickets on the 4th floor, we had major struggles trying to buy them online in advance, so we did this and it worked out great)
-Mt Fuji, there are plenty of places to see it that are an hour or so from Tokyo, we're planning to spend a day in Hakone on this upcoming trip to hopefully get a better view of it than we did last time.
-Depending on time of year, there can either be cherry blossoms you'll see everywhere, or autumn foliage which is equally as beautiful
-Think about if you want to spend some more time in Japan, you can always bullet train down to Kyoto to explore, or over to Osaka, where you can hit up Universal. If you do end up down in that area, I highly recommend going to Nara, it's the small town where the deer roam freely and you can buy crackers to feed them and if you bow to them they'll bow back, super cute and lots of fun.
-Sanrio Puroland is a Hello Kitty theme park just outside of Tokyo, much more kiddie like, but still a potential place you might want to check out.
-Transit is EXPENSIVE, we were in Tokyo for 10 days and in that time spent well over $100 on transit rides, it would've been more affordable to buy the monthly pass rather than load up every time. The nice thing is that if you use google maps to transit plan where you're going each day, it will tell you the approximate cost of the trip so you can try to plan that out in advance on if you should get the monthly pass.
-Pasmo cards (there is another one that I can't remember the name of) are cards you can buy from a machine at the train station that you pay a deposit for (that will be returned when you return the card) and then you can load up money on it whenever needed instead of having to pay each trip individually
-If you're in the city and a sushi fan, check out Hamazushi, it's a chain restaurant, but it's delicious, and a conveyor belt sushi place, and hands down our favorite restaurant! lol
-Also Japan is seriously like, the safest place in the world.

-Fast Passes: Go straight for Hunny Hunt, ride standby, circle back to Monster's Inc, fp it, then ride Space. Hunny Hunt & Monster's will have the longest waits of the park during the day. DisneySea, I would go straight for Journey to the Center of the Earth, ride standby, if you want to ride again, grab a fast pass. Circle over to ToT, then Indiana Jones.
-Show Lottery's: Because of crowds, you have to "win the lottery" to see the shows in prime locations. In DL, the lottery is located next to Space Mtn, it is for One Man's Dream II, and the nighttime projection show. You scan your tickets, and pick a show time, and if you win, you win, if not, you don't. The same goes for Big Band Beat & Shadowland in DisneySea. Now, if you DON'T win the lottery, you can still watch One Man's Dream standby the very first show of the day, BBB, you can watch from the upper balcony standby, and the nighttime show you can watch from further back in the hub.
-Characters: roam pretty freely, they stereotypically come out on the :15 in Fantasyland, and :45 out by the front gate. (I *think* those are the right times, they might be opposite). You'll find ALL sorts of characters, fur, rare in the states, Esmeralda, Princesses, Princes (with or without their respective couple). Pocahontas is found in Critter Country. DisneySea, you can find Ariel in a set meet & greet outside Mermaid Lagoon, Eric (and sometimes Max) either right at the entrance or inside somewhere. Aladdin & Jas on the Arabian Coast (though they meet separately) Stitch & Angel are also found here, Duffy has his own m&g in cape cod (which will have LONG lines) We've seen the aristocats, cruella, and the rescuers wandering around as well, usually in the new york streets area.


Hong Kong

-We spent 2 days in the city, one day we did Victoria Peak/the Peak tram, and went to a couple shopping districts, and also Ozone, a super pricey bar on the 118th floor of the Ritz Carlton, provides gorgeous views of the city. Our second day we took the fairy over to Lamma Island, where we did a hike from one coast to the next & spent some time on the beach & had a seaside lunch of fresh seafood.
-Food & transit is super cheap in HK as well
-English is pretty widely spoken/on street signs and the like.
-Again, only drink bottled water here. They provide you with bottled water in the hotel rooms at Disney if you choose to stay onsite. I believe there were 4 per day? I could be wrong.

-Park plans: -Iron Man first, it's new and will have longest waits
-Head to Mystic Point right at 11 when it opens, ride it, then go to Grizzly Gulch, we then circled through Toy Story land, rode some rides, did Fantasyland and watched some shows before Tomorrowland. There are only like, 3 rides with fast passes here, and I don't think we even used any.
-Characters: there is an app, and it will tell you who's coming out when. Princesses/Alice typically meet beside the castle,on both sides, Mickey & Minnie up by the front of the park, Tinkerbell has a set area in Fantasyland, and Duffy & co have a set spot on Main st in one of the buildings

Absolutely awesome info! I am heading to Vietnam for 2 weeks in October/Nov to celebrate my 40th bday and being the Disney nerd I am, want to hit one of the Asian parks before heading home. I know this is pretty subjective, but for the people who have been to two or three of the parks, which would you choose and why? My plan is to be at the parks on a Monday and Tuesday and fly home on Wednesday. What city I fly home from doesn't matter and I am pretty points/miles flush at the moment.
 
Can someone provide some tips in hoe the 144 hours visa free works? What do you have to show to the airline when you check in at your departing airport? What will they ask for when you arrive in Shanghai? Any info would be great. Thanks.

You need to show confirmation that you have flights and hotel booked at your next destination. When you arrive in Shanghai, there will be a separate line for the 144-hour travel without visa, and you show that information there.
 
[QUOTE="chicagodisneyguy, post: 58680581, member: 218372]I know this is pretty subjective, but for the people who have been to two or three of the parks, which would you choose and why?[/QUOTE]

I personally don’t think you could go wrong with any of them. They are all unique and have their own feel. If you are up for something that feels the most different I would say either Shanghai Disney or Tokyo Disney Sea. Tokyo Disneyland felt like almost a carbon copy of Magic Kingdom. The Pirates ride in Shanghai is amazing, and it doesn’t look like it’s coming to the USA anytime soon. The park is huge in Shanghai and feels massive, the castle is also very nice. The only bad thing about Shanghai is the other guests, so if you are prone to rage when people cut in lines or throw trash on the ground skip Shanghai in favor of HK or Tokyo.
 


The only bad thing about Shanghai is the other guests, so if you are prone to rage when people cut in lines or throw trash on the ground skip Shanghai in favor of HK or Tokyo.

Not arguing with your experience there, just wanted to add our experience at Shanghai.

We only had one time where someone 'cut' in front of us. We were in line for Peter Pan and were looking around and the line in front of us had moved about 10 feet. The group behind us walked past us and filled in that gap. It never felt 'rude', never felt like they were trying to 'get away' with something, it just felt like what they were used to doing.

There were other times where, if we stood in single file, as apposed to standing right next to each other, someone would come up beside us and fill in that gap. When the line moved, they would let us back in front of them. They weren't trying to gain an advantage, just filling in gaps.

Lastly, when I was in line by myself for the Challenge Trails, there was a family behind me - a small boy, his mother, and what I would assume was his grandmother. The boy kept creeping up in line and would get in front of me while the rest of the family stayed behind me. They could have gotten in front of me too, if they wanted, but they stayed back. The mother would call the boy back and several times, she apologized to me in the best way she could with the language barrier.

As far as trash on the ground, we saw it for sure, but didn't think it was anything that we wouldn't have expected at another park. We went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas at MK last month and saw just as much, if not more, trash on the ground. Especially in the darker queues: Pirates, Splash, 7 Dwarves, etc.

Interestingly, we spent 3 days at Universal after that and saw very little trash on the ground anywhere.
 
Absolutely awesome info! I am heading to Vietnam for 2 weeks in October/Nov to celebrate my 40th bday and being the Disney nerd I am, want to hit one of the Asian parks before heading home. I know this is pretty subjective, but for the people who have been to two or three of the parks, which would you choose and why? My plan is to be at the parks on a Monday and Tuesday and fly home on Wednesday. What city I fly home from doesn't matter and I am pretty points/miles flush at the moment.


I personally liked Tokyo the best, it won for attractions, entertainment, friendliness of cast members, and Japan in general was my favourite place!! However you cannot park hop until day 3 in Tokyo Disney, so you'd have to do one full day at Disneyland and one full day at DisneySea. We did 4 park days and still wished we'd had more time in DisneySea. I liked it the best but it takes the longest to explore

That being said, if you only have 2 days, I would go for Hong Kong or Shanghai as there's only 1 park to conquer. If you've been to DLR in California, HKDL is very similar to that, there's a few stand out attractions/shows that make it different, and they are AMAZING attractions, but it is a very similar feel and such in the park.

Shanghai is the most unique between the two, it has its own castle design, amazing shows, Pirates is worth the trip alone (Tron's also awesome, but I personally didn't like it). You could easily do all the original attractions and a few of the copycat ones in Shanghai in 2 days.
 
Thanks for all the info guys, very much appreciated! We are leaning towards Tokyo Disney but Shanghai looks really neat too. I'll definitely be back to pick your brains when we come to a decision!
 


Late to the party i know, but when we did all 6 parks around the world in one trip in 2016 we did Hong Kong -> Shanghai -> Tokyo. It's super easy to combine all 3 Asian parks into one trip over a week. No need for Chinese visa either if you adhere to TWOV.

That said, if you only wanna do 1, Tokyo for sure. But if you can get creative with your airline routing, putting HKDL into there isn't difficult and can be done as a stopover (less than 24 hours) if you're travelling on a low day (we were last there 2 weeks ago) even on a Sunday, nothing was over 20 min wait.
 
Can someone provide some tips in hoe the 144 hours visa free works? What do you have to show to the airline when you check in at your departing airport? What will they ask for when you arrive in Shanghai? Any info would be great. Thanks.

My family of 4 used the 144 hour Transit Visa without any problems. The biggest headache will be with your departure gate agents; however, they should be more familiar with the process as China has had this Visa for 3-4 years now. Even Beijing is going from 72 to 144 hours soon, if not already.

1) A valid Passport & Visa (if required for onward country).
2) You can't fly back to the country of origin, you must fly to another authorized country. USA-HKG-PVG-TYO-USA, USA-PVG-TYO-USA or reverse works. Just think of the PVG stop as a layover between two different countries. A flight to another mainland China city is not allowed.
3) The departure ticket (with seat assignment) must be within 144 hours (6 days) of day after arrival (time starts at midnight after arrival).
4) Fill out Arrival/Departure Card on board before you arrive (you'll also need hotel/accommodation information to fill out the card).

This is a brief overview. Various internet sites have details for specific or special situations.

You can't beat the price......
 
another authorized country. USA-HKG-PVG-TYO-USA, USA-PVG-TYO-USA or reverse works. Just think of the PVG stop as a layover between two different countries. A flight to another mainland China city is not allowed.
3) The departure ticket (with seat assignment) must be within 144 hours (6 days) of day after arrival (time starts at midnight after arrival).
4) Fill out Arrival/Departure Card
Ours trip is from Canada to Hong Kong (
Will layover Transfer in pvg for 2 hours), then on the way back from HK we want to stop in Shanghai for three days. So HKG to PVG to Canada. Will that qualify the 144 visa free program?
 
TLPL

The quick answer is Yes. Canada is a participating country under the 144 hour visa program. Hong Kong is considered a special administrative part of China so flights to and from are considered to be outside of China. We'll see what happens after the 50 year treaty expires.

Enjoy your trip and especially the Disney Parks.
 
TLPL

The quick answer is Yes. Canada is a participating country under the 144 hour visa program. Hong Kong is considered a special administrative part of China so flights to and from are considered to be outside of China. We'll see what happens after the 50 year treaty expires.

Enjoy your trip and especially the Disney Parks.
Thank you for confirming this.
 
We are doing all three Asia parks next May but have a slightly different twist: it will be in conjunction with a HK to Tokyo cruise. The plan is to come into HK early and get three nights at a hotel near the airport since it’s easy to get into the main parts of the city by train and accommodations are cheaper. We will do day 1 sightseeing, then day 2 at HKDL. We were there back in 2007, although the park was much smaller then and we easily did everything we wanted to do in half a day. On day 3, we’ll transfer to the ship. The first night is an overnight in HK, so we’ll get more time to sightsee before departing.

Shanghai is going to be the toughest, as it’s an overnight stay during the cruise. I believe we get in about noon and depart around 5 pm the next day. I’m thinking we’ll do SDL the day we arrive. It won’t be a full day but better than nothing. I debated about getting off the ship and staying overnight at the park, but feel like we’d be missing out if we didn’t do something non-Disney during such a short stay, and the complications of an off-ship overnight stay and the possibility of missing the ship when it departs is too risky for me. I will need to find out where we expect to dock and arrange for transportation to and from the park.

Tokyo is the end of the trip and has another overnight there, so we will sightsee those days. I’m thinking it would be best to go from the pier to the park on disembarkation and stay a couple nights there to get at least two full days. Then we would fly home. I’d love to get a couple more days in Tokyo but we will have been gone over 3 weeks by then and the thought of hauling all that luggage around with just me, hubby and our 6 year old will be too much!

First question: I’m thinking of seeing about hiring translators or guides for Shanghai and Tokyo. With such a short time there, it would be best if we were with someone who could get us around quickly. I don’t know how I would find such guides and whether the cost is feasible, so it’s just a thought right now. Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations on this (even whether to do it)?

Second question: how are strollers viewed at the parks? We go regularly to WDW and DL and the stroller is a lifesaver. Our kid will be 6.5 at the time of the trip, but I wouldn’t hesitate to bring the stroller since she’ll get tired with all the walking and we’ll want to be able to get around fast to maximize our time there. I just want to make sure it won’t be a big cultural faux pas. And if I can bring it, is there any concern with stuff getting lost or stolen while the stroller is parked? I’ve never really worried about this in the US.

Final question: how much local currency in cash should I plan to bring per day in the park?

Thanks for any help! Normally I can find whatever I need online but this one is tough as there isn’t as much info about these parks available and very few people who have done all three Asian parks, let alone in conjunction with a cruise!
 
We are doing all three Asia parks next May but have a slightly different twist: it will be in conjunction with a HK to Tokyo cruise. The plan is to come into HK early and get three nights at a hotel near the airport since it’s easy to get into the main parts of the city by train and accommodations are cheaper. We will do day 1 sightseeing, then day 2 at HKDL. We were there back in 2007, although the park was much smaller then and we easily did everything we wanted to do in half a day. On day 3, we’ll transfer to the ship. The first night is an overnight in HK, so we’ll get more time to sightsee before departing.

Shanghai is going to be the toughest, as it’s an overnight stay during the cruise. I believe we get in about noon and depart around 5 pm the next day. I’m thinking we’ll do SDL the day we arrive. It won’t be a full day but better than nothing. I debated about getting off the ship and staying overnight at the park, but feel like we’d be missing out if we didn’t do something non-Disney during such a short stay, and the complications of an off-ship overnight stay and the possibility of missing the ship when it departs is too risky for me. I will need to find out where we expect to dock and arrange for transportation to and from the park.

Tokyo is the end of the trip and has another overnight there, so we will sightsee those days. I’m thinking it would be best to go from the pier to the park on disembarkation and stay a couple nights there to get at least two full days. Then we would fly home. I’d love to get a couple more days in Tokyo but we will have been gone over 3 weeks by then and the thought of hauling all that luggage around with just me, hubby and our 6 year old will be too much!

First question: I’m thinking of seeing about hiring translators or guides for Shanghai and Tokyo. With such a short time there, it would be best if we were with someone who could get us around quickly. I don’t know how I would find such guides and whether the cost is feasible, so it’s just a thought right now. Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations on this (even whether to do it)?

Second question: how are strollers viewed at the parks? We go regularly to WDW and DL and the stroller is a lifesaver. Our kid will be 6.5 at the time of the trip, but I wouldn’t hesitate to bring the stroller since she’ll get tired with all the walking and we’ll want to be able to get around fast to maximize our time there. I just want to make sure it won’t be a big cultural faux pas. And if I can bring it, is there any concern with stuff getting lost or stolen while the stroller is parked? I’ve never really worried about this in the US.

Final question: how much local currency in cash should I plan to bring per day in the park?

Thanks for any help! Normally I can find whatever I need online but this one is tough as there isn’t as much info about these parks available and very few people who have done all three Asian parks, let alone in conjunction with a cruise!

When we travelled around China we worked with Flight Centre travel agency to arrange a guide and private transportation in each city. It was great. If you want I can PM you the name of who we worked with at that travel agency. I bet they could arrange a guide for you.

As far as cash, you don’t need much cash. I think that we spent the most cash on ice cream carts. Everything else takes credit cards. $20 per person would be more than enough cash.

People definitely use strollers, but especially in Shanghai the average age of visitor I swear is young adult. We barely saw any actual children in our two days there. A lot of people had these really cool very small foldable stroller things that were more like pushing a kid on a bike seat. They were neat. I would just rent a stroller in the parks. It would be a nightmare to lug a stroller around for a three week trip.
 
When we travelled around China we worked with Flight Centre travel agency to arrange a guide and private transportation in each city. It was great. If you want I can PM you the name of who we worked with at that travel agency. I bet they could arrange a guide for you.

As far as cash, you don’t need much cash. I think that we spent the most cash on ice cream carts. Everything else takes credit cards. $20 per person would be more than enough cash.

People definitely use strollers, but especially in Shanghai the average age of visitor I swear is young adult. We barely saw any actual children in our two days there. A lot of people had these really cool very small foldable stroller things that were more like pushing a kid on a bike seat. They were neat. I would just rent a stroller in the parks. It would be a nightmare to lug a stroller around for a three week trip.

Yes, if you don’t mind sending me the info about Flight Centre, that would be great. Thank you for that and the other advice as well. We may end up leaving the stroller altogether, although it’s handy at airports and I like having it for the storage at the parks.
 

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