Hi - we're going to Shanghai Disney in 2 weeks. We're staying at the
Disneyland hotel, have our tickets, and booked 2 character breakfasts.
Congrats on having a trip booked and I wish you safe travels and a magical time at Disney.
We'll be there on a Wednesday and Thursday so hoping it won't be as crowded as on the weekend.
If you haven't done so already, I'd recommend you download the Shanghai Disneyland app. It will give you the wait times for each attraction and it may be useful to check it so you have an indication of wait times.
Chances are....it will be less crowded on the weekday. However, it will be Australian school holidays during that period and I think you may also hit the Easter period; so there may be other Asian countries (not China) that may have some holidays.
Is there a monorail between the hotel and the park or is it close enough to walk?
There is no monorail between the hotel and the park.
There is a shuttle bus that will take you to the park. We took the bus most times because I was travelling with my mother and also because it was raining for 2 days solid when we were there in mid March. The bus was super convenient. You'll find that the bus will take you to Disneyland Park and Disneytown. There is only one bus stop for the two as Disneytown is right next to the park. So, the first time...you'll think you're at Disneytown but it is the same stop that you need to get off at for the park.
There is also a ferry that takes you from the hotel to the park. The ferry takes about 10 mintues to cross Wishing Star Lake. You can use it in the the morning and during the day; but the service stops at around 7 pm or so.
However, it is close enough to walk. It took me about 10 minutes to walk to the park in the morning. If you miss the bus or the ferry, it may be worth just hiking it back to the hotel.
Trying to get a handle on planning our days. My daughter likes the thrill rides best so thinking of starting at Adventure Isle, then heading over to Treasure Cove saving Fantasyland for first thing the next morning followed by Tomorrowland. Any tips we should know? Does fastpass work the same as here? Can you prebook fastpass or must they be down at the ride?
Fastpasses are distributed from a central location at each land. It's the old FP paper system (not FP+) and it works the same. You collect your FP with your park admission card and there will be a window before you can collect another. It works the same as the original FP system.
The only thing that will be a bit different is when you go to the ride with your FP....you will need to show your park admission card as well as the FP ticket. There are scammers outside the gates that have been selling fake FP and Disney is aware of the problem. The CM are advised to confirm your park ticket number with that printed on your FP ticket.
If you're planning your tour plans around Tron in Tomorrowland for one of the days; and then Pirates/Roaring Rapids for the other day...then your plans will work great. I found that the rides were relatively empty in the morning and you should be able to get on multiple times before the afternoon crowds. For example...I got on 7DMT four times in a row on the 3rd morning we were there.
A number of the rides also have single rider lines. You may want to consider doing single rider as well.
FWIW. It wasn't that busy when we were there and in the end, I only ended up getting FP for the rides that were popular with the Chinese aka Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan.
Roaring Rapids was down on scheduled maintenance for the 3 days we were there for, so we never had to factor in getting a FP or getting on this ride during the duration.
You may also want to consider whether you want any character pictures. The one that I made a beeline for was with Duffy. You'll find the Duffy area down Mickey Avenue and it looked like the Chinese were heading for the character pictures first up. If you do want a character picture, then you may need to factor the ones at Mickey Avenue in your plans.
Is there a parade - once or twice a day?
We were rained out for two days - just a the rainy day parade; which ended up being two floats.
For when we were there, I think it was one parade during the day. But check the app. It will give you the information.
There is also a show in front of the castle. Well worth checking it out as well.
ay 1: Head straight to Soarin fp, pull fp, then to Pirates (pirates was a walk on, and it took us about 30mins to get Soarin fp because of the crowding, may be better to just head straight to Soaring and ride it first, then pirates)
