Pugsly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2002
First off, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who posted such helpful tips on (general) travel in China (particularly getting around The Great Firewall) and on things of note when traveling to SDL. I just wanted to share a few of our experiences while there.
DH and I just returned from a 5/night stay in Shanghai (staying on The Bund), which included one day at SDL. (We were in Beijing for 6 nights ahead of our Shanghai stay, so if there are references to Beijing, you'll know why.)
We used Express VPN on both our phones and my iPad and bought a SIM card for my phone. I had absolutely no problems getting online/getting past the firewall. But DH really could only connect when we were on the WiFi at our hotel and I could never really get anything to work with my iPad. Not sure if that will be of any use to anyone, but it might.
With just one day at SDL, we bought a one-day pass from the SDL website before we left home. Downloaded the SDL app and linked our confirmation/passport info on the app.
As we found the subway system in Shanghai more difficult to manuever than in Beijing, we decided to take a taxi to the park. We arrived about 7:15 for an 8:00 opening and as most have described, it was a bit of a madhouse. This is where I saw the most attempts at line-cutting. And boy, the Chinese tourists must have been just as excited as I was to get into the park as they crammed the queue like sardines!
After entry, we linked our tickets to the app of course, then plunked for the Premier Access set. DH is not as enthused with Disney in the same way I am, but he tolerates it because he loves me. What a guy! However, he was not up to standing in line all day and thought it worth it to pay to stand in shorter lines all day. I know it's been discussed here that FP is not available for Pirates; what I haven't seen mentioned here (it may have been and I just missed it) is that Pirates IS available with the Premier Access Set. I could be wrong, but I think this might be new because when I looked at Premier Access the first time (to see what it included), I don't recall seeing Pirates on the list.
We didn't really watch any shows except we saw parts of the Beauty and the Beast "street show". The only show I was interested in was the Jack Sparrow Stunt Spectacular and it was shuttered the day we were there.
We chose not to do Roaring Rapids because it was a little cool the day we were there. We also missed out on the Challenge Trail because it wasn't a priority for us and by the time we decided we'd try it, the wait time was 100 minutes.
We also missed out on the Explorer Canoes because they closed earlier than park closing (I'd guess around 6:00 or so, when the park closed at 8:00 - not sure why it would close earlier as it had long wait times every time we checked).
We walked through Toy Story Land just to see what we could see, but didn't ride anything as we weren't adventurous enough to try Rex's Racer and simply didn't want to wait for a couple of carnival rides. I might get flamed for saying that, but that is simply my opinion. I'm sure it's great for small kids and the theming is fantastic, no doubt. I also felt like the land itself was just too "busy" in terms of theming. There was just too much going on in such a small space.
We were really impressed with Tron. I don't know that I can add much to what others have said about this one.
I was totally blown away by Pirates! I had not read much or even looked for a You Tube video of what to expect and I was speechless! WOW!!! I'm sure a lot of Disney purists would find it blasphemous to suggest that the existing versions at DL and WDW be updated with this version, but I don't think I would mind at all. I just can't say enough how impressed I was!
We didn't see anyone (or anyone's children) using the toilet in public. And actually, didn't really see it happening in Shanghai at all. Versus Beijing, where we saw it happening most every day.
I found the restrooms to be quite clean - so was thankful for that. And thankful for Natasha's video where she showed how to look for the Western toilets versus the squat toilets. Otherwise, I might not have looked for the door without a step! And I found this throughout our trip!
We lunched at the Tribal Table. I was very impressed with the baked chicken with rice and green beans. We had dinner at the Blue Frog Grill in DisneyTown and it was really tasty (DH had the spaghetti and meatballs and I had the hotdog and fries).
As was reported earlier, there's simply not much in terms of merchandise that's labeled "Shanghai Disneyland". I saw a Lotso shirt in Al's Toy Barn and a couple of shirts in World of Disney. That and the stuffed Mickey and Minnie in Chinese garb were about it.
So was buying the PA Set worth it? Yes, it was for us. I don't think the park sold out that day, but wait times were close to an hour for a lot of the attractions in the morning. In the afternoon, we found both Tron and Pirates were at 15 minutes and that was pretty accurate. So we did get multiple turns on both (including the use of PA). As for wait times in general, I can really only speak to Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (I think the only non-PA attraction we did); the wait time was posted at 20 minutes and it was actually more like 40.
Overall, we really enjoyed the park (well … DH enjoyed it as much as he could). Would we go again if we were ever in Shanghai? Probably not. Then again, it's doubtful we'll ever go back to Shanghai, so ...
If you have any questions about our very short trip to SDL (or even to China in general), please ask away
DH and I just returned from a 5/night stay in Shanghai (staying on The Bund), which included one day at SDL. (We were in Beijing for 6 nights ahead of our Shanghai stay, so if there are references to Beijing, you'll know why.)
We used Express VPN on both our phones and my iPad and bought a SIM card for my phone. I had absolutely no problems getting online/getting past the firewall. But DH really could only connect when we were on the WiFi at our hotel and I could never really get anything to work with my iPad. Not sure if that will be of any use to anyone, but it might.
With just one day at SDL, we bought a one-day pass from the SDL website before we left home. Downloaded the SDL app and linked our confirmation/passport info on the app.
As we found the subway system in Shanghai more difficult to manuever than in Beijing, we decided to take a taxi to the park. We arrived about 7:15 for an 8:00 opening and as most have described, it was a bit of a madhouse. This is where I saw the most attempts at line-cutting. And boy, the Chinese tourists must have been just as excited as I was to get into the park as they crammed the queue like sardines!
After entry, we linked our tickets to the app of course, then plunked for the Premier Access set. DH is not as enthused with Disney in the same way I am, but he tolerates it because he loves me. What a guy! However, he was not up to standing in line all day and thought it worth it to pay to stand in shorter lines all day. I know it's been discussed here that FP is not available for Pirates; what I haven't seen mentioned here (it may have been and I just missed it) is that Pirates IS available with the Premier Access Set. I could be wrong, but I think this might be new because when I looked at Premier Access the first time (to see what it included), I don't recall seeing Pirates on the list.
We didn't really watch any shows except we saw parts of the Beauty and the Beast "street show". The only show I was interested in was the Jack Sparrow Stunt Spectacular and it was shuttered the day we were there.
We chose not to do Roaring Rapids because it was a little cool the day we were there. We also missed out on the Challenge Trail because it wasn't a priority for us and by the time we decided we'd try it, the wait time was 100 minutes.
We also missed out on the Explorer Canoes because they closed earlier than park closing (I'd guess around 6:00 or so, when the park closed at 8:00 - not sure why it would close earlier as it had long wait times every time we checked).
We walked through Toy Story Land just to see what we could see, but didn't ride anything as we weren't adventurous enough to try Rex's Racer and simply didn't want to wait for a couple of carnival rides. I might get flamed for saying that, but that is simply my opinion. I'm sure it's great for small kids and the theming is fantastic, no doubt. I also felt like the land itself was just too "busy" in terms of theming. There was just too much going on in such a small space.
We were really impressed with Tron. I don't know that I can add much to what others have said about this one.
I was totally blown away by Pirates! I had not read much or even looked for a You Tube video of what to expect and I was speechless! WOW!!! I'm sure a lot of Disney purists would find it blasphemous to suggest that the existing versions at DL and WDW be updated with this version, but I don't think I would mind at all. I just can't say enough how impressed I was!
We didn't see anyone (or anyone's children) using the toilet in public. And actually, didn't really see it happening in Shanghai at all. Versus Beijing, where we saw it happening most every day.
I found the restrooms to be quite clean - so was thankful for that. And thankful for Natasha's video where she showed how to look for the Western toilets versus the squat toilets. Otherwise, I might not have looked for the door without a step! And I found this throughout our trip!
We lunched at the Tribal Table. I was very impressed with the baked chicken with rice and green beans. We had dinner at the Blue Frog Grill in DisneyTown and it was really tasty (DH had the spaghetti and meatballs and I had the hotdog and fries).
As was reported earlier, there's simply not much in terms of merchandise that's labeled "Shanghai Disneyland". I saw a Lotso shirt in Al's Toy Barn and a couple of shirts in World of Disney. That and the stuffed Mickey and Minnie in Chinese garb were about it.
So was buying the PA Set worth it? Yes, it was for us. I don't think the park sold out that day, but wait times were close to an hour for a lot of the attractions in the morning. In the afternoon, we found both Tron and Pirates were at 15 minutes and that was pretty accurate. So we did get multiple turns on both (including the use of PA). As for wait times in general, I can really only speak to Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (I think the only non-PA attraction we did); the wait time was posted at 20 minutes and it was actually more like 40.
Overall, we really enjoyed the park (well … DH enjoyed it as much as he could). Would we go again if we were ever in Shanghai? Probably not. Then again, it's doubtful we'll ever go back to Shanghai, so ...
If you have any questions about our very short trip to SDL (or even to China in general), please ask away
