Hello all! I recently visited SH Disneyland and thought I would share my experience and tips...
As a big planner and frequent WDW visitor, I was disappointed at the lack of information and pre-strategizing I could find on the park. Rest assured... if you're like me and are freaked out by flying 14 hours or more and NOT having a game plan - you'll still have a great experience!
I really enjoyed the park and thought it would be helpful to share my comparisons with WDW. This is not Florida... it's a Chinese park, for the Chinese. Comparisons are for reference and not intended to be criticism.
I chose to take a taxi to Disneyland from my hotel. As a single traveler, I didn't want the hassle of the subway. The fare was 150 RMB one way (6 RMB = $1) and took about 45 minutes.
When you arrive, you'll have to walk from the transport hub to the main gates. Takes about 10 minutes. If you've bought tickets online, you can proceed right through to bag check and ticket gates. They will check your passport and issue you a paper ticket. Make sure you hang on to it because you'll need it for FP - one ride per land, one FP at a time, also paper.
I was totally unprepared for how enormous the park was. The castle is huge. The grounds are huge. Everything. is. HUGE. Maybe because of the size, no area of the park ever really felt crowded. Expect much more green space/park area. Overall, it was a much calmer (and quieter) environment.
Character greetings are spread throughout the park and had minimal queues. I saw several characters and never waited more than 5 minutes.
Just outside the park there is the Shanghai version of Downtown Disney called Disneytown, This area of is all shopping and restaurants with a mega gift shop, and does not require park admission. There are some very nice upscale table service restaurants here, so if you want something nicer/less casual than in the park, there are some great choices (including a Cheesecake Factory and Wolfgang Puck if you want Western food). There are also some very nice upscale shopping stores.
The rides really are as spectacular as you have heard. I rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan's Flight with my mouth hanging open (literally). POTC is hands down the most well executed ride I have ever been on, period. Ride on videos don't do it justice.
The park is very doable in 1 day... maybe 2 if you had a family and/or wanted to have more downtime. There are a lot of more active attractions that would be great for younger kids (such as a walk through maze and a pirate ship you can climb on) that don't hold as much appeal for adults. I was there from 8 until 9 pm and felt like I did everything.
Taxi queue at the end of the day was well orchestrated, went smoothly and taxis were readily available.
Tips/observations:
- Have local currency for the taxi. Plan on the exact fare as it's not customary to tip taxi drivers. Drivers will not accept credit cards.
- Bring an umbrella. Rain is frequent especially in the summer.
- The park is spectacularly large. I got 30,000 steps in one day. Imagine how big you think it is, and then multiply by 3. Typical WDW strategies of hopping over to different sections of the park to minimize wait times would not be recommended. I found it more effective to do all the attractions in one "land" before moving on.... especially at the end of the day when just the prospect of crossing the park was fatiguing.
- Visa is accepted at merchandise stores and restaurants. But bring cash if you want a Mickey bar (35 RMB) or turkey leg (55 RMB)
- If you have kids, prep them for waiting. Queues were orderly and quiet, but there are no interactive queues like at WDW.
- Rides frequently go down/temporarily close. At one point I had just redeemed a FP for Soarin and had been in line for about 15 minutes when I realized we weren't moving. The app said the ride was closed before anyone notified us.
- Expect a mix of Mandarin and English. Rides have a mix of both; as a non Chinese speaker you can navigate easily, but don't expect any workers to speak much English.
- Both POTC and Mine Train had single rider lines...a great option as the wait times were a fraction of standby times.
Overall, I did not feel like my experience was compromised by not being able to plan.. in fact, I thought planning probably wasn't as necessary as for a WDW trip.
Any questions let me know! I hope this helps someone!
As a big planner and frequent WDW visitor, I was disappointed at the lack of information and pre-strategizing I could find on the park. Rest assured... if you're like me and are freaked out by flying 14 hours or more and NOT having a game plan - you'll still have a great experience!
I really enjoyed the park and thought it would be helpful to share my comparisons with WDW. This is not Florida... it's a Chinese park, for the Chinese. Comparisons are for reference and not intended to be criticism.
I chose to take a taxi to Disneyland from my hotel. As a single traveler, I didn't want the hassle of the subway. The fare was 150 RMB one way (6 RMB = $1) and took about 45 minutes.
When you arrive, you'll have to walk from the transport hub to the main gates. Takes about 10 minutes. If you've bought tickets online, you can proceed right through to bag check and ticket gates. They will check your passport and issue you a paper ticket. Make sure you hang on to it because you'll need it for FP - one ride per land, one FP at a time, also paper.
I was totally unprepared for how enormous the park was. The castle is huge. The grounds are huge. Everything. is. HUGE. Maybe because of the size, no area of the park ever really felt crowded. Expect much more green space/park area. Overall, it was a much calmer (and quieter) environment.
Character greetings are spread throughout the park and had minimal queues. I saw several characters and never waited more than 5 minutes.
Just outside the park there is the Shanghai version of Downtown Disney called Disneytown, This area of is all shopping and restaurants with a mega gift shop, and does not require park admission. There are some very nice upscale table service restaurants here, so if you want something nicer/less casual than in the park, there are some great choices (including a Cheesecake Factory and Wolfgang Puck if you want Western food). There are also some very nice upscale shopping stores.
The rides really are as spectacular as you have heard. I rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan's Flight with my mouth hanging open (literally). POTC is hands down the most well executed ride I have ever been on, period. Ride on videos don't do it justice.
The park is very doable in 1 day... maybe 2 if you had a family and/or wanted to have more downtime. There are a lot of more active attractions that would be great for younger kids (such as a walk through maze and a pirate ship you can climb on) that don't hold as much appeal for adults. I was there from 8 until 9 pm and felt like I did everything.
Taxi queue at the end of the day was well orchestrated, went smoothly and taxis were readily available.
Tips/observations:
- Have local currency for the taxi. Plan on the exact fare as it's not customary to tip taxi drivers. Drivers will not accept credit cards.
- Bring an umbrella. Rain is frequent especially in the summer.
- The park is spectacularly large. I got 30,000 steps in one day. Imagine how big you think it is, and then multiply by 3. Typical WDW strategies of hopping over to different sections of the park to minimize wait times would not be recommended. I found it more effective to do all the attractions in one "land" before moving on.... especially at the end of the day when just the prospect of crossing the park was fatiguing.
- Visa is accepted at merchandise stores and restaurants. But bring cash if you want a Mickey bar (35 RMB) or turkey leg (55 RMB)
- If you have kids, prep them for waiting. Queues were orderly and quiet, but there are no interactive queues like at WDW.
- Rides frequently go down/temporarily close. At one point I had just redeemed a FP for Soarin and had been in line for about 15 minutes when I realized we weren't moving. The app said the ride was closed before anyone notified us.
- Expect a mix of Mandarin and English. Rides have a mix of both; as a non Chinese speaker you can navigate easily, but don't expect any workers to speak much English.
- Both POTC and Mine Train had single rider lines...a great option as the wait times were a fraction of standby times.
Overall, I did not feel like my experience was compromised by not being able to plan.. in fact, I thought planning probably wasn't as necessary as for a WDW trip.
Any questions let me know! I hope this helps someone!
It's always fun to compare experiences!
I am booking my flight to Shanghai now! 
