I'll do the start:
My brother, a friend of ours and me will be flying into Shanghai at night on the 15th of June from Seoul, South Korea, where we are going to visit both Lotte World and Everland theme parks. They aren't Disney but they look like a lot of fun and we are so excited to visit Korea for the first time! Yey!!
The official press release of Shanghai
Disneyland says:
Shanghai Disney Resort will host a multi-day grand opening celebration, culminating in a spectacular welcoming ceremony for the resort’s first official guests on June 16, 2016
So I see it as if there will be a multi day opening celebration
before the 16th of June. However, we are thinking this is probably just going to be a multi day press event with celebrities and high ranking officials, so what are the odds to get invites for that, right? That is why we are planning for the 16th which in theory should be the first day the park will officially open to the public. Our plan is to go to the park on the 16th and 17th (Thursday and Friday).
Honestly, we are a little worried about actually getting into the park. Back in the day when Hong Kong Disneyland opened, they sent a lot of people with valid tickets home because the park reached its capacity limit (30.000). Does anyone know what the total capacity of Shanghai Disneyland will be? Since the park area will be larger than the one in Hong Kong, my guess is around 50.000 maybe? Anyway, Shanghai and the surrounded region are extremely densely populated and my guess is a ton of people are as excited as us to visit the park right when it opens.
Do you think Shanghai Disneyland will only sell dated tickets for the first opening days? This would prevent the extreme masses of people to show up because only people with tickets for that day would travel to the park. But it could also mean that these tickets might sell out within minutes when the sale starts on the website. Any strategies to make sure to get tickets?
If the tickets won't be dated, then would it be a good plan to arrive super early to make sure you get in line for rope drop before the park reaches its capacity limit? But how early are we talking? 2 hours before rope drop, 3? 4? 5? It's really hard to tell what it's going to be like.
The official Shanghai Disneyland website talks about the advantages of staying on-site in a Disney Hotel:
Priority Access – Resort hotel Guests are given priority theme park access during peak times at Shanghai Disneyland.
https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/benefits-staying-on-property/
I interpret this the kind of "guaranteed access" to the park for on-site hotel guests, similarly to what other Disney Resorts around the world offer. So we consider staying at least one night at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. Would you agree that staying one night should theoretically mean priority access to the park for two days? The arrival day and the next day? Then we would probably try to get there around 6-7am, check in (the rooms most likely wouldn't be ready yet), store our luggage and try to get into the breakfast restaurant in the hotel before park opening.
The other nights we will probably stay at a less expensive hotel in the area. Does anyone know if the extension to Shanghai Metro Line 11 will be open in time for the Grand Opening of the park? But even then, we would probably stay somewhere closer to the park and then move to a hotel in the city center after visiting Disney. Because even with the subway it seems like quite a long trek from the city center area to the Disney Resort.
Even on Chinese booking sites such as Ctrip and Elong I don't see any hotels that are really close to the park. So right now we are considering the "Maixinge Boutique Hotel Chuansha Branch" which is about 8km from the park by taxi. It is cheap and looks reasonably clean and comfortable for just spending the night. Any other recommendations?
You see, at the moment there are still so many questions. But my guess is the closer we get to the opening date, the more answers we will get.
I'm interested to hearing your thoughts and just share the excitement of my first ever Disney Park Grand Opening
!
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Wuzefelix
to the SDL trip planning thread. How amazing that you have friends on the opening crew!! So exciting!
. You'll have such a great time!
. 
. Are you going to visit SDL?
.
.
.
. How about a meet up in Disneytown after park closing on the 16th? Would be fun to explore Disneytown and grab a bite to eat or something to drink with some fellow Disney fans while discussing opinions about the brand new park.
.
I'll just have to go back to my room if I need a break, or maybe check out the 'nature park' in the resort area if that doesn't look too crowded. I will definitely need a break.
).
