Went to SDR for the first time last night. Remember that route I planned to Shanghai Disneyland Hotel before? I had no idea it was mostly in Wishing Star Park!
I had previously thought that Wishing Star Park was just the rectangular area north of the lake. Not sure if I was the only one under this misconception? In the early days of the map, that was the location marked as "Wishing Star Park" but turns out that is just the entrance and the park itself extends most of the way around the lake. In fact, I have not found any way to access that rectangular area (garden above the metro station) even though it can be seen from multiple angles - last night I walked around the whole metro station looking for a way in. If anyone has any details on this, I would be interested!!
The Wishing Star Park itself is only open from 7am-7pm, however I was able to walk into it at like midnight last night...but I wouldn't count on being able to do that after the official opening. Therefore I was a bit confused to find not one but two 24-hour convenience stores located inside the park itself! How can a store be 24-hour when the surrounding park is only open for 12 hours in the day? Well, turns out that there is a special entrance to the park for guests staying at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel - you can touch your keycard to get from the hotel gardens into the park and vice-versa, even outside the park's opening hours. However, even more surprising is that, while one convenience store is located right next to that special entrance, the other one is located about a 5-10 minute walk from there. Why would one walk to that convenience store when there is one right by the entrance? No idea!
I asked the staff in the hotel lobby (which incidentally I had to get security clearance to enter, a process which took some 10 minutes in itself, although that's likely because of the soft opening) whether the other park entrances are open to hotel guests outside opening hours but they didn't know. But I went to those entrances and there is no keycard reader that I can see. (There is an entrance to the park by Disneytown and another one by the metro station so this would be handy for walking to/from the hotel early in the morning or late at night. But I don't know for certain it would be open. The walking route I shared a few weeks ago relies on it being open. To be clear, all the bridges you see across the lake on the map, are actually inside Wishing Star Park.) For Toy Story Hotel guests (wanting to have their breakfast at SDH, for example) it's even less likely they can walk through the park.
There is another walking route to SDH (which I used in the end) that is much longer as it essentially goes around the boundary fence of Wishing Star Park. Basically it just goes along the main road towards the hotel entrance, with a pedestrian walkway along the entire south edge of that road. That would be a long walk, especially with luggage. Upon arriving at the main hotel entrance from the road, there is a pedestrian walkway to the lobby (you have to buzz in on the intercom).
I asked the hotel staff about plans for the opening day schedule but unfortunately they have no information
Hopefully there will be *something* for us plebs lol!
I'm excited, but also a little nervous!
