# One Wild Day at Shanghai Disney Resort! - SDR TR, April 11, 2018 (Wednesday)



## Impromark

Here’s my very first Trip Report! It was a joy to write up, and I hope that others will find it helpful and encouraging in their own planning. The TL;DR of it is that The Shanghai Disney Resport was lots of fun, and while a few pro tips could have made it an ideal one-day visit, the pitfalls we encountered were not a significant detraction to our time there.


*Background:
*
As context, I’m a 40-gleeberglarb year-old Canadian guy from Calgary, Alberta; I’m a white-collar, postgrad working stiff in a mid-size software company, with a secondary career as an improv comedian. My DW is from Quebec, and a small business owner; and our eight year-old DD has been with us on many trips around the world. We’re all bilingual in English and French, for what that’s worth in Shanghai. As of this writing, I’ve been to five of the six Disney parks around the world, with only Hong Kong remaining (DW and DD have been to four and three respectively). Gotta fix that eventually - in the meantime, we`re planning for our first Disney cruise in the Caribbean this fall. 

My family booked this trip in late 2017 as a sort of make-up vacation. In the middle of our previous vacation to Japan in September of last year, my father passed away unexpectedly and we had to abort everything to get back home. He’d be the last one to want us to dwell on THAT whole thing, so upon seeing some great airfare deals for a visit to China, we jumped on it and planned for a single day at the Shanghai Disney Resort.

_Dad, you took mom and my brothers to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and we had great times there – a highlight of my formative years. I’ve since been to Disney Paris and Tokyo Disney Sea, but this one’s for you. <3_


*This TR is divided into four overly long posts:

-          The Stuff I Think Visitors Should Know
-          Our Visit, Part The First
-          Our Visit, Part The Second
-          Other Stuff We Did in Shanghai, and Closing Thoughts*

I’m not an aficionado of posting pictures from third party hosted services, so instead I’ll direct people to our public Facebook albums on the trip corresponding to the parts of the report:

Our Visit, Part The First

Our Visit, Part The Second

Obviously, everything I’ve written here is unofficial and anecdotal, and any opinions expressed are my own. With that, let’s get to it!


*The Stuff I Think Visitors Should Know*


*Preparation: *

I posted in several threads here in preparation for our visit to Shanghai. It’s a new country for us, and a number of challenges presented itself after we booked the airfare that we hadn’t expected. We were staying ten days total, and while we knew we’d need a Visa we didn’t expect it to cost so much for the three of us (had we known, we’d have stayed within the 144 hours China lets you stay in Shanghai, as part of a larger itinerary). Then there was the Great Firewall of China, against which we had no knowledge of VPNs. And of course none of us spoke Chinese, which was a different sort of challenge compared to our times in Japan where most people (at TDS anyway) spoke enough English to communicate.

In planning our Disney Day, I exhaustively researched the options for a one-day visit to the park and decided that mid-week would be the best for lines and crowds. Still, the information here and elsewhere for North American visitors is pretty scant, and the official website was not updated in some key places, so some guesswork was in order.


*Connectivity:*

*Staying connected in SDR is key* – you will not be able to manage your FastPasses without the app, and you need to activate the app with your tickets and a text to a phone number for it to work. Strictly-speaking, you shouldn’t need a VPN here as you will be on their local wifi and won’t need access to non-Chinese servers to do everything, but if you want to post mid-ride selfies to any social media, you’ll need it.

We chose 3G Solutions for our SIM card provider and equipped my wife’s phone with it plus an included VPN. We also chose Strong VPN as a backup. Between the two VPNs, StrongVPN was much more reliable and shortly after our arrival we didn’t use the 3G VPN at all. Still, the StrongVPN app on my phone and laptop constantly kicked me off, while it worked almost flawlessly on my wife’s Android phone. The 3G SIM worked well, and included a phone number for local calls, but it didn’t work well when we ended up needing to make some calls for other reasons.

Our hotel also provided to us a “Handy Phone” with internet free of charge (!), which proved useful for keeping in contact when our other phone turned out to be unusable. I put the StrongVPN on it as well and it worked out. I recommend using "WeChat" to communicate with others in China, it's the default Chinese messaging app and not restricted by the Great Firewall.


*Park Tickets:*

We booked our tickets through Klook. They offer a miniscule discount, but hey, every penny counts when you’re thousands of miles away and on a budget! We didn’t opt for any of the premium pass options, but getting them was being promoted at the gate for those who wanted them.

On arrival, we took our Klook confirmation printouts and passports straight to the gate. The CM used the numbers and our passport to verify everything. Then she took our pictures (I think a camera was embedded in the wand she used to scan barcodes) to link to the tickets, and we were in!


*FastPasses and The Shanghai Disney App:*

Getting FPs is a major part of any Disney park strategy, so I was worried about doing it right. I ended up only securing one FastPass, but had I known what to do earlier on, I could have likely gotten at least one more. Key points:

- *You DO NEED the SDR app* to get any FPs.
- *You DON’T NEED to have a Chinese phone number.* If you’re on international roaming and can receive a text, you can received the PIN you need.
- *You MUST NOT have special characters in your username or password *(i.e. $?!*&, etc.)*. *I did, and it took a while to figure this out.

The FastPass kiosks are centralized in SDR, meaning that in each area of the park there is a bank of kiosks to get your FPs for all the eligible rides in that section. However, at least on the day that I went, *all the FP kiosks were closed and covered up*, and a CM was there to answer questions. None of them spoke any real English, which made getting FPs a trying exercise. *ALL FastPasses are managed through the app now*, so we had no choice but to get a phone registered.

To get connected to the SDR app, we connected to the wifi once we got our printed tickets, and registered our phone to it. Others here have suggested asking a CM in the park about connecting to it, and having them volunteer their phones to receive the PIN number needed to authorize the app. I had no luck with this.. Immediately on entering the park, I took a right to Guest Services and asked them about it. They directed me to the FP distribution kiosk in Adventure Isle. The CM there was busy, so with the kiosks closed I figured to walk to the FP center in Treasure Cove as Roaring Rapids was closed. The CM at THAT kiosk directed me back to the first guy, so ultimately I made my way back there.

This time I cornered the CM and we communicated through the translation apps, and figured it out. Once online, it was simple and intuitive to register your printed tickets (keep them for ID purposes!) and access the FP process. Unfortunately, by the time I’d gotten online (by around 10am), the FPs for Soaring were booking at 7pm. The Seven Dwarves Coaster FPs were at 5, and the rest that I was targeting had manageable wait times, so I decided to get FPs for 3pm at Peter Pan’s Flight, given that it was the most “different” of the FP rides at SDR. By the time we got through PP, the PFs were done for the day.

One thing I didn’t realize was that *even with the FPs on the app, you need to present your paper ticket anyway for visual confirmation *(as your ticket is linked to a picture they take of you at the gate). It seems that they’ve been doing this to combat people scalping FPs as has been suggested here in other reports. When we showed up to Peter Pan, the CMs manning the scanning posts frustratingly repeated “Ticket! TICKET!!” to me when I produced and scanned the phone. I didn’t understand what they meant, and eventually they waved us on anyway. Then, the next person in line correctly scanned their phone AND showed their ticket, which the CMs waved at me. I felt pretty silly for a while, admittedly.


*Transportation and Arrival:*

We stayed at a hotel in downtown Shanghai, on the Pudong (East) side of the river, the Shanghai Novotel Atlantis. It was an above average hotel with an excellent buffet breakfast included in our price, plus the local smartphone we could take around with us. The only downside was that while it was within walking distance of the subway (5-7 minutes), it was otherwise not near anything really interesting, despite a stupendous view of the area from our 42nd floor room. They were ironically building a new subway line on the main road between the existing subway station and our hotel, making the walk with our luggage fairly difficult.

From the hotel, it was about an hour on the subway with three transfers to get there. SDR is at the final stop of the line so it’s easy enough to find – the Shanghai subway system is easy to figure out. Everything’s in English (and the ticket kiosks have an English option) and at every station there’s a handy map to make sure you choose the right exit. It’s almost a copy of the system in Tokyo and works very well.

On our day, we noticed at the last transfer that there was a sudden increase in the number of people dressed in mouseware. Similarly, at that point a couple people appeared on the train selling knockoff Disney merchandise, notably the Mickey and Minnie ears with Sorcerer’s hat or red bow that you see at other parks, for 20RMB / $4 CAD / $3.30 USD. The Minnie edition proved a popular seller, going by how many ladies we saw sporting them in the park, though a lot of them could easily be the genuine versions that were readily for sale at legitimate kiosks. I found a pair of Mickey ears someone had dropped on Buzz Lightyear and on close inspection they were clearly fakes, with no tags, glued-on ears and hat, etc.

By the time you arrive at the station, the subway PA will suggest you buy your tickets for the return trip before you leave the station, so to avoid the inevitable crush of people leaving at closing. Not a bad idea!


*Line Jumping:*

After the FP thing, the stories of line jumping at this park were the source of greatest concern for me. *The majority of the line jumping we encountered was in the security and gate lineups*, so I’ll break our experiences out into a separate section at this point. We’d read about it here and elsewhere but it was still annoying to deal with -  however *it turned out to be a minor thing overall, and one for which I wouldn’t discourage people to visit this park*.

It’s true that compared to North America, there is no real concept of personal space in such a high-population country and culture. Lineups for things are rare to begin with - it`s most often a crowd around any bottleneck point and not an orderly line - and if you provide any opening, it’s an opportunity for someone to make a few inches into their closer space in the chaos. In the security lineup, we encountered this a couple times, notably a stroller pushing its way past into an available gap (the line pathways were wider at the beginning and narrowed progressively), and a younger couple who simply elbowed their way through, ignoring everyone in their way.

This couple made their way to near the beginning of the security queue when an outburst occurred that stopped them in their tracks. It turns out that ANOTHER young couple ahead of them had similarly elbowed their way past a family of five, and they weren’t having it. The older parents started yelling at the young couple, pointing and shouting, and when the latter tried to ignore their way to the security checkpoint, the family’s father physically PULLED THEM out of the line and off to the side to keep shouting. The young couple never replied, they just looked at the ground shamefully as the parents verbally lashed at them. Shortly, a security guy came over and tried to mediate, which really meant letting the parents vent while the couple offered no defense. By this point the first young couple who had passed us had stopped their elbowing, and casually waited where they were and tried to avoid looking at anyone around them.

Eventually the family’s parents stopped venting and went through the bag check, while the security guy held the young couple back. Not for long though, as the couple were through shortly after we were, having gone through one of the tables at the other side of the bank of checkpoints. *The moral: line jumping may be more casually accepted in China, but even the locals have their limits!*

As for us, once at the security checkpoint, yet another pair of youngsters tried to bypass us – right at the table, ostensibly because these two women had no big bags to check. The first one made it through by placing her purse right in front of our bags on the table and then elbowing her way by – my wife saying “hey!” to her didn’t stop her. Fed up at this point, we blocked her friend from going by, by putting an arm across the metal detector until our bags had been checked and we could pass through.

The only other significant line jumping we saw was in the Pirates queue, with one man trying to quietly push his way through us. We similarly blocked the way with an arm across the way and a “hard stare”, as Paddington the bear would say. He didn’t force his way past, but got on his phone and stayed behind us; eventually his wife and child came into view, having stopped where they were in line and letting people pass until we did and they could be reunited. I’m not sure what the story was – maybe he needed to hit the head, or he was off doing something else. Either way, he waited behind us when it was clear we weren’t going to let him pass.

I don’t consider blocking the jumpers rude. It may be more permissible to the local culture, but it’s a far greater rudeness to feel entitled to jump the line at a kind of place that is defined by the queues. And as I described earlier, it’s not permissible to EVERYONE in this country, especially when there’s ample signage about encouraging proper line and park behaviour. Signing off on this topic, the line jumping practically disappeared for us after the Pirates incident. I think it became globally obvious to the visitors that day that the lineups were going to be short overall, and that being a jackhole in the queues wasn’t going to be worth the effort as the hours wore on.

I think the report thus far should cover the main concerns foreign visitors would have in visiting SDR, at least from our experience there. We didn’t stay at an on-site hotel or get any premium stuff, so we can’t speak to those things. So, on with our actual visit!

*TO BE CONTINUED... RIGHT HERE.*


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## MommaBerd

Yay! What a great start to your TR! I am going to get started on my full TR soon. I’ve just been too tired this week!



Impromark said:


> Our hotel also provided to us a “Handy Phone” with internet free of charge (!), which proved useful for keeping in contact when our other phone turned out to be unusable.



What a nice perk!



Impromark said:


> One thing I didn’t realize was that *even with the FPs on the app, you need to present your paper ticket anyway for visual confirmation *(as your ticket is linked to a picture they take of you at the gate). It seems that they’ve been doing this to combat people scalping FPs as has been suggested here in other reports. When we showed up to Peter Pan, the CMs manning the scanning posts frustratingly repeated “Ticket! TICKET!!” to me when I produced and scanned the phone. I didn’t understand what they meant, and eventually they waved us on anyway. Then, the next person in line correctly scanned their phone AND showed their ticket, which the CMs waved at me. I felt pretty silly for a while, admittedly.



How interesting! Not once did we have to show our park ticket for FPs. I just scanned our tickets on our app. Our pictures were in their system and showed up on these handheld devices the CMs had at the FP checkpoints. Maybe because it was so crowded? Maybe because we had Premier Access? 

So when are you and your family cruising? Our family will be on the Fantasy 10/27-11/2 (or is it 11/3?).


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## Nomarian

Awesome information!  Thanks for writing.  I look forward to more.


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## Impromark

MommaBerd said:


> Yay! What a great start to your TR! I am going to get started on my full TR soon. I’ve just been too tired this week!


Looking forward to it! Your initial post is very intriguing - our experiences were different, but we both clearly had some fun times!



> How interesting! Not once did we have to show our park ticket for FPs. I just scanned our tickets on our app. Our pictures were in their system and showed up on these handheld devices the CMs had at the FP checkpoints. Maybe because it was so crowded? Maybe because we had Premier Access?



I'm not sure... In PP, we were checked twice. There was the FP check where the "TICKET!!" incident happened, then there was a SECOND checkpoint afterwards were we checked our paper tickets (and I was able to see our faces on a screen). Honestly it was pretty confusing.



> So when are you and your family cruising? Our family will be on the Fantasy 10/27-11/2 (or is it 11/3?).


Well well... Looks like we will be able to compare our SDR visit notes in person..! 

Mark


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## Disney_Fanatic

Thanks for the report! We are leaving in a few weeks and it took a while for DH to convince me to go. My biggest pet peeve is line cutting and I know I'll have to manage my expectations!


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## MommaBerd

Impromark said:


> Well well... Looks like we will be able to compare our SDR visit notes in person..!



Oh my goodness - that is so cool! Did you post on the cruise meet thread (or whatever it’s called)? I’ve kinda been AWOL on it when I started seriously planning our Shanghai trip. I look forward to meeting you and your family!!!


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## Impromark

MommaBerd said:


> Oh my goodness - that is so cool! Did you post on the cruise meet thread (or whatever it’s called)? I’ve kinda been AWOL on it when I started seriously planning our Shanghai trip. I look forward to meeting you and your family!!!


Same here! It'll be my first Disney cruise - and if it's not yours, expect questions galore on your experiences, but not in this thread.  I'm on the cruise thread, which I've been ignoring as well while I've been focusing on THIS trip - and I've only just realized you've welcomed me there already. But now, once this review is put to bed, toot toot..!

@Disney_Fanatic - The line cutting is as bothersome as you allow it, IMO... At the end of the day, it's something that is part of the local culture, and we're all visitors there - we get to go home to the sanity of North American lineup etiquette. I was happy knowing that at least a fraction of the locals don't like it either. As noted above, we were lucky that it died down when the adrenalized "morning rush" was over, so it may for your day(s) too.

Mark


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## Timchat2

Great trip report so far! We'll be going to SDL for the first time next month so I have been trying to soak up as much information as I can.

Did you use any of the single rider lines?


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## Impromark

We did once, for the Tron Lightcycle Power Run. The noted wait time was just 15 minutes, so DW and I swapped outside the ride instead of trying a rider switch. Worked well! The rest of the details are being written up. 

Mark


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## Impromark

*Our Visit, Part The First*

In case you missed it, this post's corresponding pictures are in a gallery *here*.

The hours of the park on this Wednesday were 8-8. We thought to arrive early, but our hotel's breakfast opened at 6:30 and even after ripping through that and heading for the trains right afterwards, we didn’t arrive onsite until almost 8:30. The entry lines were still pretty manageable, even with the aforementioned jumpers. We easily entered the park before 9am and got right to it. On this day the weather was pretty good, the sky wasn’t blue but it was warm enough to go around in long sleeves. The wind picked up later in the day but wasn’t distracting.

The overall crowd size was low, compared to the videos I’d seen. There was no real sardine-ing to be had, and we didn’t feel pressed to fight through throngs of people as we would have elsewhere. *Going mid-week in April after a national holiday weekend seemed to work in our favor.*

As with many recommendations, we started at Adventure Isle and worked our way counter-clockwise around the park. Our first stop was the at the closed FastPass kiosk; we had hoped to get online with the CM there and get our first FP on our way to Pirates before it got too busy. When that proved fruitless (see “connectivity” above), we decided to press on to Pirates on seeing that *Roaring Rapids was closed for the day*.

On the way, we passed Camp Discovery and saw only a sparse number of people there. Thinking we could jump into the Challenge Trails right away, we dived in, only to discover that while the self-guided parts of the "camp" were open for people to wander around, the trails themselves were closed until further notice for “maintenance”, as the app confirmed later. Disappointed, we returned to the original plan and got into the 25 minute queue for the SDR Pirates ride.


*Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure*

Ah, POTC! I’d read and head about how unique this ride was in the Disney cabal of attractions, and was not let down. I’d adequately prepared my DD8 by watching the first movie; she’d been to the one at Disney Paris without context and enjoyed it, so knowing this ride would be based on the movies based on the ride, I made sure she was aware of the Curse of the Black Pearl before embarkation. She loved seeing Jack Sparrow literally come to life, and the integration of ride animatronics with sprawling CG screens and enormous (looking) set pieces was without parallel in any Disney park. *This ride is wholeheartedly recommended, and a can’t miss. *

After emerging (and snapping the requisite pictures of our pictures from the ride), we skipped the other walkthrough attractions and continued on. The CM at in this area had pointed me back to the first kiosk, and so I spilt with DW and DD to return there. In the meantime, they headed to the Fantasyland area via the Alice in Wonderland Maze. When I’d finally gotten online with the app, I rejoined them for a quick tour of the Storybook Castle, but we didn’t do the walkthrough attraction. Seeing that our FP options were limited by that point in the morning (almost 10:30am), we chose the FP for Peter Pan’s Flight for 3pm. We also discovered that the Challenge Trails were open now and with a short wait period, so we returned there to jump in.


*Camp Discovery: Challenge Trails*

By the time we got there, the line had extended from the entrance around one of the trails leading up to it, but we got into the queue anyway and it moved fairly quickly, though a number of people left the lineup for some reason when a CM came by barking something on a loudspeaker (possibly because of the need to stow your things?). As we approached the entrance, we saw the bank of lockers off to the side and a bit of chaos as people fought for open ones as soon as they were vacated.

Luckily, another CM came by extracting people from the lineup. We asked what was up, and he asked in broken English “Locker, have coin?”. Having said coin (*a 1 Yuan coin is needed for the lockers, which are the standard coin-op ones you’ll find in North America that let you take the key on an elastic wristband*), he led us back around the suiting-up area to another locker area. The lockers are not large – we needed two for my backpack and my wife’s shoulder bag – but we got through and navigated back to the actual entrance. The line was also mercifully short, so much so that we had little time to enjoy all the usual details Disney crafts into their lineups to keep the mind occupied.

The Challenge Trails are so fun! Once harnessed up, the course first diverges into two separate pathways which then attack various obstacles with a bypass / easy, medium and “hard” option. I’m a reasonably active person (I’m hoping to do the Castaway 5K on my first Disney Cruise this fall!) and chose the toughest option for each one, and I’d say everything is perfectly doable from the physical standpoint, and even the “hard” option is pretty safe and engineered to look difficult without actually BEING hard.* I’d only caution doing this attraction if you’re afraid of heights. *

My DD8 is on the short side, just at the 120cm cutoff for going solo on this course; but she managed just fine on the easy or medium options, though admittedly she had trouble pulling the harness along the rails at various points due to her size. Both she and my wife skipped the highlight of the course, the waterfalls in the cave, but I found them easy and not remotely slippery despite the water splashing about – the material you’re walking on is VERY grippy and standard running shoes will not slide on them. Still, it was at this point that I saw the consequence of bringing your own stuff on the trails instead of leaving them in a locker - at the bottom of the  falls were no fewer than three sets of those Mickey/Minnie ears!

On exiting the Trails, we headed back to the lockers to retrieve our stuff. Just in time, we headed back to Treasure Cove (our second time around the lake) for the POTC live show.


*Eye of the Storm: Captain Jack’s Stunt Spectacular*

This attraction is definitely a higher caliber production compared to some of the other stunt shows in other Disney parks - maybe not THE highest, but it’s up there. Working against it is the setup and relative wordiness of the show – there’s a sort of setup in the waiting area where the "show" is explained before Jack's shenanigans inevitably mess things up), and then a "first act" in the actual theatre before the stunts begin.* The first two sections are more about silly wordplay and pantomime than actual action, and the fact that it’s presented entirely in Chinese can understandably turn off those who don’t speak it. I’d still recommend this attraction though, as the stunts are legitimately spectacular and worth the wait. *

A particular highlight is the transition between set pieces as the stunts kick off, which caught me by surprise! My DD8 (whose enjoyment of any attraction is my real yardstick for judging its merits) loved it, and as she’s always one to volunteer for stuff she’s always waving at them to get their attention, and loved it whenever they waved back. She didn’t comprehend the details of the story either, and honestly it’s not required. The website’s description is really all you need to piece together what the deal is:

_“When the real Captain Jack discovers an actor is portraying him onstage at El Teatro Fandango, he vows to show this imposter—and the audience—what a real pirate can do. But Jack’s appearance draws the attention of British Naval forces, who storm the stage in pursuit. The hilarious mayhem soon spills out into the theatre as pirates, sailors and actors are caught up in a fast-paced flurry of incredible stunts and dare-devil duels.”_

Basically, a bunch of actors are putting together an inspired-by-true-events show with panto pirates and British military types, which gets the “real” Jack Sparrow to appear (it’s funny how everyone, himself included, constantly refers  to him as “Jack Sparrow” in full and not just “Jack” – it’s a lost-in-translation thing). When the “real” Admiral the show was lampooning shows up, all heck breaks loose, fights happen, Jack wins the day against those dastardly Brits, the actors resolve to become pirates, Jack doesn’t get the loot he was after (again), and everyone swears to live the jolly life of a pirate.

Getting out of this show, it was close enough to lunchtime that we wanted to find a sit-down place for a meal. The nearby Wandering Moon restaurant was closed, so our desire for a Disney-fied Chinese meal was quashed. The app pointed us to the Tangled Tree Tavern as a suitable option, so we picked up and headed that way, only to be delayed by the sudden appearance of…


*Mickey’s Storybook Express*

The mid-day parade is standard Disney fare. We came into it about halfway through, and they’d already blocked the main pathway for us to get to lunch, so I hefted my DD onto my shoulders for a decent view around everyone else doing the same (or, ludicrously, trying to capture the parade on their iPads and blocking the view of everyone behind them – when will people learn?!). *This was probably the most crowded it got for us during the day*, and while it was not particularly uncomfortable, there were a LOT of people jockeying for a place to see the floats pass by.

The show itself is the usual assortment of floats and characters, some spectacular, some less so. Mulan is a favorite of my DD, so I was glad for a float dedicated to her entry to the franchise (and in a park otherwise devoid of Asian-inspired attractions, it was a small diversion from the Anglo-Saxony of everything else on offer). But I digress – the Frozen float entertained as always (Marshmallow the snow monster was awesome!), and the Tangled entry was amazing too. You could tell that the parade was winding down when a caboose float with a random assortment of characters from various franchises came into view, and soon we were on our way, to infinity… and Beyond! Well, after lunch.


*Buzz Lightyear: Planet Rescue*

There really isn’t much to write home about the Tangled Tree Tavern. Standard Americanized fare: I had fish & chips, DD8 the chicken nuggets, and DW a sort of stir fry. We also picked up the “seasonal” drink of a fruity concoction in a collectable bulb which we took home as a keepsake. I’d wanted to do Barbarossa’s Bounty as we were already in that area and I wanted to eat while seeing / definitely not taunting the people floating by in POTC, but the menu didn’t look appetizing to the family so I was voted down.

Anyway, with the tummies satiated we moved past the not-yet-open Toy Story Land and into Tomorrowland for the main attractions there, starting with the Buzz Lightyear shoot-em-up as the wait period was the lowest and we wanted to do something with the DD8 before taking turns on the Tron coaster. *The lineup was a scant fifteen minutes by the time we joined it, and we went most of the way to the loading area without a pause*, stopping only to let in the FastPass holders who were probably wondering why they’d bothered getting one. 

This Buzz attraction is very much like the other ones I’ve experiences in WDW and Paris. Those two are pretty much carbon copies as I recall, and this one largely apes those, with the notable exception of the targets being actual video screens that display when you hit them with your guns. The points systems are different too – I’m no gamer by any definition, but I notched 80k points in Paris (I actually have the picture on my desk as I write this), and on this ride I was solidly in the 900k range without breaking a sweat. Furthermore, in Paris I had the luxury of the ride stopping motion a couple times, allowing me to pummel the same target without moving for up to a full minute. Here I was solo in my space cruiser and was able to blast away without distraction. So much fun.

Emerging from the closest thing Disney will have to an FPS in their parks, we move on to the most unique ride (for now) in this park:


*TRON: Lightcycle Power Run*

I’m a YUGE Tron fan. My dad and I watched the movie when he rented it on a Betamax from when stores rented movies. On videotape. In multiple formats. Anyone remember the Tron 2.0 game? Those types of game make me motion sick, and I finished it. I even loved the 2011 sequel, flawed as it was, and I truly enjoyed the Tron: Legacy animated series that accompanied it. So even with the questionable logic behind making a big coaster attraction from a relatively obscure and unprofitable Disney property, this was the ride I was most looking forward to.

Technically my DD8 would have qualified to do this ride, but the wife and I agreed that such a grown-up ride could wait until she was a little taller than borderline. As we had to leave her behind, *we ended up doing Single Rider line instead of all going in and doing the rider switch*. So, my wife went first, and my girl got the consolation prize of a picture taken in the cool lightcycle mockup they have outside. Estimating the time it would take for my wife to do the ride, we then headed back downstairs to do Buzz Lightyear again, as its wait had shrunk to ten minutes (and we almost walked on, really). By that time the wife was done, and my daughter assisted in bringing her heart rate down as it came to my turn. Blasting through the single rider line, I was in the loading room and at the bottom inside of two minutes. *They have the bin system in play, so you just drop your bags in there and the whole thing is returned to you at the end of the ride* for everyone to pick through – not the most secure, but practical enough. But on to the salient point here:

*THIS. RIDE. IS. AWESOME.*

I had done everything possible to avoid watching on-ride videos for everything at SDR, and this was the one I was most eager to keep spoiler-free. But even if I’d watched any of the videos I’ve since seen, nothing would prepare you! From the novel “ride like a motor bike” seating, to the clever stop and dip design of the run that BARELY allows you to catch a breath before going into the next rush, to the visual cacophony of the TRON universe you’re propelled through… Amazing!

Only the Aerosmith coaster can vaguely compare within the Disney universes, being a fast, dark ride with various lights and signage being the visual cues, but IMO this is a much more immersive experience. The loading area is of special note, as it felt lifted directly from the movie; the way they were able to recreate this look so specifically was genius.

*Pro tip: make like you’re riding a bike, and “lean” into the turns* even if it doesn’t do anything. Don’t try to lock yourself into the seat and be immobile. The ride is designed to allow your neck freedom of movement, and your upper torso gets some degree as well. My wife advised me to loosen up my body, which I did after the initial segment (which is shocking enough!), and after the exterior part I just let the ride take me through. It made the experience so much more realistic! The single rider next to me barely moved a degree, and I think that would be less fun than taking in the surrounding sights as much as possible.

There’s not much more I can say about this but I think this ride will be gangbusters when it is premiered in WDW. *It should be on every coaster lover’s bucket list.* Heck, maybe it’ll be awesome enough to inspire a continuation of the franchise. One can only hope.

*TO BE CONTINUED... RIGHT HERE.*


----------



## Timchat2

Do you still get to see the preshow at TRON as a single rider? Or are you bypass it somehow on the way to the ride platform?


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## Impromark

Technically yes, the ride "Briefing" is played on screens above you on the single rider line. In my case though, I walked directly to the big room and didn't pay it much attention - the single rider line terminates at the point you are directed to one side or the other of loading area. I was already super stoked just to go on the ride! But you can see the preshow on various YouTube sources, so I didn't regret missing it. However, the single rider line on Tron is entirely separate up until you hit the main loading room, so you do miss a lot of the decor in the main line.

Mark


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## Pugsly

Impromark said:


> *Park Tickets:*
> 
> I booked our tickets through Klook. They offer a miniscule discount, but hey, every penny counts when you’re thousands of miles away and on a budget! We didn’t opt for any of the premium pass options, but getting them was being promoted at the gate for those who wanted them.
> 
> On arrival, we took our Klook confirmation printouts and passports straight to the gate. The CM used the numbers and our passport to verify everything. Then she took our pictures (I think a camera was embedded in the wand she used to scan barcodes) to link to the tickets, and we were in!
> 
> ual visit!



First off, I very much appreciate your report as we are headed to SDR soon and I honestly haven’t done much research.  But this part of your report brings up a question for me.  We ordered our park tickets through the SDR website.  Neither the email we received, which confirms our tickets, or the confirmation which was linked within the email contain a barcode.  It simply contains my name, the date of our visit and 2 adults.  I feel like there should be one (something for them to scan at the gate) and am a bit concerned.  Were they looking for/using a barcode on your paper tickets?


----------



## Impromark

We had a confirmation number from Klook, but I actually think they just entered the passport number that was on the printout, and brought up our record that way. I definitely remember them entering a passport number at least, but not all three of them. Booking through SDR directly may have a different methodology, but I'd definitely take my passport regardless.

Mark


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## Pugsly

Impromark said:


> We had a confirmation number from Klook, but I actually think they just entered the passport number that was on the printout, and brought up our record that way. I definitely remember them entering a passport number at least, but not all three of them. Booking through SDR directly may have a different methodology, but I'd definitely take my passport regardless.
> 
> Mark


Thanks, Mark!  I read the reminder that everyone in our party has to have their passports.  This completely explains why that’s necessary.


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## cschaaf

Great write up so far! Tron and Pirates are both best-in-class. I've said it before - as much as I love WDW PoTC, I would not be upset at all if they announced they were replacing it with the SDL version. Everyone needs to be able to experience that version. I wish we could have done it more than once.

Tron was the only ride we got to do more than once and it's fantastic. I see a lot of complaints about it going in Magic Kingdom. Those complaints will slow down once coaster fans get to ride it. Those who aren't coaster fans will continue to complain.


----------



## cschaaf

Pugsly said:


> Thanks, Mark!  I read the reminder that everyone in our party has to have their passports.  This completely explains why that’s necessary.


I agree with Mark. When we checked in at the park, I kept trying to show them the receipt I had on my phone. They weren't interested in it; they entered our passport numbers and found us that way.



Impromark said:


> Technically yes, the ride "Briefing" is played on screens above you on the single rider line. In my case though, I walked directly to the big room and didn't pay it much attention - the single rider line terminates at the point you are directed to one side or the other of loading area. I was already super stoked just to go on the ride! But you can see the preshow on various YouTube sources, so I didn't regret missing it. However, the single rider line on Tron is entirely separate up until you hit the main loading room, so you do miss a lot of the decor in the main line.
> 
> Mark


The briefing screens were pretty cool, they were in 3D and you didn't need 3D glasses. I don't know how they pulled off that effect, it was like they layered screens. And the 'reveal' wall was really cool.


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## Jasrhon

I loved your TR and the photos from your link.  We are a family of four from Vancouver and I would appreciate any insight you have into the Visa application process.  All the info I have seen is American.  We are booking a trip on ABD this summer and we now hav all our flights and pre and post hotels booked.  Will it be an issue that our first hotel booking is in my name only?  I hope to skip your experience with the Canadian consulate in Shanghai but my husband now wants me to carry our passports in waterproof bags.


----------



## Impromark

Hi Jasrhon, glad to hear of your upcoming trip! We don't regret stepping out of our comfort zones and I expect you'll find lots to enjoy as well. I'm not sure what ABD is (Adventures By Disney?), but regarding hotels, you should be okay. On entry, they will need to have your hotel name entered (it was okay that they didn't have an address), and then at any hotel you'll be staying they will be verifying your passports anyway. If possible, I'd make sure that your whole family's names are registered to every hotel, as I'm not sure what would happen if they're not, but I wouldn't imagine it to be much worse than simply adding their names to the record. 

Our visas were actually pretty straightforward - we filled everything out online, got our appointment downtown, we all went (though I could have done it myself, I work downtown), and then I came back a couple weeks later to pick our passports back up with the visas applied therein. Here's your equivalent of the online page we used:

https://www.visaforchina.org/YVR_EN/

The visas are good for ten years (five in the case of our daughter). Given how much they cost though, I feel almost obligated to go to China again to get our worth out of them - at least until two of the passports were rendered unusable.

And yes - definitely transport your passports in a waterproof bag! Even a ziplock ought to help simply keep water off in soaking wet conditions. In all the time owning passports, it's NEVER happened to previous ones we've had - and then one downpour destroys two of our three. Ironically, the visas came through the rainstorm without any damage... We just can't use them anymore as the passport they're attached to is gone.

Mark


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## Jasrhon

Thanks for the Visa link.  Good to know we don’t all have to go in together.

Yes, sorry I did mean Adventures by Disney.  We are starting to get very excited.  It starts on Hong Kong and ends in Shanghai.


----------



## Impromark

*Our Visit, Part The Second*

In case you missed it, this post’s corresponding pictures can be found in a gallery *here*.

Missed Part The First? Click right *here*!


*Star Wars Launch Bay*

I could easily have stayed on the Tron coaster in the single rider lineup and ridden the rest of the day, but we still had other things to do. Tucked in behind he coaster building, looking lonely and almost ignored, is the Star Wars Launch Bay. Barely paying lip service to the multi-billion dollar franchise Disney owns, *it’s really just a mini museum and cosplay corner where you can take some pictures*. I still ate it up and had fun posing for the same pictures I’d otherwise have done at my local comic expo. *The mockup of the Millenium Falcon cockpit was extra fun though*. There’s also a Lego corner, build-a-lightsaber thing and the usual gift shop, but we got what we wanted an moved on. Perhaps a full-on Star Wars attraction will be built in this location later on?


*Peter Pan’s Flight*

By this time, our sole FastPass time had come. We hung around the area’s shops for the fifteen or so minutes prior to our time and then headed in, and after the confusion surrounding how the FPs worked between our phone and printed tickets, we got in for a fifteen minute wait. This wasn’t a must-do on my list, but as with POTC we’d schooled our DD on the original movie and she loved it. *Shanghai’s has their more modern spin, and the way our ship banked and dipped felt more contemporary to the technology available than any other version I’ve ridden.* I haven’t ridden the one in Paris but it looks most similar to it, though every version has different character placement (especially at the beginning). We’re glad we used our FP on that, anyway, as the main wait time was still almost an hour in the mid-afternoon.


*Return to Treasure Cove*

Instead of returning to the Tron coaster (nope, not gonna let that one go), we found it was time to head back to Adventure Isle for the Tarzan live show, so we returned for our third circuit around that area. *However, we were surprised to find the attraction had shifted its showtime to over an hour later! *We couldn’t get a reason out of the CMs but found ourselves with time to kill before that show and then Peter Pan. Consulting the app, Soaring was still over an hour wait, but POTC was there at ten minutes – practically inviting us for a second ride! Having loved the first time through, we needed little more convincing, and off we went.

Afterwards (and yes, it’s just as thrilling as the first time – there’s just so much detail to take in on this ride!), we still had some time left over. Finding a bench just outside the Siren’s Revenge walkthrough, I went off for a couple minutes to buy my DW the OTHER “seasonal” drink & collector’s bulb, and then let her enjoy that and rest her feet while I took DD aboard the pirate “ship”… But not before *we were approached by a pirate-clad CM *who spoke English well enough to ask her if she was having a good time, liked the pirate lifestyle, and gifted her a “pirate map” of her own – she was so happy!

The Siren’s Revenge attraction was fun enough, with tons of things to do – including video screens of “wanted posters” featuring characters from the movie, which react to you when prompted (or stand around long enough). A fun highlight was a similar poster you could stick your head through to pretend to be the subject; *as I was posing in my best pirate’s “Arrr Matey” face, several kids wandered by and I’m pretty sure they thought I was part of the attraction*. We eventually found the canons, but couldn’t get to pretend-firing them at the hapless Explorer Canoes going by, as SW was summoning us back ashore. It was time to head to the jungle!


*Tarzan: Call of the Jungle*

I was looking forward to this live show for a variety of reasons. Mostly, I was going to spend the following night “off” and go to an improv comedy show in Shanghai (which I try to do at most every city I visit) while the wife and daughter go to the Chinese Circus show. I figured this would be consolation prize enough, so I was happy things lined up for us to go see.

Unlike the earlier POTC stunt show, *this one had very little dialogue to go on besides the Chinese language versions of the songs*. Aside from that, it was a visually spectacular show that entertained us as much as we were expecting! There was an assortment of “classic” acrobatics and tumbling numbers, with ribbons, juggling, and so on mixed in. While some of it was definitely not quite real (the opening number featured some plate spinners, and those plates were certainly not able to fall off their sticks!), and of course there were safety lines for the numbers performed at altitude, *the show was really fun and entertaining from all sides of the “theatre in the round” style stage*. The theatre was probably just over half full, and we managed to secure front row seats down at stage right despite walking straight in.

The story itself was a condensed version of the Tarzan movie, told more visually than with any dialogue. Most notable was the replacement of antagonist Cecil Clayton with an assortment of generic pirates, but otherwise *there was no real need to understand Mandarin, or even have seen the movie, to enjoy this show. *


*Heading to Disneytown, and Back to the Hotel*

“The sun’s getting real low”, as Black Widow would say, and our stomachs were rumbling yet again. By this point we’d gone round the Adventure Isle / Pirate’s Cove three times, and done every other area of the park at least once. The dogs were barking, and it was decided that it was time to eat and then forego the last open hour to head back to our hotel and rest our feet for the following day of planned hiking around Shanghai. However, I really, REALLY wanted to go on the Tron Lightcyle Power Run one last time, and so *we decided to head over to Disneytown for a full meal, whereupon I’d return alone into the park and do Tron while the DW and DD shopped*. Settled, we moseyed through the Mickey Avenue part of the park, didn’t find any dining option that would tempt us away from the restaurants we’d seen in Disneytown on the website, and then used the dedicated (and practically queue-less) Disneytown gate to leave the park.

*Dinner was at the Xin Wang restaurant and featured Cantonese / Hong Kong cuisine*. Quite tasty, and overall not expensive! It was tough getting a seat as we were in the middle of the dinner rush, but a little patience and getting a hold of the non-English-speaking staff got us results. We have sweet & sour pork back home, but by gum, you haven’t tasted it till you’ve done it in China! 

It was around 7pm when I made my way back through the Disneytown gate, taking all the paper tickets as I didn’t know which one was mine, and they checked it against the photo in the file (naturally, I showed my wife’s ticket first).* I bee-lined straight to Tomorrowland… To discover that the Tron coaster had closed for the evening! *I wasn’t the only one disappointed, as there was a stream of people approaching and being turned away. My hopes of a re-ride under the neon outdoor lights of the attraction were dashed! In hindsight it wasn’t a huge loss, as the majority of the ride is indoors and under darkness anyway, but I’m not kidding when I say that this coaster is really, REALLY good. I rode Everest three times in WDW on my honeymoon and would have loved to do something like that here.

I made up for it though – I used the time to head down to Buzz Lightyear and its now five-minute wait time, and basically walked onto the attraction to do something I’d wanted to do since my first time on the ride in WDW nine years ago.* A solo ride, dual-wielding my astro blasters!* I didn’t come near my high score, but MAN did I look cool in the picture at the end. 

Satisfied (enough), I made my way back to exit via the main entrance. *It was almost 7:30 by that time and there was a definite crowd gathering around the castle for the closing fireworks*. I quickly picked through the shops one last time and then went through the main gates; the fences around the security area had been reconfigured to usher everyone to the Disneytown anyway, so I was able to meet up with my DW and DD with no issue. They'd spent the little bit of time apart picking through the shops, and DD had picked up her main "item" for the day, a Lego set to continue her collection. 

The walk to the Disney station and the hour-long trip home was uncrowded and uneventful, save for my girl falling asleep on the way, necessitating her dad to carry her part of the way. Our day at SDR was over!


* TO BE CONCLUDED…*


----------



## Disney127

Great trip report and thanks for sharing all the tips.  We too are from Calgary and will be visiting SDL in August, follow by HDL and TDL.  DD (16) thought that we might as well visit all three parks since we are in Asia, our original plan was to just visit TDL.  Her mission is to visit all the Disney parks so we only have DL Paris after this trip.  We just came back from DL in California and every time we got caught up in crowds, we would tell ourselves that we are practicing for SDL.  LOL  The one and only time we visited China, we had my parents who could communicate on our behalf in Manderin.  We can not speak the language, even though my husband was born in China.  It was a real eye opener when it came to personal space when we were there, I had to put my arms out to make sure our girls who were little at that time, did not get pushed around. 

I do have the SDL app on my phone already so I am assuming that I just need to link our tickets to it in order to obtain FPs.  We are staying at the Toy Story Hotel and will get our tickets upon arrival.  We are only in Shanghai for 3 days - 2 of those days, DD and I are going to SDL.  Hubby haven't decided yet if he wanted to join us.  We like rides but we are more the type to take in the atmosphere of the parks so we won't be too disappointed if we can't ride everything, just have Tron and Pirates on our list.


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## indoshakespeare

Treasure Cove is probably the best Themed-Land Disney has done so far (at least until Galaxy's Edge).


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## npoon

wonderful trip report.  did you have to request the smart phone from the hotel or did they offer it to you?


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## Impromark

It was a surprise - it was sitting in our room in its own charging cradle and all, plus instructions on its use. We totally used it. A shame Pokemon Go doesn't work in China. 

Mark


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## Impromark

Hi everyone, sorry for the lateness of this concluding post. Stuff got in the way, then I lost my document file! All of the following was not critical to the day itself, so I was resigned it wouldn't have been found, but here it is! 

_*Missed Part The First? Click right here!

Or maybe youu missed Part The Second? Then click over here!*_

*And I'm admittedly getting lazy for pictures here, now six months after the fact, but please enjoy browsing all our pics and vids of our vacation by clicking here.*_  _


*Other Places and Final Thoughts

Yu Gardens - The ones everyone talks about*

After the Bund, *the Yu Gardens are rightfully near the top of the “must do” attractions in Shanghai*, but you have to be careful about it. We’d read about it in the guidebooks of course, but lots of them mistakenly emphasize the famous teahouse in the pictures and not the gardens themselves, which are not as well represented. And so, we thought the teahouse and surrounding shops were all there were.

We’d followed the guidebook advice and gone early in the morning, and there was practically no queue for the gardens themselves, so we actually walked by the entrance without realizing it! The gate looked understated and almost humble, so we thought it was a specific temple or something that charged extra admission. Instead, we were following the crowds who seemed more interested in the shops, which are arranged around the gardens like a series of concentric rings. A further ring of more modern shops and commercial malls surrounds even this, so the garden  itself is almost lost in the literal tourist trap that has sprung up around it. Thankfully we realized we were missing something and backtracked to the entrance.

Once in the actual garden, I was blown away by the beauty of what the gardens offered in small, carefully-designed doses. Evolving over the years, the gardens are a series of pavilions designed to view an associated garden from a specific perspective, for a specific psychological effect. *We could have spent a half day in there appreciating the beauty of each garden view*, and exploring how they interconnected by pathways, tunnels and bridges. As we were here relatively early in the morning, there were only small crowds here and there, with plenty of room to catch good pictures with our cameras, and leisurely sit on the benches to appreciate the view.

I’d read both here and in some reviews that some visitors had only gone here, taken a picture with the teahouse, done a bit of shopping, and had come away unimpressed. Had we not returned to the garden gate and actually entered the centerpiece, we surely would have had the same opinion. So, *should you plan a visit to the gardens, go early, take your time, and ACTUALLY GO IN!*


*Qibao - A close-by "water town"*

There are several so-called “water towns” in proximity of Shanghai, and this was the closest, but ostensibly the least “genuine” and most touristy of them is Qibao. It’s located a short walk from the Qibao station, past both an upscale mall (complete with a Roots Canada store!) and an unassuming residential area. The reconstructed area is home to a variety of shops, tea houses and food stalls arranged along a cross-shaped set of canals, which once served as a nexus for local commerce from upriver.

This was fun, though we didn’t spend much time there. We’d hit this one earlier in the morning, but the crowds exploded with the arrival of the first tour buses, so by the time we finished an early lunch the “core” area was bustling. Still, *we were clearly there in the off season (and the middle of the week) so many of the surrounding shops were not well frequented, or even open*, and the noted boat tours didn’t seem to be operating. Still, we enjoyed exploring the streets and shops and eating along the food street, partaking in a soup that looked good but tasted not-so-good, and since no menus at this restaurant were in English we had no idea what it was… We’d ordered some dumplings to go with it, and in this town it’s tough to go wrong with dumplings, so we couldn’t complain much.

Despite the touristy orientation of the area, we were surprised to see quite a few genuine locals eating in the restaurants and shopping for the more pedestrian goods like fruits and vegetables (and weird herbs and insects and the like) I’m guessing would not be easy to find in the more average grocery stores. *If you can’t afford the time for a proper day (or two-day) trip out to the more “genuine” water towns, then this should do the trick,* but I’d caution that you won’t get the more old-timey feel that you’d probably get in the more rural locations.


*Xintandi - Upsacle shopping for the locals*

This was arguably the most gentrified of all the districts in Shanghai we went to. Situated on the border of the old French Concession, it’s been thoroughly reconstructed and Westernized and to me seemed like a big outdoor mall geared towards the big luxury brands and not much else. Being uninterested in that end of the shopping spectrum we ended up breezing through the district, stopping only for a treat in the cutesy *Kumamon* bear café thing that had been exported from Japan.


*Tianzifang - Artsy wares in a charming presentation*

Now this one made up for the other one! Composed of a myriad of small artisanal shops, it’s managed to maintain its more intimate and genuine atmosphere despite also being a tourist trap where many of the goods are commonly found between the shops (and there were several branches of the same shop in the district as well). Still, we were able to find several nice curios and take-homes that felt genuine enough, and there were a few food stalls that offered some tasty treats. Churros and ice cream? American influence on the old French Concession has arrived! 


*Wenmiao Lu - The Anime Street*

I’m an unabashed (and rapidly aging) fan of Japanese animation as well as the Disney empire, so I was happy to visit the so-called “anime street” on Wenmiao Road for a brief visit. It’s a fair collection of small shops on an out-of-the-way side street, which shared the commercial space with a variety of pet shops. The usual fare was there in terms of anime models, figures, toys and assorted merchandise. *It’s nowhere near the variety and volume you’d find in Akihabara or Nakano in Tokyo, or even DenDen Town in Osaka*, and I’ve been to those several times each over the years; but if you’re in Shanghai and NOT going to Japan, this is a nice little diversion.

Oddly, to my experienced eye most of the stuff seemed genuine (the Gunpla and assorted Sentai toys were, in any case). There were quite a few figures of the kind you’d find in the little lotteries or the crane games in Japan, but there’s no telling how genuine those were. My wife is a premier fan of Sailor Moon (can you tell it was anime and Disney showtunes that brought us together?) and she wasn’t all that impressed.

Despite the authenticity and the fact that it was MADE in China in the first place,  lots of these goods are not made for Chinese consumption and must therefore be ironically exported and then re-imported to the country. As such, bargaining for the stuff I was interested in did not meet much success, and prices are higher than you’d find in Japan. I’m sure I could have haggled some of the stuff down (especially the goods which were clearly fake or which had that “fell off the back of a truck” sort of air to it), but I wasn’t in Shanghai for anime stuff and so I didn’t press. I’d researched the knockoff goods you could find on eBay and the like and some of this was in evidence, but the *online prices were uniformly better* and if I’d really wanted it, I could go buy stuff that way instead of bargaining with the locals.


*Shanghai Circus World
*
This was high on the tourist list of must-sees, and carried a price tag to match. However, not being much of a circus-goer, and wanting to do other things that evening (see next section), it was left to my wife and daughter to enjoy. Their report after it was done was that it was... Alright. *Definitely a tourist trap, there were vendors everywhere outside the building*, which was an impressively large dome. The show itself was apparently alright, but not as spectacular as had been expected; and inside the building was somewhat run down, with broken and worn seats, messy washrooms, etc. There were also noisy and rude tourists of foreign and local backgrounds that took away from the experience. I can't speak for it directly, but from what I was told after I'm glad I skipped it. Speaking of which...
*

The People's Republic of Comedy - Improv from the Ex-Pats
*
I'm a practicing improv comedian based in Calgary - no, not STANDUP comedy, but the version made popular in North America by the show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?". In my hometown, I perform both longform and shortform comedy shows with several groups, in both English and French. Always up to see how others around the world work their craft, I was happy to be able to sit in on a show with* the People's Republic of Comedy (PRC), a small group of improvisors who do a biweekly show of the Kung-Fu Komedy club* in central Shanghai.

I won't bore you with the details of the craft, but I was very well entertained by this team of practicing comedians who are mostly expats from various English-speaking countries around the world. They put on a nice shortform show and make up for a relative lack of experience compared to groups back home with sheer effort and enthusiasm that really pays off. I was also happy to chat with the gang before and after their hour-long show, and check in on how another team applies the same principles of acting and improvisation that mine do, to their specific situation AND location. If you're in town and can take in one of their shows, definitely try. I've been doing improv for near twenty years now and liked it a ton. 

*
Hangzhou - Where the locals go to get away*

Aside from the Disney Day, this was probably what we were most invested in seeing and doing. Hangzhou is a resort town a good hour or so away from Shanghai by high speed train. A region known for, among things, its world-famous longjing tea, Hangzhou is also the site of many huge temples and the iconic West Lake that dominates the touristy area of town. We spent two nights there and it was a proper highlight indeed.

*We WERE there on a weekend, so both the traffic and the tourists were very heavy* - to the point where the taxi we'd decided to hire as a shortcut ended up taking as long, or longer, than the bus. Our full day was mostly spent travelling around the Jing'An Temple (for which we only did the outside parts, not the higher-priced inside temple) and then investigating the West Lake. We eventually found a ferry to its famed (and full to the bursting point with tourists) "Three Pools Mirroring the Moon" Island, using another ferry to shortcut our way back to shore closer to our hotel. All along the way we sampled various snacks and street foods to keep energized, and while it was scenic as promised and a great cultural experience, the high level of tourists around was draining and we retreated to the hotel before too long.

Speaking of which, stayed at the Sofitel Hangzhou West Lake hotel right next to the lake, where apparently they were responsible for a tea service that was presented to the first ladies of the G8 heads of state (including Michelle Obama) when they met in Hangzhou a few years back. We sampled that service on their rooftop lounge / garden at the end of the first day, and it was delightful.

Ironically, this is also where we spent the most time in China's famed "night markets", which spring up after dark in unused streets for lots of bargain-able wares (which are usually knockoffs). We went to a more touristy, permanent one close to the hotel, and also to a "proper" one also nearby. Neither disappointed in terms of the stuff available, but *both were strangely resistant to the kind of haggling the tourist books tell you to verse yourselves in*. Not wanting to spend that much energy for nothing we REALLY needed, we basically left it be and availed ourselves of the street food for more culinary memories.


*Lightning round of final thoughts:*

-          *The general comportment of the locals is polite and friendly*, but there are the usual elements of local behavior that can annoy some average Western sensibilities. Chief among them is the noise! In a country with such a high population, it’s no surprise that people often just shout at each other to communicate, with no respect for the people around them. My wife noted several occasions where someone practically shouted into her face, though they were actually communicating with someone else nearby (or not so nearby). Growing up in an Asian family, my key phrase about many Asian languages is *“the loudest one is right”*, and it rings true here. Thing is, even if they appear to be shouting at each other, they’re actually being relatively cordial for the local standard – they just need to shout to be heard. This, and the constant din of traffic and advertising (people here tend to honk their horns to say “hey, I’m here” versus “get out of my way”), creates a visual and auditory cacophony that is rare for people coming from less populated countries. *Those looking for peace and quiet in Shanghai may come away disappointed*.

-          *Cleanliness is definitely of a different standard here*. Squat toilets are the norm, and outside of Shanghai Disney Resort and the hotels, few seem very well maintained. Squat toilets are the norm, and urinals are such a relative novelty that I saw stickers several times advising people to stand closer so as to make less of a mess (which rarely helped). Worse still, *few people seem to wash their hands after being done, let alone use any toilet paper *(as there is rarely any to be found). Only once did I see anyone urinate in public: on our last day, we were consulting a map when a little girl next to us ( who was maybe five years old) hiked up her skirt, squatted next to a street lamp, and cut loose. Our DD8 couldn’t solve the squat toilets, and so ended up holding it for most of our time away from the hotel. If you’re more cleanliness-oriented, bring some sanitary wipes. It may not help much, but it may make you feel more comfortable.

-          On cash: Despite what the guidebooks say, *we quickly found ourselves at a disadvantage in carrying cash around and not using our credit cards*. Shanghai is a very modern city, and practically ALL the locals pay by phone (Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and the like), with bank cards coming a distant second. At many shops *cash is so infrequently used we sometimes inconvenienced the staff!* Once at a higher-end shoe store they didn’t take any credit cards at all, and winced when we used cash; and a couple times we saw restaurant servers stare dumbfoundedly at the notes we gave them, before digging up a cash box to retrieve our change. We eventually resolved to ask first if cash was okay, but as life gets ever more digitized the takeaway is to suggest you figure out if and how to pay by phone and simplify your experience, at least in Shanghai.

-          *Taxis *– I’ve had an irrational and generally unfounded aversion of taxis after several bad experiences (ever been taken for the “long ride” in Vegas? Been there), but we did end up using the taxis a couple times. Once, up to the temple in Hangzhou instead of the bus (we were looking to save time, but even early in the day the traffic was so bad it didn’t really help), and then another time from the hotel back to the Hangzhou station. In both cases *the hotel arranged the taxi for us, so I figured they had as much to lose as we did by* hooking us up with a scam service (and this was one of the “five star” hotels in Hangzhou, so we expected them to try a bit harder than a lesser one).

-          *Scamming in general: it only happened once that we knew of*, and I caught the guy, but the attempt still counts. Typically in China (and Japan for that matter), when people hand change back to you they place the coins on top of any bills they give back to you. When in a corner store, I noticed when the staffer placed the coins UNDER the bills in my change. I habitually check my change anyway, so when I moved the bills out of the way the guy instantly said “oh! Sorry!” in English and took the change back. I then realized that *instead of 1-yuan coins in the change, he’d actually placed 1-jiao coins*, which are one-tenth of the value of a yuan. He’d deliberately tried to swap them out and hope I wouldn’t notice – this is a known scam taking advantage of foreigners’ unfamiliarity with the local currency. While the actual value is very low (one yuan is about 20 cents Canadian), if someone scams enough people during the day, it could easily mean a meal or a couple rounds at the local arcade for the locals.

-         * Panhandling / begging*: I’d read about it but wasn’t terribly worried – but like the knockoff-offering people on the Bund, *these guys aren’t afraid to get into your face* getting your change. It wasn’t an issue while we were away from the touristy areas, but while in urban Shanghai we were approached a few times. Once, a guy shook his tin can at us; when we politely waved him off, he took a couple steps closer and shook his can even louder. We ended up just moving on and ignoring him. Another time, a burn victim had no qualms showing us his scarred hand and face, and again when we waved him off he responded by sticking his hand right into our vision. I do my best to sympathize with those less fortunate than we and do give to various causes back home, but personally I avoid giving money to panhandlers, and IMO rudely shoving their business into our business isn’t a way to get results, at least from me.


-          Food: Oh boy, *if you do one thing in Shanghai, EAT LOCAL. We probably haven ‘t eaten as well on any vacation we’ve ever taken* as we have in Shanghai! On our first evening there, we arranged to do a food tour, which took us to six different restaurants and six different regions of Chinese cuisine (highlight: spicy roasted rabbit’s head!). We also ate sushi, curry, other Japanese cuisine, Hong Kong fusion stuff, french pastries and so much more. The street food was a real highlight, and came mostly spicy but also really savoury. The famed soup dumplings (xiao long bao) were also a real treat too, and I really wish I could find a local eatery offering good ones. And don’t forget the local staple representing Western decadence: McDonalds, along with its tantalizing local Chinese-adapted menu offered side-by-side with your Big Mac. And overall, this stuff isn’t terribly expensive overall! *My wife says she’d go back to Shanghai JUST to eat*, and I’d tend to agree.


But that’s all folks! I won’t conclude with more than saying it was a great vacation overall, with our Disney Day being a great highlight, which was part of a much larger vacation for our family to remember for all time. It wasn’t a bucket-list place to visit, and I’m not sure when we’ll ever go back, but we have few regrets and fewer hesitations to step out of our comfort zone for places to enjoy and explore.

I hope you’ve liked this trip report! Please let me know any questions you may have, I’ll be happy to respond to the best of my ability (and recollection). Cheers!

Mark


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## Fsudisney

Thanks for the great report and info. My husband has a conference in Shanghai in May and it looks like I’ll be tagging along. Hoping to do a day at Disney as well as some other local sights when he’s not working.
Do you know if you can download the app here first and then if you buy the tickets there at the Toy Story Hotel if they’ll help you link everything up?


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