Travels with Kathryn

From rope drop to park closing – that is how I do Disney, and do Disney I did. My commitment to the Mouse should not be questioned.

I will set out below exact timings as well as my top tips for when, and its a when not an if, I come again. But in summary, it certainly lives up to its reputation as one of the most beautiful Disney parks, definitely has THE BEST Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the crowd numbers are not exaggerated.

Having read what little I could find online, I knew that it was worth paying the £20 for early entry and then getting there even earlier. So I booked a taxi for 6am and at 5.50am we set off and arrived at the “West Carpark Drop Off” at 6.20am – as soon as I stepped out of the taxi I was jumped on by a vast number of entrepreneurial people offering Duffy and friends mechanise. Duffy (along with his friends) are specific to Shanghai Disney and are a selection of fuzzy looking bears in pastel colours – the Chinese are OBSESSED. He’s certainly the most popular “Disney” character judging by the outfits, headgear, bags, etc.

Anyway, its a short walk into the park, and it feels a bit strange that you can actually see the castle and a crane (a CRANE of all things?!) before you are actually “on” Disney property. However, I should probably mention that this is most likely because this was the first park that was not 100% owned by the Disney corporation – they hold 43% and the majority stake is owned by a state controlled Chinese comany. We are not in a typical Disney park…

As I approached the entry to the park and the edge of “Disneytown” (think Downtown Disney) I joined my first queue of the day, this was not a queue wthin the actual queueing area, but a queue to join the queue. It is time to dispel another bismerching of Shanghai Disney – that people do not queue/push into queues. This is absolute fake news. I saw no one even attempt to queue jump (which people certainly try in Orlando and Paris) and at the merest whiff of bad queue behaviour, the queue enforcers were “on them” and they got shouted at or in at least one case removed from the queue. As a British person the queuing was highly proper.

The gates actually opened at 7.05am and when I got to the front of this queue (at 7.22am) I had stuffed up. So, your ticket is tied to your passport, and I mistyped my passport number. It turns out that one should also work on one’s attention to detail by personally as well as professionally. Therefore, I could not get through the entry barrier – PANIC STATIONS. However, I was sent off to Guest Services, who quickly rectified my stupidity, and I was in the park by 7.26am. Evidently, I am not the first non-Chinese speaking idiot they have had to sort out.

The park has a slightly different layout that your standard Disneyland/Magic Kingdom in that you have “Mickey Avenue” (Minnie gets a mere lane off to the side) as opposed to Main Street and its very short, because infront of it are the Gardens of Imagination leading the eye to the castle. Now the gardens are lovely, and whilst the castle is a beautiful fairytale imagining its a bit squat in my opinion.

I headed to Seven Dwarves Mine Train (already posting a 60-minute wait!), which is a repica of the version in Orlando. However, I knew that queues on this could get ridiculous, and as the queueing area is mostly outside, I thought this would be a good one to tick off early.

I then headed to Zootopia. This is, again, unique to Shanghai Disneyland, and believe me when I say evidently Zootopia is MASSIVE here. I have seen the film, and I thought it was ok, but it’s evidently tapped into something for the Chinese. The “land” is amazing, though – the themeing is off the charts, and it looks properly like a real-life version of Zootopia. The main ride “Hot Pursuit” is like a better version of Ratatouille (an invisable track dark ride) and again, another one to tick off as yesterday the queues on this got up to 240 minutes.

By now it was 9am (the park opens to everyone at 8.30am) so all the “big” rides had queues, so I decided to treat myself to my favourite ride (well, my second favourite as my first favourite is the Wedway People Mover/Tomorrowland Transit Authority, but as that is only in Magic Kingdom so this is my favourite ride that appears in multiple parks) – Pirates of the Caribbean. As some of my readers will know (my family and Steph who has had the pleasure of accompanying me to Disney parks and learning useless information), Pirates is the only ride where the ride inspired a film and not vice versa. However, the Pirates ride here was created AFTER the films and therefore has more of a story – essentially, there is sunken treasure, and Jack Sparrow is trying to find it. This is a poor summary of what is an AMAZING ride. Everything is bigger (the boats, the scenes, the double backwards drops) and I was properly swept along – also, Mandarin makes a great pirate language. I’m just saying.

After this, I decided to keep up all things Piratey and watch the Pirate Stunt Show. I’ll admit that the pre-show was somewhat lost on me other than the British = bad, the Pirates = good (I went with it). But the stunt stuff was awesome. There was a very impressive bit where evil British officers and Jack Sparrow are fighting in a whirlpool, which is some kind of up blowing trampoline. Most impressive.

Time for a trip to guest services to seek advice on how to gain a standby pass (as it was operating on standby only) for Mickey’s Storybook Theatre and because of my ticket screw up it wasn’t linked to my account, and also to seek guidance on how to use my fastpasses. For not much more than my ticket price, I brought a bundle of 3 fast passes, which included Pirates of the Caribbean, as I knew this was going to be my must-see. I also stopped for a drink and a snack (ice cream is perfectly acceptable for breakfast, although it came in a cone and there is a reason I am not allowed ice cream cones as I got it down my self and had to then retreat to the restroom to lick and rub…).

I crossed the park to Tomorrowland. Without a doubt, this was my favourite “land” as it actually looks like the land of tomorrow rather than a 1960s imagining of what it may have looked like. Also, Buzz Lightyear here is far more sensative (newer perhaps?) than the Orlando or Paris versions – perhaps given this is China, the guns are military standard. Well, it turns out I am awesome at shooting aliens in China – just look at my high score:

I then wanted to get in position for as much as the parade as I could manage to see, whilst also making my standby time for Mickey’s Storybook Theatre. A word on the temperature. I have written much about how hot it is, and this is no exception, however, Disneyland has a breeze (maybe it is something to do with how its built?) and there are loads of fans. Also, people are pretty sensible about it – the example being for the parade, at 10 minutes before a few people were standing waiting, but only in the shade. I slipped behind a family with a very small baby (dressed in an elegant Snow White romper) and was able to enjoy “Duffy’s Pre-Parade Splash” which is Duffy and Friends armed with sprinkles to hose down the crowd. Very sensible.

I was very much enjoying Mickey’s Storybook Theatre which is a selection of scenes from various Disney films – however, we had just finished the Zootopia section (I’ve mentioned its big here right?) with a big “Try Everything” (which is the song I have had for most of the day) when the curtain came down… An announcement that the performance was unable to continue. I have no idea what happened or what I missed, but I took it as a sign to have lunch. I feel that Shanghai Disney is missing a trick in that all restaurants are quick service and really I (and I suspect many other people) would have liked a good 1 hour sit down in some nice air-conditioning.  The Chinese do dine family style after all.

After lunch (and a forced sit in the cool for 45 minutes), I headed into Toy Story Land where I decided there was no ride that I wanted to do. There were a lot of spinning things and one of those awful Pirate ship type swinging things. I do not go on these following an incident in Drayton Manor Park in my youth when my friend’s Mum had to be dispatched to get me clean clothes after I was sick. I know my limitations.

It now being peak levels in the park (the big rides were up to 120 minute waits) I decided it was time to head to Fantasyland and use my fast passes on Peter Pan’s flight (whilst this is a much smoother ride, I still don’t get why this is so many people’s favourite) and Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. This is actually a great concept – you are on a big boat (more on this below) and float past various tableaus with musical fountains from key Disney moments. You also go under the castle which was a nice touch.

I also did Winnie the Pooh which is again a replica of the ride in Magic Kingdom. But I did mention I would talk about size – one thing I noticed in almost every ride, is that the ride vehicles are bigger. Its not that Chinese people are big, but they do tend to travel in larger groups and this does mean that you can load more people onto the rides which is needed for a park as busy as this. Winnie the Pooh seated 4 across as opposed to the 2 in Orlando, Pirates seated 6 instead of 3 etc. There is also a distinct lack of any single rider lines, its like no one would be crazy enough to go to Disney on their own…

At this stage, I decided I had to go and brave one of the long queues. Now I had read that Soaring (which also features in EPCOT) has been updated here so that the Eiffel Tower is not bent, and it has an entirely inside (and thus air conditioned) queueing area so off I went. Yes, I did wait 90 minutes but the queuing area was a delight. However, as I was bottom right of the screen the Eiffel Tower still looked a little lopsided to me.

It was then time for the last “Adventures of Rythmn” show of the day, but it was not to be. I have not been very successful with shows today and after about 10 minutes they came and said they were not running the show HOWEVER in compensation they gave everyone a free fast pass. I brisk walked over to River Rapids, bypassed the 100 minute queue and immediately used my fast pass. You are warned that you get wet, and you do get a little wet, but I was very much enjoying this as opposed to almost everyone else who fully covered themselves in plastic – wimps.

I decided I would go and have a Pirates dinner, and then a second ride on Pirates (still loved it):

During the 8pm fireworks, I worked my way around various shops. There are not actually that many shops in the park, its like thsi is a non-capitalist country,  and the park does not solely excuse to get money out of your wallets and into their tills? Very unDisney. I was going to TRON, but as it was still posting a 90 minute wait which means I would have missed the second fireworks show, and as it is an exact replica of the Magic Kingdom version, I just took my photo on a motorcycle and went on Buzz again.

It was now time to get into firework position. This is oh so civilised. Everyone sits (on the floor) and is told to not block the view of people behind them with themselves or not their cameras – and again, Disnoids are onhand to enforce anyone that fails to do this. It made a much nicer experience for everyone. I was able to sit and be impressed by the whole show – its projections onto the castle, which are incredibly good, but could have done with a few more fireworks imho, this is China, after all!

And that was it, the end. I ambled with the crowd back to the drop off point, ordered a Didi (yes, its a bit manic, but after my experience on arrival into Shanghai this is far better organised and a lot cooler!) and was back at my hotel just an hour after leaving the park. Not bad, not bad at all.

So, yes, Shanghai Disney was amazing, and I am so pleased that I came. I had a couple of “ah Disney magic” moments – in Pirates, during the fireworks. However, its a different experience from a wholly owned Disney Park and you do have to just accept that however early you come, or organised your planning tries to be, you are going to have to wait in some queues. In terms of when I come back, I will arrive EVEN EARLIER – I reckon to actually be able to make the most of early entry you probably need to be here at least 2 hours before advertised opening time. I should also add that I have been monitoring the wait times (via the app) for a couple of days, and today was noticeably quieter than yesterday/weekends (perhaps because most kids broke up from school on Sunday so maybe came immediately and/or are waiting for the weekend) – for example, yesterday there was usually a 20 minute wait to go into Zootopia land, whereas today you could always just walk in. This made a noticeable difference in terms of what I was able to do. I also think I would book a 2 night package in one of the 2 Disney hotels just to have  that proximity, both in terms of arriving and leaving, but also to escape the heat in the middle of the day. I still refuse to pay for fast passes,  and I think you can manage without. Also, in retrospect, mostly in writing this, I wish I had taken more photos around the park – but it was just so hot! Both of how lovely the park is, perhaps with me in? Also, to have got some photos of the outfits – here people either go all in or nothing, and there were some great Duffy inspired ensembles.

In terms of my exact timimgs (as I know some of you, probably just my immediate family who know how to do Disney/plan holidays with spreadsheets, will enjoy this) here goes:

• 6.20 – drop-off
• 6.28 – enter early entry security pre-queue
• 6.35 – enter early entry security queue
• 6.45 – through into early entry queue queue
• 7 – enter early entry queue
• 7.05 – gates open/rope drop
• 7.22 – at front of queue (but this was the moment of realising my mistake, and hustle to Guest Services and then back to a special entry for idiots)
• 7.26 – IN PARK
• 7.32 – in queue for Seven Dwarves Mine Train (showing 60 minute wait)
• 8.23 – off Seven Dwarves
• 8.25 – in queue for Hot Pursuit (showing 40 minutes)
• 9 – off Hot Pursuit
• *Bathroom break* (I know this is early, and usually one is not allowed until numbers are up, but I had started much earlier?!)
• 9.15 – in queue for Pirates of the Caribbean
• 9.48 – off Pirates
• 10.30 – Pirates Stunt Show
• 11 – snack break
• 11.33 – in queue for Buzz Lightyear (showing 20 minutes)
• 11.50 – off Buzz
• *toilet break” (in my defence I had drunk about 2 litres of liquid by this point in the day)
• 12.10 – in position for parade
• 12.30 – standby entrance for Mickey’s Storybook Theatre (show started at 12.55)
• 1.30 – lunch
• 2.20 – Peter Pan’s Flight (with fast pass)
• 2.28 – off Peter Plan’s Flight, and on Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (fast pass)
• 2.50 – off Voyage to the Crystal Grotto
• 3 – in queue for Winne the Pooh (showing 40 minutes)
• 3.35 – off Winnie the Pooh
• 4.01 – in queue for Soaring (showing 90 minutes)
• 5.32 – off Soaring
• 5.35 – in queue for 6pm The Adventure of Rhythm show
• 5.55. – in queue for River Rapids (with fast pass, showing 100 minute wait)
• 6.20 – off River Rapids
• 6.30 – Dinner
• 7.17 – in queue for Pirates of the Caribbean (fast pass)
• 7.29 – off Pirates
• 8.02 – in queue for Buzz Lightyear (no queue)
• 8.07 – off Buzz
• 8.45 – in position for Fireworks (which start at 9.15)
• 9.32 – Fireworks finish. Heading out.
• 9.50 – at pick up area
• 9.59 – in taxi
• 10.42 – in hotel room (for a much needed shower and then bed).