Hi everyone!

We (early 30's M and F) just got back from our trip to Shanghai and wanted to give a run down of our time at Disney, our total costs, as well as some tips and tricks that helped us, or what we would have done differently.

Dates: Sept 27 & 28 (Sun-Mon), a few days before the National Holiday.

First day:

We landed at Shanghai Pudong airport around 2pm and got a DIDI to the Toy Story hotel (~25-30 min ride). After check in and giving ourself a little rest in the room, we started our Disney adventure around 4:30pm. There was a character meet with Jesse and Woody downstairs so we lined up for about 10-15 mins to meet them. We took the shuttle and made it to Disneytown around 5pm. Got into the park at 5:30 and made our way to Roaring Rapids. It was about a 10 min wait and we went on the ride twice since we had already bought ponchos. We then went to Soaring and Pirates of the Caribbean, both had negligible line ups. Around 7:30 we were in Zootopia land. The line at Hot Pursuit was also negligible. I would highly recommend waiting in the regular line if it's not too long, as you get to walk through the police station. We wanted to go on this ride again, but I did not feel too good (probably jetlag, no rest, the heat, just ate a turkey leg LOL and just overstimulation). By the time we were done at Zootopia, it was around 8:30pm. We just took it chill and waited for fireworks, which started at 9:15pm. There was a special Duffy fireworks performance, so I think we ended our night at 9:40pm. We sped walked/ran to the shuttle bus as it was raining, and we made it back to the hotel at 10pm. We rested and slept early in preparation for the next day.

Second day:

Morning call from Buzz at 6am. Got up, got ready and took a DIDI to the park. Made it in the early entrance line at a bit past 7am, and got into the park around 7:20am. We headed to Tomorrowland and did TRON, Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue and Jet Packs. We also went on Dumbo the Flying Elephant and the Fantasia Carousel, and then took pictures in front of the castle. We arrived back at the hotel around 9am so that we could eat breakfast and rest a bit in our hotel room before checking out. There was an activity to make fridge magnets so we also did that! After checking out, we stored our luggage with the concierge and took the shuttle to Disneytown. We spent about 30 mins walking around and browsing stores, getting some drinks and snacks. Once we made it into the park, we headed to the Enchanted Castle and walked around. We also went on Peter Pan's flight and Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, both having a ~15-30 min wait. At 2pm, we arrived at Toy Story land and waited 30 mins to ride Slinky Dog Spin. The other rides in this area were 60+ min wait times, so we didn't bother with that. At 3:30pm, the parade starts at the Toy Story area, so we watched that. After that we went to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Went back to Zootopia land around 5pm and waited ~15mins in the single riders line for Hot Pursuit (reg line was 60mins I believe). After grabbing dinner and resting a bit, we waited 75 mins for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This was our longest wait in the past 2 days. We watched the fireworks again at 9:15pm and made it back to the hotel at 10pm. We grabbed our luggages and took a DIDI to our hotel in the city.

Expenses:

- 1 night stay with breakfast at Toy Story hotel for 2 people, booked via the app. 1665.5 RMB. We specifically wanted breakfast and we chose the cheapest room

- DIDI from Pudong airport to Toy Story hotel: ~92 RMB

- 2 day park tickets: $156 CAD/person. There was a limited time 10 year anniversary sale when we went, so we got a relatively good deal on the tickets. We booked on Trip.com

- DIDI from Toy Story hotel to the park: ~15 RMB

- Food & drinks for the two days: ~110CAD for two people. Includes turkey leg, hawthorn popsicle, winnie the pooh beef & mushroom sandwich, drinks at Disneytown, dinner at Disney, etc. Some items were quite pricey, but others we thought were reasonable.

- Ponchos: 10RMB for 1 adult. We bought 4 of them so 40RMB total.

- Merchandise: $20CAD. Just one keychain.

Tips & tricks:

- We decided to do Disney right after landing because of jetlag. Since we will wake up early anyways, that will be to our advantage with the early entry perk. Then because we are only staying one night, we won't have the hotel on the second day to take a long nap. We will be forced to stay awake LOL

- Normal check out time is 11 am. We asked for late check out and they gave us 12 pm. This allowed us to go to the park during early entry, tackle a few rides, then come back and have breakfast and rest before spending another 10 hours there.

- The room comes with some freebies, so we made sure to take them to justify the high room cost LOL

- For early entry, the first shuttle bus is around 7am but you still have to walk 10 mins to the park from drop-off, which means we won't get to the park until ~7:25 am assuming there was no line for the shuttle. From research, it sounds like they start letting people in around 7:15?am, so we wanted to be there earlier which is why we took a DIDI. You get dropped off at a specific location and still have to walk about 7 mins to the park. You can take a taxi too, but I think DIDI was a bit cheaper.

- The fridge magnet workshop ends at 11 am and re-opens at 1pm. It was good that we were able to make it before 11 am, otherwise we would have missed this fun little activity.

- If you've been on Soaring before, I think this ride is skippable. Yes it does feature Shanghai and Beijing, but it's only worth if you don't have to wait too long in line.

- You can bring food and drinks into the park. Disneytown has better and more options.

What I would have done differently:

- I would have done Toy Story land in early entry as well and skipped Dumbo & Fantasia Carousel, as well as the picture taking. There seemed be a consistent line up of 45-60+ mins after went back to the park and we are not big on waiting in line people.

- We didn't know where the shuttle bus to go back to the hotel was during our second day in the AM, so we had walked further than necessary. Make sure to know what times the shuttle is and where!

So far that is all I can think of. I may have missed some things so if you guys have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Share your pulls and thoughts from the 10th Anniversary Trading Cards!

So i bought ticket using the app via mobile number verification. For some reason i got logged out, and cannot log back in. I’ve tried for 2 days now. Does this mean i lost my ticket?

Hi all,
we will be in Shanghai next weekend and thought about visiting SDL on Sunday.

There is a lot of different packages available online (admission + different kinds of DPA bundles).
Is it significantly more expensive to buy DPA on the day of the visit via app (compared to the packages/bundles)? And is it like in Tokyo Disney Sea that DPA tickets (via app) would be sold out relativly fast after park opening?
Or would it even be unnecessary to buy DPA on an end of October day (I guess it is off peak now)?

Anything that you would recommend to make the most out of it (for a 1 day visit)?
Our hotel is near The Bund.
Thank you

Hello there

We're going to Disneyland tomorrow and we are planning to do it on our own like the travel. Can I know what's the best option? Subway? Taxi or Ride apps?

We are staying in Shanghai Grand Skylight Xuhui shanghai, can you give us best option.

Can we buy half-day tickets even though we won’t be staying at any of the hotels? It is available on Trip(.)com. But i saw some posts that it’s only for those who stay at the hotels.

Has anyone here did not stay at the hotels and bought half day tickets from Trip, and were able to get in?

Thanks much!

I'm about to book a holiday with my husband to Shanghai Disneyland and we would like to stay at the Disneyland Hotel for all nights if possible. Are there really no packages available because they are all taken or do they release packages a certain time beforehand?

Also, I do realise when we are going is pretty much peak time there, but I believe we are going to be there just after the Spring festival public holidays and we are staying during the week.

Also sorry to tack this on, but from what I've been told, Shanghai DL is much like Tokyo as far as disability access service. Is there anything specific I need to be mindful of? I'm not majorly disabled, just have some issues standing for long periods of time and need a cane to walk sometimes, but especially during a long day of park fun.

Hello! I'm finalizing some details for my first Shanghai Disney trip next month and had a couple of questions. First, what is the best way to buy tickets? I've used Klook for TDR which worked fine but I was never able to connect my ticket to the app. Is there a way to connect the Klook tickets to the Shanghai app, or is there a better way?

Second, I'd really like to get my picture taken with at least one character during my trip but I hear characters are almost more popular than the rides at times. Is trying to get a character photo that much of a nightmare, or does it depend on the character or time of year? Any tips would be appreciated!

hi! i'm going to shanghai disneyland next week! i have some questions:

1. the park closes at 8.30pm when i go but what about the souvenir shops? i heard it goes past the closing time sometimes.
   
2. must-catch rides or attractions? tron is on our list of course!! can't wait!
   
3. we just got the normal entry pass, what time is recommended for us to arrive? is 8.30am too late to start queuing?
   
4. i'm thinking of vlogging our experience there. can i bring a dji pocket 4 or a digital camera into the park? (i will not be bringing the tripod stand along)
   
5. we are thinking of eating at the cheesecake factory! any other suggestions?

let me know if you have more tips to share! thank you (:

I bought 2 tickets with Early Park Entry for October 20th. I linked both passports, but when I click on the Early Entry option, it shows October 19th.

The actual tickets are correct for October 20th. There’s no QR code yet either, but I believe it only becomes available 7 days before the visit.

Should I be worried, or could this just be some kind of timezone/date issue?

I want to start off by saying im not American British or Australian. My first language is not english. In my country only the young people and a few of the middle age speak english. With that said, no i dont think it’s entitlement i think it’s a basic requirement when you work in such a turistic place.

I completely understood Chinese people don’t speak english. However, Disneyland is the most popular amusement park on our planet. There’s only a few in this whole wide world. People come to visit from all countries, how can u possibly not know english being a stuff member. How can they hire people that don’t understand the word “bathroom” or “fast pass”.

The french hate english as a language, they often refused to speak, HOWEVER in Disneyland everyone EVERY MEMBER OF THE PARK spoke english.
In some corners there were this “info points” and i stop at a young lady and i ask her if she can tell me where is the toilet( i was looking for the nereast one) and we were trying to save some battery on our phones. I never thought my question might be “too much” and should pull my phone out and search it on the map. After i asked her she said she didnt understand 3 times, after i made sure she understood the word bathroom i switched to toilet. She was acting like i made her write a 3 pag essay. She pulled her translating device.

For me Disneyland Shanghai was tiring.

I’m trying to book a hotel reservation at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and it takes me all the way to the payment screen, but none of the payment options seem to work (i.e payment window won’t appear). I’ve tried on both the website on desktop and the app. Also tried various payment methods (card, Apple Pay, alipay).

Anyone else having this issue? Any way around it?

Hello all,

Visiting SDLR from 22nd dec, checking out of the DLH on the 25th. 3 park days, what should we expect for crowds and would express be neccessary? We're living in Tokyo, so well used to seeing 100+ minute wait times year round for the popular rides, but express seems to be quite a bit more expensive in Shanghai.

Are standby passes etc neccessary for securing christmas merch, and when does christmas merch usually start selling out?

I'll pay for the nighttime show to get a good view, are there still queues to get into the zootopia land?

As far as i know shanghai disney hotel guaruntees guests get tickets, so is it all good to buy them here and not in advance?

We're going to be celebrating our engagement, hoping to experience a magical moment of some kind! Is it similar to overseas parks? Can i ask a cast member for a badge?

Very very excited to experience my bucketlist park, any advice appreciated!

The news came from the Internet and said that the Enchanted Star Hotle would be sold (pre-sold) at 20 o'clock on October 15, but I suspect that it was released early due to the mistake of the staff. Does anyone excited about it?

Hi folks, am going to Shanghai Disney in Nov on a Thursday and wondering about the necessity of getting Disney premier access (DPA). We have a 4 yo and baby, and grandparents coming with us, so doubt we will be able to get up early and do the Early Access route or run into the park when it opens. Also, not staying at a Disney hotel with early access anyway.

We really want our toddler to try the zootopia ride, and my husband and I do want to try Tron. Would you all recommend DPA for zootopia for all 3 of us? Then single rider for Tron? I’m also thinking what other rides are recommended for kids that age. Thanks a lot!

If anyone would like to stay at the Kingdom Club rooms Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, I definitely recommend the room number 56060. This room includes a king bed, a sofa bed and a wall bed which for kids or light weight people (but for adult it would be a little bit shorter), and also provide a park/castle view let people can watch the fireworks from a distance. And the most important thing is the room is quiet enough, so you might have a good night there. I included all the aforementioned requests in the remarks when booking the room (including a request for a small birthday cake; although I checked in one day after my actual birthday, they still provided one—though please note that a cake might not be guaranteed if the birthday falls on a day other than the check-in or check-out date). If you have any specific requests, you can note them when booking, and also remember to call the reception the day or the day before arrival to reiterate them, or mention them again when checking in; the staff will likely do their best to accommodate you (since not all guests make such requests, they are usually happy to fulfill the needs of those who do).

Never shared some of my photos from my Disneyland Shanghai trip this past February! ✨

I just got back from Shanghai Disneyland. It was delightful. I’ve been going through a hard time, and Shanghai Disneyland treated me so very gently and gave me a much needed break. I got to do everything i wanted, twice, and then even more. Thanks, Shanghai Disneyland.

One thing confused me. I ordered the Magic Wish noodles. I guess I didn’t realize they’re a specialty/temporary item.

They gave me a little card with a pull-tab on it which revealed some kind of quote or saying. I googled this question but couldn’t get a definitive answer. Do all the cards say the same thing? Or does each card have a different saying? What did your card say?

Was wondering if the sub would be interested in my trip report/itinerary as a person who's already been 30+ times? and tips to make the trip better?

Bring baby hearing protection!

We had NO idea how loud it would get, especially as the park amps up the sound with parades, performances, etc. We so so so wish we had brought our baby banz. It was crazy loud with music - I covered my baby’s ears or retreated to a quieter spot but wasn’t sure it really helped.

Honestly would be concerned about the park’s speaker system volume for any child <18m even on mellow attractions …

What time do the tours drop to book?? I know it’s 14 days in advance but trying to figure out what time to hop on