Shanghai Disneyland Grand Opening Trip Planning Thread

[zanzibar138]

A few more Royal Banquet Hall pictures for you. This time, from the dining room. You should be aware that there are several dining rooms, so yours may be slightly different.

 

[zanzibar138]

I've finally got good enough internet connection and a few spare minutes to upload the rest of my Royal Banquet Hall photos! Here is the long-awaited menu!

 

[zanzibar138]

And the corresponding food porn...

I had the goat's cheese and leek tart to start.



The chicken and pumpkin casserole (more like a curry) for mains.



And finished off with Elsa's White Chocolate Dome.



Everything was absolutely delicious!

 

[zanzibar138]

And finally, the character interactions! I LOVED that they had the classic characters in 'royal' outfits instead of having princesses.

 

[BelleBway]

Thanks so much for the menu photos! I also love the characters there.

 

[wtdanceisthrough]

Just thought I would write some quick messages to round off my trip experience...

Day One I've already covered mostly. After the park closed, the night was spent transferring my luggage from my old (non-Disney) hotel to the Disneyland Hotel. This was further complicated by the fact that the taxi driver didn't actually know where Disneyland was, and had to keep stopping to ask people. I finally got to my room at about 4:30am, which is annoying given that I had the character breakfast booked for 6:45am! By the way, the archway for the entrance to SITRZ is still there - it still doesn't explicitly state "Welcome to Shanghai Disney Resort" but it's the closest we have to an entrance arch for SDR. It's located approximately at GPS coords (31.156702N, 121.672919E).

Day Two - character breakfast where I met Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy. None of the (fur) characters spoke English but their handlers did, so acted as translators. The characters didn't react amazingly to my comments (I made a "three musketeers" reference to Goofy and not even the handler had ever heard of the film) but they are okay and still made everyone smile.

I also met a lady at breakfast who I arranged to meet in the afternoon. But then I went to bed for a "nap" and didn't wake up until 7:45pm!! Oh dear... This comes from having a totally exhausting first day and also only having had about 30 minutes sleep the previous night. Still, I was gutted to miss so much park time. Eventually I got to the park gates at 10:05pm. The park closes officially at 10pm. Strangely, I still managed to get into the park and even more strangely they didn't even check my ticket!!

I then proceeded to have quite an interesting evening. First of all I went to Siren's Revenge, a pirate ship replica attraction. Apparently while I was in there, there were some announcements about the park having closed and everyone needs to leave, but I missed them because these announcements are not broadcast on the internal speakers within Siren's Revenge, which only play ship noises and various snippets of pirate speech (in Chinese). There were also others looking around the ship in plain clothes but I later found out they were actually staff members. They opened up a display cabin and I was able to check out some of the props inside there such as a skull paperweight and a series of pirate books (which were real books, but not the same ones shown on the cover). Eventually they asked me "what department are you in" and it then became clear they thought I was a staff member, I thought they were guests, and I had to leave the park.

On my way out I went to the Wandering Moon Teahouse to try to get some food as I know some food places are open late. (As I found out later, Remy's Patisserie is actually open until 11pm.) Anyway the teahouse was closed but some staff were still inside and one guy offered to take me to the staff canteen! First we went to a place called "Inn Between" which was closed. After this, he took me to a restaurant called "PAB" which apparently stands for "Project Administration Building". It's the first building which was built in the whole resort. Inside there were posters of other Disney parks, posters of Walt Disney quotes, a TV loop with greetings from other parks and photos/videos from around SDR, and a buffet area with the food. We got some really cheap and actually quite tasty food! It was really interesting to see the backstage area of SDR.

After that, he took me to near the park entrance and said I could find my own way out. So I walked to the exit but all the gates were already locked! It was around 1am by this time. No security in sight, only a lot of construction workers and cleaners. None of them spoke any English. I walked around the park for about 40 minutes before I found someone who spoke English and could get me out of the park. During this 40 minutes I walked straight into the boarding areas of some rides hoping to find security there, and even tried to call security on the security stations (control panels with phones and microphones attached at (approx 15) fixed positions around the park). But there didn't seem to be any security in the entire park at this time!!

 

[wtdanceisthrough]

Day Three - I started off with "Voyage To The Crystal Grotto". It was very nostalgic!!

After that I went to Treasure Cove with the intention to visit Shipwreck Shore but I got a bit sidetracked. A couple were having a fight there and the staff didn't seem to know how to deal with it! To start with, one security guard was standing watching them but didn't make any attempt to break them up, just stood there talking on his radio while the couple were slapping each other and the girl was kicking and biting the guy. After a while a lot of other security guards came and then they did try to break the couple up whenever they were physically fighting each other, but this happened several times with them breaking them up several times and I was really surprised they didn't just escort them out of the park! Especially as there was a big crowd of ~30 people standing around watching the "action"!

During this time I did run into Lucinda who is a pirate and was just randomly walking around Treasure Cove. She is a very rare character to meet - I only saw her that once and looked for her a few other times on days 3 and 4 without any luck. She spoke very good English but she was not accompanied by any PhotoPass staff so I was not able to get a photo with her. I thought afterwards I should have just taken a selfie with her, hence why I looked for her again, but couldn't find her. The local staff told me she comes out irregularly and walks around the streets, but couldn't tell me when/where I could next see her. That's a big part of the reason I kept walking past this fighting couple - they were still at it basically every time I walked past for about 20-30 minutes!!

After that I went to see the parade "Mickey's Storybook Express" and took photos of all the characters there. It's very much like the YouTube videos we have seen, except that it seems Timon & Pumbaa have now been replaced by Nick & Judy from Zootopia.

Then it was time to see The Lion King. I love the inside of the Walt Disney Grand Theatre - lots of Chinese-style art depictions of Disney scenes. The production itself is basically the same as the English one (which I saw last year) but in Mandarin obviously. I only stayed for the first half, then went to do some shopping - bought a lot of things from the grand opening range and had them delivered to my hotel.

Back in the park, I headed for Happy Circle - a meet & greet point where I met Baloo and King Louie. After that, I went to Camp Discovery where I didn't have time to queue up for Challenge Trails but I did explore the children's areas - Excavation Site and Junior Adventurer Training. The most interesting part was an underground "temple" complete with hidden rooms which you had to crawl into (obviously designed for small children, not tall men like myself!)

Then I went back to the castle for the "Ignite The Dream" show - a fairly standard show. Aladdin was featured much more than I had expected - a pleasant surprise for me, because it's one of my favourite Disney films.

Finally I went on "Peter Pan's Flight". I haven't been on it at the other parks but I guess it's much the same.

 

[wtdanceisthrough]

Day Four - Checked out of my hotel early. The process to transfer to Toy Story Hotel was surprisingly smooth - all my luggage was transferred for me so I didn't really have to do anything, just leave in the morning and turn up in the evening at a different hotel.

To start with I went on Seven Dwarves Mine Train. Even though it was fun, I felt it wasn't worth the incredibly long wait time!!

I had a look at Festival Forest where they have the "sword in the stone" which the guidemap dares you to try to pull out. I did try quite hard but it wouldn't budge. I am guessing it is just for show and can't actually be pulled out.

After that I decided to take some time out to meet characters. First up was Storybook Court where you can meet different Disney princesses. I had missed Snow White and Rapunzel from earlier that day (probably Rapunzel had had to get ready for the parade), but instead Belle and Cinderella were there on rotation and I got to meet both. I had to queue up twice but it was worth it - both princesses spoke excellent English and we had a lot to talk about - mostly based on tips I got from the "Kenny The Pirate" website which elicited interesting responses. In particular when I asked Cinderella about Jaq and Gus, she told me a story about how they had been playing in the kitchen that day and their cake had got burned. So this was really fun.

I went to Hundred Acre Wood and met Winnie The Pooh. And then I went to Haus Of Waffles (a facade looking into the kitchen of Il Paperino, a Donald-themed waffle restaurant) to meet Donald and Daisy at the same time! The meeting with Donald and Daisy was by far the most disappointing as they did not want to listen to anything I had to say and just wanted to pose for photographs. I imagine their English was poor, and the handler does not want to spend time translating when there is a queue of people. With Winnie The Pooh I kinda got by because when I said key words like "Honey" it prompted a reaction, but with Donald and Daisy my conversation was more about their relationship and their friendship with Mickey, and it was likely a bit hard for the actors to understand if they don't have good language skills.

Next I went on Explorer Canoes and I'm a bit skeptical that the guest rowing actually makes any difference to the boat route! Because I tried rowing hard, not rowing, and even rowing in the wrong direction, and it had little effect on the boat whatsoever! I know maybe I'm a bit cynical but is there some sort of underwater pulley system which moves the boats along regardless?

After that I went to see the show "Tarzan: Call Of The Jungle". It's actually a really really good show! I enjoyed it a lot, and the language barrier had very little impact as there was no speech, only singing, and mainly the song "Two Worlds" which I know about anyway. The acrobatics were quite spectacular and prompted many "woah" sounds from the audience.

My next excursion was back to Camp Discovery where I planned to finally do Challenge Trails. What I hadn't realised is that queueing up for 40 minutes only entitles you to do one of the three challenge trails. There are three in total - "Hidden Falls Chamber", "Echo Cavern" and "Temple Of The Ancients". Well, I just queued up three times and did all three of them. The scenery in all three was quite impressive but I also look for the difficulty factor on ropes courses (which I love just generally) and a lot of challenges were lacking. Typically there are three routes through every part of varying difficulty, but on "Temple Of The Ancients" in particular, the hard routes are actually quite easy. I found "Hidden Falls Chamber" to be the most challenging, especially one part where (on the hardest route) you have to walk around a very narrow slippery ledge around the edge of a circular cavern with a waterfall dropping through the middle of it. Anyway, luckily the second and third times queueing were much shorter (maybe about 15-20 minutes each) because the fireworks had started and it was also raining.

Next I headed back to Shipwreck Shore and thoroughly explored it. It's very interactive and there was lots to do. It was quite empty by this time and I so I managed to discover many things on my own without noticing them from others. Even though this is a kids attraction, I really enjoyed exploring and discovering every aspect of it!

The final thing I did on my final day was The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh. Again, I imagine it's similar to the versions at other parks. Some parts of it did feel particularly bumpy though, uncomfortably so, so I'm not sure if this is meant to be part of the ride experience.

After that I really wanted to do Roaring Rapids again (as I'd missed seeing the Q'araq on the first time due to facing the wrong way; hit by a wave or something) but it was closed unfortunately - not sure if it was broken down or just closed due to the time of day. So headed back to Toy Story Hotel by bus and explored it (in the pouring rain) in between taking some naps and preparing to leave to go back to the airport.

 

[Corbisblue]

We added a full review of the Royal Banquet Hall (goes well with all the photos that have been posted in this thread already). It was a good experience and I would definitely recommend it! Who doesn't want to eat in the Enchanted Storybook Castle!?

http://tdrexplorer.com/royal-banquet-hall-review/

 

[zanzibar138]

Oh my goodness wtdanceisthrough you did have an interesting time! I can't believe you were literally out all night organising your luggage!

I think I saw that couple fighting too, but when I went past security seemed to be onto it.

 

[Karin1984]

On my way out I went to the Wandering Moon Teahouse to try to get some food as I know some food places are open late. (As I found out later, Remy's Patisserie is actually open until 11pm.) Anyway the teahouse was closed but some staff were still inside and one guy offered to take me to the staff canteen! First we went to a place called "Inn Between" which was closed. After this, he took me to a restaurant called "PAB" which apparently stands for "Project Administration Building". It's the first building which was built in the whole resort. Inside there were posters of other Disney parks, posters of Walt Disney quotes, a TV loop with greetings from other parks and photos/videos from around SDR, and a buffet area with the food. We got some really cheap and actually quite tasty food! It was really interesting to see the backstage area of SDR.

After that, he took me to near the park entrance and said I could find my own way out. So I walked to the exit but all the gates were already locked! It was around 1am by this time. No security in sight, only a lot of construction workers and cleaners. None of them spoke any English. I walked around the park for about 40 minutes before I found someone who spoke English and could get me out of the park. During this 40 minutes I walked straight into the boarding areas of some rides hoping to find security there, and even tried to call security on the security stations (control panels with phones and microphones attached at (approx 15) fixed positions around the park). But there didn't seem to be any security in the entire park at this time!!

That's quite the experience! I hope you got some amazing empty-park-pictures

 

[wtdanceisthrough]

That's quite the experience! I hope you got some amazing empty-park-pictures

The park was by no means empty....it was full of cleaners and construction workers, none of whom spoke any English. It was also too dark to take any good photos. There was also a rehearsal for the castle stage show going on, where everyone was singing and doing their positions, but out of costume (e.g. wearing their own clothes, Nike hoody etc) - very surreal to see!!

I did get a lot of photos of the backstage canteen though

 

[Corbisblue]

I am still working on the written trip report, but if anyone listens to a podcast, we created two episodes focusing on Shanghai.

• Trip Report and First Impressions
• Shanghai Disneyland FAQ Answered

 

[xmansmom]

Any idea how long they will keep out Opening Merch? Only for a few days or do we think the first few months? Visiting early September^^

I arrived on the 22nd and they still had stuff. They had tons of grand opening ears. I didn't see one person wearing them. I hardly saw any people wearing ears at all. I was dissappointed with the lack of pins. I was told they sold out in a few hours because they were limited edition. They didn't even have many regular pins that said Shanghai. Only pins for each land and they weren't that great. IMO The cms said that everyone had been asking for them. I think Disney made a mistake not having more pins.

 

[Flounder89]

I arrived on the 22nd and they still had stuff. They had tons of grand opening ears. I didn't see one person wearing them. I hardly saw any people wearing ears at all. I was dissappointed with the lack of pins. I was told they sold out in a few hours because they were limited edition. They didn't even have many regular pins that said Shanghai. Only pins for each land and they weren't that great. IMO The cms said that everyone had been asking for them. I think Disney made a mistake not having more pins.

Oh that sucks I also collect - I hope they get some, I had read somewhere that they will continuously add new merch over the coming months.

 

[zanzibar138]

FWIW there were still opening day pins left on the 18th. I know that doesn't help anyone going now though!

I actually really liked all the unique ride pins. I got them for Tron and Pirates to go with my 'first rider' certificates. They actually had a pretty good variety in the pin store, but yeah it probably doesn't compare with the US parks. I didn't see any generic Shanghai Disneyland ones either. Maybe by just having them specific to each land, they're hoping that people will buy more pins?

 

[Corbisblue]

Now for part two of our multi-day grand opening trip report at Shanghai Disneyland! Finally, get to ride TRON and I provide short reviews of some of the food we ate at Barbosa's Bounty and Pinocchio Village Kitchen!

Shanghai Disneyland Grand Opening Trip Report – Part 2 – Enter the Grid & BBQ Ribs

 

[Corbisblue]

Added part three of our Shanghai Disneyland trip report! Got to dine in the Enchanted Storybook Castle at the Royal Banquet Hall!

http://tdrexplorer.com/shanghai-disneyland-grand-opening-trip-report-part-3/