First of all everyone wants to know was it as good as Disneyland at home.....my opinion is no, but it was great and the kids had a lot of fun! Of all the Asia Disney parks we have visited I would say Tokyo is my favorite and Brian agreed with me. Shanghai Disneyland is brand new, and a lot of things were great but you have to also remember Disney is in a joint-venture here where they get all creative sign off but other details are left up to the other half. In America, Disney is know for it's attention to detail and really that is what sets is apart from other entertainment parks. I haven't been to Disney World since 2008 and Disneyland since 2010 maybe so some of my comparisons may be out of date.
Starting out, there is Disneyland with 6 lands, Treasure Cove, Adventure Isle, Fantasy Land, Tomorrow Land, Garden of Imagination, and Mickey Avenue. They just released that they will add Toy Story Land completion in 2018. We wanted to get to the park just as it opened and i heard the security lines could be really long so we were at the front gate expecting to have time to walk to Starbucks at 8:20 and to our surprise they were already letting people in....so we went in. We figured they let you in to walk around the shops so we were taking it easy walking in and heading back to Fantasyland for Seven Dwarf Mine Train Fast Passes but to our surprise the rides were open, we did 3 rides before 9:30am! We did verify the park was to open at 9am but who knows....it's China.
What I liked that was different here was that you could go into the Castle, walk up all the steps and there was a Snow White adventure that you walked through the story of. They also had a solid location outside the castle and other lands where you could meet characters, this was much better than HK and Tokyo. Some rides that were new to us, TRON (Brian liked this one but the kids were too little to ride), Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Blake enjoyed this), The Alice in Wonderland Maze, Pirates of the Caribbean was updated, Voyage to the Crystal Grotto seems to replace the Jungle cruise as a boat ride, and Soaring over the Horizon which takes you around the world (Grace was too small to ride). These were all fun and there were some favorites of the kids; Peter Pan's Flight, Adventures of Pooh and Pooh's Hunny Pots, Grace loved the Fantasia Carousel, and Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue is a fun one too!
They had a night time show that was Fantasia themed but incorporated other characters and had fireworks that was a nice end to the evening. The only parade they had was Mickey's Train so Blake was thrilled to watch it and they had a lot of the more recent characters in the parade. They had two stands in the park which had Mickey Pretzels and Churros so I sought those out! The shops didn't really have a lot of unique merchandise which we had seen in HK and Tokyo but there were some grand opening souviner Pepsi cans and key chain nail clippers(only in China would you see these, and sold in a 2 pack). They also offered where you could buy a passport book and then at each ride you would put the page in a machine and collect stamps(we saw but didn't do this). You can easily leave the park and go to Disneytown which offers western restaurants like the first in China Cheesecake Factory, Wolfgang Puck, and Element Fresh so we ate there for dinner. There was a second entrance to get into and out of the park this way which was really helpful and quick! The fast passes were available at one kiosk per land for all the rides which i think made the lines longer but it was really easy to find. We waited 40 minutes for a few rides and got fast passes for the ones with the really long waits, Soaring was 90-120 minutes, Roaring Rapids was a solid 60 minutes, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was usually 60-90 minutes.
They also had a canoe ride which we didn't bother to go on, I think for Chinese people this might be something they would never do but in the U.S.A. all you have to do is go to a lake or summer camp to ride in a canoe, the lines were up to 2 hours for this ride. Brian and Blake went to the Discovery Camp which was a ropes course that you go through next to a giant mountain with a waterfall, Blake enjoyed it!
We also stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, which while it was the closest hotel to the park, you can take a short boat ride over to the entrance, there is no early entry for staying at park hotels. When we checked in they were very friendly and gave the kids birthday pins, they had the room decorated with balloons and sent up a Mickey cake for them as well. The hotel was nice but not what the Grand Californian and Grand Floridian have to offer, and the same with the restaurants in the hotel. We did the character dinner and breakfast in Lumiere's Kitchen and the kids were thrilled to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto but the service was not great and the food was just ok. I wouldn't stay here again for the money and lack of Disney.
The things I didn't care for as much was the lack of Mainstreet U.S.A. I can see why this isn't as relevant here in China, but come on you are bringing Disneyland to China and this is a mainstay for me when you enter the park. They had Mickey Avenue which had a more modern feel and had a few shops and restaurants but much less than at all the other parks. There were a lot of shows from Tarzan, to Frozen Sing-a-long, to dancing on the castle stage but they take up a lot of time and it seems there were less rides built because of the shows being offered. Of course the western food offered was limited, we found burgers and pizza that were fine for park food. There was no electric light parade which Blake specifically asked about and even i remember as a kid seeing. as we waited in lines for rides we noticed that things were already worn and needed painted, I don't think I have ever said this at home.
In China fashion there were people dressed matching each other and everyone was bringing in outside food but they were allowing this. Overall the park was nice, it is Disneyland but I think they could use some more magic. We had a great time, and were really happy to get to visit the park with our family before we move back to the U.S.A.
Now it is time to get ready for the holidays! Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
Until next time.....
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