Updated my traders yeah!!! I put the last images my ISOs but open to trade for others since I am just looking to renew my traders ^^
I am located in Germany 🇩🇪 but constantly trade with people in the US, the only important is that I only ship via DHL for insurance (keeps me and you protected), that means shipping abroad costs 35€ for a box of 2KG, so if you want to trade and are abroad, we need the shipping cost being with it ^^
I am located in Germany but open to trade with people located away from Europe if it will be bulk of trading (minimum 20pins)
We are now leaving Shanghai back to europe and what an experience it was! We are seasonal Disney goers and mostly go to Disneyland Paris and Disney World but also being to Disney California and done 2 Disney Cruises, so we are used to the Disney planning flair, however Shanghai was a different bird!
Please keep in mind that our experience was for 2 adults and could be that most of our experience doesn’t apply to you but thought to share what we did wrong and what we did right for someone that is coming for the first time
Day 0: we set up Alipay! Very important since you pay everything there via Alipay. We had no cash and didn’t need it. Alipay was the way. We didn’t used WeChat. For us Alipay was charging around 2-3% on top on each transaction we were doing , so maybe WeChat is better? We don’t know. We liked Alipay on the sense that we can also use Didi (their uber) to get rides to take us to the park and to the hotel
We also pre-filled the arrival card for China, this gave us a QR code and allow us to go very fast at immigration.
Day 1:
We arrived from the airport, went to a neighbour hotel to drop our bags and hit to the park at around 11am. The drop off with Didi left is a 10min walk to the entrance, we just followed the crowd to find the entrance.
Before entering you have to pass security, there are two sides (left and right) all similar wait times to pass. (It took us abou 30min wait to enter)
Afterwards we showed our passport which was linked to our ticket via the app and we entered the park!
The ticket we bought for that day was Park entry with Zootopia Premier Access (and they gave us free Winnie Pooh ride)
As soon as we entered we felt the heat wave! Daaam it was humid! And the amount of people in the park! We saw the app and a lot of rides were 60+ wait time, so we decided to start first with the Storybook show and figure out while we wait what to-do.
The show was great! And then we were on our feet to explore the park. We settle on doing all rides that we never done in Paris neither the US and whatever is less than 20min wait. So the first ride we did was Buzz (5min wait)
After Buzz, we went to the Pixar showcase (really cool photo options!) and afterwards we did Jetpacks (it was 30min wait) (which is like Obitron)
Then the parade started (we saw a fight between 3 Chinese families which was very funny to watch since we never seen this even in DLP where people argue all the time hehehe).
The parade was cute and after it we went to the Voyage Grotto which was also a quiet and calm ride and a good spot for pictures and a walk-in ride. Afterwards we went to Adventure area to do Pirates. The wait said it was 20min but tbh we felt it was like 10. This was AMAZING!
Afterwards we went to see the pirate stunt show. We didn’t like it, it was very loud and we got a headache so we left middle show. After a small water pause, we went to zootopia to use our premier access., the rain started but we were prepared with shoes covers and rain jackets and umbrellas. With the premier access we waited max 15min. The ride was pretty cool too.
When we went out, it was raining like crazy so we went to do Pooh with the premier access and saw the Frozen show. After we finished we decided to go to eat (it’s already 4pm and we haven’t had lunch) so we went for Cheesecake factory and have a late lunch/early dinner. Like any other Cheesecake factory the portions here are HUGE! So pretty easy to share.
We did some shopping and left the park (at 6pm) since it was raining and we knew the fireworks were not happening
Day 2
- we got the early entry pass (do not confuse it with early bird hehehe (which was a mistake we did). We were at the park at 7:15am and entered at 7:45am
- The ride for Seven Dwarfs was already 70min so we bought the premier access (second mistake, we should have done single rider).
- we used our early entry pass to do Tron (20min) and then went immediately to do Soaring (15min) and Rapids (5min)
After Rapids we wanted to do Linabell, but the line was already 120min so no no. We then did the Camp adventure thing which was very fun and went again to do pirates which was a walk in.
After we finished we went again to Zootopia. It started to rain heavily so we did the line for Nick and Judy (60min). This was crazy to see on the sense that the people in this park is really into characters and insane to see the amount of adults so into it. I love Disney but they are in a completely different level. We saw people doing again the line to take more pictures with the characters and they take A LOT of time doing their pictures (there was a lady in front of us with 2 phones, one for recording, one for pictures, she had the magic photo pass and also a Polaroid camera, this was another level of commitment and she took at least 15min with the characters, crazy! )
We then finished the line and were starving so got a giant donut and coffee, ate and decided to do Zootopia again but as single riders. This took 20min
After this we went to the toy story area, we didn’t do any rides there because all of those we had in a Paris (very similar ones) and all where 60min wait, but we did some pictures and then went back to where Buzz is and went in again. This time I won and went above the 1.5M yeah!
Rain stopped and so we went to see the inside of the castle and to our surprise Aurora and Phillip where in a shop there and we made the line for 15min and got a pic. Then we went to see the show in front of the castle, we arrived 35min earlier and had front row! The show was great, just the heat was awful and happy we got an umbrella. We regret not buying the fan!. After the show we went and saw Mickey which was 20min wait, did a water pause, and guess what!? We went again for Pirates! Another walk in (literally not even 5min). We had a beef kimchi burrito (wrap) and after that we went to see the ship and fish a shark and while walking out of the area we saw Duffy and we said f* it we have to make that pic and there were only 9people in the queue so we were oh this will go fast! Wrong hahaha. The CM told us that maybe we will not make it since the parade will start and so if we didn’t make it for the pic till 1pm we will have to wait 2h extra till he is back (we started the line at 12:05). Luckily it was only 40min but again we had Duffy super fans in front of us, we made the picture at 12:58 hahaha 🤣
After this we did a water pause, ate some dumplings and went to do some shopping in Main Street (merch in Shanghai is hyper cute! We got the wand and started to do the interactive lands to get the charm). I also bought some zootopia and Duffy and friends pins.
At around 4:00pm we decided to go for some coffee break and some cheese cake and some early dinner once again at the cheesecake factory and then went back to the park at 6:30pm. We then went to Zootopia again! This time we did the regular line and it was only 30min! Lucky us! It was getting dark so we took some pictures around. Afterwards Peter Pans’s flight was 20min so we went there and the Pooh spins where 5min so we did those too.
We finish the Wand challenge, claim our charm did again Pirates (we really loved that ride, and it was again walk in) went for the carrusel which wars 10min and afterwards we went to the reserve
Viewing area for the fireworks ( PLEASE GET THIS! IT IS 100% worth it if you can afford it). The show was good and loved that we could seat and enjoy it!
Then the hunger games started (meaning getting out of the park) but we had it relatively easy since we attached ourselves to a guy that was zigzagging everyone so we followed his lead. As a tip if you are taking the metro, don’t get in the side closer to the park, walk the extra 5min to enter on the other side, you will thank us later!
Getting a Didi was easy and we were at our hotel at 9:20pm!
We thought we did everything we wanted and doing so many rides twice we really felt the park could have being done in just 1 day if you start at 7:30am, but of course if you are willing to do single riders and pay premier access. For Zootopia and Seven Dwarfs we think that if you can do single rider, you should go for it instead of paying the access. For Tron if it is your kind of ride, then worth to pay the Premier Access
The best was buying Early Entry and the Reserve viewing for the Fireworks. Reserve viewing for the parade, and the other shows is not worth it in our opinion. If meeting characters is not your thing, 1 day is more than enough! Also get the Wand! It is really fun to go around the park and do the interactive activities and win the charm! Another fun thing is they have some kind of carnival games, we did the stitch and the chip and Dale ones and we didn’t won a big price but we saw people winning the big plushies so definitely a good fun activity for the kids.
Now some small things for you to be aware:
- English is VERY limited so have your translator at hand!
- If you are expecting Disney World / American CM hospitality, this is NOT your park! We felt the CMs were just dismissive and do not care about the foreign guests so just not expect them to try to help you or answer actual questions (guest services around the park are useless and it is just to indicate people where to go), if you have an issue the only area is guest services at Main Street (I had a dress malfunction (a strapped broke) and only at Main Street they could help.
- People run in the park! This was something we were very confused, but it is crazy to see people running to get to rides or even within the attractions (since this is not a thing is the American or European park). Multiple times we just let the people pass because they were too pushy
- talking about pushy, please be aware that usually Chinese cut lines and just overstep “personal space” at one of the shops I was having a look at a hat, and a lady just cut me on the Mirrow for her to check herself and do selfies. Then someone else literally grabbed the hat I had in my hand and took it (it was not a CM) I was not going to buy it so didn’t bother to fight but wow that was rude
- this park we felt has the “Disney adult” crazy vibe, so if you are with children just let me tell you they are not priority and no one will care (at least we felt that). We saw multiple times adults pushing children’s to make pictures (specially in the Pixar showcase area) or going to rides, that was crazy for us! We are 2 adults, yes we are in Disney, yes we paid also money to be there, but if there is a kid, the kid has prio. (Oh and people Photobombing is quite normal hahahah)
Overall it was a great 2 days trip. Are we coming back? Do not think so, this was our least favourite park so far but it was a good experience!
If you have any questions happy to also help!
I remember in the US the magic hour was not for everything and rides like Tiana Bayou were not open on Magic hour. Wondering if Shanghai Disneyland is the same?
I got a premier Access for Zootopia but I want to donut one time morning and one time evening and use my premier access to avoid the crowd of the night
Or maybe go to Seven Dwarfs on early entry?
Thanks all for your help
Also small side question: I love pin trading in the parks (I am not a professional collector, I just like to pin trade in the parks for the interactions). Is there pin trading in Shanghai? How are the rules? In the US there is a bunch of fakes and in Paris they check your pins to make sure you only trade reals).