Tim
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I recently came back from a weeklong visit to a Theme Park in Shanghai… but I can’t talk about that, not yet anyway. What I can and would like to talk about however was anouther park you might have heard of which I took a day out to explore. Shanghai Disneyland.
Travel:
This was a last-minute trip, and as a result I couldn’t take a direct flight to Shanghai. I had to transfer through Hong Kong, which made me very excited that I might be able to visit not one but two of the less visited* Disney parks! Alas my stopovers were only for an hour, and far too late in the day to even see Hong Kong Disneyland as I flew over. But I did get a thrill of excitement when I opened up Maps on my phone and saw Mystic Manor listed as a nearby destination… maybe one day…
Even though I didn’t quite make it to Honk Kong Disneyland, I can still confirm that it is really easy to travel between the two. Hong Kong Disneyland shares the same island as the airport and is linked by the MTR. My flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai was only 2 hours. When I arrived at Pudong airport (the main international airport) I took a taxi to my hotel (which was on the other side of Shanghai) and passed by Shanghai Disneyland Less than 15 minutes into the journey.
In total it took me about 5 hours to get between the two Disney parks, and nearly 2 hours of that were only due to the long line at Shanghai’s passport control.
I was traveling alone, but this wasn’t going to be a solo trip. There were 3 of us in total, none of us native to China, but one person of the group had been to the park earlier in the year. This helped a lot when trying to workout travel, reservations, and payments. All of which work slightly different in China.
I was going to post a little guide here, but Theme Park Worldwide is heading out there now and they have already covered this and a lot more in their travel video. I've put a link below.
TPW Asia 2024
Crowds and Heat:
On the day of our visit Shanghai Disneyland was open from 8:30am until 9:30pm, a full 13 hours! By pure chance we’d picked the day with the best weather of the week, topping out at sweltering 32 degrees (C), and clear skies. The other days, although hot, had a murky feel to them, probably due to the industrial nature of the city. But it meant that on this day certain areas of the park truly felt like the tropical paradise they are presented as.
We arrived before opening at about 8am. And immediately knew it was going to be busy!
*In my introduction I referred to this park as a less visited Disney park. Of course I say this only from the perspective of someone living in the UK. But the population of China is huge, and so despite their being very few international guests this park is still capable of pulling in crowds just as large (if not larger) than any other Disney resort.
The person in our group who’d been before did note that it was significantly busier then when he’d last been. But, to our knowledge there wasn’t any major event on that day. It was a Sunday, and as mentioned above it was the best weather there’d been all week, so I have to assume that alone brought in the large crowds. Either way it meant a lot of the day was spent checking queue lines and tactically crossing sides of the park to avoid the worst of the crowds.
Despite the large number of people they handle the crowds well. First funnelling everyone into one massive, constantly moving line, then splitting everyone up into smaller, more manageable queues closer to the entrance. I assume that everyone buys their ticket in advance or on the app* because there was nowhere obvious to buy tickets from. Just a security check area, either side of a large bronze fountain of Steamboat Willie. Followed by the turnstiles themselves.
*Phones are essential in China as so much of your payment and travel is tied to them. I actually had 2 with me, one for taking pictures and using during the day, and the other on power save mode, ready to make any payments and ensure I could get back to the Hotel.
Welcome to Shanghai Disneyland:
Mickey Avenue & Gardens of Imagination:
Once we made it into the park we knew we had to get ahead of the crowds, and so headed straight to Adventure Isle. Because of this I only ever had a brief glimpse of Mickey Avenue, never finding time to revisit it later in the day, (not even when we left, but more on that later).
From what I did see it didn’t feel too different to the typical Main Streets at the other Disney parks. The buildings were slightly bolder and more cartoon like. With slightly more variety in design. Although still pulling from the turn of the century American look. If the normal Main Street is where Walt grew up, I’d surmise that this is Mickey’s equivalent.
The biggest change is how much shorter the street is. The initial plaza with the bandstand is missing. The street just starts as soon as you pass under the trainless station. Then at the other end the buildings start pulling away to the left and right, widening the end of the street to allow for the expanded hub.
The hub, here called the Gardens of Imagination, is an area I was originally fascinated by when the park was first announced. In the initial concepts it looked huge, almost like a land in itself. I’m all for adding more areas to explore into the heart of a park, it's why Europa Park and Animal Kingdom appeal so much to me. Which is why I was a little surprised that when we did need to cross through it later in the day I found it didn’t feel too different to crossing any of the other park hubs. The bulk of the land takes over the area that Main Street would have occupied. Which has allowed for the addition of gardens and a lake, but unless you have a reason to return to Mickey Avenue that area is easy to bypass.
I think there’s more to discover here If I had more time, but from what I did see this is mainly where the phrase “Authentically Disney, Distinctly Chinese” was applied. The path containing all the Chinese Zodiacs as Disney characters was a nice touch. Although I was a little let down by my own symbol (the Goat) which was here represented by the sheep in Mary Poppins. 100 years of history Disney and no goats… oh wait, there’s a goat in Wish. Based on what I’ve heard about that film maybe I’ll stick with the sheep.
One final note before I move on. Does anyone else think that Universal’s Celestial Park has taken a lot of inspiration from this land? Central hub to the park, that spreads crowds out whilst also opening a large area for night-time spectaculars. All sight lines focus on a giant castle-like structure at the far end. And of course, large enough to fit a few rides of its own in. I’m not complaining if they have, as I think Celestial Park looks great.
Back to Mickey Avenue, the other major thing I noticed is a phenomenon, I’ve long heard about, but this was my first time witnessing it in person. I refer to Duffy and Friends.
In case any of you aren’t aware Duffey is an icon of the Asian Disney parks. Quite how this one-off character became an icon I’m not sure, but what matters is Duffy is a major draw for many and often attracting longer queues for meet and greets than the parks headline rides (as was the case here).
Walking through Mickeys Avenue, we saw an already closed line to meet Duffy that had topped out at 3 hours long. The gift shops also had an hour-long line just to get in.
This wasn’t the only strange trend we spotted at the park. Influencers and Vloggers have become a major factor at parks globally, but in Asia it almost seems to have evolved to anouther level. People arriving at the park in their finest outfits, just to capture that perfect pose. Resulting in long queues to access seemingly mundane things, like specific benches or building ornaments. This was especially true when it came to Zootopia, but more on that later.
I can’t say I understand the appeal myself, but it did remind me of something I witnessed at LEGOLAND some years ago. I was walking past one of the Build Experiences in the then Imagination Centre and saw a mum pleading with their kid to come along. I overheard the mum saying:
“We’ve paid so much money to be here, you can play with LEGO any day, let’s go on one of the rides”.
It got me thinking then, as I’m also thinking now, if someone is at a place, doing what they enjoy, and having a great time, surely that makes it worth the cost to be there? Ultimately if meeting Duffy, or taking that dream photo is what they consider of a day well spent then I can completely get behind that. Especially when every person not queuing for a ride made it more likely we’d manage to beat the crowds and get onto all the headline rides. Speaking of which…
Soaring over the Horizon:
Heading to Soaring’ first seemed like a wise move. I know this ride can get extremely busy and having already ridden Soarin’ around the World (the same film) in its opening year at Epcot I could have easily given this one a miss. However, the group wanted to do it, and one of them had recently been on the latest version of Soarin’ at Tokyo Disney Sea, and wanted to see if the queue shared any of its clever effects.
It didn’t. The queue wasn’t bad, it was quite a nice area to be in, with rockwork and projections of the night sky. However, it was more functional than a part of the experience, a criticism I will likely repeat for many other queues around the park.
I find it very telling that this opened in 2016, one year before Voletarium opened at Europa Park, the queue for which is infinitely more interesting than any version of Soarin’ preceding it. Then, when Tokyo opened theirs several years later it has a well themed queue line and a proper pre-show. I think Disney realised that Flying Theatres by themselves were not headline attractions anymore, and they needed to do something to set theirs apart from the many clones that have opened in recent years.
As for the ride there isn’t much I can add about the ride experience that most of you don’t already know. Except for something I did note, which was the lack of distortion on the Eiffel Tower, which I distinctly remembered at Epcot. It could be that I just got lucky on this ride. We literally had the perfect seats in the centre of the theatre. Or maybe when the Around the World film was made it was optimised for this theatre, and this is why the film does not look as good at the US Disney parks? Either way the film was good, and it was nice to see the Shanghai skyline alternative ending.
***
Leaving Soaring the crowds had built up around the rest of the park, so we took a more casual stroll into Treasure Cove to explore the land.
The sightlines here are beautiful, looking out across the lake and Island. With the castle as the backdrop, and the Sirens Revenge in the foreground. This was a Pirate Ship you could explore, with a few fun things to discover… and some very weird computer-generated talking paintings of Jack Sparrow, Barbossa and Mr Briggs. Clearly they couldn’t get the actors back to perform a few voice lines.
We noticed that a show was about to start in the theatre opposite, and so headed their next.
El Teatro Fandango
The actual name of this show is “Eye of the Storm: Captain Jack's Stunt Spectacular”, but I wasn’t aware of this upon entering the theatre. This I think was a good thing, as this is very much a show of two halves. I think I would have set my expectations differently had the name tipped me off before entering the theatre.
Initially everyone is batched into a very large room, representing the governors house on this pirate Island. The show begins with what I think was meant to be pirates invading the building. I say think, because when the governor does show up he’s wearing a flamboyant over the top costume and seems to be best mates with the pirates. The show is of course in Chinese, so it’s possible I missed something really import (like that not being the actual governor) but the story did end up working in either context.
As an aside I think Chinese as a language works great for the theme of pirates. It’s quite a direct but also expressive language. Which in one moment can sound like an angry outburst, but switch in a heartbeat to be very calm and clear.
Back to the show, there’s a few effects built into this room, but before too long they open the stage door and we are lead into the theatre. The theatre is set-up like an old Cabaret stage. Basic painted backdrop, candle lights at the front. Not quite what I was expecting but it matched the tone so far. The cast followed us in and took to the stage, at which point it suddenly hit me, Is this a Pirate Pantomime?! We had the comedy dame (the governor), who kept switching up his outfit to be even more over the top. The slapstick comedy characters, including one that was pretending to be several British soldiers all at once. The interaction with the crowds, including throwing sweats (coins) and what I’m sure was an “oh no he isn’t” moment. Don’t get me wrong I was loving it! But Panto is such a British thing I hadn’t expect it to show up here.
The tone didn’t even change when Jack Sparrow suddenly swung in (on a wire over the audience). But suddenly there was a shift. A very serious man appeared, dressed as an Admiral, and the room was suddenly surrounded by British soldiers. Giant canons were wheeled out and pointed at the stage. The canons all fired and once and the entire theatre was filled with smoke. I was literally so thick you could barely see the person next to you.
As the smoke parted the stage had been completley transformed. The painted set had been blown away, revealing a harbour behind (with giant screens recreating the see and the ships beyond). A fight broke out between the admiral’s forces and Jack Sparrow, helped by a red-haired lady, who I can only assume was meant to be the infamous redhead, in her first appearance as a badass pirate ahead of her role being updated in the other Disney parks.
The remainder of the show was a high action stunt spectacular (as the name had promised). skip the following paragraph to avoid major spoilers.
Jack of course escapes with the gold and the show comes to an end. Overall it was a really worthwhile show to see. We left the theatre buzzing, and in the perfect mind frame to experience the headline ride of the park.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure
I went into this ride expecting it to set the new gold standard for Pirate Boat Rides. And it is an incredible attraction, but not quite in the way I expected it to be. The term “Pirate Boat Ride” conjures up a very specific experience in my mind, of which there are many examples, some of which don’t even involve pirates. But this isn’t one of them. It starts off pretending it is, right up until our first meeting with Jack Sparrow. From then on though this ride suddenly becomes something very different. Let me explain;
Your traditional Pirate Boat Ride is, at its core, a scenic tour. Some might claim they have a story that progresses from scene to scene, but that isn’t the real appeal of the ride. Or what keeps you coming back again and again. It’s all about world building. Spotting all the little stories and details that makeup each scene and piecing together a larger narrative. Case in point this is exactly what the Pirates of the Caribbean films did when translating the ride to film. They included lots of little nods to the ride, but ultimately told their own story with new characters in this world.
Battle for the Sunken Treasure is not about those little moments. Even if you look, you won’t find them, they aren’t there. This is a story driven ride. The boats spin, change speed, and turn you (like a camera) to face at exactly what you should be looking at. I was surprised by how dynamic the ride system felt, as most POV’s don’t convey all the little movements the ride makes. And it does it so well, even directing your eyes up at the correct time, which I still can’t work out how they achieved without physically rolling the boats.
It's easy to be pulled into the story, and there really is no reason to look anywhere else. Actually, unless you are a technical person, like myself, I’d encourage you not to. This is not a 360 immersive experience as I had assumed. Look up, or behind you in the video dome and you will see the projectors. Turn around in the scenes with practical sets and you will see the lighting rigs.
In summary what this ride is really about is showing you a true cinematic experience. It’s a spectacle, and the scale of what you are experiencing is insane! Each action beat hits in a way that pulls you further in. I can’t quite describe how, but in the moment all the ships rise from the sea floor you really do feel like you are moving with them (despite the water you are floating on clearly never moving). Then there is the moment when you are caught in the crossfire between the two ships. You feel so tiny, being flanked on all sides by the action. I only wished the ride had slowed down in this moment to really take the full-scale of it in. There are of course a few incredible animatronics along the way. But you aren’t really marvelling at the quality of them in the moment, they exist because the story needed them to. If this was a classic Pirate Boat Ride I’d actually be criticizing them for not using enough practical effects, but hear they do enough to ground the characters as real, so that when they do later appear on screens they feel more believable.
It's not a perfect experience however, and I do have some critiques to make. A scene I was a little underwhelmed with was unfortunately the ending.
I also thought the scene following the finale could have been more interesting. It almost flet like an RCT auto-complete job. They realised the finale didn’t quite lineup with the station and so the boats meander their way around the last few turns, without much to see. It doesn’t help that on both our rides we spent quite a while stuck here as the boats stack quite badly on the return. They could have removed at least 2, if not 4 boats from the system, and still been hitting the same seamless capacity.
I also have a random note that is a question more than a negative. The ride has 2 endings. One in which Jack keeps the treasure and the other in which it becomes worthless. I’d love to know if there is a story reason for that as it seems a bit random?
As I stated upfront, I thought I’d be coming away from this ride with a new top Pirate Boat Ride*. Instead, I found a top tier attraction, that could debatably be called the greatest ride in the world, although I think the start and end still left some room for improvement.
*****
*for the record I think Pirates in Paris and Batavia are about on par for my current top “classic” Pirate Boat Ride, but suspect the original in California will be my favourite when I ever manage to ride it.
We tried leaving Treasure Cove, but the parade was passing through, effectively splitting the Pirate and Adventure area from the rest of the park. We stopped to watch. I’m not a parade person, but I sometimes wonder if should be, as a lot of the mechanical effects used on these floats land right in my area of interest.
Once the parade had passed we grabbed some food from opposite the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I
had to chuckle at the outlets name “Merlin’s Magical Recipe”.
We would run out of time to get on the Mine Train on this trip. I’m still yet to do this ride, as in Florida I also missed getting on it. I would like to try it one day, but despite the ride system looking neat I wish it was more on the scale of Big Thunder Mountain to actually justify the long queues it gets.
Regarding attractions we missed, we were going to check out the Alice in Wonderland maze, but with no shade and the sun at its peak we instead headed for,
Voyage to the Crystal Grotto
I really like the Idea of this ride. A scenic outdoor boat ride amongst dancing fountains. Ending with a scene under the Enchanted Storybook Castle. Sounds like something I’d make in Planet Coaster, and I was quite excited to experience it!
The first scene started well. Beauty and The Beast. The dancing figures are simple but effective. The fountains swelled with the music. Then at the end Miss’s Pots let out a final stream of water and the boat moved on. Perfect. The following scenes were also quite good, although some of the props were looking tired and sun-bleached.
However, the ending lets the ride down. When I first heard they were building a ride under the castle I assumed they literally meant it was going to go under the castle. But by my reckoning it doesn’t even go under the castle itself, just the plaza at the back. The Boats enter, take a few halves turn, then come straight back out again. That wouldn’t be a major problem if the scene in the cave was a good finale. But it’s not. A few projections (which on reviewing POV’s of the rides opening seem to have seriously degraded in quality) and a medley of songs, some of which we already heard in the previous scenes. I can only hope this is due a refurbishment to make it into the attraction it could be.
**
There’s a great view of the castle when leaving the boats. I’ve previously criticised this castle for the designers trying to have their cake and eat it. Too many princesses’ crammed into one building. I still stand by that statement, although I will say it does look pleasing in person. It’s just consistent enough that it holds itself together, although the uses of slightly different colours on each tower, and the randomness of a very wooden Swiss Cottage on one side I still find a little off-putting.
What did surprise me though when standing next to it in person was that it wasn’t as big as I imagined. This could be a result of everything in Shanghai Disneyland being oversized. An example of this I’d just seen in the queue for the Crystal Grotto, which had banister balls the size of a person’s head! But I’d be genuinely interested to know how much space this castle takes up compared to its counterpart in Paris. I’d bet they aren’t actually too different. The Paris castle may look sleeker, but only because most of it is hidden inside that giant hill and extension walled area on either side of the main structure. Both feature 2 attractions (in the basement and on the upper levels), as well as a restaurant and a shop.
“Once upon a time” Adventure
Speaking of which, “Once Upon a Time” Adventure is the attraction that takes place in the upper level of the Enchanted Storybook Castle. It is a retelling of the first feature length animated film, Snow White. A nice little attraction made up of lots of small scenes. I’d almost call this a statement piece for the parks philosophies of integrating technology into simpler attractions to bring them up to the expectations of today.
The scenes are mostly told through screen-based animation, but there are multiple layers of effects going on to make them pop and feel three dimensional. many of the screens are transparent, allowing for other effects to be used in front and behind them. This tricks your eye into thinking what you are looking at isn’t flat. Then there is simple mechanical motions, mist or lighting queues that add up to something greater than the sum of its parts. Overall, it’s a neat new way of telling a classic story to an audience who likely aren’t familiar with it.
***
As this attraction takes place in the upper floors of the castle there’s a long spiral staircase that takes you to the upper levels. This spirals around the central chamber of the castle and includes some well-made sculptures of the princesses who’s stories determined the design of the building. It’s a shame you pass by these so quickly, as it would have been neat to take this at our own pace and include details such as which section of the castle was built for this princess.
The attraction exits onto a little courtyard at the base of the signature towers, but sadly it all faces inward, I’d have loved a great view out across the themed lands.
Back down in the centre of the castle:
I’m going to finish the first part of the report here to stop this getting too long! but I still have a lot of notes left, including my thoughts on the new area, Zootopia.
Travel:
This was a last-minute trip, and as a result I couldn’t take a direct flight to Shanghai. I had to transfer through Hong Kong, which made me very excited that I might be able to visit not one but two of the less visited* Disney parks! Alas my stopovers were only for an hour, and far too late in the day to even see Hong Kong Disneyland as I flew over. But I did get a thrill of excitement when I opened up Maps on my phone and saw Mystic Manor listed as a nearby destination… maybe one day…
Even though I didn’t quite make it to Honk Kong Disneyland, I can still confirm that it is really easy to travel between the two. Hong Kong Disneyland shares the same island as the airport and is linked by the MTR. My flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai was only 2 hours. When I arrived at Pudong airport (the main international airport) I took a taxi to my hotel (which was on the other side of Shanghai) and passed by Shanghai Disneyland Less than 15 minutes into the journey.
In total it took me about 5 hours to get between the two Disney parks, and nearly 2 hours of that were only due to the long line at Shanghai’s passport control.
I was traveling alone, but this wasn’t going to be a solo trip. There were 3 of us in total, none of us native to China, but one person of the group had been to the park earlier in the year. This helped a lot when trying to workout travel, reservations, and payments. All of which work slightly different in China.
I was going to post a little guide here, but Theme Park Worldwide is heading out there now and they have already covered this and a lot more in their travel video. I've put a link below.
TPW Asia 2024
Crowds and Heat:
On the day of our visit Shanghai Disneyland was open from 8:30am until 9:30pm, a full 13 hours! By pure chance we’d picked the day with the best weather of the week, topping out at sweltering 32 degrees (C), and clear skies. The other days, although hot, had a murky feel to them, probably due to the industrial nature of the city. But it meant that on this day certain areas of the park truly felt like the tropical paradise they are presented as.
We arrived before opening at about 8am. And immediately knew it was going to be busy!
*In my introduction I referred to this park as a less visited Disney park. Of course I say this only from the perspective of someone living in the UK. But the population of China is huge, and so despite their being very few international guests this park is still capable of pulling in crowds just as large (if not larger) than any other Disney resort.
The person in our group who’d been before did note that it was significantly busier then when he’d last been. But, to our knowledge there wasn’t any major event on that day. It was a Sunday, and as mentioned above it was the best weather there’d been all week, so I have to assume that alone brought in the large crowds. Either way it meant a lot of the day was spent checking queue lines and tactically crossing sides of the park to avoid the worst of the crowds.
Despite the large number of people they handle the crowds well. First funnelling everyone into one massive, constantly moving line, then splitting everyone up into smaller, more manageable queues closer to the entrance. I assume that everyone buys their ticket in advance or on the app* because there was nowhere obvious to buy tickets from. Just a security check area, either side of a large bronze fountain of Steamboat Willie. Followed by the turnstiles themselves.
*Phones are essential in China as so much of your payment and travel is tied to them. I actually had 2 with me, one for taking pictures and using during the day, and the other on power save mode, ready to make any payments and ensure I could get back to the Hotel.
Welcome to Shanghai Disneyland:
Mickey Avenue & Gardens of Imagination:
Once we made it into the park we knew we had to get ahead of the crowds, and so headed straight to Adventure Isle. Because of this I only ever had a brief glimpse of Mickey Avenue, never finding time to revisit it later in the day, (not even when we left, but more on that later).
From what I did see it didn’t feel too different to the typical Main Streets at the other Disney parks. The buildings were slightly bolder and more cartoon like. With slightly more variety in design. Although still pulling from the turn of the century American look. If the normal Main Street is where Walt grew up, I’d surmise that this is Mickey’s equivalent.
The biggest change is how much shorter the street is. The initial plaza with the bandstand is missing. The street just starts as soon as you pass under the trainless station. Then at the other end the buildings start pulling away to the left and right, widening the end of the street to allow for the expanded hub.
The hub, here called the Gardens of Imagination, is an area I was originally fascinated by when the park was first announced. In the initial concepts it looked huge, almost like a land in itself. I’m all for adding more areas to explore into the heart of a park, it's why Europa Park and Animal Kingdom appeal so much to me. Which is why I was a little surprised that when we did need to cross through it later in the day I found it didn’t feel too different to crossing any of the other park hubs. The bulk of the land takes over the area that Main Street would have occupied. Which has allowed for the addition of gardens and a lake, but unless you have a reason to return to Mickey Avenue that area is easy to bypass.
I think there’s more to discover here If I had more time, but from what I did see this is mainly where the phrase “Authentically Disney, Distinctly Chinese” was applied. The path containing all the Chinese Zodiacs as Disney characters was a nice touch. Although I was a little let down by my own symbol (the Goat) which was here represented by the sheep in Mary Poppins. 100 years of history Disney and no goats… oh wait, there’s a goat in Wish. Based on what I’ve heard about that film maybe I’ll stick with the sheep.
One final note before I move on. Does anyone else think that Universal’s Celestial Park has taken a lot of inspiration from this land? Central hub to the park, that spreads crowds out whilst also opening a large area for night-time spectaculars. All sight lines focus on a giant castle-like structure at the far end. And of course, large enough to fit a few rides of its own in. I’m not complaining if they have, as I think Celestial Park looks great.
Back to Mickey Avenue, the other major thing I noticed is a phenomenon, I’ve long heard about, but this was my first time witnessing it in person. I refer to Duffy and Friends.
In case any of you aren’t aware Duffey is an icon of the Asian Disney parks. Quite how this one-off character became an icon I’m not sure, but what matters is Duffy is a major draw for many and often attracting longer queues for meet and greets than the parks headline rides (as was the case here).
Walking through Mickeys Avenue, we saw an already closed line to meet Duffy that had topped out at 3 hours long. The gift shops also had an hour-long line just to get in.
This wasn’t the only strange trend we spotted at the park. Influencers and Vloggers have become a major factor at parks globally, but in Asia it almost seems to have evolved to anouther level. People arriving at the park in their finest outfits, just to capture that perfect pose. Resulting in long queues to access seemingly mundane things, like specific benches or building ornaments. This was especially true when it came to Zootopia, but more on that later.
I can’t say I understand the appeal myself, but it did remind me of something I witnessed at LEGOLAND some years ago. I was walking past one of the Build Experiences in the then Imagination Centre and saw a mum pleading with their kid to come along. I overheard the mum saying:
“We’ve paid so much money to be here, you can play with LEGO any day, let’s go on one of the rides”.
It got me thinking then, as I’m also thinking now, if someone is at a place, doing what they enjoy, and having a great time, surely that makes it worth the cost to be there? Ultimately if meeting Duffy, or taking that dream photo is what they consider of a day well spent then I can completely get behind that. Especially when every person not queuing for a ride made it more likely we’d manage to beat the crowds and get onto all the headline rides. Speaking of which…
Soaring over the Horizon:
Heading to Soaring’ first seemed like a wise move. I know this ride can get extremely busy and having already ridden Soarin’ around the World (the same film) in its opening year at Epcot I could have easily given this one a miss. However, the group wanted to do it, and one of them had recently been on the latest version of Soarin’ at Tokyo Disney Sea, and wanted to see if the queue shared any of its clever effects.
It didn’t. The queue wasn’t bad, it was quite a nice area to be in, with rockwork and projections of the night sky. However, it was more functional than a part of the experience, a criticism I will likely repeat for many other queues around the park.
I find it very telling that this opened in 2016, one year before Voletarium opened at Europa Park, the queue for which is infinitely more interesting than any version of Soarin’ preceding it. Then, when Tokyo opened theirs several years later it has a well themed queue line and a proper pre-show. I think Disney realised that Flying Theatres by themselves were not headline attractions anymore, and they needed to do something to set theirs apart from the many clones that have opened in recent years.
As for the ride there isn’t much I can add about the ride experience that most of you don’t already know. Except for something I did note, which was the lack of distortion on the Eiffel Tower, which I distinctly remembered at Epcot. It could be that I just got lucky on this ride. We literally had the perfect seats in the centre of the theatre. Or maybe when the Around the World film was made it was optimised for this theatre, and this is why the film does not look as good at the US Disney parks? Either way the film was good, and it was nice to see the Shanghai skyline alternative ending.
***
Leaving Soaring the crowds had built up around the rest of the park, so we took a more casual stroll into Treasure Cove to explore the land.
The sightlines here are beautiful, looking out across the lake and Island. With the castle as the backdrop, and the Sirens Revenge in the foreground. This was a Pirate Ship you could explore, with a few fun things to discover… and some very weird computer-generated talking paintings of Jack Sparrow, Barbossa and Mr Briggs. Clearly they couldn’t get the actors back to perform a few voice lines.
We noticed that a show was about to start in the theatre opposite, and so headed their next.
El Teatro Fandango
The actual name of this show is “Eye of the Storm: Captain Jack's Stunt Spectacular”, but I wasn’t aware of this upon entering the theatre. This I think was a good thing, as this is very much a show of two halves. I think I would have set my expectations differently had the name tipped me off before entering the theatre.
Initially everyone is batched into a very large room, representing the governors house on this pirate Island. The show begins with what I think was meant to be pirates invading the building. I say think, because when the governor does show up he’s wearing a flamboyant over the top costume and seems to be best mates with the pirates. The show is of course in Chinese, so it’s possible I missed something really import (like that not being the actual governor) but the story did end up working in either context.
As an aside I think Chinese as a language works great for the theme of pirates. It’s quite a direct but also expressive language. Which in one moment can sound like an angry outburst, but switch in a heartbeat to be very calm and clear.
Back to the show, there’s a few effects built into this room, but before too long they open the stage door and we are lead into the theatre. The theatre is set-up like an old Cabaret stage. Basic painted backdrop, candle lights at the front. Not quite what I was expecting but it matched the tone so far. The cast followed us in and took to the stage, at which point it suddenly hit me, Is this a Pirate Pantomime?! We had the comedy dame (the governor), who kept switching up his outfit to be even more over the top. The slapstick comedy characters, including one that was pretending to be several British soldiers all at once. The interaction with the crowds, including throwing sweats (coins) and what I’m sure was an “oh no he isn’t” moment. Don’t get me wrong I was loving it! But Panto is such a British thing I hadn’t expect it to show up here.
The tone didn’t even change when Jack Sparrow suddenly swung in (on a wire over the audience). But suddenly there was a shift. A very serious man appeared, dressed as an Admiral, and the room was suddenly surrounded by British soldiers. Giant canons were wheeled out and pointed at the stage. The canons all fired and once and the entire theatre was filled with smoke. I was literally so thick you could barely see the person next to you.
As the smoke parted the stage had been completley transformed. The painted set had been blown away, revealing a harbour behind (with giant screens recreating the see and the ships beyond). A fight broke out between the admiral’s forces and Jack Sparrow, helped by a red-haired lady, who I can only assume was meant to be the infamous redhead, in her first appearance as a badass pirate ahead of her role being updated in the other Disney parks.
The remainder of the show was a high action stunt spectacular (as the name had promised). skip the following paragraph to avoid major spoilers.
There were people fighting on gantry’s, a memorable moment when someone was hit by a cannonball and flown across the set. For the grand finale a storm started to form off in the distance, it reached the stage just as Jack Sparrow was pushed backwards of a gantry, capturing him in mid-air (achieved with an indoor skydiving unit, without the usual safety walls). The final fight took place entirely in mid-air, which I can’t even imagine how much practice that must take to make it look so seamless and avoid accidentally hitting each other.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure
I went into this ride expecting it to set the new gold standard for Pirate Boat Rides. And it is an incredible attraction, but not quite in the way I expected it to be. The term “Pirate Boat Ride” conjures up a very specific experience in my mind, of which there are many examples, some of which don’t even involve pirates. But this isn’t one of them. It starts off pretending it is, right up until our first meeting with Jack Sparrow. From then on though this ride suddenly becomes something very different. Let me explain;
Your traditional Pirate Boat Ride is, at its core, a scenic tour. Some might claim they have a story that progresses from scene to scene, but that isn’t the real appeal of the ride. Or what keeps you coming back again and again. It’s all about world building. Spotting all the little stories and details that makeup each scene and piecing together a larger narrative. Case in point this is exactly what the Pirates of the Caribbean films did when translating the ride to film. They included lots of little nods to the ride, but ultimately told their own story with new characters in this world.
Battle for the Sunken Treasure is not about those little moments. Even if you look, you won’t find them, they aren’t there. This is a story driven ride. The boats spin, change speed, and turn you (like a camera) to face at exactly what you should be looking at. I was surprised by how dynamic the ride system felt, as most POV’s don’t convey all the little movements the ride makes. And it does it so well, even directing your eyes up at the correct time, which I still can’t work out how they achieved without physically rolling the boats.
It's easy to be pulled into the story, and there really is no reason to look anywhere else. Actually, unless you are a technical person, like myself, I’d encourage you not to. This is not a 360 immersive experience as I had assumed. Look up, or behind you in the video dome and you will see the projectors. Turn around in the scenes with practical sets and you will see the lighting rigs.
In summary what this ride is really about is showing you a true cinematic experience. It’s a spectacle, and the scale of what you are experiencing is insane! Each action beat hits in a way that pulls you further in. I can’t quite describe how, but in the moment all the ships rise from the sea floor you really do feel like you are moving with them (despite the water you are floating on clearly never moving). Then there is the moment when you are caught in the crossfire between the two ships. You feel so tiny, being flanked on all sides by the action. I only wished the ride had slowed down in this moment to really take the full-scale of it in. There are of course a few incredible animatronics along the way. But you aren’t really marvelling at the quality of them in the moment, they exist because the story needed them to. If this was a classic Pirate Boat Ride I’d actually be criticizing them for not using enough practical effects, but hear they do enough to ground the characters as real, so that when they do later appear on screens they feel more believable.
It's not a perfect experience however, and I do have some critiques to make. A scene I was a little underwhelmed with was unfortunately the ending.
What watching POV’s certainly doesn’t give away is that this ride is technically a water coater! Whilst Jack and Davy Jones fight the boat backs up a little lift hill, before falling backwards into a mini version of the drop and bunny hop found on most Mack water coaster. As a finale it is a strong way to finish, but the execution could be better. The little lift hill kills the pacing as the boat slowly edges away from the fight scene. Assuming that using the magnets to propel the ride and physically launch the boats out of the water wasn’t an option, I think they could have either:
- Continued the tension of the flight scene, by moving the action to alongside the boat, right up until the moment it drops.
- Used the same trick in Eye of the Storm, filling the room with cannon fire (smoke) to re-create the scene from the end of the 3rd film when the ship is literally splintered into nothing. With the drop being your escape from the situation.
I also have a random note that is a question more than a negative. The ride has 2 endings. One in which Jack keeps the treasure and the other in which it becomes worthless. I’d love to know if there is a story reason for that as it seems a bit random?
As I stated upfront, I thought I’d be coming away from this ride with a new top Pirate Boat Ride*. Instead, I found a top tier attraction, that could debatably be called the greatest ride in the world, although I think the start and end still left some room for improvement.
*****
*for the record I think Pirates in Paris and Batavia are about on par for my current top “classic” Pirate Boat Ride, but suspect the original in California will be my favourite when I ever manage to ride it.
We tried leaving Treasure Cove, but the parade was passing through, effectively splitting the Pirate and Adventure area from the rest of the park. We stopped to watch. I’m not a parade person, but I sometimes wonder if should be, as a lot of the mechanical effects used on these floats land right in my area of interest.
Once the parade had passed we grabbed some food from opposite the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I
had to chuckle at the outlets name “Merlin’s Magical Recipe”.
We would run out of time to get on the Mine Train on this trip. I’m still yet to do this ride, as in Florida I also missed getting on it. I would like to try it one day, but despite the ride system looking neat I wish it was more on the scale of Big Thunder Mountain to actually justify the long queues it gets.
Regarding attractions we missed, we were going to check out the Alice in Wonderland maze, but with no shade and the sun at its peak we instead headed for,
Voyage to the Crystal Grotto
I really like the Idea of this ride. A scenic outdoor boat ride amongst dancing fountains. Ending with a scene under the Enchanted Storybook Castle. Sounds like something I’d make in Planet Coaster, and I was quite excited to experience it!
The first scene started well. Beauty and The Beast. The dancing figures are simple but effective. The fountains swelled with the music. Then at the end Miss’s Pots let out a final stream of water and the boat moved on. Perfect. The following scenes were also quite good, although some of the props were looking tired and sun-bleached.
However, the ending lets the ride down. When I first heard they were building a ride under the castle I assumed they literally meant it was going to go under the castle. But by my reckoning it doesn’t even go under the castle itself, just the plaza at the back. The Boats enter, take a few halves turn, then come straight back out again. That wouldn’t be a major problem if the scene in the cave was a good finale. But it’s not. A few projections (which on reviewing POV’s of the rides opening seem to have seriously degraded in quality) and a medley of songs, some of which we already heard in the previous scenes. I can only hope this is due a refurbishment to make it into the attraction it could be.
**
There’s a great view of the castle when leaving the boats. I’ve previously criticised this castle for the designers trying to have their cake and eat it. Too many princesses’ crammed into one building. I still stand by that statement, although I will say it does look pleasing in person. It’s just consistent enough that it holds itself together, although the uses of slightly different colours on each tower, and the randomness of a very wooden Swiss Cottage on one side I still find a little off-putting.
What did surprise me though when standing next to it in person was that it wasn’t as big as I imagined. This could be a result of everything in Shanghai Disneyland being oversized. An example of this I’d just seen in the queue for the Crystal Grotto, which had banister balls the size of a person’s head! But I’d be genuinely interested to know how much space this castle takes up compared to its counterpart in Paris. I’d bet they aren’t actually too different. The Paris castle may look sleeker, but only because most of it is hidden inside that giant hill and extension walled area on either side of the main structure. Both feature 2 attractions (in the basement and on the upper levels), as well as a restaurant and a shop.
“Once upon a time” Adventure
Speaking of which, “Once Upon a Time” Adventure is the attraction that takes place in the upper level of the Enchanted Storybook Castle. It is a retelling of the first feature length animated film, Snow White. A nice little attraction made up of lots of small scenes. I’d almost call this a statement piece for the parks philosophies of integrating technology into simpler attractions to bring them up to the expectations of today.
The scenes are mostly told through screen-based animation, but there are multiple layers of effects going on to make them pop and feel three dimensional. many of the screens are transparent, allowing for other effects to be used in front and behind them. This tricks your eye into thinking what you are looking at isn’t flat. Then there is simple mechanical motions, mist or lighting queues that add up to something greater than the sum of its parts. Overall, it’s a neat new way of telling a classic story to an audience who likely aren’t familiar with it.
***
As this attraction takes place in the upper floors of the castle there’s a long spiral staircase that takes you to the upper levels. This spirals around the central chamber of the castle and includes some well-made sculptures of the princesses who’s stories determined the design of the building. It’s a shame you pass by these so quickly, as it would have been neat to take this at our own pace and include details such as which section of the castle was built for this princess.
The attraction exits onto a little courtyard at the base of the signature towers, but sadly it all faces inward, I’d have loved a great view out across the themed lands.
Back down in the centre of the castle:
I’m going to finish the first part of the report here to stop this getting too long! but I still have a lot of notes left, including my thoughts on the new area, Zootopia.
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