Shanghai Disneyland - Tim's Trips

[Tim]

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.

Spoiler

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.

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.

Spoiler

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 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.

 

[Tim]

Zootopia, and the Difference between Themed Lands/Worlds:
Shanghai Disneyland opened at an interesting time. This could be the last major park to be developed in which the focus was on creating Themed Lands, given that the park was already mostly designed and approved too late to jump on the bandwagon of Themed Worlds (made popular by the Wizarding World). Which makes it an excellent case study to define the difference between a “Land” and a “World”:

• A Themed Land focuses on an idea. Adventure, Tomorrow, Fantasy, ect. It’s a broad theme that allows for multiple attractions to share the space, but not necessarily a storyline.
• A Themed World however is focused on a single IP, all playing into one story (or multiple stories that can directly be tied together through characters or locations).

With the exception of Treasure Cove all of Shanghai’s original areas are Themed Lands. In general, I think this works well for the backbone of the park. Themed lands allow for wide open pathways and easy to alter expansion plots. I think this is why Epic Universe (The first major new park to fully embrace this new design philosophe) has anchored the park around Celestial Park, a central Land designed to provide gateways to different worlds. However, there’s no denying that Themed Worlds have a lot more potential for world building and storytelling.

That’s where Zootopia comes in. Opening at the end of last year, this area of the park feels distinctly different to the rest of the park, as it has fully committed to being a themed world. Located behind the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the first noticeable difference is that you need to queue up to even enter. Much like the original Hogsmeade, Zootopia as an area feels more compact and closed in than the rest of the park. Great for atmosphere and storytelling but not good when the area contains the ‘hot’ new attraction and it’s the place everyone wants to be.

The queue to enter the land isn’t through the main entrance, which is a real shame. The best sight line of the area is missed by most people, unless they realise to look back as they are leaving. Instead, a temporary queue has been set-up going around the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We waited until this queue was only 20 minutes before checking out this area, but even then, it was the worst wait we had all day. There was no shade or fans, unlike all the regular queue lines in the park.

At least they had dressed the area up nicely though:

Even after limiting the number of people that could enter the land felt very crowded inside. I mentioned before that people were visiting Shanghai Disneyland with the sole purpose of getting that one iconic pose, and nowhere was it more notable than here. Every building was swarming with people posing for pictures. I really wish I could have seen the land on a quiet day because some of the little details looked amazing. It really did feel like animals of all different sizes could live in this environment. From wacky details like big, medium, and small parking lot with identifiers for the animals that could use them. To the crossway lights with buttons at different heights.

The areas entrance... or in this case exit:

It took us a while to realise the "no texting" sign was just theming

And there was so much moving in the land. From digital effects, like animated billboards and the train station, with animals coming and going. To practical effects like the gym. In which a giraffe ran on a treadmill which also had mice running around the wheels of the belt. The highlight of which had to be the Hamster Tube network, which also lit up at night.

Looking into the queue of Hot Pursuit to see the animatronic of Officer Clawhauser:

Probably the best feature in the land is the set of buildings opposite Hot Pursuit’s ride entrance. The apartment windows host ‘snippet of life’ shows throughout the day with the residence of Zootopia. I only caught one whilst we were there, A lecture to the other residence from the hippie yak that leads the naturist club. But I’ve since scene clips of many others while catching up on a few other vlogs around the land. It’s a great way to incorporate all the characters, big and small, and something I’d have definitely stuck around for if it wasn’t so busy (and I spoke Chinese).

There were a few things in the land I would have liked to have done but couldn’t. I wanted to try the Elephant lollies, and Pawpsicles that they were selling, but again there were long queues, and it wasn’t immediately clear where we even had to queue (as most snack orders are done via mobile apps rather than at the kiosk). Similarly, the shop should definitely have been larger, they’d even opened a side door from the ride exit so that people could opt out of going through it.

So overall, it’s a really great area they have created. One that I would love to have spent more time in. We would pass through again at night, just to see the area when it wasn’t quite as crowded, and to see what it looked like when all lit up (Pictures included further down).

Zootopia Hot Pursuit:
It might surprise you to know this is my first proper trackless dark ride! I last visited Disneyland Paris the year before Ratatouille opened, my last trip to Florida was in 2016, and despite being at the soft opening of LEGOLAND Korea the Factory Tour wouldn’t open until after I left.
So I fully admit that I am not going to be able to offer the best comparison, for those of you who want to know what sets Hot Pursuit apart from the others. I suspect the answer is… not a lot. Besides for some amazing animatronics I don’t think this adds much new to what other trackless rides have already achieve. But for what it’s worth I don’t think it needs to, and I thought it was a fantastic ride!

When we arrived in the land the queue for this was 80 minutes. But there was a single rider line that we thought we’d give a try. We were so glad we did! The single rider line is batched directly into the back of the pre-show in its own separate holding area. The pre-show is an incredible animatronic of Chief Bogo instructing us on the mission (to recapture Bellwether, who’s kidnapped Gazelle). Words can’t describe how impressive these animatronics are, you’ll just have to watch a video to see what I mean.

We were then directed out to the loading platform. 4 vehicles are loaded at a time, with 2 pairs that follow each other through the attraction. There are 5 seats in each row, so there was almost guaranteed at least 1 single rider per car. As luck would have it all 3 of us were batched into the back right seat of a different vehicle, but at the same time. This couldn’t have worked out better, as it meant there were multiple points during the ride that our vehicles would slide past each other, bringing us almost into contact.

One scene in particular does an excellent job of this. The first two cars pull into a busy city street, in which you are trying to find Bellwether. On finding her she dives into the naturist club (I won’t spoil it, but if you’ve seen a POV you’ll know the scene I mean) followed by the first 2 cars. The next 2 vehicles, which were still in an earlier scene prior to this, enter into the busy city. The same scene plays out again, but as Bellwether once again dives into the naturist club the first 2 vehicles come back into the city street via anouther door, making it appear like there are police vehicles surrounding every building and all exits. While the second 2 vehicles pull away to take their own trip through the naturist club the first 2 continue the story by heading in the opposite direction. It’s a really great crossover moment you’d only achieve with a trackless vehicle.

I think at one point they were intending to end this ride in the same way that Rise of the Resistance does. The climatic scene takes place in the cable cars over the Jungle, which inevitably are cut loose. However there is no physical drop on this one, and it instead uses similar ticks to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman to simulate the feeling of falling. Having only seen videos of Rise I imagine this feels like a downgrade but worked well enough without that context for this attraction.

The ride ends at Gazelle’s concert, with what must be the most lifelike animatronic I’ve ever seen. The movement of Gazelle is absolutely perfect. I was the only person in our group who had seen the film, so the others didn’t know that Shakira voiced this character (remember that the dialogue was dubbed in Chinese). but as soon as they saw this animatronic they knew exactly who the character was! That’s how well they recreated the motion.

As a complete experience I think I’d say this is the best ride at the park. It doesn’t have the scale of Pirates, but the story flows more naturally. Although we only managed one ride I think I’d have happily lapped this one many times over to try and spot some of the details I might have missed.
*****

 

[Tim]

Leaving Zootopia the queues for all the other rides were still very long, so we picked Peter Pan’s Flight, which only had a modest 30 minute wait.

Peter Pan’s Flight
I had hopped this version included the interactive queue line from the updated US versions. But no, just a basic queue. Still, it’s been years since I last rode it, and it was great to see how the scenes had been plussed with newer technology and a lot of projections. As an aside I’ve been working on something in Planet Coaster that is inspired by this ride, which hopefully I will be sharing here at some point.
***

Toy Story Land
We passed through Toy Story Land a few times, but as this is essentially a copy of the version in Paris we didn’t see a point spending too much time here. But there was something of note I wanted to highlight. Shanghai (like Paris) doesn’t have a Midway Mania attraction. But what they did have was a selection of physical arcade style games, like the ones you’d find in Midway Mania. Hook the duck, Coin Push Machines, Ect.
But these were all upcharge, and incredibly popular! They were set-up in their own little area at the edge of the land. Personally, I was surprised how popular they were, and couldn’t decide if they were an indicator that Midway Mania should be added to this park, or quite the opposite, that if people are willing to pay for it as a standalone why add the attraction?

At this point a sudden thunderstorm rolled in and half the park shut. Thankfully we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we headed for cover in Tomorrowland. By day this is an interesting take on the Tomorrowland concept. It’s quite grounded really, with a design that is less forward looking but something you could actual see existing in many modern Chinese cities. Of course it is at night where this land really shines, (which is why we only briefly stopped in here for now). I can see this standing the test of time quite well because skylines with buildings that look funky by day and are filled with light at night is a trend I see continuing for a long time to come.

We ate at the Stargazer Grill. Classic Burger and Chips but with Avengers themes. Food prices and portions in China are very reasonable, so even at Disney prices it was about what I’d have expected to pay for a similar (or worse) burger in the UK. The storm had passed by the time we finished our meal.

Crossing the park we headed over to Adventure Isle, to get on the rides we’d had to skip past earlier.

Passing through the Gardens of Imagination:

Roaring Rapids
I love a good rapids ride, and this is a really great rapids! It’s not a soaker, unless you get unlucky on some of the drops or rougher portions. You won’t find any water jets randomly soaking your path. What makes this rapids special is the build-up of tension. In true Disney fashion this is a story driven experience.
You can draw a lot of comparisons between this ride and Expedition Everest. It isn’t quite the themed masterpiece that ride is, but it is equally as thrilling to ride, and the signature moment actually still works!

Spoilers ahead for both Roaring Rapids and Everest:

Spoiler

Both are themed to the exploration of a mysterious mountain. And both revolve around the mythical creature that live inside them. From off-ride they both have great visuals that can be enjoyed by those not riding (and in this case the Camp Discovery attraction as well). The only way I’d say Roaring Rapids is let down is that the queue, like most of the opening day attractions in Shanghai, feels primarily functional and lacks the story set-up that Everest has. There’s a few neat looking artifacts in the queue, but nothing specific to the journey you are about to take. An interesting side note here, the ride reference to the real explorers guild in the queue, but not the Society of Explorer’s and Adventurer’s. Bit of a miss there!

The ride starts by turning the corner out of the station and heading up an absolutely giant lift hill. At least it feels that way, as it effectively travels up to the top of the mountain. Off the lift hill and it’s a wild ride from the start. A proper rapids that takes a few drops and turns outside before heading into the mountain.

Upon entering through a narrow cave the ride really comes alive. Whoever did the story and sound design for this attraction did a fantastic job. Half the time you can’t see where you are going, but every time the boat turns theirs just enough light to make the next dark section feel even darker, and a series or roars can be heard that grow ever louder. Water rides are all about the build-up of tension before the big dramatic moment (usually the drop). This one builds up both the tension of getting wet but also the reveal of what lurks inside the mountain at the same time.

And wow, what a reveal! Even expecting it, I let out an audible gasp when I actually saw Q’aráq (The giant Dinosaur/Crocodile). It’s huge, and the movement so natural. I see now why people are desperate to see Everest’s Yeti return to A-Mode.

The timing is also just right, moving fast enough that it feels like an action moment, but slow enough to properly take it in. It’s such a good moment that I almost feel like the ride should have ended with it, although as stated above the land itself benefits from having the final drop where everyone can see it.

Just based on how the boats rotated I managed to get wet on every single drop. But as noted above it wasn’t too wet a ride, and fortunately I’d taken my socks of beforehand, as I’d need dry feet for where we were heading next.
*****

Camp Discovery
There’s a chance I might get to return to Shanghai Disneyland over the next few years, and if I do this is the part of the park I’d love to spend most of my time in! We didn’t manage to check this out until the sun was starting to set, which made for some great visuals, but I imagine the experience would have also been great during the day.

Camp Discovery is the area around the Roaring Rapids Mountain. You can just walk around the area if you wish, but the main attraction is a high-ropes course around and through the mountain itself. We were wondering as we joined the queue how an attraction like this would work at Disney scale. Wouldn’t people be getting stuck hold up the queue? The answer is beautifully simple, and why I could probably spend hours enjoying this area. On reaching the front of the queue you are fitted with a high-ropes harness that attaches to rails over your head. Each rail is one of a set of 3 running parallel to each other, with small roundabout like sections every few meters allowing people to transfer from one track to anouther, should someone get stuck ahead.

Now, here’s the important bit for anyone who is visiting the park on a limited time frame. At the top of the first set of stairs the path splits into different routes. We thought we were being clever by avoiding the crowds and heading left. However, each route is significantly different from the others, and ours lead away from the mountain (the 'Temple' route). We’d later discover when exploring the area that one of the routes (Caverns) actually took you down into the mountain and over stacks of rocks surrounded by flowing water. Or you could go up high and scale the side of the mountain (Waterfall).

Each route maintains the 3 sets of rails, and presents you with what is effectively an Easy, Medium, and Hard choice. For our route the easy choice was always just a regular path. The medium and hard choices varied, and some of the harder ones included bridges that had partially collapsed, adding the extra challenge of figuring out how you could even get across. You could change between difficulties every few meters if you were struggling or saw a challenge you really wanted to try. The highlight of our route was a moment straight out of Indiana Jones, in which we had to shimmy our way around the outside ledge of a temple wall. The easier version of this was doing the exact same on the inside wall, which was a nice touch for those scared of heights. And you will go quite hight up! At the top of our course, we had an amazing view over the park, with the Castle (at this point lit up in pink) visible through the trees.

I loved this attraction and really think more places should attempt something similar. It felt like a step up over your standard adventure trail because the harnesses meant there was no netting, and it was completely possible to mess-up and fall, but then pick yourself up and keep going.

With only an hour left until the end of day show we did a final swing of the park. Riding Pirates again, visiting Zootopia and finally heading back to Tomorrowland to get the final big ride.

View attachment 20240526_201525.mp4

Tron: Light cycle Run
We opted to save Tron right until the end of the day, much to my anxiety that it might go down and not come back up. But we knew if we were only going to queue for it once it had to be when the lights were on.
Wow does this ride look beautiful at night.

No need for a long review, now that Florida have opened their own version, and many of you will have had chance to experience it for yourself. But I was personally glad to get to experience the original first. Front and centre of the land, rather than fit in towards the back.
It’s a very good coaster… but I think I’d have rated the ride higher if I had been on it back in 2016 when it opened. Coaster design has come a long way since then. The elements in the indoor section feel very basic. Drop and turn, swoop, and turn. Thematically it fits very well with the ride, but if it wasn’t for the massive show scene screens that the ride fly’s past I couldn’t have distinguished each section from the last. There also seem to be too many block breaks. Every 3 elements it feels like you hit anouther set of perfectly straight breaks that kill a bit of the momentum. Imagine how much cooler this ride would be with Voltron’s rolling launch / block break Instead. It’d be a wild ride from begging to end.
As an overall package though, this is a great ride, and I had a lot of fun moments while riding it.
****

Unfortunately, I suspect there were also a few effects that weren’t working as they used to. I’d been really looking forward to seeing two of the rides best known tricks. First, the screen in the queue that disappears, revealing the grid (the rides launch) behind. This was working, but only the part when the glass turns transparent. Before then it was just a grey wall, with none of the cool visuals that help sell the moment.
Second it might just have been because I missed it but I didn’t see the cool moment when anouther train (your own reflection but with the lights briefly turned orange) races alongside you. How this effect could have broken when the lights were working, I don’t know, I’m hoping the mirror hasn’t been damaged, as that would be a major element to replace (likely joining Everest's Yeti as a 'maybe one day'). But again, there is a chance I just missed it. Anouther few rides would have been appreciated, but alas we really had now run out of time.

---

As we left Tron the end of day show was about to take place in front of the castle. We found a spot and settled into watch. It was a good show, but nothing above and beyond what the over Disney parks do. I personally think these shows work best when they are telling a specific story, or even better showcasing some of the things you’d done throughout your day. However, this show (like the castle it is projected on) tried to cram in a bit of everything. Including many characters (like the Avengers) that don’t prominently feature in the park.

I think there’s an argument that can be made that Disney have too many characters now for a “one show fits all” approach to work anymore. You could easily set a show just to classic animation, the Disney renaissance, CG films, or Pixar and pace it better with the one or two standout songs of those times. Because there needs to be at least one song that is played either in full (or a slightly cut-down version) to stop all the different songs merging into one. With Zootopia only recently opening I would have expected it to close out the show, but instead it had its own pre-show before the main one. A good idea, but I almost wish that show had been the one to close the night out.

One thing of note is that I did appreciate that most of the songs were sung in Chines, (except for Let it Go and Try Everything, you just can’t replace Idina Menzel or Shakira for those songs). It did highlight Disney’s commitment that this park was made to be China’s park.

As the show ended, we were directed out, not down Mainstreet but into Disneytown. This is Shanghai’s version of Disney Village, but in a clever move it’s located parallel to the park’s entrance and Mickey Avenue. We’d noticed it earlier in the day when searching for food options, as it’s proximity to the park made it an unofficial area in itself that could also run outside park hours.

The stage for Mickey’s Storybook Adventure was also here, which I’ve heard is a very good show, but it was only accessible by reservation, and as we had missed our slot earlier in the day for it we couldn’t rebook onto the later performance.

---

This concludes my trip to Shanghai Disneyland. Overall I’d say it is definitely a place worth checking out if you happen to be in Shanghai. Even by itself I think it is worth traveling to get to. I know that traveling to China can be complicated, and Shanghai wouldn’t be on my bucket list of places to visit. But it is worth considering to see some incredible attractions that aren’t available anywhere else.

I certainly want to go back to have a more relaxed trip around the park if I have the chance.

---

Final Comments:​

These are a few extra notes that I couldn’t naturally fit into the trip report, but I did find interesting about Shanghai Disneyland.

Handling long queues
Something odd that I noticed on a few of the rides is that they had 2 main queue lines. Pirates of the Caribbean was probably the moist notable case of this. Rather than having 1 long queue that then split near the station to load the front and back boats, they both had their own queue right from the entrance. Logically I couldn’t see why they had done this? Surely it is better to have 1 long moving queue than 2 smaller queues that move at half the speed? But as the queue moved quite quickly even though they were split (each boat could hold 30 people) maybe when dealing with that volume of people it’s better to avoid further batching work in the station.

Expansion:
When writing this trip report, I did some research into the park. Something that surprised me was that despite the size of the main park there doesn’t appear to be a lot of land for them to expand into. The Zootopia plot already expanded into the back of the property, and whilst there are other expansion pads around the main park they aren’t as large as I’d expected them to be.

More critically, although I see plenty of space for additional Hotels, (the lake outside the park feels very similar to the one the Hotels face into in Paris) I couldn’t see any obvious land for a 2nd gate. Personally, as a big fan of parks like Europa (who just keep expanding their main park) I have no issue with this. But it felt very unusual that Disney wouldn’t have allowed for this.

Again, this is anouther case in which before visiting this park I pictured it to occupy a huge amount of land (Walt Disney World style) with near limitless expansion opportunities. But I think that was just a mixture of hype stirred up by the park themselves and the abundance of land in China. But when you actually look into it the site is a great location between central Shanghai and the international airport, but that comes with the drawback that the areas around the park is closed in by other businesses.

 

[KathrynRiley]

Leaving Zootopia the queues for all the other rides were still very long, so we picked Peter Pan’s Flight, which only had a modest 30 minute wait.

Peter Pan’s Flight
I had hopped this version included the interactive queue line from the updated US versions. But no, just a basic queue. Still, it’s been years since I last rode it, and it was great to see how the scenes had been plussed with newer technology and a lot of projections. As an aside I’ve been working on something in Planet Coaster that is inspired by this ride, which hopefully I will be sharing here at some point.
***

Toy Story Land
We passed through Toy Story Land a few times, but as this is essentially a copy of the version in Paris we didn’t see a point spending too much time here. But there was something of note I wanted to highlight. Shanghai (like Paris) doesn’t have a Midway Mania attraction. But what they did have was a selection of physical arcade style games, like the ones you’d find in Midway Mania. Hook the duck, Coin Push Machines, Ect.
But these were all upcharge, and incredibly popular! They were set-up in their own little area at the edge of the land. Personally, I was surprised how popular they were, and couldn’t decide if they were an indicator that Midway Mania should be added to this park, or quite the opposite, that if people are willing to pay for it as a standalone why add the attraction?

At this point a sudden thunderstorm rolled in and half the park shut. Thankfully we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we headed for cover in Tomorrowland. By day this is an interesting take on the Tomorrowland concept. It’s quite grounded really, with a design that is less forward looking but something you could actual see existing in many modern Chinese cities. Of course it is at night where this land really shines, (which is why we only briefly stopped in here for now). I can see this standing the test of time quite well because skylines with buildings that look funky by day and are filled with light at night is a trend I see continuing for a long time to come.

We ate at the Stargazer Grill. Classic Burger and Chips but with Avengers themes. Food prices and portions in China are very reasonable, so even at Disney prices it was about what I’d have expected to pay for a similar (or worse) burger in the UK. The storm had passed by the time we finished our meal.

Crossing the park we headed over to Adventure Isle, to get on the rides we’d had to skip past earlier.

Passing through the Gardens of Imagination:

Roaring Rapids
I love a good rapids ride, and this is a really great rapids! It’s not a soaker, unless you get unlucky on some of the drops or rougher portions. You won’t find any water jets randomly soaking your path. What makes this rapids special is the build-up of tension. In true Disney fashion this is a story driven experience.
You can draw a lot of comparisons between this ride and Expedition Everest. It isn’t quite the themed masterpiece that ride is, but it is equally as thrilling to ride, and the signature moment actually still works!

Spoilers ahead for both Roaring Rapids and Everest:

Spoiler

Both are themed to the exploration of a mysterious mountain. And both revolve around the mythical creature that live inside them. From off-ride they both have great visuals that can be enjoyed by those not riding (and in this case the Camp Discovery attraction as well). The only way I’d say Roaring Rapids is let down is that the queue, like most of the opening day attractions in Shanghai, feels primarily functional and lacks the story set-up that Everest has. There’s a few neat looking artifacts in the queue, but nothing specific to the journey you are about to take. An interesting side note here, the ride reference to the real explorers guild in the queue, but not the Society of Explorer’s and Adventurer’s. Bit of a miss there!

The ride starts by turning the corner out of the station and heading up an absolutely giant lift hill. At least it feels that way, as it effectively travels up to the top of the mountain. Off the lift hill and it’s a wild ride from the start. A proper rapids that takes a few drops and turns outside before heading into the mountain.

Upon entering through a narrow cave the ride really comes alive. Whoever did the story and sound design for this attraction did a fantastic job. Half the time you can’t see where you are going, but every time the boat turns theirs just enough light to make the next dark section feel even darker, and a series or roars can be heard that grow ever louder. Water rides are all about the build-up of tension before the big dramatic moment (usually the drop). This one builds up both the tension of getting wet but also the reveal of what lurks inside the mountain at the same time.

And wow, what a reveal! Even expecting it, I let out an audible gasp when I actually saw Q’aráq (The giant Dinosaur/Crocodile). It’s huge, and the movement so natural. I see now why people are desperate to see Everest’s Yeti return to A-Mode.

The timing is also just right, moving fast enough that it feels like an action moment, but slow enough to properly take it in. It’s such a good moment that I almost feel like the ride should have ended with it, although as stated above the land itself benefits from having the final drop where everyone can see it.

Just based on how the boats rotated I managed to get wet on every single drop. But as noted above it wasn’t too wet a ride, and fortunately I’d taken my socks of beforehand, as I’d need dry feet for where we were heading next.
*****

Camp Discovery
There’s a chance I might get to return to Shanghai Disneyland over the next few years, and if I do this is the part of the park I’d love to spend most of my time in! We didn’t manage to check this out until the sun was starting to set, which made for some great visuals, but I imagine the experience would have also been great during the day.

Camp Discovery is the area around the Roaring Rapids Mountain. You can just walk around the area if you wish, but the main attraction is a high-ropes course around and through the mountain itself. We were wondering as we joined the queue how an attraction like this would work at Disney scale. Wouldn’t people be getting stuck hold up the queue? The answer is beautifully simple, and why I could probably spend hours enjoying this area. On reaching the front of the queue you are fitted with a high-ropes harness that attaches to rails over your head. Each rail is one of a set of 3 running parallel to each other, with small roundabout like sections every few meters allowing people to transfer from one track to anouther, should someone get stuck ahead.

Now, here’s the important bit for anyone who is visiting the park on a limited time frame. At the top of the first set of stairs the path splits into different routes. We thought we were being clever by avoiding the crowds and heading left. However, each route is significantly different from the others, and ours lead away from the mountain (the 'Temple' route). We’d later discover when exploring the area that one of the routes (Caverns) actually took you down into the mountain and over stacks of rocks surrounded by flowing water. Or you could go up high and scale the side of the mountain (Waterfall).

Each route maintains the 3 sets of rails, and presents you with what is effectively an Easy, Medium, and Hard choice. For our route the easy choice was always just a regular path. The medium and hard choices varied, and some of the harder ones included bridges that had partially collapsed, adding the extra challenge of figuring out how you could even get across. You could change between difficulties every few meters if you were struggling or saw a challenge you really wanted to try. The highlight of our route was a moment straight out of Indiana Jones, in which we had to shimmy our way around the outside ledge of a temple wall. The easier version of this was doing the exact same on the inside wall, which was a nice touch for those scared of heights. And you will go quite hight up! At the top of our course, we had an amazing view over the park, with the Castle (at this point lit up in pink) visible through the trees.

I loved this attraction and really think more places should attempt something similar. It felt like a step up over your standard adventure trail because the harnesses meant there was no netting, and it was completely possible to mess-up and fall, but then pick yourself up and keep going.

With only an hour left until the end of day show we did a final swing of the park. Riding Pirates again, visiting Zootopia and finally heading back to Tomorrowland to get the final big ride.

View attachment 20240526_201525.mp4

Tron: Light cycle Run
We opted to save Tron right until the end of the day, much to my anxiety that it might go down and not come back up. But we knew if we were only going to queue for it once it had to be when the lights were on.
Wow does this ride look beautiful at night.

No need for a long review, now that Florida have opened their own version, and many of you will have had chance to experience it for yourself. But I was personally glad to get to experience the original first. Front and centre of the land, rather than fit in towards the back.
It’s a very good coaster… but I think I’d have rated the ride higher if I had been on it back in 2016 when it opened. Coaster design has come a long way since then. The elements in the indoor section feel very basic. Drop and turn, swoop, and turn. Thematically it fits very well with the ride, but if it wasn’t for the massive show scene screens that the ride fly’s past I couldn’t have distinguished each section from the last. There also seem to be too many block breaks. Every 3 elements it feels like you hit anouther set of perfectly straight breaks that kill a bit of the momentum. Imagine how much cooler this ride would be with Voltron’s rolling launch / block break Instead. It’d be a wild ride from begging to end.
As an overall package though, this is a great ride, and I had a lot of fun moments while riding it.
****

Unfortunately, I suspect there were also a few effects that weren’t working as they used to. I’d been really looking forward to seeing two of the rides best known tricks. First, the screen in the queue that disappears, revealing the grid (the rides launch) behind. This was working, but only the part when the glass turns transparent. Before then it was just a grey wall, with none of the cool visuals that help sell the moment.
Second it might just have been because I missed it but I didn’t see the cool moment when anouther train (your own reflection but with the lights briefly turned orange) races alongside you. How this effect could have broken when the lights were working, I don’t know, I’m hoping the mirror hasn’t been damaged, as that would be a major element to replace (likely joining Everest's Yeti as a 'maybe one day'). But again, there is a chance I just missed it. Anouther few rides would have been appreciated, but alas we really had now run out of time.

---

As we left Tron the end of day show was about to take place in front of the castle. We found a spot and settled into watch. It was a good show, but nothing above and beyond what the over Disney parks do. I personally think these shows work best when they are telling a specific story, or even better showcasing some of the things you’d done throughout your day. However, this show (like the castle it is projected on) tried to cram in a bit of everything. Including many characters (like the Avengers) that don’t prominently feature in the park.

I think there’s an argument that can be made that Disney have too many characters now for a “one show fits all” approach to work anymore. You could easily set a show just to classic animation, the Disney renaissance, CG films, or Pixar and pace it better with the one or two standout songs of those times. Because there needs to be at least one song that is played either in full (or a slightly cut-down version) to stop all the different songs merging into one. With Zootopia only recently opening I would have expected it to close out the show, but instead it had its own pre-show before the main one. A good idea, but I almost wish that show had been the one to close the night out.

One thing of note is that I did appreciate that most of the songs were sung in Chines, (except for Let it Go and Try Everything, you just can’t replace Idina Menzel or Shakira for those songs). It did highlight Disney’s commitment that this park was made to be China’s park.

As the show ended, we were directed out, not down Mainstreet but into Disneytown. This is Shanghai’s version of Disney Village, but in a clever move it’s located parallel to the park’s entrance and Mickey Avenue. We’d noticed it earlier in the day when searching for food options, as it’s proximity to the park made it an unofficial area in itself that could also run outside park hours.

The stage for Mickey’s Storybook Adventure was also here, which I’ve heard is a very good show, but it was only accessible by reservation, and as we had missed our slot earlier in the day for it we couldn’t rebook onto the later performance.

---

This concludes my trip to Shanghai Disneyland. Overall I’d say it is definitely a place worth checking out if you happen to be in Shanghai. Even by itself I think it is worth traveling to get to. I know that traveling to China can be complicated, and Shanghai wouldn’t be on my bucket list of places to visit. But it is worth considering to see some incredible attractions that aren’t available anywhere else.

I certainly want to go back to have a more relaxed trip around the park if I have the chance.

---

Final Comments:​

These are a few extra notes that I couldn’t naturally fit into the trip report, but I did find interesting about Shanghai Disneyland.

Handling long queues
Something odd that I noticed on a few of the rides is that they had 2 main queue lines. Pirates of the Caribbean was probably the moist notable case of this. Rather than having 1 long queue that then split near the station to load the front and back boats, they both had their own queue right from the entrance. Logically I couldn’t see why they had done this? Surely it is better to have 1 long moving queue than 2 smaller queues that move at half the speed? But as the queue moved quite quickly even though they were split (each boat could hold 30 people) maybe when dealing with that volume of people it’s better to avoid further batching work in the station.

Expansion:
When writing this trip report, I did some research into the park. Something that surprised me was that despite the size of the main park there doesn’t appear to be a lot of land for them to expand into. The Zootopia plot already expanded into the back of the property, and whilst there are other expansion pads around the main park they aren’t as large as I’d expected them to be.

More critically, although I see plenty of space for additional Hotels, (the lake outside the park feels very similar to the one the Hotels face into in Paris) I couldn’t see any obvious land for a 2nd gate. Personally, as a big fan of parks like Europa (who just keep expanding their main park) I have no issue with this. But it felt very unusual that Disney wouldn’t have allowed for this.

Again, this is anouther case in which before visiting this park I pictured it to occupy a huge amount of land (Walt Disney World style) with near limitless expansion opportunities. But I think that was just a mixture of hype stirred up by the park themselves and the abundance of land in China. But when you actually look into it the site is a great location between central Shanghai and the international airport, but that comes with the drawback that the areas around the park is closed in by other businesses.

I enjoyed the journey, thank you so much for sharing the photos.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Thanks for this detailed report.

I’m not too sure if the plan is ever to build a second gate in Shanghai. Perhaps they learnt their lesson with Paris’s disastrous second gate, which although built over 20 years ago, still needs so much doing to it, to even bring it close to an appropriate standard.

There’s also Hong Kong Disneyland who have never opened a second gate, but which does a massive plot of land sitting there next to the main park, waiting for a second gate to be built for the past 19 years, but which still sits there empty, and which the HK government actually reclaimed a few years ago for use as a covid quarantine facility.

The reason I mention Paris and Hong Kong is due to these being two examples of Disney resorts which planned second gates but both of which turned out to be unsuccessful.

In fact, Hong Kong now seem to be enjoying far more success by adding new lands and attractions to the existing castle park (as is shown by the massive success of Frozen Land, Mystic Manor, Toy Story Land and Grizzly), than Paris or California experienced from the disappointing second gate parks they opened.

With this in mind, Shanghai may consider it far better to develop the existing park to a point where it can’t be expanded anymore, rather than worrying about another park. Shanghai Disneyland is already massive and I think they like to market it that way, especially with how much a flop Hong Kong Disneyland was when it first opened in its pint-sized state.

A very different approach to what Disney normally do, but I can see the advantages.

 

[Tim]

Thanks you both for the response, glad you enjoyed!

You raise an interesting point about the second gate, because Hong Kong was designed as part of the Disney Decade (even if it opened afterwards). It's very clear to see the old Eisner model of a multi-park destination was still being followed. But as you say Shanghai is very different, and all the expansion plots away from the park seem to be sized and shaped for Hotels.

Personally I much prefer having a massive park that requires multiple days to see it. I guess the argument for 2 parks is that it encourages multi-day tickets and longer stays. But if I compare Europa to Disneyland Paris I'm more compelled to spend 2/3 days there than a day in each of the Paris parks.

 

[Llama]

Great report as always, Tim!

 

[Tim]

Less than a year later and I’ve been back to Shanghai Disneyland! Although this might seem unexpected I had anticipated a return trip at the time of my last visit. I knew I’d be spending a lot of time in Shanghai, and whilst I had a valid visa, and with this potentially being my last full weekend to visit, I decided to make a return trip. It helped that the weather was unexpectedly good, which was a miracle as it was bitterly cold only days before and after. Weather in Shanghai swings so suddenly.

As nothing has really changed since my visit last year I had originally hoped to spend a large chunk of the day on the Camp Discovery Adventure Trails, which I absolutely loved from the last visit. Alas it was undergoing seasonal maintenance, so instead I aimed to get on some of the attractions I missed last time. As a result I have plenty new to talk about in this report, plus something extra at the very end.

Travel, again:
Previously I talked more generally about traveling to Shanghai, rather than the specifics of getting to Shanghai Disneyland. This was because on that last visit the group of us used a taxi to get to the resort, which was the most efficient way to travel together. As this was a solo trip I opted for public transport.
The park has a dedicated stop on the Shanghai Metro line which makes traveling here from anywhere within the city easy, but not necessarily quick given how large Shanghai is. However after my visit I found that there is an even more direct route from either of the city’s major airports. The Airport Link Line stops at the International Tourist Resort Station, which is just north east of the resort. It’s not directly connected to the resort, and so you’d most likely need to also catch a bus to get their (unless you don’t mind a long walk), but this route avoids traveling into Shanghai only to head back out again.
Based on Google images I think this station is very new as it is still shown as under construction around the time Zootopia opened. Which explains why I wasn’t aware of this until my most recent trip.

Staying Charged:
I highly recommend to anyone visiting that you brining a power bank with you. Having a working phone is essential in Shanghai. You’ll likely find it is the only way to pay for goods, access public transport, and like me you’ll probably be constantly monitoring queue times and taking pictures. As such your battery is going to be drained fast. I rented a sizable power bank from my hotel, and I had separate phones for pictures and payment, yet I still ended up completely draining the power bank to keep both phones going.

Arrival and beating the Crowds:
I arrived a little later than the previous trip, exactly on time for the 8:30 opening. On arrival It appeared that the park was just as crowded as last time. And I somewhat panicked when the app briefly reported 200 minute queues for some of the rides. Luckily this was a temporary glitch, and even though it would get very busy later it takes time to get so many people into the park so even when busy you have a few hours to make the most of short queues.

The two major attractions I missed from last time were the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and the parks main show, Micky’s Storybook Adventure. The latter of which can only be accessed after reserving a time with the park app (or get very lucky when they open the standby queue after 4pm). Last time we sacrificed our reservation as we had only just managed to get into Zootopia and would have had to queue again to re-enter.
With that in mind I headed directly for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train whilst using the app to reserve the show. Only one time slot came up and it was in 40 minutes time. I reached the Mine Train’s single rider queue to see it already had a 40 minute wait. So I opted to reserve the show and come back to the Mine Train later. I couldn’t imagine the single rider line would get much longer during the day! It did, but more on that later.
In the meantime I decided to get on some of the other rides I previously missed that I knew I’d be unwilling to queue for later. Starting with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh:
Last time I’d purposefully avoided this ride. One of our group had recently come back from Tokyo Disneyland and had been raving about the fantastic version of the ride they have there. Despite Shanghai’s version being newer than the one in Tokyo they opted to use the standard version rather than Tokyo’s incredible trackless system. Knowing this I expected them to be disappointing.
I however have never been on any of the Whinnie the Pooh rides before, so now that It was just me I actually was quite keen to see it. It’s a good ride. A step up from the other Fantasy Land Disney Dark rides due to the bouncing ride vehicles, but still heavily reliant on 2D scenes and simple animation. Good fun and I came off smiling.
***

With half the reservation time elapsed I started heading to the theatre, which is located alongside Mickey Avenue at the entrance of the park. As I was heading back towards the crowds I didn’t expect to get on any other rides, but was surprised to find that Buzz Lightyear’s Planet Rescue was still a walk on.

Buzz Lightyear’s Planet Rescue:
I remember when Shanghai Disneyland opened being surprised that the Buzz Lightyear ride was chosen to be the other major attraction in Tomorrowland alongside Tron. I’d been on this ride before in Florida and wasn’t that impressed. As a shooting ride it’s nothing special, I can think of rides at regional parks that are better. It also only very loosely ties in with Tomorrowland’s theme by the virtue of it looking Sci-Fi (even though all the characters are actually toys).
However what I realised when walking straight onto this ride is that it does have one really big advantage. The capacity is great, and it’s very handy for absorbing the crowds. Tomorrowland as an area feels somewhat isolated from the rest of the park, and whilst Tron might have a decent capacity its popularity likely outweighs that. The jet packs are not high capacity and the neighbouring Toy Story land (which didn’t even exist when the park opened) only contains low-capacity attractions. They needed a ride on this side of the park that could be both a crowd pleaser and a filler. Buzz Lightyear’s Planet Rescue fills that need perfectly.
It helps that the ride has received a few updates for Shanghai. The targets are small circular screens that properly react when shot. This sounds like a small change but when applied to every target it makes the attraction as a whole feel livelier and more inline with the dynamic lighting found elsewhere in Shanghai’s Tomorrowland. Overall an enjoyable ride.
***

Micky’s Storybook Adventure:
My reservation went live as I left Buzz Lightyear. It’s worth noting that even with the reservation it is worth turning up at the start of the 30 minute window, as arriving too late would put your right at the back of the theatre, or you might even miss out. This meant I still had to wait at least 45 minutes for the show to start which when factoring in the 30 minute run time does mean that seeing this show takes up a significant amount of time in the day.
I don’t know quite how to review this show because it delivers on exactley what you would expect given the title and the context. A giant storybook fills the stage. Mickey shows up and opens it, bringing the characters on each page to lift to sing their most well known musical numbers. If you enjoy that (which I do) then it’s a great watch, but unlike the pirate show there’s nothing in this especially mind-blowing or unexpected.
The narration for the show is in Chinese but as most the songs (but not quite all) are in English it’s very easy to follow. The effects used to make the book feel like an actual giant book (not just a massive prop) are amazing. And the character costumes are great. I love how King Louie (from the lion king) had artificially extended arms, it’s a little detail that made a big difference. I also really like Moana, Mulan, and Tangled so was really pleased to have a section in which all 3 sang their songs together.
****

After exiting the theatre and checking the app the queue times had jumped substantially. Seven Dwarfs was now over 2 hours and most of the other rides weren’t much better. It was also too crowded down Mickey Avenue to stick around and have a proper explore (something I was determined to do after only glancing at the area last time). Knowing that whatever I did it would involve queuing I decided I might as well be waiting for the headline ride of the park. Pirates.
On my way there I took the scenic route through Adventure Isle to Treasure Cove. I’m glad I did this as I made a really neat little discovery along the way. I mentioned before that guests visiting Shanghai Disneyland often dress up. I don’t think there are any restrictions on this unlike at some of the other Disney parks. Entering Treasure Cove I was following this group dressed up as pirates. I’d assumed they were ordinary guests as they were just wondering through the land, occasionally stopping at the different stalls. I lost sight of them whilst exploring the area and thought nothing more of it until I found myself in a corner of the land between the entrance and exit of Pirates. I heard a cry and suddenly one of the group pulled a sword out on one of the others and they started duelling in the middle of the street. They backed each other into the corner and proceeded to climb up the fort. Quite a crowd had gathered at this point and there was some crowd interaction that I sadly couldn’t follow. The scene ended by one of the pirates pushing through the crowd and the others taking chase, ending almost as abruptly as it seemed to start. I love world building details like this and it’s something that I think really makes the difference between a well themed land and an immersive experience.
I’ve since checked and this is listed as a show on the app, but no time or place is given. You just have to be in the right place and time to be caught in the middle of it.

Further notes on Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure:
I’ve already written about how incredible this ride is, and it delivered just as well this time as last. However there was a point I previously raised and wanted to come back to as I do think it has quite a negatively impact on the experience. They still have far too many boats on the track at a time. Which means it is very likely that during any ride your boat will come to a stop during the pirate ship battle scene or worse in the actual finale because the course ahead is blocked by stacked boats.
For a ride that is all about timing and pacing this is a real problem and sours the end of the ride. As I said before they could easily take 2 boats off the circuit and still operate at maximum capacity, but the ride experience would be so much better.

Speaking of capacity this ride’s got an incredible capacity. It was consistently at 60 minutes or less weight time throughout the day despite its popularity. When also considering that it is an incredible ride system I really am surprised it is still the only ride of its type in the world. If this is the ride system proposed for California’s Pandora I can’t wait to see what they do with it! Honestly it would be cool if the proposed Lion King ride in Paris used this system as well. I could imagine it would work great if they want to recreate the stampede or elephant graveyard scenes.

Parade Hopping
Similar to on the last trip I tried leaving Treasure Cove right as the parade was on its way. I thought this would be an excellent time to have anouther try at the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train whilst so many people were watching the parade, but alas this wasn’t a wise choice. The queue was at its longest so far and Fantasyland seems to be the one area the parade doesn’t affect. With hindsight I think I’ve figured out a fairly good game plan for what to do when the parade is coming:

1. Stay in Treasure Cove or Adventure Isle. Pirates and the Roaring Rapids both drain long queues very efficiently, and as a result they both see significant drops in their queue time in the build up to the parade. Also considering that the parade route temporarily splits these lands from the rest of the park, there are very few new people joining these lines until the parade is over.
2. Head over to the Gardens of Imagination. Oddly standing right in the middle of the parade also works. It’s a great vantage point to watch it progressing, and as a result people are drawn towards it, away from the queues of the two rides in that area. I regret walking straight passed the carousel when it had a wait time of only 10 minutes! The lowest I’d see it all day.
3. Watch the parade twice! If you find yourself in Tomorrowland it’s easy to watch the parade as it heads towards the Gardens of Imagination, then there’s plenty of time to cross through the castle and watch it again as it completes the lap. Then if you don’t hang about as the parade finishes you can head straight for the queue to get into Zootiopia before everyone else tries doing the same thing.

However having missed my opportunity to take any of those options I Instead decided to hold off doing any more major rides for a while and just explore the park. Starting with anouther attraction I missed last time.

Alice in Wonderland Maze:
I’d happily missed this attraction last time due to the heat and lack of shade. But I like a good maze, and whilst I’ve never found time to do the one at Disneyland Paris as a theme Alice in Wonderland suits a maze well. This one is visually very different to it’s Parisian counterpart because it is based on the live action rather than animated films, a decision that must have made sense at the time but only becomes more bizarre as those films disappear into obscurity. I wonder what Helena Bonham Carter thinks of having a giant version of her head as a photo-opp in Shanghai?

Alas I was unimpressed with this attraction. As a maze it frankly sucks. The only maze part is near the very end and not only can you see the way through when standing on the bridge that leads to the attraction, but it literally tells you when entering the maze the quickest way through. I assume this is anouther case of trying to adjust the concept of a maze to fit the Chinese culture who might not understand that the point is to get lost. If so I do wonder why they would chose a maze as an attraction at all? Was Alice in Wonderland really a must have IP?
The sections before the maze are also nothing special. Just a few winding paths leading to a couple of picturesque scenes. I did enjoy watching people react to a door that violently shook when approached, and there’s a cave splitting the first and second area that includes a few neat scenes of the Cheshire Cat. Assuming you walk through slowly enough to catch them. However these could have stood on their own as things to find in Fantasyland and would have been just as good.
**

Second voyage to the Crystal Grotto:
I’m glad to say that this ride has had a refurbishment since last time. The paint looks fresh, rather than faded. The projections in the grotto were also a lot clearer. I still think the grotto itself is underused. From what I can gather the story is that this is the gem powering the magic of Shanghai’s castle. For something so important it feels strange that the boat barley even stops to acknowledge it. If the ride actually passed under the castle (spending longer in the caves), and emerged in the mote out the front, I think this would be a significantly better experience. Still a good ride that I enjoyed revisiting, but I expect it is soon to be outdone by anouther gentle boat ride tied to a parks centrepiece that’s also in Shanghai.

As I’d been under the castle it seemed only fitting to go back up into the castle afterwards, revisiting “Once upon a time” adventure. I didn’t have any further noted since last time, except for that all the scenes seemed to be playing out of sync which was a shame.

Continuing my journey south, now was the right time to go back to Mickey Avenue and explore the front of the park.

Mickey Avenue Revisited:
On the previous occasions I passed through here I noted that every shop seemed to have a queue line outside. I had assumed this was because the shops were so popular you needed to queue just to enter*, but on closer inspection it was possible to walk straight into the shops. The queues instead lead away from the shopfronts and towards one of the many facades that are designed to be backdrops for the character meet and greets.
For this is the main difference between Main Street and Mickey Avenue. This area exists to be the home of many Disney characters, and as such they are the main attraction of the land. It’s an interesting alternative version of Toon Town (which elsewhere occupies the very back of the parks). The queues to meet some of the characters can get insanely long, which shows just how popular this new direction is.

* I did briefly have to queue for one of the shops towards the end of the day. This was after the character meet and greets had ended. They simply flipped the lines so we were queuing towards the shop entrance rather than away from them.

I was impressed by the range of characters included in this street, including some unlikely choices such as Scrooge McDuck. Who I assume was chosen primarily for the story purpose of giving the street a bank rather than for his popularity as a character.

In regards to the shops, they are a lot smaller than their counterparts at other Disney parks. The main gift shop (taking up the whole of the left side) is limited in size by Mikey Avenue not being as long as the typical Main Street. There is a second shop on the right hand side, where the area opens out into the Gardens of Imagination, but it is also quite small.
I think the parks true gift shop is the World of Disney store located outside the park, which is far bigger and also stays open after the end of day show finishes. On both my visits I’ve been directed out this way rather than through the main gates.

There are a lot of food options in Mikey Avenue. Those down the centre of the Avenue looked similar to what you’d see at other Main Streets, but just to the side is the large Market Café which seemed to be the catch-all restaurant for the park. I’d opt to headed further into the park to find a meal tied into one of the parks themed lands.

Sightlines
Leaving Mickey Avenue I tried to get some good pictures of the Garden of Imagination and the castle. Which wasn’t easy. Disney are known for their amazing sightlines, and some areas of the park are very impressive. For example, behind Adventure Isle and Treasure Cove are 3 massive show buildings, (Soaring, El Teatro Fandango, and Pirates). Yet from the midways you can’t possibly tell as they look like a continuation of the mountain range, a hilltop village, and a massive fort respectively.
Unfortunately though other lands have a few structures that don’t quite fit in. The Grand Theatre’s stage tower doesn’t quite gel with the main street styling of the parks entrance. The theatre for Frozen also looks out of place in Fantasyland. And for as amazing as Tron’s canopy looks it’s overshadowed by the gravity building when viewed from anywhere outside Tomorrowland.
The parks most important icon suffers the most. It’s impossible to see it from anywhere except for up close without the numerous lighting and sound rigs for the night-time show blocking the view. None of which look bad in themselves but whenever I found a good view of the castle there were at least one or two of them blocking out part of the structure. Unfortunately this seems to be a result of this parks hub being designed primarily for the nighttime shows and not the signature view of a castle at the end of the main street. It means my overall impressions of this area is just a bit messy, rather than the wow factor I was expecting.

With that tangent aside I headed back to Treasure Cove to get food at Barbossa’s Bounty. This is the restraint that overlooks the start of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, so I grabbed a seat in view of the boats. I have to say it made a nice change to have a restaurant overlooking a ride that just sold regular food at a reasonable price. An issue I’ve had at other parks that’s put me off visiting the similar restaurants alongside other pirate boat rides.

At this point I’d done everything I could do that didn’t involve queueing, so I decided it was finally time to join the line for something. As the parade was passing I learnt from last time and joined the queue to enter Zootopia. It only took me 20 minutes (far less than advertised, which showed the tactic had worked), and although Hot Pursuit was listed as a 90 minute wait single ridder moved fast enough that I knew I could get on in less than 30 minutes.

Over a year after opening the land is still just as popular. I’ll never get used to having to weave past makeshift queues of people getting selfies in front of traffic lights!

Something I missed last time but was determined to find this time was the Pawpsicles featured in the film. This lands equivalent to Butterbeer. They were being sold at a stand right after entering the land, which had confused me before as the area’s main treat kiosk is the Jumbeaux’s Café and I naturally expected them to be on sale there. If you are familiar with the film however it makes perfect sense why they are not. In the story the Pawpsicles are made by melting down one of the giant elephant lollies so that they can be resold on mass to the rodent population. And as such you buy the giant lollies at Jumbeaux’s Café and the Pawsicles from the street vendors. That’s a brilliant detail that they’ve captured in the land.

I’ve got nothing new to add about Hot Pursuit, except for a quick story that happened during my ride. I mentioned previously that despite phones being banned on the rides no one in Shanghai pays this rule any attention (except for on Tron where it is properly enforced). It can be quite annoying having a sea of phones in front of you when you are trying to immerse yourself in a ride. All emitting light into what is meant to be a dark environment.
As I boarded Hot Pursuit the person in front of me immediately pulled their phone out. A bit annoyed I glanced at the phone, when I noticed something different. They weren’t recording the ride, they were streaming it over a video call. On the other screen was a young kid, sat in a wheelchair. Behind them I could see Zootopia. They were sat right outside the rides entrance, and although they clearly could not ride themselves the person holding the phone (who I assumed was their dad) had joined the queue for them and via his phone had brought them along for the ride.
It was a really sweet moment. I was also reminded of how Efteling offer an alternative experience for those that can’t ride Danse Macabre. This feels like something more parks should be introducing.

 

[Tim]

Leaving Zootopia and with the sunsetting I could no longer put off riding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The queue was still advertised as a 75 minutes, which was far longer than I would have liked to have waited for it, based on what I heard about the ride. But I also knew I couldn’t miss ridding it again after already having missed it on previous visits to Florida and Shanghai.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train:
I think I only waited 60 minutes in the end, and surprisingly I’d say it was actually worth it! Overall, it’s a great ride. It has a reputation for being too short, but I think the only part of the ride where that is the case is the final section. that did seem to end too soon after the rides signature drop. However the coaster section after the first drop is a fair length and there are plenty of moments that I really enjoyed the swing of those mine trains.
I also could not fault the dark ride section. The rear projected faces work perfectly well when viewed with the human eye. That’s not to say they are better than full animatronic faces, but for this use case I think it is the best way of make the characters expressive in a style that is true to the original animation.

The ride’s main fault is really just its popularity compared to its capacity. Compared to other coasters at any non-Disney park it’s hourly capacity of over 1,600pph is actually very good. But unlike your standard thrill coaster It’s a ride that nearly anyone can enjoy, based on one of Disney’s most famous films. Even without hindsight I do have to question why they didn’t build two of these rides side by side, especially after it proved so popular in Florida.
On that subject though I do wonder… was this ride actually designed first for Florida or Shanghai? Obviously the version in Florida opened first. But given that many of the other rides in Shanghai had been in development since the late 2000’s (Tron, Alice, and even to a degree Pirates all being clear examples of this), and Seven Dwarfs was a last minute addition to the New Fantasyland Expansion in Florida, could it be possible that they took the concept from Shanghai and fast tracked its development for Florida?
This theory does make sense when you consider that Snow White is an IP they really try hard to push at this park. Disney wanted to introduce the Chinese market to parts of the companies history they are not familiar with, and as their first feature length film Snow White seems to be their princess of choice for doing so. The attraction in the castle could be seen as a pre-show for this ride, as it outlines the broad story of Snow White, whilst the Mine Train lives a very specific part of it.
It would also explain why despite having room here to build a second track they did not, as infrastructure work for the ride would have already started before its popularity was proven in Florida.

Speaking of the Florida version, there is a major difference between the two. The ending lacks the re-used animations from the old Snow White ride. And it’s quite a noticeable change, because the train here does not pull up alongside the dwarfs cottage. Instead the cottage is built further back, with forced perspective making it look as if it is at the other end of a large garden. As such the figures in the house are only shown as silhouette moving behind the windows, and the witch is not included.
Personally I thought this was a shame. The witch was a nice “To be continued” moment, as it hinted that whilst the ride was over she was about to handover the poisoned apple, a core element of the story the ride is based on. Whilst I have not ridden the version in Florida myself I love hearing the stories people tell of how they were shocked at glimpsing the witch just when they thought the ride was over. It’s moments like this which can elevate a ride from being good to great. Shanghai’s replacement of the scene with a few animated forest critters just doesn’t have the same dark edge.
****

It had turned dark whilst I’d been queueing for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and with only an hour left I wanted to at least get a ride on the Roaring Rapids and Tron before finishing for the day.

Incredibly (but probably not surprisingly being a water ride) Roaring Rapids queue drops to a walk on in the last hour. And it’s not a bad night ride either, so long as you can live with possibly ending your day soaked. The ride is just as good as I remembered it. Probably my favourite rapids ride at any park, as it combines everything I love in a great rapids with the jaw dropping encounter inside the mountain.

Due to the short wait I managed to make it over to Tron before the end of the day. I am a little concerned that Tron’s effects are not running quite as well as they did when it opened. It wasn’t until after reviewing my videos from last time against videos taken in the opening year that I realised the amazing reveal effect of the trains from the queue wasn’t working properly. The wall vanished as expected but the animated graphics were not there. This time it was even worse. The wall did not vanish at all unless viewed from the opposite side, revealing the guests queuing to the train rather than the other way around.
I also swear the large mirror that made it look like you were racing is either gone or the lighting trick turned off, as I did not spot it on either occasion.
Thankfully the overall lighting is as good as I remembered it, I just hope this isn’t a sign that the ride is hard to maintain, because this coaster is massively elevated when all of it’s effects run perfectly. It is such a fantastic ride at night, and feels like the only true way to end the day.

But the story didn’t end there:
That once again concludes my time at Shanghai Disneyland, but not quite my time in Shanghai. After my visit I re-watched the Imagineering Story. An absolutely fantastic documentary on Disney+.
The final episode starts with the creation of Shanghai Disneyland. Having seen the park in person I really wanted to see if my view on this episode had changed. But hearing the Imagineers talk about their experience in Shanghai stuck with me on a much more personal level. I realised how similar their experience of Shanghai was to my own. For they were not just trying to bring Disneyland to Shanghai, but to build something that is innovative, new and distinct to China. Which is exactly what I am also hoping to do.
I still can’t yet talk about what I’ve been working on in Chine, or share any pictures… except for maybe this one, which I took the evening before I headed back to the UK:

To be continued