ABD China - are 2 1/2 days enough at the parks?

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

One of the big draws to the ABD China itinerary (especially after planning Tokyo) is the fact that they deal with park logistics. However, looking at the itinerary it appears that you only get afternoons in both Hong Kong and Shanghai. Is that enough time to “do” the parks? Do they somehow facilitate access and make it special? I can’t imagine only going into MK for 1/2 a day if it were my only time going there. I know that we could extend before/after, but wanted to know how necessary that would be vs stopping somewhere else (e.g. Thailand, Japan, etc).

Thanks.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

And yes, I’m aware that Thailand is going in the “wrong” direction, but it’s somewhere we’d love to take the kids.

 

[OKW Lover]

Going to the Shanghai and Hong Kong parks for only a half day is not enough time. Especially Shanghai which is a very large park.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

That was my suspicion. Thanks for the confirmation!

 

[jimmymc]

I would also say not enough time in either park.

 

[abdgeek]

One of the big draws to the ABD China itinerary (especially after planning Tokyo) is the fact that they deal with park logistics. However, looking at the itinerary it appears that you only get afternoons in both Hong Kong and Shanghai. Is that enough time to “do” the parks? Do they somehow facilitate access and make it special? I can’t imagine only going into MK for 1/2 a day if it were my only time going there. I know that we could extend before/after, but wanted to know how necessary that would be vs stopping somewhere else (e.g. Thailand, Japan, etc).

Thanks.

As OP have said, half a day in each park isn’t sufficient. When I did ABD China in 2019, I came in about a week early to see the sites the ABD didn’t. One thing I did was buy tickets to HKDL and spent a day in the park seeing shows and riding my must do rides—basically, anything that wasn’t at WDW or DL. Although ABD gave us a specific number of “fast passes”, they could only be used for certain rides or shows. I researched other people’s posts from the ABD and called ABD to see which rides we would do and then left them for when they took us to the park. If I remember correctly, we didn’t get to the park until the afternoon. They then turned us loose for 3-4 hours until the parade and we met up there. You also had to use some of the time to eat, so not all of it was for riding rides. SDL was the same way. I stayed in Shanghai an extra day so that I could go back to SDL. The lines at the China parks are unreal and cutting is rampant. The queues are very wide, so unless you have a wide enough group, you can’t span the entire queue to keep people not in your party from cutting. We found a lot of parents would let there young kids push ahead and then follow them up the queue. The queues also look deceptively short, but are in actuality long. It was not unusual to stand in line an hour for a ride. The day I did SDL, I had planned to buy their premiere line access, but it was sold out by the time I got to the park around 11am. I believe I was only able to ride 4-5 rides when I was in SDL with ABD.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Absolutely agree, not enough time. We appreciated Disney including it, but we flew to Hong Kong early for extra Disney time, and stayed a couple days after in Shanghai, which also included Disney. For us, it was going to be our only trip there, so we wanted more time. I don't know if ABD still does it, but our tour "final" dinner as a tour group was at Shanghai Disney, and was amazing.

 

[Poohlie]

We did 2 pre-nights at the HKDL hotel with a package and a post night at the ABD hotel in Shanghai to make sure we had enough time to experience both parks. I purchased a ticket package with Fastpasses for SHDL through their app once I arrived in China. This was back in 2019 so I’m not sure what the process is now.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Thanks. We’re going to see how Japan goes, and if we like it then I’m strongly considering putting China on the calendar for 2026 or 2027.

 

[Mrpill]

Hello! We leave for China ABD in May, 2025. We get to Hong Kong on May 4th at 5AM, wondering if it would be good to explore HKD that day before the ABD really starts the next day? Would you get tickets before or at gate? ABD picks us up and takes us to the hotel, but is it a problem traveling from the ABD hotel to HKD? Thanks!

 

[Mrpill]

Also wondering about Verizon phones and internet connections if anyone has any good ideas. Thank you!!!

 

[sayhello]

Hello! We leave for China ABD in May, 2025. We get to Hong Kong on May 4th at 5AM, wondering if it would be good to explore HKD that day before the ABD really starts the next day? Would you get tickets before or at gate? ABD picks us up and takes us to the hotel, but is it a problem traveling from the ABD hotel to HKD? Thanks!

I guess it depends on how well you travel. I was *really* jetlagged my first couple of days in China (although I arrived in the evening). We went the next day, before the ABD started (after a good night's sleep). We Ubered there, but had to take a taxi back because we couldn't connect to Uber on property (not sure if it was blocked or what). It can be (and usually is) VERY humid in Hong Kong, so that made it really draining, too. I honestly got *exhausted* by the end of the first actual day of the ABD. The hotel ABD uses now is different from the one we stayed at (Penninsula Hong Kong) so I'm not sure about the location to/from HKD. But I don't remember it being that long a ride. It was NOT busy there, so we did a lot in our pre-day.

Also wondering about Verizon phones and internet connections if anyone has any good ideas. Thank you!!!

Definitely get a VPN. A lot of stuff is blocked in China. I *think* I got the Verizon plan where you pay $10 a day only if you use it, but it's hard to remember at this point.

Enjoy!!! It's a fascinating country, and a really great itinerary!

Sayhello

 

[Mrpill]

Thank you!!! If you have anything to add on the China ABD please share. Thanks again!

 

[abdgeek]

Also wondering about Verizon phones and internet connections if anyone has any good ideas. Thank you!!!

I have Verizon and always use Travel Pass when I travel internationally. I think it’s now $12 a day, but I make sure I get my money’s worth on the days I use it. As @sayhello mentioned, get a VPN when you travel to China. They block a lot of things we’re used to having access to; Gmail is one of them. I did find that sometimes when I turned the VPN on it wouldn’t stay on. Just remember nothing in China is private, even your internet use or calls. I didn’t have a problem when I did the China ABD, but was careful to not say or write anything to someone back home that could be misinterpreted.

 

[JAM9842]

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Thank you!!! If you have anything to add on the China ABD please share. Thanks again!

I am following this also...we are planning on booking this for 2026 as soon as the dates are available in May.

 

[abdgeek]

Hello! We leave for China ABD in May, 2025. We get to Hong Kong on May 4th at 5AM, wondering if it would be good to explore HKD that day before the ABD really starts the next day? Would you get tickets before or at gate? ABD picks us up and takes us to the hotel, but is it a problem traveling from the ABD hotel to HKD? Thanks!

If you think you’ll be up to it. I did HKDL before the China ABD and took the metro there. It was super easy and didn’t cost much. The metro station is right at the park. I called ABD to see what rides we would get fast passes for and concentrated on the other rides when I went on my own. As OP said, HK can be very humid (I did it in June/July) and that may take some getting used to. I bought my tickets in advance online before I traveled. However, in your case, you may want to wait to see how tired you are after the flight. HKDL isn’t open as long as the US theme parks; about 10 or 10:30am-8:30pm. Check the operating hours before you go so that you can maximize your time in the park.

 

[sayhello]

Thank you!!! If you have anything to add on the China ABD please share. Thanks again!

My biggest suggestion as far as the China trip is to take advantage of down time to actually relax & refresh. There's a lot of moving around and flights and such and the trip can be exhausting. They've re-arranged the days since I did it, which has improved *some* of the go-go-go part of it, but it's still a lot. I know it's tempting to plan a lot of stuff for OYO time, but I found I really appreciated taking the time to just hang out at the lovely hotels you stay at for some of it.

Get used to crowds, especially in the big cites. Beijing was crazy, and I found myself having to be kind of rude at times. If you politely wait your turn, your turn may never come (getting in an elevator or on an escalator, getting in line for anything, really). It's not who I am, but I had to go there to manage. They are just used to having to operate that way due to the huge number of people around. I found line-cutting was rampant at Shanghai Disneyland. People were not happy with me when I wouldn't let 10 people squeeze in front of me. This is just an FYI. It did not diminish my enjoyment of China at all.

Sayhello

 

[AquaDame]

Get used to crowds, especially in the big cites. Beijing was crazy, and I found myself having to be kind of rude at times. If you politely wait your turn, your turn may never come (getting in an elevator or on an escalator, getting in line for anything, really). It's not who I am, but I had to go there to manage. They are just used to having to operate that way due to the huge number of people around. I found line-cutting was rampant at Shanghai Disneyland. People were not happy with me when I wouldn't let 10 people squeeze in front of me. This is just an FYI. It did not diminish my enjoyment of China at all.

Sayhello

100% agree. I hate being "that guy" but our trip (not with ABD) in 2018 broke me. I've never been glad to go home as much as I was at the end of this trip. Even on the PLANE to go home the gentleman in front of me decided he got to use my footwell for his shoes since he didn't have anywhere to put them as he was in the bulkhead. Even the flight attendant tried to argue that point with me but darn it that's where MY BAG needed to go! Sheesh..! She did eventually move them for him elsewhere but I really got fatigued constantly fighting for everything.

Still enjoyed the trip and glad I went... but I'm ok if it was a one and done. I wouldn't mind going back to the parks some day, in the far future... but am probably fine to skip everything else. I was even asked to go work at our office in Shanghai for a month but turned it down. Probably a mistake but.. I am not ready to face that again.