An Asian Disney and Universal Adventure - Trip Report COMPLETED 6/23

[RachelleBeaney]

Okay, so I will totally admit that I MAY be skipping the actual city parts right now, lol #sorry. Universal Singapore looks so cute! Amazing photos! And glad there's some different stuff there than the other parks, it looks super fun, even with it being smaller!



I LOVED HKDL, it's quietness and quaintness really made me love it, and to top it off Grizzly Gulch & Mystic Manor, like, WHAT AMAZING RIDES!! I'm SO happy we were vlogging while GG started to go backwards and caught us all by surprise! Lol. It's seriously amazing that the waits for those 2 are so little all the time!! Was there no wire work in FOLK?! The bird (white leotard outfit) came out of the floor/stage and up on a wire/silks when we were there! I really enjoyed the show, and I'm an HUGE LOVER of Folk at DAK, like, #1 fan, lol. It definitely had its differences, and the US version is by far my favorite, but the HK version definitely moved me, and the moving stage really blew me away! Amazing photos!! I really wish we'd gotten more of HKDL!!



Okay, onto Shanghai! Yay! I can't wait to hear what you thought about it!! I'm bummed we didn't get to stay onsite, although we saved a TON of money and it still only took us under 30 mins to get from our BnB to the front gate!



We definitely went to Cheesecake factory twice when we were there, (don’t have it in Canada either..) Love the Chinese New Years decorations!! UGH, we had SUCH struggles with photopass, though we were handing over our own camera, we seriously only dealt with it once and vowed not to again. UGH PIRATES YEEEESSSS I legitimately cried a single tear of happiness. I'm obsessed with all things pirates/POTC, the movies are my favorites, and the fact that SDL has a land completely dedicated to them made me so happy, add on the fact that the ride was MINDBLOWINGLY AMAZING, ugh, so much happiness!

Banquet hall looks awesome!! I believe they switch out who's greeting at the door? Or at least they USED to have Aurora there closer to when the park opened? I know I've seen pictures of her there! OMG THOSE IGNITE THE DREAM PHOTOS! WHAT ARE YOUR SECRETS?!



Bummer that your last stay started out so rough!! And WOW THOSE CROWDS!! I'm super glad we missed anything crazy! The day we were in the city I got a picture from a friend on his lunch break of wall to wall crowds! Gross! Lol.



Gorgeous pictures!! Can't wait to read more!

Lol, don't worry I understand you skipping the city parts - this is a Disney blog after all and people want to read about Disney here Universal Singapore was great, and I was surprised by that as it was probably my least anticipated park of the trip.

I loved Hong Kong Disneyland too, though the original parts could have been done a little better in my opinion, but yes Mystic Manor and BGMRMC (or whatever the acronym should be) were amazing, some of the best Disney attractions of all time! That plus the new Iron Man Ride make the park completely worth a visit, I would ride all those three attractions over and over again. When the park gets the announced marvel land and new castle I think I'm going to need to go back, and luckily for us it's the easiest and cheapest of the Disneyland's for us to visit! Do you have the Vlog from BGMRMC? I would love to see that and the reaction to the ride, it will take me back! There were no wire performers in the Festival of the Lion King, though there was a ribbon performer (the white bird flew on a ribbon) but only that one performer. I guess you could say it's the same thing but I usually distinguish between the two (ribbon work is a lot more difficult I believe!). The show was great, but you are right, the US version is better.

The Cheesecake Factory is amazing, Jared has been saying for years we could make so much money if we franchised it in Australia. You're Canadian then, that's awesome, I still haven't been but would love to visit your beautiful country one day! It's definitely on the travel wish list (which still includes Canada, Europe and UK and New Zealand). I'm surprised to hear about your struggles with Photopass, we had such an incredible experience with it, and with the Photopass app on my phone it was SO easy to find and review our photos. We did buy Photopass plus in advance, and got a little confused about how to active it in our account, but once that was sorted (and it was easy to find English info on the website as to how to sort it) it was easy for us. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.

Yes someone else recently informed me that they met Aurora before heading into the Banquet Hall, so perhaps they swap between Princesses and the Fab Five characters - it makes a bit more sense for a Royal Banquet Hall, though I did wonder if they did it that way cos they had the Princess meet and green right next door. POTC was completely mind blowing! I'm pretty sure I'll never come across someone who didn't love it completely! Disney needs to bring it to it's US parks. As classic as POTC is I'm pretty sure that no one, not even the most purist of Disney fanatics, could complain if it replaced the original POTC!

Yes the crowds that Friday were INSANE, but the other days we visited weren't as bad, and we were really glad we had the four days as it took the pressure off, especially given how busy the park was.

I hope you continue reading along

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 10 - Part 1 - Lost in the Yu Bazaar

We had four days total at Shanghai Disneyland (three full days and a half day), but on the Saturday we had a break in between those four days at the park and headed out to see some of Shanghai proper. Honestly, I didn't think I would think much of Shanghai, hence why we set so little time aside for it. I've never had much of a desire to see China, and our visit to Shanghai was solely for the purpose of visiting Shanghai Disney (otherwise it never would have been included in our itinerary). I was very much surprised to find that we completely fell in love with Shanghai, and the places we saw and that this was one of our favourite days our whole trip! Part of the reason why this day ended up being so wonderful had a lot to do with our incredible guide for the day, Sophie Lee of China Panda Tours (we had booked her through a company called Shanghai Highlights). She was incredible, knowledgeable, fun and so personable, having her there to handle transportation, show us around and tell us about what we were seeing made our day 100% more enjoyable! It cost us about $500 USD to hire Sophie for the entire day, but it was money well spent (and included entrance to everything we saw, transportation costs etc). I think that touring Shanghai on our own, without an English speaking guide, would have been pretty scary given that it's hard to communicate with anyone in English. I'll talk about how well we did on our own before we met Sophie at 12 in a bit, but I get ahead of myself!

We started our day out, as we weren't in a hurry to get to the park, at about 8:30am, heading to the Toy Story Hotel food court. This area is fun, bright and colourful, and I spent some time roaming it and taking pictures, which including the outdoor dining area and the giant statue of Buzz Lightyear outside one of the doors.

















The food was only ok, much like any other Disney value hotel food court, but we got to eat so we were happy!

Then we headed off on a bus to the Shanghai Disneyland train station. The station itself was quite confusing, there were 4 entrance doors and only one you were actually allowed to enter through. We bought our tickets on one side of the building and had to walk all the way around to the other to get into the train station, even though there was a door right in front of the ticketing machine! It was weird, and I guess security was the reason they only had one door open, but why not have the door near the ticketing machines as the one open! We did have to go through a metal detector and bag scan to enter the train station as well. Anyway, the Shanghai subway, like all the subways we experience in Asia, was incredible! On time, easy to use, plus it had a really cool added feature whereby advertisements were somehow shown out the window of the train as you moved through the subway tunnels! Proper moving advertisements too that somehow kept up with the speed of the train and were watchable and understandable as you moved at speed! There must have been long lengths of LCD screens on the walls of the subway, but how they got the adds to keep up with the train I'm not sure! I did take a video of this, but now can't find it unfortunately, so you'll have to live with my description!

We arrived in Shanghai at about 10:30 and were planning to make our way towards the Yu Yuan Bazaar and Gardens before meeting Sophie at 12:00pm. You'll notice it was a perfect sunny and clear day in Shanghai, no smog, no fumes, just perfect weather!







The Yu Yuan district is Shanghai's original business centre, the hub of the old Chinese economy in the city and the area itself is around 500 years old! It's incredible, and looks just like you'l imagine old China to look! We enjoyed walking through towards the Yu Bazaar, however without a guide we did find it extremely hard to find the Yu Bazaar and Gardens, not realising that these are a labyrinth of narrow shopping malls/laneways within the walls of the district, with entrances that are deceptive because they look like narrow laneways that just lead from one road to another! Here's an example of one





When we finally found our way into the Bazaar we only had about 45 minutes before we had to meet Sophie, and we spent a lot of it wandering trying to find the entrance to the Yu Gardens (which we didn't end up seeing because we ran out of time). Still the Bazaar is INCREDIBLE! I was happy just to explore it! I was also loving the lanterns strung everywhere for Chinese New Year.









Year of the Rooster decorations were everywhere





This was the entrance to the Yu Gardens (it's really hard to find, and by the way the ticketing window is nowhere near it!)



Because we found out we had to buy tickets Jared decided to go see if he could find the ticketing window and I just sat down on the steps near the entrance to wait for him. While I was waiting a lovely old lady and a middle aged man came up and tried to have a conversation with me. Obviously I don't speak Mandarin, and their English was not great, so it was more gestures but it was beautiful that they tried

There were little market stalls everywhere in the Bazaar, and I really wanted to buy my Shanghai magnet before we had to meet Sophie. It was getting closer to 12 and Jared wasn't back and I was getting nervous. I took probably a million photos of the little laneway I was waiting in but this is the only survivour (I love the way the butterfly and bird kites are blowing in the breeze!)



Jared finally made his way, and we bought our magnet, and two faux jade lions as a small souvenir of China. I hadn't realised that lions, symbols of power and protection, always come in pairs as a symbol of Ying and Yang (duality), and they guard entrance ways together. There is also always a male and female lion. Anyway, I thought I was buying one lion but ended up with two!

The lady who I bought the lions from also gave me this jade pendant, which she told me was for good luck for the new year, a very sweet token from her!



We had to find the Starbucks within the Bazaar, as that's where we were meeting Sophie. There were a lot of people around, and there were a few Starbucks, but luckily Sophie had told us to find the one near the zig-zag bridge, which we did. We were slightly early, so we took a few more photos.



Zig-Zag bridges are built as Chinese Taoists believe evil spirts can only walk in a straight line, and that if you cross a river of waterway they can't follow you over a zig-zag bridge. The zig-zag bridge in Yu Bazaar is quite old (though I can't really remember how old) and is very small. When we saw it it was packed full of people!





We found Sophie quite easily after that (or rather I should say she found us, it wasn't hard given I'm pretty sure we were the only two Westerners around and she new she was looking for Australians). We were heading out of the Yu Yuan Bazaar and off to the Zhujiajiao Ancient Water Town, so Sophie lead us out of the labyrinth of shops and ancient buildings and out to a private car that we had for the day! We had had a great introduction to Shanghai, and it only got better from here.

Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 10 - Part 2 - Ying and Yang, visiting Kezhi Garden

We were on our way to the Zhujiajiao Ancient Water Town with our wonderful guide Sophie Lee. We discussed lots of things on the hour journey down to the Water Town (I'll omit writing out Zhujiajiao whenever I can as it's long and annoying to type!), but I don't remember much. We did learn that the area of Shanghai is around 1000 years old, when it begun as a small province. The name means city above water, and that while it's now one of the most technically advanced cities in the world, it only began to industrialise in the mid 20th century! Other interesting things that I remember include learning that there is no such thing as investing in multiple properties in China (you are only allowed to own 1 house) and that single women can't own property (a little backward if you ask me!). Sufficed to say by the end of that car journey we felt like old friends and were excited for our tour of Zhujiajiao.

The first place Sophie wanted to show us was the Kezhi Garden. We had been sad about missing the Yu Yuan Garden, thinking it was a public garden within the Yu Bazaar, however Sophie advised us that Chinese Gardens are private gardens, or at least were original private gardens, often owned by wealth land barons. While the Yu Yuan garden was older, we didn't feel like we'd missed out on seeing a Chinese garden after experiencing Kenzhi Garden. The garden was built within the Ming Chin Dynasty, the last of the Imperial Dynasties in China and construction began in 1912, and took approx 15 years to finish. The garden encompasses many of the families original living spaces, including the guest receiving room, private quarters, and outdoor kitchen and a private theatre, where shows were put on for the family and their friends right within their own backyard! The original owner was a follower of the Taoist (original Chinese) religion and many elements of the design and architecture of the garden reflect this. For example elements of Ying and Yang (duality) can be seen throughout the design. There is a zig-zag bridge (to ward off evil spirits) and moon bridges used to create the moon shape through duality when the bridge is reflected in the water.

Sophie explained that Chinese architecture, and even Chinese society, culture and government all use elements of Taoist teachings to influence how they live, plan and create things. Even the architecture of the houses, which is so fluid between the indoor and outdoor areas, and the way the gardens are structured around and through the living spaces, is an example of this. Actually this garden, and house, was so interesting in the way that it intertwined the living space with the outdoor gardens, almost like there was no 'indoor' and no 'outdoor' but just one big house featuring both.

The original house would have had 100s of buildings, and sat on a large are of farmland, however much of the original house was destroyed during the second world war. The last thing I found fascinating was that, even as late as the early 20th century, this house, and the farmland surrounding it, operated within a feudal system, where fealty was paid to the rich landowner by the people who worked the land, in exchange for protection of those lands from enemies (for those who've studied history like me you'll know this was the way of life in Europe in Medieval times, but I found it fascinating this type of government/cultural model still existed in China within the last century!). Anyway, now that you have the backstory, check out the pictures.



Here we have an example of how the indoor and outdoor flowed into each other. The screen you can see blocked a wide entrance way with no door, and the windows were wood worked beams completely open to the outdoor air (it would have gotten hot in the muggy Shanghai summers!)



The outdoor gardens were just stunning, clearly every single part was thought through and designed. There was water everywhere because water equals prosperity in Chinese culture, and fish are a symbol of wealth.









Here was the private theatre used by the family



More examples of the use of water to create beautiful reflections, this was my favourite part of the garden! The water was so still it was like a mirror!









A small moon bridge





The zig zig bridge









Having our wonderful guide Sophie to explain the historical, cultural and religious aspects of what we were seeing made the whole experience so much more enjoyable for us. Learning about this beautiful place we were visiting, and it's architecture and history was so much more worthwhile than just seeing it, and having no idea what it was. This is why having Sophie along with us added so much value to our day, the things we were able to learn and experience were so much greater than if we had just been touring this area and garden on our own. And on that note, we continued onto the only remaining part of what would have been the start of the farmland surrounding the house. This included some small rice paddocks, vege patches and the outdoor kitchen where servants would have prepared meals. It was fascinating to get a glimpse into the way of life lived by these Chinese people only just over 100 years ago.

The structure with the thatched roof was the outdoor kitchen.



The veges grown in the garden today would have been similar to the vegetables grown in the early 20th century by the servants and serfs working the lands around the house



A look inside the kitchen



This structure had something to do with bats, though I can't remember exactly why or what the bats represented. It was high enough to look over the entire property though.



And here we have the full moon bridge - which was beautiful







The whole garden was stunningly beautiful, and definitely one of the highlights of our trip!





Continued in Next Post...

 

[elcmum]

I can't wait for more! The history and symbolism is truly amazing!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Am only up to page 2, but are scrolling through your post and loving it. The pictures are spectacular. I'm particularly fond of the one of the white tiger with the gorgeous eyes.
Looks so far like a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Hard to believe in less than 24 hours your quiet park day became a crazy and crowded day! I have read some articles about the rude and at times gross behavior of some of the guests at SDL. The pictures around the park are amazing and the Tarzan show looks lovely.

I am really enjoying the city tour and learning about the Chinese gardens, looks beautiful. The guide sounds like a great way to explore and learn the most about what you were seeing.

 

[katt789]

We are lucky in Australia that we get 4 weeks annual leave, and in this case I was actually on 13 weeks Long Service Leave when we went for four weeks, so we had lot of time to see and do all we wanted. We acknowledge how incredibly blessed and lucky we are to be able to travel this way, and we love doing trips about 4 weeks in length, because it gives us time to do and see a lot!

Nighttime photography is hard for sure, and honestly I'm just so grateful I have Jared because he has really learnt how to use a camera to get it to perform to it's best. I think that's really the key for night photography, you really need to learn to use your camera on full manual mode, what settings are right for certain circumstances. But to answer your other questions, yes we do use a tripod for night photography (any night shot will look 100 times better with a long exposure) except of course in cases where things were moving (such as Paint the Night and Ignite the Dream) and then it was hand held, but we have a Canon 6D, which is a entry level full frame camera which is capable of handling higher ISOs (bumping the ISO on a camera that can't handle it is what makes night shots grainy). We have a Tamron f2.8 24mm-70mm lens, which we use for most things, and a basic Sigma zoom lens (I think it's f4.5-5.6 70mm-300mm). We do want to invest in a few more lens (maybe a prime, a wide angle and a fish eye lens) but for now the two we have do the job. Lenses capable of lower apertures (i.e. ones that go to f1.8-2.8, will be better for hand held night photography). At Tokyo Disney we couldn't use a tripod (they are banned) but still wanted to get a lot of long exposures, so we bought something called a green pod photography bean bag - a stabling device we could sit on railings, benches, ledges, even the ground which did an incredible job for us! You do have to let the beans settle before taking shots though otherwise it can cause movement and camera blur! At Hong Kong Disneyland we stayed about 1.5 hours after closing to get those empty Main Street shots, however for the rest of the park we were taking photos mostly when the park was still open. The key again is long exposures. You can have people walk through your shots but they blurr and ghost so you can't see them. And as long as there aren't too many people you can't tell they are there. At Shanghai Disney, for example we didn't try and stay past opening at all (and as a result got no photos of Mickey Avenue at night - too many people streaming out of it when we left for a decent shot, one of my only regrets of the trip). You don't really have to stay late, just be smart with your angles, find foregrounds that are close enough to your shot people won't walk in front of your camera and use your tripod for long exposures

Thanks for the lovely compliments of the pictures, I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Awesome!!! Thank you so much!!! I've had my Canon T5 for about 2 years now, and am still figuring things out, lol, especially for nighttime stuff! I've got a 50mm f1.8 lens, but it'd be so nice to have a lens with a lower aperture that had different focal lengths, or even one that was a bit smaller than 50mm lol!! I'll have to check out the bean bag!! Seems like something that would definitely come in useful!!

 

[YawningDodo]

I've been up late the last few nights reading this report and enjoying the heck out of it -- tons of gorgeous photos, and I really like your writing style. I've got a personal goal to visit every Disney park in the world at least once, so it's nice to see a detailed report from someone who's done the Asian parks even though they're probably still several years off for me (going to head to Paris next after the original Disneyland, partly because it's the easiest of the foreign parks for me to reach and partly because I expect it to be the most underwhelming). I bookmarked your pre-trip report...bound to be things that are different since I'm based in the USA, but still very interested in piggybacking off your research. Never been to Asia unless you count my trip to Russia (I don't; I studied abroad in St. Petersburg and that area is very European), so it's all a bit intimidating.

I didn't have the Asian Universal parks in my plans, but you've got me reconsidering because even your non-park days in Singapore look like they were a blast! Really looking forward to seeing how the two of you made out in Japan.

 

[RachelleBeaney]

I can't wait for more! The history and symbolism is truly amazing!

Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying reading along - yes the things we learnt about the history and culture of China on our day visit to Shanghai and Zhujiajiao were fascinating!

Am only up to page 2, but are scrolling through your post and loving it. The pictures are spectacular. I'm particularly fond of the one of the white tiger with the gorgeous eyes.
Looks so far like a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, I'm really glad you are enjoying the pictures That white tiger was so gorgeous Jared wanted to jump in to his enclosure, even if it was the last thing he did! We did have a wonderful time, I'm glad you are enjoying reading along.

Hard to believe in less than 24 hours your quiet park day became a crazy and crowded day! I have read some articles about the rude and at times gross behaviour of some of the guests at SDL. The pictures around the park are amazing and the Tarzan show looks lovely

I am really enjoying the city tour and learning about the Chinese gardens, looks beautiful. The guide sounds like a great way to explore and learn the most about what you were seeing.

The crowds at Shanghai Disney were strange (busier on a Friday and Monday than the weekend, quite one day and then exploding with crowds the next). I'd say it's probably going to be hard to predict the best days times to visit as clearly the Chinese holiday and tourist practices differ. Still avoiding 3 weeks before and after Chinese New Year will be my new motto (plus whenever their summer holidays are!). Yes the behaviour wasn't always great, but I think it's important to remember we look at it with our Western lenses on. That kind of thing is apparently normal in Chinese culture. I don't agree that it's right, and that Disney shouldn't try and encourage better behaviour, particular when it relates to the safety of their CM's and the blatant cheating of rules by certain guest, but I also realise they have a huge cultural challenge on their hands. While it was frustrating for us at times it is by no means a deterrent for me if we ever want to return to the park again, and I guess I'll be more prepared next time!

Our guide Sophie was amazing, and definitely helped enhance our time in Shanghai and Zhujiajiao.

Awesome!!! Thank you so much!!! I've had my Canon T5 for about 2 years now, and am still figuring things out, lol, especially for nighttime stuff! I've got a 50mm f1.8 lens, but it'd be so nice to have a lens with a lower aperture that had different focal lengths, or even one that was a bit smaller than 50mm lol!! I'll have to check out the bean bag!! Seems like something that would definitely come in useful!!

Well good luck with it all. When you work it out I'm sure you'll get great results

I've been up late the last few nights reading this report and enjoying the heck out of it -- tons of gorgeous photos, and I really like your writing style. I've got a personal goal to visit every Disney park in the world at least once, so it's nice to see a detailed report from someone who's done the Asian parks even though they're probably still several years off for me (going to head to Paris next after the original Disneyland, partly because it's the easiest of the foreign parks for me to reach and partly because I expect it to be the most underwhelming). I bookmarked your pre-trip report...bound to be things that are different since I'm based in the USA, but still very interested in piggybacking off your research. Never been to Asia unless you count my trip to Russia (I don't; I studied abroad in St. Petersburg and that area is very European), so it's all a bit intimidating.

I didn't have the Asian Universal parks in my plans, but you've got me reconsidering because even your non-park days in Singapore look like they were a blast! Really looking forward to seeing how the two of you made out in Japan.

Thanks so much for your lovely compliments, It's nice to know someone appreciates the way I write (I always knew people would appreciate the photos my talented husband takes!). I love your goal! It's my goal also (we still haven't done Disneyland Paris because that is the furthest and most expensive park to get to for an Australian, and I'd want to do it as part of a greater Europe and UK trip). I am sure you'll get to all the parks one day, and when you do I hope my planning and advice help you out. The Asian parks are amazing, and Singapore is definitely a great place to visit! I understand that the planning seems intimidating (I felt the same way the first time we went to Japan, and this time not knowing what to expect from China) but there are plenty of resources out there. I'd really recommend the Disney Tourist Blog. They have travel info (catering to Americans) for every Disney park world wide (they have travelled to all of them multiple times) and Tom's (the author of the blogs) photos are INCREDIBLE! They have planning info for Disneyland Paris too if that's your next trip.

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 10 - Part 3 - Ancient Waters
After visiting the garden we headed back out into the Zhujiajiao Water Town. This Ancient Water Town dates back as far as the 14th century, and it's almost like the Chinese version of venice, hundreds of small buildings, shops, homes and walkways built on a series of canals and larger waterways, except instead of classic Venetian architecture everything you see is so distinctly Chinese, and looks so ancient, slightly worn and beautiful!



Our next activity was boarding the Chinese version of a gondola. Their Chinese name literally translated to hand paddled boat, and they were steered by a long rudder controlled by a driver.



The boats were an incredible way to say the beautiful Zhujiajiao! It's hard to really describe this place so instead I'll let the photos do it for me.















This was the famous fish bridge! The large openings are meant to evoke fish scales, and as the fish is linked to wealth and prosperity the bridge is considered lucky. This was the largest bridge in the water town (and as you can see, it wasn't that big) and it is scary to walk across (but more on that later!).









Look at the intricate detail of this beautiful wooden bridge!



As you may be able to tell from these pictures the perfect weather had held for us! Blue skies and 0 smog is apparently rare in Shanghai, and we were very grateful for such a beautiful day!



The cruise didn't take too long, only about 30 minutes. We went through the main canals and then headed into the shopping/market area of the water town, back past the fish bridge.







Our next stop was a small local restaurant for some authentic Chinese dumplings. Though I had been trying to avoid gluten most of the trip I did have a few cheat days, and this was one of them, because how can you not eat dumplings from a small and very local restaurant in such a small and local (albeit touristy) part of China.

The dumplings were pork, and they came in a delicious soup. Sophie of course recommended this place for us, telling us the story of how her mum used to bring her for dumplings as a treat when she was young. Along with the dumplings we also ordered pork noodle (also in soup) and two 'Chinese' pizza's - the first was pork and vegetable and the second was sweet and cinnamon! They were great!

Pork dumplings


Pork noodle


Chinese pizza




Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 10 - Part 4 - Strolling local markets

Our next, and final activity in Zhujiajiao was to take a stroll through the many market lane ways. I'm so glad we had a guide here, as these narrow streets (full of local market stalls selling local crafts, jewellery, carvings, pottery and food) were again like a labyrinth (similar to the Yu Bazaar) and we would have got very lost without Sophie! She showed us a lot of local produce and hand made souvenirs, explaining things about the food and the artistry behind it all. I hugely regret that I didn't buy a beautiful and intricate wood carving that I had my eye on, Jared was worried about having something to declare at customs though (as it turns out we bought something wooden in Japan and had to declare it anyway!).

The area was so beautiful! One of the most fascinating places we visited was a local Chinese Apothecary, who still provided ancient Chinese herbal remedies to the people living in the water town. Apparently locals today still prefer this than taking Western medicines, and the place looked like an Apothecary you'd expect to find in medieval Europe! Check it out:



After this is was back out into the market lanes, over tiny bridges overlooking canals with a surprising number of coffee shops (coffees shops have apparently become quite big in china recently) and a lot of ramshackle local dwellings.



This particular scene was so beautiful we decided to take shot pictures of us! Here I am



This was our wonderful guide, Sophie Lee



And Jared and I finally got a picture together (other than Shanghai Disney, where there were ample Photopass photographers, we hadn't had a lot of photos together yet!)



Below are some pictures of the narrow lane ways I was referring to.



Isn't it quaint! Aside from a few elements of distinctly Chinese design I felt like I could have been in a small medieval town in Europe (though of course I've never actually been to Europe, it's just what I've imagined from movies and seen in the photos of people I've known who've visited I'm referencing here!)



There were even cobblestones! And a parrot!



Back out on the water things were a bit more spacious



Here's that beautiful wooden bridge again!



Looking over the water town





This was a map of Zhuijiajiao and it gives you an idea of how big and convoluted the place is!



We were back at the entrance to the water town where we'd started our tour, but Sophie advised there was one more thing we should do before grabbing our car back to Shanghai city, and that was walk the famous fish bridge. And so we did! And wow did it make me nervous. To give you an idea of how precarious this bridge was, it was probably about 2-3m (6.5-10 feet for my American friends) in width, it was extremely steep and the steps were slightly uneven in height (it was quite old) and there were NO guard railings or any railings on the edge of the bridge, the only barrier between you and the water below was at about knew height! Plus the bridge was PACKED (and this is China, where people push with little thought in tight spaces), as the bridge is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area, with views over the main canals of the water town. Clearly OSH regulations are not a thing in China, as I'm sure in Australia there would have been some kind of safety requirement to put up the necessary safety railings to stop people falling off! I stayed close to the centre of the bridge, freaking out slightly (heights are not my favourite thing) but Jared was more adventurous, getting right up close to the edge of the bridge for photos (that did make my nervous of course!). Anyway, I think it paid off, he got some beautiful shots!



The sun was beginning to set over the water, it was very beautiful!





And with that we said goodbye to Zhujiajiao, and headed back towards our car



We loved the water town, the history, ancient buildings, waterways, bridges, local markets and food make it a must see place when you visit Shanghai! It's just such a beautiful example of a section of modern China still displaying remnants of the architecture and culture from a more ancient time! People still live in a very similar way to how they would have done 500 years ago, and we saw examples of this in people washing their clothes in the canals and living in tiny traditional homes above their market stalls.

As we were heading out towards the car we saw this fascinating trend - a blanket with arm holes to keep you warm on your scooter (since so many people in China ride scooters I guess it makes sense!). It was adorable!



Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 10 - Part 5 - Shanghai's Lights Part 1

By the time we arrived back in Shanghai, night had fallen. Our next destination was the famous Nanjing Road, Shanghai's main shopping destination. It was beautifully lit up at night, though not really that interesting as it simply contained the kind of high end shopping you can find anywhere in the world (of course that's not our thing but for people who enjoy it they'd probably love Nanjing Road). We split up from Sophie and this point to go grab some dinner (we ended up finding a KFC and having chicken, very boring I know) and as she left Sophie warned us not to stop and chat with people as there were a lot of hustlers in this busy and touristy part of the city.

Back outside on the street we got some pictures of the night lights











As we wandered (looking clearly like tourists) a lady and her friend came up and began to chat with us. I was a bit nervous about this at first, given Sophie's advice, but Jared's bag is pretty theft proof (one of the amazing features of the Everyday Backpack by Peak Design - we are so grateful we bought it for this trip). Anyway, back to the subject at hand, the lady who stopped to talk to us spoke excellent English, and had even been to Australia and seemed to want to chat about where we were from and what we thought of her city. Her friend was not able to speak any English and so the lady who was communicating with us translated for us. About 5 minutes into the conversation the lady asked me if it would be ok for her friend to have her picture taken with Jared and I, as she was up from the country and not only was it her first time to a big city, she'd never seen a Westerner before in her life! This floored me completely (as I believe I mentioned in an earlier post) and so we agreed to the picture. Afterwards they left and I still couldn't get my head around what I'd heard! It reminded me that though China has come a long way towards industrialisation there are still very rural local areas where people have no experience with the outside world! It's really fascinating for someone who is as lucky as I to have been born in a country like Australia, where we tend to take our wonderful multiculturalism for granted and where our lens to the outside world is not filtered or non-existent!

Our next and final stop was The Bund harbour for our Huangpu River Cruise. This cruise was to allow us to see the beautiful Shanghai city lights in all their glory. We were on a huge boat, with lots of levels and viewing platforms with which to see the city.

The first part of the cruise we sat at a very comfy table with Sophie and chatted about the city and some of it's tourist attractions (including a viewing platform at the top of the Shanghai TV Tower with a clear perspex floor that allows you to make it look like you are 'flying' over the city - we were bummed to miss that one!). Sophie also showed us some of her amazing pictures (she was quite the photographer as well) including some incredible shots of the city from one of her favourite buildings in The Bund for views (we were also bummed we missed that!). After chatting with her we came to the conclusion there were so many more things we would have liked to have seen and done in Shanghai that we really had to put it on our list of places to return to one day!

It was incredible to learn from Sophie that the Pudong side of the river (where you could find most of the more modern and recognisable of Shanghai's famous buildings, such as it's famous TV tower) was swamp land until the early 90's! Sophie explained to us that the Old Shanghai City and the Bund (on the west bank) was originally the place to live, being more expensive and having better amenities than Pudong, however this is rapidly changing as Pudong New Area is now the place to be, having become the financial hub of modern China.

Sophie also pointed out a number of Shanghai's most famous landmarks for us, and explained a little about their history! Most of the famous landmark buildings are on the Pudong side of the river, including the Shanghai TV Tower (the narrow tower with cylindrical bubbles at various intervals of it's length which was apparently designed to evoke pearls), The Shanghai World Financial Centre (with a top that looks like a bottle opener) and the Shanghai Tower, the tallest building in Shanghai.

The architecture of Shanghai is so unique, and the lights so bright and beautiful that I can honestly say it is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen at night. I think the views from The Bund over the Pudong bank of the river epitomise Shanghai, and have become so iconic of China, that I connected with the city much more than I did with Hong Kong. Even though Hong Kong was beautiful and had more lights than I'd ever seen in a city, it was nothing compared to Shanghai's bright and vibrant city skyline! During the second half of our cruise we abandoned Sophie (poor thing) to take pictures of the beautiful city of Shanghai! I have so many photos from the river cruise that this is going to become two posts, so here we go!

The building with the bubble you can see in the background here is the Shanghai TV tower.







All the ships that were out on the river that evening were also lit up beautifully!





I particularly loved this boat that looked like a floating Chinese temple!



Looking towards both banks of the River, you can see the West Bank (Old Shanghai) on the right, and the East Bank (Pudong) on the left.





I LOVED the TV Tower, it was so unique!



Here you can see the tower with the blue lights with the bottle opener top, which is the Shanghai Financial Centre, and next to it, hidden behind a few other buildings, Shanghai's tallest building the Shanghai Tower





Beams of light were radiating off the TV Tower making it light up the night sky!







I think this was one of my favourite views of the Pudong side of the river!



This is now looking back towards The Bund and Old Shanghai



Given how enchanted I was with the beautiful city lights I had to have a picture!



Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 10 - Part 6 - Shanghai Lights - Part 2

And so we continued taking pictures of the beautiful Shanghai cityscapes we could see from our Huangpu River Cruise.

















We loved these I love Shanghai lights (we were in agreement, we really loved Shanghai)















As the cruise drew to a close we had to have a selfie with the wonderful Sophie!



Before we headed back to Disney we wanted to take a few long exposures of the city. We were a bit too far around to get the city at it's best angle here, but you can really see that the Shanghai Tower is the tallest building in Shanghai from this angle!





Sophie was kind enough to see us to our train stop and make sure we were aware the quickest and easiest way to get back to the Disney resort (turns out we went the long way around on our way in). We thanked her profusely for the wonderful service she'd provided us all day! We really had had the most wonderful day exploring Shanghai and Zhujiajiao and our time in both places had exceeded our expectations in every way!

Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 11 - Part 1 - A morning of #winning

So, after our nightmare day on Friday we had decided to make sure we arrived at the park super early on Sunday in order to avoid more pain! We planned to be at Shanghai Disneyland at 7:15am for the 9am opening. This may seem a little extreme (showing up an hour and 45 minutes earlier than park opening) but given the lines at 8:15am (45 minutes before opening) on the Friday, we thought it was better to be safe than sorry. Unsurprisingly, there were already people waiting at security when we arrive (not too many - probably around 100 or so) but still enough that we felt our decision to show up that early had been justified. We were let through security into the gates waiting area at about 7:30am. We managed to be about 4 groups back from the front of the ticketing gate we were at. Between 7:30am and 8:00am the crowds begun gushing in behind us, so we were again happy with our decision to arrive so early. At 8am, one whole hour before scheduled park opening, they let us into the park for rope drop! This was a huge surprise to me as it seemed excessive, and if you had shown up an hour early you wouldn't have even made it in to rope drop I'd say (they only let a certain number of people in and the rest were held behind the entrance gates).

There were a few people ahead of us running in the park at this point, which was a bit weird for a rope drop, but there weren't too many people around! It was a beautiful day, blue skies, perfect weather, so we fully expected the park to be crazy busy again!





Our our way to the rope drop holding area we saw Shanghai Minnie - she was adorable!



We were lucky enough to get a spot in the front section of the rope drop. If that sentences doesn't make sense to you never fear, Shanghai's rope drop and opening processes didn't end up making sense to us either, and we couldn't 100% figure it out even after a few days at the park. It appears that they let a certain number of people into the area just in front of Gardens of the Imagination near the partners statue, and once this area is "full" another rope set up at the top of the narrowing part of Mickey Avenue. When I say full, the area was by no means wall to wall people, it appears they had a number of people they would allow into that first rope drop area before closing it off to any guests. With people in the first rope drop in front of Gardens of the Imagination, more people in a rope drop holding area on Mickey Avenue, and further people still being held at the gates it was almost like there were three separate rope drops! I'm not sure how this process is managed, but it was very different from any other rope drops I've seen.

Rather than try and fight for a position on the rope lines leading towards either Tomorrowland or Adventure Isle, Jared and I opted to wander in the middle of rope drop and got these incredible un-obstructed and people free views of the castle and Gardens of the Imagination! Some nasty looking clouds had started rolling in at this point, but they didn't dampen our mood!









We waited for a while and then, to our great surprise, at 8:30am (half an hour before scheduled opening) the ropes were removed and we were let into the park! This was so strange, as I double checked the Shanghai Disneyland app and opening was definitely listed as 9am, plus there is no "early entry" scheme advertised at Shanghai Disney. It was like they looked at the crowds and decided to start operating half an hour early. While it was good for us, because we arrived so early, it would have been a bummer for people who had arrived planning for a 9am opening and already found themselves half an hour behind the crowds! I couldn't understand it at all, and I'm not sure if it's normal practice but my new advice for this park is show up 1.5 - 2 hours early at Shanghai Disney just to be safe! Perhaps anyone else reading whose visited can advise me if they had a similar experience (especially during the business of opening week?). Like I said, I do not understand Shanghai Disneyland's opening processes!

When the ropes were dropped we joined the throngs of people rushing (and sometimes running) towards Adventure Isle. We, like most other people, were trying to conquer Soaring Over the Horizon (the most popular attraction at the park) before waits sky-rocketed to 2 plus hours! We were lucky as it seemed everyone was clamouring towards the Fastpass line, so we decided to head straight to the attraction. It only had a posted 10 minute wait when we arrived (score!).



This is not something you'll normally see at this attraction!



We had yet to experience the upgraded version of Soaring at Disney World, and this was our first time with the "new" ride (though we'd done the original Soarin' plenty). Shanghai has added to this attraction with an incredible queue, beautifully themed. I believe the premise here is that you are entering the dwelling of an ancient tribe, and you are able to visit other worlds through the tribes magic portal.





The ceiling in the main waiting room is stunning!







We were basically off the ride at 9am as the park was supposed to be opening and the wait was already at about 90 minutes when we exited! We enjoyed the new version of the ride, however I don't think it is as good as the original. There seemed to be less movement, less swooping and soaring and more "hovering" where you just sort of fly into and then hover over a given scene. The scents were great, and I enjoyed some of the digital effects (especially the Orca in Antarctica) and most of the much lamented digital work didn't bother me, except for the scene of the Taj Mahal, which I'm of the view that if they couldn't film it they shouldn't have included it! I was disappointed by the end of the attraction here. While I assume the Disneyland/Disney World versions still include a fly over of the parks as the finale scene, Shanghai's final scene is a fly over of Shanghai city. It isn't as magical or awe inspiring as a fly over of the park, and a fly over of Shanghai Disney as an ending here would be INCREDIBLE! I first thought, when I found out this was the end scene for Shanghai's version of the ride, that it might be a place holder until the park opened and they could film the appropriate material for a fly over of Shanghai Disneyland. However, it was a good 7 months after opening and they hadn't updated it (perhaps taking down the parks most popular ride for the time it would take to update this scene is not worth it for the park). Still, I began to wonder if this finale was chosen as locals who saw it would feel a sense of pride and connection to their city, but would necessarily have that connection to the park yet? Either way it disappointed me!

When we were done with Soaring we decided to join the Fastpass line for, yes you guessed it, Soaring! We knew this was the one day of our trip Fastpasses would be available, we didn't want to have to fight crowds again the next day to ride it and wanted to prioritise other things, so we just decided to get it over with twice that Sunday (we did really want to ride twice, so we must have enjoyed it for the most part!). We joined the Fastpass line just after 9am (official park opening) and it was HUGE! I have never seen a Fastpass line so long (not even for Radiator Racers when we visited that park a few months after the ride opened in September 2012). It took us about 25 minutes just to grab a Fastpass for this! The line snaked and wound around and just when you thought the end must be near there was more line! They really do need a better way to distribute Fastpasses at this park!

Anyway, waiting in line for a Fastpass for that long inevitably spurns some amount of boredom, so I began taking photos of our view from the line! At least it was a scenic wait!









When we finally got our Fastpasses it was for 6pm - 7pm (and this was approx 30 minutes after opening). In another 10 or so minutes I would say Fastpasses would have been gone (the park was only open until 8) yet they didn't seem to be stopping people getting in the Fastpass line, so I would imagine many people would find themselves waiting for ages only to discover all Fastpasses had been sold out for the day. Though we had to wait far too long for these passes, we considered ourselves extremely lucky to have gotten passes at all, and having already had a chance to ride the most popular attraction in the park that day! So far, we were pleased with our new touring strategy for Shanghai Disneyland (show up ridiculously early!).

After getting our Fastpass for Soaring we made our way towards TRON. We knew we could do single rider here to minimise the wait, so we thought it would be a good choice, even though wait times were already soaring to around 1 hour or more for most attractions in the park. We headed through Gardens of the Imagination, pausing for a few pictures as we went (we could never resist taking photos!).



A cherry blossom!



The mean looking clouds had drifted away and it was once again a beautiful day







As corny as it sounds, we really felt like we were #winning Shanghai Disneyland today - our plans were going so well!

Continued in Next Post...

 

[Beccybooboo]

I am back. I knew it would take me a while to read your report so I wanted to make sure I would have the time to do so properly- not just speed read and skim through enjoying mostly the visual aspects.
So I got up early this morning and spent 4hrs reading your trip report until your last post.
A while ago i told you that you were making me want to visit Asia again and experience the Disney there too. Well add to that universal aswell now haha. Even though you have made me feel as though I already have.
Great job I am blown away with the detail (and photos of course) you have provided. Your TR is very well written. The time and effort you have put in is very evident, it was like a good book I couldn't put down. It was great to read another Aussie couples Disney experiences who are as facinated with Disney as we are.
I am from Melbourne. I have been to your lovely city Perth it is an amazing place. I was lucky enough to have a guide while there as I had gone for my very good friends wedding (she is from Perth) and she gladly spent her time with me showing me around after the wedding as she was so happy that I had made the trip with her to her home town for the bigday and she wanted to show me all the things she knew I would love. I was very grateful.
Anyway back to your trip. As there is so much I could say about your wonderful adventures I think I will just comment on a few things that I have to comment on.

First of all I am another Hardrock fan.
I terribly miss the one we had in Melbourne so on our last trip to Orlando it was one of the things I had to do and was so excited about. It did not disappoint. It was huge and I was in heaven.
Best restaurant concept ever, good food, great atmosphere and music history and memorabilia.

Universal. Wow. We had our first universal experience in Orlando (spoilt) it was awesome.
Singapore has been one of my favourite cities I have visited even though I was only a child I loved it. I would love take the family here and experience Universal and this beautiful city. Human vs Cylon looks amazing and being battlestar galactica fans we would love to ride this ride. Maybe I could make this happen when we eventually make it to Japan this is one of our travelling destinations that is a must for our family that wont be just about Disney. It will also be about the Culture, History and Landscape and enjoying the whole country. That and route 66...Oneday.

Those dimsum. Yum. So creative I love it.

Chili I had never heard of this chain. As we love food will have to check this one out.
Why dont we have good places like this in Australia.

Metal birds love show.
Sorry cant remenber what it was called. This looks amazing. Great photos. I love your night time shots and your ND filter with the fireworks wow.

Grizzly and Mystic manor both look like great rides.

Walking back to the resort instead of transportation. I totally get it. We also opt for this when possible waiting in the crowds isnt fun for us either, when walking can be so much quicker- especially when there is rudeness. Which brings me to my next topic.
I am sorry you had to deal with this, we also had to deal with this at Disney last Christmas in Orlando wont name the countries these people originate from but its not fun it can put a dampener on things, but you are right we need to realise that in their countries that is the way it is. They need to be pushy to survive or get noticed they dont know any better. We just have to let it go move on and focus on the positive and where we are.
Maybe its an Aussie thing we are so aware of this kind of rudeness as we dont usually come across it so maybe we are a little more sensitive to it.

Congrats on your room upgrade the rooms views are breathtaking.

And lastly Character meals. We love doing these I am glad that you enjoyed your experience. The photos you get from these and the character interaction is the best.

Looking forward to the next instalment. I will stay up to date from now on so if I comment it wont be soooo long.
Sorry for the hijack. Now time for brunch.

 

[RachelleBeaney]

I am back. I knew it would take me a while to read your report so I wanted to make sure I would have the time to do so properly- not just speed read and skim through enjoying mostly the visual aspects.
So I got up early this morning and spent 4hrs reading your trip report until your last post.
A while ago i told you that you were making me want to visit Asia again and experience the Disney there too. Well add to that universal aswell now haha. Even though you have made me feel as though I already have.
Great job I am blown away with the detail (and photos of course) you have provided. Your TR is very well written. The time and effort you have put in is very evident, it was like a good book I couldn't put down. It was great to read another Aussie couples Disney experiences who are as facinated with Disney as we are.
I am from Melbourne. I have been to your lovely city Perth it is an amazing place. I was lucky enough to have a guide while there as I had gone for my very good friends wedding (she is from Perth) and she gladly spent her time with me showing me around after the wedding as she was so happy that I had made the trip with her to her home town for the bigday and she wanted to show me all the things she knew I would love. I was very grateful.
Anyway back to your trip. As there is so much I could say about your wonderful adventures I think I will just comment on a few things that I have to comment on.

First of all I am another Hardrock fan.
I terribly miss the one we had in Melbourne so on our last trip to Orlando it was one of the things I had to do and was so excited about. It did not disappoint. It was huge and I was in heaven.
Best restaurant concept ever, good food, great atmosphere and music history and memorabilia.

Universal. Wow. We had our first universal experience in Orlando (spoilt) it was awesome.
Singapore has been one of my favourite cities I have visited even though I was only a child I loved it. I would love take the family here and experience Universal and this beautiful city. Human vs Cylon looks amazing and being battlestar galactica fans we would love to ride this ride. Maybe I could make this happen when we eventually make it to Japan this is one of our travelling destinations that is a must for our family that wont be just about Disney. It will also be about the Culture, History and Landscape and enjoying the whole country. That and route 66...Oneday.

Those dimsum. Yum. So creative I love it.

Chili I had never heard of this chain. As we love food will have to check this one out.
Why dont we have good places like this in Australia.

Metal birds love show.
Sorry cant remenber what it was called. This looks amazing. Great photos. I love your night time shots and your ND filter with the fireworks wow.

Grizzly and Mystic manor both look like great rides.

Walking back to the resort instead of transportation. I totally get it. We also opt for this when possible waiting in the crowds isnt fun for us either, when walking can be so much quicker- especially when there is rudeness. Which brings me to my next topic.
I am sorry you had to deal with this, we also had to deal with this at Disney last Christmas in Orlando wont name the countries these people originate from but its not fun it can put a dampener on things, but you are right we need to realise that in their countries that is the way it is. They need to be pushy to survive or get noticed they dont know any better. We just have to let it go move on and focus on the positive and where we are.
Maybe its an Aussie thing we are so aware of this kind of rudeness as we dont usually come across it so maybe we are a little more sensitive to it.

Congrats on your room upgrade the rooms views are breathtaking.

And lastly Character meals. We love doing these I am glad that you enjoyed your experience. The photos you get from these and the character interaction is the best.

Looking forward to the next instalment. I will stay up to date from now on so if I comment it wont be soooo long.
Sorry for the hijack. Now time for brunch.

Wow - that was quite a post - thanks so much your lovely comments and encouragement It's really good to know that people enjoy reading my reports and that they help people escape into the magic of Disney for a bit (that's the whole goal here, and if I can help you experience that in any way then I am 100% happy!).

I love Melbourne also, my parents are from Victoria (Dad's from Melbourne, Mum's from a country town near Horsham called Warracknabeal) and I was born there. We frequently go back to visit family and I reckon it's the only other city in Australia I'd be happy to live in (apart from Perth of course!). We do love Perth though, much more laid back than Melbourne, though missing some of the key elements that come with a bustling city like Melbourne! It's so nice to hear from another Aussie who loves Disney, as we understand the frustration of not living close or in the same country as any of the parks! I'm glad you enjoyed Perth, it sounds like you got a proper tour when you visited .

I COMPLETELY agree about American Family-style chain restaurants NEEDING to come to Australia. We only have 2 Hard Rock's (Gold Coast and Sydney) and I would LOVE one in Perth (Melbourne makes more sense but hey the one in Perth would be for me ). Jared and I reckon we could make a lot of money bringing the Cheesecake Factory chain to Australia! And if you ever get the chance to try Chili's do - it's awesome . I like the familiarity of these restaurants, plus the fact that they do deliver quality food at a reasonable price! And speaking of food, yes the Dim Sum was incredible, a highlight of Hong Kong Disneyland for sure.

Universal is amazing. The Orlando resort is by far the best (in my opinion) but Universal Singapore (though a lot smaller) had a lot of charm and Sentosa Island is awesome too! We also love Singapore now, and especially love it's only a short plane trip away from Perth!

Crane Dance was the name of the metal bird show, it was really beautiful! And Grizzly and Mystic Manor were both awesome attractions - Hong Kong's flagship one's if you ask me!

Yes, it is hard when you come across people acting in a way you consider rude when you are travelling, especially if it's in ways that effect yours or others safety and general fairness. Still, it's not something that is likely to change anytime soon in China, and I guess the key for me if we go back is that we will be prepared that's what we may have to encounter and deal with. There is no point complaining and wondering why things don't change when that kind of behaviour is so culturally acceptable, so your ability to deal with it and not let it ruin your day becomes key. We have also seen plenty of rude behaviour at the US parks (though perhaps not in the same kind of volume) so it does happen everywhere. People tend to get stressed and selfish at theme parks, as sad as that is!

Also thanks for all your likes on my posts - I logged in to find the largest number of notifications I've ever had - 61! All down to you

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 11 - Part 2 - Back to the Grid

So we left off as we were on our way to TRON to ride as single riders. When we arrived the single rider wait was only 5 minutes (as opposed to a 25 minute standby wait) - excellent! However, there was a GIANT line just to get into the lockers! Due to all the issues I outlined the day before it appeared that when TRON got busy, CM's managed the number of guests allowed into the locker area, and as a result a giant line had formed of people waiting to put their things in lockers! We waited approx 20 minutes just to get into the locker area! So our wait was a total of 25 minutes or the same as the posted standby wait (which would have been more like 45 minutes I'd guess!).

Anyway, single rider on TRON was a great way to get through quickly. I was riding with a friendly Chinese man who was obviously very excited to be riding the attraction (perhaps it was his first time?). It really added to my enjoyment of the ride, enjoy it with someone so clearly excited to be there! Of course we couldn't understand each other, but he had the biggest smile for me when we boarded and we gave each other multiple thumbs up once the ride finished, and just before we got off he shook me hand and said, in clipped English, that it had been nice to meet me! I have never had such a lovely interaction riding an attraction with a stranger!

We exited TRON through the interactive play area. There are some really cool elements to this section, including a Chevy formula 1 style car that looks designed for the TRON grid. Since we had our camera back from the lockers we could take pictures of it!





Back outside we decided to watch the coasters for a while and enjoy taking some photographs! This area of Tomorrowland has incredible kinetic energy, with the coaster swooshy past almost every minute, and the screams of delighted (or terrified) guests filling the air. It's a great place to people watch!

























Just as we wanted to leave Tomorrowland the parade was coming through (isn't it always the way that no matter what time of day, when you really want to get somewhere the parade always seems to be in your way). All good, we just took some pictures while we waited!







We headed through Fantasyland (taking plenty of pictures as we went - see below) towards Treasure Cove to ride pirates but it was down, AGAIN (as a side note, this seemed to be the attraction that went down the most while we visited, at lease once a day, sometimes more frequently - it is pretty technologically insane so I understand this to an extent). Instead we walked back through Fantasyland to Tomorrowland to rest near the Tomorrowland stage area.















We were mainly resting until we were eligible to get our next Fastpass, at 11:35am (it did seem that Fastpasses were only available again every 2 hours at Shanghai Disneyland, unlike at other Disney parks where you seem to be able to get them more frequently on occasion - this was part of the reason why we only managed to get 2 Fastpasses a day, as by the time we were eligible for our third, about 1:30pm, there were no Fastpasses left! It was a really busy time after all). We were debating whether we'd get a Seven Dwarves Mine Train Fastpass or a TRON Fastpass. On the one hand, TRON seemed to have shorter waits (if you didn't count the waits for the damn lockers, though you didn't always have to wait, it was a bit hit and miss) and Fastpasses weren't as high in demand, but we'd alreayd done Seven Dwarves the day before, and having rode it at Disney World too it wasn't as high on our priority list. Discovering that passes for Seven Dwarves were already at 6pm - 7pm at 11:35 made our decision for us, and we grabbed a Fastpass for TRON for 1:35pm - 2:35pm.

Once we had our Fastpasses in hand we headed over to Buzz and rode with a 20 minute wait! We both improved on our scores from the last ride, I managed 860,000 and Jared got over 1 million! Like I said, scoring on this attraction is SO much easier than on the state-side versions! We did manage to have the highest scores of the group of people whose ride photos were showing at the same time as us, so we were a little pleased with ourselves! At this point we were feeling pretty happy and chilled, happy that we'd conquered 3 rides, got 2 coveted Fastpasses all before lunch. If only we'd managed to ride Pirates we would have consider the morning to have gone perfectly. Such a departure from the stress and crowds of Friday! It seemed arriving early had really paid off for us! We had planned to have lunch at this point at Barbossa's Bounty but once again we found the parade blocking our route to Treasure Cove, so we settled for lunch at Tangled Tree Tavern!





I enjoyed a beef stir fry with rice which had a great selection of vegetables and Jared had fish and chips. I also ordered a drink called Rapunzel's refreshers, and it was delicious. I'm sorry I don't have any photos to show you (I think we were too ravenous at this point) but I believe the drink may have been similar to Le Fou's Brew at Magic Kingdom. Though I've never actually had one I've heard it's a mix of Apple and creaming soda and that's what Rapunzel's refresher tasted like.

Another reason we don't have any pictures from lunch is because we wolfed down our food as quickly as possible, as we discovered Pirates of the Caribbean was back up again, and we wanted to get to it before the lines got too long or the ride went down again!

Did we get to ride it? Find out next...

Continued in Next Post...

 

[Beccybooboo]

Wow - that was quite a post - thanks so much your lovely comments and encouragement It's really good to know that people enjoy reading my reports and that they help people escape into the magic of Disney for a bit (that's the whole goal here, and if I can help you experience that in any way then I am 100% happy!).

I love Melbourne also, my parents are from Victoria (Dad's from Melbourne, Mum's from a country town near Horsham called Warracknabeal) and I was born there. We frequently go back to visit family and I reckon it's the only other city in Australia I'd be happy to live in (apart from Perth of course!). We do love Perth though, much more laid back than Melbourne, though missing some of the key elements that come with a bustling city like Melbourne! It's so nice to hear from another Aussie who loves Disney, as we understand the frustration of not living close or in the same country as any of the parks! I'm glad you enjoyed Perth, it sounds like you got a proper tour when you visited .

I COMPLETELY agree about American Family-style chain restaurants NEEDING to come to Australia. We only have 2 Hard Rock's (Gold Coast and Sydney) and I would LOVE one in Perth (Melbourne makes more sense but hey the one in Perth would be for me ). Jared and I reckon we could make a lot of money bringing the Cheesecake Factory chain to Australia! And if you ever get the chance to try Chili's do - it's awesome . I like the familiarity of these restaurants, plus the fact that they do deliver quality food at a reasonable price! And speaking of food, yes the Dim Sum was incredible, a highlight of Hong Kong Disneyland for sure.

Universal is amazing. The Orlando resort is by far the best (in my opinion) but Universal Singapore (though a lot smaller) had a lot of charm and Sentosa Island is awesome too! We also love Singapore now, and especially love it's only a short plane trip away from Perth!

Crane Dance was the name of the metal bird show, it was really beautiful! And Grizzly and Mystic Manor were both awesome attractions - Hong Kong's flagship one's if you ask me!

Yes, it is hard when you come across people acting in a way you consider rude when you are travelling, especially if it's in ways that effect yours or others safety and general fairness. Still, it's not something that is likely to change anytime soon in China, and I guess the key for me if we go back is that we will be prepared that's what we may have to encounter and deal with. There is no point complaining and wondering why things don't change when that kind of behaviour is so culturally acceptable, so your ability to deal with it and not let it ruin your day becomes key. We have also seen plenty of rude behaviour at the US parks (though perhaps not in the same kind of volume) so it does happen everywhere. People tend to get stressed and selfish at theme parks, as sad as that is!

Also thanks for all your likes on my posts - I logged in to find the largest number of notifications I've ever had - 61! All down to you

I will keep my reply short and sweet this time.
Your welcome sorry about overloading your notifications.
My husband is in the middle of our trip report and its a long one, we were in Orlando from 12/12 - 25/12. It was an awesome trip and I see all the time and effort that goes into doing these. This is his second, we visited DL in 2015. So I wanted to give you kudos for the effort in yours.
Thats cool you were born in Victoria and spend alot of time here. We live in the yarra ranges area so much nicer than city. We would love to live in the US because of Disney. Maybe retire there oneday.
Melbourne had a hardrock but it closed many years ago. Haha yes Perth should get one for you. I have been to the one in the Gold Coast but never to Sydney.
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.
Keep up the great work.

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 11 - Part 3 - A tale of two boat rides

So did we make it to Pirates while the ride was still running.... well yes we did! I'm pretty sure we rode it in the one very small window of opportunity people had to ride it that day, as it appeared to go down again in the afternoon and remind down for the rest of the evening). Unfortunately when we arrived the wait was already up at 50 minutes, but we were very willing, given how often the ride was down and how incredible the attraction was, to wait that long so we hopped in line (we had debated going as single riders but with the single rider wait 40 minutes it wasn't really worth it!). We did have a few scares while in the queue when announcements were made over the PA in Mandarin that we thought might have been announcements the ride had gone down again, but the line kept moving and in about 50 minutes we were on the ride. Oh, in addition I forgot to mention, each time we rode we requested to sit in the first row as this row offered the best views of the attraction, plus it was best for photography. It was never a problem, we usually just waited one more boat and were directed to the front row. As a result we rode the ride 5 times and managed to sit in the front row 4 of those times!

We took a few photos of this trip to Davy Jones Locker, and yes, the ride continue to be as amazing as ever!

Here's a classic scene re-imagined at the beginning of the ride









We had the camera settings a bit better tuned this time around, so we could try get better pictures of the amazing animatronic characters









After Pirates it was time to use our Tron Fastpasses (well almost, we had enough time to meander slowly back to Tomorrowland, taking pictures as we went!).

Our Fastpasses!











We headed on over to TRON and were dismayed to see the giant line for the lockers still existed. However, we were excited to discover that if you had a Fastpass you could skip this giant line and proceed, almost immediately, into the locker area. At this point I believe the wait for TRON was around 90 minutes, and the locker line would have been at least 20 also, so this was an excellent use of Fastpass! We were on the ride in no time. It's fun how you notice new things each time you ride a Disney attraction, and this time around we noticed that the coaster seems to get a secondary burst of speed after the initial launch as you head out into the open section of the ride! It really is the most thrilling coaster Disney's ever designed!

Since we had enjoyed it so much, we decided to see Tarzan - Call of the Jungle again. We also wanted a break and somewhere to sit quietly for a while. We arrived only half an hour early but managed to be further ahead of where we were the day before, it was clear the park was not as busy as it had been on Friday (and let me remind you this was a Sunday which is the busiest of all days at most other parks).

The show was just as amazing as last time, and we took no pictures during this show, opting to sit back and relax and enjoy.

After Tarzan we headed to our second boat ride of the day, Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. We probably waited about 20 minutes here, and managed to get a spot on the opposite side of the boat to our last trip so we could get pictures of the other fountains not on our side of the boat on the last voyage!



















The perfect day had definitely disappeared behind a mass of clouds at this point! Never mind, inside the Crystal Grotto you didn't notice!







Continued in Next Post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Day 11 - Part 4 - Into the castle

We were still yet to spend any real time inside the castle (bar the first evening when we had dinner at the Royal Banquet Hall) so our next activity was to be the Snow White walkthrough inside the castle. The wait was about 20 minutes, so not too bad, and there was Disney music playing as we waited, which made it so much easier! It's clear how big the castle is when you are up this close to it!





The details of the castle are just beautiful!







Inside is no exception



My Prince







Small groups of people were let through to enter the walkthrough attraction, so that it wasn't too crowded. They'd only let about the number of people who could fit in an elevator, which was a nice touch. On the way up to the walkthrough there were marble carvings of all of Disney's Princesses that I feel in love with, unfortunately if I was to show you all of them it would take up an entire post, so here is one of my favourite Princess, Belle



The rest of the inside of the castle is as immaculate as the outside.





I loved the stained glass windows looking out into the main lobby area!



The walkthrough, which tells the story of Snow White, was very cute, and definitely more technically advanced than the castle walkthroughs at Disneyland or Tokyo Disney. It's a quaint attraction and worth seeing if you have time. There are plenty of fun special effects.





Similar to the Beauty and the Beast attraction at Magic Kingdom, this walkthrough boasts a magic mirror - you may just be able to see my face (and Jared and the camera) at the back of the group of people heading into the attraction here





The walkthrough is tight, so even with only a few people coming through at a time it did get crowded. We lingered back so we were behind our group and ahead of the next in order to see everything properly!

















I do wish Disney had spent some of Shanghai's 5.5 billion budget turning this walkthrough attraction into a dark ride, it would have made an amazing one, and some of the effects are a bit waste on a walk through attraction. Still, we enjoyed it!

Continued in Next Post...