An Engaging and Magical Asian Adventure (2017 trip) - New Update 09/12/2021

[Flossbolna]

Hi Magdalene! Haven't been on the DIS for quite awhile! Sounds like this was an amazing trip! And congrats on getting married! I'm so happy for you! DH and I finally made our Paris/France trip in May! Wonderful time and wonderful country! But alas no Disney Paris for us. That just gives us an excuse to go back!

Wendy! Great to see you here!! Thank you for the congratulations! Sounds like you had another amazing trip to Europe! Hope you will make it back soon again!

Looks like life has been as busy for you as it has been for me. Hope you had a great birthday! Tried to post here but the DIS was having issues so hopefully you got my email. Hate we missed Michael at DW. Unfortunately the window of opportunity was very limited.

Thank you for the birthday wishes... And I hope we will have better windows of opportunity in the future!!

Just checking to see if you've popped in here. Looks like you are super busy with life, but hoping it's all good things. Miss you!

Ugh. I was very busy. I miss hanging out with you people, too.

Finally got to read some of this. Looking forward to the Japan part. We plan to go in 2022. I want to hit Tokyo, Disneyland, Kyoto, Osaka, and Universal and maybe the Miyazaki park. I know, it's pretty far off. I completely get the life getting in the way. I have given up on writing trip reports, because I end up having too many trips between and never get to finish the earlier report Oh well. I hope you find time to update on Japan. Thanks for taking the time to write this report.

Yes!! I will definitely write about Japan! I want to have that trip report for myself. It was such an amazing trip! 2022 is still quite some time away and I have to be finished by then!! We actually hope to be back to Japan before you are going there...

 

[Flossbolna]

Finally able to catch up ! So sorry for the delay.

I am the one who has to say sorry!! It sounds like your life is hopefully to become a bit less stressful now from a comment you made on Liesa's report. That would be wonderful!

Married an already have a boyfriend... Girlfriend......

Best laid plans.... you had to be exhausted!

We kind of screwed up a bit with our planning there. But we are prone to that. We don't want to waste time so we plan crazy things like that. In October I dragged Michael on a train at 6 am. That was no fun!! For either of us.

Yes he is hey perfect Disney point. Good seeing you Michael!

He is good at that!

There - All caught up! Hope All is going well in your part of the world. Happy Anniversary! A bit late but hope your last trip to WDW was nice.

Thank you! WDW was nice, but we did not do a lot of park stuff. We played mini golf, watched fireworks and saw Christmas entertainment, spent a day at Typhoon Lagoon, ate, swam in resort pool etc. The best part of the vacation: collecting sunshine!!

Checking in, after reading the whole thing (so far)! I love the amount of detail you put into your stories, even though it's unlikely we'll have a chance to use any of your tips!

and thank you! I try to write the reports the way that I would like to read them and it is nice when other people enjoy my work!

 

[Flossbolna]

Welcome back, Magdalene!

Hi Karin! I hope you survived the snow without issues!

Yea! Looking forward to the Tokyo part!

Hopefully coming very soon!

Oh no - I haven't gone on the trip yet! Still about 9 months away! And I totally understand delays in updating! Can't wait to (hopefully) read more!

Ah! I thought it was going to be fall 2018! I really hope that my trip report will be done by the time you leave on yours, but no guarantees!

No apologies necessary. Life, and vacation, can get in the way of documenting our vacations Hope you had a good time with your husband.

Thanks! And yes, I think I married the right guy: I do enjoy his company!

 

[Flossbolna]

Day 3: Disneytown and Shanghai

Part 1: The Power of Frankenweenie

The day started with something that we were in desperate need of: Sleep! We slept in and then took our time to get ready. I think we both were also really comfortable in our nice and cold room and were not that keen on heading out into the heat again...

I took a picture of our room view:

We had a view of the park’s parking lot, mainly the bus lot. In the distance you can see the Disneyland Hotel. And you see the bridge that was filled with people every morning for those arriving by car. Not counting for those arriving by metro, who would approach the park from the other side.

You might notice the parking lot looks tiny. Indeed, despite China's growth over the last 30 years (the first freeway in the Mainland was built in 1989, so they don't have a long car culture history. For some reason, I think this factoid may entertain a guy here from Delaware.) it would appear SDL isn't expected to draw many drivers.

This is where we take an aside so I/we can apologize to our loyal readers and friends here. You may notice that we have a tendency to start strong and then finish like the Miami Dolphins. We really, really, really enjoy writing these trip reports and sharing our adventures and knowledge here. But we probably shouldn't be doing them. Our lives have been utter chaos since 2014. I sometimes wonder how we managed to get married considering everything. Because of this, we can't seem to finish these. Or move them along at a pace where we recall what we actually did. Now, if this were boring, old, overpriced, overrated WDW (I am getting close to being done with the place, but will leave that rant for another time. That's what 12 days over NYE will do for you, I guess.) it wouldn't bother me. You don't need to read about what we did at the MK on December 30th or our $99 28-ounce Porterhouse at STK that gives me nightly fantasies or what I think about Toy Story Land (absolutely hate it!)

But this is different. This is a trip many of you won't make. It also was a very important one because it was on this trip that well ... we decided we would indeed get married. Hard to believe we have been a loaded international super couple for over a year now. I wish I could say you'll see regular updates here, but I don't lie (even when my wife is modeling clothing purchases). The next one might come in March. March of 2022. I just don't know. But thanks to those of you who are still interested. The trip was amazing. I hope we get to share the entire thing with you. Rest assured, no trip report on WDW December/January 2018-19 will be forthcoming. Happy and Health New Year's Wishes to all and back to your most definitely not regularly scheduled trip report!

We were really lazy and did not leave our room until around noon. I think I might have quickly run down to the shop to pick up our in-park purchases that we had sent to the hotel the other day.

We did. We also made some purchases of First Anniversary merchandise that, thankfully, hasn't appeared at the outlets in the swamps yet.

Just when we were about to leave we noticed that there was a paper that had come in underneath the door and it was a note from housekeeping that they could not service the room because we had the “Do Not Disturb” sign up and if we wanted housekeeping to please call a specific number. So, we did that before we left the room, but were not very confident that they had understood what we wanted. But as it happened, the room was serviced when we got back.

We headed down to the bus as we wanted to explore the World of Disney store at Disneytown and have lunch there. I took a picture of the hotel gift shop’s outside entrance:

And then we got on the bus:

The bus service was really great, I don’t think we ever waited more than 10 minutes. It seemed that they had at least two busses and since the drive was so short, they came very frequently.

In other words, this isn't WDW. You can depend on the bus transportation. We never used the boats that traverse Wishing Star Lake from the SDL Hotel since we (sadly) never made it there.

There are two busses. One goes to the parks and the other one goes directly to the metro station. This is great if you want to travel to the hotel by public transport. The metro station bus does not go as frequently as the one to the parks.

When we got on the bus, it was obvious that the bus would not be full and Michael decided that we each should take a full bench of two seats for each of us (yes, for some reason my husband does not like sitting next to me on public transport – and no, it’s not because I am smelly!!).

First of all, we never agreed that you aren't smelly. But, no, I generally (and especially on very hot days) don't want to be on top of anyone. Yes, I fear I could smell as bad as someone who went camping, or just lives, in Delaware.

Two families that were travelling together, each with a girl about 10 years old, boarded just after us. There was some debate and then the girls chose to sit on the two seats next to Michael and me (they were heavily encouraged by their parents) and started to talk to us. Their English was very basic, but you could tell that they were so proud to try it out. We had a neat little conversation about that they were excited to go to Disneyland, that they had travelled by train from their home. I think they were disappointed that I was not an American. And Michael asked them about Mickey Mouse but they had no clue who that was! You could tell that their parents were totally proud of their daughters talking to foreigners in English. The experience definitely added some magic to our day and I would like to think also to theirs!

This is very common in China. I first noticed this in 2008 when part of the team that ran the Olympiad in Beijing. Children would come up to us in restaurants and chat and offer us gifts. The Chinese (despite what you may hear from say FOX News) love Americans largely and are very interested in our culture (except for Star Wars, just ask Iger!) Many adults don't speak English or speak only a few phrases, but children are now taught from a very young age. So you may meet a largely fluent six-year-old. These parents were in their 30s and didn't really speak it, but it was a magical exchange. BTW, ask yourself if Americans would send their children to sit next to foreign visitors and attempt to communicate (especially from enemy nations, which now apparently are everyone except perhaps Russia and North Korea). It's one reason why China was my second home. It has dropped to No. 3 because I was trapped into marrying a crazy German.

Once we got to World of Disney, Michael started to work on his project that he had prepared for and had either forgotten on our park days or felt that it would have complicated things too much. He had brought trading pins in the hope to trade for some nice Shanghai pins. He had also brought a bunch for me. Thanks to the Disney outlet (the one that got all the Shanghai merchandise this year), he always has a source for really cheap pins. It seems that Disney produces loads of pins that don’t sell at all and they can be gotten for very little money at the outlet. Sometimes they are even nice ones, but sometimes they are also very strange ones.

As of last visit they still had dozens of SDL Grand Opening pins with Duffy on them for 49 cents! I am pretty certain they will restock the others soon since they clearly made enough for every Chinese citizen to buy 10 of each pin.

So, we were hoping to make some nice trades with CMs while shopping at Disneytown. We got there and already at the entrance Michael sees a CM with a pin that he likes and he makes his first trade. I will let him explain which of his pins he traded.

Very simple. It was a $1.99 outlet special for the film Frankenweenie. Nothing overly special to me but ...

We then move on to the store which is huge and decide that we need to tackle it with some system to figure out what we want to get. We had plenty of people who we wanted to get gifts for and we had people who had asked us to pick up something for them. We had shopped a little over the last two days, but just as with the eating, there was not a lot of time for shopping. Also, with today, which was July 1, the new summer festival had started with new entertainment and merchandise at the park and also at the World of Disney store. Some of it was really cute:

We explored with a system and then realized that besides the already huge store with a circular layout there was also a side shop that was kind of the “hip” store with “Tren-D” stuff and such. This part was really nicely designed:

Apparently, as with most of Disney Town, the American bloggers and lifestylers who visited prior to us simply missed this area because I never saw a picture or read about it before our visit.

And while we were looking at phone cases there was this group of three Chinese 20-somethings rushing to us all excited. I thought at first that they were angry with us for some reason. The leader of the group was waving the pin Michael had just traded with the CM about 15 minutes earlier and wanted to know if we had traded that pin. I thought something was wrong with the pin and they were the self-proclaimed Chinese pin trader police going to tell us that we could not trade foreign pins with CMs. Well, it was the total opposite. They were hoping that we had brought more pins to trade and wanted to see if we had anything to offer. Michael had the better pins than me and ended up with some really nice pins, one was a limited edition that had just come out and sold out that morning. But I also got a couple of cute pins!

It was another fun cultural exchange. I wound up trading an outlet store Doc Ock pin (the bad dude from Spider-Man, go ride the ride at Islands of Adventure or buy some comics for more information) for a Summer Fest LE pin. I think it was the Chipmunks (Chuck and Dave) dressed like an ice cream cone. The 'kids' in this case were all 20-somethings and had a decent, but not fluent, knowledge of English. It was fun chatting with them and seeing some of their pins, including Grand Opening pins. I didn't realize how many of those I would wind up with a year later! Oh, if any of you want to add these to your collections , just let M know. I will give the Friends and Family discount, so you will only pay $24.99 each with free shipping on purchases of $149.99 and greater.

After this we started our shopping for serious. We had a long list of people we wanted to get gifts for and some people had asked us to pick up some specific items for them. They had some really nice 1st anniversary merchandise and we picked up a couple of these items. Ever since the Grand Opening merchandise started to be dumped at the Florida Disney outlets, we live in fear that the lovely things we got in Shanghai for the first anniversary would have the same fate. Actually, on our recent visit, I did see a mug that I got at the China pavilion in Epcot, but it was definitely not cheaper there than in Shanghai!

Yes, they have a few items, a rather weird assortment. But they are actually as much as regular price was and, in many cases, more. I think this is the decision of the vendor who runs the pavilion and not Disney. Either way, the merchandise has been there for over a year and doesn't seem to sell (after the Bloggers and Tweeters went nuts when it first appeared) or get replaced.

Overall they had a fair amount of resort specific merchandise. I loved the “old Shanghai” look for some of the merchandise:

They also had some resort specific collector’s items like these that were inspired by the Shanghai Pirates ride:

The train from the parade:

And this Chinese Mega-Vinylmation:

The store is huge and does not have any special décor in general. But then there are all these lovely attraction posters from all around the world on various columns.

I loved this one the most as I truly miss my old Space Mountain from Disneyland Paris!!

It was such an uplifting ride – it would inspire someone I know to shout “Sivako!” if he ever got to experience it!

I think he lives his life by that philosophy. He still wonders whether he should have bought one of those half-priced banshees at Cast Connection!

It was a really random collection:

(Have a close look at this last one… It’s not from WDW!)

Quick note here (yes, I am capable of being quick!), but World of Disney largely looks more like it Parisian cousin, which was based on the originals in the USA, but also toned down a bit as far as large character displays. These stores are also circular in design, not like the giant rectangles you get in Anaheim and Orlando. Now, with both USA stores going for the hip Chipotle 2005 or any gastropub in 2011 look, the Paris and Shanghai stores look a little dated.

After shopping was completed, we decided to have lunch at Disneytown as we were there and it was lunch time. Since we love The Boathouse at Disney Springs and we knew that they had a branch at Disneytown we decided to check it out. It was a bit of a strange place. First, it was not really connected to the rest of Disneytown, but on the other side of the main walkway on the water edge. I had read that they were serving dim sum for lunch and that was actually something that appealed to us. However, the whole place looked strangely forlorn, a bit run down on the outside and like it wasn’t doing to well.

OMG!!! It sounds like you are talking about your poor husband!

The outside seating looked nice, but dirty and it was far too hot to sit outside.

We were not surprised when we heard that it had closed some months after our visit.

This was the menu:

There were more on the backside.

The restaurant consisted of a very small entrance area dining room where we were seated and then a huge hall that was totally empty for lunch:

As you can see, at some point before we got there a large group had a meal there.

This was the corner where we were seated:

Michael had a Pepsi to drink which arrived in a can:

I got some iced green tea:

After seeing his soda in a can I was wondering if the tea would be safe to drink… But I did not have any issues.

We had some soup with dumplings, some rice with vegetables and some steamed dumplings. It was all really tasty!

Despite the strange atmosphere, we really enjoyed a very relaxing meal in a fairly empty restaurant. It was quite and relaxing and just what we needed after two days of running around.

As soon as I walked in, I realized the place was (sadly) not long for existence. The placement of it is very poor. Like on one spit of land that juts out into the lake, Everything except this one building, which featured a few shops that were dead (including one selling what appeared to be mostly Star Wars and Marvel stuff), was on the other side of the huge walkway. WoD, Starbucks, the rest of Disneytown and SDL itself. ... I was surprised, though, that the menu was entirely local food. No burgers, steaks, salads and seafood at all. Not sure if they opened with this menu or if it was a last gasp. But the food was wonderful and the entire meal was less than $18. ... BTW, other typical names like Cheesecake Factory and Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill both largely feature the same menus they do in the States, with just a few extra noodle or rice dishes. And they seem to be doing great.

We then headed back to the hotel to drop our purchases and on the way I took a picture of the map which might be helpful to understand the layout a bit better

Up Next: Part 2: Where we spend far too much time looking for a “unicorn”

 

[Lesley Wake]

Also, with today, which was July 1, the new summer festival had started with new entertainment and merchandise at the park and also at the World of Disney store. Some of it was really cute:

That pin is too cute! I love Chip and Dale so much!

 

[tiggrbaby]

How nice that you had a leisurely morning and were able to score some pins. The interaction with the big and little kids makes for a nice memory!

 

[Steppesister]

Hello everyone!! Happy New Year and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I am really sorry for falling off the face of the earth. I am not really sure what to tell you what happened. But one thing I know: When my husband is around, I am far less likely to find time for my trip report. I guess I do enjoy his company and we do too many things together, so less time for trip report writing. Then work was crazy, I spent weekends with various parts of my family and then left for four blissful weeks in sunny Florida over Christmas! I got to see New Year's Eve fireworks at WDW (as a double feature: first at MK for NYE-Eve and then on the real day in Epcot). Afterwards I was too spoilt to enjoy Happy Ever After... Now I am back in grey and snowy Germany missing my husband and have time to come back to this report to bask in the happy memories of our amazing trip: at least it will be sunny in my heart!

WOW! You really were very busy, but I hope things will even out and calm down for a little while. So glad you got to head to Florida for a nice long visit and spend some good time with Michael. And yes reliving the memories you had on your trip would surely put some sunshine in your heart!

Loved your last long update, and yes, I for one am happy you will try to finish it up. Thanks, Michael for the sake of us who will likely never get to go. That last restaurant would have been one I'd have gone to despite it's out of the way location. It looked authentic and the price was certainly right!! Too bad it's out of business now.

I LOVE those old posters and am thinking of getting a couple for my place. Hard to choose just one!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

You might notice the parking lot looks tiny. Indeed, despite China's growth over the last 30 years (the first freeway in the Mainland was built in 1989, so they don't have a long car culture history. For some reason, I think this factoid may entertain a guy here from Delaware.)

And yet China has a huge smog problem. I guess the industrial output far outweighs any pollution from cars.

You may notice that we have a tendency to start strong and then finish like the Miami Dolphins.

We were really lazy and did not leave our room until around noon.

Is that even allowed on a Disney trip?

The bus service was really great, I don’t think we ever waited more than 10 minutes.

Is that even allowed on a Disney--wait, never mind.

(yes, for some reason my husband does not like sitting next to me on public transport – and no, it’s not because I am smelly!!)

I think he's protecting you from having to answer uncomfortable questions about your companion.

First of all, we never agreed that you aren't smelly. But, no, I generally (and especially on very hot days) don't want to be on top of anyone. Yes, I fear I could smell as bad as someone who went camping, or just lives, in Delaware.

Again, says they guy who lives next to a giant swamp.

Their English was very basic, but you could tell that they were so proud to try it out. We had a neat little conversation about that they were excited to go to Disneyland, that they had travelled by train from their home. I think they were disappointed that I was not an American. And Michael asked them about Mickey Mouse but they had no clue who that was! You could tell that their parents were totally proud of their daughters talking to foreigners in English. The experience definitely added some magic to our day and I would like to think also to theirs!

Very sweet. Thanks for sharing that story.

As of last visit they still had dozens of SDL Grand Opening pins with Duffy on them for 49 cents!

I have no idea how Duffy is still a thing.

Overall they had a fair amount of resort specific merchandise.

Thank goodness! It's a dying breed.

I loved this one the most as I truly miss my old Space Mountain from Disneyland Paris!!

I don't know the story there. What was the old Space Mountain like?

OMG!!! It sounds like you are talking about your poor husband!

If the shoe fits...

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

This was the menu:

There were more on the backside.

Glad you are back. I would love this menu. Too bad it is no longer there. I am guessing that the folks in China want to eat "American" food at the parks.

I am not sure I could have handled the heat you experienced. I am from the NW (Washington state) and thought I liked heat until we moved to Louisiana right after graduate school. After our second summer there I was looking for a job north, my goal being to go as far north as we could and still find jobs. Which we did.

Kate

 

[Poolrat]

Just saw this reply on the previous page...... Oh Well Thought I quoted and then never replied.

I am the one who has to say sorry!! It sounds like your life is hopefully to become a bit less stressful now from a comment you made on Liesa's report. That would be wonderful!

I certainly hope so. I will let you know when I can say for sure.

In October I dragged Michael on a train at 6 am. That was no fun!! For either of us.

The best part of the vacation: collecting sunshine!!

Thanks, Michael for the sake of us who will likely never get to go.

 

[franandaj]

This has changed now, but only for those who bought the ticket through the hotel or something like that. But now it is a perk that is really valuable!

Well it will be a long long time before we get to Shanghai, if ever, so I guess I won't worry about it. We are more likely to go to Paris sooner than China.

I feel like I should have watched Tron. But by now you might be more likely to ride the Tron coaster at WDW before Shanghai. I think it is opening next year?

Well i better check it out and watch it on Netflix!

I hope the sweaty paving stone work is only a distant memory now and that weather has become far more pleasant by now!

It's not even a memory anymore, I can't even think about what was going on when I wrote that, but we aren't done. We need to finish a small bit of placing pavers at the patio of the old house.

The day started with something that we were in desperate need of: Sleep!

I'm not sure how you made it through the previous days honestly!

I wish I could say you'll see regular updates here, but I don't lie (even when my wife is modeling clothing purchases). The next one might come in March. March of 2022.

I'll put it in my calendar!

Two families that were travelling together, each with a girl about 10 years old, boarded just after us. There was some debate and then the girls chose to sit on the two seats next to Michael and me (they were heavily encouraged by their parents) and started to talk to us. Their English was very basic, but you could tell that they were so proud to try it out.

Huh. I have heard that the Chinese are eager to test out their English skills....

BTW, ask yourself if Americans would send their children to sit next to foreign visitors and attempt to communicate

Ask yourself if Americans would encourage their children to talk to anyone outside their immediate family.....and possibly with good cause...

So, we were hoping to make some nice trades with CMs while shopping at Disneytown. We got there and already at the entrance Michael sees a CM with a pin that he likes and he makes his first trade.

Cool. We used to do pin trading but it was too much work.

I thought something was wrong with the pin and they were the self-proclaimed Chinese pin trader police going to tell us that we could not trade foreign pins with CMs.

Now, with both USA stores going for the hip Chipotle 2005 or any gastropub in 2011 look

which I hate....

We were not surprised when we heard that it had closed some months after our visit.

That's too bad. I do love the one in Disney Springs and we'll be going there in just a few weeks!

After seeing his soda in a can I was wondering if the tea would be safe to drink… But I did not have any issues.

That was my first thought when I saw your drink. I'm glad you didn't have any problems.

We had some soup with dumplings, some rice with vegetables and some steamed dumplings. It was all really tasty!

It all looks good! Now I want Asian food.

 

[Flossbolna]

That pin is too cute! I love Chip and Dale so much!

Thy seem to be very popular in Asia. I guess because of their cuteness factor!

How nice that you had a leisurely morning and were able to score some pins. The interaction with the big and little kids makes for a nice memory!

It was a lovely morning. And actually getting to interact with people in a foreign country is always a great bonus!

 

[Flossbolna]

WOW! You really were very busy, but I hope things will even out and calm down for a little while. So glad you got to head to Florida for a nice long visit and spend some good time with Michael. And yes reliving the memories you had on your trip would surely put some sunshine in your heart!

I wish the recharge would have lasted longer. The last few weeks were once again crazy at work. I have no idea why, but hopefully things will improve soon!

Loved your last long update, and yes, I for one am happy you will try to finish it up. Thanks, Michael for the sake of us who will likely never get to go. That last restaurant would have been one I'd have gone to despite it's out of the way location. It looked authentic and the price was certainly right!! Too bad it's out of business now.

There was quite a lot of authentic cuisine around in the area. And the best Chinese food will come up in the last update!

I LOVE those old posters and am thinking of getting a couple for my place. Hard to choose just one!

They are lovely!

I actually have one of the 20,000 Leagues under the Sea from Disneyland's Tomorrowland. I got it "for free" from Disney. I had ordered one Mary Blair It's a Small World concept art piece and Disney managed to deliver the wrong poster in the frame. Since I ordered from WDW, it came by UPS and I had to sign for it in person and it cost custom fees as it was shipped from the US... oh and the frame broke during transport. It was quite a pain in the ...

 

[Flossbolna]

And yet China has a huge smog problem. I guess the industrial output far outweighs any pollution from cars.

Yes, just imagine how bad it were if they all drove around in cars.

Is that even allowed on a Disney trip?

Yes, especially if it is a Disney cruise! I guess that's why you were not such a great fan of your cruise...

Is that even allowed on a Disney--wait, never mind.

I think he's protecting you from having to answer uncomfortable questions about your companion.

Ah! That's a good one!

Again, says they guy who lives next to a giant swamp.

They do have a/c in Florida. I guess you have never heard about it in Delaware?

Very sweet. Thanks for sharing that story.

It was one of the stories that immediately were filed under "trip report material" as it happened.

I have no idea how Duffy is still a thing.

He is cute. And what's cute sells in Asia. Did you know that it is not just Duffy? He has a bear girl-friend Shellie-May, a cat artist friend called Gelatoni, a rabbit ballet dancer friend Stella-Lou, a baking dog friend called Cookie (she is only in Hong Kong Disneyland) and a musician turtle friend called Olu (who lives at Aulani).

Couldn't find one that included Olu, but that's there rest of them:

Thank goodness! It's a dying breed.

I was surprised that at WDW there appeared to be a lot more resort specific merchandise than in the past. And the new re-useable shopping bags seem to be quite cute and park specific. I am wondering if they finally started to understand.

I don't know the story there. What was the old Space Mountain like?

It was called "De la Terre a la Lune": From the Earth to the Moon and was the story of Jules Verne's book of that title. So, the whole design is this kind of steam punky Victorian version of sci fi. You were lining up for the launch of the Baltimore Gun Club cannon that was going to launch a rocket to the moon. The ride is a launch coaster, but the launch is uphill through the cannon on the outside of Space Mountain (if all effects are working you can see the cannon being loaded and then steam coming out of it when the rocket is launched). It still does that, but the loading area was decorated so festive for the big event with flags and such. Then, after you were launched up the hill on the outside of the mountain before dipping into it. Inside there were all these stars and such and at some point you were pulling up to that wonderful moon (perfect with a face on it, like in old drawings). The coaster has onboard sound and the soundtrack was amazing. It was such an uplifting ride and made you feel like you were going on the biggest adventure. I think the soundtrack is as good as the original Soarin score in the way that it connects you with the ride experience. Today the coaster is still the same layout. But in between they went to a strange modern star theme. Now it has a Star Wars overlay (Hyperspace Mountain) that's ok. But they just got new cars (the old ones were getting so bumpy, it was painful!) and they are in the old design, so there is a general believe that once they tire of Star Wars, they will go back to the original soundtrack and effects. Since the effects are mainly projections, this can be easily done.

On Katharina's and mine first trip to DLP it was the summer that Space Mountain opened. Because we were staying onsite, we got an hour early opening for Space Mountain and we got to ride it three times in a row when it was brand new. I think it was what made both of us fall in love with the park. Having had that 1995 experience on Space Mountain is a bit like having seen the Yeti before he turned disco.

If the shoe fits...

I like how you always have my back! Thank you, Mark!

 

[Flossbolna]

Glad you are back. I would love this menu. Too bad it is no longer there. I am guessing that the folks in China want to eat "American" food at the parks.

I think it was more a problem of location and maybe also a lack of interest in the yacht club design of the place? There were plenty of Chinese choices around.

I am not sure I could have handled the heat you experienced. I am from the NW (Washington state) and thought I liked heat until we moved to Louisiana right after graduate school. After our second summer there I was looking for a job north, my goal being to go as far north as we could and still find jobs. Which we did.

The heat definitely affected our trip. Somehow it was less bad in Japan, even though it was pretty bad there, too. But for some crazy reason I fell in love with summer in Japan and would happily return in the same time frame. However, I would most definitely not return to Shanghai then!

 

[Flossbolna]

Well it will be a long long time before we get to Shanghai, if ever, so I guess I won't worry about it. We are more likely to go to Paris sooner than China.

Oh! Exciting!! If you need any help with planning Paris, let us know!

Well i better check it out and watch it on Netflix!

Yea, I never could get excited about Avatar either, so my chances of seeing Tron are kind of nil.

It's not even a memory anymore, I can't even think about what was going on when I wrote that, but we aren't done. We need to finish a small bit of placing pavers at the patio of the old house.

There is always a project with you! I was highly amused about what you were up to when we talked on the phone. Which reminds me, what happened to Fran's request?

I'm not sure how you made it through the previous days honestly!

Me neither! High on pixie dust?

I'll put it in my calendar!

I am going to sneak one in before...

Huh. I have heard that the Chinese are eager to test out their English skills....

I found that charming. Here in Germany far too many people are too shy to open their mouths!

Ask yourself if Americans would encourage their children to talk to anyone outside their immediate family.....and possibly with good cause...

I think using a lot of public transport, people are far more used to chatting to strangers?

Cool. We used to do pin trading but it was too much work.

We kind of only do it for fun. Michael always has some trader pins in his pocket when in a theme park and keeps his eyes open for something he likes. So no big plan behind it and no pressure to get something.

That's too bad. I do love the one in Disney Springs and we'll be going there in just a few weeks!

We were there on New Year's Day with a bunch of people. They were incredibly busy, but still everything was perfect, service very friendly and competent, food delicious and drinks strong. There is nothing that makes it amazing, but the whole package comes together so well. Also: remember to go outside and look at the vintage boats this time! I seem to remember that you missed them last time?

That was my first thought when I saw your drink. I'm glad you didn't have any problems.

My theory was that since it was tea the water was boiled at some point.

It all looks good! Now I want Asian food.

I had delicious Dim Sum in Munich last Friday!

 

[Flossbolna]

Just saw this reply on the previous page...... Oh Well Thought I quoted and then never replied.

I do that too sometimes...

I certainly hope so. I will let you know when I can say for sure.

Sounds exciting!! I am keeping all my fingers crossed for you!

Ah, I would love a beach right now. One months of German winter and I am already ready to return to sunshine.

 

[Flossbolna]

Day 3:

Part 2: Where we spend far too much time looking for a “unicorn”

Back at the hotel we did what any good trip report writer does on their last day: They make sure to get all those hotel pictures that they did not take on previous days because they were busy having fun!

So this is the front desk:

Some more pictures of the lobby area:

And a close up of those fun vacation pictures that were hanging around everywhere:

There is a courtyard area behind the front desk and you can go out there. The door had some decorations for the first anniversary:

There is not much out there, just a statue of Woody:

The hallways had lots of cute décor as well:

floor numbers:

And this was our room number:

As you can see the star has a red dot at the top. This was actually a lamp. Instead of a do not disturb sign, you could press a button inside and then the red lamp would light up and everyone knew you did not want to be disturbed. I thought this was really smart and I think another hotel we stayed in in Japan had a similar system.

This was new to M, but hotels have had these for decades in places. Generally, higher end. I know Portofino Bay at UNI-Orlando does. I am amazed by how often when staying at hotels in the USA that I have to request a Do Not Disturb sign. Do people take these as souvenirs (no, I don't have a HKDL Hotel sign danging from my closet door! Why would you suggest such a thing?)

The one thing that totally baffled us was that we always saw some windows being open at the hotel. They did not open very much, just a little. But it was 100 degree outside, who would want that air to come in??

People from 400 KM away in the middle of Nowhere, China who are not familiar with the concept of AC?

Then we got on the bus to the metro station. This bus runs less often, but on a schedule, so we did not have a long wait. However, we found out that the bus takes a route all around the park, so it took quite long to get to the station. We thought it would most likely be quicker to take the bus to the park and then walk past the park entrance to the metro station.

At the metro station I took a picture of a map of the larger area:

You can see the Toy Story Hotel on the left, the metro station is in the middle and the bus took the road all the way up and then around the park. The whole area out there is designated as a recreation area and there are other things to do as well – more for Shanghai locals, not for foreign tourist, so more low key things. They have a nature park there, they are building an outlet mall. That’s also why they are developing more hotels in the area, so as the resort grows older, there ought to be more and more off site hotels that are very convenient for the park.

Outlet mall is open. It actually opened before SDL did. Maybe SDL will open a store there to get rid of Grand Opening pins (currently as of Feb. 9th gone from the Sawgrass Mills WDW Character Warehouse outlet)

We then got our metro tickets and the machines were actually very easy to use. I was a bit afraid, I have lots of experiences with public transport systems all over the world and often they are not the easiest to understand for someone not local. But these were bilingual and the system was really easy.

This was the entrance:

The red and green lights indicate which entrances are open – and this is important because you do get through a security check. It was very quick and painless, but that was a first for me to go through security in order to get on a metro.

The line at Shanghai Disneyland has modern barriers at the station, so no danger of falling onto the tracks. And they are even decorated!

We got on the train and it actually is quite a long journey into town. Our first destination was going to be the Shanghai Disney Store and we had to change trains twice I think. The changes were really easy to find and I remember at the one confusing station, they had even colorful lines on the floor to lead you to the line that you want to get to.

The one thing that amused me was that those handles for people standing to hold onto were full with commercials. What a smart placement!

The one station where we changed was where Maglev train from the airport terminates and I was very excited to see a train poke out of its terminus:

Maglev, a technology where a train is being propelled by a magnet, was a big thing in Germany from the 70s until about 10 years ago. A lot of the big players in German industry thought this would be the next big thing in transport. The German project was called “Transrapid”. A Maglev train can travel at 300 mph. So, it’s great for moving people around very quickly. However, due to the high speed, it needs to be on a rather straight track. Putting something like this in a densely populated country like Germany where the government cannot just appropriate any land. So, even though German industry and German government loved the idea of this technology, there was always the question of where to put it. And one of the projects at the time was local to me. Munich had gotten a new airport in 1992. It was (and is) a fantastic airport. However, it is so far from Munich that it takes nearly an hour to drive there. So, the idea came up to put in a Transrapid to connect Munich city center with the airport. The problem is: It’s horribly expensive and because of the time it takes to accelerate, you would be decelerate immediately after reaching top speed. There was a lot of political discussion about it until the project was finally scrapped 10 years ago and they finally started putting money into a conventional rail link. However, in the mean time the Transrapid producers were able to sell their project to China, where the first and only Transrapid was built in Shanghai: to connect city and airport. So, for me this was a big sight!

I liked it too. As a lowly American (albeit half of a loaded international supercouple), I used to get excited by trains and technology in Europe. Then, I visited China and Japan. And Germany might as well be Delaware with its dirt paths and horses and buggies! ... And that's with MUC (that's the airport code for Munich), which we actually visit to shop and eat as it's such a great airport!

Once we got to our final destination, we came across a cute looking little café selling delicious looking goodies and we decided that we deserved a snack:

The little tarte in the middle is filled with custard. They have the same kind of pastry all over Portugal, so I would guess the Portuguese brought those to Asia. It’s kind of interesting to see how food was transported around the globe and has influenced local cuisines in so many different ways!

I just recall the food being amazing. And the drink I had too, which I am not sure is in the pics above or not.


We also could have had some waffles at Taco Bell – or a shrimp salad.

That's history, folks. The first (and, at the time, only) Taco Bell in the entire nation of China. While Pepsi was one of the first American corporations to move into the Mainland when China started opening itself and YUM Brands, which was spun off and consists of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, absolutely is dominant in the nation today, it grew with KFC first and later Pizza Hut. I learned about this location from the American bloggers searching for The Disney Store. Alas, we didn't try it. But it did look significantly different than American Taco Bell (almost like a Japanese Denny's!)

The place where we got off was close to the Oriental Pearl Tower, in the middle of a lot of high rise building:

This is the Oriental Pearl Tower:

Quite a distinct building dominating Shanghai’s skyline.

A breathtaking skyline on a day when breathing was labored in temps in the high 90s with humidity to match.

Continued in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

Day 3, Part 2 - continued from previous post

We were at a large intersection that was built like a roundabout and for pedestrians they had a circular walkway following the road. I tried to get some more pictures of the city around us from there.

And on one side of this large intersection was our destination:

[

The first Disney Store in China!

Looking back to the tower:

The Disney Store had a small line, but then inside it was not really crowded. The store is really large and nicely decorated:

We found some nice exclusive Tsum Tsums that we got for a friend’s son, I also got a nice magnet and Michael bought an umbrella with Donald on it. The umbrella was a special offer because we spent enough money on the Tsum Tsums to qualify for it.

Just like SDL's castle, this had to be the world's largest Disney Store because what the Commies want, the Commies get. I liked some of the unique to the market merchandise, but this wasn't life-changing. This also was the first Disney Store in China and opened in 2015. I know they have opened another in Shanghai since and, I believe, a few in other cities.

Just next to the Disney Store was a mall and we decided to explore this. I was in search of contact lens solution. Stupid me had managed to not pack my bottle! We had the hope that the mall would have a place that was selling the stuff. We found a drug store: No luck. We found a pharmacy: No luck. We found an optician store: No luck. I have rigid lenses and those need different type of cleaning and storage solutions than the typical soft lenses. It appears that no one in those stores had ever heard of the fact that there are different types of contact lenses. It was really kind of frustrating! Especially since our plan was to be at Tokyo Disneyland Resort for the next days and I had no idea if I was going to be more successful there or not. It felt like we spent far too much time of that day looking for something that seems to be non-existent in China. So contact lens solution became my personal unicorn.

Yes, I didn't understand the drama. But that's just life with my other half. You deal with it. You smile or clench your teeth. You move on. She says I am the horrible packer and insists on packing my stuff (which I only mind when 40 SDL Times Guides disappear!), yet I generally don't leave an essential behind.

He might not leave any essentials behind, but if he is packing it is three hours of drama about how all his things can never all fit in that tiny suitcase. When I pack, there is room for more. And those time guides disappeared because they were never given to me to be packed...

The mall was quite fancy and actually fun to explore:

We ended up picking up some interesting sodas (lemongrass soda and vanilla soda) there – and I think this is also where we passed a small Uniqlo store where I got a lovely Disney t-shirt with Chip from Beauty and the Beast.

Yes, I pointed it out -- the store and the shirt. As to the mall, as someone who has lived in worked in various places in China before, it was typical mid-market. I think M's mind will be blown when she sees my old 'local' malls in Hong Kong.

After I abandoned my search, we headed to the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. The Bund is a large promenade along the river that runs through Shanghai. We were currently on the other side of the river and wanted to see the Bund. We could have taken the metro again, but from where we were, it actually seemed to make sense to experience this little attraction. The one-way ticket was 50 RMB, that’s about 7$.

It actually was quite cute. You board a little capsule – kind of like an elevator with windows.

You don’t get a private one, but neither did thy squeeze it full of people. The the capsule travels on its own through this tunnel underneath the river. It’s dark there, but they have added some rather neat light effects on the tunnel walls:

It sorta tells the history of the geology of the area if I recall correctly. My only issue was the AC wasn't sufficient.

The good thing is that the tunnel spits you out right at the main viewing point on the Bund. The bad news was that this was nearly as crowded as the Shanghai Disneyland morning entrance! People everywhere! Oh, and while it had started to get dark now, it was still as oppressively hot as it had been ever since we arrived in Shanghai.

I pushed a bit (I am German, we are known for not being good at keeping orderly lines and to be pushy, so I felt that China was finally a place where these qualities were appreciated) and held my phone high to take pictures and I ended up with a few nice pictures of the skyline across the river.

The Bund is known for its pretty houses. This promenade was built in the early 20th century, so before communism, by the foreigners who came to Shanghai for trade. You can see some of it in one of the crowd pictures above. It is supposed to be one of the major sights in Shanghai. However, it fell rather flat for me. Not only was it crowded and touring cities in darkness often takes a bit away from the architectural highlights. But the thing that bothered me was that it felt like this could be a river promenade in London, Paris, Budapest etc. It felt alien to me in China in a bad way. I had the same issues with colonial architecture in South Africa. I feel that some of the reason why this is considered a sight is because it is considered “civilization in a ‘savage’ country”. I understand the historical value – but the history of Europe meddling in Chinese politics is not really something to be proud of.

I have no clue what she is talking about above. I love Shanghai's colonial architecture. I think the world would be better if we went back to those days. I certainly would rather see Hong Kong under British rule and Macau under Portugal's control. ... Heck, I want our piece of Berlin back and I have already said M's dad would be my Kaiser of the City. ... Oh, and we also need to take that Canal back from Panama too! The Bund was lovely, but it was oppressively hot and crowded two things that mix about as well as "saving money" and "visiting Dizzy World".

Not sure why he has such imperialistic tendencies... Next thing he might get himself an army of clones...

So, the Bund did not prove a happy place for us and we thought about what to do. We had a rather early flight the next morning and we still needed to pack. So, we decided to walk to the metro station that would take us back to Disneyland. I could see on the Apple Maps app (which worked fine despite the Chinese firewall, but since I was data roaming, also Google maps worked) that we were going to pass a shopping area and we thought we could find some dinner there.

The walk actually turned out to be rather frustrating as the crowds wanted to move in the same direction as us, the sidewalks were very narrow and then Michael ran into a water hydrant. He was in horrible pain and I was already wondering if we needed to get him to an emergency room and saw myself pushing him around Tokyo Disneyland in a wheel chair! Luckily he was able to move again after a five minute break and he seemed to not have any lasting damage!

I had forgotten all about that. It really hurt bad, but thankfully wasn't at the kneecap or I likely would have had an issue. After that night, I never had any pain of issues from it. We also were getting crotchety due to hunger and a waaaay too early flight the next morning to Tokyo, which you'll all be reading about soon if you haven't nodded off to sleep by now. And who would blame you if you did?

We finally made it to a large department store and decided to head inside in the hope of finding a bathroom, being able to cool off a little in the air conditioning and maybe find a bite to eat in there.

We were successful with the first two things. And there were a lot of different eateries in the basement that looked promising. However, the place was once again very crowded and there were just no spaces anywhere.

Lots of stands with very tasty looking items. But we would have been standing too eat and I just am way too civilized to do that. I will leave that for the little people ... or people who think Waffle House is the epitome of fine dining.

The store was very nice though! It even had curved escaltors! I encountered those for the first time in a mall in San Francisco and have been fascinated by them ever since!

We were also intrigued by this popcorn stand in the basement selling all kind of interesting flavors:

So, we thought that we would search something to eat in Disneytown on the way back to the hotel. Once we got to Shanghai Disneyland and exited the metro station, it was raining buckets and we were just tired and exhausted and decided to just take the train back to the hotel to eat there.

See, it's been so long that I totally forgot that it was, indeed, pelting rain when we got back. Just as M forgot that we stopped at a quickee mart in the station and bought all sorts of goodies that I can't recall now. I think crackers and chips and ... did we get fish jerky for my brother here? Anyway, here's a lesson for anyone traveling abroad: go to quickee marts, buy lots of stuff, try it, sometimes it may wind up being a meal for you. But you get to try everything from Blueberry Potato Chips to Pocari Sweat to stuff you think is gum, but you're not really sure. Most of it (especially in Asia) costs very little. It's fun too.

A few more pictures from the lobby area:

We quickly stopped at the front desk to inquire about ordering a taxi to the airport. They advised that with a departure time of 8:30 am, we should order the taxi for 5:45 am, 6:00 am at the latest. We went with the 6:00 am taxi and were not looking forward to that…

That's just about the time of night when my real sleep kicks in!

Since we were tired of the same type of food that was being offered at the little counter service (they were selling a lot of things that were similar to Remy’s inside the park which we had twice for dinner already), we chose the buffet restaurant: Sunnyside Café.

The restaurant was rather empty despite being very large. I think by the time we finally got there, it was getting towards the end of their opening hours. We got this lovely booth:

As you can see, we did not stop by the room, but headed directly to dinner with our purchases from the Disney Store and Uniqlo.

Michael went to the buffet first and got this selection:

This was my first tray:

The food was mainly Chinese dishes. Some of the things were prepared freshly by the chefs that were working behind the buffet lines. I loved the eggplant with garlic dish and the Szechuan noodles. It was great fun trying all these different dishes and the chefs were really nice and helpful! Also, since it was so empty, there was nearly no one around at the buffet line.

Green tea is included in the buffet price (170 RMB, about 25$), other drinks are extra. At first we did not realize that the Green tea was included, I would have been happy with it, and getting the soda was a bit complicated. We needed to go to the check in where we had paid before sitting down and pay for the sodas and then we got them out of a cabinet.

I don't think this is a crazy German deal about not wanting to give out free refills or anything. The sodas (Pepsi, 7-Up, Mirinda Orange etc.) came in bottles and the way many Mainlanders hoard things (going back to food shortages as recently as the 1980s), you may have had situations where a family of four has 34 bottles at their table. It's just a cultural thing. Indeed, there was a CM stationed near that cooler cabinet, so people didn't just grab and go!

My second tray with more of the eggplant and some more dumplings:

The desserts were not the highlight of the meal though:

The food was actually quite delicious. I don't recall one item in particular (but it has taken us eight years to write this, yes?) as it all was good. I was actually concerned that M was eating too much. Now, before any of you women-folk grab pitchforks and such, I wasn't concerned about my future bride's girth so much as her health. As in her immediate health. As I watched her chow down like she was a local, I suddenly was reminded of westerners I had worked with over in China who indulged too much, too quickly and regretted it bigtime. With a very early wake up, taxi and flight, I was picturing nightmare scenarios of M crawling to a bathroom. I may have mentioned at this point that I would be onward to Tokyo in the morning with or without her because that IS just the kind of guy she will spend the rest of her life and all of eternity with!

I nearly had a bit of a meltdown before we went to dinner because of crowds and such and was not so keen to eat there as I thought we should not spend so much money on dinner. But Michael put his foot down and made me come along. In hindsight he was absolutely right, I was hot and hangry and I tend to not make the smartest decisions under these circumstances. Ultimately the meal was wonderful, very much worth what we paid for. We got to relax and cool down and did end the day on a high note after parts of it being a bit frustrating.

At least she admits it. I was right as always. I am man enough to admit it.

Then it was time to head back to the room and pack!

Somehow packing took quite some time – we had plenty of purchases that needed space in our bags. By the time I was all done and about to head to bed, I saw an email from ANA pop in. They are a Japanese airline and we were booked to fly with them the next morning. The email informed us that our flight departure time had been changed from 8:30 am to 10:00 am. I have never in my life been so happy about a flight delay as that evening! We headed down to the front desk (we felt talking to the front desk in person would ensure that any language issues could be dealt with there as they could just call over a colleague if they did not understand something) and changed our taxi order to 7:30 am instead of 6:00 am.

Yes, had we known about this, the entire complexion of the day would likely have changed. We probably would have done more sightseeing (like gone up the Pearl Tower) and grabbed dinner in town (even though the meal at the hotel was wonderful). But such is life. And as much as I/we wanted to get to Tokyo, the delay was wonderful. We purposely made no plans in Tokyo beyond hoping to meet up with a friend of mine (American married to a Japanese woman with teen daughter) that I hadn't seen since I was last in Tokyo almost seven years earlier (I missed him 2-3 times in the USA since).

With late dinner, packing and then the schedule change, it was still midnight by the time we got to bed. So much about thinking we would be able to get an early night… We went to bed excited about being able to get some decent rest before it would be time to depart for the next installment of our trip: Japan!

Up next: We nearly get on the wrong plane!

 

[Steppesister]

I wish the recharge would have lasted longer. The last few weeks were once again crazy at work. I have no idea why, but hopefully things will improve soon!

I keep saying that too...

There was quite a lot of authentic cuisine around in the area. And the best Chinese food will come up in the last update!

Looking forward to it.

They are lovely!

I actually have one of the 20,000 Leagues under the Sea from Disneyland's Tomorrowland. I got it "for free" from Disney. I had ordered one Mary Blair It's a Small World concept art piece and Disney managed to deliver the wrong poster in the frame. Since I ordered from WDW, it came by UPS and I had to sign for it in person and it cost custom fees as it was shipped from the US... oh and the frame broke during transport. It was quite a pain in the ...

I can imagine!! So, now you have the 20,000 and NOT the Mary Blair you'd wanted?

Back to read your mega-update another time....