Any newer TR for SDL?

belle2211

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Hi! Hubby and I are thinking about heading to SDL for a few days in March. The trip reports I've been reading are back closer to when the park first opened. Anyone have any trip reports more recent?
 
I haven't been able to find much, apart from reviews on Tripadvisor and various news articles about (alleged) issues at Shanghai Disneyland, including smog levels and guests scalping Fast Passes!

In general, it sounds as though it isn't too busy at the moment (although that may be more due to the weather than anything else).
 
Same problem here, according to the app it is busy the past few days due to Chinese New Year. Waiting times of 3 hours for Soaring and 2.5 hours for Tron.
Yesterday the app opened with a capacity warning for 31JAN and 1FEB. So for everyone planning for 2018, check when Chinese New Year is.
 
I can tell you my experience from a one day visit last month. We went on a Monday, January 9th, and it was fairly busy. We arrived around 11:30am (jet lag and being sick made us arrive late, but I would totally arrive earlier next time!). We had a snack, cookies and coffee from Remy's bakery at the front of the park. We headed to Tron to get fast passes and I loved walking around the park. It was beautiful, very clean, and all the employees I saw were very friendly and smiley.

Here's what I do remember:

  • Pirates of the Caribbean- Oh my goodness, SERIOUSLY amazing. I'm not even a big Pirates fan back home (Disneyland), but this one blew my husband and me away. We ended up doing it twice.
  • Tron- we were told by our friends that we should sit up front, and it was absolutely amazing. We both loved it.
  • Challenge trail- possibly my husband's favorite thing to do. We did this twice- once in the afternoon, and once at night RIGHT before closing. I really recommend doing it at night. NO ONE was there since everyone goes to see the fireworks. Really wish we could have had time for a 3rd run.
  • Tarzan show- the beginning is in Mandarin, but after that it's all acrobatics and music. It was really good!
  • Mine train- I really liked this. Def agree it's a slower BTMRR, but the theming is really awesome and I enjoyed it a lot! This line was the only place in the whole park that we saw an overflowing trash can, and I'm sure it's because it's in the middle of the line...a little hard to clean out often, I guess.

We had no issues the whole day other than lines (30-45 mins for Mine train and the first time we did the challenge trail). Food was fine, we didn't really get any snacks other than the cookies...but those chocolate chip cookies were DELICIOUS! The weather was cold, since it was January, and I didn't notice heavy smog at all. My husband loved it way more than I expected, and agreed we need to go again. It definitely surpassed our expectations!
 


We were in SDL for a few days in November/December but will not be writing a TR... That takes wayyyy too much time and I am super slow at stuff like that haha

If you have any questions, please ask and I will try to help. SDL is my all-time favorite park and something I am trying to plan a trip back to ASAP. We went to SDL first, then HKDL, then ended our two weeks in TDL.
 
Feisty girl- I would love to hear more about your trip. Did you do anything special to maximize your time there (fast passes, arriving early, etc.). What worked? Anything you would recommend skipping? Any food items or restaurants that really stuck out? How early would you recommend arriving for fireworks? Any tips or tricks that you wish you knew before going? Any logistical challenges that you met?

Thanks so much!
 
Anyone have any trip reports more recent?

This isn't an official trip report -- just a redacted version of my journal entries from our trip in November 2016 -- but I'll post it in case anyone finds it useful.

Apologes ahead of time for the disjointed writing and my weird arcane obsessions -- again the original audience was just me :-) And for that same reason, there are spoilers so I've tried to hide those.



Wednesday, November 23

...
We took ourselves and all our luggage into the hotel. At the checkin desk, they realized we were staying on the club level so we were escorted up to the checkin desk on the top floor. DH and I sat at the desk while we were being checked in. I also bought 2-day park tickets and made all the restaurant reservations.

The desk was right next to the club lounge, so the kids were checking that out. It was around 6pm, so right in the middle of the evening meal/snack service. The spread was pretty lavish, so at first, the kids thought you had to pay extra to get food. I explained that it came with the room, but I had made reservations for Aurora (the "fancy" hotel restaurant) for later that night so to not fill up too much on the food. After DH and I finished checking in, we moved the bags to the room, which was conveniently just across from the lounge. Then we rejoined the kids and got some food of our own.

The food was really elaborate, and it was hard not to just stuff ourselves. We ended up sharing a lot of the little plates so we could try things without getting too full. Things we ate included squid salad, grilled teriyaki chicken, spicy meatballs, Thai beef noodle salad, crab/mango salad. I think there were like 4 little appetizer plates, a salad bar, 4 little warm plates, 2 hot entrees, as well as a whole row of desserts. I did have some of a chocolate dessert, and they had these 2 types of glasses which each contained a different creamy liquid with various things like tapioca, taro, fruit in them, which I thought were interesting.

Service also included alcohol, so just to get our money's worth, DH and I got some drinks. I got some Bailey's Irish cream, and DH got some tequila.

At 7pm, we went to the window to watch the castle show, but we weren't that impressed by it. After the show, we went to the room to check it out. It was huge. They had honored my request and we got a room with a foldout bed under the TV. The bed was small, but DD fit on it, and it was very comfortable. The bathroom was large, with a separate little room for the toilet so that was nice. When we'd gotten into the room, a little light show played on the headboards, with Tinkerbell casting sparkly magic on the castle resulting in fireworks and a sparkly Mickey head in the mirror. It was so cute, but we just could not figure out how to trigger it again. The maid had left chocolates on the night stand, but we had no idea what flavor they were. (I only knew there were different flavors because one of the kids got one with nuts and so gave it to me.)

So far, I was really impressed with the hotel and club service, and was so glad that I'd sprung for the concierge level!

After resting for a bit, we headed out for our dinner reservation at Aurora. Since we weren't that hungry (I wonder why) we just got entrees, and since they were the smaller-sized entrees common at "fancy" places, that worked out fine.

DS and I both got duck. DD got pasta, and DH got some fish. The food was fine, but not amazing. For dessert, we shared something chocolate, I think. In the middle of the restaurant, there was this bamboo grove with lots of lights hung on it. We later realized that the grove actually started on our floor (between our room and the lounge) and the middle section was just open between the 2 floors.


Thursday, November 24

I wanted to get into the park at opening time (9 am), but as usual, that didn't happen. We went to the lounge for breakfast, and that was pretty amazing too. You could order some hot noodles. There was a salad bar, lox, bagels (but no cream cheese), lots of pastries and breads, Mickey waffles, yogurt parfaits, mango or strawberry yogurt drinks, congee with a little mini-bar of topping options (youtiao bits, century eggs, various vegetables and pickles), vegetable buns, pork buns, shao mai, har gow, bacon, 2 kinds of sausage, an omelet station, an elaborate gourmet egg dish that you could order (the first day, it was something Italian themed -- the second, it was Japanese -- don't remember the 3rd.) Basically, breakfast was awesome!

After breakfast, we took the bus to the park, getting there around 10am. We walked to Tomorrowland where I got Tron FPs, and then we went straight to our #1 ride choice: Pirates. The Pirates line was quite confusing -- the kids thought I'd gotten into the single rider line so we switched, but it turned out that there were 2 regular lines, and we'd just switched from one to the other (though I think we switched to the shorter line so that worked out.)

Pirates did not disappoint. I loved how cinematic it was -- it felt like we were in a movie with a clear story line and immersive effects.
They had a couple of giant rooms with projections which were especially immersive -- I really did feel like we were rising up from the ocean floor with all the shipwrecks. And then I loved how you transitioned from a giant room with a sea battle into a corridor between 2 "real" ships.
I just loved the ride!

After that, we slowed down a bit. We checked out Adventure Isle, and the kids got some popcorn. Unsurprisingly, Soarin' FPs were already gone, so I picked up FPs for Mine Train as we headed over to use the Tron FPs. Along the way, DS bought a balaclava with Mickey ears -- it was useful there because it was so cold, but I'm kind of doubtful he'll wear them again.

We hit a couple of snags on Tron. First, we had to put all our stuff in a locker and we had to wait until they opened the locker area. It was getting near the end of our FP window, so after that, we rushed over to the FP line, which was kind of long going to the check-in point. We got to the front, and the CM said that he needed to see our park tickets, which we had just put in a locker!! We went back into the locker area through the exit since we didn't want to wait again -- fortunately, the lockers were multi-use so we quickly opened the locker, retrieved our park tickets, and got in the FP line again. We made it in just under the wire (I think they probably would have let us in, but better safe than sorry.)

Later, I was telling DH and the kids about how people would get FPs and then try to sell them to others, so my theory is that they added this park ticket check to avoid that. It's kind of unfortunate that our first FP ride was the only one which also required you to put all your stuff in a locker, but I guess it worked out in the end.

I was glad I'd read the tip about glasses straps so DH and I could keep our glasses on (and I'm glad I remember a word that approximately meant strap so I could point it out to the CMs.) I appreciated Tron, but I didn't love the experience -- I guess I'm getting too old. The kids loved it -- DH hated it. He said that was it for him, and he wouldn't go on Mine Train :-(

We crossed back to the Treasure Cove side of the park, taking lots of pictures. We all dutifully posed with our Disney animal mosaics for the Chinese zodiac.

For lunch, we ate at Barbossa's Bounty. DH and I shared the squid and ribs plates. DS got the Indonesian chicken, and DD got a kids meal with meatballs and rice. We sat in the room overlooking the ride -- it was kind of scenic, but not as scenic as in DL. I think it's because the restaurant room was too bright so it was hard to see the ride clearly.

I picked up FPs for Pooh (the only ride that still had FPs) and we hit Fantasyland. We walked through the Alice maze and went on the "Once Upon a Time" Adventure. I'm not sure how much DH and the kids got out of that since it was all in Chinese, but it was just retelling the story of Snow White so it probably wasn't that difficult to figure out.

At one point, the line for Voyage to the Crystal Grotto claimed it was 20 minutes so we got in line, but I think we ended up waiting longer. The idea of a special thing under the castle was cool, but I wasn't that impressed with the crystals.

The kids and I went on Mine Train, and DH went back to the hotel room to pick up jackets. After the ride, the kids and I shopped. We ended up buying a lot of stuff -- I was on the hunt for Xmas ornaments but there wasn't anything SDL-specific, so I ended up with a fancy key chain. (Later on, in line, we saw a pack with 2 ornaments, so I also got that. When we put them on the tree, I was surprised to discover that you could open them and they were filled with individually wrapped chocolate candies! Good thing that Xmas came shortly after our trip.) I also got a crystal-encrusted compact mirror. DD got a Pooh watch. DS got a mug shaped like Baymax.

DH's excursion took longer than he expected. Walking to the buses and the bus trip itself wasn't that fast, and then he hit a snag coming back into the park. I hadn't realized this but apparently, the CMs had surreptitiously taken our pictures the first time we entered, so each ticket was associated with one of us. I hadn't at all kept track of which ticket everyone had entered with, and he'd ended up with DS's ticket. It took him a while to convince them to let him in even though the picture didn't match. Somehow during the process, he'd gotten to see my picture, and he said it was really funny because I was mostly out of the frame so you could just see like 1/3 of my face. I guess I was too quick for that surreptitious camera.

Anyways, we finally met up. We took some more pictures around the park. The Pirates line was only 20 minutes so we rode it again. I loved it again (every time we went on it, I would find myself involuntarily smiling with delight.)

We used our Pooh FPs -- the ride was like the one in Florida, so better than DL but not as good as TDL, and then went to find a spot for the Ignite the Dream show.

Our spot was okay, but not great. It was annoying that everyone was filming the show too because between their heads and their cameras, twice as much viewable space was taken. In the end, we all agreed that we still didn't love the show, and we didn't bother trying to see it on Friday.

We took the bus back to the hotel. DH took the tickets to the concierge desk and got them to mark which ticket was whose. After resting a bit, we went to dinner at Lumiere. This was a buffet, and there were a lot of choices but again, the food was unremarkable. Also, for a lot of the food, you couldn't serve yourself -- there were people on the other side who would serve you. While this might be more sanitary or perceived as a higher level of service, it's also kind of annoying. Maybe I want to get more or less of a particular ingredient, or get a different sized portion. DH did find some turkey, so I had some obligatory turkey and cranberry sauce to celebrate Thanksgiving. I was impressed with the dessert buffet -- I thought lots of things were interesting and tasty, and they had both white and milk chocolate fountains (but not much interesting to dip in them.)

This was a character buffet so it was _super_ expensive so DH was even less impressed since we're not that interested in characters. We did see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto.

After dinner, we checked out the pool. The room was beautiful, but it looked too complicated to figure out the process so we never did end up swimming. DS played in the fitness room for a while, and then we went back to the room.


Friday, November 25

We had another amazing breakfast, and another not-as-early-as-I-would-have-liked start time. We all had our proper tickets but they did take a bit longer validating mine -- probably because I was mostly not even in the picture -- before evidently deciding it was close enough.

Today, I went to get a Soaring FP first thing, and the distribution time was already around 5pm. Then we went to the ropes course at Camp Discovery. The kids had expressed an interest in doing it, but the line yesterday had pretty much hovered around the 45 minute mark, so we didn't do it.

Today, there was a huge line, but it turned out to be for the lockers. DH said he wasn't interested in doing it, so we gave all our stuff to him and got in the actual line, which was about 10 minutes long.

Again, we ran into snafus. When we got to the front, they gave us immediate return tickets and sent us back out -- we thought it was because of DD's muffler. We came back in, but it turned out that we couldn't bring our phones so we had to repeat going out and giving the contraband stuff to DH.

We finally got on the ride, and it was interesting, but there was a choice of paths, and we ended up choosing a less scenic path (one of the paths went right in front of an extremely photogenic waterfall.) Also, since our path wasn't front and center, DH didn't know where we were so he didn't take any pictures of us :-( When we got off, the line was back up to 45 minutes, so we decided it wasn't worth going back on and trying to do it in a more photogenic way.

We went on Pirates again, and then took more pictures, including ones of us with the statue of Walt and Mickey, and of the front of the park. I also picked up FPs for 7DMT.

We went to the 12pm Tarzan show. It was interesting to see how they blended common Chinese acrobat acts with the story. It helped that there were a lot of monkeys in the show.
The most impressive stunt was when the pirate captain did trampoline tricks while wearing 6-foot stilts. Despite the sometimes stretched fusion, I was moved when Tarzan's "dad" gorilla died.

After the show, we went to the castle to have lunch at the Royal Banquet Hall. First we chatted with Aurora (who appeared to be a native English speaker -- I kind of wonder how her Chinese is...)

For the first course, DH and I both got "Crab Cake Topped with Mango Salsa"; DS got "Roasted Tomato Soup and Parmesan Foam"; DD got "Oven-baked Goat's Cheese and Leek Tart." For the main course, the kids both got "Braised Beef Ragout with Penne"; DH got "Lamb Pot Roast with Braised Root Vegetables"; I got "Pan-fried King Fish, Roasted Vegetables, and Red Wine Sauce".

For dessert, DS got "Prince Charming's Chocolate Trio - Soft Chocolate Brownie, Mango Mousse, Olaf White Chocolate and Chantilly Cream"; DD got "Belle's Banquet Dessert - Passionfruit Banana Strawberry Jelly Cake, Mango Coconut Cream Dome, White Chocolate and Pistachio Puff." DH and I shared the chocolate dessert and "Elsa's White Chocolate Dome - White Chocolate Cream, Raspberry Jelly, and Fresh Berries".

I think the kids got various juices to drink, and for dessert, we got various coffees and teas. The service was really good. But again, the meal was very pricy. In the end, we found out that all the photopass pictures of us with the characters were included so that was nice, plus they were very generous about taking lots of pictures with our own camera.

After lunch, we picked up FPs for Peter Pan. We still had some time to kill before meeting my co-worker at the Xmas tree, and since Buzz had a short line, we went on it. In the end, I was glad we went on it, since the guns were _so_ much easier to aim than the ones in the US parks. They had laser sights so it was really easy to aim, and I think maybe there were more targets too. I got my highest score ever (~700K), and DH was in the second-highest level (just short of a million.)

After Buzz, we took more pictures on our way to the Xmas tree. We talked to my co-worker and his family briefly. They really recommended Roaring Rapids, so we decided to try to go on it if the line wasn't too long.

The Roaring Rapids line was only 20 minutes (maybe because it was freezing cold!) so we got in line. They were selling plastic ponchos for 10 yuan so we all got them. I successfully conveyed which colors we wanted, and the seller said that all girls wanted purple and all boys wanted blue :-)

The ride was actually only okay, pretty much the same as the CA one, so in the end, I'm not sure it was worth going on. I guess it was good from a completist POV though.

We stopped at a booth in Fantasyland and got a boba drink, but DD didn't like it. In the end, Google translate said it was some kind of menthol flavor? We also got some egg tarts, and we all liked those. DH really hadn't liked Roaring Rapids at all, and was going to pass on 7DMT again, but the kids convinced him to try it. We didn't rock the mine cart at all to try to make it tamer for DH, and in the end, he complained about how the ride was kind of boring! Well, at least, he did get to finally try it.

We used our Peter Pan FPs. I think the ride was longer here than DL. Then we went to see Captain Jack's Stunt Spectacular. The first part of the show consisted of a lot of conversation between the various characters. I only understood parts of it. Then we were allowed into the theater.

There was more dialog and fake fighting here, and I was beginning to think the show had really been oversold. Towards the end, the stunts got fancier -- falls from high spots and rubber band effects, but I was still not that impressed. But then they did a whole segment
using a giant i-Fly-like fan and I was really impressed. They were so good at it, effortlessly gliding around on the air current, coming out, and going back in. Bonus points because I had never actually seen this technology used in stunts before -- it actually made the whole show for me.

After the show, we used our Soaring FPs. Even though we were in the FP line, the line moved super slowly. I had thought the last scene was going to be in Shanghai DL, but it was in the Pudong area instead.

We decided to just have dinner at the lounge, so after a last round of picture taking, we headed out of the park. The bus hadn't been that fast before, so we decided to just walk through Wishing Star Park.

The food was exactly the same as the first night, but it was nice to eat as much as I wanted, including more desserts.

After dinner, we mostly just relaxed in the room, but I think DS might have hit the gym some more.


Saturday, November 26

Check out time was 11am so we spent a leisurely morning having one last amazing breakfast and packing everything up. I had read that hotels throw out slippers (which makes sense since they don't seem very washable) so I took all 6 of them (1 large, 4 medium, 1 kid-sized)! I also took stationery and pens.

DH finally figured out how to activate the headboard show -- it was a button in an ornate setting that made it look like a decorative element of the nightstand. We took some time-lapse pictures of the headboard lights too.

We checked out at the concierge desk and left our luggage with them. It was raining but the rain was supposed to stop later in the day, so I decided to do our hotel grounds exploration after lunch.

We did walk around inside the hotel, checking out the lobby, playing with the gym equipment (well, that was just DS) and shopping in the hotel store. I ended up getting a SDL Hotel t-shirt -- DS bought a pin for a friend. We saw some Duffy's that were dressed in various Chinese zodiac animal costumes, but all the ones relevant to us were missing.

We took the bus to Disneytown and shopped there too. We started in a store that had lots of Marvel and Star Wars stuff. In the big World of Disney store, DS got some Monsters Inc. socks for another friend; DD got some ??? socks for herself; DS got a SDL sweatshirt.

At the candy store, the kids got some candy. I managed to drop my hat outside the store, but fortunately, when I figured out it was missing, it was still there, lying forlornly in the damp. I was glad I didn't lose it since I like that hat a lot.

We looked around the Lego store. Appropriately enough, there was a large display from Mulan and another (not that appropriate) of Snow White.

For lunch, we decided to eat at Crystal Jade. The staff didn't speak English, but the menu had English descriptions and large pictures. I ordered a variety of dumplings, some green beans, a mango pudding for DD.

They brought out DD's mango pudding first, but eh, we're not picky about what order we eat our food in :-) The green beans dish was beautifully plated so picture taking ensued. Everything else was fine. Again, since this was a high end restaurant in a Disney setting, the meal wasn't exactly cheap.

After lunch, we wandered around Disneytown some more, taking pictures and checking out some of the clothing stores. We went to Starbucks so DS could get a mug. Unfortunately, they didn't have any of the "You are here" series, so he settled for another mug that said Shanghai and had a raised cityscape. The kids ordered drinks -- there was a large upstairs sitting area, but it was completely full, so we just leaned against the railing.

We walked back to the hotel through Wishing Star Park, taking more pictures. We went through the Hakuna Matata Oasis and took some pictures of the various fountains. We pondered how the hotel could have 8 floors when counting floors from the outside yielded a count of 7. I theorized that there was no 4th floor (since 4 sounds like "death") and our trip in the elevator later confirmed that theory: there was no button for 4.

Then we just sat in the lobby. I think DS might have gone to the gym again here. Around 5pm, we went to collect our luggage. The hotel had booked a taxi for us and we took it to the airport.

...
 


If you have any questions, please ask and I will try to help. SDL is my all-time favorite park and something I am trying to plan a trip back to ASAP. We went to SDL first, then HKDL, then ended our two weeks in TDL.

Did you ship anything back to the states? I know it'll be pricey but with trying to limit luggage I'm afraid I'll have too many souvenirs. Looking for something similar to doing a big shopping trip at a main store and just having the store box up all items and ship, like they do at WDW.

Are you able to charge everything back to your room?

Thanks!
 
Hi! Hubby and I are thinking about heading to SDL for a few days in March. The trip reports I've been reading are back closer to when the park first opened. Anyone have any trip reports more recent?

We did Shanghai (and Tokyo) back in November. Not exactly "recent", but long enough past opening to not be a part of the opening experience! I didn't do an actual TR, but you can read some of my thoughts here (https://www.disboards.com/threads/asia-on-a-whim-cause-why-not.3552575/) and feel free to ask any questions!
 
Feisty girl- I would love to hear more about your trip. Did you do anything special to maximize your time there (fast passes, arriving early, etc.). What worked? Anything you would recommend skipping? Any food items or restaurants that really stuck out? How early would you recommend arriving for fireworks? Any tips or tricks that you wish you knew before going? Any logistical challenges that you met?

Thanks so much!

We arrived early one day, but not the others. For the time of year that it was, it wasn't necessary. We rode everything and no wait was longer than 30 minutes. I was still suffering from jetlag so don't remember a lot of the food, but I can vouch for the Mickey muffins as one of the best snacks in the hotel/parks :) We started with FP's for Tron, and ended up riding it a few times each day. Pirates is hands down the BEST ride in the park, don't miss that one! It would frequently go down during the afternoon, so make sure you put it up high on your priority list. The whole pirate area was amazing; I think I took more pictures in the pirate area than of the castle!

I will tell you that if you are American, the guests in SHDL WILL stare at you. Some will stare like you have 3 heads or something, and some will stare as if you were a celebrity. They took a LOT of pictures of us, which at first wasn't so bad, but after a while it seemed kind of invasive. One time in particular was on the boat ride that goes under the castle (sorry, don't have official name!) and it's a boat similar to the Jungle Cruise boat... We were on one end, and one person turned around and noticed us, and started snapping pics, and then the whole boat turned and started staring and taking pics. No one cared about the things outside the boat, they were so busy staring at us. I ended up hiding behind a map (staring at it intently!) and covering my daughter's face because it was getting too out of hand for me.

For fireworks, we ended up watching them from Mickey Ave the first night, and I went shopping the next night. The fireworks are not great; if you have seen ours in DL or WDW, the ones in SHDL will not be as exciting because it's mostly projections and "fake" fireworks (lasers?)
 
Did you ship anything back to the states? I know it'll be pricey but with trying to limit luggage I'm afraid I'll have too many souvenirs. Looking for something similar to doing a big shopping trip at a main store and just having the store box up all items and ship, like they do at WDW.

Are you able to charge everything back to your room?

Thanks!

I did not ship anything. We were able to take two suitcases back per person on our airline, plus two carryons, so all of my things fit. I did buy two collapsible duffle bags (ones that easily squish into tiny balls when not used) and used those for our clothes and but our souvies in the big luggage bags. I didn't charge anything back to my room either, but I did have package pickup for the items I did not want to carry around all day. They also have discount racks in a lot of the stores; when we were there they were trying to get rid of all the grand opening merch and we found a ton of great deals.

If you happen upon a pair of grand opening ears with the ginormous gold bow, I would love to buy them from you! :) I mistakenly only bought one pair and I am terrified I will break them, so they never come out and play at Disneyland!
 
I did not ship anything. We were able to take two suitcases back per person on our airline, plus two carryons, so all of my things fit. I did buy two collapsible duffle bags (ones that easily squish into tiny balls when not used) and used those for our clothes and but our souvies in the big luggage bags. I didn't charge anything back to my room either, but I did have package pickup for the items I did not want to carry around all day. They also have discount racks in a lot of the stores; when we were there they were trying to get rid of all the grand opening merch and we found a ton of great deals.

If you happen upon a pair of grand opening ears with the ginormous gold bow, I would love to buy them from you! :) I mistakenly only bought one pair and I am terrified I will break them, so they never come out and play at Disneyland!

Great job with your luggage! With our luggage thing we are transferring hotels 3 times throughout China (Beijing, Shanghai city and Disney) so we are each fitting all our main stuff in these big travel backpacks, which we'll check. Trains will be our form of transportation so we need something easy for that. We have regular packpacks that we will throw over our front for the trains (and luggage one on back). Doesn't seem like enough luggage but we are able to fit everything we each need into the main luggage backpacks, with a little bit of room to spare. In our regular backpacks we'd just have iPads and me a purse so we are hoping that will allow decent amount of room to bring back souvenirs. But I was hoping for a backup plan if we get too much stuff. We planned Disney at the end of the trip incase we accumulated too much we didn't have to lug all over.

I will look for the ears, we aren't going for a couple months yet.

I'm glad to hear they have the package ship back to hotel so we don't have to carry around all day.
 
I will tell you that if you are American, the guests in SHDL WILL stare at you. Some will stare like you have 3 heads or something, and some will stare as if you were a celebrity. They took a LOT of pictures of us, which at first wasn't so bad, but after a while it seemed kind of invasive.

When we were at Tokyo Disney/Seas we had the same experience. There was even one lady that we came across multiple times in the park. She got in line behind us for characters and wanted her pics with us and the character (after we finished with our pics with the character).
 
I will tell you that if you are American, the guests in SHDL WILL stare at you. Some will stare like you have 3 heads or something, and some will stare as if you were a celebrity. They took a LOT of pictures of us, which at first wasn't so bad, but after a while it seemed kind of invasive.

A little O/T, but on our first trip to China, we travelled with two female friends, one of whom was tall and blonde. We made the mistake of stopping for a rest at the ... Beijing Zoo from memory and within minutes there was a line of 20+ people who all wanted their photo taken with our friend. She was the most popular attraction in the zoo until the novelty wore off.
 
A little O/T, but on our first trip to China, we travelled with two female friends, one of whom was tall and blonde. We made the mistake of stopping for a rest at the ... Beijing Zoo from memory and within minutes there was a line of 20+ people who all wanted their photo taken with our friend. She was the most popular attraction in the zoo until the novelty wore off.

We had the same thing happen at the forbidden city in Beijing. Myself and three blonde friends were sitting for a rest, and a woman pushed her grandkid between us for a picture. Before we know it, there is a line of a full tour group waiting to get pics.

We'll see what happens at SDL! My soon-to-be husband is 6'6" and redhead! I'm blonde.
 
We had the same thing happen at the forbidden city in Beijing. Myself and three blonde friends were sitting for a rest, and a woman pushed her grandkid between us for a picture. Before we know it, there is a line of a full tour group waiting to get pics.

We'll see what happens at SDL! My soon-to-be husband is 6'6" and redhead! I'm blonde.

I don't think it will happen nearly as much at SDL, if at all. There's so many foreigners in Shanghai that I don't think it's as exciting for them anymore. Beijing, on the other hand, gets a lot of Chinese tourists from all over China, including places where there aren't many foreigners, so they get really excited haha :p
 
We had the same thing happen at the forbidden city in Beijing. Myself and three blonde friends were sitting for a rest, and a woman pushed her grandkid between us for a picture. Before we know it, there is a line of a full tour group waiting to get pics.

We'll see what happens at SDL! My soon-to-be husband is 6'6" and redhead! I'm blonde.

This is unlikely to happen at SDL. I have long blonde ringlets, and have only been approached once for a photo on my two visits (and that was while I was Disneybounding as Minnie). There were a few other blondes in my group as well on my last visit, and as far as I know, none of them were approached for photos.
 
I guess everyone has a different experience when it comes to how the crowds react in SDL, but we absolutely were stared at and had numerous photos taken of us. None of us are blonde, but it was quite awkward. We were there in November/December.
 
I guess everyone has a different experience when it comes to how the crowds react in SDL, but we absolutely were stared at and had numerous photos taken of us. None of us are blonde, but it was quite awkward. We were there in November/December.

It probably depends on where the crowds at SDL are from themselves. If they're mainly locals, they're probably used to seeing westerners. If, as the PP mentioned, there are a lot who are from more regional areas of China that rarely see westerners, you may be a novelty to them.
 

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