China ABD Question

[TikiThunderPirates]

For those who have done the China ABD trip did Disney supply any type of fastpass option for Hong Kong and Shanghai Disney? It doesn't look like we spend a lot of time there and want to make sure we can ride most of the rides.

If you want to make sure you ride most of the rides you will want to add on days to your trip to do the parks yourself. While each trip is different and a fastpass type option is not listed which means not guaranteed... they did supply passes for the top "main" attractions in Shanghai. But with the very limited time they allowed, all I was able to do was those fastpass attractions and I had to just go striaght from one to the next. There were people in our group that didn't even ride all the attractions they had passes for because they stopped to do other things (like shop). If you want to enjoy that park, for sure plan extra days.

For HongKong we were there during a very very very slow day, so they just sent us out with nothing extra. I will say that you could probably have done all the headliners in that time, but again, to really enjoy that park you need at least 1 extra day.

The passes were delivered as an "extra" so I would never ever count on them, however likely that they will continue to do it.

 

[AquaDame]

Exactly. While I really, really loved the face-changing opera, I would love not having to do that death march day in order to see the terracotta soldiers way more! (Which was worth it in the end, but still a hellish day!)

Sayhello

My husband still talks about the face changing opera; I think it was probably his favorite part of the trip as it was so unique! Maybe there is another opportunity along the line to see one somewhere..? I didn't realize there was a panda center in Xian, we went to the one in Chengdu also... maybe the operas are multiple places too.

 

[sayhello]

My husband still talks about the face changing opera; I think it was probably his favorite part of the trip as it was so unique! Maybe there is another opportunity along the line to see one somewhere..? I didn't realize there was a panda center in Xian, we went to the one in Chengdu also... maybe the operas are multiple places too.

That would be my hope, that they do it somewhere else that could be either fitted into the itinerary or done OYO. I did some quick googling, and there is one in Beijing, but the only other one that comes up is Chengdu. Apparently it's officially the "Sichuan" face-changing opera, so would be found in the Sichuan province (which is where Chengdu is). I don't think any of the other stops are in Sichuan?

And I didn't know there was a Panda center in Xi'an, either. But it's been there since 1987 (I checked). I suppose they chose the Chengdu one because of the face-changing opera? Who knows?

ETA: Ah! Some extra googling shows that the center in Xi'an was closed for several years (like 2015 - 2023) due to illness among the pandas. I'm assuming it's all good now, but that explains that.

Sayhello

 

[AquaDame]

That would be my hope, that they do it somewhere else that could be either fitted into the itinerary or done OYO. I did some quick googling, and there is one in Beijing, but the only other one that comes up is Chengdu. Apparently it's officially the "Sichuan" face-changing opera, so would be found in the Sichuan province (which is where Chengdu is). I don't think any of the other stops are in Sichuan?

And I didn't know there was a Panda center in Xi'an, either. But it's been there since 1987 (I checked). I suppose they chose the Chengdu one because of the face-changing opera? Who knows?

ETA: Ah! Some extra googling shows that the center in Xi'an was closed for several years (like 2015 - 2023) due to illness among the pandas. I'm assuming it's all good now, but that explains that.

Sayhello

Ahh that totally does! It makes me wonder if it may have always been preferred, but unavailable. I will say though that the meals we had in Sichuan province were SO GOOD also. I'm sure the trip is just as fabulous this new way too but I remember the area very fondly and glad we covered the ground we did. (We did not go with ABD, but copied the itinerary mostly with a few additions but did not make it to Guilin. Regretable but there was simply no way to make it work for us in the time we had).

 

[MeDisney]

Ahh that totally does! It makes me wonder if it may have always been preferred, but unavailable. I will say though that the meals we had in Sichuan province were SO GOOD also. I'm sure the trip is just as fabulous this new way too but I remember the area very fondly and glad we covered the ground we did. (We did not go with ABD, but copied the itinerary mostly with a few additions but did not make it to Guilin. Regretable but there was simply no way to make it work for us in the time we had).

Did you use a travel agent?

 

[AquaDame]

Did you use a travel agent?

We had local private guides for day tours in Chengu, Xian and Beijing, whom were arranged through Catherine Lu tours https://www.catherinelutours.com/. We arranged all the flights, trains, hotels, meals (aside from ones during tours), and visiting both Disney parks on our own.