Hong Kong & Shanghai Solo Trip Planning

[clappyclaps]

Hi everyone! I'm in the process of planning my next solo trip and after enjoying my time in LA, I'm considering braving a trip to Hong Kong and Shanghai, the main purpose of course being Disney.

I've been doing a lot of research online and reading through posts on here, but i just wanted to run my plans and some questions I have past all of you knowledgeable folks on here for any help and feedback. I'm a little nervous about doing this trip on my own mostly due to the language barrier, but i really want to go outside of my comfort zone - hence the research and questions!

My plan is to fly from the UK to Shanghai, spend 3 nights there in the Toy Story Hotel and do 2 park days. Fly from Shanghai to Hong Kong and do the same again - 3 nights in whichever is the cheapest Disney hotel, 2 park days and then fly home. Utilising the visa free transit for Shanghai and I'm thinking Disney hotels for their walking distance to the parks and staying there would make me feel a little more comfortable/reassured. I'm looking at mid-end November this year, with my park days all being on a weekday.

Does the above sound reasonable for a Disney focused trip? Is there anything I might need to consider or be aware of? Any feedback welcome!

My other questions are around the more practical aspects of the trip:

Payment - some cash appears to be necessary for taxis, kiosks etc but I'm a little confused about the card payment aspects and the likes of Octopus and Alipay. Is it possible to pay simply with your credit card directly or mobile contactless payment (i.e Samsung wallet) instead of using Alipay or Octopus?

Language - from what I've read, learning some basic phrases and trying English first (in Hong Kong's case), along with pantomime and patience should be sufficient to get by along with a translation app if necessary. For someone who is very self sufficient and whose only interaction with cast members tends to be for ordering food, buying things & stating a party of 1, do you think I'm likely to experience many issues with the language barrier?

Internet - I've read an eSim with VPN should be enough to get me access to what I need. Does anyone have any experience with these or recommendations?

I'm not looking at booking the trip for another month or so, but I want to do my research first to make sure I understand everything before I do! So any advice etc would be gratefully received

 

[gelatoni fan]

In Shanghai, there are some shopping malls and restaurants which only accept Alipay or Wechat Pay (other payment methods like cash and credit card NOT accepted). If you're just going directly to the parks and directly back to the airport, then having cash and a credit card is fine.

In Hong Kong, there's no need to get an Octopus card if you're not taking a lot of public transit. I think all MTR stations now have at least some blue gates that accept credit cards and you can also buy tickets with cash. Pretty much everywhere in the park accepts credit card but cash is still useful if you think you'll take taxis.

Cast members in Shanghai may not speak English so having a translation app already downloaded may help (test it when arriving because google services may get blocked). In Hong Kong, you're unlikely to have issues using English and there's actually now a portion of cast members from the Philippines and Malaysia who don't even speak Cantonese or Mandarin at all.

For eSIM, I've been using Gigsky while people I know who use Airalo seem to have worse connection. People I know on T-mobile roaming and Holafly have also had issues getting through the firewall. Nomad seems to be an eSIM that people seem to like for China but I don't personally know anyone who has used it yet. For VPN, I used to use Surfshark but these days people I know seem to report more consistency getting through the firewall with NordVPN.

 

[clappyclaps]

In Shanghai, there are some shopping malls and restaurants which only accept Alipay or Wechat Pay (other payment methods like cash and credit card NOT accepted). If you're just going directly to the parks and directly back to the airport, then having cash and a credit card is fine.

In Hong Kong, there's no need to get an Octopus card if you're not taking a lot of public transit. I think all MTR stations now have at least some blue gates that accept credit cards and you can also buy tickets with cash. Pretty much everywhere in the park accepts credit card but cash is still useful if you think you'll take taxis.

Cast members in Shanghai may not speak English so having a translation app already downloaded may help (test it when arriving because google services may get blocked). In Hong Kong, you're unlikely to have issues using English and there's actually now a portion of cast members from the Philippines and Malaysia who don't even speak Cantonese or Mandarin at all.

For eSIM, I've been using Gigsky while people I know who use Airalo seem to have worse connection. People I know on T-mobile roaming and Holafly have also had issues getting through the firewall. Nomad seems to be an eSIM that people seem to like for China but I don't personally know anyone who has used it yet. For VPN, I used to use Surfshark but these days people I know seem to report more consistency getting through the firewall with NordVPN.

Super this answers all of my questions, thank you so much! Really appreciate it