So I had one day in the park ahead of a work meeting. I stayed at the Melia Shanghai Parkside because I got a terrific deal through Amex’s Hotel Collection (paid $40 for 2 nights with the annual credit, plus $100 food/ beverage credit). The hotel was clean and quiet; about a 15 minute walk from room to park gate. Would highly recommend, especially if you can get a deal like I did.
I had no problem buying an early bird ticket from the app when those became available but I wasn’t able to purchase early entry from the app, which had been my plan, along with the package of 8 premier access passes. I spent the week communicating with Disney about it, but we couldn’t figure it out. I did notice that it would work once I arrived in Shanghai, but as my time was so limited I didn’t want to chance anything. So: I purchased the Deluxe Premier Access set of 11, the lowest package that also gives early park access. I’m glad I did. I had seen some advice about waiting to see how things are when you get here, etc, but even though my purchase was overkill, I literally had one single day in the park. I regret nothing!
The deluxe premier access bundle gives you early entry at the Disneytown entrance, not the “early access” area at the main entrance. Just walk through Disneytown and there will be people there to help you find the entrance. I got there about 7 for a 7:30 early entry (park open at 8:30). I was maybe the 20th person in line on a cold February Saturday. They let us in a little before 7:30 and people were definitely running. There was no “hold” once we got in.
I wasn’t sure if Zootopia was going to be open, since it says it’s not on the early entry page, so I went to 7DMT first, it was a walk on. I saw Zootopia was open and head there to experience to queue—just a few minute wait and such a cute land/ queue/ ride. Then I went to Tron—walk on. [note: I think from a sheer wait perspective the correct early entry pattern would be 7DMT, Zootopia, Soarin, then Tron, but I had never ridden Tron so I wanted to get to ride it a couple times]. I headed over to the Soarin area but the line had already built so I walked on the POTC. AMAZING. I immediately got back in line and rode it again. Then I did the Discovery Island Challenge Trail—super cool, again a walk on.
After that, it was about 9:30 or 10 and the lines had all built by then, and really stayed that way until fireworks. So I grabbed a coffee and Mickey donut and spent the next set of hours using my Premier Access passes, checking out a couple of shows, and jumping into the few shorter queues.
The package I had gave reserved space for the parade but I was hangry and didn’t stay. I ate lunch at the Tangled Tavern, the vegetarian plate. I had dinner in Disneytown. The reserved space the package offered for the fireworks was AMAZING. At WDW, I’m usually still running with my kids from ride to ride during fireworks, or watching them from the Poly pool, but this access was so close and front row center. You can buy a separate Premier Access pass for it as well—worth it, totally cool.
I had read some interesting things online about the park guests but none of the negative reports were true for me. Everyone was polite and having fun—I’d say these park guests were better behaved than those at WDW. Some crowding in crowded spots, like exiting the park, but again, nothing worse than in Florida. But also I didn’t stand in line for more than 15-20 minutes ever.
In all, I was in the park from about 7:20am until 9:30 and I did:
7DMT twice (once standby, once PA. There is a single rider line—I saw they had a 60 minute wait estimate for that when the standby wait was 105 minutes)
Zootopia twice (once, standby, once PA. They also had a single rider queue, it looked long)
POTC four times—highlight of the day
Discovery Island challenge trails
Jack Sparrow stunt show—fun
Soarin with PA
Buzz twice (once standby, once PA)
Woody’s roundup with PA (toy story land is pretty basic)
Peter Pan with PA
Mickey’s Storybook Adventure show (ok, they make you queue up way before the show)
Voyage to the Crystal Grotto twice (once standby, once with PA, not a priority but fun way to see the castle, better at night)
Once upon a time adventure castle walk through
Alice in Wonderland maze
That’s it! A really fun day. I walked nearly 16 miles.
I had no problem buying an early bird ticket from the app when those became available but I wasn’t able to purchase early entry from the app, which had been my plan, along with the package of 8 premier access passes. I spent the week communicating with Disney about it, but we couldn’t figure it out. I did notice that it would work once I arrived in Shanghai, but as my time was so limited I didn’t want to chance anything. So: I purchased the Deluxe Premier Access set of 11, the lowest package that also gives early park access. I’m glad I did. I had seen some advice about waiting to see how things are when you get here, etc, but even though my purchase was overkill, I literally had one single day in the park. I regret nothing!
The deluxe premier access bundle gives you early entry at the Disneytown entrance, not the “early access” area at the main entrance. Just walk through Disneytown and there will be people there to help you find the entrance. I got there about 7 for a 7:30 early entry (park open at 8:30). I was maybe the 20th person in line on a cold February Saturday. They let us in a little before 7:30 and people were definitely running. There was no “hold” once we got in.
I wasn’t sure if Zootopia was going to be open, since it says it’s not on the early entry page, so I went to 7DMT first, it was a walk on. I saw Zootopia was open and head there to experience to queue—just a few minute wait and such a cute land/ queue/ ride. Then I went to Tron—walk on. [note: I think from a sheer wait perspective the correct early entry pattern would be 7DMT, Zootopia, Soarin, then Tron, but I had never ridden Tron so I wanted to get to ride it a couple times]. I headed over to the Soarin area but the line had already built so I walked on the POTC. AMAZING. I immediately got back in line and rode it again. Then I did the Discovery Island Challenge Trail—super cool, again a walk on.
After that, it was about 9:30 or 10 and the lines had all built by then, and really stayed that way until fireworks. So I grabbed a coffee and Mickey donut and spent the next set of hours using my Premier Access passes, checking out a couple of shows, and jumping into the few shorter queues.
The package I had gave reserved space for the parade but I was hangry and didn’t stay. I ate lunch at the Tangled Tavern, the vegetarian plate. I had dinner in Disneytown. The reserved space the package offered for the fireworks was AMAZING. At WDW, I’m usually still running with my kids from ride to ride during fireworks, or watching them from the Poly pool, but this access was so close and front row center. You can buy a separate Premier Access pass for it as well—worth it, totally cool.
I had read some interesting things online about the park guests but none of the negative reports were true for me. Everyone was polite and having fun—I’d say these park guests were better behaved than those at WDW. Some crowding in crowded spots, like exiting the park, but again, nothing worse than in Florida. But also I didn’t stand in line for more than 15-20 minutes ever.
In all, I was in the park from about 7:20am until 9:30 and I did:
7DMT twice (once standby, once PA. There is a single rider line—I saw they had a 60 minute wait estimate for that when the standby wait was 105 minutes)
Zootopia twice (once, standby, once PA. They also had a single rider queue, it looked long)
POTC four times—highlight of the day
Discovery Island challenge trails
Jack Sparrow stunt show—fun
Soarin with PA
Buzz twice (once standby, once PA)
Woody’s roundup with PA (toy story land is pretty basic)
Peter Pan with PA
Mickey’s Storybook Adventure show (ok, they make you queue up way before the show)
Voyage to the Crystal Grotto twice (once standby, once with PA, not a priority but fun way to see the castle, better at night)
Once upon a time adventure castle walk through
Alice in Wonderland maze
That’s it! A really fun day. I walked nearly 16 miles.
