The 'I survived SDL's Opening Day' TR!

[zanzibar138]

I didn't realize that bacchus lounge had food items. Would you say it is enough to make a meal?

We will be eating primarily counter service restaurants (for budget reasons). Any restaurant recommendations? We are not picky eaters at all! With only two days there, we want to eat the best!

Has anyone been able to find menus online?

I only ate in the parks except for a muffin from Ballet Café and an ice-cream from Sunnyside Marketplace, so I can't really tell you about the Disney Town options. And I'm just assuming that Bacchus Lounge would have some sort of food as the lounge place at the HKDL Hotel does - we had custom made pizzas there, and there were a few other options. Ballet Café is right next door though, so worst case if you get there and find that they don't have any food, you can just duck in next door.

Within the parks, I definitely wouldn't miss Barbossa's Bounty. It is the most incredibly themed restaurant I've been to, even if you can't get a table right by the water. I had the ribs which were absolutely delicious, although the corn on the side was pretty ordinary lol! Try Wandering Moon if you want real Chinese food - I was a bit scared that I'd order something I wouldn't like (I'm a little bit fussy), but regret not being a bit adventurous because some of the pictures I've seen since look really good! Mickey's Marketplace has dim sum items, great for those of us who love dumplings! And if you're happy with junk food for breakfast, you can't go past Donald's gelato shop (forget what it's called) for waffles - yummo!

Don't make the mistake of thinking that counter service is going to be cheap. With the exchange rate at the time I went (not sure what it's doing now), I was still spending $15-$20 AUD for an adult meal combo. I mainly just bought kids meals which were a bit cheaper, but still not what I would call cheap.

You'll absolutely love your dinner at the Royal Banquet Hall too. Even on my own, it was amazing!

 

[disney144]

We will probably skip royal banquet hall as we aren't really character people. We are anticipating spending as much as we would for counter service in other Disney parks, which is unfortunate. Thanks for the recommendations! We were definitely thinking of doing barbosas and wandering moon, so I'm glad we're on the right path!

 

[disney144]

One more question for you- I usually eat kids meals at the US parks. Did you find them to be enough food (with room for snacking) or were they smaller than US parks kids meals? How was the food quality? I know some kids menus are hit or miss!

 

[Flounder89]

One more question for you- I usually eat kids meals at the US parks. Did you find them to be enough food (with room for snacking) or were they smaller than US parks kids meals? How was the food quality? I know some kids menus are hit or miss!

They had an offer where you got a free kids meal with the purchase of 2 adults so I got to try kids meals on a few occasions - really small portions and mostly some type of bland rice; I would stick with the adult options. I can recommend the pork belly at Wandering Moon'

 

[GusIsaFoxhound]

Try Wolfgang Puck in Disney Town for a decent feed. We had the 'meal for 2' for about 200y (maybe 180y) which had pork and rice, pepperoni pizza, calamari, and a divine slice of vanilla cheesecake. This really is one of the best meals I've ever had anywhere- I've been living on the dream since having it!
Disney Town has plenty of eating spots, both cafe and restaurant, and most have the menu with prices out the front. It will be easy to find somewhere to suit your needs, I think. Enjoy!

 

[zanzibar138]

We will probably skip royal banquet hall as we aren't really character people. We are anticipating spending as much as we would for counter service in other Disney parks, which is unfortunate. Thanks for the recommendations! We were definitely thinking of doing barbosas and wandering moon, so I'm glad we're on the right path!

Oh, I must be thinking of someone else who said they had a dinner reservation at the Royal Banquet Hall!

One more question for you- I usually eat kids meals at the US parks. Did you find them to be enough food (with room for snacking) or were they smaller than US parks kids meals? How was the food quality? I know some kids menus are hit or miss!

The kids meals I had were a similar size to the ones I had in the US, and certainly plenty of food for me (although I'm a fairly light eater). Mostly they were on the blander side though compared to the adult meals.

 

[shushh]

Sounds an awesome trip! Lots of great info here! Have read the main posts, now slowing going through all the posts for the extra tips. We'll be going in April next year so very grateful for this

 

[shushh]

And gorgeous photos by the way

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Lovely photos. Waiting eagerly for Toy Story Hotel pics now. Love the look of Adventure Isle, my fave area in Disney Paris too.

 

[zanzibar138]

Sounds an awesome trip! Lots of great info here! Have read the main posts, now slowing going through all the posts for the extra tips. We'll be going in April next year so very grateful for this

And gorgeous photos by the way

Glad you're enjoying it!

Lovely photos. Waiting eagerly for Toy Story Hotel pics now. Love the look of Adventure Isle, my fave area in Disney Paris too.

I will be getting onto the rest of this TR in the next couple of weeks. Gotta get through some life admin first, but have the perfect opportunity coming up to get this TR finished off

 

[zanzibar138]

I apologise for neglecting this TR for so long! I've got a couple of days free to get through as much as I can before real life is going to take over again, so let's see how much I can do!

The Jungle is Calling

When I arrived back at Tarzan, there were a few people waiting in one of the queue lines. The CM at the entrance recognised me from before, and waved me into the next queue line so I was right at the front. The line built up behind me, but never really never did get that long.



I was very surprised that this show wasn’t more popular! Or perhaps most people were out taking advantage of the still short-er wait times.

At one point the last show obviously finished, and a wave of people exited the theatre. Once they were out of the way, the CMs started setting up the queue for us to enter. There were three separate lines in the queue, and they all ended abruptly near the theatre entrance. I had been wondering what would happen when we were allowed in – whether each line would be let in one at a time, or whether it would just be a free for all with pushing and shoving galore. It turned out that they actually extended each line into the entrance area, each directed towards a different door. Being in the middle queue, I was headed towards the centre door! That CM really looked after me.

While I was waiting, one of the group of westerners in the line next to me caught my attention, and asked if I was on the DIS. It turned out to be wuzefelix! We whiled away the remaining few minutes of queue time comparing our experiences so far and our plans for our remaining time. I was very jealous that wuzefelix and his party were off on their VIP tour after lunch, and that they would get to walk on to every ride! Not long afterwards, we were let into the theatre, and wuzefelix invited me to join them for the show. It was nice to have someone to share the experience with, and we managed to nab some great seats (well, bench space) right in front of the stage only a couple of rows up. The theatre was huge, with seating surrounding the stage on three sides, and it was really only the front section that filled up.

The show started with the ‘Two Worlds, One Family’ song, accompanied by the scenes from the movie projected onto the curtain. It was slightly edited to be in the same style as the Tarzan title screen above, all in sepia tones. At the end of the song, the curtain lifted to reveal the performers.



What followed was a dazzling display of Chinese acrobatics, inspired by the movie. I was blown away to notice that there were no safety ropes used at any time throughout the show. There was no dialogue, but the songs were all familiar (even if they were all in Chinese). The story strayed a little from the movie to fit the style of the show (for example, there was no Clayton, and pirates were the ones trying to capture the gorillas). It didn’t bother me – it did fit the show, and everything flowed nicely and was easy enough to follow.

They're not amazing photos, but they'll give you a bit of an idea about what sort of things they do.













At the end of the show, the monkeys all ran up and down the aisles giving high fives. My poor old camera did not like that bit at all!

 

[zanzibar138]

Of course, it would be the case that when I actually have time to work on this TR, Flickr decides that it doesn't want to play! At least I got one update done yesterday anyway, and will try again in a few hours to see if Flickr has fixed itself!

 

[Ritchielace]

Loving your TR! Your pictures are amazing. So I have to ask if that Frozen cake on the breakfast pastry table was real or fake? That was pretty impressive even surrounded by all that yummy food.

 

[zanzibar138]

Loving your TR! Your pictures are amazing. So I have to ask if that Frozen cake on the breakfast pastry table was real or fake? That was pretty impressive even surrounded by all that yummy food.

Thanks! Sorry I've fallen so far behind on this. Still planning to finish it off when things settle down in real life.

The icing/decoration on the Frozen cake looked pretty real, but I can't say whether it was actual cake or polystyrene inside. It was clearly just meant for decoration though.

 

[disney144]

Hey Zanzibar. I know you covered this already, but I can't find it anywhere! How did the luggage transfer work between the two hotels? Was it simple enough? We are considering staying at toy story the first night then transferring to SDL hotel for the last two nights. I'm not sure if it's worth saving $150 if it is going to be a hassle to switch hotels.

 

[zanzibar138]

Hey Zanzibar. I know you covered this already, but I can't find it anywhere! How did the luggage transfer work between the two hotels? Was it simple enough? We are considering staying at toy story the first night then transferring to SDL hotel for the last two nights. I'm not sure if it's worth saving $150 if it is going to be a hassle to switch hotels.

It was super easy. I mentioned that I was going to the other hotel for the next night when I was checking out, and they offered to transfer my luggage for me and gave me a ticket stubb to hand over at the other end. There was a small amount of confusion at the other end because the stubb was from the other hotel, but it didn't take long to figure it out, and then they helped me up to my room with the luggage.

I'm actually doing a split stay again on my next trip

 

[cschaaf]

Resurrecting this thread for a few reasons:

First, it's a fantastic thread! @zanzibar138 , the level of detail that you have gone into is so helpful to those who are planning, or thinking about planning, a trip to SHDL.

Second, I have a question - more on that below..

Third, I'm hoping to kick start zanzibar into posting more of her TR!

My question - can someone explain the 'ticket exchange' thing? We’ll be buying our tickets online (or by calling in) as opposed to buying at the hotel.
Does that mean we’ll need to print ‘tickets’, then ‘exchange’ them once we get to the park?

Thanks!

 

[Camonkeygirl]

Resurrecting this thread for a few reasons:

First, it's a fantastic thread! @zanzibar138 , the level of detail that you have gone into is so helpful to those who are planning, or thinking about planning, a trip to SHDL.

Second, I have a question - more on that below..

Third, I'm hoping to kick start zanzibar into posting more of her TR!

My question - can someone explain the 'ticket exchange' thing? We’ll be buying our tickets online (or by calling in) as opposed to buying at the hotel.
Does that mean we’ll need to print ‘tickets’, then ‘exchange’ them once we get to the park?

Thanks!

I was at SHDL in Feb. I bought my tickets online before I arrived, all I had to do was show my passport at the turnstiles and was given a ticket.

 

[zanzibar138]

Resurrecting this thread for a few reasons:

First, it's a fantastic thread! @zanzibar138 , the level of detail that you have gone into is so helpful to those who are planning, or thinking about planning, a trip to SHDL.

Second, I have a question - more on that below..

Third, I'm hoping to kick start zanzibar into posting more of her TR!

My question - can someone explain the 'ticket exchange' thing? We’ll be buying our tickets online (or by calling in) as opposed to buying at the hotel.
Does that mean we’ll need to print ‘tickets’, then ‘exchange’ them once we get to the park?

Thanks!

Sorry this TR has gone into such a state of neglect! Life has thrown me a few curve balls recently so I've had to take some time out to deal with that. It is returning to a state of normalcy though, so perhaps I will get time to do some more updating soon - I do still plan to finish it off!

When I was there, I had to exchange my printed ticket voucher (purchased online) at the ticket booth. Once I had my official ticket, I was waved into the park, and didn't have to line up again at the turnstiles. It was actually much more civilised doing it that way - people in the lines for the ticket booth were much better behaved than the people lining up for the turnstiles!

I'm actually going again next week, and will be purchasing my tickets online before I go, so I will let you know what the current situation is.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

We just got back. We took the print out of the ticket confirmation email with our passports to the actual entrance turn-styles not the ticket office (as you are now told to do). There they printed off a ticket for us pretty quickly as we moved through. The security before this was the longer queues. Saw lots of people getting food confiscated as they were bringing in too much/wrong type (there is a long list of things and quantities you can't bring in).