The Set is Complete!

[Nomarian]

Day ? (I forget what day it is) - Travel day to Shanghai


Today was our travel day to Shanghai. Our flight was not until 10:30 am, so we went and had breakfast one more time at the buffet. Once we were done with the buffet, I went to the bellhop desk and asked if we could have a bellhop come to the room at 8 am and then a tax at 8:15. I was told that it was not a problem and a bellhop was at our room at 8 am to get all our luggage. As we left the room to head downstairs, we were a little sad and we really enjoyed our time at the Cordis. The tax from the Cordis was about $30 USD, but would have been cheaper if I had been watching a little more closely. We used the taxi service about 4 times while in Hong Kong and after we started our journey on all the trips, I brought up my Google Maps and found that all the drivers took a route that was just a little longer than the most optimum route take make a little extra. I would have said something if I had caught them in time, but it was not a big deal to me as an extra $2-4 USD was not worth the headache. My priority was getting the family to the next location and move on with the vacation.

I wish I had taken pictures of the airport and our time there, but alas, I did not, so you will have use your imagination. I had booked us on a Hong Kong Airlines flight out of Hong Kong to Shanghai one way. I looked for enough deals that I got us flights for about $144 USD each. Once we got to the airport, we got in line and I presented our passports and then ticketed our luggage and were handed our boarding passes. We then got into line to pass security and were through there pretty quick as well. My wife immediately found Starbucks after the security gate and got a coffee. The boys and I were a little more adventurous and found a spot that sold bubble milk tea, so we were good as well.


We walked to our gate and I was a little surprised about how crowded it was there. There were a lot of people waiting for the flight, so I could tell it was going to be full. I need to also note that I called Hong Kong Airlines about 3 months before our departure to ask if I could get seats next to my family as I did not want the kids split up and I could not pick seats online. The nice agent gave us the 4 middle seats in the 2nd row behind Business Class. Eventually, they started boarding, but it was like a free for all and everyone kind of rushed the gate, even though we had Zone A, which was supposed to be first, they didn't call a Zone at all. Luckily, we were standing close to the ticket person and we got past most of this. We found our seats pretty quickly, but we did notice that the air was working on the plane yet and it was a little hot, but I think the thing we all noticed was the smell. I can't describe it, but being Chinese and having Chinese parents, it reminded me of old Chinese people. LOL. Luckily, after a little bit, they started the engines and the air came on and the smell dissipated. The flight was only supposed to be less than 3 hours, but like all airlines outside of the US, they served us a full sized meal which was very good (chicken and noodles). The entertainment system was also pretty good. A lot of the Hollywood movies were in English with Chinese subtitles.

The flight was pretty uneventful and soon we landed in Shanghai. Once you are off the plane, you head to customs. They had a line for resident and one for foreigners. Once we showed them our passport, they put us into a line for foreigners. I forgot to note about our customs trip into Hong Kong, so let me digress. Once we landed in Hong Kong last week, they have all foreigners use a fingerprint machine to take your picture and fingerprints. Once this is done, you can go to the customs booth. I think the machine had an issue with dry hands and they had workers there wiping the screen and your fingers to try and get them image. The boys and I got imaged quick and received a slip of paper that said "OK". My wife could not get her fingerprints to take, so eventually, they told her to go to line 22 which was all the way at the end of the Customs hall while were directed to the normal lines. I had a split second twinge that I might not see her again, but we all reunited on the other side and she was not too happy that they had to fingerprint her with ink the old way. Now back to Shanghai. We breezed through Customs in Shanghai as they don't require fingerprints and we had 10 year visas in our passports.


Once out of Customs, we went to the luggage pickup and got our luggage and then proceeded out of the airport, but I got a random pick to scan my luggage through the X-ray machine. I think they look for the biggest pieces of luggage and I had the two largest and I was picked out of my whole family Luckily, both of them were pretty empty as these were being used to store all the stuff we buy. From there, we looked for signs for the Maglev and saw them in English and Chinese. I had read that the Maglev is the fastest in the world and it only takes 8 minutes to get the center of Shanghai while a taxi can take about 30-40 minutes. I wanted to lessen my time in a taxi and this was supposed to be an experience. I also know there are two classes of Maglev tickets. VIP and regular. VIP had a lot more legroom and more luggage space and that is what I was going to do, but when I saw that it was a very light crowd waiting for the train, I just bought 4 regular seats. I think the regular are $8 USD each and the VIP is $20USD each. Once the train arrived, I saw everyone heading to the middle cars and I just went straight for the last car and I am glad I did. It was empty and we had the luggage rack all to ourselves. The ride was very smooth and we hit almost 301kph which is about 190mph. The kids enjoyed seeing things fly by so fast.

Once we arrived at the station, we grabbed our luggage and headed towards the taxi line. Now I have read on here and on other sites to ignore the people asking you if you want to taxi or ride before you even get into the taxi line. They even stand at the entrance to the taxi line acting like they are the taxi guys, but ignore them all and walk to the end of the line to the real taxi person. Now once we got to him, he did not speak any English and we had to pantomine to tell him I wanted a larger SUV type taxi since our 5 pieces of luggage and family of 4 would not fit in a sedan. He finally understood and we stepped back and waited while we let some others past us to take the sedans until the SUV came up. The taxi driver also did not speak English, but I had a printout of our hotel in Chinese to show him. We packed up and headed straight for the hotel.

The ride to the hotel still took about 30 minutes and it was also in traffic which didn't help. I tried to take some pictures during the ride while the rest of the family fell asleep. We went over a very large bridge with some Chinese lettering. I have not had time to decipher them yet though.

Once I saw we were getting close to the Bund, I knew we were close to hotel and then we turned a corner and we pulled up to our hotel for the next few days touring the city of Shanghai.

I should note that I travel a lot and exclusive stay at Hilton Hotels for all my travels, so these next few days here were completely on points, so there was no cost to us. As soon as we arrived, the bellhops grabbed all our luggage from the taxi and walked us inside to the check in stand. Being a Hilton Honors Diamond member, they had a part of the stand just for us, so I was checked-in there. We had booked two normal rooms that were connecting. One was a king size bed while the room was two queens for my boys. Upon checking in, I was informed that we were upgraded to Deluxe River View rooms that were connected. I was also informed that we had free breakfast every morning downstairs due to my status with the hotel chain. Once we had finished check-in, one of the ladies walked from behind the counter and asked the bellhop with our luggage to follow us. She took us up in the elevator to our floor and walked us to our room. We came up to the door and I was a little surprised at how nice it looked.

She then walked us in and went through all the features of the room and how to use everything. While this was going on, the bellhop put our luggage into the walk-in closet in each room. ( I wish I took a picture of this) I was a little blown away by the room and the view. I will say that having two rooms was very nice with two teens. They had a bathroom all to themselves so there was never any need to wait for someone to shower or go to the bathroom. I think we will have to do this from now on.

There was a TV in the mirror. I did not notice this until the kids saw it.

They even had a treat in the rooms for the boys.

Once settled, we had to do one thing no matter what and that was get the South Spinning Material Market. I had done a TON of research into this place which tailor makes clothes for you. There are literally hundreds of tailor shops here that can make anything you want to wear. You just have to know what you want and haggle for it. I had researched on TripAdvisor and found two tailor shops that I wanted to meet with to discuss some custom suits. We have a few weddings in the fall and all my suits are horrible outdated. Also, I was hoping to get the cheap enough so I could get the boys suits as well. The wife was going to find and have a custom dress made as well. This is what the building looks like. (not my photo).

There is a train stop for the green line about 2 blocks away and after a transfer, we were only a block away from the market. Once we got into the market, it was the craziest thing you have seen. Just small tailor after tailor right next to each other and they are all trying to get you to come into their shops. I already knew that we were going to JoJo's and Joyce to see which one was better. After talking to both, I liked JoJo's selection of fabrics better, so we started the process with her first. I first picked out fabric that I liked and let the boys also choose their fabrics. We choose a nice wool blend and then haggled on price. I was finally able to bring the cost of the suits down to $135USD for each. We then proceeded to work on the design and style of the suit while someone else started to take a lot of measurements of myself and the boys. While this was going on, my wife asked about a dress and they took her down to a shop they work with on dresses. I had also researched all the options for the suits such as lapel type, pockets, etc. That made the whole process a lot faster. The only thing that slowed us down was selecting a lining. The boys did not want a basic lining, so I let them choose what they wanted. Once chose a polka dot lining while the other choose a diamond pattern. Once that was done, I put down 30% and said I would come back in two days for a fitting and then they said they could deliver to the hotel. We went off to find my wife and she was just finishing up getting sized for her dress. She had found a few dresses she liked online and brought in pictures of them, so that helped in the process of making the dress. She chose a nice light champagne colored dress with a gold lace over it. The price after haggling was $70USD. The prices for custom clothes was incredible.

Once we were done here, we started to walk back to the hotel instead of taking the subway to see some sights. We walked by the old Shanghai Tourist area and knew we would be coming back here later.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was already dark, so we just walked past it and straight to the Bund to see it at night.

This is probably what everyone sees when they see Shanghai.

The Bund is incredible at night.

Lots of colonial building.

So after this we were hungry and we found a nice dumpling shop just down the road and thought we would give it a try.

So the most famous thing in Shanghai is the Shanghai dumplings. These dumplings are cooked with soup in them, so you have to lightly pick them up with chopsticks and take a little bite and suck out the soup. Once that is done, you can eat the dumpling.

I thought we looked like crazy Americans eating when I ordered 5 trays, but they only come 4 to a tray even though they are big. Luckily, I looked over at the other table and they had 9 trays, so we were good. The dumplings were very good. We had a pork and shrimp one and then another one just all pork. We left here very stuffed and waddled back to our hotel for the night. Once we got in the room, we got a nice surprise. The hotel staff had decorated our room with roses to celebrate our 20th anniversary trip. The tub and bed had rose petals in them and they even left us a cheesecake which was also congratulated us.

It was a nice way to cap off the day and get ready for our tour tomorrow. But first, I had to just sit and admire the view we had from the room.

 

[Nomarian]

Shanghai Day 2 (This is easier) - Shanghai Tour Day

We do one big family trip overseas each year because of my points with airlines and hotels. It is the least I can do for the family since I travel so much. Whenever we go to a city that we do not know and do not speak the language, I like to hire a recommended guide from TripAdvisor to show around for one day so we understand the city and culture better. We had a tour with a company called Jenny's Tours today and I have to say that working with Jenny was great. She has some set tours, but she also allows you to customize them to what you want to see as well. We booked one of her tours with a private car for one day and made some itinerary changes to see some of the things we wanted.

We started off the day going down to the breakfast buffet at the hotel. I have to say that the menu was diverse and they offered a lot. We stuffed ourselves as we knew we had a long day ahead of us.

We then went back up to to the room and got our backpacks and waited in the lobby. It was not long before Kim from Jenny's tour found us and introduced himself. I had sent a picture of us to Jenny, so the guide would know who to look for. Kim was a young guy in his twenties and had been a tour guide for almost 5 years. He learned all his English from watching US television shows like Friends which I thought was really funny. Kim brought us outside and we found a nice new minivan waiting for us. Our first stop on the tour was actually one that was going to take us about an hour outside the city. Shanghai has been growing so fast, that you really don't get too see the way things used to be and I asked to be taken to a river village that I found while researching. The river village was still a tourist spot, but it was mainly a tourist spot for Chinese people from inside the country, so not many foreigners go there. Of course on the way there, my whole family falls asleep while I ask a lot of questions from Kim and he is happy to answer them.

After about an hour of driving, we finally arrive at the village. We were there early, so it was not so hot yet and there was a light breeze with clouds. There was no fee to enter the village area and soon we were off walking through the town walkways. We then got on a river boat to take us to the heart of the village where all the food and market was.

The ride on the boat was slow and relaxing. We were able to see a lot from the river.

Once we were at the town center, we got off the boat and started to explore the markets. There were booths selling a lot of local items and some neat restaurants as well. We did not eat here as we were going to have lunch in Shanghai, but the stall owners were very nice and they let us sample almost anything which we did. My wife bought a few bags of candied ginger while I got some beef jerky. They had a lot of tea wrapped rice cakes and noodles freshly dripped.

At some other stalls, we say grasshoppers for sale as they consider them lucky. We also saw some stick candy made from sugar.

We probably spent about 2 hours here and decided to start heading back to the city. Once again, the family fell asleep while Kim and I continued our conversation. After about an hour, we arrive at our next spot, the weekly Muslim market. A little backstory on this. My wife has some allergies and she cannot eat some foods like seafood or beef. She sticks to chicken, pork and lamb all the time. After about a week in China, I thought she would get tire of chicken and port all the time, so I found out that on every Friday, there is a Muslim market that takes place in Shanghai. I asked Jenny if we could make this one of our spots and she said that was not a problem. The driver let us off on the side of the street near the market and we walked over to it. Kim had not been here before, so it was like we were showing the tour guide something new. Incidentally, he has been to that river village about 100 times, so it was nice for something new. The market takes up both side of a long street and they sell all sorts of fruits, veggies meats and there are some stalls that sell cooked food as well. Needless to say, my wife stopped at them all trying everything. We had lamb skewers (50 cents), fried lamb pies (75 cents) and some lamb dumplings (75 cents). I think my wife stuff herself as she was no longer hungry after we left the stalls.

Now that my wife was stuff, it was our turn to eat. I asked Kim if he knew of a very good dumpling place and he said he knew one that was famous for dumplings and their noodle soup. The driver picked us up and soon we were dropped off outside the restaurant. The name of the restaurant was Lao Sheng Chang Dumpling and Kim told us the menu and had us pick what we wanted and he ordered it for us. We ordered about 4 baskets of dumpling, each a different flavor and a bowl of the mushroom noodle soup that they were famous for. It all came out fairly quick and I have to say that it was all very delicious. The cost of all this including drinks was only $15USD.

Now that we were stuffed like dumplings, it was time to move on to our next spot. It was a Confucius temple that was located near by. We walked around the temple and watched a quick ceremony and then went over to the Confucius Tea House for a tea ceremony. There they explained all the different types of tea and some of the meanings b ehind the courtesies when pouring tea. My whole family found this very informative as we have parents that are Chinese and they always told us to do this or that when pouring tea and now we know why!

After all this, our tour was over and Kim brought us back to the hotel. We said our goodbyes and I gave him a tip even though I know that you are not supposed to tip. I am not sure what Jenny pays the guides, but he deserved some more since we were out so long and it was hot there for awhile once the sun came up. It probably reached in the upper 80s once the sun came out. After we freshened up at the hotel, we had to find a place for dinner and my wife was still not wanting anymore Chinese food today still. I looked on my maps and found an Moroccan restaurant close by, so we decided to give that a try. The place was decorated very nice and once we started to speak English, the hostess brought over another waitress who was very happy to see someone speak English. She went to a university in California and spoke almost perfect English and was very happy to practice with us. Since we had not tried Moroccan food before, we had a lot of questions and eventually we settled on Salmon skewers, Halibut skewers, lamb chops, and a lamb shank. All were very good and the service was excellent. The only part I didn't enjoy was the cost as it was like eating in the States and almost $80USD.

After this, we walked the Bund some more and then went to hotel to shower and get some sleep for the next day.

 

[Nomarian]

Day 3 - Shanghai

Today we really did not have a set schedule. We knew what we wanted to see today and worked our schedule around that. We had breakfast at the buffet again and then we grabbed our backpacks and set off. The first place we had to go was the Starbucks Reserve in Shanghai. This is the largest Starbucks in the world and if you love Starbucks like my wife, you have to come here. The store itself is set near a mall and is over two stories tall. It was getting so busy, they required security guards out front to tell you which doors were exit only and which ones were entrance only.

Once inside, it is just a massive store. On the main level there are two coffee stations and two pastry stations. They brought in a renowned French Pastry chef to make all the pastries daily.

The whole place is a large circle and at the center of the building they have a large silo that holds fresh coffee beans that they roast onsite to sell and use in the coffee.

You can then go up the stairs to the 2nd level where they have two tea bars, a coffee bar and an adult coffee bar with spiked coffees. At every bar, they have people standing there with tablets taking your order and then directing you to a cashier to pay. Some of the neat things we say were slow roasting coffee machines and slow steeping tea setups as well.

After touring the facility and then my wife buying some souvenir items, we finally got some coffee. I got a butterscotch latte and I have to say that it was very good. I have never had one, but this one was done very well.

I am not going to bore you with the rest of day, but it consisted of going to the Science and Technology subway stop and then going into the counterfeit markets. It is funny as there are police around and they do walk around, but they only target high value counterfeits like Rolex or Hermes purses. They let fake Nikes be displayed all day long at any of the hundred or so stores. I was going to take some pictures here, but noticed that some of the store owners get a little nervous. Needless to say, you need to check the quality of what you are buying and then haggle like crazy. I bought my nephew a very nice set of fake Yeezys shoes which they wanted 800 Yuan and I walked away and they finally agreed to my 150 Yuan price. We did this for at least 4 more pairs of shoes the family wanted and always got our price. My wife wanted a fake Prada, so we asked to see them and the owners will either pull them from hidden cabinets, inside large luggage containers or take you down a hallway to a fake wall and let you enter a hidden shop. It was all very funny, but you have to make sure you haggle and pick a price you are comfortable with. We probably spent almost 5 hours here and we had to get back to try on our suits, so I pulled my wife away kicking and screaming onto the train.

I was getting thirsty and there was a McDonalds nearby, so we looked and they had bubble tea! I love bubble tea and had to try this and it was as good as other places. I would be a huge fan if they had this in the states.

Once at the tailors, we tried on our suits and they fit like a glove for the boys and I. They were already done, so we just took them with us. In fact, I was so happy with the suit, I ordered another two to have sent to the Disneyland Hotel later in the week. After this, we checked on the dress for my wife and it was a perfect fit and she loved it, but after examining the dress a little more, we found that the lace was ripped in a few area. The tailor said the material was very delicate and apologized for the tear and they would fix it with new material and have it dropped off with my new suit order. We were confident they would get it done and left paying a deposit for my suits.

Now it was getting late, so we got back to the hotel and decided to have dinner at the Cantonese restaurant in the hotel and then pack up as we were moving over to Disneyland Hotel the next day. The restaurant in the hotel was massive and the tables were very large and set far apart from each other. You definitely got your privacy.

We just ordered the standard Cantonese foods like roast goose, stir fried veggies and chicken. My youngest is a little more adventurous and saw pigeon in pastry on the menu and had to order that. He said it was delicious!

After our meal, we went back up and started to pack and get ready for the last part of our trip. 3.5 days in Disneyland!

 

[Nomarian]

Day 4 - Shanghai Disneyland

Today was they day we transfer to Shanghai Disneyland and go to the last park for us to say we have done all the Disney Parks in the world. We were a bit excited, but knew we had to pace ourselves. The first order of business was to eat some breakfast at the buffet. While the family was eating, I asked the concierge to grab our luggage at 9:45 am and then have a cab ready for us to go at 10:00 am. We finished with breakfast and went back upstairs to put away the last of our clothes and take some looks out our window toward the Bund and admire the room once again. Soon we heard a knock at the door and the bellhop was here to pick up our luggage. Soon we were downstairs and getting into the taxi. I had told the bellhop where we going and also had it on my phone in Chinese. The driver looked at it a few times and off we went. The taxi driver knew the general area of where Disneyland was, but didn't know how to get to the hotel, but I was able to read the signs as they were in Chinese and English and helped point him in the right direction. Soon we saw this:

We then pulled up to the Disneyland Hotel and were met by cast members that started to pull out our luggage. The cost of the taxi was about $15 USD, so fairly cheap to get here. As I walked into the hotel, you see the massive statue with all the Disney characters and the 2 story high lobby. It is definitely a beautiful entrance to the hotel.

Once we walked in, they asked for our reservation and we told them we had a Club room and they asked us to follow them to the elevator. They took us up to the level with the Magic Kingdom Club and took us to the desk there. The cast member asked for our reservation and passports. The English at the hotel is pretty good with most of the cast members. While I was checking in, they asked my family if they wanted to take a seat at a table and have some drinks or snacks. It was after breakfast, so they had some minor dessert trays out and you could have coffee, tea or soda which they brought to your table. The club is definitely nice and the windows all face the castle across the lake.

Once we were checked in, I joined my family at the table to get some snacks and drinks. Our room was still being cleaned, but was going to be done in 30 minutes. I was told that since I booked with an annual pass, I will have to get our annual passes at the main ticket booth at the park and then come back to show them the annual pass to make sure the discount would get applied. The server asked what I wanted to drink and I said hot tea with sugar and milk and it was brought over pretty quick. I then looked at the dessert trays and picked out two while admiring the view.

So while we were sitting there, another cast member came over to talk to us. She asked if we were celebrating our 20th anniversary on this trip and I confirmed that we were. I also let her know that this was our last park to visit to have visited all the Disney Parks. She wanted to let us know that to help us celebrate, they wanted to give us a Magical Moment tomorrow. I was a little floored as I have heard of Magical Moments, but didn't think we would ever be the recipient of one. She asked if we were going to have breakfast here tomorrow and what time we were going to the park. Now I know that being in the hotel, you get into the park 1/2 hour early, so at an 8am open, you get in at 7:30 through the hotel entrance in Disney-town. I said 7:30 and she said that they would have a car waiting for us downstairs. I just needed to let them know in the morning I was headed down. We were happy that we were going to get a ride to the park without having to take the bus. We thanked her and we were told that our room was ready. They brought our keys over and they asked for our luggage ticket which I gave them. She then asked that we walk with her to the room.

We took the elevator to our floor and she walked us into the room. She showed us some of the amenities and asked if we had any questions. We did not, so she left, but noted that luggage was down the hall. We had booked a Club Level room since I knew it had two queen beds and a trundle bed. I knew that while cramped, it would be fine for the 4 of us. Here are some pictures of the room:

We unpacked everything and started to play with the headboards a bit, but finally we needed to get some errands done. I needed to get our annual passes and our Photopass for the next 3 days. The kids had other ideas as they were a little hungry, so we stopped at the Ballet cafe in the hotel and ordered some rice plates. They have a chicken or a beef one and we ordered two beef ones to share. We thought it was cute that the rice was a Mickey.

Once that was out of the way, we made our way outside and to the left we found the covered waiting area for the bus. The bus has a schedule and we found that during the middle of the day, it was about every 10-15 minutes. In the morning at opening and at night when it closes, there are lines of buses, so you don't really need to wait at all. The bus ride to the park is about 5-10 minutes and it drops you off at the bus station which then you have to walk towards the park. You pass Disneytown on your left while walking and a Starbucks.

Now I have read about the ticket scalpers and such on the forums, so I was ready for them, but right when we got off the bus, we found a guy trying to sell us Fastpass tickets. We said no and moved on. While walking past Disneytown, we were approached about 3 more times with people asking to sell us something, but we just waved them off. Once you get the entrance, there are massive metal rails that form a zig zag line to get into the security area. On the entrance to this line and while in the line, we were approached 3 more times with people trying to sell me a ticket to the park. I waved them all off and proceeded to security. Security will open all the pockets of your purse or backpack to look through it. I saw a ton of food being taken out and thrown away. You are allowed a small bag of snacks and a bottle of water, so make sure you leave your large items at home. I saw a lot of people angry that they had to throw all their food away.

Once through security, I started to walk to the a ticket booth and a cast member tried to ask me what I needed. I showed my paperwork, but they told me to go towards the gates. I knew that this was not correct, so I saw someone else that looked like they were a manager and asked them where I needed to go. She spoke English and told me to get into the standard ticket line which was just to the right when you pass security. Once I got up to the window, I showed the girl my paperwork and she told me to go out of line and towards the gates, but I stood my ground and told here that I needed my annual passes. She finally got up and asked someone to come help that spoke English and she looked like another supervisor. She took my paperwork and passports and proceeded to show the girl how to process my paperwork and was handed 4 annual passes!

So some background on the annual pass. I knew we were going to be here 3.5 days and the cost of an annual pass was close to the cost of 2 two-day tickets. The fact that I get a hotel discount, discount on food and coupons for shopping just kind of sealed the deal. Once we got our tickets, I knew that we had to get our annual Photopass as well so we walked up to the entrance. I tried to get in with just a ticket, but was told that each person needed their passport as well, so I pulled them out of the backpack and off we went.

We were in!

So the first thing I needed was to walk in and the Photopass store is the first one on the right side as you enter. Now this was a bit confusing on what I needed to do, but I found someone that spoke English and explained it to me. They have counters in the back with all the monitors to see your pictures, but that is not where you pay for Photopass. There is a register in front that you tell them what you need and you pay for it there and they give you a receipt that you take to the back counters. I told them I wanted a annual Photopass and they asked to see my annual pass which I did. They then asked me if I had a WeChat account and I did set one up just for China. She then showed me how to use WeChat to setup my annual pass in it and it then loaded all my coupons for being an annual pass member. She used the coupon to give me 20% off the Photopass and then gave me a receipt. I then took that back to the counter and the cast member there gave me a plastic card for picture that I present to photographers or scan after a ride. He also said that with this annual Photopass, I can have 5 pictures printed out, so come back towards the end of the trip to pick them out.

So right when we came out, we started to walk up Main Street towards the castle. I have the Shanghai Disneyland app and used it to join the WiFi. Now it will ask to send you a code in order to join the WiFi, but since I have Verizon and an international data plan, the code came fine on my text message and I used it to get all the phones on WiFi. I saw that Pirates had a low wait time of 15 minutes, so we started to walk towards that, but we found a Disney Photographer and I had to break in my Photopass:

I have to say that the park is massive. The walkways are so wide that it just feels big. We made our way over to Pirate's Cove and soon we walked up to the entrance to the Pirates ride and got in line.

Now I have read some things about the ride, but I have avoided watching all the videos because I don't want spoilers. I am so glad I did, because it just blew me away. I never expected the ride to be so technologically advanced and that just made it so awesome! I am not going to give anything away, but we did this ride 3 times in a row and it was just as good each time. The only problem was that we never got front row, but we had 3 more days to try.

So now that we are talking about lines, I know that some people have read that everyone here is a line cutter and we also though the same thing. I had a plan which my older son and I were behind my wife and younger son and we were the blockers. It really was not needed as we only saw probably 3 instances the whole time we were here where it seemed like they were cutting. The other two times, I blocked someone from getting past us, but they were truly trying to get back to their family and I kind of felt bad that I blocked them. Now I did see little hold ladies in line selling fake Disney stuff. This happened in almost all the lines and was pretty funny to see.

So the next ride that had a low queue time was Tron. Soaring was never low the entire time we were here. The lowest I saw during the day was 120 minutes and the highest was over 190 minutes. We took our time and walked over to Tron and got into line. Whatever you do, don't go to the lockers. They are not needed anymore here.

I have to say that the theming of this ride is very cool and I cannot wait for this to come to DisneyWorld. The queue itself is futuristic and had a lot of things to keep you busy. You actually are on different levels when you walk in, you walk over the actual track for the coaster.

Now once you get to to boarding the coaster, you can put your bag or purse into a big bin or you can put your phone/glasses into a hold on the bike itself. Once they have all the items in the bin, they wheeled them off to where you get off the coaster, so it seemed pretty safe. We put our backpack in it and never had an issue. Now the ride itself is pretty cool, but not as fast as I would like. I don't know if this is just an issue with Disneyland Shanghai, but the coaster seemed to break a lot at various points to keep it from going too fast. We love fast coasters and this just seemed a little too slow. Hyperspace Mountain in Disneyland Hong Kong was much faster than this, but the overall ride here was better.

Afterwards, we just walked around to kind of map out what we wanted to do the next few days. It was getting late and we wanted to see the castle show at 8:30 pm, but the park was still crowded, so we knew we had to park early for a good spot. We saw a lot of people already marking out their spots and sitting, so we found a nice spot around 7:30pm and sat. While we waited, we got some snacks which were red bean buns:

So at about 8pm, it started to rain. Here we are sitting on the ground in shorts and t-shirts with no rain gear and it starts to rain. Of course, everyone around us pulls out their umbrellas or rain parkas and just sits patiently in the rain. We knew we had 3 more days here, so we just got up and walked to the stores and towards the DisneyTown entrance. We waited out the rain in some stores and eventually went back to the hotel to truly unpack, shower and get some sleep as tomorrow was a very early day. Coming up - Our Magical Moment!

 

[CaptainCook]

Looking forward to hearing more about your Magical Moment - lucky you!

 

[Duck In Blue]

Thanks for the great trip report, really enjoying it and look forward to the rest!

We are going to Shanghai next year (along with Hong Kong) and whilst in Shanghai we want to do as you have done and stay in the city for a few nights and stay at Disney for the rest. Would you recommend doing the city first then Disney as you did? We will be flying in and out of Shanghai so will need to get either to/or from the airport either way.

 

[Nomarian]

Thanks for the great trip report, really enjoying it and look forward to the rest!

We are going to Shanghai next year (along with Hong Kong) and whilst in Shanghai we want to do as you have done and stay in the city for a few nights and stay at Disney for the rest. Would you recommend doing the city first then Disney as you did? We will be flying in and out of Shanghai so will need to get either to/or from the airport either way.

The reason I chose Disney last is because we wanted to leave on a high note. At the same time, the airport is very close to to Disney, so you would have a shorter trip as well. Hope that helps.

 

[Nomarian]

Day 5 in Shanghai - Our Magical Moment (Day) What?

We woke up around 6am and started to get ready and head up to the Club level for breakfast. We were not in a crazy rush as I we knew we were getting a car ride to the park this morning, so no crazy rush to the bus. We sat down and started breakfast and I had to have my Mickey items:

While eating, the cast member came up and asked when we wanted to meat the car downstairs. I said 7:30 was fine and when we finished, we went back to the room and got our backpacks. We went down to the lobby and I let the concierge know that I was supposed to have a ride to the park. They asked for my room number and then ushered outside to the valets outside. They pulled up a minivan to the front and asked us to get in. We sat there for a little bit and then the same cast member from the club upstairs jumped into the passenger seat to join us for the ride. I thought this was a little unusual, but I just went with it. During the ride, she asked us questions such as who was our favorite characters and how long we planned to stay in the park. I told her that we normally come back after lunch to rest a bit before heading back out again. She then told us that the van was available to us all day and we could have rides back and forth anytime we wanted. She asked if I had WeChat and scanned my phone to connect. I just had to text them via WeChat and tell them when we wanted to leave the hotel or park and they would send a car. Bonus!

We arrived at the back entrance to DisneyTown and we exited with our cast member. She had us follow her and she led us straight past the line to security and then to the ticket entrance. We got to bypass even the people coming through the hotel entrance! This was our cast member for the ride.

Once through the ticket gate, she called on her phone and then two other cast members showed up. She said to have a Magical Day and handed us off to the new cast members. I thought we were only getting a ride to the park, but I guess I was wrong. We talked with our new cast members for a bit and they asked us a lot of questions about our day. They inquired if we planned to watch the parade today which we definitely said yes. They said to follow them and they brought us to a bench area and said that we needed to come back here at 11:30am for the parade at noon as this is a reserved area for special guests to watch the parade. At this point, we were just grinning ear to ear. The next question was if we planned to stay and watch the fireworks which we definitely said yes, since we missed it last night due to rain. They guided us to another area of the park right in front of the castle and told us to come back here at 8pm and our name would be on the list for the reserved area. So with all this done, they asked us what ride we wanted to ride first and we said Soaring as we had not done that and wanted it out of the way first thing before the crowds took over. We were asked to follow them and they brought us to Soaring and through the back way past the lines and right to the ride. They then waved to us and said to be at the area for the parade at 11:30. We were pretty ecstatic that we got reserved seating not only for the parade, but also for the fireworks show as we know how bad the crowds can get here.


So after soaring, I logged into my Shanghai Disneyland App and started to reserve our fast passes. It was very easy to do once you are on the Wi-Fi. This day alone, I was able to get 4 sets of fast passes before they were all gone by noon. From Soaring, we just did followed the park around in a circle counter clockwise either using a fastpass or just waiting about 15 minutes for a ride.

The Garden of the Twelve Friends (Chinese Zodiac). We had to get pictures with the boy's signs.

We saw a lot of janitors and clean up crew always taking things like leaves and making Mickey heads on the ground. It was very cool.

It was about 11:30 after going through most of the park and riding a lot of rides. I can tell you that you want to get here early, especially for magic hour. They let people through security and the ticket gates through Disneytown at 7:15 and queue you up after that. They then released everyone around 7:25 and you could get right to the rides. This is the key to beating the crowds later in the day. I thought coming on a Sunday through Wednesday would have light crowds and it was not a holiday week either. The times in the afternoon for rides were always well past 90 minutes, so you need to take that time to rest or go watch shows instead of rides. We walked back to where we were told to meet up with our cast members and they had the area roped off and waiting for us.

So we sat down and got settled in so I could get my video camera ready and while were sitting there, one of our cast members came up with a balloon for us made up of Mickey and Minnie to help us celebrate our anniversary. They had us hold it while they took pictures with our cameras and theirs as well. The main heart said "Love for Life". I have to admit that this looked like it took a lot of work to make and was very cool of them to give this to us.

Then we could hear the parade coming, so we put our items on the bench and walked up to the rope for a front row view of the parade. It was also very awesome as all the parade cast members came up to our family and gave us high fives. Here are a few pictures from the parade:

Once the parade was done, we were getting ready to move on, but the cast members came back and asked if we could come with them. They brought us over to an area of sidewalk where two janitors were waiting. They asked us to watch as the janitors began doing their sidewalk art painting with wet mops. They eventually drew a Mickey and Minnie with the words "Best Wish" and had us stand behind us to take pictures. We thanked the janitors and our cast members for making the day very special so far. They reminded us to be back for the fireworks show and we left to do some shopping before heading back to the hotel.

We did a lot of shopping this day. The annual pass gives you these 100RMB off coupons as long as you spend 300RMB. I thought they were only good once a day, but we used them multiple times and they never came off my phone. We basically kept doing transactions just over 300RMB to maximize our savings with the 100RMB off coupon. Lots of rose gold ears here. I picked one up for a friend.

I didn't get a picture of this, but at the Photopass shop at the entrance to Disneyland, they also have the pin trading store there. We found 4 or 5 people parked there with strollers laying out all their personal pins for trade. These were not cast members, but just regular park goers that want to trade pins with people. My son trades somewhat and was able to trade a DisneyWorld pin for a Shanghai one with one of them. If you trade pins, you can bring your whole collection here.

Speaking of Photopass, there are plenty of rides here that use Photopass and you can just scan your card at the end of the ride and it shows up in your account. Here are a few of ours, but we had about a hundred photos once we were finally done. As you can see, my boys figured out where the camera was in Pirates. LOL.

Once all the shopping was done, I used WeChat and asked if we could have a ride back to the hotel and within a few minutes they acknowledged my request and told us to go back to where we were dropped off. We walked back there and there was a security person who told us we could not come down here, but I tried to explain to them that I had a car waiting. He didn't speak English, so he just kept waving me off, so I pointed to the minivan waiting and the driver got out and asked for my room number and verified it was me and off we went to the hotel. We dropped off our items in the room and went back up to the Club for lunch. They have a very large selection with lunch with hot items as well. We just cooled off and relaxed while eating in the nice lounge. The mornings were fine with regards to temperature starting in the middle 70's, but after noon, it was sweltering hot and we are from Texas. We just needed the time to cool off and wait out the crowds a bit.

Since we were in the lounge, I went ahead and booked dinner at the Royal Banquet Hall in the castle as we wanted to try this at least once. The nice part is that we also receive a 20% discount on it being an annual pass holder. We set dinner for 6pm as that would give us enough time to get ready for the fireworks show. I know we stayed in the lounge for a bit and the wife and boys went back to the room to take a nape while I did some work in the lounge. I think it was about 3:30pm before we started back for the park. I texted for a car again and they had one out front waiting for us again. I was really going to miss this the next two days. We were dropped off in the same place and started to look at ride times.

Everything was at least 90 minutes or higher, so looked at showtimes and one show I wanted to see was the Jack Sparrow show. We walked over to the entrance and waited about 30 minutes before we were ushered into the lobby of the theater. Now keep in mind that we do not speak any Mandarin, so when they did the whole pre-show in the lobby, I really did not understand anything, but could sort of follow along. Once that show was done, you walk into the theater and take your seat for the show. Now I could follow the show much better as it is more action than speaking, but you really have to see the show just because of the action. They had things happening here, I did not think could happen. It was very entertaining.

Once the show was done, it was time to head over to the castle for dinner. The entrance to the Royal Banquet is inside the castle and I saw a lot of people walking up to try and go in, but they were all refused without a reservation. I showed them my slip from the hotel and they ushered us inside the door to the restaurant. They found our reservation and then put us into a line which I was not sure what it was for until we got into a room and they told us we were meeting Aurora. I didn't know this was part of it, but it was fun to talk to her.

After this, we were escorted up some stairs and then through a few rooms to our table. Once we were sat, we were given menus to look over. You can order either from a set menu which includes appetizer, main course and dessert, or you can do ala carte. Keep in mind that you are only allowed to stay here 90 minutes. I guess people try to stay too long? We did 4 set menus which included coffee, tea or water. Once we had ordered, all the characters in their royal costumes were coming by one by one. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen so many characters come through a dining room so often. It was still fun too take pictures with all of them.

After paling around with the gang, our appetizers came out. Three of us ordered the crab cake while my wife ordered the salad. I have no idea how they did that egg.

After that, our entrees soon arrived. The three of us had the lobster with pasta while my wife had the BBQ ribs.

As for dessert, I know we had a few different ones, but I only seem to have a picture of one of them. So another note here. My wife loves Beauty and the Beast and she has been wanting this cup forever and we only found it here at the Royal Banquet Hall. Just an FYI.

So once we were stuff, we waddled out of the castle and started to make our way over to the area they said we had to check-in for the fireworks show. They had already roped off a lot of the area and there were hordes of people already sitting down and waiting at 7:30pm for the show. We walked up to a group of cast members and I tried to tell them that we were supposed to be in a reserved area for the show, but there was a little language barrier. Luckily, they always know to get someone that can speak English and soon another cast member asked us for our name and passport and found us on the list. They escorted us to an area in front the castle with benches for us to sit on. All around that roped off area were swarms of people and I was suddenly very happy to be here. There were other families here as well, but it was not crowded at all. The area in front of us was completely clear.

I had my video camera ready and once the show started, it was incredible. We had the best view in the park for the show and it could not have been any more special. My wife commented that this was the best castle show she had seen at any of the parks so far. One thing to note, they have a very good castle show after the fireworks show. You need to stay and watch that whole thing as well. I luckily remember from Natasha's YouTube videos to stay and watch it and I am glad we did.

Afterwards, our cast member asked if we wanted a picture in front of the castle and he took it for us.

Once we were done taking pictures, he escorted us all the way to the Disneytown exit and walked us too our car back to the hotel. We were exhausted, but it was the most magical day we have ever had at a Disney Park. You hear all the time about Magical Moments and they gave us a whole day! I used WeChat and message the cast member too tell everyone involved that we had the best day ever and to thank them all. The only sad part was the next two days would not compare to this one, but we going to have fun regardless. Two more days of Disney to come!

 

[Nomarian]

So I just remembered on more thing I forgot to mention. Bathrooms. I know this is a delicate subject, but I think one everyone should know about. All the toilets we saw were a combination of western and squat toilets. You can tell a squat toilet because they have steps while western ones do not. Another item that I have read about is kids going to bathroom anywhere they want. I didn't see kids just peeing in the middle of the paths or anything like that, but we saw some interesting things. While we were waiting for the fireworks show to happen, the family next to us had a toddler girl that needed to do #1. They pulled out a diaper, pulled down her pants and had her pee into it. They then threw the diaper away in the trash. My wife just wondered why didn't they just have a diaper on her? It got a little more interesting about 30 minutes later. The same girl needed to do #2, so the parents pulled out a little bucket and the little girl sat on it and did her business right next to the bench. It almost killed my wife. LOL.

I also saw kids running around wit no pants on. Just a top which was strange to us. I also saw one dad holding up his little boy to pee in the garbage can. I guess that is better than the sidewalk.

 

[Duck In Blue]

The reason I chose Disney last is because we wanted to leave on a high note. At the same time, the airport is very close to to Disney, so you would have a shorter trip as well. Hope that helps.

That does help, thanks so much.

Loved reading about your Magical Moment, what a great day!

 

[OKW Lover]

Awesome trip report. Beautiful pictures as well. Really enjoying it!!

And congratulations on checking off every Disney park.

 

[Nomarian]

Awesome trip report. Beautiful pictures as well. Really enjoying it!!

And congratulations on checking off every Disney park.

Thanks. It was a trip to remember!

 

[Nomarian]

Finally uploaded some videos I had done in 4K.

Parade

Fireworks

 

[Simba001]

Great videos!
Looks like you had a magical time.

Do you recall if they had safes in the Guests’ rooms on the Club Level of the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel?

 

[BecBennett]

That definitely sounded like a magical day!! How awesome!

Do you remember how much the annual pass was? Do you think it's worth getting for at least one person for all the benefits?

 

[Nomarian]

Great videos!
Looks like you had a magical time.

Do you recall if they had safes in the Guests’ rooms on the Club Level of the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel?

Yes, there was a safe.

 

[Nomarian]

That definitely sounded like a magical day!! How awesome!

Do you remember how much the annual pass was? Do you think it's worth getting for at least one person for all the benefits?

The summer pass at the exchange rate when we purchased was about $235. I calculated that you broke even if you were there for 4 days just on the pass. When I calculated the hotel discount, food discount and merchandise discounts, it was well worth it.

 

[indoshakespeare]

Congratulations on completing the set! We have yet to visit Shanghai Disneyland because my family has an aversion towards mainland China.

 

[Simba001]

Yes, there was a safe.

Thank you.
I appreciate knowing this.

 

[Nomarian]

Congratulations on completing the set! We have yet to visit Shanghai Disneyland because my family has an aversion towards mainland China.

My wife had the same issue, but she was happy she went.