4ever Discovering
The Happiest Place in China: Shanghai Disneyland
This is Where You Come to See the Mass Amounts of People in China
Well, it’s official! Emily and I have successfully made it to 4 out of 6 Disney parks around the world! It’s quite the accomplishment. I think that would be something impressive on a resume: visiting every Disney park around the world! Not everyone can say they have done that. We only have Tokyo and California left to visit; I am confident we will make it there one day (just not this year).
Every time I walk onto Disney ground, I instantly feel like a little kid again. Maybe it’s because I have so many amazing memories from when I visited Disney World as a kid, or maybe it’s because I still have a love for watching Disney movies. Either way, I believe it truly is the happiest place on earth (even in a country where not everyone is very happy to begin with). When I read some reviews about Shanghai Disney before we came, I didn’t read many good things. People were warning you about the CRAZY amount of people there, and how everyone would just cut the line. That is something I found true about China; people have no patience! If you ever needed to get off of the subway, you were screwed because people would push their way on before you even got the chance to get off. In Taiwan, people will wait in an orderly line, for you to get off the subway. It is so much more courteous! Anyway, although I didn’t read the nicest reviews about this park, we still had to go for the sake of our bucket list. It isn’t fair to judge a place by the reviews you read; you always need to go and find out for yourself!
Now, we were expecting lots of people at Disney. I figured it would be busy on a regular day, let alone during Chinese New Year. Emily and I were actually advised NOT to go at this time; however, we didn’t want to buy another flight to Shanghai just to come back, so we did it anyways. When we went to Hong Kong Disney, I was pleasantly surprised by how empty it was. I think our longest line was around 30 minutes (and that was on a weekend). When Emily, Sarah, Rachel and I got to Shanghai Disney, we were greeted with a HUGE amount of people. We made the trek there, so we got in line with the mass. It wasn’t until we heard an announcement informing us tickets were SOLD OUT for the day. I was literally at a loss for words. I have never even heard of an amusement park selling out. I don’t know what the maximum capacity is, but I can imagine it is a lot of people. We were pretty bummed, mainly because we woke up at 6am just to take an hour subway ride there...then to get our dreams crushed. We found a worker and they told us we could buy tickets for the next day. We didn’t really have many plans, so we decided to go for it. With the help of English-speaking workers, we successfully bought tickets online, and ventured through Disney Town.
Disney Town is opened to the public; you don’t need tickets to come here. It is basically shops and restaurants you can explore to buy souvenirs. We figured we might as well do it then, seeing as we came all the way there. It also saved us time the next day, so we could spend more of our time in the park. Hands down, the best part about Disney Town was (drum roll please), the CHEESECAKE FACTORY. Yes, dreams really do come true at Disney. This is the only Cheesecake Factory in China, and we definitely jumped on the opportunity to eat our hearts out. I will admit it, we actually went twice (one that day, and one the next lol). It was just the same as in the States, and the cheesecake was equally as delicious. Sometimes I just get so excited when we find western restaurants! We ate so much we practically had to roll out of the restaurant, then prepared to come back the next day.
When we actually made it into Disneyland the following day, we got there relatively early. One thing I’ve learned about Asia is people don’t like to do things early in the day. People are night hawks here. We got there just after it opened, and it was still freaking busy. We each got 3 fast-passes for the day; however, you had to use them strategically in each ‘section’ of the park. We opted for the busiest rides, and managed to use them all. We didn’t necessarily get the ones we intended for, but it all worked out in the end. I guess everyone has the same idea to use them on the most popular rides because the fast-pass times actually SOLD OUT. Crazy.
We managed to get on quite a lot of rides considering how busy the park was. We didn’t get on every ride, but I think we were all satisfied with what we did. I always find the live shows are one of the best parts about Disneyland, and they did not disappoint here. My absolute favourite part of the day was watching the Tarzan show. It was acrobats swinging around the room, with other characters dressed as monkeys performing different stunts. It was incredible watching Tarzan and Jane, swinging around the room so elegantly. Thankfully, the show was mostly singing, so we could understand everything. That’s something I never thought of before coming here: the shows would be in Chinese. We went to this one Pirates of the Caribbean show and could not understand one thing. I’m sure it was really funny from all of the people around us laughing.
One thing I really loved about Shanghai Disneyland was the graphics and technology used throughout the rides. This park only opened 6 months ago, so it is brand-spanking new (another reason why it is probably so busy). Because of how recently it was opened, the park itself is very modern. The rides are so life-like, I felt like I was apart of the film. The best ride was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, similar to the one in Florida. You sit on the boat, and it takes you around while telling a story from the movie. This one was SO much better than the Florida one! It felt like we were sitting in an Imax theatre and the waves were going to swallow me. The technology used was so amazing. I walked off the ride with a huge smile on my face; I couldn’t believe how cool it was. That alone was worth going here (with the Tarzan show of course).
As always, we had another amazing day at Disneyland. We caught the firework show at the end of the night, making it feel magical. During the fireworks, there was a projection on the castle showing clips from different movies (again with the intense technology). One of the cool things about coming here over Chinese New Year (and no, it’s not the crazy crowds), was seeing all of the Disney characters dressed in their traditional Chinese costumes. Even Mickey and Minnie dressed for the occasion! We were able to see a pretty awesome performance where all of the characters came out with a huge dragon. These were the most festivities we saw during our time in China! It is definitely cool to see how Disneylands around the world incorporate their own culture into the park. It was another magical day where we were allowed to feel like little kids again. Next stop: Tokyo!
