First-timer’s experience at Shanghai Disneyland

Another castle visited! ✅

For the very first time, I visited Shanghai Disneyland, and it was so much fun! Leading up to this trip, I was a little more intimidated than usual about visiting a new park because I wasn’t sure how the language barrier would affect it or what to really expect when visiting, so I wanted to use this post to share all about my experience visiting for the first time in case you’re also facing the same anxieties! Or if you’re just curious about what it’s like at Shanghai Disneyland, read on!

I’ll be synthesizing my whole experience into a more useful guide with tips and additional information, so if you’re interested in that, please stay tuned!

Hotel & ticket

For this trip, I stayed at Toy Story Hotel in Shanghai Disneyland. I wrote about my experience at the hotel in my previous post, so be sure to read that if you want to see it what it’s like there (spoiler: it’s amazing!!).

I wasn’t too interested in any of the packages they offered, so I opted to book the hotel and admission tickets separately.

Now for the admission ticket, the Shanghai Disneyland website offers quite a few different ticket add-ons. Since we were staying at the hotel and had the early entry perk, we didn’t need an early entry add-on, so we opted for the One Day Dated Ticket with 1 Purchased and 1 Free Disney Premier Access.

This ticket came with a premier access pass to Zootopia: Hot Pursuit and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Premier access pass prices range from 120-150 RMB on the day (subject to availability), so we were basically pre-paying for the Zootopia: Hot Pursuit premier access along with our admission ticket to guarantee that we could get it. We knew that we were going to ride Zootopia: Hot Pursuit during early entry but also that we would want to ride it again, so this would allow us to do that without worrying about long standby wait times or trying to snag a premier access pass the day of. Plus, this premier access was usable for anytime during the day so it was more flexible than buying a timed pass. And because it also came with a The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh premier access pass, it was kind like we got that “for free”.

Park day goals

Early 10th anniversary setup!

Whenever I visit a new park (or whenever I visit any park, really), I always decide on my top priority goals for the trip. I knew there were specific things I wanted to experience at Shanghai Disneyland so here were my priorities!

Rides

Must-rides

These were my absolute must-ride rides! I tried to keep the load light since there’s no telling how crowds will be or if rides will break down and all of that, and I’m not usually a premier access type person.

• Zootopia: Hot Pursuit

• Pirates of the Caribbean

Would like to ride

• Tron Lightcycle / Run

• Rex Racers

Food

When it comes to food, unless there’s something absolutely iconic to the park, I’m usually not too specific since I know that on the day I might be craving something different. So I usually prepare a list of food I find interesting and run down the list to see what we’re feeling in the moment.

There was really only one thing on my must-try list and it was the pawpsicle from Zootopia!

I also like to take a look at all of the food offerings at the park before I visit so I know what other things I may want to check other. I was able to add a couple more items to my list that I thought sounded interesting like the peanut butter and chocolate ice cream in an acorn shaped cone, and the Winnie the Pooh shaped beef and mushroom ragout sandwich.

Shows

I will always try to see any fireworks show on offer, so I was really excited to see the Illuminate show!

Schedule

Here’s a full breakdown of how we spent our day at Shanghai Disneyland!

Since we stayed on-property at Toy Story Hotel, we had a 1-hour early entry access to the park, so we got to get started a little early. On the day we visited, the park officially opened at 8:30AM, so our early entry started at 7:30AM. I’ll also note that we visited on March 12, 2026 which was a Thursday (which could impact wait times!)

Favorite Rides

Pirates of the Caribbean

This rendition is well known to be the most innovative of Pirates of the Caribbean rides that exist, so there was no way I was not going to ride this. After seeing glimpses of it from Behind the Attraction on Disney+, I was so excited to ride this.

And this ride did not disappoint. It was incredible! It’s hard to describe how cool it is, but the seamless transition between practical and digital sets is just mind-blowing. We loved this ride so much we had to ride it again to appreciate it a second time!

I was honestly surprised that the wait time was so low throughout the day given that it’s one of the unique Shanghai Disneyland rides, but I’m sure glad it was!

Zootopia: Hot Pursuit

You can’t go to Shanghai Disneyland and not ride Zootopia: Hot Pursuit, especially when Shanghai Disneyland is the only Disney park that has a Zootopia themed land! This ride was my number one priority. As we had planned, we went straight to Zootopia during early entry and rode Hot Pursuit while the standby wait time was still low. We then used our premier access later in the evening when the crowd picked up and the wait time was longer so that we could ride it again!

However, to my surprise, the standby wait time in general never exceeded 60 minutes while we were there. It generally hovered around 40-60 minutes, so even without a premier access pass, I felt like a second ride would have been doable. Though with the premier access pass we basically walked onto the ride, so that was pretty great. I would still say getting the premier access pass with our admission ticket was worth it as a precaution against potentially long wait times for something we were certain we wanted to do, and for our first trip to this park.

Tron Lightcycle Power Run

I’ve already ridden this at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, and it was one of my favorite rides there! Since we don’t have this at my local park Disneyland in Anaheim, I was excited to be able to ride this one again! This one kind of teetered on the must-ride vs. would like to ride list because I’ve ridden it before so if I missed it it wasn’t too devastating. But I also really really wanted to ride it again.

And we managed to get to it during early entry, so the wait time was less than 20 minutes! This was a ride I was really glad we hit early in the morning because after the park officially opened the standby wait time rarely if ever dropped below 75 minutes.

If you like fast, zoomy rides, you’ll love this one!

Oh, and as we were going to Tron, we happened to run into the Disney x F1 pop-up that was happening in the park for a limited number of days! We got to see the Disney x F1 car up close and it was so cool!

Other fun attractions

Voyage to the Crystal Grotto

Another slow boat ride in Fantasyland, Voyage to the Crystal Grotto is like Shanghai Disneyland’s version of the Storybook Land Canal Boats. Lots of guests hop onto a pretty large boat and we’re taken through a little course that brings us to several different Disney story displays integrated with fun water fixtures.

This was nice relaxing ride, and the scenes were all really fun to see. Though if you’re on one side of the boat, all of the scenes on the other side are hard to get a clear view of. Maybe if you want the clearest view of all of them you’ll need to ride it once on each side?

I can also imagine how pretty these would look at night with the additional decorative lights! Now I’m wishing we rode it once at night as well.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh’s ride is always a solid slow ride when you want to just enjoy something cute and chill. I liked that this version of the ride was almost like a cross between the US Disneyland’s version and the Tokyo Disneyland’s version! There were parts from each of the two other rides that were integrated into this one so it felt familiar but also a little bit new. And of course, no Winnie the Pooh ride is complete with the “astral projection” scene.

Non-ride attractions

One thing I was honestly a little surprised by was non-ride attractions at Shanghai Disneyland that ended up being quite fun and new to me. We either stumbled upon them because their wait times were short in the app or we walked by them and figured we’d give them a try.

Pixar Adventurous Journey

Kind of an odd place to be nestled in, but this Pixar attraction is in Tomorrowland near Tron Lightcycle Power Run. Seeing the images on the app, I thought it would just be a quick little walkthrough with different Pixar movie sets. Having gone to D23 in 2024, the Pixar booth there seemed to be quite similar, so I thought this was just going to be something quick that we’d be in and out of. I was wrong.

Yes, some of the sets are similar, but the D23 booth did not compare. The featured movies had entire rooms dedicated to them that were immersive and so well done! As we moved from room to room I continued to be amazed! My personal favorite rooms were the Turning Red room (my first time seeing a Panda Mei mascot!!), Up, and Coco! Coco truly doesn’t get enough love, I was so surprised to see it, and I loved crossing the bridge and having the marigolds pop up at my feet! They also showed some love to Soul which I thought was so sweet since I feel like it’s one of their more underrated films.

It doesn’t take too long to get through unless you really take your time, but even with us stopping in each room for photos and all that, we finished up in the area after about 20 minutes.

“Once Upon a Time” Adventure

If you’ve been to US’s Disneyland, you might be familiar with the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough (or you might not. It’s actually very easy to miss). If you’re not, the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough is this quick little walkway path through the castle that tells you the story of Sleeping Beauty. I like doing the walkthrough every so often, but one thing about it is that it’s quite cramped and very dark, and a lot of that has to do with the castle itself being quite small.

“Once Upon a Time” Adventure is very similar to the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, but instead of Sleeping Beauty it tells the story of Snow White, and the entire experience has gotten a huge upgrade. The Shanghai Disneyland Castle is significantly larger, so it’s super spacious inside and the walkway is super wide with a decent amount of paths to walk through. They adorn the walls with different princesses and it all looks very nice and regal. And the storytelling itself is done through 3D animated video of the Snow White characters. You’re actually funneled through the story in a small group moving from scene to scene as the story is being told. All of it is entirely in Mandarin though, so I didn’t understand a word. But you can certainly get the gist of it without knowing the language.

Overall, it was very cute, and I’d definitely recommend checking it out if you’re curious. We were lucky to stumble upon it when there was no wait so we walked right in, but I did see the wait time occasionally climb up to around 20-30 minutes at some points throughout the day.

Alice in Wonderland Maze

The Alice in Wonderland Maze is so cool, especially if you’re a fan of the Tim Burton live-action version. The maze itself is really cool. I wish we had given more time to spend wandering in the maze, but by the time we had gotten to this attraction we were pretty beat and it was getting late so we kind of zipped through it. But I’d definitely recommend letting yourself “get a little lost” here and take some other paths.

Funny enough, we actually stumbled into the Red Queen’s Garden entirely on accident almost as soon as we got into the maze. I thought it was going to take longer for us to find it, but we followed a group straight to it. This is where the giant Queen of Hearts head statue is. It’s quite daunting to see up close! I just love the way this whole maze area was designed. After leaving the garden there are additional paths you can take to see other parts of the maze, but we opted for the most direct route to the exit, which brings you to the Tea Party, another very nicely done area. The Tea Party area was quite crowded so you’d be hard-pressed to find a spot that didn’t have a person posing for photos unless you waited a while for your chance. So we kind of just appreciated it for a little before exiting the attraction. I think it would have been pretty cool to spend more time here.

Food

We were quite on the go throughout the day, focusing primarily on getting ourselves to the different attractions we wanted to see, so while we did have food we wanted to try, it wasn’t super high on our priority list, and we kind of just let the day decide. We also mostly opted for quick service foods and personally I didn’t have much of an appetite on the day of our visit, so even though there were more foods I wanted to try, I just didn’t have the stomach for it and unfortunately had to pass.

But of all the foods we did eat, I would say they were generally all quite good!

Roasted fish & curried chickpea UFO burger & Pistachio latte

📍Jumbeaux’s Cafe - Zootopia
💰 100 RMB ($14.52 USD)

This order came as a combo at Jumbeaux’s Cafe in Zootopia. I actually only wanted the pistachio latte, but you could only get the pistachio latte if you got it in the combo, so I did. The burger itself didn’t sound that appetizing to me, but I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it! It’s not like an American burger by any means, and the burger bun is more like a soft bread pouch with the fish and chickpea filling. The flavor was quite good and it was nice and savory. It was pretty filling, which I think might also have been why I wasn’t as hungry the rest of the day.

As for the pistachio latte, this drink was really good! It came as an iced drink, which I like because I personally prefer cold drinks to hot ones. The pistachio flavor was very prominent and it had the real pistachio nuttiness to it with a bunch of pistachio bits at the bottom. It wasn’t too sweet, which I think is perfect for the Asian palate. Honestly, I wish they would let us get the pistachio latte separately so I could have gotten another one of these when I needed a pick-me-up.

The Mini Big Donut (3pcs)

📍Jumbeaux’s Cafe - Zootopia
💰 58 RMB ($8.42 USD)

At Jumbeaux’s Cafe you also have the option of getting the Big Donut, as seen from Zootopia! You can either get one giant donut, or you can get 3 mini ones. We opted for the mini ones since they were cheaper and also less filling.

These donuts were okay and the chocolate shell on them was good,, but they were pretty dry. A+ for looks, but I wouldn’t get these again.

Pawpsicle (with ice mold)

📍Zootopia Market - Zootopia
💰 65 RMB ($9.45 USD)

The pawpsicle itself is 45 RMB, but I just had to get it with the ice mold because it was too cute to deny!! The mold even has a tiny little carrot on the keychain!

This pawpsicle was so cute and it was delicious! It’s hawthorn candy flavored, which is a very familiar flavor to me growing up with haw flakes, but if you’re not a fan of the hawthorn flavor, you most likely will not like this.

BBQ Beef Brisket Pizza

📍Pinocchio’s Village Kitchen - Fantasyland
💰 119 RMB ($17.29 USD)

This pizza was pretty decent. The crust was fluffy and the beef brisket was flavorful. The bbq flavor was actually a little too sweet for my personal taste, but it overall wasn’t too bad. Though if I returned, I think I’d opt for one of their fried rice dishes.

Toffee Nut Latte

📍Pinocchio’s Village Kitchen - Fantasyland
💰 35 RMB ($5.09 USD)

I got this latte because I wanted the Winnie the Pooh cup. I didn’t really like the drink itself though. It tasted very synthetic, a sad comparison to the pistachio latte that tasted so much like actual pistachio.

Peanuts & Chocolate Ice Cream in Acorn Shaped Waffle

📍Chipmunk Snacks - Adventure Isle
💰 68 RMB ($9.88 USD)

This ice cream was SO good!! The peanut flavor was so strong and the dark chocolate flavor was very chocolatey and rich without being super sweet, so it was really tasty! The portion size was quite small and we split it between two people, so I definitely could have gone for my own if it wasn’t for the price. And the acorn shaped cone was so adorable!

Caramel Popcorn (Large)

📍Popcorn cart - Treasure Cove
💰 48 RMB ($6.97 USD)

We got the large popcorn because it came in the Duffy and Friends box! So cute!

Throughout the park there were only two popcorn flavors - salt and caramel - so we went with the caramel. They’re pretty well-coated so there was a nice even flavor throughout all the kernels. I wish they had some more unique flavors, but it’s always a solid snack.

Hazelnut Banana Crepe with Chocolate Ice Cream

📍Cookie Ann Bakery Cafe - Mickey Avenue
💰 75 RMB ($10.90 USD)

This was a pretty good sweet snack! The crepe was nice and soft, and there was a generous amount of hazelnut spread and banana slices. The chocolate ice cream was tasty and it was cute the chocolate ear pieces too!

Beef and Mushroom Ragout Sandwich

📍Pooh & Friends Treats - Fantasyland
💰 75 RMB ($10.90 USD)

This sandwich was surprisingly super delicious! I wasn’t expecting too much from it because I primarily got it because it was a Winnie the Pooh shaped sandwich, but it was actually very flavorful! At first I thought the flavor combo was kind of weird, but the more I ate it the more it grew on me. The beef was juicy and the mushroom ragout along with the cheese added more savoriness to it. It was a solid sandwich and tasted great, so I’d definitely get this again.

Shows

Mickey’s Storybook Adventure

This show was so cute and fun! It reminded me a lot of Mickey and the Magical Map that used to show at Fantasyland Theatre in Disneyland. They feature characters from different stories singing some of their iconic songs as Mickey travels through them. This was very similar, but this story involved trying to get Olaf back to his original story (or so I think. It’s all in Mandarin).

It’s quite interesting watching this show though because they do swap between Mandarin and English throughout the show. The acting and speaking parts are all in Mandarin, and with the exception of Mulan’s Reflection which is also sung in Mandarin, the other songs are all in English. While that was nice and familiar, I kind of would have liked to hear the Mandarin rendition of all of the songs!

BDX droids show

This is a small outdoor show in the Tomorrowland area. Every time I have tried to see BDX droids in the past, it’s always been a miss for me because I never get there in time! This time around we got a sneak a peek at them here and they were so cute! I didn’t understand the show since it was in Mandarin, but I loved just seeing them waddle around!

Illuminate

Illuminate is Shanghai Disneyland’s banner nighttime show. And as is typical, people start to wait for the show pretty early. There’s a very large section in front of the castle called the Garden of Imagination, which is a prime viewing spot for the fireworks. Since we didn’t want to start waiting too early, we decided to not try getting a spot here since it was so crowded and full by the time we started waiting. If you’re willing to wait though, this spot is pretty nice because you get a great view of the castle, and a view of the water fixtures that are also activated during the show.

We waited right in front of Mickey Avenue with a bit of an obstructed view, but it was overall nice and open. As the show time gets closer people start packing together all over the place and close up most of the walkways, so it can get a little claustrophobic. So unless you have a reserved spot, you might eventually get your view obstructed due to everyone to files in leading up to the show.

The show itself is really pretty! It’s broken up into different chapters which you can see more details about in the website’s description, and each section is pretty distinct. This show is heavily projections based and like I mentioned they also have water choreography happening at the same time. There weren’t as many fireworks as I expected (and would have liked), but I was shocked that fireworks actually come OUT of the castle!! That was mind blowing!

I thought the show overall was very nice, but nothing has yet to top my favorite of all time, Wondrous Journeys.

Things I missed

It’s always hard to get to absolutely everything you might want to do in just one day. But surprisingly, I felt like we didn’t miss too much of what I wanted to see and do. We actually got way more done than I was even expecting for it being our first visit to the park!

Rex Racers

This ride wasn’t an absolute must for me, but since it was a ride I hadn’t seen before at other Disney parks, I did want to try it if the wait time was doable. I was willing to wait 40 minutes for it if the wait time ever reached that. During early entry hour, the wait time was 10 minutes or less, but we skipped over it thinking it wouldn’t be too bad later in the day. Sadly we were wrong and it climbed to 90 minutes and stayed around there for most of the day, dropping only to around 60 minutes every so often. We didn’t end up riding it. But it’ll be a priority the next time around!

Challenge Trails at Camp Discovery

This was closed for maintenance when we visited, so nothing we could do about this one. But it does look so much fun and it was something I was really looking forward to experiencing. Another thing to prioritize for next time!

Magic Passport

I actually didn’t even know about this until after we had already come back from our trip! With the magic passport, you get a booklet that you can you can stamp at different stations throughout the park, kind of like a stamp rally! Once you complete your magic passport, you can bring it to the store and get a special completion stamp!

I definitely saw the stamp stations around the park while we were there, but I just walked by them wondering what they were. I wish I had asked a cast member because this experience sounds so fun and something totally up my alley! So learn from my mistake and get the magic passport if you’re into collecting stamps.

Food

Looking back, I also realized we didn’t try too many foods. We were definitely in ride mode, so we mostly ate things that were quick and easy, and what we could fit into short breaks. As I mentioned I also didn’t have too much of an appetite that day, so it was a little more difficult for me to fit in more snacks.

But there were a couple things I really wanted to try that we didn’t get around to like the LinaBell waffle at Il Paperino (how could I miss LinaBell!!) and the Duffy & Friends character mango crepes. Really, I’m sad I skipped out on all the Duffy & Friends themed foods!

Areas I really enjoyed

Zootopia

Of course I loved it!! This area was so well-done, there’s so much to appreciate about it and honestly, I didn’t appreciate it enough!

The land itself is very small, so there’s not a ton to actually do, but they pack it with so much to see! Every piece of this place is its own picture perfect moment, and the one thing you’ll notice for sure is the lines everywhere of people just lining up to take a picture with something, whether its a streetlight or a door.

Something I did really appreciate about this place is that they have an animatronic show that runs throughout the day where different Zootopia characters pop out of one of the main buildings in the land. It’s cool that they rotate through them so you can see something different as you watch. We managed to catch Bonnie and Stu Hopps, Flash, and Gary just as we were walking by!

All of the buildings are so well-themed and it’s just fun to look around and see what they’ve come up with here. I especially love the giraffe bus, the gym with the giraffe running on the treadmill, and the giraffe shaped building (basically everything giraffe). A highlight was also seeing the lemmings using a tube passageway on a building, and of course the different sized benches and parking spots!

Oh and my favorite, the mini capsule toy machines that are right next to the human-sized capsule toy machines!

Even at night, Zootopia looks incredible! I love seeing it lit up as well!

Castle

Shanghai Disneyland’s castle is truly a beauty. For one, it’s huge! But what I love most about it is how much of it you actually get to see and explore! I already mentioned that Once Upon a Time Adventure is inside it, but there’s also a restaurant that you can dine at (we didn’t do it this time), and the walkways through the castle are just so beautiful! I loved the art that they had at the center! If you have some time, I definitely recommend walking around and through it!

Toy Story Land

I think I’ve made it very clear that I’m a HUGE fan of all the Toy Story things that Disney does for the parks. This Toy Story Land is right on par with that. As always, they find the best ways to decorate and bring in different aspects of Toy Story into the land.

In this Toy Story land they have a whole corner of carnival games that guests can play - there are three different games you can sign up for. Each game cost 35 RMB and there are different giant plushies you could win from each one. We didn’t play this time around, but they all looked really fun and I liked that they had different themes!

Their gift shop here is modeled after Al’s Toy Barn from Toy Story 2, and they even have the chicken and everything! Shanghai Disneyland also has capsule toy machines throughout their park that you interact with also through Alipay (a little confusing for me at first, but we got the hang of it). I couldn’t deny myself one of these really cute enamel pins here!

Crowds

Crowds were surprisingly lighter than I had anticipated. I honestly expected Pirates of the Caribbean to be a very long wait time all day since it’s such a cool and unique ride, but it only got up to around 30-40 minutes at most and was about 10-15 minutes for most of the day. Tron Lightcycle Power Run also was a 10-15 minute wait for nearly the whole early entry hour and then some before it picked up to 75+ minutes for the rest of the day. But that gave us plenty of time to get to it!

A lot of the non-ride attractions as well didn’t have any wait when we went so we were able to walk right through, which was really nice.

Wait times for food orders were also not long at all throughout the day. The longest I had to wait was probably at Pinocchio’s Village Kitchen and that was maybe 10 minutes max. Everywhere else we went, we pretty much got our food right after we ordered, and the lines to order were non-existent.

I will say the character meet and greet lines were massive throughout the day, and I think that’s true year-round. The longest wait time I saw in the park by far was the line to meet LinaBell and that was around 360-400 minutes or so. The line to meet Nick & Judy was also very long around 180-200 minutes. So maybe that’s where all the crowds are! Luckily for me and my partner, we’re not big on meeting characters especially if the line is long, so we were able to avoid these major wait times.

I don’t know if we just got really lucky with the day or if this is just what crowds are like around this time of year, but I’m sure glad we didn’t have to fight any major crowds!

Payment options throughout the park

Payment options in Shanghai Disneyland are very similar to the rest of China where they primarily use apps for payments but also accept credit card.

Most of the food establishments have an Alipay order QR code so you can order your food on Alipay and then pick it up at the window. However, they do also accept in-person orders so you don’t have to use the QR code but it’s convenient if you’re able to use it.

One thing to note is that Alipay does charge an extra fee if your total cost exceeds 200 RMB (true in and out of the parks), so if we had a purchase more than 200 RMB, we used credit card instead of Alipay (mostly for gift shop purchases).

Cost breakdown

Here’s a small breakdown of our expenses for this trip to Shanghai Disneyland to give you a better sense of what a short trip to Shanghai Disneyland might look like. Since we only did a one-day park trip, the lodging was our largest cost, followed by souvenirs.

I found that the souvenirs at Shanghai Disney Resort are on the more expensive side; the prices are a lot more similar to the US Disney parks as opposed to the Tokyo Disney parks that are on the more affordable side. So even though I didn’t buy that many souvenirs, the costs added up quite quickly.

Since we didn’t pay for any additional premier access passes our park costs were primarily the cost of admission, and we didn’t dine at the more higher-end restaurants and opted for quick and easy food, so for a party of two our trip came out to about under $500 USD. Considering that this includes lodging, on-property no less, I would consider this trip overall quite affordable. Of course there are many ways you could splurge to give yourself a more premium experience, but if you’re trying to be cost-effective, it can definitely still be done. (Assuming you’re already traveling to Shanghai; the cost of flights are a totally separate thing).

Other things to note

Beware of scammers(?)

Okay, maybe they’re not scammers, but there were two instances where I felt a little weird while we were at the park and it was not something I typically experience.

At one of the gift shops, a guy who honestly gave off a shady vibe when we walked into the store came up to my partner and tried to offer him a discount or something on merchandise? I say shady because he came up really close and invaded his personal space to whisper to him and it was really strange. He asked my partner if he needed help purchasing items because he could get him a discount?? We declined of course because that was weird, and then the guy stalked off and started hovering around the gift shop entrance to look for someone else to approach. I’m not sure what their move here is, but better to steer clear if someone approaches you like this.

Another instance happened around the castle when we were waiting for Illuminate to start - a woman was walking around with her phone showcasing photos and offering to do photoshoots for people. I guess this one’s not so bad (get your bag, I guess?), but also it felt weird to be in a Disney park while people are trying to solicit business?

It was odd but honestly it was harmless so it wasn’t horrible, just weird behavior inside a Disney park that I wasn’t used to.

The smog

If you haven’t been to Shanghai before, something I think is worth noting is that the air quality is not the best (at least not when I visited). For people with sensitive throats and noses, it can be quite uncomfortable. There’s not too much you can do about that unfortunately, but just something to be aware of. We tried to wear masks even when we were outside to at least provide a little bit of comfort and packed some lozenges. Not the best solution, but it can help you get through the day.

Overall thoughts

Every Disney park around the world has something special to offer and Shanghai Disneyland is no exception! Even though we only spent one day at the park, I actually think that was enough. Of course I’d always be open to spending more days there, but one full day was good enough for us to experience almost everything we wanted to do and then some!

I was actually surprised at how efficiently I felt were able to navigate the park and get to all the things we wanted to do. It could have just been sheer luck that it wasn’t too busy that day, but I’m certainly not complaining about that!

Food options are plentiful and I feel that there are a lot of different food types that people can choose from based on their tastes. I’m not too sure about vegan / vegetarian options though. I really wish we tried a bit more of the variety!

Shanghai Disneyland feels like a park that is quieter in the morning and can get busy quickly because by mid-day Zootopia in particular was packed all the way until the evening. That’s something I’ll definitely keep in mind when I come back in the future - mornings are the best time to take advantage of the low crowds!

This trip was perfect for getting a taste of what Shanghai Disneyland has to offer. We didn’t necessarily get to fully enjoy all the areas we were in, but I still felt like we got to experience so much!

I really look forward to coming back in the future, even if it probably won't be for another several years.

Shanghai DisneyTravel

Sharon To

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Time	Activity	Location
6:30AM	Check out, drop off luggage, split up for shuttle and food	Toy Story Hotel
6:40AM	Grab food at Sunnyside Market (ate in line)	Toy Story Hotel
7:08AM	Shuttle to Disneytown
7:15AM	Arrived in Disneytown, queued at the hotel guest entrance line	Disneytown
7:30AM	Scanned into the park	Shanghai Disneyland
7:36AM	Queued for the giant bench photo	Zootopia
7:50AM	Zootopia: Hot Pursuit - 14 min wait (standby)	Zootopia
8:23AM	TRON Lightcycle Power Run - 17 min wait (standby)	Tomorrowland
9:03AM	Pirates of the Caribbean - 6 min wait (standby)	Treasure Cove
9:30AM	Breakfast at Jumbeaux's Cafe / Zootopia exploring	Zootopia
10:49AM	Peter Pan's Flight - 19 min wait (standby)	Fantasyland
11:14AM	Voyage to the Crystal Grotto - 17 min wait (standby)	Fantasyland
11:47AM	Lunch at Pinocchio's Village Kitchen	Fantasyland
12:28PM	"Once Upon a Time" Adventure - no wait	Fantasyland
12:55PM	Pixar Adventurous Journey - no wait	Tomorrowland
1:20PM	BDX Droids show	Tomorrowland
1:34PM	Explore Toy Story Land / shopping	Toy Story Land
1:54PM	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - 6 min wait (premier access)	Fantasyland
2:27PM	Snack at Chipmunk Snacks	Adventure Isle
3:17PM	Pirates of the Caribbean - 15 min wait (standby)	Treasure Cove
4:00PM	Mickey's Storybook Adventure	Mickey Avenue
4:58PM	Snack at CookieAnn's Bakery and Cafe	Mickey Avenue
5:57PM	Alice in Wonderland Maze (no wait)	Fantasyland
6:18PM	Zootopia: Hot Pursuit - 6 min wait (premier access)	Zootopia
6:58PM	Dinner at Pooh & Friends Treats	Fantasyland
7:28PM	Waited for Illuminate	Gardens of Imagination
8:00PM	Illuminate show	Gardens of Imagination
8:22PM	Shuttle back to Toy Story Hotel