One day at Shanghai Disney?

We just got back from China and had just one day in the park. It was a Friday but crowds were still pretty sizeable. We took a cab direct from our hotel and arranged it the night before with the concierge. The cabs will take 4 max so our group needed 3 cabs. We considered taking transit but from our hotel we weregild it would have taken 1-1/2 and we'd have to transfer busses at one point. It was easier and less stressful just taking the taxi. We got there just after 9:00, made our way through the security and ticket lineups. If you are getting your tickets in advance you need to show your passport so make sure to bring those with you for them to scan.

We didn't rush around the park but managed to take in all your top rides (Pirates was AMAZING!!!) with the exception of Peter Pan which had too long of a wait and we didn't want to criss-cross the park for Fast Passes. Do not underestimate just how large the park grounds are - it was a lot of walking just to get from one land to another. I think my wife's FitBit registered somewhere around 26,000+ steps the day and we left around 6:00pm and didn't stay for the fireworks.

If you are going in July the heat and humidity will be intense. Even now in early May I found it to be very hot and felt drenched shortly after leaving our hotel. Make sure to stay hydrated as the park has little in the way of shade.

One tip with the Challenge Trails that I hadn't seen mentioned is that there are several different routes to take. I was waiting out front for our group to come down and across the rope bridge in front of the big waterfall to get some photos but they went right instead of left and ended up going a different path and never came by the waterfall. I had waited all that time they were in the cue for nothing!! So if you want a photo in front of the waterfall make sure you direct them to head in that direction.

All in all I was VERY impressed with SDL. It was quite clean with lots of cast members going around cleaning up any trash they saw. The food was ok but not great. I think if we were ever to go back we'd plan on 3 days to take it all in accounting for the crowds, amount of walking and old style Fast Passes but we were all glad we went even for the one day. There won't be too many people that can say they went to China and Disneyland in the same trip!

Thank you! Wow, that is a LOT of walking!



Back with our one day report from April! Had a great time and totally worth doing. Big takeaways: much busier than we expected and even arriving well before opening, security and the ticket check took almost 50mins, so be sure to factor that into your time estimate (the walk from the parking lot ain't short either). Also check the park times as you get closer--when we bought the tickets, it listed as closing at 7PM but found out when we arrived they had extended the closing to 8PM. Like you, we debated the Premier Access Set, and ultimately went for it. So glad we did; made for a stress free day, and were able to see everything we wanted no worries; even squeezed in Soarin' which was originally low on our list but the kids loved. IF you decide to go that route, I can you give more specifics on some of the oddities on how the set works, but the big lesson learned is with the set, your first target should be Pirates, as it is the only major ride without a Fastpass. The wait time started low, but was listed as 45 mins when we hit, and we waited over an hour. If we did over,we would start there, then work our way around counterclockwise. (Other side note: Challenge Trail, the first line you'll see if for lockers ONLY, actual line is farther in).

One other thought for you: we were on a guided tour as well, stuck at an out of the way hotel, and was trying to figure out transportation. We found out once we got there the hotel offered a daily complementary shuttle to Disney! So I would contact your hotel concierge ahead of time, you never know what they offer.

I am totally interested in the Premier Access Set oddities! We're still on the fence about even attempting the side trip - but we'd really like to give it a shot. We kind of think we'd have to be able to do Pirates and Tron more than once, Peter Pan, Buzz, and the Challenge Trails for it to be worth our time and money. Anything else would be a bonus.

Great idea about starting at Pirates.

Yes, I want specifics and oddities! :)
I had never heard of it before, so I checked the website but not really sure what it is. It's like buying front-of-the-line access for one of the 7 rides listed? And I take the set inludes several or all of the list?

The way I understand it is - you can buy them as Premier Access which are single FPs for those 7 rides. Single use, pick one of the 7 rides.

Or, you can buy the Premier Access Set which gets you a single ride on all 7 of the listed FP rides. @Aviator621 can correct me if I am wrong.
 
I just wanted to respond in terms of what is possible to get done in a single day.

We went for two days in April 2017. Our first day was a Wednesday and the weather forecast predicted rain. Voyage to the Crystal Grotto was closed, but we pretty much managed to do everything in the park except for some of the smaller rides like Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh and Astro Orbiter which had long wait times for the majority of the day.

We managed to do: Roaring Rapids x 2, Soaring x 1 (with Fast Pass), Pirates x 3, Tron x 2 (Fast Pass and at night), Buzz x 2, Mine Train x 1 (with Fast Pass), Hunny Pot Spin x 1 (just before closing) and Peter Pan x 1 (with Fast Pass). We also saw both the Tarzan and the Pirate show. And we went through Challenge Trails once.

The key was being there early (at least 45 minutes before opening) to get through security and get in line, an efficient use of Fast Passes (i.e. being in line to get the next Fast Passes before using the current Fast Passes), eating quickly, skipping all character meets, parades and the fireworks show, taking few photos and just being lucky in terms of somewhat reasonable crowd levels.

So, it's possible to pretty much do the entire park in one day.

As the designated Fast Pass runner, my Fitbit recorded over 30,000 steps that day. The overcast conditions made moving around the park a little cooler (and the somewhat reasonable crowds also made it easier to traverse the park back and forth for Fast Passes).
 
The way I understand it is - you can buy them as Premier Access which are single FPs for those 7 rides. Single use, pick one of the 7 rides.

Or, you can buy the Premier Access Set which gets you a single ride on all 7 of the listed FP rides. @Aviator621 can correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, that is basically it--they are purchased fastpasses; you can buy them individually or get a discount for buying them all as a set. Please note, you can only buy the set at the Avenue M store near the park entry. However, don't go into the store entrance; for the Premier access purchase, you enter through the store exit. So as soon as you pass under the Shanghai Disneyland entryway, look to your immediate left, there is a unmarked corridor where you go (although there was a cast member with a clapboard next to her pointing the way in.)

Once there, the cast member will have a sheet to mark what you want. This was bit of a trial, as the sheet is mostly in Chinese, and not immediately clear which one was the set. (Cast members' English is also hit or miss). Once you pay, the set is given to you in sealed plastic--7 individual fastpasses. However, you are then shuttled to the next room where they take a picture of your group with YOUR PHONE holding a message board with that day's date. You have to show this picture any time you use the fastpasses (and they check multiple times in each line.)

This has a couple of implications: you can't use them over multiple days, and if your group separates, each group needs to be able to show the pic to use the passes. However, with the pic, anyone pictured can use the passes, they didn't map the sets to specific entry tickets. So if you don't want to do Tron, but someone else wants to go twice, not an issue. These passes have no time stamp, so you can use them at your leisure. That was the big bonus for us, no racing around. And when the parade suddenly popped up, we could stop and enjoy, and not worrying about making a fastpass window.

Yes, these passes are relatively expensive, but our thought process was we weren't coming back to Shanghai anytime soon (if ever) and we wanted our memories to be one of enjoyment and not stress and missed opportunities, so in that light I do recommend them, but as you know, value is relative to each person. cschaaf and Karin 1984--hope you are both able to make the trip to Disneyland and enjoy it as much as we did! (cschaaf, will add, while we didn't use Viking, our trip also included a Yangtze cruise--beautiful scenery in the Three Gorges!)
 
I think, for us, if we were to go again just for one day I'd spend the extra and get the premium set. As you said, how often are you going to get to Shanghai? There were many rides we would have liked to have done but the wait times just too long and the fast passes no longer available. Having the premium pass set would have allowed us to relax and gone on what we wanted when we wanted. We were there with a larger group of 3 families and I know not everyone would have been up for the additional cost so unfortunately it wasn't an option at the time.
 


I just wanted to respond in terms of what is possible to get done in a single day.

We went for two days in April 2017. Our first day was a Wednesday and the weather forecast predicted rain. Voyage to the Crystal Grotto was closed, but we pretty much managed to do everything in the park except for some of the smaller rides like Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh and Astro Orbiter which had long wait times for the majority of the day.

We managed to do: Roaring Rapids x 2, Soaring x 1 (with Fast Pass), Pirates x 3, Tron x 2 (Fast Pass and at night), Buzz x 2, Mine Train x 1 (with Fast Pass), Hunny Pot Spin x 1 (just before closing) and Peter Pan x 1 (with Fast Pass). We also saw both the Tarzan and the Pirate show. And we went through Challenge Trails once.

The key was being there early (at least 45 minutes before opening) to get through security and get in line, an efficient use of Fast Passes (i.e. being in line to get the next Fast Passes before using the current Fast Passes), eating quickly, skipping all character meets, parades and the fireworks show, taking few photos and just being lucky in terms of somewhat reasonable crowd levels.

So, it's possible to pretty much do the entire park in one day.

As the designated Fast Pass runner, my Fitbit recorded over 30,000 steps that day. The overcast conditions made moving around the park a little cooler (and the somewhat reasonable crowds also made it easier to traverse the park back and forth for Fast Passes).
Thank you for the recap! We'd definitely be happy with amount of riding.

If we choose regular FP, I'll be the runner for the two of us.

Yes, that is basically it--they are purchased fastpasses; you can buy them individually or get a discount for buying them all as a set. Please note, you can only buy the set at the Avenue M store near the park entry. However, don't go into the store entrance; for the Premier access purchase, you enter through the store exit. So as soon as you pass under the Shanghai Disneyland entryway, look to your immediate left, there is a unmarked corridor where you go (although there was a cast member with a clapboard next to her pointing the way in.)

Once there, the cast member will have a sheet to mark what you want. This was bit of a trial, as the sheet is mostly in Chinese, and not immediately clear which one was the set. (Cast members' English is also hit or miss). Once you pay, the set is given to you in sealed plastic--7 individual fastpasses. However, you are then shuttled to the next room where they take a picture of your group with YOUR PHONE holding a message board with that day's date. You have to show this picture any time you use the fastpasses (and they check multiple times in each line.)

Wow, it sounds like it's worth it just for the adventure! ;)

Yes, these passes are relatively expensive, but our thought process was we weren't coming back to Shanghai anytime soon (if ever) and we wanted our memories to be one of enjoyment and not stress and missed opportunities, so in that light I do recommend them, but as you know, value is relative to each person. cschaaf and Karin 1984--hope you are both able to make the trip to Disneyland and enjoy it as much as we did! (cschaaf, will add, while we didn't use Viking, our trip also included a Yangtze cruise--beautiful scenery in the Three Gorges!)

That's pretty much what we are thinking too - reduction of stress and walking is worth something.

We're so excited about the whole trip and it's coming up fast! Three Gorges looks amazing.

I think, for us, if we were to go again just for one day I'd spend the extra and get the premium set. As you said, how often are you going to get to Shanghai? There were many rides we would have liked to have done but the wait times just too long and the fast passes no longer available. Having the premium pass set would have allowed us to relax and gone on what we wanted when we wanted. We were there with a larger group of 3 families and I know not everyone would have been up for the additional cost so unfortunately it wasn't an option at the time.

Thank you for the feedback! The points I bolded above sound really good to me! We're a bit spoiled by Universal Studios, I think. We stay on-property and get the Express Pass as part of the room deal. It eliminates all planning, stress, and park criss-crossing. The Premium Set would get us pretty close to that experience. ;)
 
Yes, that is basically it--they are purchased fastpasses; you can buy them individually or get a discount for buying them all as a set. Please note, you can only buy the set at the Avenue M store near the park entry. However, don't go into the store entrance; for the Premier access purchase, you enter through the store exit. So as soon as you pass under the Shanghai Disneyland entryway, look to your immediate left, there is a unmarked corridor where you go (although there was a cast member with a clapboard next to her pointing the way in.)

Once there, the cast member will have a sheet to mark what you want. This was bit of a trial, as the sheet is mostly in Chinese, and not immediately clear which one was the set. (Cast members' English is also hit or miss). Once you pay, the set is given to you in sealed plastic--7 individual fastpasses. However, you are then shuttled to the next room where they take a picture of your group with YOUR PHONE holding a message board with that day's date. You have to show this picture any time you use the fastpasses (and they check multiple times in each line.)

This has a couple of implications: you can't use them over multiple days, and if your group separates, each group needs to be able to show the pic to use the passes. However, with the pic, anyone pictured can use the passes, they didn't map the sets to specific entry tickets. So if you don't want to do Tron, but someone else wants to go twice, not an issue. These passes have no time stamp, so you can use them at your leisure. That was the big bonus for us, no racing around. And when the parade suddenly popped up, we could stop and enjoy, and not worrying about making a fastpass window.

Yes, these passes are relatively expensive, but our thought process was we weren't coming back to Shanghai anytime soon (if ever) and we wanted our memories to be one of enjoyment and not stress and missed opportunities, so in that light I do recommend them, but as you know, value is relative to each person.

Thanks for the info. We are going in October and we decided to cut down our stay in Shanghai and spend the weekend at the Great Wall before moving on to Japan. So we are going to have the evening of our arrival, the next day (Thursday, my b-day) then probably Friday am before catching the train to Beijing. When I saw this was available I know I would spring for it, to make sure we get on the rides we want. Thanks for the tips!
 
How long are the FP lines?

I've been keeping an eye on the standby line times on the app and they are getting insanely long. I check right before bed - which would be 11am Shanghai time, and Tron, 7DMT, Soaring, Roaring Rapids are all up around 3 hour waits. Pirates is usually up around 2 hours.

Would the FP lines be half? 1/3? Even less? Please say even less! ;)
 


In my experience (April 2017), the Fast Pass lines move relatively quickly.

But, it's disorganised chaos. They keep everyone in a single "line" for most of the waiting, but once you reach the machines it is a free for all and people will push and shove and start forming new lines behind each machine, but then jump between machines if they think another one will be quicker. It's pretty crazy. And if you take too long (as I did on my first go, trying to find the English menu, following the instructions, etc), someone will start trying to either push you out of the way or "helpfully" (forcefully) try to take your tickets and do it themselves! Crazy!

The line for FPs for Soaring first thing in the morning took about ... 10 to 15 minutes. After that, I think the longest wait times were for FPs for Tron and Mine Train rides later in the day (i.e. around midday or early afternoon at "peak" crowd times). I think the line for the Mine Train was about 30 minutes. Part of the problem is that there is a single FP line for multiple rides (i.e. there is a central FP distribution point in each land, instead of a separate / designated one for each ride). So, for example, if you want a FP for Buzz, you have to get in the same line as everyone wanting a FP for Tron, which obviously makes the wait much longer for the Buzz FPs because Tron is much more popular.

As others have noted, as much as I hate Disney money-making schemes which destroy the egalitarian appeal of Disneyland, there are the Express Pass packages available which could ease your concerns about getting FPs for a price and allow you to focus on rides which don't offer FPs (e.g. Pirates).
 
In my experience (April 2017), the Fast Pass lines move relatively quickly.

But, it's disorganised chaos. They keep everyone in a single "line" for most of the waiting, but once you reach the machines it is a free for all and people will push and shove and start forming new lines behind each machine, but then jump between machines if they think another one will be quicker. It's pretty crazy. And if you take too long (as I did on my first go, trying to find the English menu, following the instructions, etc), someone will start trying to either push you out of the way or "helpfully" (forcefully) try to take your tickets and do it themselves! Crazy!

The line for FPs for Soaring first thing in the morning took about ... 10 to 15 minutes. After that, I think the longest wait times were for FPs for Tron and Mine Train rides later in the day (i.e. around midday or early afternoon at "peak" crowd times). I think the line for the Mine Train was about 30 minutes. Part of the problem is that there is a single FP line for multiple rides (i.e. there is a central FP distribution point in each land, instead of a separate / designated one for each ride). So, for example, if you want a FP for Buzz, you have to get in the same line as everyone wanting a FP for Tron, which obviously makes the wait much longer for the Buzz FPs because Tron is much more popular.

As others have noted, as much as I hate Disney money-making schemes which destroy the egalitarian appeal of Disneyland, there are the Express Pass packages available which could ease your concerns about getting FPs for a price and allow you to focus on rides which don't offer FPs (e.g. Pirates).

Yes, if we go, we'll most likely go all in and get the Premier Access.

What I'm wondering is, with a FP in hand, how long will we have to wait to ride. For example, as I type this, it's 9:45 AM in Shanghai and the app is showing a 180 minute standby line for Soaring. We wouldn't need to wait to get that FP if we have the Premier Access, but I wonder how long we'd have to wait in the FP line to ride.

We may decide to try to pull a FP for a ride or two on top of the Premier Access, as well. The most likely target for that would be Tron.
 
Oh, I see. Not too long.

With Fast Passes, I think we still ended up waiting in line for Soaring for around ... maybe 20 minutes. It's hard to tell with some lines because the locals will "run" in / through the Fast Pass line and because the lines are "narrow", you have little choice to run as well or get out of the way. I personally like to try to appreciate theming, but when you have locals pushing past, despite being in the Fast Pass line, it "encourages" you to move more quickly, which makes the actual standing around and waiting part seem like it takes longer.

Tron, Mine Train and Peter Pan didn't take too long with Fast Passes. Tron probably moved the quickest. I think it was maybe 15 minutes for the other two. But, the Fast Pass return times for all three were pretty late in the day if memory serves me correctly, so the standby lines were closed for both Mine Train and Peter Pan.
 

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