First Visit to Shanghai Disneyland

Mjau, our first family photo in front of the castle!

Mjau, last December we finally visited Shanghai Disneyland. We wanted to spend Christmas at Hong Kong Disneyland, so it was the perfect opportunity to visit Shanghai Disneyland as well and take advantage of the 144-hour visa free transit rule.

Mjau, on our way to Shanghai!

Mjau, the elegant Shanghai Disneyland Hotel during the night!

After the long flight from Finland to Shanghai we took the Taxi to our hotel, the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. We were really impressed by the hotel! The hotel had an elegant Art Deco theme. We will tell you more about the hotel in our Shanghai Disneyland Hotel Review! We really liked all the Fantasia details in the café and the lounge. Positively amazing! 

Mjau, the view from the hotel is amazing!

Across the lake you could see Disneyland, the castle is so big you can easily see it from the hotel. Tomorrowland also looks extra inviting from the hotel in the evenings, with all the blinking lights. Mjauhihi, the first night we could not resist the blinking lights, so our butler rushed to the park with one of us Siamese kittens. Mjau, our butler was so tired from the flight she even fell asleep a couple of times during the amazing Pirates of the Caribbean ride! Mjau, how pathetic!

Mjau, Duffy and Friends Tea Party was amazing!

Our butlers had some difficulties communicating with the cast members as most of them did not speak fluent English. It did not bother us though, as they were still very friendly and helpful. Mjau, on our last day we wanted to have the Duffy and Friends Tea Party. Our butlers did not understand it was a table service event that you need reservations for, mjau, how incompetent they can be! Thankfully one of the cast members realised our butlers were incompetent and clueless. The cast member managed to help them through a translating app and gave us the last table available. Mjau, forever grateful! It ended up being one of the highlights of the trip.

Mjau, they had a nice Diner theme, our favourite theme!

Mjau, a jukebox with Disney songs!

The hot chocolate was cute and delicious!

Mjau, delicious savoury treats!

More close ups of the food!

So delicious and festive! Positively amazing!

As a bonus everything was decorated for Christmas!

We were really surprised by how amazing Shanghai Disneyland was. How unique the park is from all the other Disney parks, all the Disney details and the snacks. Mjau, the snacks were positively glorious! We think the snacks were the highlight of Shanghai Disneyland! We expected the snacks to be on the same level as Disneyland Paris (non-existent) or in the best case scenario, Hong Kong Disneyland. To our surprise the snacks were even better than in Walt Disney World!

Mjau, delicious chestnut Olaf waffle with soft serve ice cream.

Duffy coffee pannacotta!

Cute Donald Hot Chocolate to keep us warm!

Mjau, Minnie Raspberry Mousse Puff.

Mjau, delicious savoury Shanghai Mooncakes.

Delicious and pretty coconut mousse and chestnut mousse Chip and Dale cakes!

Mjau, so much to eat and not enough time!

Mjau, we actually only ate snacks during our stay there. We only ate once at a restaurant, the one in the castle, Royal Banquet Hall.

Mjau, delicious appetiser at Royal Banquet Hall!

Mickey shaped noodles!

Delicious Mickey shaped lava cake!

Royal Banquet Hall was really nice although the service felt really rushed. Mjauhihi, we only found it funny. When we were done we even had to leave through the backdoor. Mjauhihi, and they shut the door after our butlers with a loud bang!

Mjau, Snow White themed dining room!

The Mulan dining room looks positively amazing!

Mjau, we really like the colours and details in the Sleeping Beauty dining room.

The famous restroom!

The food was delicious and Mickey shaped so it tasted even more delicious! The dining rooms were really elegant and were themed after different princesses. We ate at the Sleeping Beauty themed room. After dinner we took a look around the other dining rooms as well. Mjau, the Mulan private event room was really nice! The bathroom was also really nice with crystal chandeliers. We really liked that they did not have princesses for the character dining. Instead they had Duffy and Mickey and their friends.

Mickey Avenue is a nice change from Main Street USA, mjau!

We really liked how open and relaxed the park felt. Instead of a Main Street USA they had Mickey Avenue. Mjau, even though we love Main Street at the other parks, we really liked that Shanghai Disneyland had something completely different to offer. Again, the Disney details were amazing! Uncle Scrooge even had a bank office there!

Mjau, Uncle Scrooge has opened a bank in Shanghai Disneyland!

Mjau, there is no train at Shanghai Disneyland!

We were constantly amazed by all the details in Mickey Avenue. They had a Taxi stand with the Taxi from Who Framed Roger Rabbit!

Look at the Taxi sign!

Look at the nice Mickey and Donald painting by the store!

The rides were also amazing! What they lacked in quantity they had plenty in quality. The Pirates of the Caribbean was definitely the best pirate ride, and possible one of the best rides overall. The ride is in Treasure Cove where they also have pirate ships you can visit and have water fights with friends, enemies or strangers. Mjau, we almost got sprayed by cast members! Mjau, it was fun to see cast members dressed as pirates walking around and interacting with guests.

Mjau, enjoying a visit to Treasure Cove!

Playing around on the pirate ships!

Mjau, Au found a treasure!

Adventure Isle was close to Treasure Cove. At Adventure Isle they had Soaring over the Horizon, Roaring Rapids and some adventure rope courses and canoe riding. We did not do the rope course due to the weather. Mjau, we did not want to slip and hurt our cute little paws. The riding the canoes would have been fun, but our butlers were a bit worried about the language barrier as you probably had to interact with other guests. Mjau, and we are on vacation! We do not want to paddle a boat!

Mjau, to be honest, we were a bit disappointed with Soarin'. Mjau, mostly because we expected something different from the theme of the queuing area and the intro. Mjau, it was only the regular Soarin' that you can experience at Walt Disney World. Although the seats felt bigger, possibly due to the obesity rate in China being low compared to the US.

Roaring Rapids was also so much fun. It is a water ride similar to Kali River Rapids and Grizzly River Run. Mjauhihi, it is so much fun watching our butlers get drenched and scream! Mjau, sometimes they are mean butlers and make us sit on their lap, so we get wet too! Mjau!

Gardens of Imagination, mjau, this is where you can find the classic Dumbo ride and Fantasia Carousel.

Mjau, we really like how open and relaxed the park feels!

Mjau, they had the classic Dumbo and Carousel, but they had an amazing view of the castle and the park, not the unimpressive view that some Dumbo rides have. (We are looking at you, Walt Disney World!) We also really liked that the Carousel was Fantasia themed. Instead of having regular carousel horses and calling it Prince Charming Regal Carousel, they actually had the horses from the Fantasia movie. Mjau, we were really impressed as we love Fantasia!

Mjau, the entrance to Tomorrowland. 

Tomorrowland was also completely different from the Tomorrowlands or Discoveryland at other Disney Resorts. Mjau, Tomorrowland felt really modern and futuristic at the same time. Mjau, it is a nice change from some of the Tomorrowlands that feel like they are somehow stuck in the 1980s. The Tron movies are a big inspiration for the Tomorrowland in Shanghai Disneyland. You can see several nods to the movies. Here they of course had the Tron ride.

Tomorrowland looks more impressive during the night!

Tron was really nice, especially during the night. We liked that the seats are unique, and we liked the beginning, were it goes fast and is outside. Mjau, otherwise it is just a regular roller coaster. We wish it would have been a bit longer, mjau.

Mjau, having fun at the Alice in Wonderland Maze!

We liked the Alice in Wonderland Maze, although we would have preferred it to be themed after the 1951 version, not the Tim Burton version.

Christmas decorations make everything more magical!

We also really enjoyed the entertainment at Shanghai Disneyland. We really liked the parade and the shows by the castle. Mjau, we even got to see Donald Duck practising Tai Chi with Chip and Dale. So much fun! The scheduling and information on the shows is the only thing that is a bit lacking. Mjau, it is difficult to know when some shows stars, or are even held that day. A lot of shows were also cancelled last minute, however we still got to see all the shows we wanted to, so we were not upset. Mjau, we just guess punctuality is not culturally important over there, even the characters did not always show up during their scheduled program. Mjau, it is nice that they let Donald and his friends rest for a bit as well.

Mjau, a large Donald Duck watching over us at Disney Town!

Mjau, we really like this poster of the Aristocats!

Mjau, we also really enjoyed Disney Town. They had BreadTalk at Disney Town! Delicious and so cheap! Our butlers got so excited about the low prices. They also had nice Disney stores and a Lego Store. Our Grandpa was able to buy many Christmas gifts to us from Shanghai Disneyland. Duffy and his friends are really popular over there. We would have preferred more merchandise of Donald Duck and his friends. At least they did not have too many Disney Princess products. This is one of the reasons we really like the Asian Disney parks: Critters are more popular than Princesses!

We like the greenery around the castle. It makes everything look even more magical.

We enjoyed our visit to Shanghai Disneyland very much and hope to visit again in the future. It is perfect to visit Shanghai Disneyland as a layover before visiting Hong Kong Disneyland or Tokyo Disneyland. As Mickey Mouse likes to say: See Ya Real Soon!

Another family photo by the Castle!