Shanghai Disneyland

Earlier during the month I took a trip to Shanghai with a couple of friends and one of the things we were adamant about seeing was Disneyland.
I mean come on!
It's Disneyland!!
Despite only being relatively new (It celebrated its 1st year since its Grand Opening) it felt like I had been transported back to my childhood memories of me and my mom running around Disneyland and hugging all the characters and taking millions of pictures.

However, I was taken aback with how vastly different  Shanghai Disney and my California Disney is.
Shanghai Disney like mash of Disney's California Adventure and Disneyland rolled into one (mind you I've NEVER been to Disney's California Adventure by the way).
Let me tell you why they're different.


Shanghai Disney HAS
  • NO Toon Town (There are a few stores in the Mickey's Avenue when you come in that have a toonish concept but not a whole zone like in the one in California)

  • NO Main Street U.S.A. (It didn't bother me, I mean, come on. We're in China)
  • NO Space Mountain (They have the Rugged Mountain ride which we couldn't get on because of the long lines that were no shorter than 3 hours wait time with a Fast Pass)
  • NO It's a A Small World ride
  • 95% of all Food is Chinese and Asian based and there is only ONE burger place inside the park. (Cheese Cake Factory, Wolfgang Puck, and Starbucks are outside in The Village.
  • Everything is in Mandarin.
  • Bathrooms have 80% squatty toilets and 20% regular toilets that are ALWAYS available (almost all people use squatty toilets)
  • You can actually go INSIDE the Enchanted Storybook Castle and eat in a restaurant or have your little ones pretend to be Princesses inside the Princess Salon INSIDE the Castle. (Yes, the Castle is Massive and the Magic Gardens are set up to do performances and shows with a magical Castle backdrop)
  • A whole section is dedicated to pirates and is all Pirate themed. Its in Adventure Isle and Treasure Cove. This is where THE BEST Pirate ride ever is. The Pirates of the Caribbean themed is located.


  • There is a Chinese Zodiac Garden and they're all characters from Disney movies like Mushu from Mulan is the dragon sign. Remy from Ratatouille is the rat sign. Abu from Aladdin is the monkey sign etc. 
  • It has a Tron Ride in Tomorrowland. Which also has a Marvel Universe theme and Star Wars theme.
  • It has Fantasyland which contains classic rides like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, etc.


















I felt extremely overwhelmed by the amount of people waiting in lines and even waiting in line for Fast Passes was incredibly long. There were swarms of people with umbrellas because it was really hot and humid on the day we went. (It gets really hot and humid in Shanghai during the summer). The food was not expensive but unappetizing for me. I had a lot of fun despite all the rides having long lines of over 2 hours.
They also have a parade that happens twice in a day. My friends and I had really great front row seats on the side where we sat down on the hot concrete floor. The floors are kept very clean and still have that brand new look.


We walked for hours occasionally resting under the forgiving shade of sitting areas ate burgers from the only burger place in the park.
I made a lot of new unforgettable memories in Disneyland but the best ones are as a kid with my mom where I had nothing to worry about but having more fun.


I fell in love with a chibi version of the beast but unfortunately could not find a plush toy that looked like the beast. I ended up buying Stitch because he reminded me of Charlie Bear with his big ears and big eyes. And he sleeps next to my head like Charlie Bear did back home.

And I learned something that kinda surprised me after I had left Shanghai Disneyland.

150 graves had to be relocated in order to build this massive theme park. The Chinese government is co-owner of this park and compensated the families of the deceased for having to moved the deceased.
Kinda weird and cool.

Until next time!

Zai Jian!

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