Shanghai Disneyland: The Disney park where everything’s bigger
THINK you’ve been there, done that at the happiest place on Earth? Take a peek into the future at the newest addition to the Disney family.
At any other Disneyland, Minnie and Mickey Mouse are the biggest drawcards for photos. They’re popular in China, too, but the photographic favourite at Shanghai Disneyland is The Garden of the Twelve Friends.
Here, punters line up to have their photo taken with the Disney character mosaic wall displays that represent the year they were born according to the Chinese Zodiac — Remy the rat, Tigger the tiger, Thumper the rabbit, Kaa the snake, Maximus the horse, Pluto the dog and Hamm the pig, to name a few.
It’s just one example of how the franchise has stayed true to the promise of delivering a theme park that is “authentically Disney, distinctly Chinese”.
There are many such firsts at Shanghai Disneyland, which celebrated its one-year anniversary in June, that you won’t find at any other Disney park in the world. And with the Chinese not growing up on Disney characters, there’s also an educational aspect to the park you don’t see elsewhere.
Park guests — there were 11 million even before its first birthday — are mostly Chinese but an increasing number of foreigners are coming to Shanghai just to visit the new Disneyland as the city becomes more of a hub for international travellers thanks to a 144-hour free visa for transit passengers.
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Main Street USA is replaced by Mickey Avenue, which introduces visitors to Disney and its characters. This is where you have photos with Minnie and Mickey, Donald and Daisy, Pluto and Goofy. The Enchanted Storybook Castle at the end of Mickey Avenue is bigger and “the most interactive” of any of the Disney parks. It includes a restaurant and shops, a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique salon and a boat ride attraction that goes under the castle called Voyage to Crystal Grotto.
The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train sees classic song Heigh-Ho recorded in Mandarin and the Walt Disney Grand Theatre in Disneytown hosts the first Mandarin production of Broadway stage musical The Lion King.
There are six distinct areas, or lands, at Shanghai Disneyland. In other parks internationally, you’ll see Adventureland, Frontierland, Critter Country and Mickey’s Toontown.
Here, there’s Mickey Avenue, Gardens of Imagination — where you’ll find the Chinese Zodiacs — Fantasyland, Adventure Isle, Tomorrowland and Treasure Cove.
The park is also expanding quickly with a seventh area, Toy Story Land, well into construction and set to open next year. Shanghai Disney already has the only resort hotel in the world dedicated to the characters and stories from Toy Story.
The Fantasia Carousel was created especially for Shanghai Disneyland with Chinese artists sculpting and painting 62 horses for the attraction.
You’ll notice when you arrive that there’s a lot of space at Shanghai Disney. The paths are wider, I’m told, because the Chinese like to visit in large family groups with everyone from grandparents to babies.
As for rides, you won’t find It’s a Small World or the world-famous spinning tea cups. TRON Lightcycle Power Run is the most popular ride at Shanghai Disneyland. Again, it is something you’ll only find here, although it has been so popular that they’re building a Tron ride at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
It is one of the fastest roller coasters at any Disney theme park. And while many of the rides are the same as the rest of the Disney parks around the world — new technologies have enabled a raft of improvements.
A lot has changed since the next newest Disneyland opened, that being Hong Kong in 2005.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure is like no other Pirates ride — it’s a fully immersive experience as riders travel on a magnetically propelled boat while Captain Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones battle it out on screens surrounding you. Even Disneyland favourites such as Peter Pan’s Flight and Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue have been supercharged with better technologies to make them a more fantastic experience.
Live stage shows are far more prominent at this Disneyland too.
Chinese guests can’t get enough of them. The twice daily parades — at noon and 3pm — see performers make their way up the longest parade route of any Disney park in the world.
Tickets are sold separately for The Lion King production but included in the daily park ticket entry are shows including Captain Jack’s Stunt Spectacular; Frozen: A Sing-Along Celebration and Tarzan: Call of the Jungle.
On site, food and beverage offerings are about 70 per cent Chinese outlets, 20 per cent other Asian and 10 per cent western.
A part of the authentic experience of Disney in Asia is the squat toilets.
And the one major downside you’ll read about online and experience in person is the massive queues, sometimes up to several hours.
There is of course a fast pass option, but not on every ride.
Separating and going as a single rider reduces wait times as does getting there early — because who doesn’t want to spend as much time as possible at the happiest place on Earth?
The writer was a guest of the China National Tourism Office.
ESCAPE ROUTE
SHANGHAI
GETTING THERE
China Eastern flies to the most Chinese cities from Australia. Flights from Australia to Shanghai are priced from around $630 one way.
PLAYING THERE
Shanghai Disneyland Park is open from 8am-10pm daily with standard admission ticket costing 499 Yuan or roughly $94 for an adult or 375 Yuan or about $71 for a child or senior.
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