ABD China 2017

Just thought I'd mention, because I'm in the same boat doing this ABD as a solo, the VIP guide at Shanghai is $2000, irregardless of how many people are in your group. I'm hoping to find out if I can join in on someone else's group, but I don't know if that's even possible. So if you don't know anyone else going, the VIP guide might not be a viable solution. I'll definitely let you know if I find out anything different.

Sayhello

Too bad all us solo travelers couldn't have found a trip that worked for all of us in order to get together for the VIP guide. It definitely sounds like the way to go. I hope you are all able to find a group to go with. I'll keep my fingers crossed that when it is my turn to go I'm able to sneak into someone's group as well (or win the lottery)
 
Too bad all us solo travelers couldn't have found a trip that worked for all of us in order to get together for the VIP guide. It definitely sounds like the way to go. I hope you are all able to find a group to go with. I'll keep my fingers crossed that when it is my turn to go I'm able to sneak into someone's group as well (or win the lottery)

I may be doing this and the california abd solo in 2018... definitely post when you are going - like minded people might come out of the woodwork.
 
Just thought I'd mention, because I'm in the same boat doing this ABD as a solo, the VIP guide at Shanghai is $2000, irregardless of how many people are in your group. I'm hoping to find out if I can join in on someone else's group, but I don't know if that's even possible. So if you don't know anyone else going, the VIP guide might not be a viable solution. I'll definitely let you know if I find out anything different.

Sayhello

The *only* issue with joining another group is you may be subject to their whims and fancies. I don't know how you would work out a fair way to split the time between your priorities and theirs. The cost is VERY high, of that there is no doubt. Given the immense popularity of the VIP guides it could even go up in price by next year, who knows.

I can say in retrospect there is *no* way we would've been able to see and do so much if we hadn't had the guide, so money well spent IMO. The guide also told us that with larger groups they seldom get through the headliners once, especially if there are children in strollers or small children (it's a lot of walking from one end of the park to the other). I forgot to add to my previous responses that we watched the parade -- they have a roped off area for VIP guests in a key viewing spot. We arrived just as the floats were arriving at our spot so timing worked out very well for us. We really enjoyed it and having the priority area was nice, even more so for the reason that there were park benches we could sit and watch from without anyone in front of us!
 
The *only* issue with joining another group is you may be subject to their whims and fancies. I don't know how you would work out a fair way to split the time between your priorities and theirs. The cost is VERY high, of that there is no doubt. Given the immense popularity of the VIP guides it could even go up in price by next year, who knows.

I can say in retrospect there is *no* way we would've been able to see and do so much if we hadn't had the guide, so money well spent IMO. The guide also told us that with larger groups they seldom get through the headliners once, especially if there are children in strollers or small children (it's a lot of walking from one end of the park to the other). I forgot to add to my previous responses that we watched the parade -- they have a roped off area for VIP guests in a key viewing spot. We arrived just as the floats were arriving at our spot so timing worked out very well for us. We really enjoyed it and having the priority area was nice, even more so for the reason that there were park benches we could sit and watch from without anyone in front of us!

Was it just you and your daughter with the guide? I could definitely see how it is beneficial for everyone to have the same thoughts on where to go/what to see and do. I could easily see splitting it with just a couple of people to make it easier to see and do the things we would want.
 


I may be doing this and the california abd solo in 2018... definitely post when you are going - like minded people might come out of the woodwork.

Yeah, that's a great idea and I'm sure I will do that. It is looking like 2019 for me. 2018 I have a big 10 year anniversary trip with my husband and then will probably do something a little more reasonably priced (Amalfi Coast or Italy/Switzerland).
 
Was it just you and your daughter with the guide? I could definitely see how it is beneficial for everyone to have the same thoughts on where to go/what to see and do. I could easily see splitting it with just a couple of people to make it easier to see and do the things we would want.

Indeed it was just the 2 of us. I think that's why we got to do most (if not all) of the rides; we walk fast and had studied the map ahead of our time there so we knew exactly what we wanted to do.

I forgot to add to earlier posts that dd also had her pic taken with Mickey and Duffy (only had access to a FP line for Mickey; no special access to non-FP characters with the guide but there was no line for Duffy when we were there first thing in the morning).
 
Indeed it was just the 2 of us. I think that's why we got to do most (if not all) of the rides; we walk fast and had studied the map ahead of our time there so we knew exactly what we wanted to do.

I forgot to add to earlier posts that dd also had her pic taken with Mickey and Duffy (only had access to a FP line for Mickey; no special access to non-FP characters with the guide but there was no line for Duffy when we were there first thing in the morning).

You do make an excellent point. Having just a few people with the same interests would definitely make it a better experience. Thanks for that info. I don't think I would have ever considered that. I'd rather pay a bit more and get the experience I want vs saving money and feel like it was a waste.
 


You do make an excellent point. Having just a few people with the same interests would definitely make it a better experience. Thanks for that info. I don't think I would have ever considered that. I'd rather pay a bit more and get the experience I want vs saving money and feel like it was a waste.
She does make an excellent point, but I could get 2 or 3 extra days at Shanghai Disneyland for $2000. :(

Sayhello
 
She does make an excellent point, but I could get 2 or 3 extra days at Shanghai Disneyland for $2000. :(

Sayhello

Oh, absolutely! I'm thinking if I could potentially find 3 others who had similar thoughts on what to see/do, then I would spend $500 and get that experience.

The company I work for has an R&D site in Shanghai, so if I could ever go and visit, then I could potentially consider spending and extra day or two and do the VIP guide myself, but I think that would be the only way I could do it alone (because then that would be all I'd be paying for) :-)
 
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Oh, absolutely! I'm thinking if I could potentially find 3 others who had similar thoughts on what to see/do, then I would spend $500 and get that experience.

The company I work for has an R&D site in Shanghai, so if I could ever go and visit, then I could potentially consider spending and extra day or two and do the VIP guide myself, but I think that would be the only way I could do it alone (because then that would be all I'd be paying for) :-)
No chance of me ever getting there for work! :)

Sayhello
 
Oh, absolutely! I'm thinking if I could potentially find 3 others who had similar thoughts on what to see/do, then I would spend $500 and get that experience.

The company I work for has an R&D site in Shanghai, so if I could ever go and visit, then I could potentially consider spending and extra day or two and do the VIP guide myself, but I think that would be the only way I could do it alone (because then that would be all I'd be paying for) :-)
I'm not clear what you get for $2,000US, but assumed you were paying for the guide to whisk you effortlessly through each attraction and worthwhile show/parade in a six-hour period. If everyone invested has a different agenda, it could be tedious. My plan would be to stay the September 14/17 extra day and either share a VIP guide or be my own. I'm inclined to go with the fun of successfully navigating the park from start to finish as a personal challenge, however, Shanghai Disneyland is still a bit of a mystery. I wouldn't want to overlap the ABD time with the VIP experience (by unwittingly watching the parade twice, for example).
 
I'm not clear what you get for $2,000US, but assumed you were paying for the guide to whisk you effortlessly through each attraction and worthwhile show/parade in a six-hour period. If everyone invested has a different agenda, it could be tedious. My plan would be to stay the September 14/17 extra day and either share a VIP guide or be my own. I'm inclined to go with the fun of successfully navigating the park from start to finish as a personal challenge, however, Shanghai Disneyland is still a bit of a mystery. I wouldn't want to overlap the ABD time with the VIP experience (by unwittingly watching the parade twice, for example).

The park is not hard to navigate, especially if you look at a map beforehand. However you will encounter significant lines -- as I said in a previous post the line just to get FPs (limit of 2 at a time at the ONLY FP machine in the park) is at least 30 - 40 minutes. Then add another 30 - 40 minutes in the FP line at those attractions and you are already at an hour and half plus walking distance between the rides. You mention September as a potential date, so factor in the heat and humidity and I'm not sure how much time you want to be hustling back and forth across the park (it's huge).

What we did with the guide is start at one end (in our case Duffy and Mickey, then straight to the Jet Packs) and work our way around the park riding everything on the way. At rides with a FP you enter the FP line and wait with everyone else. Rides without a FP you go in through the exit and board the first available car. If you happen to wait in a FP line for more than 30 minutes then you get to go in through the exit for a ride of your choice (we chose Tron as the FP line was 40 minutes).

There is no special access to characters unless they have a FP line. We were only interested in Mickey and Duffy so it worked out well for us. Wouldn't work out well if you were with a group who wanted to see all the characters that have FP lines as that would take a lot of additional time. We started with the guide early (park opened at 8am and we met her at 9) so we managed to avoid most of the crowd that came in between the hours of 10 and noon. If you choose a later time in the day with a VIP guide the FP lines will be longer. It's not an exact science and you have to do what works best for you and your family. When you factor in all of these decisions with others in a group I can see how some may end up not very happy as everyone wants to do different things in the park. JMHO.
 
The park is not hard to navigate, especially if you look at a map beforehand. However you will encounter significant lines -- as I said in a previous post the line just to get FPs (limit of 2 at a time at the ONLY FP machine in the park) is at least 30 - 40 minutes. Then add another 30 - 40 minutes in the FP line at those attractions and you are already at an hour and half plus walking distance between the rides. You mention September as a potential date, so factor in the heat and humidity and I'm not sure how much time you want to be hustling back and forth across the park (it's huge).

What we did with the guide is start at one end (in our case Duffy and Mickey, then straight to the Jet Packs) and work our way around the park riding everything on the way. At rides with a FP you enter the FP line and wait with everyone else. Rides without a FP you go in through the exit and board the first available car. If you happen to wait in a FP line for more than 30 minutes then you get to go in through the exit for a ride of your choice (we chose Tron as the FP line was 40 minutes).

There is no special access to characters unless they have a FP line. We were only interested in Mickey and Duffy so it worked out well for us. Wouldn't work out well if you were with a group who wanted to see all the characters that have FP lines as that would take a lot of additional time. We started with the guide early (park opened at 8am and we met her at 9) so we managed to avoid most of the crowd that came in between the hours of 10 and noon. If you choose a later time in the day with a VIP guide the FP lines will be longer. It's not an exact science and you have to do what works best for you and your family. When you factor in all of these decisions with others in a group I can see how some may end up not very happy as everyone wants to do different things in the park. JMHO.
Do you know if they had single rider lines?

Sayhello
 
I'm also contemplating an ABD China Trip, but am limited to end of June. I usually travel solo and think it might be awesome to do my first ABD to have some company. I was also planning a pre-and post stay to have more time at the Parks (1 HKD and 3 in Shanghai)
The idea of Tokyo is great. I've been 2014 and plan on returning in 2018 as a Japan-only trip again.
 
Do you know if they had single rider lines?

Sayhello

Yes, a few of the rides have single rider lines, but a lot of people use them as a way to try to cut down on their time in line (use the single rider line with a friend). The single rider lines for SDMT and Tron in particular were outrageous. Can't comment on Roaring Rapids since we didn't do it, but our guide told us that it is a very popular ride and wait times can be up to 90 minutes on a hot and sunny day. HTH!
 
Our experience with the private VIP tour at Shanghai Disneyland was largely the same as *WDW*Groupie's*, but with a few differences. We did the tour in mid-July, after the park had been open just about a month, on a Saturday. It was just our family of four. We met our guide at 11:00 a.m. and powered through until just after 5:00 p.m. We did not stop for lunch or any kind of meal or snack. We'd had a big breakfast and brought a few munchies with us that we snacked on while walking between attractions. We did not find quite as long a wait in the FP lines with our guide as did *WDW*Groupie*. I'd say the longest we waited in line with the guide was 20-30 minutes. We were able to get on all of the rides we wanted to do with our guide during the tour time and did a couple of the rides twice (Roaring Rapids and Pirates). One issue we had was that Tron was down most of the day while we were with our guide. Luckily, it did open up towards the end of our tour, and we were able to sneak it in just before our tour ended. We ended up with almost no wait for Tron when we went back with our guide once she received word that it had re-opened. We opted not to do any shows or parades while with our guide and focused exclusively on rides, given the massive wait times, which were 150 minutes for Roaring Rapids and Soarin'. We went back to SHDL the next day, Sunday, on our own. We arrived at the park a little after 9:00 a.m. and went right to the FP distribution point. We were able to secure Tron FPs with almost no wait in the FP distribution line. However, by the time we were eligible to get a second FP, FP distribution had ended for big rides like Soarin' and Roaring Rapids, and those rides were back to their 120-150 minute standby wait times. But we were able to get on Pirates with only a 30 minute standby wait, and similar at the Chrystal Grotto. We also waited about 50 minutes to do the Snow White walk-through attraction in the castle. There is also a ropes course type of attraction that we opted not to wait for given the heat/humidity and hour wait time. If this one is of interest, I'd suggest seeing what kind of access the guide can get you. Doing the VIP tour was definitely worthwhile, and I don't regret spending the money at all. There is no way we would have waited 150 minutes for some of those rides. I do agree with *WDW*Groupie* that it helps to go in to the tour with a pre-planned idea of what you want to cover with the guide, and to cover the park in a way that makes geographical sense given the enormous acreage. I also agree that if you share the tour with others, you will really need to make sure you are of the same mind about what you want to accomplish from the tour. I found it a little odd that the park is so huge, yet there are relatively few rides (I counted 13, I think). One nice thing is that, given the huge acreage of the park, the walkways are quite wide compared to Disneyland, and the park doesn't feel that crowded when walking around. There are also far fewer strollers and mobility scooters than you see at DL, so this helps greatly with traffic flow and ease of getting around. But you will need to be prepared to walk a lot and to move rapidly through the park with the guide if you want to get all of the rides in. Tron is one of the coolest rides I have ever been on, and an absolute must do at SHDL. Same with Pirates of the Caribbean Search for the Sunken Treasure, which is an awesome, amped up version of Pirates. We also really liked Soarin' (largely the same as the new Soarin' Around the World at DL and WDW, but it ends in Shanghai, so worth doing when there) and Roaring Rapids, which is a notch up from Grizzly River Run at DL.
 
Our experience with the private VIP tour at Shanghai Disneyland was largely the same as *WDW*Groupie's*, but with a few differences. We did the tour in mid-July, after the park had been open just about a month, on a Saturday. It was just our family of four. We met our guide at 11:00 a.m. and powered through until just after 5:00 p.m. We did not stop for lunch or any kind of meal or snack. We'd had a big breakfast and brought a few munchies with us that we snacked on while walking between attractions. We did not find quite as long a wait in the FP lines with our guide as did *WDW*Groupie*. I'd say the longest we waited in line with the guide was 20-30 minutes. We were able to get on all of the rides we wanted to do with our guide during the tour time and did a couple of the rides twice (Roaring Rapids and Pirates). One issue we had was that Tron was down most of the day while we were with our guide. Luckily, it did open up towards the end of our tour, and we were able to sneak it in just before our tour ended. We ended up with almost no wait for Tron when we went back with our guide once she received word that it had re-opened. We opted not to do any shows or parades while with our guide and focused exclusively on rides, given the massive wait times, which were 150 minutes for Roaring Rapids and Soarin'. We went back to SHDL the next day, Sunday, on our own. We arrived at the park a little after 9:00 a.m. and went right to the FP distribution point. We were able to secure Tron FPs with almost no wait in the FP distribution line. However, by the time we were eligible to get a second FP, FP distribution had ended for big rides like Soarin' and Roaring Rapids, and those rides were back to their 120-150 minute standby wait times. But we were able to get on Pirates with only a 30 minute standby wait, and similar at the Chrystal Grotto. We also waited about 50 minutes to do the Snow White walk-through attraction in the castle. There is also a ropes course type of attraction that we opted not to wait for given the heat/humidity and hour wait time. If this one is of interest, I'd suggest seeing what kind of access the guide can get you. Doing the VIP tour was definitely worthwhile, and I don't regret spending the money at all. There is no way we would have waited 150 minutes for some of those rides. I do agree with *WDW*Groupie* that it helps to go in to the tour with a pre-planned idea of what you want to cover with the guide, and to cover the park in a way that makes geographical sense given the enormous acreage. I also agree that if you share the tour with others, you will really need to make sure you are of the same mind about what you want to accomplish from the tour. I found it a little odd that the park is so huge, yet there are relatively few rides (I counted 13, I think). One nice thing is that, given the huge acreage of the park, the walkways are quite wide compared to Disneyland, and the park doesn't feel that crowded when walking around. There are also far fewer strollers and mobility scooters than you see at DL, so this helps greatly with traffic flow and ease of getting around. But you will need to be prepared to walk a lot and to move rapidly through the park with the guide if you want to get all of the rides in. Tron is one of the coolest rides I have ever been on, and an absolute must do at SHDL. Same with Pirates of the Caribbean Search for the Sunken Treasure, which is an awesome, amped up version of Pirates. We also really liked Soarin' (largely the same as the new Soarin' Around the World at DL and WDW, but it ends in Shanghai, so worth doing when there) and Roaring Rapids, which is a notch up from Grizzly River Run at DL.
That is a very helpful overview. Is it unique to this park to pay a guide to "sneak" you on to rides faster, as I've never heard of this before? What a great job to have! The cost is prohibitive for me solo (and Canadian), but I appreciate how vital it is to avoid line-ups. I look forward to hearing other reports to help me with my DIY touring plan. My goal is always to see and do everything, with less than a thirty minute wait LOL.
 
Hi Calfan--can you only get 1 FP at a time or can you get more. Are there any restrictions around timing of FP's? Thanks.
 
That is a very helpful overview. Is it unique to this park to pay a guide to "sneak" you on to rides faster, as I've never heard of this before? What a great job to have! The cost is prohibitive for me solo (and Canadian), but I appreciate how vital it is to avoid line-ups. I look forward to hearing other reports to help me with my DIY touring plan. My goal is always to see and do everything, with less than a thirty minute wait LOL.

Sorry, bad terminology on my part. I just meant that we squeezed in a ride on Tron while still with our guide at the very end of our tour.

Hi Calfan--can you only get 1 FP at a time or can you get more. Are there any restrictions around timing of FP's? Thanks.

Yes, you can only get a FP for one ride at a time, and if I recall correctly, you can get another FP once your first one has become good to use (i.e., once the time window opens). Similar to DL.
 

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