Shanghai Disneyland planning help 4/26-4/28

The Tron ride vehicles also have a little storage bin. We had the Premier Access passes and they required you to show your phone, so I had to carry it with me. I stored my phone in the ride vehicle bin. There was enough room for a wallet, phone, and passport.

I worried the entire ride that I'd forget to collect my phone at the end, though.

I think the end of March 2018 thisNatasha videos - she said riders on Tron weren't using lockers at all, just the bins. I think she left her bag in the bin (she had to). But wouldn't you be allowed to keep your phone, passport, and wallet in your pockets for Tron?
 
@Nick6300
Yes, you will have to replace your US SIM with the 3G one if you want that to work in China with the local number. I don't think the China one will work in Korea, but you can test. :) I have not heard of phones getting locked because you swapped out SIMs. If the phone is unlocked, then you can insert whatever SIM you want.

As for translators, I would also recommend Microsoft Translator as that is not blocked yet, but Google Translator is blocked and won't work without a VPN. WeChat and DiDi are local apps, so they are not blocked. I have a good friend that goes to China all the time and he is going to lend me this device while I am there as he uses it all the time. https://www.travistranslator.com/

The Fastpass on the phone is pretty slick. You will register your ticket and your families tickets as a group and then you can just book the fastpass on the app. The park is so huge, that running to get the FPs is just crazy. Just standing in line and using the app is much easier and saves so much time. It will also allow you to maximize your fast passes.

I am in the same boat as you. We arrive at the parks around 1pm our first day. I plan to use that day to sort out our tickets, photopass and any other items that need to be taken care of to make the next few days easier. My seasonal passes are tied to my passport as well and I was told to get that done before I can check into the hotel there.

As for Tron, if you watch that video that Impromark posted about Natasha, she films getting on the ride and they have these big blue bins that you drop your bags into before the ride and then pick them up once you get off. I guess if you are the only riders for that platform, it should be fairly secure, but I would not leave valuables in there.

I had planned on going to the hotel first to store my bags, since it will be too early to check in early. But I was thinking about still going to the check in desk to make my room requests (instead of late at night after the park closes, when I'd be checking in), request a celebrating pin. Prior to grabbing a bus to park Guest Services for activating my season pass. I wasn't told that you must activate your season pass before check in, but I suppose that must be because of the discount that was applied to the rooms via season pass.

Verizon tech support person was the one that told me she just had to help troubleshoot someone who was switching from local sim to her U.S. sim and it locked her phone while in Asia (was unlocked before trip). I was just concerned if you had to insert the china sim before you got there and when to swap out for the U.S. one. The Chinese 3GSolutions one - I don't pick up until the Chinese hostel - it seems like they would have warned me if I had to have it shipped to U.S. if I had to have it in beforehand. I guess I'd take out the Chinese sim at Pudong, before boarding plane to S. Korea? I just rec'd an email from 3GSolutions that if I try to use the sim in Korea, that it may not work once I return to China.

Hadn't decided on photopass. I'd be taking a bunch of selfies otherwise. If we get the season pass coupon book, there was a discount in there for it. They may give you one after you activate your season pass - if you ask to use that discount anyhow. If the main attraction wait times are horrid when you get there that 1st day, you could try to squeeze in some of the shorter wait rides (Pooh, Pan, Buzz), maze, castle walk, with the parade and shows that 1st day, and decide between a last ride or fireworks.

Our biggest planning concern right now is making sure I don't need a visa for either country and what forms and steps you have to take for the 144 hr exemption. the 3 days between S. Korea and China before returning to U.S. is the one that's more in question. But I think we're safe given the 144 hrs should reset after the U.S. to China to S. Korea arrival and then lack of a country between China and U.S. going home should still comply with 3rd country rule since I arrived back to China from S. Korea and not the U.S. There's a lot of articles on forms to fill out and which lines to get in but it would be pretty awful if I have trouble with whomever I talk to over there.
 
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@Nick6300

The CM who I bought the seasonal pass through told me that I had to take my passport and get our passes first before checking into the hotel. He said we could drop our bags off while I went and got them, but needed them to check in, so I guess one of us will see. :)

Verizon phones are unlocked, so you can swap out SIMs at will. I would just pull out the SIM before I landed in China and then get my China SIM and insert it, so you don't incur any roaming charges if you are worried about that. Once you land, it will try to connect with whatever SIM you have inside it. I have switched SIMs before and never had problems.

That first day was really to take care of all the small stuff and get that out of the way and if time permitted, maybe see the fireworks show so we can use that time the rest of the days for rides. It is pretty open for us at this point.

I feel for you with regards to the 144 hour visa. I know that Korea is one of the countries you can come from and still qualify for the 144 hour visa. I just didn't want to deal with it and got the whole family 10 year visas. We were going to stay for more than 144 hours anyways as we have 4 days in Shanghai as well.
 
@Nick6300

The CM who I bought the seasonal pass through told me that I had to take my passport and get our passes first before checking into the hotel. He said we could drop our bags off while I went and got them, but needed them to check in, so I guess one of us will see. :)

Verizon phones are unlocked, so you can swap out SIMs at will. I would just pull out the SIM before I landed in China and then get my China SIM and insert it, so you don't incur any roaming charges if you are worried about that. Once you land, it will try to connect with whatever SIM you have inside it. I have switched SIMs before and never had problems.

That first day was really to take care of all the small stuff and get that out of the way and if time permitted, maybe see the fireworks show so we can use that time the rest of the days for rides. It is pretty open for us at this point.

I feel for you with regards to the 144 hour visa. I know that Korea is one of the countries you can come from and still qualify for the 144 hour visa. I just didn't want to deal with it and got the whole family 10 year visas. We were going to stay for more than 144 hours anyways as we have 4 days in Shanghai as well.

Yeah I guess I'll have to drop off bag 1st, since I think drivers can't really take you close to the park entrance, go get pass and go into park and check in at the end of the night, to avoid a 2nd back and forth. Did you limit obtaining season pass to just adults or get them for kids too?

I had tried calling Chinese Consulate and they tell you that you must email them - which of course they haven't responded to. Articles - I've seen that my situation is both a yes and a no in examples of whether or not the 3rd country rule works for me with going from China back to U.S. without another country in between. Hopeful that I can pay extra for an application right at the airport if need be and not be delayed too long if I decide to chance it.
 


I think the end of March 2018 thisNatasha videos - she said riders on Tron weren't using lockers at all, just the bins. I think she left her bag in the bin (she had to). But wouldn't you be allowed to keep your phone, passport, and wallet in your pockets for Tron?

Yes, based on her video, you don't have to use the lockers anymore. You can if you want to, but you don't have to.

If you carry a bag, you'll have to put it in a locker or in one of the rolling bins that are in the load area.

For smaller items, you can put them in the little cubby that is on the ride vehicle. If you imagine sitting on that ride, you are leaning way forward, the little cubby is kind of under your chest or chin.

You might be able to keep the stuff in your pockets, I can't remember if they said you could or not, but my point is, even if you can't, there is a simple solution that is literally right in front of you on the ride vehicle. ;)
 
+1 for DiDi. It's incredibly cheap: we paid for short trips the equivalent of $1-2, with 30 minutes trip being around $10-15.
Another big advantage is that you can search for your destination in the app so you don't have to have it written in advance in chinese (as no taxi driver speaks english). The drawback is that they will probably call you on your chinese number to try and communicate. DiDi has a few premade sentences you can send via text to the driver, I found that sending "My GPS location is accurate please reach me here" or something like that was enough to avoid being called.
No problem getting a DiDi to the park, but getting back wasn't possible: the resort is a bit isolated from the city so no driver hangs around waiting for customers. We ended taking a taxi which was only 10% more expensive.

I would reccommend avoiding the free shuttle from and to the hotels. At least, I had a bad experience: when the park closes the coach parking for the hotel shuttles fills to capacity so our shuttle wasn't let in until most of the others left. It was a huge delay and also a bit worrying as we weren't sure what was happing and couldn't find our shuttle. Also that parking is the furthest away and it quite a hike after a full day in the park. A taxi is cheap enough to not have to deal with that madness.

The park app works well without a VPN. Actually it works better.

I downloaded the DiDi app but I elected to "skip" the step of entering your phone number because I don't want a driver to call me. But I wonder if you have to put a number in for it to track your location or allow for you to place an order. If it has to be a Chinese #, I don't get my sim until I get to the hostel from Pudong (and may have to use a taxi). I didn't see where you can enter the pre-made texting?
 
I downloaded the DiDi app but I elected to "skip" the step of entering your phone number because I don't want a driver to call me. But I wonder if you have to put a number in for it to track your location or allow for you to place an order. If it has to be a Chinese #, I don't get my sim until I get to the hostel from Pudong (and may have to use a taxi). I didn't see where you can enter the pre-made texting?

When a driver accepts the request and is coming to you, you'll see the option to send a message (premade or not) or call him.
 


When a driver accepts the request and is coming to you, you'll see the option to send a message (premade or not) or call him.
Thanks zavandor, do you think you must enter a phone number to place an order? I suppose I'd have to enter my U.S. number for the first ride - and I wonder if I'll have to delete the app in order to punch in my local # once I get it at the hostel. Trying to decide if I should wait until I get that Chinese sim.
 
Yeah I guess I'll have to drop off bag 1st, since I think drivers can't really take you close to the park entrance, go get pass and go into park and check in at the end of the night, to avoid a 2nd back and forth. Did you limit obtaining season pass to just adults or get them for kids too?

I had tried calling Chinese Consulate and they tell you that you must email them - which of course they haven't responded to. Articles - I've seen that my situation is both a yes and a no in examples of whether or not the 3rd country rule works for me with going from China back to U.S. without another country in between. Hopeful that I can pay extra for an application right at the airport if need be and not be delayed too long if I decide to chance it.

I bought a season pass for each of us in the family. My youngest is 13 and does not qualify as a child anymore. Plus, it still saved a lot just getting a season pass for everyone.

I hope they answer your question regarding the 144 hour visa. It seems like one of the big hit or miss things traveling there.
 
I bought a season pass for each of us in the family. My youngest is 13 and does not qualify as a child anymore. Plus, it still saved a lot just getting a season pass for everyone.

I hope they answer your question regarding the 144 hour visa. It seems like one of the big hit or miss things traveling there.

I wouldn't want you to have to go through getting a refund (finally got my original room/ticket package refund yesterday- slightly higher too due to conversion rates) but I was just wondering if you might have been able to get 1 or 2 passes and still get the room discount. If booking 2 rooms you could have it under ea. adult passholder, ea. room with a kid stowaway, and just have the passholder(s) buy meals/merchandise. For wdw AP - you're allowed to book a room for like 5 I think. Perhaps not worth the hassle.

Despite poor service from consulate/airline/immigration - none of them will reply to my email (I wanted a response in writing) or answer the phone. Interesting that I got a response from Korea right away. I've scoured through immigration web site and think it'll be ok. The risk is obviously that I will have to turn right around and buy another flight back to the U.S. - but it's too late to buy a visa and get it in time anyhow. I'll try not to look overly nervous at immigration!
 
I wouldn't want you to have to go through getting a refund (finally got my original room/ticket package refund yesterday- slightly higher too due to conversion rates) but I was just wondering if you might have been able to get 1 or 2 passes and still get the room discount. If booking 2 rooms you could have it under ea. adult passholder, ea. room with a kid stowaway, and just have the passholder(s) buy meals/merchandise. For wdw AP - you're allowed to book a room for like 5 I think. Perhaps not worth the hassle.

Despite poor service from consulate/airline/immigration - none of them will reply to my email (I wanted a response in writing) or answer the phone. Interesting that I got a response from Korea right away. I've scoured through immigration web site and think it'll be ok. The risk is obviously that I will have to turn right around and buy another flight back to the U.S. - but it's too late to buy a visa and get it in time anyhow. I'll try not to look overly nervous at immigration!

When are you going? I know that this might not work for you, but we did a normal visa application for 10 years and drove down to the Chinese Consulate here in Houston and turned in my forms. We got them back in a week.

As for the passes, that might work, but I didn't want to go through the hassle and we were already saving money and will save more with the discounts.
 
When are you going? I know that this might not work for you, but we did a normal visa application for 10 years and drove down to the Chinese Consulate here in Houston and turned in my forms. We got them back in a week.

As for the passes, that might work, but I didn't want to go through the hassle and we were already saving money and will save more with the discounts.

Flying out next Wed. am early. I had called the Chicago consulate and they said I had to give them 5 bus. days (submit by this past Tue). Chi. is about 6 hrs round trip. I think we've sort of resolved that we're taking our chances.
 
You guys are lucky to be so close to a consulate... we're having to pay a lot for a service to do it for us. We live in Oregon and the closest one to us is in San Fran. :sad2:
 
Whelp, I'm back! I think I'll write up my experiences in a full-on TR-esque report in this forum, but overall: I enjoyed it. Coles notes:

- App: Invaluable. The FP kiosks weren't even functional when I went. They directed us to the app. I didn't have a functional Chinese phone number to receive a text and no CM would help me with their phone, so I ended up using roaming on my phone to accept a text to my Canadian phone number and get active that way. By that point Soaring was sold out and I only got a FP for Peter Pan late in the day. Still managed okay.

- Line jumping: Visible and annoying. Decreased through the day but happened several times, especially in the initial security and entrance lines. I have a story about how one couple of line jumpers were called out by a whole family and security got involved, which I'll write up in detail later.

- Third-party merch sales: surprised to see this inside the park, but I did - only once though, a guy selling Mickey and Minnie ears in the Pirates lineup for 20 RMB / $4 CDN. I'm amazed they allow it, but understand how tough it would be to police all the little corners in the long lineups. Still seemed to be a popular item, though, especially the Minnie ears (which were almost indistinguishable from the real ones my DD got at Disney Paris). I found a pair of Mickey ears someone had dropped on Buzz Lightyear and on close inspection they're clearly fakes, with no tags, glued-on ears and hat, etc. Clearly knockoffs.

The park itself: Lives up to its hype. It's BIG, but very navigable. Here's the lightning round observations:

- We went on a Wednesday and by all accounts it was a slow day.
- We never waited more than 25-30 minutes for anything we did.
- Longest observed waits: Soaring (105 minutes), Seven Dwarfs Coaster and Peter Pan (75 minutes).
- Shortest wait: Buzz Lightyear. Did it three times including a walkon late in the day. :)
- Pirates was a 25 mintue wait at the top of the day and 10 minutes for our second time.
- The park space is clearly set up for future expansion.
- Toy Story Land was not yet open for us but you could peep inside while walking by.
- Closed on our day: Raging Rapids (darnit!), Wandering Moon Restaurant
- Camp Discovery was initially closed but opened late in the morning.
- Tron Lightcycle coaster: DO IT. It's unique in Disney (for now) and SOOO worth it.
- Pirates: DO IT. Unique among its counterparts in other parks and SOOO worth it.
- Live shows seen: POTC Stunt Spectacular and Tarzan. Both good fun.
- Mid-day parade is standard Disney fare IMO but also a fun diversion.
- Didn't stay for the day-end fireworks - didn't want to be in the crush of people heading out.
- No issues taking the subway there and back - three transfers for us from our hotel.

If you're on Facebook, I think you'll be able to see our (as yet uncaptioned) picture albums from the day:

Part 1: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1865502540149276&type=3

Part 2: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1865835766782620&type=3

Now back to work. :)

Mark
 
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Just an update. I saw that the prices for our stay at Disneyland hotel dropped again in June, so I called the reservation number and pressed for English and walked through canceling my current reservation and making a new one. With my seasonal pass discount, the room was $100 cheaper per night and the CM gave me a park view room to boot! It pays to watch the prices.
 
Impromark,
Thanks for your post! I did my 1st layover in Shanghai and in korea now. But since you had the 3Gsolutiins sim, did you have any issues where it would work fine then just go out. You could manually change in settings to 3g and re-cycle to get connected but it’s gone out again. This was at Pudong, only my WiFi would allow me (very slowly) to access wechat and nothing else. Support has been no support in fixing, concerned that I may need to waste more time 1st day finding a local carrier.

The phone issues I’m having in Korea are that my bag of universal plugs don’t quite have one that stays plugged. You’d have to hold the charger at a specific angle to get any sort of charging!

That’s too bad the cms wouldn’t help you with your phone. But good you figured it out yourself and had better wait times.
 
Hum, no problems like that... Our SIM worked pretty well for data the whole way through. At one point we tried to call a local number and couldn't get it to connect, but that could easily have been our lack of understanding of how the numbers worked. We never got to the bottom of it, as we'd returned to the hotel by that point and got them to call the number we wanted on their phone. Other than that (and the VPN being inconsistent), we were okay with 3G.

And universal plugs... They SAY universal, but are often anything but. In China, they largely have plugs compatible with two-prong ones you'll find at home, but not ALL of them are sized to take our plugs which have one prong larger than the other OR that have the third grounding prong. I have that for my laptop and the adapter is pretty much exclusively for that. :)

Mark
 

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