Friday
On Friday morning we woke up and headed to the lobby at 8AM to catch our bus to Disneyland. The Marriott hotel we stayed at was a 5 minute ride from the park and dropped us off at Disney's parking lot. By 9:30AM we were through security, had bought our tickets, got our DAS pass for Maelee and Micah, and were headed to breakfast.
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| View of the castle from the bridge to the parking lot. Look at the blue sky! |
As this was our second time to Disneyland Shanghai, we could compare and contrast differences we noted. Most notably this year was Disney's attempt at Christmas. Wreaths hung from the gates, there was a large Christmas tree right when you walk in, and American Christmas music (in English) was piped through the speakers. The grand finale at night included a tree lighting ceremony and a Winter Wonderland on Main Street Square where they blew fake snow into the air. We about gagged when they lit the tree and reminded patrons that tree makes us think of "Happy Holidays" and warm wishes. Not one single mention of Christmas or Christ.
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| Snow on Main Street Square |
Other differences come from the attractions themselves. One favorite of our kids is a "ropes course" where you can don a climbing harness, traverse rope bridges, and hug a wall while inching your way past a a waterfall. The Peter Pan ride there is also spectacular. It holds 2 rows of passengers and has a few more special effects than the ride in Orlando. We also like the boat ride that takes you around the water outside of the castle and then ends up going into/under the castle.
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| Mulan is the star of the parade |
On the weirder side, there is a canoe ride where you and all of the other guests paddle the boat around a lake. There is an attraction that involves climbing 3 or 4 flights of stairs and walking around the top floor of the Disney castle. And lastly, there is an Alice in Wonderland garden maze you can go get lost in for a few minutes.
The food there is also a little different. We found a place to eat breakfast. It served waffles ... and ice cream. Apparently waffles are dessert here and syrup must be a delicacy because they gave maybe a few teaspoons with each waffle. For lunch we found some pizza. They had trouble understanding that we didn't want the Hawaiian pizza. Micah tried the chicken noodle soup which included carrots cut into Mickey ears as well as multiple other vegetables that were undistinguishable.
Fan favorite attractions included Soarin' (Deanna), Tron motorcycle ride (Matt and Nathan), Dumbo flying elephant ride (Maelee), Slinky rollercoaster (Hannah), and the ropes course (Claire and Micah).
Funny Story of the Day
The lady at guest services told us that we were not allowed to take a stroller into the line. We explained profusely that the stroller was Maelee's wheel chair. She wouldn't budge. So Deanna took a picture of a handicap sign and put it on the lock screen of her phone. Whenever we got a ride, the ride operators would approach us and start telling us we couldn't bring the stroller into their line. Whenever that happened, Deanna would whip out her phone and show them the handicap picture. That was usually enough to get them to settle down and let us into the line with the stroller.
On one ride, though, Deanna had done her trick and made into the line. About 1/2 way through the line, one of the ride operators spotted Deanna and started fuming. Before she knew it, the lady had gone through the entire line to find Deanna and tell her in a stern voice that strollers were NOT allowed in the line. Deanna whipped out her phone again and the lady's face melted and she started to profusely apologize. She then snaked her way back out of the line. I'm sure we were the talk of the park for some time that day.
Saturday
I'll keep this update brief. We had two goals to accomplish on Saturday. #1 - Eat at Cheesecake factory. #2 - Shop at Disney gift store. The Cheesecake factory was delicious and everyone ate their fill.
Other highlights for the day include Matt traveling with the hotel concierge to a hole-in-the-wall electronics store. It was probably legit, but it seemed like some kind of shady operation. 100 Yuan ($15 USD) and an hour later, we had a SIM card and were on our way. Matt, Claire, and Micah were able to enjoy some snacks in the hotel lounge in the evening and show the locals how to play Foosball. Matt even got to help the hotel staff assemble and decorate the artificial Christmas tree they were putting up in the lobby. It was very obvious they had never done that before.
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| Our hotel room came with a pink tent decorated with Peppa Pig blankets. The girls loved it! |
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| Claire had nuggets. Micah had a steamed bun decorated like a pig and Chinese noodles. |
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| This is the product of 1 entire's day of decorating by the hotel staff. |
