Words Fail Me

Shanghai Disneyland officially opened June 16, but — thanks to my coworker Carol’s husband, who has been working on the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride here for years now — Eli, Xiaohan, & I got a chance to visit the park on one of the preview days.

After a very long, very thorough line for security check and then another very long line for the main gate, we were greeted with a red flower version of Mickey (which I thought seemed particularly Chinese.)There’s no train around the park, so this train station-like entrance is essentially just a skeuomorph.The park seemed fairly small.  There is an abbreviated “Main Street” — here called “Mickey Avenue” — replete with City Hall (here pictured after dark.)Mickey Avenue leads to a central hub with the castle as the centerpiece of the park, of course.Xiaohan attempted to leap in front of my shot at one point. Nice try.Counterclockwise around the hub, there is Tomorowland…Fantasyland…Treasure Cove…and Adventure Isle…Despite pouring with rain all morning — and drenching my rain jacket, shorts, socks, & shoes so thoroughly that I was forced to buy a plastic poncho — the park seemed packed.“Soarin’ Over the Horizon” — the new, global footage version of DCA’s “Soarin’ Over California” — was a word-of-mouth favorite among the Chinese guests.  The wait time was 5 hours at one point.

Although they had some Western fare, the food was largely Chinese.We had been warned by Carol ahead of time that, alas, there were no churros to be found.  We figured this “curious” shop would be as close as we would get.
“Tai Chi with Characters” was another thing you don’t see in the U.S. parks.I feel obliged to make a Pīnyīn “Qip & Dale” joke at this point.  Apologies.
From the hub, we headed left to Tomorowland to pick up a Fast Pass for what would prove to be an impressive (but criminally short) Tron ride.

There was also a Big Hero 6 show where they brought kids from the audience up on stage and started doing exercise moves based on the characters’s signature moves in the movie.
Fun fact:  Baymax’s name in Chinese is 大白 (Dàbái meaning “Big White.”)  I’m a little sad this hasn’t caught on as my nickname.  Alas.Interestingly (but unsurprisingly) they had a whole pavilion dedicated to Marvel.
Meet Spiderman, meet Captain America, that sort of thing.It very much felt like a wildly-expensive Comicon booth.
In Fantasyland, they put a new, ahem, spin on the classic Teacups ride and made it Winnie the Pooh themed.  Each pot was labeled “Honey” or “Hunny” or “蜂蜜”.
Inside the castle, there is wonderful walk-through “story” of 白雪公主 (Báixuě gōngzhǔ meaning “White Snow Princess,” naturally.)  It’s sort of patterned on the walk-through Sleeping Beauty storybook inside the castle at Disneyland, but broken into discrete rooms with some truly impressive practical & digital effects.  Glass pane planes of 3D animation, smoking cauldrons, stuff like that.  Eli & I talked about how much fun it must be to be an Imagineer and play with all the coolest technologies & material science in the world. The highlight of the park, as far as I was concerned, was the new Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  It’s the first of the parks to have the ride based on the Johnny Depp movies and it is aesthetically & technically astonishing.  10/10, would ride again.

The theming blends Western & Easter pirates, which I thought was fun.
In line, I saw the first of what I imagine will be years of clashes between Chinese culture and Disney culture.  A woman carried a toddler out of the line for Pirates and over to a nook next to a trashcan, lifting him up so that he could relieve himself.  Two Cast Members raced over to stop her and pointed her to the nearest restroom.
One of the highlights of the day was in a “ropes course” ride in Adventure Isle.  You get strapped into a harness and then drag along an overheard safety cable as you maneuver through Disney-style caves and rope bridges and rain-slicked cliffs.  It was the most like Indiana Jones I’ve ever felt in my life.  (Xiaohan did not have fun.)
In the afternoon, the rain lightened up and the crowds started to thin out a little.  Then — cleverly hidden in a cart labeled “Savory Snacks” — we found churros!  Shanghai Disneyland truly is a Disneyland after all.My mother always had a special connection with Disneyland, having visited on opening day on July 17, 1955 as a little girl.  Despite the heavy rains and the crowds, I know my mom would have been delighted to see Shanghai Disneyland.  Especially the castle — the largest & tallest of all the Disney parks’ castles — lit up at night.