robbalvey

I actually thought the same thing!

This is 100% correct. We had our guide from our first two sightseeing days say the exact same thing to us and at Disney, we had quite a few cast members including management come us to us and try to explain and apologize for some of the Chinese behavior. It's the same thing with a lot of Brazilians I know. While I realize the entire culture doesn't behave like a Brazilian tour group at a theme park, often times my friends I have from Brazil will apologize for those groups because even they know they act horrible. And honestly, there are plenty of awful Americans, too (just go read social media for ten minutes) and I find myself having to apologize for the "Ugly Americans" when we travel abroad. Having to do it even more now thanks to our recent election results. :/

To be honest, I'm not a fan of the classic version of Pirates at all so the cliffs notes version is actually my favorite version because it gets it over with quicker. But that being said, this new version, which it's a shame it's impossible to sell how good it is on video, should absolutely replace the classic version. The insane fanboys would freak out at first, but I guarantee you people would soon forget about the "old and busted" Pirates when they see just how good this new ride is!

So we have just spent two days at Shanghai Disneyland. If you have followed along on our Twitter feed you will notice that we have been quite impressed with a lot of what the park has to offer. But it's not a perfect park. Let me explain... First, I think it's important that I talk a bit about China first and what it's like for a "Western" tourist coming to the country. And I know that it's important to be respectful of other cultures because not everyone is the same as ours, and I *DO* respect it, but that doesn't always mean I have to *LIKE* it. If you've familiar with France, you'll know what I mean by when I say the Chinese can sometimes be difficult people to interact with. They don't have the same personal space bubble that we are used to, their demeanor comes off a lot more brash, they often are very snippy with each other to the point of being rude, and some of the challenges of visiting China, for example the "great firewall", people peeing in public even in the middle of ride queues (yes we saw this several times), etc, are present in every day life. And that makes even a theme park visit to be more frustrating than you would like it. Our first day at the park, the place was PACKED. I mean, seriously freaking packed with 165 min waits for some attractions. While we were able to get Fast Passes and didn't have to wait for a lot of attraction and managed to get quite a few rides in that day, it wasn't without some extreme frustrations that come with visiting China. There was a lot of pushing, shoving, yelling and screaming from both guests and cast members, many situations to each other, and overall the level of stress and frustration was high. The park on Monday was like, and if you have ever been to Orlando during certain times of the year you'll know what I mean by this, like being in a park with 50,000 Brazilian tour groups. Let's just say it was a struggle to have a hassle-free day and the annoyances from minor to serious are real. Now, that all being said, our next day, the park was practically empty! And it was AWESOME! While there were still some of the "China" frustrations, it was much less and we really did have a fantastic day! Now I get that ANY park in the world will have a certain level of frustration on a very busy day, but in China, there are layers that just make it a lot worse. Overall, Shanghai Disneyland does suffer from the same issues Disneyland Paris has where that it's a FANTASTIC, BEAUTIFUL, CREATIVELY IMPRESSIVE park, but suffers from clientele and some operational issues, mostly due to the location in which the park is built. That being said... OMG! What a FANTASTIC park! I'll post lots of photos below (this report will most likely be in two parts so please be patient) but WOW the park is just amazing. Their two stand-out attractions, Pirates and Tron are two of the best Disney rides I've ever been on! They are right up there with the likes of Tower of Terror, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Space Mountain, Test Track, Phantom Manor, Indiana Jones, etc. Absolutely INSTANT CLASSICS! And they have a solid line-up of attractions behind those two: Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan are easily the best of those attractions ever built, and of course Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Soarin' are also very popular attractions in the park as well. Then there is the overall theming and landscaping. The castle is just ENORMOUS! OMG, it's crazy! The entire castle center area is like an attraction in itself (and it even houses two attractions: the Carousel and Dumbo!) Tomorrowland at night is just an explosion of impressive lighting. I don't think I've quite seen anything like it anywhere. The Pirates and Adventure Isle area also just breathtaking. You totally forget that you are in a theme park! So to sum all this up: Shanghai Disneyland really is the next level, state-of-the-art Disney park with the only real disappointment being the location where it exists and that creating frustrating issues that makes it very difficult for Disney to offer the same high level of quality you are used to, but dammit they are trying as hard as they can! Let's move on to some pictures, shall we? We'll start with part one of this report... We have just arrived at Shanghai Disneyland! Once again, Kristen can say she's been to every Disney park in the world! Going to hit up Pirates first! Dear Disney - Please replace all old versions of Pirates with Shanghai version. Don't listen to preservationist fanboys. They're insane. THX! Dear Universal... *THIS* is how you do an attraction with screens & spraying water! No silly 3-D glasses required! Pirates ride system was insane. The ride goes forwards, backwards, sideways, does drops, etc. All while in the water! Was so impressed with this technology. In the "Never in America" department... the most insane ropes course we've ever seen! Tron was an absolutely visually stunning ride! Wow! Amazing effects! After my first ride, I thought it was just an "OK" coaster, but it grew on my later and I liked it much more by day two. Wow! Got a pic of Shanghai Disneyland's castle with blue skies and everything! This blue sky lasted maybe about 30 minutes! And just like that, the blue skies over are gone. Glad I got those pics when I did! The Alice maze is super cool! Love the steampunk influence! Pooh is just like the Orlando version. The world needs more Tokyo Pooh!!! The interior of the castle at Shanghai Disneyland is beautiful! Love the emphasis on the "modern classic" Disney films! Tron really had some of the best visuals I've ever seen on a roller coaster. Totally game changing! Taking a break from Shanghai Disneyland for lunch at The Boathouse in Disneytown! We are back at the park for more Shanghai Disneyland fun! Some of the buildings you see to the right and left when you walk into Shanghai Disneyland! Currently getting lost in the Alice in Wonderland maze... Soarin' is like crack for these people. This is a short line! lol Tomorrowland looks amazing at night! Tron at night stole the show in Tomorrowland! Photo by Hanno The nighttime castle projection/fireworks show was also impressive! Easily on par with "Once Upon A Time" at Tokyo Disneyland! Here's a few more pics of the amazing ropes course! Photos by Hanno Another look at the Tron Light Cycle coaster at Shanghai Disneyland! Photos Hanno Tron at night is pretty impressive, isn't it? [twitter] [/twitter] and we will end part one of this trip report with a POV video of Tron! Enjoy... Click HERE for Day Two of our Shanghai Disneyland photos!

FYI - Please do not take our photos from our Twitter feed and re-post them to this trip report. This is our trip report to write, not anyone else's. Please be patient and we will post the photos when we are ready to do the next installment of our report. It's great if you guys want to follow along live on our socials, but please wait for us to post the pics to this thread when are ready to. Thanks for your understanding. --Robb

The Twitter video shows off a bit better what the smog was like, but it was probably one of the clearest days I've ever had in China!

Today was mostly a "sightseeing" and "try to get over your jetlag" day around Shanghai. We did a lap around Disneytown during the day and then headed off for some fun in the city. Oddly enough we actually had some clear skies (for China) during part of the day! Was actually a very nice day hanging out around the downtown area and we even went up into the Shanghai Tower which is now the 2nd tallest building in the world behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa! Heading into downtown Shanghai! We are doing some "tea tasting" because... China... Giant poop or Chinese Tea? You decide... Chinese garden party today... I like fish... I. Like. Fish. Found something educational... Having some authentic "Chinese Food" today! Found a cool toy store in Shanghai! Here we are hanging out in Shanghai! We are about to get really high! We are so high right now!!! [twitter] [/twitter] Time for some actual REAL Chinese Food! And then back at the hotel we made a stop over at the World of Disney store in Disneytown! Check it out: [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] Click for Part three - Shanghai Disneyland: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1762222#p1762222

Christmas is huge in China. Always has been at least as long as I've been traveling here. There is Christmas stuff all over Shanghai. not just at Disney.

Part 1 - Arrival Day (scroll down) Part 2 - Sightseeing around Shanghai & World of Disney Store! Part 3 - Shanghai Disneyland - Day 1 Part 4 - Shanghai Disneyland - Day 2 Part 4 - Hanging out in Shanghai! World's largest Disney Store! Part 5 - Hong Kong Disneyland - Day 1! Part 6 - Hong Kong Disneyland - Day 2 Part 7 - Ocean Park! Part 8 - Universal Studios Japan! Part 9 - Nagashima Spaland Part 10 - Kidzania Tokyo - Amazing kids theme park! Part 11 - Sega Joypolis & Tokyo Decks Area! Part 12 - Tokyo Disneyland Day 1 Part 13 - Tokyo DisneySEA! Part 14 - Tokyo Disney Countdown Party! Part 15 - Final days at Tokyo Disney! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey everyone! We are currently on what we'd like to call a "Disney of Asia" trip where we will hit up all the Disney parks in China, Hong Kong, and Tokyo in that order! We'll also be stopping at a few other parks along the way including Ocean Park, Universal Japan, Nagashima Spaland, and more! Follow our socials to keep up to date on our travels: http://www.instagram.com/themeparkreview http://www.facebook.com/themeparkreview At the moment, we have arrived in China! We are staying at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel for a few nights. Today we will try to de-jet lag by doing some sightseeing and relaxing and tomorrow we will be at the park for two days. Here's our arrival update and just hanging out around the Shanghai Disneyland Resort: We are on our way to Shanghai Disneyland! It will be a long flight though. A total of 18 hours in the air! We have arrived! Our home for the next few days... The Shanghai Disneyland Hotel! Here's a look at our room at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel! Love the pull-down hideaway bed! View of #ShanghaiDisneyland from our hotel! It's around 8pm at night and going to take a quick walk around Shanghai's version of "Downtown Disney." Our first meal at Shanghai Disneyland Disneytown consists of Asian food of course! Soup dumplings here are fantastic! Interesting that Shanghai's version of "Downtown Disney" is closed up and totally empty by 10pm on a Saturday night! Yes! Starting a trip to #ShanghaiDisneyland with some @Starbucks is the PERFECT way to start a trip! The Shanghai Disneyland Hotel has an awesome bar themed to "The Pastoral Symphony" section of Fantasia! A look at a few more of the shops & restaurants found at #ShanghaiDisneyland's Disneytown! Mickey Mouse topiary in the back area of #ShanghaiDisneyland Hotel! Here's a quick little tour video of the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel: [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] Good morning from the lobby of the #ShanghaiDisneyland hotel! More China updates coming soon! These "Chinese Zodiac Duffys" are super awesome!!! View of #ShanghaiDisneyland from our hotel this morning! We will be visiting the park tomorrow! Taking a quick walk around Disneytown before heading out for some Shanghai sightseeing. I fully agree with this 100% OMG! I want her nametag! lol There is a metro station right next to Disneyland, you know, just like at all the USA parks! Oh, wait... TsumTsum themed food? Sign us up! This gelato store was awesome!!! Awwww! What a cute little turtle.... DIE TURTLE, DIE!!!!! Today we are doing some sightseeing in #China. Tomorrow... #ShanghaiDisneyland! Be sure to follow our socials! Live updates on Twitter! Click for Part 2 - Sightseeing around Shanghai & World of Disney Store! Inertiatic.nltrack

This thread has suddenly turned a beautiful corner.

Stop right there. You don't even know what you're talking about so you really need to stop talking. If you honestly believe the tent-like temporary cabanas are the final product then you're a huge huge moron. They are a test. If they do well, permanent structures will be built. If they don't do well, they go away forever. Now that you're educated on this you can stop posting factually incorrect information about them. Thank you.

Yep, that's the whole point that like everyone but a few people are stressing. This whole thing seriously does not impact ANYONE in any way at all. But there are a handful of people (even more crazies on FB and other socials) who are trying to convince people otherwise for reasons I have no idea. I think it's an odd thing to complain about for another reason: For decades, if you stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, you could take the monorail to Tomorrowland and skip the main entrance entirely. Does anyone complain about that? Or what if you're staying at Boardwalk and you use the International Gateway to enter Epcot. "Wait, there's a ball here? What ball???" Thousands of people use that entrance every day. And you know how many people complain? Zero.

Yep, that's the whole point that like everyone but a few people are stressing. This whole thing seriously does not impact ANYONE in any way at all. But there are a handful of people (even more crazies on FB and other socials) who are trying to convince people otherwise for reasons I have no idea. I think we established why. They're crazy. They literally exhibit all the hallmarks of severe mental illness. That's why. Yep. I mean, when in someone's brain that a "Woman crying during Wishes" = "THE BUS IS PURE EVIL!!!!" yes, they are legit crazy

Yep, that's the whole point that like everyone but a few people are stressing. This whole thing seriously does not impact ANYONE in any way at all. But there are a handful of people (even more crazies on FB and other socials) who are trying to convince people otherwise for reasons I have no idea.

^ And if you accidentily did end up reading this wall of garbage text, this right here explains my thoughts on it perfectly:

PLEASE DON'T ANYONE WASTE THEIR TIME READING THIS CRAP! I mean, sure, completely objectively speaking and stripping away all aesthetics, they are some busses. But doing that also means Tower of Terror is strictly worse than, say, Detonator at Worlds of Fun (a space shot that's taller than the Tower of Terror). That can't be right (and hold that thought in mind every time I talk about storytelling in this post). "Disney World design put a lot of thought into the things guests see in what order when they enter the park, and buses paradoxically short circuit that" isn't really subjective. Whether that negative outweighs the positives in guests being able to skip security checks (not to mention whatever boon extra cash brings) is subjective...but I'm not sure I come down firmly on one side or the other. That's what i meant by "some segment of the population." The effect is definitely small in quantity, but I think it's relatively large in magnitude. You only get one chance to make a first impression, after all. I tend to think of everything after the turnstile as part of the experience of that individual park (you can quibble as to whether the ride from the TTC to the gate is part of it - but consider that the monorail is absolutely iconic to the parks. Dismissing it as "just" a form of transport is probably missing the point a little.) It's not (just) about emotion. It's about storytelling, which is more or less at the core of a ton of WDW experiences. Like, let's walk through it. The plaque at main street station reads, "Here you leave today and enter a world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy." And you pass that sign, and you walk down a replica of yesterday's main street, with a carefully-constructed-to-loom-over-you bit of fantasy architecture at the end. You get there, look around the hub, and (guests aside, of course) there aren't indicia of the real world - you're surrounded by the gates into the various lands. That's the opening statement. That's the story. And while a random person might not pick it as their favorite moment (leading them to save 20 minutes by going in by Tomorrowland), that walk is a fundamental portion of the park. And, by the way, it is about emotion too! Last time I saw Wishes, I saw a woman literally bawling at the finale, and there were plenty of people misty eyed. Look at how many memes there are of people being sad at Mufasa's death! These are parts of our cultural psyche, and ignoring it means ignoring what makes Disney a park really worth seeing (stripped of context, there are very few very high quality rides there). You might not get Disney, and that's perfectly okay! It is some magical bullshit! But for people who are interested in an experience and not just a thrill, there's something special there. Parks are a lot like movies, where more things than you think are considered choices. This is more true for Disney than some parks, as WDW was literally built up from the swamplands (think of SF Fiesta Texas or SFSTL, which didn't have that completely blank to deal with.) So it's frequently worth asking "wait, why is this here?" Why is Main Street before the Castle? Why is the rail station in front of main street? Because of storytelling. Point being, Cedar Point does have an opening statement! It's just not nearly as emotionally resonant because (to my understanding) that isn't the focus of Cedar Point. Cedar Point is about the thrills, plain and simple. There's relatively little focused theming, and they pour tons of money into making things bigger and taller and faster. To inspire the right frame of mind for Disney World, you remove guests from reality through the idealized past and toward outright fantasy. To invoke the right frame of mind for Cedar Point, you have a flyby of a really bitchin coaster. The first impression people get of Cedar Point is the roar of a B&M and the scream of happy guests. There's nothing more iconic than those when it comes to roller coasters! And I think the front gate is way, way stronger with Gatekeeper there. Walking up to the front gate and seeing a train fly by is supposed to put you in the mood to scream like you're in a TPR POV video. But because Cedar Point isn't about storytelling (and because "roar of coaster + screams" can be heard virtually everywhere in the park), missing that flyby is a relatively small cost. And, I want to be clear here, to the people saying, "this won't affect you if you don't pay for it." First, yeah, it'll probably remove buses from circulation. Second, what I'm saying with all these effortposts about theming is that going in the back is going to affect people negatively in ways that are difficult to get at with simple polls. It removes one of the (smaller) things that makes Disney a memorable theme park, rather than an amusement park that happens to have some good intellectual property. EDITED to make my last bits about Cedar Point a little more cogent. tl;dr If you don't want to take the busses, don't purchase the upgrade.

No of course we don't ban people for having a different opinion. Do we ban people for being rude obnoxious and telling us how to run our forums? Yep. You bet. And he's gone for his horrible behavior. EDIT: Just found this crap on Twitter and this is EXACTLY why I refuse to put up with fucking horrible people... Listen here you self-entitled obnoxious Millennial. The world does not revolve around you. You cannot go around and say or do whatever the f*ck you want to and not suffer any repercussions from it. Let me make it clear that I only gave this guy a one-week ban for rude and horrible behavior he displayed in previous posts. I told him to "grow a pair" because, let's be honest, he needs to. He then took it to Twitter because, of course he's a horrible Millennial that doesn't think he should be responsible for his own rude actions and therefore attempts to make us look like the "bad guys" in this scenario. We aren't. His ban is now permanent because he refused to take any responsibility for his actions. Had he instead emailed me privately and said "Hey Robb, sorry for the outburst, it was not appropriate" he would be right back on these forums posting again. But since Millennials can never admit to be "wrong" about something, he went another route. And now he's gone. Good riddance! EDIT #2: Please note that we did not ban anyone for having a "different opinion" about the topic being discussed. We only banned the asshole who got up on his soapbox and tried to tell us how to run our forum.

OMG! Stop with this bullshit "isn't anyone allowed to have an opinion here?" Because yes they are and so are other people and if they want to be harsh and argue about it they can. So STFU and grow a pair or go back to your snowflake hideout sheltered from real humans.

The thing is though, you CAN have a great career working for Disney or any of the other hospitality companies in Orlando. Thousands of people out here do and they live just fine. But it doesn't come easy, it's not a free ride, and someone with this sort of attitude is not going to make the cut. I know plenty of people who work at the parks, resorts, or in other hospitality venues in Orlando and they have nice houses or apartments, take vacations out of the country and live well-off lives. None of it was just handed to them though. I take a lot of this talk from cast members who are mad as "I will only work in ride operations or live entertainment and I demand to be a manager and hold court with imagineers!" Walt needed people to sweep streets, scrub toilets, sell t-shirts, and make food too, but I almost never hear about how these specific people are looking to move around the company. They just want to do ops on Pirates of the Caribbean and get paid $20/hr to be "part of the magic". Almost every single person who works in hospitality in Orlando starts at the bottom. And yes there are plenty of people who will be life-long front line ride ops and street sweepers. Most of the people we interact with are in a middle management position or above in roles from operations to creative to entertainment. I don't hear many complaints. But they also are being rewarded for many years of hard work, loyalty to a company, and they enjoy what they do. Not arguing anything here. Just saying there are great jobs for great people but you have to be willing to put in the effort. And thats really any job or company... I've known a lot of ride ops and food service people who constantly complain, act self-entitled, and hate on the company. Those people go nowhere. And IMO they don't really deserve to.

^^ Everything you just said is purely subjective per your point of view. None of your comments actually point to any real issue with this service being offered at all and does not impact anyone in the slightest.

The thing is though, you CAN have a great career working for Disney or any of the other hospitality companies in Orlando. Thousands of people out here do and they live just fine. But it doesn't come easy, it's not a free ride, and someone with this sort of attitude is not going to make the cut. I know plenty of people who work at the parks, resorts, or in other hospitality venues in Orlando and they have nice houses or apartments, take vacations out of the country and live well-off lives. None of it was just handed to them though.

I'm just going to put this here because I found it really sad that a cast member would be participating in all the complaining. At least I can speak from experience that this person does not represent the CMs as a whole. Just sort of shocked at the attitude. I think she needs to find a new occupation, or at least a new employer...

Can I please get this printed on cards and hand it out at the next Disney fan convention?

You have just earned a little more respect...

Again, more stupid comments from people that just don't "get it." You don't *NEED* to spend the money. No one is forcing you. This isn't hurting you at all if you don't spend the money. There is already a free and efficient way to get from park to park, this is just an even FASTER way to do it. And how is it that people really don't understand that this option makes it so FEWER PEOPLE ARE USING THE NORMAL TRANSPORTATION! Even if you choose NOT to spend the extra money, absolutely EVERYONE is benefiting from this due to this service being offered. And why are people only focusing on the $15 option? Oh, I get it... so it SOUNDS like it's more money. But realistically, I'll bet most people that do this, do the $24 for a week option and is only spending $3.50 per day. And even if you did get the $15 option.... WHO CARES?!?!? Again, this does NOT HURT ANYONE by having this service being offered. I just wish people weren't so dumb.