The Most Magical Place on Earth

Mickey Mouse, rides, and princesses, yes that is right, the most magical place on earth, Disney. Disney Land was first started in California and then expanded to Disney World in Florida. The success of Disney and its many buy-outs of brands (as of late, Marvel) has caused Disney's brand to thrive and expand all over the world including China! I have wanted to go to Shanghai Disney since I landed in the country and have been invited four times to go. After people getting sick, pollution problems, and schedules not working out I was finally able to go on labor day weekend to the Disney Land Park. Here is how it went and what I thought of it.

First, we (my co-worker Angel and I) bought tickets about two weeks ahead of time, and since it was labor day, the prices were higher than usual. The cost of a normal adult Disney ticket may be 200-300 RMB but when we went it was 450 RMB per person. They also didn't accept any coupons or group deals during the labor day weekend (Disney gotta make that coin).

Shanghai Disney is located near the international airport which is near absolutly nothing else and takes forever to get there by train or car. We got a hotel in the famous Jade Buddha district and then got a didi (Chinese uber) to take us to Disney which took about 90 minutes to get there. We arrived at 9:00 am and through our Disney apps tried to get fast passes and shockingly there were only a handful left for the day. All fast passes were sold out by 10:00 am and while the park was full we were never pushed or yelled at. In fact, I didn't even think it was that crazy packed when I compared it to the Japanese Universal Park. Through the app you could also see updated times about how long each of the ride's lines were, so we tried to hit up the rides with shorter wait times. We also reserved lunch at the Magic Castle.

First, we of course went to the castle and went through the Snow White experience. You walk into each room and it comes alive with the characters appearing through windows and walls that talk to you (in Chinese). When we went to the evil queen's lair you immediatly saw the black cauldron and could put your hands on it. It vibrated as she spoke and smoke erupted from it. They projected rats and spiders to crawl out of the cauldron which left one woman shrieking. There was the chest that the queen planned to put Snow White's heart in which really opened up and a green poisoned apple actually levitated out of it and changed to a delicous red apple and a heart. Then you could see the dwarves home and finally the kissing scene that saves Snow White. While in the castle we also took photos with the tile murials on the walls.

Next we saw the Marvel area which was just one building that had replicas of the costumes. Kind of a let down. In the future they are planning on hiring actors to walk around the area and take pictures with.

The rides and experiences we went on were Winnie the Pooh Honey Pot ride, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Tron, Alice and Wonderland Maze, Siren's Revenge, Shipwreck Cove, Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue, and Voyage of Crystal Grotto. I will say that I should have known that the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was meant for 4 year old children so that was my bad, but in my defense the picture on the app made it look really fun plus the wait was only 30 minutes. My favorite rides were Voyage of Crystal Grotto and Tron. The Crystal Grotto is a slow boat ride where you can see different Disney characters as water fountains that play music, it is low key but gosh it was magical. The only way we made it to the Tron ride (which was a 135 minute wait all day) was right after the firework show at the castle when the wait time was only 15 minutes. Angel and I ran there despite my hurt knee and her hurt ankle and it was SO DOPE. Seriously, look that ride up and go if you can. 

The Tron Ride

We also attended the Frozen Sing Along Show. Since we ate the three course meal at the castle we got fast passes to go to that show (that may be the only way you can get those but I am not sure). There was the look-alike cast on stage singing the songs in Chinese and in case you were wondering, the white characters were white. The rest of the helping staff were local Chinese people. However, all of the cast sings and speaks in Chinese. We will get to that later. While I could only hum along (because I didn't know the English words that well and didn't know the Chinese lyrics at all) I still had a fun time as the helpers threw beach balls into the audience and we could throw them around, the entire theatre's walls also were screens so the landscape would change with the music, and for the finale snow fell on us from the ceiling! Well, it was actually small clumps of bubbles but it really did look like snow.

The lunch we had at the castle was really good. First, they seat you in a lobby and when your table is ready you go off to a side room where a princess is waiting for you! Our princess was Aurora and she spoke to us English and told us to be her helpers to find her fairy godmothers. We took a picture with her and then could pay to download the picture through a code they gave us. We ate a three course meal with an appetizer, entre, and dessert. For my appetizer I got a crab cake with mangos, the entre was a lobster tail on noodles, and the dessert was a three piece chocolate set with ice cream, cake, and a cream. We also got these kiwi drinks called firecrackers that were sweet and refreshing. I will say that lobster is not that great in Nebraska (surprise surprise) but while it is fresher here, I wasn't too impressed but the rest of the food was really good. The staff was very helpful and spoke both Chinese and English. While we ate Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy walked to each table and we could take pictures with them. It was so nice!

The firework show was a ton of fun. They play music from all sorts of movies and project the films onto the castle. Fireworks and even flame throwers would go off in-time with the music. They played three Frozen songs (will that movie ever die?) but included music from Aladdin, Mulan, and Little Mermaid.

As mentioned before, all the white characters were actually white people. I was super curious as how they got there. Were they hired out? Were they exchange students living in China who needed a side job? Did they speak Chinese fluently? The answer is that these people are hired out from various areas like America, Britain, and Australia. To be part of the prince or princess staff there is an auditioning process and people who are hired have to have an American Midwestern accent when speaking English but also have to learn Chinese. I tried finding if the company provides room and board (I assume they do) but was unable to find it.
You can read more here.  

Some things I heard about Shanghai Disney before going, was that it was very dirty there. The negative reviews when the park first opened were all complaints about the litter but Disney stepped up their game and there are janitors everywhere. I do not know if it is a theme park thing or a China thing, but even though there were trash cans every 30 feet (no joke) people still chose to throw their trash on the ground or in bushes. At one point we saw a janitor sweeping in a bushy area getting all these wrappers and bottles out of the branches. Seriously, people?

A big difference between Shanghai Disney and California Disney according to Angel is that the Shanghai park is newer so many of the facilities are actually nicer than the US one. The Shanghai Disney is different than most of China as well because they have water fountains and western tiolets! With soap and hand drying stations! I really missed having those. The downside to the Shanghai Disney is that they don't have rides that I knew the US ones had such as Twilight Zone and Indiana Jones. They also didn't have the animal kingdom. The park may expand someday to have these rides and areas.

I would say that if you are interested in going to Disney, than definitely do it! Even though I didn't know what some of the rides were saying it was still fun to go to and a lot of the staff did speak English. I hope to go again someday!

The Train and I Both Agree, That Stinks

There are two entities here in China and perhaps other Asian countries that haunt me. They seem to pop out of nowhere and make me walk faster and hold my breath. These things are tofu and durian.

Well, to be more specific stinky tofu which is not a hyperbole, its literal English name is stinky tofu. There are actually dozens of types of tofu that Chinese eat daily which come in various ways like noodles, flat squares, or the stereotypical white blocks and are non-smelly. Stinky tofu is created by fermenting the tofu in a stew of vegetables and meats and leaving it there for a few months to age. It is served fried on sticks or in bowls and is blue/black/or brown and it smells like an open latrine.
When I was touring Hong Kong I would come across these food markets and was almost knocked out by this powerful smell. I literally thought people were relieving themselves in the streets. It wasn't until Halloween weekend when I was with my friends in Shanghai when they asked if I wanted tofu when I learned the truth. When we approached a food booth I stopped, it was that smell again! My friends started to laugh at me and told me that most foreigners hate stinky tofu and won't go near it. To this day, I still have not eaten it and will continue to not eat stinky tofu.

The other stinky food in China is durian. Durian is a fruit that has spikes on the outside of it and is bright yellow on the inside and is about the size of a basketball. It smells kind of like sour milk. I ate this by accident on two occasions, well kind of.
First accidental eating of durian was at a mall where a booth was giving out free candy samples. Since the store had mangoes on its stall I assumed it was mango flavored but it was actually durian flavored. It was eating a sock through your nose.
The second time was when I ordered ice cream and pointed to what I thought said chocolate and was surprised to get yellow ice cream. Thinking it was vanilla I took a lick and came back with a bitter taste. It was durian! I did eat all of it since the flavor was very much mellowed out, and could stand it, but would not eat again.

I am not the only one who thinks that the stinky tofu and durian are yucky. In China, you are not allowed to bring open containers of durian or stinky tofu on ANY public transportation. Can you believe that? The smell is so powerful that it is banned on trains, subways, and buses.

Despite their stinky nature, you can find durian cake, durain smoothies, and durian ice cream (like I did) in China and it sells okay. The same goes for stinky tofu.
To me, I liken it to Western cheeses. Some of our cheese literally smells like feet and purposely have mold on them to eat and people love it!

However, you will have a hard time finding me eating blue cheese, durian, or stinky tofu any time soon.