Last weekend I decided to treat myself to a little weekend trip away. I hadn’t been out of Zhuhai in a while and when a fellow intern asked if I would be interested in checking out the new Shanghai Disneyland with her, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Before I knew it, we had arrived in Shanghai and were as giddy as little children on the night before Christmas as we tried to get some sleep before going to the park the next day. The next morning we got up bright and early to catch the subway and make the journey out to Disneyland. The park just opened this past summer and they extended the subway line to extend all the way to the park, so it is really convenient to get there by public transportation. By the time we arrived at the Disney subway station the cars were absolutely packed and we started to get worried that we were going to spend the whole day packed into the park like sardines. But once we made it out of the subway and through the entrance to the park, the crowd started to disperse. We had finally made it to the “happiest place on Earth!”

Our first destination was the souvenir shop so that we could pick our some very important accessories – our Mickey Mouse ears for the day. The shop had a huge selection of different ears, and we probably tried on more than ten pairs each until we finally found the ones we wanted. So with our ears all set, we were ready to go hit the rides.

Ever since the park opened over the summer, there had been a lot of hype over the TRON Lightcycle Power Run – the new rollercoaster that made its debut at the park over the summer, and we made that our first destination. The line was still manageable at that time, and before we knew it we had mounted our TRON Lightcycles and shot off into the sky. When we got off, we both had grins as big as the Cheshire Cat on our faces, and agreed this was the best rollercoaster we had ever been on. So for anyone who is into rollercoasters, this one is not to be missed.

We continued to make our way through the park, doing all the things one does in Disneyland. We got a picture with Mickey Mouse, ate corndogs and Mickey Mouse pretzels, watched little girls getting their princess makeovers and ended up riding almost every ride in the park. Another highlight was the new Pirates of the Caribbean ride. They added some elements from the new movies and updated the graphics along the whole ride. We had so much fun on that ride that when we got off we saw that the line was really short, we hopped right back in the line and rode it again.

The day ended with the classic Disney light show and firework display, and before we knew it we were on our way back to our hostel with very tired feet, but smiles on our faces. We had just enough energy to grab some street barbecue by our hostel before jumping into bed and getting some hard-earned rest.

Overall we had a really amazing time at Shanghai Disneyland. The park is so big that the crowds are pretty well dispersed, and with a combination of fast track tickets and single rider lines we rarely had to wait very long to get on any rides. All of the classic Disney elements are there, with some Chinese flair thrown in so everyone who goes is sure to have a good time. I would definitely recommend a trip out to Shanghai Disneyland to all Disney fans out there who want to check out the newest park the franchise has to offer.