If there is one rule we’ve heard a million times about travel in China, it is to avoid going to Chinese tourist sites on holidays. We’ve all seen the horror show photos of choking crowds spending their much needed vacation with a million or so fellow travelers. We love to giggle at the crazies who would make such an amateur mistake. We happily choose our destinations specifically in order of where these crowds are least likely to happen.

So what did we do this spring during the most recent long holiday weekend? (清明节 , Qingming, or tomb sweeping day)

We went to Shanghai Disneyland.

To be fair to ourselves, we didn’t randomly pick this weekend to go to Disneyland out of sheer love for all things Mickey Mouse. Rather, our good friends from Shenzhen decided to come up to Shanghai for the holiday to visit the park. It was a perfect opportunity to spend a day catching up, and we bought tickets without a concern in the world.

Qingming is all about returning home to take care of your ancestors’ graves – hence the tomb sweeping. With all that important family time, Shanghai Disneyland couldn’t be that busy, right?

Wrong. So, so, so wrong.

For some perspective on tourist destinations in China during a national holiday, this is what my experience was like when I hiked the Great Wall on a random weekday:

Quiet and serene, where I was able to soak in the scale and splendour of one of the Wonders of the World. The parking lots, capable of squeezing in dozens and dozens of buses, were blissfully empty and the two hour hike was impressive. On the flip side, this is what it looks like during a busy holiday:

A whole lot less impressive, and frankly, terrible for everyone involved. We suspended all rational understanding of domestic China holiday travel this time around though, and thought that maybe, just maybe, Disney on the this holiday weekend would be fine.

Every person we told about our upcoming plans laughed in our faces, squealing with delight and menace, “Are you crazy?” and “That’s a horrible idea.” Apparently, no one really does the tomb sweeping part of the tomb sweeping holiday anymore. Or as we discovered later, there are apps available now to virtually sweep ancestor tombs (I’m sure the ancestors are thrilled about the virtual sweeping concept) so the long weekend is free to spend, apparently, at Disneyland.

Because over Qingming weekend, Shanghai Disneyland was the #1 most visited tourist site in all (ALL) of China. Lucky us.

Visiting Shanghai Disneyland During a Holiday Weekend

The first clue that things might be busy was the message I received the day prior to our Saturday morning visit. Like other Disney parks, Shanghai Disneyland utilizes an app to help plan and coordinate your day. You can scan and link your ticket directly with the app, which features a map of the park and updates the wait times at every ride and attraction.

The ominous Friday message said that all tickets for Saturday, April 6th were sold out. That, my friends, is not a good sign. Before that message I didn’t think Disneyland could sell out. It’s such a huge attraction, a virtual city, how could it possibly fill up?

In our attempt to beat the crowds, we planned to meet our friends around 8:30am at the park’s entrance. Getting to Shanghai Disneyland is actually quite easy. There is a metro station next to the entrance, which takes about 60 minutes from downtown Shanghai. It’s also easy to take a Didi (the Chinese version of Uber) so we hopped in a car and 35 minutes later (and about $15USD), we were there.

We were dropped off at a designated point about a 10 minute walk to the front gates. It was a sea of people, all storming towards the entrance. A mix of families and couples and groups of friends, in various stage of costume, surged forward.  Tiny children, decked out in sparkly ears and Elsa dresses dragged their parents along. Not to mention plenty of kids staring at the random white adults at Shanghai Disney.

I see you little man in glasses, staring at me.

The entrance was a seemingly endless snaking line, weaving back and forth until we got to the gates. We passed through security and joined the crowds to pick-up our tickets. Heeding the only advice Julie’s mom remembers from their 1999 visit to Disneyworld, we headed to the far left line. Wouldn’t you know it, but there were only about five groups in front of us, compared to at least triple that at any of the over thirty entrance gates available. Smart call.

We met up with our friends and set about making a plan for the day. All of our pre-work researching rides and Fastpasses was quickly blown up when we discovered that almost all of the Fastpasses and Disney Premier Access passes were sold out for the day, despite the park only being open for about thirty minutes.

For Disney neophytes who aren’t hip to the Disney lingo (read: us, a few weeks ago), a Fastpass is essentially a ride reservation, where the park gives you a time slot to enter the line for an attraction. You can only book a Fastpass on the day of your visit and it’s entirely free, but there are a limited number available. Disney Premier Access is a paid feature that allows you to skip the line for rides. You can buy Disney Premier Access for a single ride or for a package of up to eight rides. Prices ranged from ¥120 (US$18) to almost ¥700 (US$104) for a set of 8 rides.

It turns out that our 8:30 arrival time was actually way too late to snatch up any of the highly coveted passes, but we managed to get a 2:30-3:30 booking on the Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue.

We set off for our day, with the only plan being to go to the Buzz Lightyear ride around 3pm. The queue times were growing, even at 9am, but our wise friend Daniel clued us in to another queue hack: the single rider line.

The single rider line, which is not an option on every ride, gives the ride operators permission to split up your group, to fill in empty seats next to smaller groups. Happy to give ourselves the slightest advantage, we breezed past a massive crowd of people, shortening the advertised 60 minute wait to about 15 minutes.

I’m clearly not a Disney-fanatic, but I do appreciate a day of embracing my inner child every so often. And I must say that they have really improved the special effects on Pirates of the Caribbean since I rode it last back in 1989. Amazing what thirty years of technology development can do for a children’s ride.

Next to general confusion about why we would dare visit Shanghai Disneyland over a holiday, most people followed up with the question, “Does this mean you’ll eat at The Cheesecake Factory?”

Yes, there is a branch of The Cheesecake Factory at Disney, the only mainland China location of the chain. Next to a few iconic rides, a meal at The Cheesecake Factory is practically a required attraction in and of itself. We didn’t want to disappoint anyone, so we walked over to Disneytown for lunch, where the oversize portions garner as many photos as Mickey.

Back in the park, full of buffalo chicken and key lime cheesecake, we managed to hop on a few other rides thanks to the single rider line. We enjoyed the Seven Dwarf Mine Train after only a half hour of waiting and even snagged a ride on the amazing TRON roller coaster, in only 45 minutes. That ride, if my 30-year memory serves, has a similar feel to Space Mountain and was a personal highlight.

On the flip side, the bummer of the day was our wait for Roaring Rapids, an 8-person inner tube ride. Without the option of the single rider line, we stuck it out in the regular line, hoping that the estimated 165 minute wait time would be wrong.

Alas, we waited a full 2.5 hours for our turn, and while it was fun (especially when Daniel got soaked), but is any ride really worth a multi-hour wait?

We took a few breaks from queues, wandering through the attractions and enjoying the sunny, warm day. We watched the short parade that runs a few times per day, with floats moving through the heart of the park as kids wait for a glimpse of their favorite character. Despite the wait times at each ride, the public paths around the park were not jammed with people, and we didn’t have to wait much for food or coffee.

We wrapped up our day with another meal in Disneytown and left our friends as they went back to ride TRON again. We opted to head home a little early, avoiding the masses that exit the park after the nightly fireworks show.

Without a push to see our friends, who knows when we would have visited Shanghai Disneyland. I like to think we’d go eventually, but having the incentive of friends was a welcome motivation. Yes, the timing of our visit was…inopportune, but now we’re those people who can say that we’ve visited the most visited site in all of China over a holiday weekend.

And we’re actually kind of excited about visiting Disney again, but probably on a Tuesday in the middle of the winter. When we can have the park to ourselves.

Drew’s Non-Expert Unofficial Tips for Visiting Shanghai Disneyland

1. Single Ride Line: Unless you have small children, there is no need to wait in the normal queue for five or six of Disney Shanghai’s popular rides. We were all able to get on rides in quick succession and I promise that our joy was not diminished sitting alone. In fact, Julie got to sit next to a middle-age man who screamed the entire way through a small roller coaster and it was the highlight of her day, so you never know…
2. Get to the Park Early: We learned the hard way that the Fastpass and Disney Premier Access sell out early, so get to the gates when they open or before. Also, note that the park has different open and closing times depending on the day of the week. Confirm the opening time via the app.
3. Pack Lightly: There is a special security line for people without bags. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people backed up at the security gates, backpacks and purses overflowing. We packed a tote bag with a few essentials, but we put everything in our pockets, included the rolled up tote bag, and breezed through security. It probably saved us thirty minutes.