Cozy Nook Explorers

28. Shanghai Disneyland

Share episode

INTRO

JACKIE: I’m Jackie 


JON: And I’m Jon 


JACKIE: And we are the Cozy Nook Explorers!


JON: Welcome to our show where we explore the world from our cozy nook here in a guest room in Southern CALIFORNIA using the power of the internet!  And where every time we make a knowable mistake we put a coin in the adventure jar! 


Jackie: Yes- we’ve got the adventure jar right here and it’s Wednesday which means it’s time for our next exploration!  And today we are going to DISNEYLAND, magic kingdom...! Ok, so no, we are not exploring the musical Smile- we are going to Shanghai Disneyland! It’s the first episode of the new year AND it’s my birthday episode, so I thought it would be fun to go to the most magical place on earth!


Jon: Jackie- be honest- you just wanted to make an obscure musical theater reference and ride all the rides.  


Jackie: Ok, yes, of course. And I did both of those things. I rode ALL of the rides virtually via the youtubes! Even rides we don’t have time to talk about today.  I was VERY thorough with my research this episode.


Jon: So, I’ve been to Disneyland in California many many times and I’ve also been to Epcot at Disney World...


Jackie: And I’ve been to Disneyland, Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disney Sea, but I’ve never been to any of the parks in China, so this is a new adventure for me!


Jon: You’ve been to a lot of Disneys. 


Jackie: Well, if I’m nearby I’m going. 


Jon: Before we head to Disney- Jackie- what’s keeping you cozy this week?


Jon: Maps! 

  • Do you prefer paper maps or digital maps?
  • Are you good at geography?


Jackie: Brushing and flossing your teeth!  I’m a big fan of dental hygiene and brushing my teeth! It’s one of the best times of day! I used to not like it when I was younger, but now I’m a big fan! 

  • Any advice for people who have a hard time with brushing their teeth?
    • Find a toothpaste you like
    • Play a song or watch something on your phone while you brush. 


LET’S GET INTO IT 1


Jon: Jackie, I know this is your birthday episode, but can we PLEASE start off by talking about Tai Chi With Character?


Jackie: You don’t want to start with the insanely amazing Pirates of the Carribean ride- or the equally amazing pirates of the carribean stunt show? You want to start with Tai Chi With Character?


Jon: In my opinion it’s the most confusing and bemusing show they have.


Jackie: Well, you’re obsessed with Tai Chi- of course you think that. It is really cute though. Alright- go ahead...


Jon: Tai Chi With Character is a street performance at Shanghai Disneyland where a performer does Tai Chi with Chip and Dale, and Donald Duck. And, because Chip and Dale are rambunctious and Donald Duck is ill tempered, shenanigans ensue. It is arguably the cutest thing I have ever seen and the Tai Chi seems to be really well done. We will be sure to include a link in the show notes.  


Jackie: Yes we will. I should quickly say that we will be including a TON of links in the show notes to rides and performances. If you want to treat yourself to a disney day during the pandemic, you could just go through the list and enjoy all that Shanghai has to offer! It’s hours of entertainment and it’s free! 


Jon: I’d recommend starting with Tai Chi with character.


Jackie: Well, I’d recommend starting with Shanghai Disneyland’s version of Pirates of the Carribean: The battle for sunken treasure.  This ride is unlike any other Pirates of the Carribean ride and was the inspiration for this episode. I had heard it was amazing, so I had the chance to watch it and wow! I was so impressed that it inspired me to do a deep dive on the whole park!


Jon: For those who don’t know, Pirates of the Carribean is a classic Disney ride that originally opened in 1967 at Disneyland in California. This was an already popular Disney classic that was available to ride at multiple parks for years and years, but then the Pirates of the Carribean movie franchise upped the popularity to crazy new levels. 


Jackie: Whether it’s because it’s a classic ride or because of the movie’s popularity there is a version of Pirates in all of the Disney Resorts- so to clarify that’s California, Florida, Hong Kong, Paris, Tokyo, and of course- Shanghai! Since Shanghai is the newest park, they had the newest technology available to reimagine the ride.  


Jon: In more recent years Disney has begun to incorporate a lot of large screens into their rides, along with their usual staging, props, and animatronics.  What these massive screens seem to do is make the rides more immersive. So, before it would be like you were in a boat observing pirates, but now it feels like you ARE a pirate going on a swashbuckling adventure. 


Jackie: Yeah, I think my favorite part of the ride is the big battle scene at the end where you are in between two big boat props, but because of the screens it really feels like you are in a vast ocean surrounded by hundreds of ships. Also, YOU GO UNDERWATER on this ride! I don’t even know how to explain that part, but you do- trust me. Also, there’s a skeleton and then suddenly it’s Jack Sparrow. It’s awesome. 


Jon: Welcome to Shanghai Disney! The entire resort- so, the park, 2 hotels, Disneytown- which is their version of Downtown Disney or Disney Springs, and Wishing Star Park- which is a FREE park for anyone to go play at is 963 Acres or 1.926 Disneylands.


Jackie: Oh no- I knew this might get confusing. So, when we talk about Disneylands in our other episodes, we are referring to the size of Disneyland in California which is about 500 acres… Shanghai Disney Resort is actually 11 times the size of the original Disneyland theme park when it opened in 1955 and it is currently - which is January of 2021- the newest Disney park.


Jon: Yes, it’s very new indeed. Construction of the park began on April 8, 2011 and the park just opened a couple of years ago on June 16, 2016.  I should also note that Disney parks are ever evolving, so if you are planning a trip I would recommend checking the Shanghai Disney website to see if there are any new additions for you to enjoy. 


Jackie: I read that they plan to eventually build three theme parks on the property, but for now they just have the one Shanghai Disneyland Park and that will be what we will be focusing on today.  As much as I would love to tell you all about how awesome the Toy Story Hotel is I’m just not sure if we will have the time for that. 


Jon: Shanghai Disneyland Park is reminiscent of the classic Disney parks and has its own castle in the middle, but since this park is in China, it also has a lot of differences from what you would see at the American parks. 


Jackie: During the park dedication on opening day, Bob Iger who was the CEO of the Walt Disney Company at the time said, “Shanghai Disneyland is authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese.”


Jon: You can see this reflected in a lot of ways throughout the park. All signs are in chinese and in english and there are a lot of different types of food, but you can always seem to find pork buns, dumplings, or egg tarts.


Jackie: Sometimes the pork buns are even shaped like mickey! They also add carrots and eggs to dishes that are mickey as well. 


Jon: The carrots are shaped like Mickey, but the eggs are next level. They take the yolks out and put them back in with a mickey stamp, so it’s a full blown picture of mickey in the middle of your hard boiled egg!


Jackie: It’s awesome! 


Jon: Some of the biggest differences for those who are familiar with the Disney parks are that there is no Frontierland and there is no Space Mountain, nor Jungle Cruise, nor It’s A Small World in terms of classic disney rides. 


Jackie: They didn’t include these rides because Disney was concerned that they would be criticized for cultural imperialism. They also don’t have the railroad. 


Jon: Another ride that was omitted was the Haunted Mansion because many Chinese elders believe in ghosts and ghost stories are not a popular form of entertainment in China. The final large ride omission is the Mad Hatter spinning teacups and this is because tea is taken very seriously in China and this ride would have potentially been viewed as disrespectful. Instead of teacups they have spinning honeypots for winnie the pooh!


Jackie: Those honey pots are so cute! 


Jon:  Which I thought was really strange because China censored the film Christopher Robin because people kept saying that President Xi looks like Winnie the Pooh.


Jackie:  I didn’t know that.


Jon: Oh yeah I mean tip of the iceberg for how bad the censorship of the chinese government is.  Not to mention all the human rights abuses.


Jackie:  Yes it is terrible.  We will have to go into that at some point in the future. 


Jon: But for today- we will focus on the cozier land of Shanghai Disney.  


Jackie: In regards to the Shanghai Park- Another difference with this park is that instead of Main Street USA, which is the street that you walk down once you enter the park they have Mickey Avenue! 


Jon: I’d say the most stand-out difference is the Gardens of Imagination.


Jackie: Yes, I’d agree Jon. So, in other Magic Kingdom-esque Disney parks, once you walked down main street there is an open area right in front of the castle, but Shanghai Disney took this a huge step further and created an 11 acre Chinese garden called Gardens of Imagination.


Jon: In the garden are all 12 signs of the zodiac and they are represented as Disney characters. 


Jackie: I compared this area to the magic kingdom in florida and the difference on the maps is HUGE. There’s even a lake. I’d love to see this in person so much.  And of course from the gardens you have a view of the Enchanted Storybook Castle! I found it really interesting that this castle is not meant for a specific princess. This castle represents all of the princesses. 


Jon: It is also currently the tallest castle in any Disney Park. And another fun fact- There is a sculpture of a peony flower on the tallest tower to represent Shanghai.


Jackie: I tried to find out why this castle wasn’t for a specific princess, but I couldn’t find a reason online. If anyone out there knows I’m really curious! 


Jon: Should we go over the rest of the lands in the park?  I was thinking we could highlight a ride or two in each land.


Jackie: Yes, sounds good! Although that’s going to be really hard because I want to talk about all of the rides and shows and foods.


Jon: Of course you do.


Jackie: So, to explain a bit- all disney parks are broken into themed lands and Shanghai Disney is no different. They currently have 7 lands if you include Mickey Avenue and Gardens of Imagination. 


Jon: So, if we are going by this logic we’ve covered the first two lands and land number 3 is Fantasyland! 


Jackie: A classic! This land is dedicated to classic Disney films! Similar to the updated Pirates of the Caribbean ride, there is an updated Peter Pan ride that must be discussed! 


Jon: Was this your favorite ride as a kid?


Jackie: It was. What was your favorite ride?


Jon: Also Peter Pan.


Jackie: No way- that’s awesome! 


Jon: The Shanghai version is definitely a technical improvement on the original. Like the pirates of the carribean ride, this updated version is more immersive than the original. 


Jackie: I do appreciate that they’ve kept certain classic elements of the flyin over London at night. In my opinion they updated it in all the right ways.


Jon: It is a technical marvel.  So, the other ride we wanted to shout out in this land is Voyage of the Crystal Grotto.


Jackie: If this ride has existed in Disney World when I was a kid it would have been my absolute favorite ride. 


Jon: I don’t think I would have been terribly interested. 


Jackie: Jon- this ride is so cool. So, it’s a boat ride that uses similar ride technology to the Jungle Cruise- so for those who don’t know it’s basically a boat ride, BUT it’s DISNEY MOVIES!  Belle is there, and Aladdin, and Rapunzel, and Mulan, and Sorcerer Mickey and so much more!


Jon: It’s such a gentle ride that you could take a newborn bebe on it.


Jackie: Yes you could and that was totally jam as a kid. 


Jon: Shall we move onto Adventure Isle?


Jackie: We shall! Let’s take a quick break first.


Jon: Sounds good. See you soon.


Ad #1


Bland:  (said in a really monotone voice)Hello this is Bland Johnson for the Bland Johnson Map emporium.  I sell maps.  I am a map enthusiast.  I was so passionate about maps I would talk all day and night to the owners of other map stores in the United States.  Everytime they would say if you love maps so much why don’t you open your own store and get out of mine.  So that is what I did.  I opened the Bland Johnson Map emporium.  I don’t sell conventional maps.  I sell maps to the other map stores.  So if you are looking for Thomas Guides, Topographical, Political or Historical maps you will not find them here you will only find me who will draw you a map to get to the other map stores that for some reason I am no longer welcome at.


Producer:  (Whisper) Psst where are you located


Bland:  Oh to find out how to get here you will have to come by and I will draw you a map.


Producer:  Mr. Johnson- you know you know GPS is a thing, right? And how are you paying me to shoot this commercial?


Bland:  What?


LET’S GET INTO IT 2


Jackie: Ok, and we are back with Adventure Isle! 


Jon: It’s an island where you can adventure and do some things that wouldn’t fly today inside an american Disney park.   


Jackie: I believe you are talking about the Camp Discovery Challenge Trails?


Jon: Yes I am, Jackie. This honestly looks a tad bit stressful, but if you are up for the adventure it seems like a great attraction.


Jackie: So, they hook you into a harness that kind of looks like what you’d see if you were to go zip lining and then that harness clips into the ceiling and you drag yourself inside and your harness through an obstacle course.


Jon: You climb over buckets that are over water, you climb up rope bridges…


Jackie: There’s a waterfall and you need to scoot around a rock face to climb around it...


Jon: ...and so much more. Towards the end there is just a rope that you walk across with other ropes to grab on to.


Jackie: Imagine this at an american park?


Jon: We are not organized enough for this type of activity.


Jackie: But, if you want to go on an adventure you can head to Shanghai and check it out!  Ok, what’s next… how about Toy Story Land?


Jon: Like quite a few of the Disney parks, Shanghai Disney has a Toy Story Land, but honestly one of the rides was a bit of a disappointment.


Jackie: Yeah, so they have a ride called Slinky Dog Spin that looks like the same Slinky Dog ride vehicle as the Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster that is in other parks, but this is just a slinky dog that goes round in a circle with a few tiny hills.


Jon: Yeah, it’s a super beginner roller coaster which is nice to have available, but knowing it could have been the full Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster made it feel a bit disappointing. 


Jackie: Yeah, it honestly just didn’t feel very well themed. Woody’s Roundup on the other hand was super cute. This was also a very basic kids ride where you sit in a ride car and it spins around, but the whole area is themed like an old western playset and it’s really immersive. 


Jon: Toy Story Land is great in general because you really feel like you are inside of Andy’s room.  And moving onto Tomorrowland where we will of course be talking about the Tron roller coaster.


Jackie: The Tron Lightcycle Power Run! This roller coaster is all the rage and they are actually building a version of it in Disney World Florida right now.  


Jon: It’s based on the Tron movies which have these crazy fast motorbikes that can turn on a perfect 90 degree angle in the original and can’t in the sequel.  The roller coaster is meant to make you feel like you are riding on one of the remake  motor bikes.  Because if you rode the original at a fast speed and turn you would not do very well.


Jackie: The effects are amazing and it’s the fastest Disney coaster ever with speeds up to about 60 miles per hour. I’d really recommend checking out the link to ride this ride in the show notes. I rode it like 5 times.


Jon: Would you go on this ride for real?


Jackie: I’m still debating.  Would you?


Jon: In an instant. Charles?


Jackie: Charles is shaking his head no. We will go window shopping and grab a snack at Chip and Dale’s Treehouse treats while you ride. And- ok- I think we’ve just got one more land to go over.


Jon: TREASURE COVE! 


Jackie: TREASURE COVE!


Jon: I wish we had this in America.


Jackie: Same- it’s so cool. A whole entire land for PIRATES ARHHH!


Jon: It’s a pirate's life for me. 


Jackie: So, we already talked about the updated version of pirates of the carribean towards the beginning of the episode, so I was thinking we could talk about the Pirates of the Carribean Stunt Show. 


Jon: Of all the other attractions in this land it is the obvious choice. 


Jackie: In my opinion, this is the best show in the park at this time. 


Jon: I still stand by Tai Chi with Character. 


Jackie: Yes, that’s a cute show, but it’s just a street show and not a stage show. Speaking of shows on stages- they also have a Frozen sing along that’s super cute and the Avengers training initiative where you get to be an avenger, but you can tell Eye Of The Storm: Captain Jack’s Stunt Spectacular is the show that they poured their heart, soul and budget into!


Jon: Ok- Tai Chi with character is my favorite show, but I do have to agree this show is much more involved. Like it says in the title- there are stunts! Lots of stunts! At the beginning Jack Sparrow swings in on a rope.


Jackie: Yeah, it’s so cool! There’s a fight scene at the end where Jack Sparrow and another character are basically flying, but I couldn’t figure out if there were wires or not. It doesn’t look like there are, so if there are that’s some Disney magic that’s happening. 


Jon: Most of the show takes place on a pirate ship. If you are into pirates, Shanghai Disney would definitely be a place to consider going.  And I think that’s all we’ve got. We will-


Jackie: Jon- there’s so much more. We haven’t even talked about dining options.


Jon: Oh yes- ok- I guess food is important.


Jackie: It’s super important!  As much as I’d love to go through every restaurant I’ve narrowed us down to one snack location, one casual dining location, and one fine dining location.


Jon: Can we narrow it down to one location total?


Jackie: Not possible.


Jon: I’m pretty sure it is.


Jackie: And for our snack location we have Il Paperino! This is a gelato shop on Mickey Avenue where you can grab some sweet treats! This shop has the classic feel of a Disney confectionery shop and that has a special place in my heart. Something that I thought was cool is that they serve waffles with Donald on them as well as Mickey. I’ve actually noticed Donald around the parks a lot, so I’m thinking he must be a popular character in China. 


Jon: The Donald waffles do look delicious. I’d like to try the purple potato flavored ice cream.


Jackie: Yeah I have no clue what that would taste like. 


Jon: So what do you have down for casual dining?


Jackie: Barbosa’s Bounty!! 


Jon: Ok, this restaurant is cool for a couple of reasons, but one of them is because the riders on the pirates of the carribean ride pass through the restaurant and this reminded me of my favorite restaurant in Disneyland- Blue Bayou.


Jackie: Yes, the restaurant concept and layout are different, but you can tell it’s definitely an homage to Blue Bayou.  So, the general concept is that it is a pirate eatery where you can get a pirate meal.  The theming is great and makes you feel like you are in a world full of pirates for sure. In terms of food, this idea translates to the fact that it is mainly a barbeque restaurant.  


Jon: The other large difference between Barbosa’s Bounty and Blue Bayou is that Barbosa’s is a COUNTER SERVICE which is seriously awesome. 


Jackie: Yeah, I love counter service restaurants- I think it’s from living in new york for so long, but this made me really happy to see. The really spectacular themed seating is available to restaurant guests, but without all of the fanfare of a sit down restaurant. I thought that was a really amazing idea. And moving onto the fancy shmancy fine dining we have Royal Banquet Hall!


Jon: Ah of course- this is a meal where you get to meet disney characters, so in disney terms that’s called character dining. 


Jackie: We can’t get through this episode without talking about character dining. 


Jon: No, we can’t. So, the Royal Banquet hall is the restaurant that is inside the Enchanted Storybook Castle and it is also the only sit down restaurant in the whole park. 


Jackie: Although they have some sit down restaurants at the hotels and in Disneytown.


Jon: Yes they do. So it seems like every menu I'm seeing for Royal Banquet Hall is a 3 course prefix.  The characters that you get to meet are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy all dressed up in their finest royal garb.


Jackie: You also have an opportunity to take a picture with one of the princesses! 


Jon: They have different dining rooms and they are themed to different princesses.  If you are looking to have a quintessential Disney princess experience this definitely seems like the place to go.


Jackie: Charles wants to create some royal wearable art and go have lunch there. 


Jon: That’s a very specific dream.


Jackie: Yes it is. Ok- I think we are getting close to wrapping up. Anything else?


Jon: Duffy! 


Jackie: Oh yay! Duffy! Thanks for the reminder! Duffy the Disney Bear is literally what it sounds like. Disney has a bear character named Duffy who is really popular in Asia, but hardly ever available in America, so even if you go to Disney a lot you may not know about him. You can get tons of Duffy merchandise and also meet Duffy if you are so inclined! Anything else?


Jon: Yes, something important to note is that a difference in culture is that smoking is very popular in China. The parks have designated smoking areas, but from what I read it sounds like guests will sometimes smoke outside of the designated areas, so if you are sensitive to smoke this may not be the park for you. Also, just the air pollution in the area. Anything else, Jackie?


Jackie: Oh yes! This was exciting- It seems to me like you can have a dole whip in Shanghai except it’s not called a dole whip!  


Jon: That’s a popular pineapple dessert treat found all around Disney.


Jackie:  From what I saw there is a Stitch’s Frozen Pineapple Cone at Fairy Godmother’s Cupboard- that sounds pretty dole whip-like to me, but I’d have to try it to be sure. And also, for those who are wondering- yes they do have a Club 33!


Jon: And on that note let’s take a quick break before our community shoutout and hear a word from our sponsor. 


Ad #2 Brush Floss Brush

Brush floss and brush your teeth/ they’re the only teeth you have/ except baby teeth, but you lose them young, so they don’t count among the teeth in your mouth. Brush floss brush! 



Community Shoutout: 

Jon: Every episode we like to research and highlight something special in the community that we are exploring.


Jackie: Today’s community shoutout is Clean The World! So, this is related to the Disney Corporation and not Shanghai Disneyland specifically, but I think it’s a really great idea worth sharing.


Jon: Yes, this is really cool. So, Clean The World is a non profit organization based in Orlando, Florida that recycles used bars of soap and gives them out for free to people in need all over the world.


Jackie: I originally learned about this organization though youtuber Midway To Mainstreet who made a really informative video all about this topic. I’ll put a link in the show notes!


Jon: Basically, the founder of Clean the World Shawn Seipler traveled a lot for his work and was wondering what happens to all of the partially used bars of soap in hotel rooms. He found out that they are thrown out and so he figured out a way to recycle them. 


Jackie: Clean The World has a system where they sterilize the used soap and then it looks like they put the soap through a grinder of sorts and then they re-form the soap into brand new bars.


Jon: Clean The World partners with many large hotel chains, but one of their biggest partners- if not their biggest- is Disney.


Jackie: I’m not sure if Shanghai Disneyland is involved at this point, but they collect all of the soap from the 25+ Disney World Resorts in Florida, plus Hawaii, California, and Hong Kong.  


Jon:  Disney is doing great work in regards to recycling soap. 


Jackie:  We will include a link in the show notes so that you can check out Clean The World.


Jon: They take donations through their website as well.


Jackie: Well, that’s our show. Thank you so much to our devoted producer Charles.


Jon: Thank you so much Charles. 


Jackie: And of course we are so thankful for our listeners! 


Jon: Yes, thank you so much for listening! We hope you enjoyed today’s episode!


Jackie: If you’ve been enjoying this podcast please take the time to subscribe, rate us, and write a review on apple podcasts. It helps the show, so we’d really appreciate it!


Jon: Also, make sure to tell your friends! If there is anyone you know who you think would enjoy this podcast please make sure to share! 


Jackie: You can also follow us on Instagram @cozynookexplorers or send us an email at cozynookexplorers@gmail.com. 


Jon: We love getting to hear from you and we are always looking for travel suggestions! 


Jackie:  We will be back in TWO Wednesdays with our next exploration.  


Jon: Yes, on Wednesdays we explore!


Jackie: Stay cozy, and we’ll see you soon.