A (2019) HalloXmas trip to Asia - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo! - COMPLETED 5/1!!!

[Lesley Wake]

Great parade photos! It looked really different too! I'm not usually a parade person but I think I'd stop and see the ones in different parts of the world!!

Yeah, it's always cool to see how different parks do things!

Love all the parade pictures! That Mulan float is absolutely amazing!

Yeah, it really was gorgeous!

This is just madness, the entire situation. And I saw your post about the CDC. That just makes it even more tragic.



I was just saying something like that the other day. Without giving too much of a spoiler on my upcoming TR, RotR went down while we were holding a BG. We had to amuse ourselves, while we waited for it to come back up. We perused all the shops in Galaxy's Edge before moving on to TS land. Some kind of shopping opportunity there would have been fun to look through, even if they did only have the same stuff you find in all the other stores.



I can visualize how a kid kits there and doesn't strangle itself. But that's probably just me. Sure beats those mega double strollers that were supposed to be banned from the parks but are still running around.

Yay finally all caught up!

It really is scary over in China right now! I know the regular flu is also horrible, but I think the unknown for this one is worse!

I really wish they had a proper shop at TSL! Not just those silly carts!

And I definitely appreciated these small ones over the huge ones in the US! I hate those with a serious passion! I think the best way to visualize it is to imagine it's like a ride restraint. The circular part just flips up and down. Kid flips it up, sits on the bike seat, leans back and flips it down over their head! But it basically folds up into something not larger than those cane/chairs I've seen around.

OK so you snuck an update in while I wasn't looking. Now I am caught up!



Oh, well. Too bad, so sad. They can cope. Especially if they are 20 somethings.



I bet they were hoping that the guests weren't savvy enough to know what a working float was supposed to look like, and just let it go out like that.



Glad you enjoyed it. I'm not really a parade person, but if I were in Shanghai, i would feel as though i had to see it just because i may not be back again.

Yeah, I'm sneaky like that!

Definitely I didn't feel bad about it. They still totally crowded around me, which wasn't fun, but whatever - I was still tall enough to be above them!

For some reason I have bad luck with Finding Nemo floats! In Paris, there was one that wasn't working properly and ended up being removed for refurbishment while I was there!

The parade looks awesome! Mulans horse and whole caravan looks so cool!

As annoying as it was to block the view of the people around you I feel like I would have felt satisfaction in the fact that they were the sole reason I had to stand haha

Haha, yeah I figured people would understand!

I looove bubble waffles and that one looks so yummy!


Weird so do you pay through your phone? Or is it a special kind of card/chip??


Alright this is so adorable.


Those look so nifty! A nice way to give your kids a break without hauling a stroller around.


This float is amazing!


This is the coolest float I've ever seen in my life. Holy cow my jaw was on the floor just from looking at pictures. The word that comes to mind is...magnificent.

Bubble waffles are the best!

So, I think its a digital pay thru the phone thing. It's pretty prolific all across China (probably government run). It's called AliPay, but I think you have to have a Chinese bank account to use it. The capsules were cute, but not worth me trying to get it to work properly!

I really loved the Mulan float! Very magnificent indeed! And fitting for a Chinese park!

Looks like an awesome parade! Great pictures!!

Thanks!

So the face characters (princesses, Mary Poppins) are generally Western, but the majority of the dancers are not?

The parade does look fun!

Yeah, that is the typical way of doing it at most of the Asian parks. I think Hong Kong had the occasional Western dancer, but mostly locals. A lot of the face characters are CMs from the US parks who try out and get transferred for several month contracts. It seems to be a pretty sweet gig if you can get it, as you pocket most of the money you make, plus get to live abroad for a while! I know a CM who is currently a Friend of Moana in Hong Kong (though not working at the moment while the park is closed); she had previously spent about 1.5 yrs in Tokyo (her sister writes TRs on here too). Before Tokyo and in between those gigs, she worked at WDW.

I'm just lurking in the background enjoying hearing about all these Asian parks adventures. I don't even need to tell you how much I want to go because you've heard it all before lol Enjoying living vicariously through you (and my Oswald bag)

Haha! Definitely you will need to get over there one day!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Wow, what a fun parade!! I love Festival of Fantasy, but this looks even better. I especially liked seeing Shellie Mae and Duffy at the end

Annoying about your fellow parade-goers, but yay for being taller than them in the end!!

 

[amazingact21]

The Maximus and Marshmellow look awesome! And that Mulan float!!! Wow. Your photos were great; I love Disney parades and this one looked very bright and colorful, kind of like Festival of Fantasy.

 

[LeiaIsAPrincess2]

Looks like a beautiful parade!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Wow, what a fun parade!! I love Festival of Fantasy, but this looks even better. I especially liked seeing Shellie Mae and Duffy at the end

Annoying about your fellow parade-goers, but yay for being taller than them in the end!!

I liked that this was something new, but I probably still prefer Festival of Fantasy!

The Maximus and Marshmellow look awesome! And that Mulan float!!! Wow. Your photos were great; I love Disney parades and this one looked very bright and colorful, kind of like Festival of Fantasy.

Yeah, the Tangled one was pretty fun! I do like the swinging parts of FoF though!

Looks like a beautiful parade!

Yeah, it was nice! And the song was very catchy!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 9 – Up and Down Mickey Avenue

Another reminder of the park map:

Time to head into the Gardens of Imagination for some more photos!

I did stop at a photopass person by the large pumpkin. Definitely not as good as the WDW photopass, but I appreciated them being there nonetheless!

Some more photos, including one that some other guests offered to take of me!

Wandered a bit of Mickey Avenue

I wandered through some shops and actually wish I had gotten this (though I know it was meant for kids, it was still cute)

The posters under the “train station”, which isn’t actually a train station, but still looks like the ones in the other parks.

Fab 5 pumpkin heads at the turnstiles (similar but not identical to the ones at Disneyland during Halloween)

The main flower area, which was a vampire Mickey! The atmospheric music was also Halloween inspired!

Scrooge’s bank-I think just a façade, but super cute – I wish I had taken more photos of the buildings but I ended up forgetting!

Donald nut cracker!

Another photopass shoot in their “town square”

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Next I headed back over to Treasure Isle to use my FP at Pirates. I also took some more queue photos

And I got to be in the front row this time, which was fun and immersive! Hard to take photos on a moving dark ride, but I tried my best! And I took a couple videos in the big screen rooms (sorry – my phone didn’t give the best quality)

This was where I was convinced it was just a screen…

Nope-physical set!

My ride photo-unfortunately didn’t show up in photopass

Another amazing ride. (I do think the Davy Jones animatronic wasn't working, but that was the only thing I noticed)​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Time for dinner – I had hoped to eat at Wandering Moon Restaurant, which had good reviews.

Unfortunately, when I tried to enter the lady explained the restaurant is only family style and meals of 3, 6, or 9 people. So, they wouldn’t take me as a solo diner. Definitely made me annoyed! (Didn’t help I was getting hangry – I have a bad habit of not stopping to eat when I need to, as I wanted to keep experiencing things).

After some sulking for a bit, I went back to Mickey Avenue and stopped at Remy’s Patisserie

I was honestly so hangry, I didn’t want much. But I did come away with a Chicken Floss Bun and a Flour Pork bun. I took a big bite of the chicken floss bun and immediately spit it out! Just nope. It was like a mouth of salt and weird textures. Also it was filled with something I couldn’t identify. Maybe others would like it, but not me! Thankfully I did end up really liking the pork bun (not sure what it’s actual name is), which was sort of a flaky flour dough and some pork filling.

Photos in one of the Duffy stores – super cute rain coats!

Lots of paintings of Minnie and her relatives too!

Into the historical center, which was themed as if the Mouse family really did establish Mickey Avenue! I really liked it!

Some night-time photos as the sun had started to set.

Coming up: Tomorrowland at Night...OMG WOW!!!!​

 

[missjackiemcg]

It made me mad for you that they wouldn't let you eat family style as a solo diner!! That really stinks!! Love your pictures in the town square--especially the one facing the castle with the peace sign. So cute!

Looking forward to seeing everything at night!!

 

[Lesley Wake]

It made me mad for you that they wouldn't let you eat family style as a solo diner!! That really stinks!! Love your pictures in the town square--especially the one facing the castle with the peace sign. So cute!

Looking forward to seeing everything at night!!

Yeah, it was really annoying about the meal!

It was weird taking those photos though - I never knew if he had taken the shot or I needed to continue having my back to him

 

[Lesley Wake]

Part 10 – Tomorrowland at Night – WOW!

It was getting close to time for my pre-selected FP for Tron, so I headed into Tomorrowland at night. And another WOW! Just, I can’t even put into words how cool that area was, with the music and lights and kinetic energy! So I’m just going to do a huge photo/video dump!

The entranceway with Jet Packs

I loved the changing colors of the Tron structure!

Stair fountain, with an attempted artsy shot!

I just spent so much time under the Tron coaster just watching everything zip around!

I wonder how they will incorporate all of this in Magic Kingdom, because it truly is an important part of the ride experience!

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Still had time to wait, so I checked out the Tron Realm Chevrolet Digital Challenge, which had a bunch of virtual reality things. It reminded me of the old Innoventions in Disneyland, and maybe is like Test Track and Spaceship Earth exits.

I tried out the game where you stand in a spot and your body controls the motions. Super fun! (Of course no one to take video of me doing it, but this is the general idea)

And my score

Another thing, which I didn’t quite figure out. Is it like Pong?

And time for my ride!

The last row of some trains has normal seats, so if you don’t want to (or can’t do) the motorcycle seats, you can sit on these

Photopass – didn’t get into my account unfortunately because it was a fun photo!

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

During Halloween they have Donald’s Halloween Treat Calvacade, which was like a fun mini-parade. (I had hoped to be able to stay seated on the ground, and got a spot next to a lightpost so no one would be on one side of me, but unfortunately that ended up being where the parade CM was stationed, so she basically was kneeling down right in front of me. So, I ended up needing to stand up anyways but at least it wasn’t as crazy crowded as the daytime parade.)

Someone else’s video of the full parade. It uses the same soundtrack as the Frightfully Fun Parade during Disneyland’s Halloween party, which I love!

Dr Facilier

Malificent

Hades

Queen of Hearts

And you always have to have Duffy and friends!

Overall, it was a cute enough parade. Nowhere near as good as the ones at Disneyland or Disney World, but even those took time to get going. Maybe in future years this will expand even more?


Coming up: A (ghost) pirate life for me! ​

 

[disneyAndi14]

Wow Tomorrow Land is amazing at night!
I love all your pictures
The Halloween decorations are really cool. I love the Vampire Mickey!
Which was the pork bun, the long one or little one? Sorry the other one wasn’t good. I think eating would be difficult there. I have heard the meat like chicken, beef, and pork taste different since the animals eat a different diet.

 

[LeiaIsAPrincess2]

So cool! Love your night pictures. I'm so excited for Tron at WDW, I hope they do it justice.

 

[kastoney]

Have you checked out Aristocrepes at Disney Springs? They have a couple options (chocolate/caramel and strawberry). I'm going to try the Chocolate one in a couple weeks!

I had not. Wasn't even on my radar so I'll have to check that out

Wow, that is really cool. I can see what this was the highlight of the parade

Are you doing the YMCA in Shanghai Leslie. Silly American

I have zero idea what this is but it looks absolutely revolting! Glad you didn't try this

Gorgeous. It's amazing to see a Tomorrowland that actually looks like Tomorrowland and not yesterday land

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I love all the Halloween decoration pictures especially the Mickey pumpkin lights!

How frustrating that they wouldn't seat you as a solo diner. Surely there were some parties of 2 they could pair you with??

Tomorrowland and especially Tron at night are amazing! I hope they do it justice in MK!

 

[amazingact21]

Tron lit up at night looks amazing! So incredible. And now I really hope the MK's version has that same look.

 

[Cloe Colton]

Tron is SO cool at night! I really hope MK is able to have the same thing and I really hope they structure the pathways over there to be as futuristic as they are in Shanghai. The multi levels really seem to add to the effect!

 

[buzzrelly]

It looks so amazing there. I watched you PP video and think it looks MUCH better than WDW. Do you think they'd ever change ours? I'm sure there would be a revolt if they tried, but dare I say, I might be happy if they did!

Your Tomorrowland nighttime pics are so cool. Tron looks amazing! I wonder if our will look as awesome!

I'll tell you what's NOT cool…that restaurant not allowing a single person to eat there