TRIP REPORT: Shanghai Disney Resort (Part 7 – Disneytown and the Disney Hotels)

In the summer of 2018 my partner and I visited the Shanghai Disney Resort as part of a two-week trip to the Chinese city Shanghai. In seven articles, appearing every weekend here at wdwnt.com, I will share our adventure through this newest Disney Resort that opened in 2016. I am writing about the park and its theming, Disneytown, and the hotels. In this sixth trip report, I will discuss Disneytown, the Toy Story Hotel, and the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel.

Shopping and Dining in Disneytown

Disneytown is the name of the shopping and dining district located right next to the park entrance. Many store chains like The Cheesecake Factory and Superdry can be found in Disneytown. My favorite stop was the Lego Store, with some fun Disney Lego creations as decorations.

The first and major shop is the World of Disney Store, beautifully decorated with many artworks. I especially liked the attraction posters from other parks that are used as decoration. Even older attractions, like the first version of Space Mountain from Disneyland Paris, are displayed!

Beauty and the Beast in the Walt Disney Grand Theatre

At the end of Disneytown lies the Walt Disney Grand Theatre. When Shanghai Disneyland opened, they played The Lion King in there. Since earlier this year, the theater hosts the Mandarin production of Beauty and the Beast.

For an additional fee you can buy a ticket for this two-hour show, that is a nice getaway from the hot days in the park. Although we do not speak any Mandarin, we were very curious about this production and decided to go see it.

And it did not disappoint! We knew the story, so it was not really hard to understand what was happening on stage. We liked the acting, dancing, and singing, that never really bored us. The Beast was sometimes more of a comic than a scary character, which was the only surprise for us.

The Toy Story Hotel

The cheapest hotel of the two Disney Hotels at Shanghai Disneyland is themed to the Toy Story franchise. The entrance, the lobby and the hallways are filled with large or just subtle clues to the franchise and its characters. After checking in, we collected our breakfast vouchers and went to our room.

The rooms are filled with tiny details from the movies. Varying from the lamp to the shower curtain, everywhere you can find Buzz Lightyear, Woody, or Slinky Dog. In the rooms, you receive some handy stuff like slippers, a bag to take with you, toothbrushes and post cards. The room was clean, and the housekeeping left a personal message for us when we returned our second day.

You have breakfast at the Sunnyside Café. You can make your breakfast selection from a broad range of Chinese and Western dishes, so I believe anyone can find something they like.

The Shanghai Disneyland Hotel

For our last night at the Shanghai Disney Resort, we stayed at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. This art nouveau building lies further from Shanghai Disneyland, on the other side of Wishing Star Lake. There is a ferry from the hotel to the park and back, only for hotel guests.

People at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel were a little (absolutely not much: it’s in the details!) more welcoming than at the Toy Story Hotel. Once we left the bus they immediately offered to carry our bags and they brought us to the reception. There, we arranged everything and later that day we could return for our room key.

In the lobby, we could find Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. Later, we learned that those characters are standing there a lot and that most people have already taken photos. This means: no lines! Sometimes there is even no one waiting, and the characters take their chance to interact with Cast Members and arriving guests. If you need some time to rest, take a seat in the lobby and watch how Pluto is imitating a greeter.

The room was beautiful and there were details everywhere. It was also more spacious in comparison to the Toy Story Hotel. On the photos below, you can get an idea of how it was:

The last morning of our stay we had breakfast at Lumière’s Kitchen, which was a really good meal with special dishes. Even Mickey, Minnie and Goofy stopped by!