870 · 10 Reasons to Visit Shanghai Disneyland... and Why This Trip Changed Me

China is a long way to go for a theme park... but Shanghai Disneyland is not a theme park. It is a destination that happens to have a Disney castle at its center.

Lou Mongello had the privilege of being invited by Disney for Shanghai Disneyland's 10th anniversary celebration, with time alongside the Imagineering team who built it. In this episode, he gives you 10 reasons to visit Shanghai Disneyland, and why right now, during its 10th anniversary, is the perfect time to go.

Here is what you will hear:

• The one design decision that makes Shanghai unlike any Disney park you have ever set foot in, and why it disorients you in the best possible way
• The only place on Earth you can walk through Zootopia, a land so detailed that guests line up just to photograph the lampposts
• Why the tallest Disney castle in the world is something you go inside, not just photograph, plus the anniversary-only shows playing on it right now
• The trackless boat ride that fans who have been to every Disney park call their single favorite attraction, period
• The one land where Disney hands you the controls, and the climb that Lou says sends you back down a different person
• The stunt show with a real, raging tornado on stage, performed more than 10,000 times with live performers inside it
• The snacks worth flying for, the Cast culture built from scratch, and the brand-new Spider-Man land rising right now with its coaster track already complete!
• and much more!

And stay with me to the end, because this is the part I did not see coming. This trip did not just give me new things to talk about. It genuinely, fundamentally changed the way I think about Disney parks, not just what I think about them, but how. I am going to explain exactly how, and why, and why it might just change the way you see them too.

Whether Shanghai is already on your bucket list or you have never once considered it, this one might change your mind.

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10 Years ago this month, Disney did something they had never done before.

They built a park unlike anything in their history. Not a copy, not a clone, not even a variation on a familiar theme. They built something genuinely, completely, intentionally new.

And 10 years later, I think it's still one of the most underappreciated parks in the entire Disney universe, especially among American Disney fans. Hello or Nihau, my friend, and welcome to WW Radio, your guide to the Disney parks and experiences around the world.

As you'll see this week, I am Lou Mongello, and this is show number 870. Whether this is your first time listening or. Well, you've been with me for more than 20 years, since the very beginning.

Thank you for being here and welcome home. Before we dive in, come join the community and conversation over in the WW Radio clubhouse over at wwwradio.com clubhouse.

Watch and chat during the live show every Wednesday at 7:30pm Eastern on Facebook and YouTube. And sign up for my free weekly email newsletter [email protected].

And when you're ready to plan your next Disney trip, maybe to Shanghai, visit my friends over@m MouseFanTravel.com for completely free expert vacation planning. And today, I want to talk to you about Shanghai Disneyland.

Because if you've never been, or you've been putting it off or maybe you quietly assumed it's, quote, unquote, just another Disney park, I want to help change your mind, I think completely. Shanghai Disneyland turns 10 years old this month, and I want to give you a sense of what that milestone means.

Not in a press release kind of way, but.

But in a very real human way, because I just came back and on June 16 this year, the actual anniversary date, tens of thousands of guests and cast members from around the world gathered in front of the Enchanted Storybook castle and sang Happy Birthday together. Bob Iger, former CEO, showed up as a huge surprise. Josh Tomorrow was there. Over 50 Disney characters were there. That's not a corporate event.

That's a family celebration. And in October of last year, just over nine years after opening, Shanghai Disneyland welcomed its 100 millionth guest.

That's 100 million people in just nine years. And there's something that Josh said during the anniversary celebration that I keep thinking about. And coming back to.

And he said, and I quote, when we opened these gates, we really believed that we could create something the world had never seen. A place where Disney storytelling met Chinese culture in a way that was genuinely new.

More than 100 million guest visits later, Shanghai Disney Resort stands as one of the company's proudest achievements. And as we celebrate the park's first decade and look to its next, what excites me most is that we're just getting started. Just getting started.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's episode of the WW Radio. Now, I know what you might be thinking, Lou. I love Disney, but China, it's a long way to go for a theme park.

I hear you, but I want to gently push back on that framing because I think it reveals exactly the misconception that I want to address today. Shanghai Disneyland is not a theme park. You happen to travel to China to visit. It's a destination. It is a genuine world class.

I think really for a lot of people, a once in a lifetime destination that also happens to have a Disney castle at its center. The trip isn't the obstacle, I think. I think the trip is really part of the experience.

And I think that realization starts with the understanding where a lot of us are coming from when we think about Disney parks in the first place. Most of us come to Disney through a very specific door. Maybe it was your first trip to Walt Disney World as a kid. I'm raising my hand.

Maybe it was Disneyland with your family. Maybe it was a honeymoon or a trip you took as an adult that made you fall in love with it all over again.

Whatever that door, your door is, it shaped how you see Disney parks. It gave you a template, whether you knew it or not. This set of expectations, a vocabulary and a feeling.

I think we as Disney fans are always a little bit chasing. And Shanghai Disneyland doesn't use that template. And the first time you walk through its gates, you.

It can feel a little disorienting because your instincts don't quite apply and nothing is quote unquote, where it's supposed to be. The things you normally navigate by aren't there. And then something, I think a little gradually it shifts.

You stop trying to map it out onto what you already know, you start actually seeing it for what it is.

And the Disney fans who've made that trip, I think they, we come back changed, not just impressed, but changed because Shanghai doesn't just meet your expectations of what a Disney park is. I think it quietly, completely, to a certain degree, dismantles them and rebuilds them into something bigger.

And I think what it is is extraordinary and more importantly, it's worth the journey. So here are 10ish.

I'm going to try and keep it to 10 reasons that Shanghai Disneyland belongs at the top of your Disney bucket list and why right now, during its 10th anniversary, is the perfect time to go and find out for yourself.

And where I want to start, sort of number one on my list is something that I just alluded to, is that Shanghai Disneyland very much does not feel like a copy of another Disney Park. Every other Disney park in the world to some degree shares its DNA with Disneyland. I think Shanghai doesn't.

And that was a very deliberate, I think, very courageous decision.

And I say courageous sort of half jokingly because I always say also half jokingly that if you want to make Disney fans lose their marbles, tell them that they're changing something, including but not limited to the entire layout of the park. And when Disney announced Shanghai Disneyland, I think a lot of people assumed it would follow the familiar formula.

Main street usa, the hub, a castle, Fantasyland behind it, Tomorrowland to one side. That's the template. It works. Disney has used it successfully for more than 60 years and Shanghai threw it out completely.

There is no real sort of Main street in Shanghai Disneyland. Instead, you enter through this vast open Mickey Avenue that functions more like. It's more analogous to like a European town square.

It's very welcoming, but it doesn't have that same nostalgic American iconography that anchors every other Disney Park. And I think that signals to you immediately that you are somewhere new and somewhere different.

And then rather than funnel you directly towards the hub and a castle, you pass through into this garden of imagination, which is the Shanghai Disneyland version park of a Central Park. It is this beautifully landscaped, very open, almost like a retreat that serves as the crossroads to the rest of the park.

There's classic Disney characters. There's this very serene, very natural beauty which I really appreciated.

There's this Fantasia inspired carousel that exists nowhere else in the world.

And yes, while there are shops along Mickey Avenue, their version of Main Street, I think the idea is not about you going shopping on your way in or even on your way out. It's about leading you into this garden. And I think that says a lot about what kind of experience they were trying to create.

And it's funny because I kept on going back to the entrance and to and through Mickey Avenue, just to sort of see where my natural tendencies would take me and how similar and different it feels and felt to Main street, usa. And that sort of disruption in what we're expecting is not a bad thing, but I think instead a very good thing.

And one of the big reasons, which is why this is number one, to go and visit Shanghai. So, for example, like the land themselves, do not mirror what you're going to find in Orlando or Anaheim.

Again, this park was designed with this very explicit philosophy of being authentically Disney, yet distinctly Chinese. And I remember Bob Iger and the entire imagineering team talking about that mandate that they operated under.

When the park opened, this park had to feel like it belonged in China, not an American importance. That had to be translated.

That respect for local culture which you see throughout the park, from the architecture to the food to the entertainment to the storytelling, is very apparent and very prevalent and very important. And it was something that was reiterated by Josh during this 10th anniversary celebration. It's something that.

And again, I had this incredible privilege of walking the park with some of the executive Imagineering team.

They consistently talked about and pointed out as we walk through the park, ways that you can very clearly and deliberately and intentionally see that this authentically Disney yet very distinctly Chinese mandate has always been and will continue to be of paramount importance.

But I think that going back to sort of that lack of the traditional hub and spoke and things, quote, unquote, being where they're supposed to be or not being where they're supposed to be, the park could be a little disorienting. And I think in a good way, I think this park is.

When I was talking to the imaginary, this feels very much almost analogous to Disney's Animal Kingdom to me.

And I mean that in the way that Disney's Animal Kingdom is a park that is meant to be wandered and explored and almost allow yourself to get sort of metaphorically lost in. I think Shanghai Disneyland feels the same way. Because your natural instincts, if you've been to Disney parks before, don't apply here.

You can't navigate this park by memory. And I love that you have to actually go and discover the park.

That feeling of discovery is something that most of us who are Disney fans haven't experienced since our very first visit to Walt Disney World as a kid. So I think if you've ever thought, well, you know, I've seen the Disney parks, I've seen everything Disney has to offer in the parks. You haven't.

And not until you walk through Shanghai Disneyland and felt genuinely, wonderfully lost, will you truly feel that way.

And that naturally leads me to number two on my list, which is the aforementioned Zootopia, which is probably the most immersive new land Disney has built. It's not just new. I think this represents some of the highest level of environmental storytelling Disney has ever achieved in a theme park.

It is meant to feel, and it does, like this fully realized living city. And the anchor attraction, Zootopia Hot Pursuit, uses this incredible roaming ride system. Again, the.

The vehicles move through these scenes dynamically, not on a fixed track. So you don't ever feel like two ride experiences are identical. I rode the attraction twice, and each ride felt a little different.

And I think the attraction itself is both an engineering and storytelling breakthrough because the sheer detail, not just on the attraction, but I think really in the land, is wonderfully overwhelming in the the best way. It is a treasure trove of Easter eggs and photo spots, from newspaper headlines to neon signs.

The architecture that blends dozens and dozens of animal world design influences. There are so many cool easter egg pig hero 6, the billboard. I need that on a T shirt.

Disney's imagineers had years to obsess over every inch, and it shows. And again, the attraction itself, I don't think is the star of the land. I think the land is the star of the land.

It's that same feeling I got the first time I stepped into Cars Land at Disney California Adventure. It's how I felt walking into San Fransokyo street on the Disney Adventure and watching the way guests interacted with the land. There were.

There were almost longer lines for the photo opportunities. And there's not like single places that you go and line up for. Everything is a photo op spot.

Like, this is an Instagrammer's dream place because there are so many spots that people literally were.

They were lining up to take photos in front of these lampposts that had three different height, walk and don't walk signs for little animals to, you know, medium sized, to street signs that are for dress. I mean, lines of people at every single one. And I think that's also a testament to Disney's commitment to content that resonates locally.

Zootopia was a massive hit in China, and leaning into that story here was a very deliberate, I think, very smart and more importantly, I think, culturally informed decision.

So if you want to see where Walt Disney Imagineering is pushing the boundaries of what an immersive, interactive theme park can be, I think Shanghai Disneyland is not just the answer. I think it's a great example. Number three on my list, which very easily could have been number one, is the castle and why it changes everything.

Because this is not Cinderella Castle with a different name. I think this is Disney's most ambitious, most magnificent, I think the most feature rich castle that they've ever built.

And unlike every other Disney castle in the world, because this one, you don't just look at it, you really do go inside it. At 196ft tall, the enchanted Storybook Castle is the tallest Disney castle in the world.

Just a little bit taller than Cinderella Castle, taller than Sleeping Beauty, taller than anything Disney has ever built. But the height is, I think, the least interesting thing about it, because this castle celebrates not one, not two, but all of the Disney princesses.

The interior features design elements and artwork representing the full breadth of the Disney princess canon. From an architectural perspective, it blends that European fairy tale iconography with, again, subtle but distinctly Chinese design elements.

There's gold filigree, red accents, important colors in Chinese culture. There is this jade green roofline. It's unmistakably Disney, but also unmistakably unique.

And at night, this castle transforms into something else entirely.

Illuminate, which is a nighttime celebration, combines projection mapping, which they were able to design, really this castle for, as opposed to putting projection mapping on older castles before the technology existed. They built this castle knowing that that technology existed.

And I think it's reflected when you see the projections on it, you'll understand what I mean.

But there's also fountains and lasers and fire and music in a way that I think ranks among those breathtaking nighttime spectaculars in any Disney park around the world. And right now, during the 10th anniversary celebration, it's bigger, it's brighter. There's a special grand finale added exclusively for this year.

So if you go now, you get the anniversary mission, which is not nothing. I think that's another reason to Go this year specifically.

But I think the thing that changes everything about the castle is it is an attraction, not just an attractor. It's not just that weenie in the center of the park.

The once upon a time adventure is a walkthrough experience inside the castle, where unlike Disneylands, you step through the magic mirror and into Snow White's enchanted fairy tale world.

These classic scenes come to life around you in these very elaborate, very theatrical set pieces that has this like, there's an emotional finale to it and there are moments of genuine wonder.

And I think this is one of those easily overlooked experiences that sneaks up on you and was also, I think at the time, a genuinely radical idea when the park opened, making the castle itself a truly immersive experience and an attraction rather than just a stage or a backdrop for parades and photo opportunities. Because I think in every, really most of the other Disney parks around the world, the castle is. It's the weenie, it is the photo backdrop.

But in Shanghai, it is a destination.

And right now, for the 10th anniversary, the castle stage is also home to what they call the heart of the Magic, which is a brand new daytime show that takes you through this journey through nine different Disney stories with beautiful sets and songs and characters who are also making their Shanghai debut again, another experience that exists only right now, only this year.

So I think the reason why I wanted to call this out and call this out so high is that you can and I think should visit every Disney park around the world and you'll never see anything that looks or feels like this. This is not just a castle that you photograph, it's one that you go inside.

Because it doesn't just earn its place as the tallest Disney castle in the world, but also might be the most Disney castle in the world. Number four on my list again, could be, should be for I think for a lot of people, it is number one on theirs.

It is the reason why people go, yes, you can and should go to Shanghai Disneyland for a single attraction. And that attraction is of course, Pirates of the Battle for the Sunken Treasure. Dare I say there, there the greatest Disney boat ride ever made.

Because if you think that you've ridden and seen all the different Pirates of the Caribbean, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, probably for most of us, you haven't. Not until you've ridden this very, very different version.

Because this is not really, I won't even say simply, this is not a variation on the classic pirates ride. It is an entirely new original experience that uses the Pirates franchise as a launching Point.

But I think then like the rest of this park, exceeds every expectation that you probably bring into it. This attraction doesn't feature a gateau on a track.

This is a trackless boat technology, meaning that your boat moves and pivots and spins and positions itself dynamically through the scenes rather than following that fixed channel.

It's almost like a dune buggy on the water that can twist and move so that you are brought to and can see specific areas and scenes and vignettes, et cetera. You combine that with massive. I can't articulate just how big. When I say screens, it's, it's not doing it any justice.

Massive projection, mapping, animatronic technology that goes beyond anything in the classic attraction and at a scale that you have to see to believe. I promise you, videos you watch on YouTube does not convey the experience. It is genuinely a jaw dropping experience.

The very first time you hit this one specific scene where you feel like you are coming up out of the water and see this massive projection and and then turn and are in between this battle between two giant life size pirate ships, it is an incredible moment.

And I think a lot of Disney fans, including people who have been to every park around the world, list this as their single favorite Disney attraction, period. And from a story perspective, again, it's different.

This involves a search for Captain Jack Sparrow's treasure and this climactic battle with a Kraken showdown on the water that makes the classic rides Burning City finale feel almost wonderfully quaint by comparison. But that's the thing. This is not meant to be a replacement for the classic ride. I think it's a companion to it.

And if the original Pirates of the Caribbean is the song you grew up and are continuing to grow up loving, the battle for the sunken treasure is what happens when a master composer takes that melody and then builds this full, rich symphony all around it. And I think the attraction itself is just the beginning of the land of Treasure Cove.

It spreads across five different very richly detailed neighborhoods. And throughout the day you'll see pirates roaming freely throughout the port, creating mischief, engaging guests.

There are seemingly impromptu confrontations and street performances and battles around every corner, on ships and on the water. The land itself is a living show.

You are not just riding this single attraction or going to a shop or going to a restaurant of which they have all and then walking out. You are inside a pirate world that never stops performing.

And if you were to snap your fingers and go to Shanghai Disneyland and ride only one thing, this is it. Because this Attraction is going to redefine what you think and understand a Disney attraction can be.

And then you stay in Treasure Cove long enough to let that world around you surprise and delight you. Number five on my list is, again, something I very easily could have put first. I had a very tough time. This is in no particular order, by the way.

I probably should start off. This is no particular order because I very easily could have put any or all these first. But number five is another land, and this is Adventure Isle.

And this is on the list for a number of reasons, but because this is a land where Disney asks something of you. Shanghai has a land that requires your participation and I think rewards you for it in a way that no other Disneyland does.

This was one of the park's original land, which was inspired by, I think, some of those pulp adventure stories that Walt loved. Explorers and hidden temples and ancient mysteries.

Think Indiana Jones meets Jungle Cruise meets National Geographic meets the serial adventure series that Walt grew up watching. And there is a deep, rich backstory.

That's the world you are stepping into and Disney committed to it fully. There are message boards throughout the land with news clippings and research notes and artifacts reward guests who stop and read them.

Think back to the Boneyard in DinoLand USA meets the Adventurers Club meets the sea meets Indiana Jones and Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I love, love, love the richness and the depth of the storytelling.

You could spend the entire day, and I wish I could have, just wandering this land and picking up these details and Easter eggs and piecing together like a. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle the details and the characters of this story.

But the real, the centerpiece, literally and figuratively, of the land is Roaring Mountain, which is known in the Arbori language as Aputaku.

And this is a massive volcanic mountain that is alive with geysers and this sort of natural, almost drama that rises up from the center of the land like something that is very ancient. It is barely contained. It is this weenie that you see off in the distance, the.

That draws you in and there's waterfalls and mists, and you can just close your eyes and listen to the sounds. It creates this atmosphere that makes you Feel like you've stumbled into something that was here long before they built a park around it.

And that's really what I want to talk about here.

Because I think the thing that surprises people most about Adventure Isle and the thing that I think is most worth your time when you're there is, is the ropes course. The Challenge Trails at Camp Discovery. I'm smiling.

And if you know, you know, built into and around the mountain itself, the Challenge Trails takes you over river gorges and waterfalls and these sheer cliff faces, through caverns and across suspension bridges and up into the rock face of the mountain itself. And I want to be very clear about something. This is not something that you ride. It's not something you see from a distance.

It's not something you casually walk through. This is for guests who are at least and a half feet, 106 centimeters tall. So I just make it. This is not a kids play structure.

This is a genuine physical challenge that is designed for older kids and teens and adults. This takes you places in the park you simply cannot get to any other way. There's not one, there's not two.

There are three different rope courses in and around Roaring Mountain, and thankfully, three different levels to choose from at each challenge, which I think makes the attraction as accessible as it can be to anybody who is mobile, who doesn't have a fear of heights because you go genuinely high, but it still offers this very genuinely challenging path for those who want them. Once you get into the queue, you not only choose your path, but you choose your level of difficulty. You put your valuables into a locker.

You get fitted into a harness by a cast member. You hook onto this overhead safety system.

If you've ever done the Wild Africa trek at Disney's Animal Kingdom, think that same type of harness and system. And then you go off and start exploring.

And I think Disney did something that was very smart, which is all the lines run parallel so you can move alongside your group, but at certain intervals, so you direct your harness into the section that you want. So you literally choose your own adventure and make your choices and create your own experience as you go along the way.

It was a hot, very wet, rainy day. It's high, it's Shanghai.

And I remember being on this attraction not believing where I was and that this was taking place in a theme park, because as you're walking through and going up, you can look down at this incredible like structure and terrain from above. You are really hiking through this incredible scenery. You go into this dig zone. There's like ancient artifacts.

There's all kinds of caves with old paintings. There's Echo cavern, this river gorge with carvings and cave art.

There's a hidden falls chamber which is this beautiful crystalline cave behind this ginormous waterfall. And then you climb like right next to the waterfall on truly like wet stones.

When I say this is a unique experience for a Disney park, I am understating the obvious. And like when you ascend the mountain, because you are climbing the mountain, the views of the park that open up beneath you are breathtaking.

You can see just how wide and vast Adventure Isle is spread out beneath you. You can see Treasure Cove in the distance.

You are literally standing above the world of Shanghai Disneyland, looking down at it from inside the landscape. And I think here's what makes this so distinctly un Disney in the best possible way. Nobody is doing this for you.

There is no ride vehicle, there is no narrator. There is no choreographed pre programmed movement where the music swells and the lighting changes and you're told how to feel.

It's just you and the mountain and whatever you sort of brought to it. And I love the fact that this experience is entirely yours in a way that I think nothing else in a Disney park can claim.

Think about how rare that is. Disney is extraordinary at creating experiences for us.

Very carefully designed, meticulously controlled, emotionally engineered experiences where every detail has been considered, every single beat has been planned. That's part of Disney's genius. But the ropes course inverts that completely. Disney built the environment, you build the experience.

You decide how far to go, how fast to move, whether to stop on a rope bridge or just look out over the jungle and take it in and breathe for a minute. The magic here is entirely self generated.

And I also want to say this directly because I think it needs to be said, if you are physically able to do this, adults should do this. I know the instinct for a lot of adults sometimes is to watch the kids do it and then stand below and take pictures.

If you go with family, if you go with kids, don't do that, go on the course. It is incredibly safe. Obviously, safety is paramount in any Disney park worldwide.

It does not change here because the person I think that comes down from those trails is not the same Disney Parks fan who went up and I mean that. I think there is something about physically navigating something that is Challenging and difficult.

Something that asks the real of your body and your nerve. Like because you are high up, but you're inside a Disney Park. And I think it unlocks a feeling you didn't know was available to you there.

It is exhilarating in a completely different way than a roller coaster is. Because I think you have to earn that. And if you're saying, yeah, but I have young kids, they're too young, they're too small for it, have no fear.

There is a Junior Explorers Camp, which is a separate play area in that same area designed specifically for younger adventurers. But I love that this is not an afterthought. It's not just sort of like a soft ground play area that they can go run in and run around here.

There are three different, very distinct zones of natural environments, each inspired by Disney and Pixar stories. There's the Wild Savannah of the Lion King, the Ocean World of Finding Nemo, and the Cloud High Adventures of Up.

They have their own set of ropes courses and climbing towers and slides and stair challenges. Young guests get their equally exciting and thrilling, but their own version of the adventure sized and designed specifically for them.

That's the thing I love about how Disney approached this. They didn't build one experience and then scale it down for kids.

They built two genuinely distinct experiences that exist in the same world, honoring that same spirit of exploration, but designed for completely different guests. The adults go up the mountain. The kids have their own mountain. Nobody in the family is left standing on the sideline watching somebody else have fun.

This goes back to Walt. He wanted to create a place where parents and kids and families can have fun together. That is exactly what this mountain does.

Obviously, kids under 7 have to be accompanied by somebody who is 16 or older. So this is a place where a parent or older sibling can go in with the little ones while another adult tackles the challenge. Trails.

You can split the group, meet back at the base camp. I think it's a beautifully designed solution to, I think one of the external challenges of a theme park trip with mixed age families.

And I think Shanghai Disney Resort does very, very well. But wait, there's more. That's not just what is in Adventure Isle.

There is Tarzan Call of the Jungle, which is a live theatrical production set in a fully realized jungle environment. This, I think, is one of the most spectacular shows in any Disney park around the world. I'll talk more about entertainment in a minute.

But Adventure Isle show is worth singling out because here, it belongs to this land in a way that few Disney shows, I think, belong in their settings. This land represents Disney's willingness to design something that requires participation, not just observation.

You cannot, and I think should not fully experience Adventure Isle by walking through it with your hands in your pockets and certainly not looking down at your phone. Please put your phone away. There is something I think philosophically important here. Adventure Isle is designed to make you feel small.

You are dwarfed by these seemingly ginormous ancient trees and volcanic mountains and, and a sense of a world that was here long before you or Disney arrived. I think that's rare in a Disney park where you are the center of the story.

I think here you are meant to feel like the explorer in somebody else's world. And I think this land reminds you that Disney parks at their best are not spectator sports. They're invitations.

We talk about wanting to have fuller, richer, deeper, more interactive, more personal stories. That's what this is. And you don't need high tech. You don't need a device or a screen to do it. This land invites you to explore.

Not from, you know, being sitting in a ride vehicle, not from a seat in a theater, but with your own two hands and your own two feet on the side of a mountain. Above this world, the adults go up the challenge trails. The kids conquer the Junior Explorers Camp.

Then you meet for all the amazing food that, that this land has to offer and go meet Duffy and friends. And then you meet back at base camp with a story to tell. Do not skip it. Do not watch this from below.

Pirates is the thing that I think attracts a lot of people to Shanghai Disneyland. I think this land, this attraction, the challenge trails at Camp Discovery should rank right up there with one of the reasons to go to Shanghai.

And if you are able, bring your closed toed shoes and get up on that mountain. Now you might be saying, Mongello, you just went through Adventure Isle. You talked about Pirates of the Caribbean. How did you not talk about.

I'm getting there because number six on my list is the entertainment. Eye of the Storm, Tarzan, Voyage to the Crystal Grotto and much more.

Shanghai Disneyland's live entertainment and experiential offerings represent Disney at its, I think most theatrical, most spectacular, which is a word I think we use to describe this park a lot. And most committed to the live performance art form.

I have never seen Eye of the Storm, Captain Jack's Stunt Spectacular, and admittedly I almost skipped it until I was talking with someone who said, you cannot miss this show.

This stunt spectacular is performed on a lagoon in an indoor theater with Full size ships, explosions, cannon fire, aerial performers, and a script that, even though I don't understand Chinese, is genuinely funny and genuinely thrilling. It's not a show where you just sit in the bleachers and watch from a far distance.

This is one where the action surrounds you and approaches you and surprises you and unfold at a scale that makes you feel like you are in the middle of a film production.

This show, and I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it, because I want you to see with your own eyes, not necessarily by watching on YouTube, but you can. It starts off as one thing and then become, surprisingly something else. And I think shows of this scale are relatively rare in Disney parks globally.

You can tell that the investment required in this show is ginormous.

Shanghai has committed to it fully and the result brings it in the same conversation as things like Fantasmic and the great Disney theatrical productions on land and at sea, and I think in some ways surpasses them.

So I need to tell you a little bit more about what Eye of the Storm actually is, because I don't think any description I've given it so far fully does it justice. This show takes place in the El Teatro Fandango, which is this beautiful.

This is not a small theater tucked into the back of a land. This is a major purpose built performance venue for a show that was designed from the ground up to be something extraordinary.

It was not something that they built to fit into a preexisting space. The story, from what I can understand, revolves around Captain Jack's escape from the British Royal Navy.

And there's this climactic battle in the eye of a storm.

And I want to talk about that climax specifically because I don't think it's anything that I or anybody else who has never seen it before is prepared for. And I was so amazed that I did a little digging.

And Disney worked with a company called Aerodium Technologies to create this custom built, one of a kind, open recirculation, wind tunnel technology built directly onto the show stage. Let me translate that for you. Think of like those indoor skydiving simulations. That's what they built. What does that mean in real life?

This is a real raging tornado, like an actual tornado on stage, with live performers fighting, sword fights and like wrestling inside the vortex. This is not a simulation it's not a projection, it's not a lighting effect.

There is a real column of wind powerful enough to lift performers in the air. There's no nets, there's no ropes, there's no harnesses. And a cast of acrobats and stunt performers were trained to work inside it.

10,000 Performances with a wind tunnel every single time. And I know I talked earlier about how Pirates is different than the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions here domestically in the States.

The show features Captain Jack confronted by Redhead, who is this beautiful original character, but obviously a nod to we want the. And then by the Royal Admiral and his men. And there's great, sort of exactly what you would hope for.

There's this swashbuckling sword fights and stunts and that raging storm finale. And the detail that, I mean, there's a lot of details that I love. And again, I had no idea what they were saying. And you don't need to.

The show actually opens with a fake Jack Sparrow appearing on stage. Then the real Jack Sparrow appears and they get into this competition with each other. Like, the bit works, it's funny, it's clever.

I don't know what they're saying again, but you can clearly see that it sets this tone of humor and self awareness that carries through the show.

And then when that action and that real danger escalates in the second half and what you think is the theater sort of opens up to become this giant sea battle, it really earns its place.

And I think that wonderful contrast between this, what you expect, I think subverting expectations, when you first sit down and go, oh, this is going to be this type of show, it's not. And don't let the fact that the show being performed primarily in Chinese throw you.

I think Disney very clearly made a deliberate creative decision to really showcase not just the movement, but the facial expressions and the effects and the stunts so heavily that the story is fully understandable, even if you don't know. Hi, I'm Louisiana. A single word of the language. It's not an accident. I think it's very intentional, very thoughtful, very inclusive by design.

And it means that as an international visitor, you don't lose anything.

I think a lot of people get thrown off with going to some of the foreign parks, especially in China, because of the language, not only do most cast members can they help, you know, communicate with you in English. But with a show like this, as an international visitor, you don't lose anything. Like, I was fully inside the show from even the pre show.

Like I understood what was going on without understanding a word that they were saying. And if you go, this is a show that benefits you.

Arriving 20, 25 minutes early, getting a seat in the middle section for the best view of the stage and the special effects. I like sitting on or near the aisle.

Keep your hands and feet out of the aisle because they are active parts of the experience and obviously stay till the very, very end. That finale is what the whole show is building towards. If you leave early, do not, you will regret it in a way that's hard to explain.

Like the payoff is absolutely worth it.

And I look, I think that Eye of the Storm belongs in the same conversation, whether it is fantasmic or insert, whatever your favorite greatest Disney theatrical production ever staged is.

But I think in many ways it might just surpass any or all of them because no other Disney show has ever put a real tornado on the stage and sent human beings into it. That is a sentence that should not be possible. And yet here we are.

I know I just talked about the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction and the ropes course being sort of that the things you cannot miss if you. If. When you go to Shanghai, know the showtimes before you walk into the park. Make sure you build your day around this show if you have to.

It is not something that you maybe can see if it fits in. I think it is something that is central to the experience and doesn't necessarily get the love and attention that it should.

I thank those people who I met there who told me not to miss it because now I understand why I am paying that forward to you. This is still one of the highest rated guest experiences in the park, which I think tells you everything you need to know.

But again, there is a vortex. There is a tornado on the stage with aerial performers in it. That is all you need to know. But there's other entertainment experience as well.

There's the voyage to the Crystal Grotto. Very different.

This is that gentle boat ride through Fantasyland that tells the stories of classic Disney characters through floating set pieces and animatronics and projections in this winding open air waterway. It is magical in a very different, quieter, more classic Disney way.

But I think it's one that again, it's easy to overlook, but sort of sneaks up on you. And again, there's also that anniversary exclusive entertainment that's happening right now.

The Heart of the Magic Castle stage show, which is brand new, featuring those nine different Disney stories. Mickey's storybook Express parade, which has been reimagined and re enhanced. These are not permanent additions.

They're here for now, for this moment in the park's history. I think that's an argument for going sooner rather than later.

But I think taken together, and obviously I'm not talking about all of the entertainment that is in this park, and there is a lot of it, the entertainment at Shanghai makes a very powerful argument. Disney has not lost its commitment to live human performance as a core part of the park experience.

And I think here that commitment is front and center. All right, I need to move on. Number eight on my list. Mangella, why is it taking you so long to get here? Food, Glorious food.

A culinary experience unlike any other Disney park. It is a recurring theme about Shanghai. Shanghai Disneyland takes dining to places literally and figuratively that no other Disney park has explored.

I can do an entire episode just about the food at Shanghai Disneyland Disney made a very deliberate decision, I think, early on, which is they were not going to serve just the quote unquote, typical American theme park food at Shanghai.

The culinary program, like the rest of the park itself, is rooted in authentic Chinese cuisine, regional flavors and locally inspired dishes, which I was very happy about. And the quality is exceptional.

You'll find everything from Xiaolongbao, which are our soup dumpings, to Sichuan spice noodles, Peking duck, and this rotating menu of seasonal specialties that reflect Chinese culinary tradition and festivals. I. I felt that this isn't Chinese food for tourists. It is the real thing, made with real intention, which made me very, very happy and very full.

Plus, the presentation is extraordinary. The food here is beautiful. It is deliberately photogenic. We eat with our eyes first. It's often tied to specific characters or lands in creative ways.

And I think it.

I think the food here, without going to too many specifics about everything I ate, because we'd be here all day, I think the food reflects the broader philosophy of the park. Everything here is designed to feel very well considered, very specific, very intentional.

And even the quick service options of which I tried as many as I possibly my stomach would allow, like corn dogs and chicken tenders, are not the default here. And again, that choice represents Disney's respect for the local food culture. And.

All right, I have to take you on a little food tour because I think the specifics matter here. Let's start off with the snacks and why they matter.

Shanghai Disneyland, like Tokyo, offers exclusive popcorn flavors and you're not going to find anywhere else in the Disney universe.

They have a Mickey Mouse hand bun, which is a steamed bun shaped like Mickey's gloved hand, filled with this delicious succulent pulled braised pork chemical chips on the side. It's adorable, it's delicious. It is uniquely Shanghai. And it's the kind of thing that makes you stop and go, why don't we have this everywhere?

In Zootopia they have the Popsicle P A W, P S I C L E. It's a paw shaped ice pop available from a number of vending carts. It's tart, it's light, it's completely on brand for the land it lives in. It is this like 2 minute interaction with a piece of food.

But it also helps deepen your immersion in the world of Zootopia. Also while you're there, there's Jumbo's Cafe, which is run by the elephant ice cream shop owner from the film.

They serve giant Jumbo pop cult chocolate covered marshmallows, an oversized big donut. Again, it's not sort of the normal snack you'd find everywhere else.

It's a specific place from a specific story serving food that makes the like narrative sense in this world. Over in Treasure Cove, there's the snack and Kraken. I just like the name.

Here you can get grilled squid and fish balls with Sichuan peanut pepper sauce at a Disney park in a pirate land. Trust me, try the squid. It works perfectly. Because Treasure Cove is a port and in a port that world would absolutely have street food like this.

This is not like a joke novelty. The. The grilled squid here and in Hong Kong it's a thing. It's a real thing. I tried it in Hong Kong. There are sit down restaurants as well.

Barbosa's Bounty in Treasure Cove is again one of those atmospheric dining experiences where you're eating inside a Pirates of the Caribbean themed dining room. There's like you see in Disneyland. There's views of the boats that drift into the ride's entrance.

There is a signature barbecue rib and grilled meat dish, which is fantastic. This is not sort of, you know, cafeteria food with a pirate hat on. This is a real meal in a real themed setting.

Over in the Royal Banquet hall, which is located inside the Enchanted Storybook Castle. This is the signature dining experiences of the park. It is a fairytale feast. There's Disney princess theming everywhere.

There's characters appearing throughout. If you are going to do the one sit down, memorable meal at Shanghai. This is probably the one.

This, again, as I mentioned earlier, makes this castle feel even more alive because you're not just walking through it. You get to eat inside it. And what I love about this park is you don't need to sit down to have a genuinely good meal.

At the carts and quick service locations, there's everything from pork dumplings to noodle soup, won soup, barbecue pork rice. There's vegetarian bowls throughout the quick service locations. These are not, again, Americanized novelty versions.

These are real versions of real dishes available at affordable theme park prices. And I think this reinforces what the Disney parks culinary scene is like. Food is not logistics. It's not fuel. Right? Food is part of the storytelling.

Every restaurant, every snack cart, every themed dessert is a deliberate extension of the land it lives in. And here, specifically, the culture it's rooted in, like the. The spicy popcorn isn't just a fun flavor.

This is Shanghai telling you exactly where you are. And yes, don't worry, you can find a number of. You can find burgers and chicken nuggets and the traditional turkey leg and Mickey waffles are there.

And that's the beauty of it. I think the old and the new, the familiar and the adventurous, sit side by side, which, like, that's Shanghai Disneyland in a single image.

And I think that's the takeaway. Like, you will eat things at Shanghai Disneyland that you cannot eat anywhere else in the Disney world.

Make dining a priority here, not an afterthought. Come hungry, leave amazed. Speaking of amazing. Nice segue, Mungelo. Number eight on my list is the people.

And I'm not just talking about the cast members, but the guests and the atmosphere that they create together.

I think for a lot of people traveling overseas, traveling to unfamiliar places, traveling to places where the language and the people and the culture is very unfamiliar, is very scary to a lot of people. And I. And it's very. It's understandable.

But the human element at Shanghai Disneyland, which I paid very, very close attention to, and I mean both the people who work there and the people who visit, really creates an atmosphere unlike anything you'll find in a Disney park in the west. And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing.

And I talked to a number of cast members and executives, and I didn't realize that Shanghai Disneyland opened with a cast member group that had, in many cases, never worked in a theme park. Never worked.

Not a Disney theme park, any theme park before Disney essentially built Their service culture from the ground up in China, training thousands of young Chinese men and women in the art of Disney hospitality. And what's emerged a decade later is something remarkable.

I think that there's a cast member culture here that blends Disney's legendary service traditions with a genuine local pride in what this park represents. These are not folks who are just going through the motions.

I think they are very invested in the experience in a way that is palpable from your first and every interaction that you have. And I really felt that this time. And I was very, very hyper aware of it and looking to see what those interactions were like. I.

Even if I didn't understand the language, I was made to feel very welcome, very comfortable if I was trying to figure out what to order or how to pay, whatever it might be. And I think I want to sort of put a number on that. That sense of pride that you can tell cast members have.

This resort has created more than 15,000 direct jobs. These aren't just like some. These are careers. These are lives built around the single mission of creating happiness.

We know what that feels like, right? We can sense it in Walt Disney World and Disneyland and Disney Cruise Line.

And when you feel that same energy from a cast member whose language you might not understand in Shanghai, that's what's behind it. And, you know, I wanted to share something from the anniversary celebration that really stuck with me.

On the morning of June 16, before the park even opened, thousands of cast members gathered on Mickey Avenue and in the Gardens of Imagination for a commemorative group photo. Josh demaro was there. Bob Iger surprised him, and they cheered for the cast members, for the people.

And I think in a moment that says everything I want to say about this park.

A group of cast members who had worked at Shanghai Disney Resort since the very first day were invited up on stage during the birthday celebration, recognized in front of tens of thousands of guests. The applause that they received was sustained. It was warm, it was authentic.

These people who spent a decade creating magic for strangers, on this day, the strangers were able to say thank you in a very public way for them.

And one of the things I think that we consistently hear, and I've talked to other guests who have been to Shanghai before, I experienced it the first time we went with our WDW radio group abd nearly 10 years ago. The cast members at Shanghai go out of their way, sometimes dramatically. So I think, to make moments special.

Yes, the language barriers exist, of course, but the smiles and the patience and the problem solving bridge those gaps beautifully. I never, and I was mostly solo during this trip. I never at any time felt awkward or uncomfortable or out of place.

Sometimes that single look, a nod, a smile, a bow, whatever it is, makes all the difference. And it's not just the cast members, it's the guests as well. And look, we talked about this when we talked about the Disney adventure.

When you go into another country, when you go, which I sort of feel metaphorically is going into somebody else's home, there are differences, there are cultural differences, there are language differences. But visiting a Disney park where the majority of the audience is experiencing it through a completely different cultural lens, it's very eye opening.

The things that move them, the characters that they respond to. Duffy and friends, I'm looking directly, squarely at you.

The moments where you see pure joy on a stranger's face who doesn't speak the same language as you, like, you get it, like it's the same thing that moves you. And sometimes it's beautifully different in the way that things resonate with them.

But either way, it continued to remind me because I walked around just trying to observe a lot.

It reminds me, and I think us of something that's critically important, which is the language of Disney is universal, even when we don't share a written or a spoken language. And I think the magic of Shanghai Disneyland is not just the rides and the castle and the food. It is the people.

It's the ones who work here, it's the ones who visit alongside you. And I think when you go in open to that and experience it, you're going to have an even better time.

Number nine on my list is, you know, when I was looking at Shanghai Disneyland and trying to take it in totality, not just where it's been in the last 10 years, but where it's going. This really, I think, is reflective of Disney's newest philosophy of design and maybe helping to create a blueprint for the future.

Shanghai Disneyland is not just a great park. I think this is a statement by Disney about what Disney believes a theme park can and should be.

And I think this points toward where this entire company is headed. Look, I think every Disney park reflects the philosophy of the era in which it was built.

Disneyland was about Walt's belief in storytelling through environment. Epcot is that post war optimism about technology and world culture and the future.

Disney's Hollywood Studios reflects that moment when behind the scenes, glamour was the attraction. And Disney's Animal Kingdom reflects, I think, the maturing of Disney's environmental consciousness.

Shanghai, I think, reflects something different and you know, sort of having time to reflect on my 32 hour trip home. It's fine. It was wonderful. The belief that a theme park can be of its place, not just built in a location, but genuinely belonging to it.

What I mean by that is this.

The stories told in a park should resonate with the people who live nearby as deeply as they resonate with visitors who flew 14, 16, in my case, 53 hours door to door to be there. It's true. It's fine. It's cool. I loved it. I think it also reflects a technological philosophy.

Shanghai was built with the trackless ride system, the roaming vehicle technology, this seamless, beautiful projection mapping, this environmental storytelling that represents state of the art in theme park design. Zootopia's Hot Pursuit, Pirates, Sunken Treasure. These are not just great attractions, they are demonstrations of, of what the medium can achieve.

And I think that there is a creative philosophy at work. Again, I had the privilege of not just being invited by Disney. There was only four of us, us based media who were invited out.

And we had an opportunity to walk the park with three imaginary executives.

And I took full advantage of that incredible opportunity and that time to talk and understand more about not just the intention in building the park, but where they are now and where they are going.

And you know, when they were building and ideating Shanghai, they were given permission not just to be new, but not to recycle, not to replay, to invent something brand new. And I think that spirit is clear and infectious.

When you go into the park, you can feel that in the way the lands are designed, the way the entertainment is conceived, the way his food is presented. Everything here feels like somebody's original idea and was given space to breathe. It reminds me very much of Tokyo Disneysea.

And I think that matters for fans because I think it tells you something about the company. When Disney is at its best, it doesn't just repeat and recycle what's worked. It risks doing something new.

Shanghai is proof that the risk is worth it. 100 Million guests in nine years is not an accident. That's validation. And I think that philosophy is continuing right now as we speak.

A Spider Man Land. Take that. Let me just take that in for a minute.

A Spider Man Land is under construction next to Zootopia, the ninth themed land in Shanghai Disneyland in a single park. The park's first major Marvel attraction.

The track installation was completed just I think like the days that we were there, the future of Shanghai Disneyland is literally being built. As I record this, we're going to talk about that in a second.

But I think if you want to understand where Disney is going, not just where it's been, go to Shanghai and spend a day at Shanghai Disneyland. I think this is not just a theme park. I think it's a thesis statement.

And I think the thesis statement is telling you that Disney is getting bolder and getting better. Finally, ish, number 10 of the reasons to visit Shanghai Disneyland is this is part of the perfect Asia Disney trip, if you can make it happen.

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and the Disney Adventure. Visiting Shanghai Disneyland isn't just visiting one park.

I think this is the gateway to the most exciting, most diverse collection of Disney destinations on the planet.

If you've listened to the show before, if you know me, you know my love of Tokyo and Japan and the food and the culture and certainly the Tokyo Disney parks. But now within the Asia Pacific region, you have four distinct Disney resort destinations and none of them repeat each other.

Shanghai with Zootopia, the Castle, the Pirates, its bold originality.

Hong Kong, Disneyland, which has undergone, I think, a remarkable transformation with a new castle, Ant man and the Wasp, Nano battle, the stunning world of frozen Land, the food. I'll get to that too, because I went to Hong Kong when I was done.

Tokyo Disney, I think still sets the gold standard of Disney operations in the world with two parks and the breathtaking Fantasy Springs expansion.

And sailing from Singapore, which is metaphorically right across the street, is the Disney Adventure, Disney Cruise Line's newest and largest ship, home ported year round at Marina Bay. This is not a theme park. It's. Well, it is sort of a theme park at sea, but it's the biggest in Disney's fleet.

Three and four night sailings entirely at sea because the ship itself is the destination. Again, it is sort of a theme park because there are seven themed areas. There's a Marvel Adventure Zone, San Francisco Street. God, I love it so much.

The Disney Cruise Line's first ever roller coaster, the Lion King Fireworks Spectacular, and some of the best entertainment and food anywhere. You can go back and listen to show number 863, where we go into it in detail.

The point is a well planned Asia Disney itinerary is one of the great theme park pilgrimages a Disney fan can undertake. Shanghai plus Hong Kong is absolutely doable in a week. I did it. Adding Tokyo makes it an absolute dream trip.

I was really, really close to stopping on my way back. I unfortunately didn't have time, but I was able to do Shanghai. It's a couple of hour flight over to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a very easy, very, very accessible park. I will do a show about my trip to Hong Kong coming up soon and the reason why.

Look, I understand this is when I say it's a dreamtrip, it is a dreamtrip and I understand it's not accessible for a variety of reasons for everybody or for a lot of people. But the important context and the reason why I say you can and should try and hit them all. Whether it's on one trip or many trips.

These parks are not interchangeable. They are not four versions of the same experience.

Each one reflects its host culture, its local audience, and I think it's creative moment in Disney history. And taken together, they offer a breadth of Disney experience that simply doesn't exist anywhere else in the world.

You could spend a month in Asia visiting only Disney parks and come out having felt things, seen things, eaten things and experience things you couldn't have found anywhere else. And I think Shanghai is the anchor. I think it is the park that started the conversation about what a 21st century Disney park could be.

I think it's the one that 10 years in sometimes feels like it's from and embracing the future. And I should also mention this because this very much matters for your planning.

Shanghai Disney Resort currently has two on property hotels right now which I think couldn't be almost more different from each other, which is actually perfect. Shanghai Disney Hotel is the flagship.

It is this very grand, very elegant, art nouveau inspired resort sitting right on the banks of wishing star lakes, beautiful views of the park and the castle. The theming draws from classic Disney animation, the characters we all know, and it has this feel of a true luxury destination.

This is the special occasion hotel. This is the anniversary trip, the once in a lifetime, the honeymoon that we saved up for this day. Toy Story Hotel is the other option.

This is the one that I stayed in this time. I was at Shanghai Disneyland the first time nine years ago.

When I say budget friendly, don't let that fool you because the theming here is spectacular. It's about 800 rooms, very much immersed in the Toy Story and Pixar character theming throughout.

I had a Buzz Lightyear themed room and it sort of felt like I was in like Andy's spaceship playset. It was wonderful. It was comfortable. I loved, loved, loved the buffet downstairs.

The cost is much different than the Disneyland hotel, but you still get a lot of the same perks, including early park entry.

There's complimentary shuttle service to the parks and I think more importantly that feeling that you are fully Immersed inside the Disney World from the moment that you wake up. But a brand new third hotel is coming. They announced the name during the anniversary celebration.

It is going to be the Shanghai Disney Enchanted star hotel. A 400 room deluxe property opening this winter right next to the existing Shanghai Disneyland hotel.

This is going to have that art nouveau architecture once again, Shanghai's cultural heritage. With the Wishing Star as sort of the guiding design theme. Throughout, beautiful views of the Wishing Star park and the theme park.

And based on what Disney has said and what they have shown in terms of concept art, it looks like it is going to be stunning. And I think it shows that the resorts themselves are growing to match the ambition of the park.

And so if you are thinking about Shanghai and if you are able to make it happen, think beyond just visiting Shanghai itself. Because I think Asia now is home to some of the most extraordinary Disney experiences in the world.

And any combination of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore isn't just a dream trip. I think it is a pilgrimage. And now is the time. Now is the best time to make it happen.

Now I've just given you 10 reasons to visit Shanghai Disneyland. But I want to leave you with one more thought. Because the story of this park is not finished.

Josh tomorrow said so and I'll explain exactly, at least in some part, what he was talking about.

Because right now as I'm recording this, there is a construction site sitting right next to Zootopia that is about to change the conversation about Shanghai Disneyland all over again. I didn't think these words were ever going to be able to come out of my mouth. A Spider man land is coming.

And just a few days ago, while we were there, track installation was complete. The structure is built, the ride exists. It's there right now waiting to open.

You can see the track, you can see the cranes, which by the way, quick aside. They made sure the cranes were painted red, the same color as the track. So that they blend in and they reflect what is coming in terms of theming.

It's a small detail, but it matters big. Here's what we know. This is going to be the ninth themed land in Shanghai Disneyland.

The first ever Spider man themed land in any Disney park anywhere in the world.

The anchor attraction is going to be a high speed launch coaster, which Disney describes as, and I quote, peter Parker has gotten himself and us in a bit of a tight spot. We're going to follow him at very high speeds to get us out of trouble.

If you look at the concept art, it shows guests chasing Spider man through what appears to be an Avengers campus like setting with the web logo visible on the ride vehicles and surrounding crates. That's the same web storyline that we've seen at Web Slingers at Disney California Adventure and Disney Adventure World in Paris.

Disney is building a connected Spider man universe across its parks and Shanghai is about to become the centerpiece of it.

And based on the construction documents, it looks like it's going to be a launch coaster, maybe with forward and reverse elements, which, and I am admittedly a huge, huge Spider man fan. Are we looking at the makings of the single greatest Disney coaster ever built? Question mark?

They haven't announced an opening date as yet, but the track is now complete. The name hasn't been confirmed, although the words web launcher appeared on a construction beam. Take that for whatever that might be worth.

It might just be the best accidental spoiler in Disney history, or it's just something that they wrote on a beam. But here's what this means for you.

If you go to Shanghai Disneyland, now on its 10th anniversary with Zootopia and pirates and the castle and all the anniversary entertainment and the food and the tens of things we talked about today, you are going to also be able to stand next to that construction wall and watch the future being built. Literally, you can look over and see the red and white track rising into the skylines.

And if you go in a year or two or go back, you'll be there when it opens. Am I starting to think about another group trip to Shanghai? Probably.

Either way, you need to go the park that already has some of the greatest attractions Disney has ever built, and I think some of the best theming and land and immersive storytelling Disney's ever done is about to add something that could be one of the best attractions and coasters they have ever made as well. That's not a reason to wait, that's a reason to book the trip. Remember what Josh said at the anniversary celebration?

What excites me most is that we're just getting started. Shanghai Disneyland at 10 years old is extraordinary. Shanghai Disneyland, Spider Man Land. I don't even know that I have the words for what that is.

Going to be. Go now, go soon. Just go. So there you have it, 10ish reasons why I think Shanghai Disneyland deserves to be on your Disney bucket list.

And honestly, I could have very easily given you 20. But here's what I want you to take away.

Shanghai Disneyland is not a substitute for Walt Disney World or Disneyland or Tokyo or any other Disney Park. It's not trying to be. What it is is something entirely, deliberately and unapologetically its own. And I think that's what makes it so special.

When Walt imagined Disneyland, he called it the happiest place on earth. But he also said it would never be completed, that it would continue to grow as long as there was imagination left in the world.

Shanghai Disneyland is proof of that vision.

It represents what happens when Disney takes everything it's learned over 70 years of park building and pours it into something brand new, without the weight of nostalgia, without the obligation to be familiar. And I think without limits. It opened 10 years ago this month, and it still feels like the future.

And tell me, have you been to Shanghai? Disneyland? If yes, what surprised you most? What made you stop and think, I didn't know Disney could do this.

And if you haven't been yet, what's holding you back? I, like, I legitimately want to know because I think after everything we talked about, I think it might be time to change that.

If you haven't been or you haven't even considered it before, and before I let you go, I want to share something else that I mentioned earlier on and something a little personal. Because this trip, visiting Shanghai and then Hong Kong, Disneyland after, it didn't just give me new experiences to talk about.

And I mean this sincerely, it genuinely, fundamentally changed the way I think about Disney parks. Not just what I think about them, but how I think about them. And I think it might do the same for you. Here's what I mean.

For years, and I mean years, since the first time I visited, if you asked me, what is the best Disney park in the world, I. I had an answer, like, unequivocally, I would tell you Tokyo Disneysea, without hesitation, without qualification. And I had all the reasons ready.

The theming, the food, the atmosphere, the food, the scale, the detail, the people, the food, the way it makes you Feel from the moment you walk through those gates. It is something different. It is something special.

The way it tells stories through architecture and environment in a way that no other park on earth quite matches. I stood behind that answer completely. I was confident in it.

But after this trip, and after walking through Shanghai and then experiencing Hong Kong, after standing in these parks and feeling what they made me feel, I'm not sure that question has an answer anymore. And I'm not sure it ever did. Because here's what I realized. What is the best Disney Park? Sounds like a complete question.

It feels like a complete question. It's the question every Disney fan asks and every Disney fan has an opinion about. But it's missing the most important word.

The word that changes everything. The best park for what? For thrill seekers. For families with very young children.

For foodies who want the most extraordinary culinary experience in any theme park in the world. For architecture lovers. For somebody who wants to feel like they've literally stepped inside a film.

For somebody who wants a culturally immersive experience that challenges everything they assumed about what a Disney park can be. For a solo traveler, for a honeymooner, for a multi generational family where a 5 year old and a 70 year old both need to leave happy.

For somebody with two days, for someone with a week, for someone with unlimited budget. For somebody who's been to every Disney park and thinks that they've seen it all. The answer changes every single time. And that is not a cop out.

That is not me avoiding the question. It's actually the most honest, I think most useful and most respectful answer I can give you because it honors the fact that you're not me.

And what you need from a Disney experience is yours, not mine. We're all different in terms of what we look for, what we want, what our expectations are when we visit a Disney Park.

Think about how we talk about Disney Cruise Line and the ships. I don't think anybody seriously asks, well, is the wish better than the wonder? Not really.

Because the better question, I think the one that actually helps you is what are you looking for in a cruise experience? What matters to you on this trip? Who are you traveling with? What's the occasion? Where are you going? What kind of magic are you chasing this time?

Once you answer those questions honestly, the right ship starts to become a little bit more obvious. And I think it's different for everyone. And that's not a flaw in the system, that's the system working exactly as it should.

In many ways, the Disney Parks are the same. And in many Ways they're not. Tokyo Disneysea is extraordinary. It is a park that rewards you for paying attention.

That, in my opinion, may represent the single most complete artistic vision ever executed in a theme park setting. I still believe that I have not changed my mind or opinion of about what Tokyo Disneysea is.

What I have changed is my mind about whether that makes it open quote, close quote the best. Because Walt Disney World is still my home park.

It is still extraordinary for its scale and its scope and its breadth and its ability to be all things to all people across all four parks and a hundred different experiences. To absorb an entire week of your life and send you home feeling like you still didn't see everything.

Disneyland in Anaheim is extraordinary for the history, the intimacy we talk about, how quaint it is, its connection to Walt himself, the fact that you can stand on a piece of ground where Walt actually stood and feel that Hong Kong, Disneyland is extraordinary for what it has become. A park that has reinvented itself with stunning new lands and found a creative voice and food, or the food that is entirely its own.

And Shanghai, Shanghai is extraordinary for, I think, its courage, for what it chose to be, for what it chose not to be. And the absolute conviction with which it made both of those decisions. None of them is, quote, unquote, better.

Each of them is the best at something for someone at a particular moment in life. And here's the thing that this trip taught me that I keep coming back to.

And I think the real question, the question worth asking, the question worth sitting with is not which park should I put at the top of my list? I think it has to be something much more personal than that. It's what am I looking for right now? What do I need from this experience?

What kind of magic am I chasing this time? Who am I bringing with me? What do they need? What chapter of my life am I in? And what does this trip mean within that chapter?

And I think those questions very honestly, and the answer will point you somewhere remarkable. It might point you to or back to Walt Disney World. It might point you to Tokyo.

It might point you to a cruise ship sailing out of Singapore on a four night voyage to nowhere. And if the answer points you to Shanghai, if everything we talked about today resonates with something in you, if you.

If something I said made you sit up and go, I want to feel that, I want to see that, I want to experience it, then I sincerely hope that you go and I hope that you come back and tell me what it did to you.

Because I think you'll find that as you expand your destinations and horizons and where you're going to visit, you're going to find that it doesn't just give you a new memorable or favorite experience. I think it gives you a new way of seeing all of them. Like, I feel like this trip sort of recalibrated something in me.

It's why I'm still thinking about it. It's why I'm still talking about. It's why I was so excited to share this with you and why I'm so excited to hopefully go back soon.

So please, like, come find me. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, email louwwradio.com wherever you want to chat. Tell me your answer.

Like I want to know from you what your quote unquote best park is and tell me what it's the best for. I genuinely want to know. I will also put this question in the [email protected] clubhouse and once again, thank you. Look, none of this happens.

These trips, these experiences that I am so fortunate and blessed to share with you don't happen without you. And I sincerely appreciate that.

I was one of four domestic journalists that was invited out by Disney to Shanghai to experience this anniversary celebration.

I do not take that opportunity and responsibility lightly and it is certainly not lost on me what a privilege it is and the fact that it does not happen without you and your love and your friendship and support. So thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for being here, thank you for listening, thank you for being part of our community and family, and thank you for loving being Disney in the way that is uniquely you.

It's time for our Disney Trivia Question of the Week, where you can test your knowledge to see how well you know the magic history and hidden details of Disney.

If you think you know the answer, you can enter via our online form for a chance to win a Disney Prize package, which may or may not be coming from Shanghai Disney. But before we get to this week's trivia question, let's go back back, review last week's and select our winner.

So last week I was at ESPN Wide World of Sports and Walt Disney World talking to Jesse Cole, the founder of Banana Ball. And your question last week was to tell me what Major League Baseball team once held their spring training at Walt Disney world for nearly 20 years.

Fans could come watch Grapefruit League games just minutes from the theme parks, making Disney one of the most unique spring training destinations in all of Major League Baseball. Anyway, I took all the correct entries, randomly selected one last week.

You're playing for a wwordo keychain, stickers pin, a new patch and a mystery prize that I brought back back for you from Shanghai Disney. And last week's winner randomly selected is Sherry Franklin. So Sherry, congratulations. I will get your prize package out to you right away.

And if you played last week and didn't win, here's your next chance to enter in this week's Walt Disney World Trivia Challenge.

So, among some of the many unique attractions that are home in this park, Shanghai Disneyland also has a full size walkthrough hedge maze in Fantasyland. And your question this week to tell me what Disney film inspired it? And just for fun, as a bonus, tell me who sort of can you meet at the center?

What Disney film inspired the full size hedge maze in Fantasyland in Shanghai Disney? Now I'm going to give you until July 5th to answer this week's trivia contest question by going to www.

Radio.com clicking on this week's podcast using the form there.

Again, I'm going to play for the keychain, stickers, pin patch and a mystery prize also that I brought back from my trip to Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland. So good luck and have fun. That's going to do it for this week's show.

And once again, thank you so much not just for your time and for listening, but again, this opportunity for me to visit and share my experience with you does not happen without you.

And if you enjoyed this episode and know someone that would like to hear it or just be introduced to the podcast in general, please do me a favor and share it. Rate, review and comment on this week's podcast over an Apple podcast over in Spotify.

And don't forget to be part of the community and conversation over in the [email protected] clubhouse. Connect with me Chat with me on social I'd love to hear from you on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. I am on.

And of course, as much as I love connecting with you online, I still firmly believe that nothing beats a handshake and a hug. And it has been far too long since our last WDW Radio meet of the month. That is all on me. I sincerely apologize.

Life and travel and wonderfully hectic schedule have me running in a lot of different directions. But if there was ever a time to bring it back. Now is the time. Now is the best time.

Please join me this Saturday, June 27th from 11am to 12pm as we gather in Tomorrowland, Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World and take one last trip together around and through Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress before it closes for its reimagining on July 6th.

Whether you have sung along with that theme theme song your whole life or you simply want to share this moment with friends, whether you have met them yet or not, I would love for you to be there. Come alone, bring friends, bring the whole family. Everyone is welcome.

It is completely free and if you've never been to a meet a month, this is the perfect one to start with.

Please come by rsvp, learn more, let me know that you're coming and say that there is a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the every at the end of every day. One more time, visit the WWRADIO Events page [email protected] you'll find it there. Also a link over in the clubhouse.

Before I wrap up, I want to thank and recommend my friends over at Mouse Fan Travel once again.

Whether this is your first trip or your 50th, whether you're thinking finally about going to Shanghai, Disneyland and any or all of the Asia parks and cruise lines, they help you create the kind of experiences we've been talking about. I trust them with my own travel. I know you can too. We have been partners and friends and Becky's been part of the show for more than 20 years.

You can visit them over at mousefantravel.com for a completely free, no obligation quote and let them help you plan your perfect Disney day or destination. Thank you again my friend. I love and appreciate you. Don't forget to be kind, choose the good and always keep moving forward.

Oh, and don't forget to join me this Wednesday night. I'll be live from a very special brand new for me destination right here in the Orlando area not not far from Walt Disney World.

Would love for you to check it out. Be part of the conversation WW radio live this Wednesday 7:30pm Eastern on our Facebook page or on YouTube.

So until then, until next time, until next week. Have an amazing day and even better tomorrow. See ya.