上海玩具总动员酒店 — Attraction in Shanghai

Caveat: we live in China and don’t consider ourselves “ugly Americans;” we generally have respect for rules and the culture differences in China. ||Happiest place on earth…unless you don’t speak Chinese. We stayed two nights in the Toy story Hotel. The room was clean and cute. It was a bit awkward that the cleaning staff folded our dirty laundry…||It was the other experiences in the hotel that were less than stellar. In their gift shop they have “special“ merchandise that you can only purchase if you are staying at the hotel. But, that is not as simple as it sounds. You are only allowed to buy this merchandise (make single transactions) as many times as nights you are staying at the hotel. For example, we stayed at the hotel for two nights. My daughter bought something on the first day. On the second day, we had just finished paying when she brought us something else that she wanted. Too bad kid, that’s not how things work in China. They told us we would have to wait until the next day to make a separate transaction because we had already checked out and used up our ability to buy items. We made a special trip back from the park to the store the next afternoon (on Christmas) and tried to by the one character keychain (yes, one stuffed character keychain). Too bad for us, we had “bought things at the store twice“ and only stayed two days, so my daughter was SOL. None of this was made clear to us from the start and their convoluted policy was not well-explained on their “english” sign. ||In addition, their shuttle bus situation is clear as mud. You can get the bus TO the park out the front of the hotel to the right. It is not as easy to get back unless you have gotten stuck, walked a mile, based on the directions of the local staff, and then happened upon another stop after wandering for 30 minutes. Since we’ve already done that, please take advantage of the knowledge this fiasco imparted upon us…||If it is AFTER five, you need to make your way to the bus transportation center which is out the Disney town gate, past the cheesecake factory on your right, past the Sketchers store and the Lego store on your right, past the round Disney merchandise store (bear right) and past the Starbucks. Once you get into the bus area, it is lane A, to the far right. ||If it is BEFORE five PM however, you go out the Disneytown exit, turn RIGHT just before the cheesecake factory and go down the stairs. This is where the bus to “Toy story will pick you up.||Also beware, if you have picky children, the breakfast is almost exclusively Chinese food. Dumplings and teriyaki chicken, fishball noodle soup, tofu and lotus root. You can get silver-dollar pancakes and small waffles. Outside the main buffet room, they have a table with noodle and vegetable salads and tuna, but behind that stuff, they have corn flakes, rice crispies, toast...

BENEFITS of hotel stay:|(1) Early entry of an hour before the public (enter from 730am)|(2) Hotel's shuttle bus drop-off at a special entrance|i.e. not queuing at the public queue AND not having to walk through few hundred meters of Disneytown to get to Disneyland's entrance|(3) Exclusive chance to purchase new season's merchandise |i.e. the first week(s?) of new season's merchandise can only be purchased by hotel guests or by lucky draw winners within the park. Mid-Autumn Festival theme now!|(4) Staying in THEMED rooms i.e. Woody or Buzz Lightyear will get you hotel-exclusive merchandise e.g. themed bathroom slippers, towel, cushion cover and luggage tag. They'd also send freshly made Woody-themed choco lollipops to your room.||OTHER tips:|(1) Sunnyside café's their buffet restaurant, but honestly you should skip (paying for) that and definitely go try those cute food items in the park!|(2) If you just want a simple meal, Sunnyside Market's right next door, selling rice, noodles and desserts till 10pm. After which, vending machines at every floor's lift lobby gets you instant noodles, snacks, drinks, etc.|(3) Their rooms all have universally adapted electrical outlets... turned out we didn't need to ask for universal adaptors after all. They loan USB charger wires too!|(4) You can watch the park's nightly fireworks show from the comfort of the hotel's grounds i.e. right outside the lobby's doors leading to the outdoor playground.||SERVICE:|We found the hotel's staff to be well-trained, friendly and proactive. Appreciate Joy (YueLe) at the reception, and housekeeping's Huihui offering us extra drinking water.||SMALL complains:|(1) Their newfangled kettle "dispenser" looked cool, but gave off a burnt plastic smell after every boil. Felt unsafe drinking water from it.|(2) Pretty strange that all Woody-themed (the pricier rooms) get the gloomy view of the sad, unlit roads outside, while cheaper rooms get the park/playground view?||VALUE:|Having recently visited Tokyo's Disney Ambassador and MiraCosta hotels, can't help but feel the value of the rooms here ain't really worth it - it was above 400usd for a themed double queens room without breakfast, which was roughly the same as Tokyo's Disney Ambassador, which had overall much better decor and service. It was much better value when we stayed here six years ago... how prices have soared!||GETTING THERE:|20-minute cab ride from Shanghai Pudong airport to the hotel costed us roughly 200rmb (20+usd). At the airport, do get to the actual taxi stands for metered taxis and ignore all drivers who will approach you to offer your their private...

BENEFITS of hotel stay:|(1) Early entry of an hour before the public (enter from 730am)|(2) Hotel's shuttle bus drop-off at a special entrance|i.e. not queuing at the public queue AND not having to walk through few hundred meters of Disneytown to get to Disneyland's entrance|(3) Exclusive chance to purchase new season's merchandise |i.e. the first week(s?) of new season's merchandise can only be purchased by hotel guests or by lucky draw winners within the park. Mid-Autumn Festival theme now!|(4) Staying in THEMED rooms i.e. Woody or Buzz Lightyear will get you hotel-exclusive merchandise e.g. themed bathroom slippers, towel, cushion cover and luggage tag. They'd also send freshly made Woody-themed choco lollipops to your room.||OTHER tips:|(1) Sunnyside café's their buffet restaurant, but honestly you should skip (paying for) that and definitely go try those cute food items in the park!|(2) If you just want a simple meal, Sunnyside Market's right next door, selling rice, noodles and desserts till 10pm. After which, vending machines at every floor's lift lobby gets you instant noodles, snacks, drinks, etc.|(3) Their rooms all have universally adapted electrical outlets... turned out we didn't need to ask for universal adaptors after all. They loan USB charger wires too!|(4) You can watch the park's nightly fireworks show from the comfort of the hotel's grounds i.e. right outside the lobby's doors leading to the outdoor playground.||SERVICE:|We found the hotel's staff to be well-trained, friendly and proactive. Appreciate Joy (YueLe) at the reception, and housekeeping's Huihui offering us extra drinking water.||SMALL complains:|(1) Their newfangled kettle "dispenser" looked cool, but gave off a burnt plastic smell after every boil. Felt unsafe drinking water from it.|(2) Pretty strange that all Woody-themed (the pricier rooms) get the gloomy view of the sad, unlit roads outside, while cheaper rooms get the park/playground view?||VALUE:|Having recently visited Tokyo's Disney Ambassador and MiraCosta hotels, can't help but feel the value of the rooms here ain't really worth it - it was above 400usd for a themed double queens room without breakfast, which was roughly the same as Tokyo's Disney Ambassador, which had overall much better decor and service. It was much better value when we stayed here six years ago... how prices have soared!||GETTING THERE:|20-minute cab ride from Shanghai Pudong airport to the hotel costed us roughly 200rmb (20+usd). At the airport, do get to the actual taxi stands for metered taxis and ignore all drivers who will approach you to offer your their private...