We’re a couple from the UK and big Disney fans. We’d booked holiday to China which ended in Shanghai and we decided to visit Disneyland. I tried doing a bit of research about the place which in the end didn’t prove that helpful. Firstly, downloading the app and buying the tickets online - we downloaded the app whilst in the UK. Tickets were only available/released 10 days to two weeks in advance so don’t worry if your date isn’t showing for a months time. The app was very slow whether in the UK or in China but worked much better in China on a Chinese Wi-Fi. Due to the timings we had to wait until we were in China to book the tickets on the app. I’d read things about huge queues so opted for one of the premier access (fast pass) packages. It cost us £300 for two one day park tickets with six fast passes each. The fast passes were ride specific and there are different options depending on the rides you want. You can also buy individual fast passes. I’d read about huge queues and didn’t want to rely on free fast passes that we might not get so that’s why I opted for the package. We also bought a one day PhotoPass for around £25. Once you’ve bought the tickets in the app it’ll say you’ll get a text and email confirmation for the purchase but I got neither but had took screen shots just in case. The purchase will appear on your app, go to the ‘me’ section at the bottom where you’ll have to fill in the guest names and passport numbers of the guests for each ticket. YOU MUST TAKE YOUR PASSPORTS WITH YOU. All tickets in China seem to be attached to your passports for security reasons and you won’t be let in without your passports. They will then give you a paper ticket once at the turnstile at the entrance to the park and you won’t need your passports again. The PhotoPass is a coupon on the app that you’ll need to get redeemed in the park at one of several locations, it tells you where in the app but we went to cosy corner, it’s the first shop on your right on Mickey Avenue (what would normally be Main Street USA). You’ll need to download the Disney PhotoPass app too which is where your photos will appear, the cast members will help you and show you. Regardless of whether you’ve had the pass activated, the first time you get to a photographer you’ll be given a card with a QR code on which will be scanned like your band would be in Orlando, every time they take a photo and all photos will appear on the app. You can purchase individual prints of photos at the park or you can have them digitally by buying the PhotoPass. It shows you the photo opportunities on the map of the park in the app. When we went there was no paper map, it’s all on the app. We went on Saturday 16 September which was after the school holidays. Despite it being a Saturday it wasn’t too busy. The longest queue time was 60mins for the seven dwarves mine train which we had a fast pass for. Tron had a 30 minute wait time and so we queued once for it and used the fast pass the next time. Pirates of the Caribbean had a 15 minute wait time so we queued and did that twice too. We got straight on the crystal grotto and queued half an hour for Peter Pan. We went to the Pirates of the Caribbean stunt show which isn’t in English but was still worth seeing (bear with it). Meeting characters has longer wait times for 40-60 minutes, which we didn’t bother with. Another thing to add, no commentary is in English on any of the rides. The parade does have English bits mainly due to the songs, same with the nighttime illuminations at the castle. The park in general is bigger than I thought, I thought it would be on a par with Paris but it was bigger. It has five (I think) lands to it, each has a guest services which have a board up telling you show times etc. There’s plenty of western style food, we had pizza from the Pinocchio tavern and we saw burgers in the restaurant in Tomorrowland. There’s free water fountains throughout the park and the water tastes normal (not like the matchstick flavoured water of Orlando). Disneytown is the food and shopping area (like a mini Disney Springs) and has the only Starbucks in the park (which doesn’t do anything Disney themed) but is big with indoor and outdoor seating. It is on the side of the park as if another land but you have to pass through security to get in and out of the park, the queue was minimal on the day we went. It’s hot and humid so prepare for this, my hair turned wild and my Disney themed T-shirt was stuck to me from the moment we arrived. Drink plenty of water. You can pay with credit/debit card at the bigger outlets and restaurants. I had downloaded Alipay but it only works with an internet connection. There is free Wi-Fi in the park which works nicely. Take a power bank! There are ones you can borrow for free in the park that you pay a refundable deposit for through Alipay or similar, however, you have to attach a phone number and it wouldn’t work for us. It appeared you needed a Chinese mobile number. The cast members don’t speak a lot of English but will use a translate app and are very willing to help you. Yeh toilets are very clean with plenty of western style toilets and loo roll (not a given as standard in China). It’s definitely worth a visit, we loved it. My only complaint, there weren’t any Christmas decorations for sale due to it not being Christmas.