Shanghai Disneyland Attractions. What were your first impressions?

So far by, the looks of it, Pirates is their centerpiece. The voice overs are a bit of a disappointment but other than that, it looks amazing. Troy looks nice but they could have done so much more considering how Pirates has turned out. Its good to see Disney has some fight in them

Pirates, Peter Pan and crystal grotto all look amazing. Disappointed Pooh was a Florida carbon copy

The tron ride launch section looks amazing with all of the lighting effects and the ride itself looks fun.
Pirates looks fantastic and I love the way that the real life objects and screens look seamless. At the beginning of the ride where there is a skellington that turns into jack sparrow looks amazing. However I think they could have used a couple more audio animatronics in the ride.
The adventure isle mountain and waterfall looks really impressive.
The crystal grotto ride looked good but would have been so much better if they used audio anamatronics instead of the still statues.
Soarin was a bit of a disappointment in terms of the actual movie. I liked how they used a lot of different locations from around the world but they also missed out certain ones. (Grand Canyon, london??) I really hope that they will have random scenes each time you ride when they come to orlando and california. Also it doesn't look like there were that many near miss locations like in the old one they had the golfer, mountain tops, the rivers etc...
Overall extremely impressed with the new rides and can't wait to see what they have in mind for any future ones.

I was very skeptical about this project when it was first announced. I've been following it since then and I must say, Disney seems to have learned their lesson following their DLP and HKDL debacles. While the amount of attractions is still lacking, the quality of their marquee attractions is outstanding! Their PotC is without a doubt the most impressive Dark Ride since Forbidden Journey. The Tron lightcycle looks amazing (even though it seems pretty short), and the crystal grotto looks like a nice replacement for both Storybook Canals and The Jungle Cruise. I can't wait to see what Roaring Rapids looks like.

I was going to wait until the inevitable expansion for this park, but right now you can get round trip flights and hotels for four nights for around $700! I'm really considering booking sometime this week!

Quick Thoughts:

TRON-Looks amazing, would ride it in a heartbeat

Buzz Lightyear-From what I've seen it looks kinda disappointing. Most of the targets are the same robot and there's barely any color compared to Astro Blasters

Pirates-Blown away, probably one of Disney's best

Soarin-I like the places that they chose, thought the transitions were kind of weird. Like they still kept the same music. I predict that the US versions will have Disneyland as the finale instead of downtown Shanghai. In regards to the previous comment of why they didn't fly over certain locations, they probably had to have gotten clearance and some locations would have been a no fly zone. (e.g. Times Square) They must have been really lucky to have been able to film over the Eiffel Tower, which would have been more stricter since the November incident occurred)

Seven Dwarfs-Same ride, except they don't have the cottage finale

Crystal Grotto-Would have like to have seen them do the same concept but indoors and with real AA's. Seems like a nice "breather ride".

Peter Pan-Impressed with the first half of the ride from what I've seen. I need better video of the ride from Captain Hook's ship onward.

Pooh-Why did they just copy the same old lame ride instead of doing something different. I bet they still have the Toad and Owl picture just like they do in Hong Kong.

Anyone think that the reason why Roaring Rapids isn't open is because the big gator creature is the "next yeti"?

Let's do this by land...

Adventure Isle: For spoiler reasons, I've only watched a very small amount of the Soarin' Over the Horizon video. From what I've seen, it looks like the movie aspect is improved but the ride aspect is diminished, as most of the shots seem more like documentary footage than a helicopter/hang glider flight. I love the fact that they used rearrangements of the original theme for the score of the ride as that was one of the best ride soundtracks ever. I haven't seen much more of Adventure Isle, but I can't wait to see Roaring Rapids...it sounds like what Grizzly River Run should have been and could be the second best ride in the park.

Fantasyland: This seems like the most "formulaic" land at the park with many of the cloned attractions. Pooh appears to be mostly similar to the other versions (outside of Tokyo) and I don't see any notable differences between this Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and the original at Magic Kingdom. Peter Pan's Flight is a nice fresh take on the attraction and upgrades the ride without losing the charm of the original. Crystal Grotto is interesting and not at all what I expected...it feels like a cross between Disneyland's Jungle Cruise and Legoland's Fairy Tale Brook. It's not an amazing ride, but it's a solid and unique one. The wlakthrough attractions in this area are great and remind me of some of the excellent walkthroughs at Disneyland Paris. Overall a nice area but probably the least interesting for those who have visited other Disney resorts.

Gardens of Imagination: We haven't seen much of this area but I like the concept of it. It seems like a nice way to make the hub a part of the park rather than just the junction point of all the other lands.

Tomorrowland: This area looks like a fresh take on an old theme. Tron Lightcycle is the biggest thrill ride in the park and looks like an excellent family coaster, but it lacks the immersion of Space Mountain and feels a tad too short. I've only seen a snippet of Buzz Lightyear, but it looks like a solid upgrade to the Astro Blasters attraction. I haven't seen any of Tomorrowland's other attractions yet.

Treasure Cove: The new version of Pirates is undoubtedly the best attraction in the entire park and is the most impressive thing Disney has done since Journey to the Center of the Earth. I do NOT want to see this ride cloned elsewhere as it really wouldn't fit in the other resorts, but I really want to see Disney build future E-ticket dark rides to this standard. The play areas in Treasure Cove look pretty good and the whole area is unique to Shanghai...hopefully it stays that way.

Overall, Shanghai Disneyland seems like a really nice park, and it definitely has enough to get on my bucket list. However, there isn't enough wow factor to make me want to visit right away. Hong Kong Disneyland is in the same boat (though Shanghai is the more impressive of the two parks), but hopefully the parks will grow to the point that a Beijing/Hong Kong/Shanghai trip is worthwhile to me.

"I'm sorry, I don't do impressions... my training is in psychiatry." - Airplane II: The Sequel (1982).