ABD China 2017

Just getting Gmail now. No Facebook in China either. Free international calling at Peninsula HK and Shanghai was very nice.
 
We had the most amazing adventure; just traveling home now.
Quick mention that the Tongli Water Town tour with Miki was a trip highlight. It was amazing!!!! I hate to spoil any wonderful surprises, but we got way more than our money's worth. Miki was very professional, engaging and informative. Her tour took us inside the "real China" and provided a truly unforgettable experience. The lunch was the best! I can't say enough except this tour is not to be missed and is worth the add-on day!! It runs from about 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM and is full of unfolding wonders. If you go, please tell Miki Karen and Michael say hello!

That's great to hear about Miki's tour! I'm looking forward to it in Oct.
 
We had the most amazing adventure; just traveling home now.
Quick mention that the Tongli Water Town tour with Miki was a trip highlight. It was amazing!!!! I hate to spoil any wonderful surprises, but we got way more than our money's worth. Miki was very professional, engaging and informative. Her tour took us inside the "real China" and provided a truly unforgettable experience. The lunch was the best! I can't say enough except this tour is not to be missed and is worth the add-on day!! It runs from about 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM and is full of unfolding wonders. If you go, please tell Miki Karen and Michael say hello!
Safe travels, Karen!! Glad you guys enjoyed your watertown tour! I definitely want to hear more about it!

Just getting Gmail now. No Facebook in China either. Free international calling at Peninsula HK and Shanghai was very nice.
I didn't realize the Peninsula in HK had VOIP phone, too! Darn! But it was great to use in Shanghai!

Beautiful picture, Tobi. Had a wonderful time with you. Big hug, Karen
Thanks, Karen! I had a great time with you guys, also. :) Take care!

Sayhello
 


It looks like it was a great trip. Yeah, the humidity in HK is oppressive. I remember buying umbrellas at Mystic Manor to provide a little bit of help. It looks like the humidity is about 25%+ higher than Orlando.

I'm eager to read a full trip report, but I'm particularly curious to hear your thoughts on restaurants in HK, Beijing and Shanghai and the Rosewood and Peninsula. Those look to be significant upgrades from a couple yrs ago. In Oct we're staying at the Rosewood, and although we're staying in HKDL Hotel for the ABD, we're spending a couple of pre nights at the Peninsula to be closer to HK.
I brought an umbrella with me. I definitely used it on multiple ocasions for the heat.

I would say, in general, the food was excellent on this trip. In HK, the welcome dinner was in the Hotel, so not applicable to you guys. Our lunch at the Peak Lookout Restaurant on Victoria Peak was very nice. I don't really remember specifics, but I think we pre-ordered those meals earlier in the day. I did not eat at Hong Kong Disney because I was too exhausted, so I can't comment on that.

In Beijing, our dinner at Duck de Chine was delicious. I thought the Peking Duck *was* the dinner, but then they started bringing out the rest of the dishes!! There was a TON of food, and it was all delicious and everyone stuffed themselves.

Lunch the next day was at Hua's Restaurant, and was another family style meal, and also tons of very delicious food, including these amazing roasted sweet potatoes. I have to say, that was a really great meal, also, and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. Dinner that night was OYO, and I ate in the little café on the first floor of the Rosewood. I really wasn't that hungry, so I had some soup, a salad and bread. It was very tasty. A lot of people ate at Country Kitchen at the Rosewood that night, and all the reports I heard of it were great.

Lunch after the Great Wall was at The Schoolhouse restaurant, and was nice. We pre-ordered sandwiches for this meal, and I seem to remember they were good, but nothing outstanding.

That evening, I ate at Country Kitchen (got one of the last reservations they had to eat at the counter). I had hand-cut noodles with an eggplant sauce and sauteed okra & greens on the side. It was twice as much food as I could eat, and tasted amazing! It killed me to have to leave the leftovers behind!

IMG_0852.jpg

Lunch after visiting the Hutong was at a very nice place in the park around the corner from where we learned to use the Chinese yo-yo's. It was another very pleasant family-style lunch.

That was it for Beijing.

In Shanghai, our first dinner was at Din Tai Fung, which is a 1 Michelin star dumpling restaurant, in, of all things, a shopping mall. Not like attached to a mall, or on the mall grounds, but actually *in* the mall! It really didn't look like much, but the food was truly outstanding! We had xiaolongbao or soup dumplings, and they were so, so yummy! I'd never had soup dumplings before, and I just loved them! I was picturing the big, thick bao dumplings I'd had before, and was a bit worried about this meal. But the dumplings were light & flavorful, and I ate a ton! This was one of my favorite meals.

Lunch the next day was OYO on the go between the Yu Gardens and SHDL, so most folks just picked up something at Starbucks or one of the dumpling stands.

And of course, dinner that night was at Club 33.

So that's it for the meals that likely overlap with your itinerary. You're missing out on the very yummy lunch we had at the Sichuan Hot Pot Restaurant in Chengdu,

The Peninsula in Hong Kong was very nice, and the rooms were spacious & lovely, although having to use an ipad to control everything in the room got a bit annoying after a while. It was the nicest hotel for getting ready in the morning, as it had a designated makeup desk, with a pop-up lighted makeup mirror, which made it easy to do my hair & makeup. So many hotel rooms force you to get ready in low lights, and I hate that. It may not matter to a guy, but to woman who wears makeup, it's big.

The Peninsula in Shanghai was also very nice, and very high-tech. The room was almost *too* big. It took me forever to get ready because you'd have to walk from the bathroom to the dressing room/closet, to the bedroom, back, etc. It adds time to getting ready for stuff to be that spread out!! The free VOIP phone calls to anywhere in the world was pretty sweet, too. A bit easier to figure out the controls, since there was no ipad.

The Rosewood in Beijing was amazing, and, from what I heard, everyone's favorite hotel for this trip. Elegant, comfortable, lovely restaurants. The rooms had a walk-in dressing room/closet, floor-to-ceiling windows, a lovely sitting area, a humongous shower. Very elegant decor. Just nice, nice, nice!

Let me know if you have any specific questions!

Sayhello
 
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Let me know if you have any specific questions!

Sayhello

Thanks for all the great information! I am really looking forward to the food now! I do have some questions:

FOOD: Are there non-spicy options at the Szechuan restaurant? I can't eat spicy. How are the box meals? It looks like you get a string of them on the Xi'an and Guilin days.

LOGISTICS: Are there a lot of early mornings? How early do bags have to be out? Can you leave your carry on on the bus while you are sight seeing?

BEIJING: Was there much time after returning from the Great Wall? We were hoping to go to the Summer Palace on that afternoon but it sounds like there may not be time.

SHANGHAI DL: Was there any chance to ride Tron at night? We hear it is better in the dark:)

WATER: Did you brush your teeth with tap water?
 
Thanks for all the great information! I am really looking forward to the food now! I do have some questions:

FOOD: Are there non-spicy options at the Szechuan restaurant? I can't eat spicy. How are the box meals? It looks like you get a string of them on the Xi'an and Guilin days.
There *are* non-spicy options. I cannot eat spicy, either. (My mouth loves spicy, but my tummy does not!) The box meals in Xi'an varied. The boxed breakfast that the Ritz-Carlton fixed for us for the flight to Xi'an was very good, with a lot of different, quality items. The box "lunch" (which was really more of a snack since breakfast was so early and lunch wasn't until 3pm at the airport heading to Guilin) was pretty meh. Odd sandwiches (mine was "ham and cheese" and the cheese was on the outside of the bread...) a fruit cup and a monster chocolate muffin. I ate the fruit cup at the tea house we went to before seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors, but I never did eat the sandwich or muffin. I know a lot of other people didn't, either. The other 2 box lunches (for the River cruise on the Li River and the flight to Shanghai) were done by the Shangri-La, and were very good. I had the tuna fish sandwich on the Li river, which was very tasty, and also the ham & cheese on the plane, which was also good and there was fruit, and oddly spiced "Pringles" type of potato chips, etc.

LOGISTICS: Are there a lot of early mornings? How early do bags have to be out? Can you leave your carry on on the bus while you are sight seeing?
Yes. There are a lot of early mornings. Obviously, the earliest was the Chengdu->Xi'an->Guilin day, which started at 5:30am. Bag pull was actually 11pm the night before. I don't remember all of them, but bag pulls were generally in the 6:30 to 7:30am range, with meeting times between 7:30 to 8:30am-ish. That may not seem that early to some, but after the pace of the days, a few of us were wishing for at least one morning to sleep in. And yes, you can leave whatever you want on the bus while sightseeing. Large carryons went under the bus, personal items & duffel bags went on the bus with us.

BEIJING: Was there much time after returning from the Great Wall? We were hoping to go to the Summer Palace on that afternoon but it sounds like there may not be time.
No, there really wasn't that much time. I think we got back to the hotel around 4:30pm-ish. There was no set time for dinner, since it was OYO, but I doubt the Summer Palace would be open that much later than 4:30pm.

ETA: OK, I looked this up, and this is the Summer Palace's Summer hours:

Opening Time
Busy season: from April 1 to October 31;
Gate: 6:30-18:00;
Parks Inside the Summer Palace:8:30——17:00;
Close:20:00 .

So you could go and see the grounds of the Summer Palace, but not anything actually inside the Palace, which closed at 5pm.

SHANGHAI DL: Was there any chance to ride Tron at night? We hear it is better in the dark:)
Not on the ABD day. It was just starting to head towards evening when we met back up for dinner (6:50pm) and the park closed while we were having dinner (8pm. Early!) The fireworks were after park closing, so you could not go back into the park after that. In fact, we were ushered out by employees through a basically deserted park. I don't know if any of that changes as it gets later in the summer (ie, later park closing). If you go back for a day OYO, you certainly could do it then.

ETA: I checked, and they have the hours on the SHDL site through the end of June, and it looks like the park is open until 10pm starting 6/23. So the timing of everything may change. I guess it really depends on what time it gets dark, when they have the fireworks scheduled, etc. So I'm going to say "maybe". You'll have to see what people on trips after 6/23 report.

WATER: Did you brush your teeth with tap water?
Yes, I did. No ill effects I'm aware of. I did not actually drink any of the tap water, however.

Sayhello
 
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Thanks for the information - looks like you had a fabulous time! Can't wait for Club 33 ... but that will mean the adventure is over so perhaps that is not the best thing to look forward to :)

Any "I wish I would have known before I left......" tips that would be useful for those of us heading to China later this summer? (i.e. I wish I would have known to pack more of this, or less of that"... or "I wish I would have researched this topic more thoroughly before I arrived etc.)
 
Thanks for all the detailed info! A few of the restaurants sound the same, but a lot has changed. Did the guides make the Country Kitchen reservations or is that something to book ahead of time? Did you hear of anyone venturing off on their own out of the hotel for dinner?

Do you remember when you got back to the hotel after the Forbidden City? That's great to hear about your strong thoughts on the Rosewood. The Peninsula Shanghai was my favorite at the time. Could you see the CCTV building from the hotel? It looks very close on the map.

I'm sure Club 33 was amazing. Can't wait to hear more about it.
 
Thanks for the information - looks like you had a fabulous time! Can't wait for Club 33 ... but that will mean the adventure is over so perhaps that is not the best thing to look forward to :)

Any "I wish I would have known before I left......" tips that would be useful for those of us heading to China later this summer? (i.e. I wish I would have known to pack more of this, or less of that"... or "I wish I would have researched this topic more thoroughly before I arrived etc.)
I'll have to think about this question. :) Main one I was warned about just before the trip was the toilet paper shortage. Even some nice places that had Western toilets did not have toilet paper, or were just plain out. The Guides have a "toilet bag" that has a roll of TP and hand sanitizer in it, but it's not always convenient to go to the Guide to get it, so having a pack of Kleenex, or a self-rolled bit of TP with you ended up being a good thing.

Thanks for all the detailed info! A few of the restaurants sound the same, but a lot has changed. Did the guides make the Country Kitchen reservations or is that something to book ahead of time? Did you hear of anyone venturing off on their own out of the hotel for dinner?
The Guides did not make the Country Kitchen reservations. We needed to go to the front desk/concierge to make them, and they got scarce the second night. So you'd do well to make a reservation ahead of time. Apparently it draws people from all over, not just folks staying at the Hotel. I think some folks did venture out to check out the night markets, go to the Mall (which had food options), etc.

Do you remember when you got back to the hotel after the Forbidden City? That's great to hear about your strong thoughts on the Rosewood. The Peninsula Shanghai was my favorite at the time. Could you see the CCTV building from the hotel? It looks very close on the map.
I don't recall exactly what time we got back to the Hotel after the Forbidden City, but according to my camera, we left the area around 5:15pm. I didn't have a view of the CCTV building from my hotel room. I don't know if anyone else did.

I'm sure Club 33 was amazing. Can't wait to hear more about it.
That may be a while, as I have 10 days of trip to get through first! Maybe I'll just do a post about Club 33 at some point.

Sayhello
 
This is SO helpful! Thank you so much, @sayhello

We are on the June 25th trip so it looks like SHDL will be closing at 10pm. It also sounds like we should cross off the Summer Palace from our plans. Thanks for the tip about the TP. Got mine packed!

@Cousin Orville, There is an email address on the Rosewood Beijing website for Country Kitchen reservations. I emailed for a reservation and received a very quick response.

A couple more questions...

Do the guides carry ponchos or should I pack them? I know you were lucky with not too much rain.

Also, did anyone bring cooling towels? I am wondering if they are even effective in all that humidity.
 
Thanks for all the detailed info! A few of the restaurants sound the same, but a lot has changed. Did the guides make the Country Kitchen reservations or is that something to book ahead of time? Did you hear of anyone venturing off on their own out of the hotel for dinner?

Do you remember when you got back to the hotel after the Forbidden City? That's great to hear about your strong thoughts on the Rosewood. The Peninsula Shanghai was my favorite at the time. Could you see the CCTV building from the hotel? It looks very close on the map.

I'm sure Club 33 was amazing. Can't wait to hear more about it.

I wouldn't worry too much about making reservations. The CK restaurant was very accommodating. We just walked up the first night right after getting back, said we'd eat quickly, and there was no problem. We were in shorts, t-shirts and ball caps :) The second night we made reservations as soon as we got back. The food at the country kitchen was so good, we didn't feel the need to venture off, but I know some people did. Karen can tell you about her experience at the markets :) Her video is awesome.

We liked the Peninsula Shanghai, but didn't love it as much as we expected to. The breakfast was a PITA (took forever to order and get anything--had to wait over 10 minutes just for skim milk for the cereal; waited almost 30 minutes for waffles the first morning), and the service was pretty stuffy. I don't mind stuffy service, but there was something about this place that was off. They took themselves *way* too seriously, and I didn't find the service warranted it. I found the service much better in HK and at the Rosewood. When I think of strong service I think of something like the Hebridean Princess, where they know your name, remember what you ordered, and are anticipating your needs even before you ask. My daughter brought a water bottle down from the room to drink at breakfast at the PS and they asked her to remove it from the table--and not in a very nice way. I also found the supposedly technologically advanced rooms more like an idea of what technology is supposed to be from ten years ago. I differ from SayHello here, but we *loved* the iPads in the Hong kong Peninsula and found them much more intuitive. It was frustrating in Shanghai not to be able to control the temperature of the room. You could only hit up or down on the fan and temp without having a clue on what temp it was. The rooms themselves were gorgeous, and I loved the huge closet. Our rooms were at the back of the hotel so we didn't have a view of the bund or CCTV building. The SP was definitely something I'm glad I experienced, but I wouldn't go back there on my own dime. I'd probably try the Waldorf or one of the other nearby hotels.

The farewell dinner at Club 33 was by far the best farewell dinner we've ever had on an ABD. It was an absolute perfect ending to a fantastic trip. I have to wonder how long they'll keep it on the itinerary though as I can't imagine it was a cheap dinner :) The balcony is the absolute best place to watch the fireworks and show. It felt *very* special to be up there. We almost had the restaurant to ourselves. I want to say there were about 10 other people on the balcony with us.

I'm trying to put my thoughts in order right now and will try to post something today...
 
Do the guides carry ponchos or should I pack them? I know you were lucky with not too much rain.

Also, did anyone bring cooling towels? I am wondering if they are even effective in all that humidity.

We all received ponchos but they remained unopened in our bags.

I did not bring a cooling towel, but was wishing I had on the one day in Hong Kong and the other afternoon in Guilin.
 
Thank you so much, @sayhello and @CaliforniaGirl09 for all this fabulous feedback! We emailed for a reservation at CK for one night and are so looking forward to it. You have been more then generous to answers questions, but if you find a moment could you talk about the internal flights, airports etc... did the transfers run smoothly or any issues with luggage etc.
 
Was Shanghai Disney the best thing ever? That part looks fantastic.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about making reservations. The CK restaurant was very accommodating. We just walked up the first night right after getting back, said we'd eat quickly, and there was no problem. We were in shorts, t-shirts and ball caps :) The second night we made reservations as soon as we got back. The food at the country kitchen was so good, we didn't feel the need to venture off, but I know some people did. Karen can tell you about her experience at the markets :) Her video is awesome.

We liked the Peninsula Shanghai, but didn't love it as much as we expected to. The breakfast was a PITA (took forever to order and get anything--had to wait over 10 minutes just for skim milk for the cereal; waited almost 30 minutes for waffles the first morning), and the service was pretty stuffy. I don't mind stuffy service, but there was something about this place that was off. They took themselves *way* too seriously, and I didn't find the service warranted it. I found the service much better in HK and at the Rosewood. When I think of strong service I think of something like the Hebridean Princess, where they know your name, remember what you ordered, and are anticipating your needs even before you ask. My daughter brought a water bottle down from the room to drink at breakfast at the PS and they asked her to remove it from the table--and not in a very nice way. I also found the supposedly technologically advanced rooms more like an idea of what technology is supposed to be from ten years ago. I differ from SayHello here, but we *loved* the iPads in the Hong kong Peninsula and found them much more intuitive. It was frustrating in Shanghai not to be able to control the temperature of the room. You could only hit up or down on the fan and temp without having a clue on what temp it was. The rooms themselves were gorgeous, and I loved the huge closet. Our rooms were at the back of the hotel so we didn't have a view of the bund or CCTV building. The SP was definitely something I'm glad I experienced, but I wouldn't go back there on my own dime. I'd probably try the Waldorf or one of the other nearby hotels.

The farewell dinner at Club 33 was by far the best farewell dinner we've ever had on an ABD. It was an absolute perfect ending to a fantastic trip. I have to wonder how long they'll keep it on the itinerary though as I can't imagine it was a cheap dinner :) The balcony is the absolute best place to watch the fireworks and show. It felt *very* special to be up there. We almost had the restaurant to ourselves. I want to say there were about 10 other people on the balcony with us.

I'm trying to put my thoughts in order right now and will try to post something today...



What time would you recommend for the reservations? I want to make a few in advance but don't want to schedule something too close to when we get back from the day's adventures. Any advice on this would be appreciated.
 
What time would you recommend for the reservations? I want to make a few in advance but don't want to schedule something too close to when we get back from the day's adventures. Any advice on this would be appreciated.
That's actually why I wouldn't recommend advanced (before day of) reservations. I wanted to eat as soon as possible after getting back so we could go to bed. I wouldn't try to gage what time you'll be getting back--it's all subject to traffic, open times, etc.
 
Thank you so much, @sayhello and @CaliforniaGirl09 for all this fabulous feedback! We emailed for a reservation at CK for one night and are so looking forward to it. You have been more then generous to answers questions, but if you find a moment could you talk about the internal flights, airports etc... did the transfers run smoothly or any issues with luggage etc.
This was the part of the trip I disliked the most. I know it's a necessary evil to be able to go to and see all the fabulous things we did and saw, but it was arduous and exhausting. The Guides did their very best to make it as smooth as possible, but there was only so much they could do. "Tinkerbell", helped by Joe, got us checked in and our luggage checked, so all we had to do was show up, get our boarding passes, and head to the Gate at the designated time. (Except for the flight from Hong Kong to Beijing, since it's the same as traveling from another country as to checking in with your passport, etc). Several times the Gate was not assigned until after we arrived. We didn't realize one time that the Gate was not "just downstairs", but involved escalators & trains & up & down to get to the right Gate. The order and the airlines had changes on some of the flights, so Joe & Ralph were learning & figuring stuff out as we went. They told us this upfront, and asked us to leave for the airport a bit earlier than usual to be able to allow for this stuff. We didn't miss any flights, so it's all good. Beijing airport was a *mess* and we sat on the tarmac for over an hour and a half waiting for our turn on the runway. Several times, we disembarked outside using stairs, and then got bused half way across the airport to the actual Terminal. The buses were a really interesting intro to crowding in China...

As far as I know, there were no issues with our checked luggage. Tinkerbell & Joe handled all that, and it was amazing to not have to go to the carousel and claim our checked bags after the flights.

I personally seemed to be cursed as far as the "TSA" in China was concerned. You were supposed to take laptops/tablets out of your carryons, along with your liquids and any battery packs. But they kept taking random stuff out of my personal item, and then sending it back through the scanner. At the Chengdu airport, they did this 5 times, taking out random stuff like my glasses case, and my comb, my small camera, and then confiscated my scissors that had been deemed "OK" by the airport in both Hong Kong and Beijing (they did take them out & measure them). I needed them to cut sports tape for my ankle. The only airport that didn't do this was Shanghai at the end of the trip. I guess they just really have a thing against Vera Bradley or something. In Chengdu, this was the 5:30am morning, and I was tired and had to pee, and I admit I started to cry. So, as I said, the flights to me were necessary evils. Poor CaliforniaGirl09's husband, who is very tall, had a horrid time with the legroom on these internal flights, too...

Was Shanghai Disney the best thing ever? That part looks fantastic.
Our day at Shanghai Disney was pretty nearly perfect. I think the only complaint some folks had was that we didn't have enough time there. And the Guides admitted some of this was due to this being the first run of the new itinerary, and us being the very first to visit Shanghai Disneyland, and they apologized and thanked us for being the guinea pigs for this. (They showed their appreciation by buying us all Shanghai Disneyland 1st Anniversary Mickey Mouse Ears, which were very, very cool. They made sure to let us know that this was a special purchase just for us to thank us for putting up with it all, and not a normal thing for the farewell dinner.) The whole day was really special & magical.

I'll wait until my Trip Report to get into our second, post-day at SHDL, which was way less magical, but did serve the purpose of making us far less stressed about what we did/didn't get done during the ABD day.

Sayhello
 
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This was the part of the trip I disliked the most. I know it's a necessary evil to be able to go to and see all the fabulous things we did and saw, but it was arduous and exhausting. The Guides did their very best to make it as smooth as possible, but there was only so much they could do. "Tinkerbell", helped by Joe, got us checked in and our luggage checked, so all we had to do was show up, get our boarding passes, and head to the Gate at the designated time. (Except for the flight from Hong Kong to Beijing, since it's the same as traveling from another country as to checking in with your passport, etc). Several times the Gate was not assigned until after we arrived. We didn't realize one time that the Gate was not "just downstairs", but involved escalators & trains & up & down to get to the right Gate. The order and the airlines had changes on some of the flights, so Joe & Ralph were learning & figuring stuff out as we went. They told us this upfront, and asked us to leave for the airport a bit earlier than usual to be able to allow for this stuff. We didn't miss any flights, so it's all good. Beijing airport was a *mess* and we sat on the tarmac for over an hour and a half waiting for our turn on the runway. Several times, we disembarked outside using stairs, and then got bused half way across the airport to the actual Terminal. The buses were a really interesting intro to crowding in China...

As far as I know, there were no issues with our checked luggage. Tinkerbell & Joe handled all that, and it was amazing to not have to go to the carousel and claim our checked bags after the flights.

I personally seemed to be cursed as far as the "TSA" in China was concerned. You were supposed to take laptops/tablets out of your carryons, along with your liquids and any battery packs. But they kept taking random stuff out of my personal item, and then sending it back through the scanner. At the Chengdu airport, they did this 5 times, taking out random stuff like my glasses case, and my comb, my small camera, and then confiscated my scissors that had been deemed "OK" by the airport in both Hong Kong and Beijing (they did take them out & measure them). I needed them to cut sports tape for my ankle. The only airport that didn't do this was Shanghai at the end of the trip. I guess they just really have a thing against Vera Bradley or something. In Chengdu, this was the 5:30am morning, and I was tired and had to pee, and I admit I started to cry. So, as I said, the flights to me were necessary evils. Poor CaliforniaGirl09's husband, who is very tall, had a horrid time with the legroom on these internal flights, too...

Thank you for this info ... forewarned is forearmed! LOL . For some reason, this remains the aspect of the trip that I have the greatest anxiety about and I keep checking all my chargers and shuffling my packing plans for the carry on bag and my back pack. As you say, a necessary evil!
 
This was the part of the trip I disliked the most. I know it's a necessary evil to be able to go to and see all the fabulous things we did and saw, but it was arduous and exhausting. The Guides did their very best to make it as smooth as possible, but there was only so much they could do. "Tinkerbell", helped by Joe, got us checked in and our luggage checked, so all we had to do was show up, get our boarding passes, and head to the Gate at the designated time. (Except for the flight from Hong Kong to Beijing, since it's the same as traveling from another country as to checking in with your passport, etc). Several times the Gate was not assigned until after we arrived. We didn't realize one time that the Gate was not "just downstairs", but involved escalators & trains & up & down to get to the right Gate. The order and the airlines had changes on some of the flights, so Joe & Ralph were learning & figuring stuff out as we went. They told us this upfront, and asked us to leave for the airport a bit earlier than usual to be able to allow for this stuff. We didn't miss any flights, so it's all good. Beijing airport was a *mess* and we sat on the tarmac for over an hour and a half waiting for our turn on the runway. Several times, we disembarked outside using stairs, and then got bused half way across the airport to the actual Terminal. The buses were a really interesting intro to crowding in China...

As far as I know, there were no issues with our checked luggage. Tinkerbell & Joe handled all that, and it was amazing to not have to go to the carousel and claim our checked bags after the flights.

I personally seemed to be cursed as far as the "TSA" in China was concerned. You were supposed to take laptops/tablets out of your carryons, along with your liquids and any battery packs. But they kept taking random stuff out of my personal item, and then sending it back through the scanner. At the Chengdu airport, they did this 5 times, taking out random stuff like my glasses case, and my comb, my small camera, and then confiscated my scissors that had been deemed "OK" by the airport in both Hong Kong and Beijing (they did take them out & measure them). I needed them to cut sports tape for my ankle. The only airport that didn't do this was Shanghai at the end of the trip. I guess they just really have a thing against Vera Bradley or something. In Chengdu, this was the 5:30am morning, and I was tired and had to pee, and I admit I started to cry. So, as I said, the flights to me were necessary evils. Poor CaliforniaGirl09's husband, who is very tall, had a horrid time with the legroom on these internal flights, too...

Our day at Shanghai Disney was pretty nearly perfect. I think the only complaint some folks had was that we didn't have enough time there. And the Guides admitted some of this was due to this being the first run of the new itinerary, and us being the very first to visit Shanghai Disneyland, and they apologized and thanked us for being the guinea pigs for this. (They showed their appreciation by buying us all Shanghai Disneyland 1st Anniversary Mickey Mouse Ears, which were very, very cool. They made sure to let us know that this was a special purchase just for us to thank us for putting up with it all, and not a normal thing for the farewell dinner.) The whole day was really special & magical.

I'll wait until my Trip Report to get into our second, post-day at SHDL, which was way less magical, but did serve the purpose of making us far less stressed about what we did/didn't get done during the ABD day.

Sayhello
This is a great summary, SayHello, and I ditto everything. The dep-planeing and shuttling (sometimes multiple times) sucked--as did some of the security screenings. And OMG poor DH in those seats. He looked like a parent sitting at the kindergarten table at back to school night. I agree about our day at Shanghai with Disney. I almost wished we had ended on that high note, but as you pointed out that very crowded day after: we would have been much more stress on our ABD Shanghai Disney day if we hadn't had that extra day planned. The fact that it was pretty much a bust didn't end up mattering.
 

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