Shanghai & Hong Kong in 2019 Trip Planning!

[palm]

Hiya... Thought as I'm starting to plan our 2019 Disney trip, I would jump into this board to get some suggestions/feedback. While I'm not planning on going until November 2019, I'm looking to get at least the flights sorted after Xmas/New Year when the flights go on sale & if there are any New Year Sales.

I'm gonna be flying from London, UK, so it's going to be roughly a 2 week trip, taking in Hong Kong and Shanghai, so I'm planning on spending 2 days at each Disney Park. Looking to stay in the Toy Story Hotel in Shanghai and the Explorer's Lodge in HKDL.

Over 10 years ago, I did do an organised month long trip of China, seeing Bejing, Shanghai, Gulin, Hong Kong, Yanksee River Cruise, Xi'an etc. But it will be my wife's first time visiting Asia. So I'm planning on spending a day or so, touring Shanghai and a few days touring the sites of Hong Kong including Macau, so it's not a 100% Disney trip, more like a 50/50 split.

We've done multiple trips to WDW & DLP over the past few years and I wanted to do something a little different next year. And I always regretted not visiting HKDL when I was there before and I really want to see a little more of that area (the tour never had more than 48 hours anywhere)...

Looking to take advantage of the Shanghai 144 hour temp visa, so it is either going to be London to Shanghai to HK and back to London, or doing HK first, then Shanghai. Either way we need a whole first day put aside for Jetlag/Timezones, so thinking it might be best to go to HK first, so by the time we get to Shanghai, we've adjusted. Planning on having hotel in downtown HK for 4/5 nights, then maybe 3 at lodge, so we can have a rest day by the pool/sea before hitting the park for 2 days. Then heading to Shanghai, have 4 nights, (2 park days,1 day trip day), but staying just at the Toy Story hotel, since we are a little more restricted on time.

Any tips on planning? Been reading the forums, sites etc... but everything is just in planning mode right, so before flights/hk hotel booked,.

[Willeve]

We’ve booked to go to Thailand and Hong Kong next summer, had a great price from Travelbag if that helps!

[Jet]

Ds1 has just come back from Hong Kong and said that Macau is a fab place to visit.

[008Jerseygirl]

We entered Shanghai last year on the 144 visa but got held for 3 hours and saw 13 different people. No one would tell us what was happening and they got the BA rep down to send us home. Eventually let in but found out that it was due to having Turkey entry/exit stamps in our passports.
I would go to China again but would pay to have a new UK passport so no Turkish stamps. Cheaper than not being allowed in.
Make sure you are very clear on the 144 hour visa rules before you book anything. Even BA staff at LHR didn't know about it and had to be explained before check ed in.

[doombuggy]

I have heard of others having issues with the 144 hour visa as well. We went to Beijing too, so we had to get visas anyway. I'd say it was worth it no matter what, as we had no hassle.

We enjoyed our 2 nights at Toy Story Hotel. Note the rooms are small, but they were fine for my sister and me.