My Plan for Visiting Expo

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I have Expo ticket (normal days), and I am planning to visit it sometime in mid-May, so I can report what is going on inside the Expo site.

Will take some photos.

Any of my readers have been there? How does it feel?

7 thoughts on “My Plan for Visiting Expo”

  1. Hi, I’ve already been there. A little hard to go around the entire place but we did it in six hours.

    There’s nothing special but the people, which you could see everywhere in China.

    Preparing food and water is important cos there are expensive and distasteful in the expo zone (I brought some pears in my bag cos water is forbidden)

    Enjoy your expo time.

  4. We shall be here every a few days and expect your extraordinary feeling about Expo and some nice photos. Gee, good time is waiting for you!

  5. I have been there…All my reviews are in this site… Feel free to browse…

    http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum/expo-preview-review-t109075-50.html

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    Here are my tips……

    PREPARATION

    What you need to prepare before you go…..

    Just like most people, our first time on May 01 was really tiring…We are not prepared for the long queue and the walking and standing…Food are expensive and some are not edible… :lol: There is Papa John, Burger King, Starbucks…but not all corners have one…So, you wouldn’t know when you’ll be hungry and it sucks when you’re falling in line then you hear your stomach growling….

    So, here is my tip to save you from hunger, dehydration and muscle pain… :lol:

    First and foremost, you’re not allowed to bring in water….But, it’s okay to bring an empty bottle… Just refill water whenever you see a drinking fountain inside. You can bring food like rice meal, sandwich..etc. As long as it’s not soup with water… :D If you bring your own food like rice meal or noodles, make sure you don’t bring in stainless spoon and fork… :lol:… damn, just those disposable ones are fine…

    Here is what we prepared on May 03…

    I carried a backpack with these inside…

    Picture Link: http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum/expo-preview-review-t109075-100.html

    My friend carried her backpack with home made sandwiches packed individually…She made about 10 sandwiches…2 small tupperware of rice with some food she cooked… It’s not heavy, actually….

    Picture Link: http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum/expo-preview-review-t109075-100.html

    We didn’t spend much inside the EXPO…I spend 6rmb for a bottled coke for our whole day on May 03.

    We didn’t get any muscle pain from all the walk coz we have the miracle “Bengay” to relieve the pain so fast that we feel like “wonder woman”… and we’re not so tired coz we get to sit while queing… We take turn sitting down on the chair…By the way, the folding chair ain’t heavy..It’s very light and easy to use…

    You can buy the folding stool at Super Brand Mall inside the HOLA store…30 rmb each… :p

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    ENTRANCE / EXIT TO THE EXPO SITE

    Here is another tip on the entrance and exit to the EXPO site…

    For the entrance, I strongly recommend to use Line 9 subway and get off at Ma Dang Road, then transfer to Line 13. The walk is shorter and less exhausting…Might as well be exhaust your energy inside the expo, rather than exhaust yourself going into the expo site…

    Almost everyone is going inside the expo from Pudong area by using Line 7 subway…so expect the lines there to be very long….Most of these people can’t understand the map from Puxi side..they thought from Puxi it’s farther… Technically speaking it’s farther to the actual EXPO site…but saving yourself from the long queue is better off…because in Puxi you have the Line 13 which will take you to the inside of EXPO where the Spain, Denmark,..etc pavilions are…or the Thai, Australia, Philippines, Singapore..etc pavilions…

    As for the exit…well, it’s hard to walk back where you came from…the place is sooo big, but of course taking the Line 13 back to Puxi is nice..but if you’re far out, ain’t that nice anymore…

    So try to do your homework on how you will tour the site… What we did is we went to Africa pavilion last, then walk a bit to the Argentina Pavilion..Right infront of the Argentina Pavilion are small electric golf cart like car that takes you all the way to China Pavilion for FREE… (I’m saying this in case anyone is interested to travel from Zone C to Zone A riding those electric car)

    Well, as for the exit, there is another entrance/exit a little farther off the Argentina Pavilion… You can take that route out of the Expo (10 minutes walk)…Right outside, there are many EXPO buses there..One of the bus takes you all the way to Line 7 subway for FREE….

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    Unless you want to tire yourself, you may opt to take the FREE ferry from the Baosteel Pavilion to the Puxi side (one of our first experiment on May 01)….. Well, I tell you that taking this route out of the EXPO is the worst one…. From the ferry docking station in Puxi it will take you 20 minutes to eternity to get outside the EXPO…Not to mention, another 1-2 hours queuing for taxi outside…or you may spend almost an hour walking very very far away to hail a taxi…. almost everyone is taking this route because they want to experience the 5 minutes FREE ferry thinking they are in good position taking this route to Puxi…

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    RESTING PERIODS

    Here is a tip for “resting” periods…

    The night before your EXPO tour, make sure you have lots of rest… I mean lots of rest…

    Go early as 9AM via Line 13, most especially if you want to go inside Switzerland Pavilion riding those hang in the air rides like a cable car thing…Spend your first 5 hours to tour 2-4 pavilions (Switzerland, France, Belgium and UK) You can do this before 2-3 PM and you’ll be shocked that YOU DID IT!! yey!!! :lol:

    Remember, my earlier tip for the folding stools and sandwiches…those can get you by without exhaustion in the morning….Before you leave the house, put some sunblock lotion on your body and face. Also bring sunglasses and a cap and don’t bring umbrella for chris sake!! you already have a stool and a cap, don’t make everyone stand besides you to envy you…. :lol:

    DO NOT do the “resting periods” from 11:30AM – 2PM… most likely, you’ll be joining thousands of people doing the same thing during those times… and it will be hard to find a nice spots with shades to sit down and relax…not to mention the long queue on most of the restaurants…

    Try to do “resting” for 1-1.5 hours… even take a nap if you want on the long bench…It’s really cooling and nice…

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    VISITORS TO THE EXPO

    We all know that there are certain amount of tickets sold for the EXPO… even when you hear people say “there are no more tickets” or “SOLD OUT” tickets even on regular days….

    DON’T BE FOOLED thinking that “Yeah, I can go on blah blah date so the people will be lesser..” tsk..tsk…

    I have learned that big travel agencies like Elong and Ctrip bring in visitors without actual EXPO tickets… the same thing applies to small time travel agencies. They do it by groups of people and they have special place for entrance and exits inside the EXPO…reason why you will be shocked as to the hundreds of thousands people inside the EXPO..

    These travel agencies provide their visitors with special EXPO card for souvenir and not the actual ticket you insert into the machine…

    Travel Agencies all over China will be greedy and seeing the EXPO as their “bread and butter” for the next few months.. They will be bringing in lots and lots of visitors…so never under estimate any regular day to be “lesser” people in the EXPO….

    Just follow my tips above and you’ll have a wonderful experience….

  7. went there yesterday…

    Advice to the visitors:

    – Do not expect the finish all the pavilions in 1 day. Go to pavilions with not too long queue or moving queue. The famous pavilions have extreme long queue.

    – Some pavilions in not worth queuing for hours to get in. Do your home work before you go.

    – European Nation, South Asia zone and Puxi side is a better zone to visit. Many pavilions are in these zone and the crowd is distributed, thus reduce the queuing.

    – The crowd started to reduce once sunset. Try to go back to the crowded pavilions again. Most likely there are no queue anymore.

    – Take the Expo buses. Save your strength.

    Good:

    – Take the ferry to enter the Expo site. You get to the expo fast and a nice relaxing boat ride cruising on HuangPu river.

    – Puxi is worth visiting. Check out the green concept cubes

    – Kudos to the volunteers! They are everywhere and ready to assist. And know their stuff well :-)

    – Maintaining the Expo sites spick and span… not as messy as some earliest comments we read.

    Need improvement:

    – A lot of pavilion does not provide any narration explanation. You’re on your own trying to understand what is the message they are trying to convey. With the high density crowd, you barely can see and read what is written on the posters. Some don’t even has a single poster to explain… maybe I couldn’t find due to the high density. Again, do your homework before you go.

    – No clear information where can a visitor do his/her reservation for China pavilion. And priority is given to tour group.

    – Ferry ride does not provide English narration. Wonder why… Nowadays even the public bus and Metro has English narration.

    – Do not provide information about the events of the day by different pavilions or the Expo site. No brochure were given or announcement were made known to the visitor. For example, I know there is a parade… but don’t what time and where is the location. Also wondering when I can see the NZ Maori’s dance? sigh…

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