Last episode, we were having marginal pizza and tiramisu at the Hello Kitty Bistro. This week, we’re visiting the “International Princess World” interactive fairy tale exhibition on the 9th floor of the Super Brand Mall in Pudong.
Yes! I’m talking about an interactive exhibition of International Princesses on the 9th floor of the Super Brand Mall in Pudong! You can go if you like! I went and I will tell you about it! Yahoo!
Before we pound through 30,000 words about the International Princesses in Pudong, I feel obligated to give you the TL;DR version of this whole thing, which is this:
So, Disneyland is open in Shanghai. Or Disney Palace. Or Disney City. Or Disney Whatever, you know what I’m talking about, I haven’t been yet. As such, these days, Shanghai is wracked with a serious and resolute case of Disney fever — it’s like a form of malaria — wherein anything remotely associated with Disney-type stuff is a gold mine. Enter the International Princesses World interactive exhibition in Pudong. It’s all the Disney princesses -- these princesses -- with absolutely none of the pesky official licensing or cumbersome officially sanctioned intellectual property rights. It’s all juuuuuuuust left-field of official Disney trademarks, so that maybe a five-year-old won’t notice the difference between Snow White and “Snow White”.
So, basically, you tour through this thing, which is a collection of scenarios inspired by the
Short answer: Oh god yes.
Want to see? Take my hand and don’t you dare close your eyes!
I CAN SHOWWWW YOU THE WORLD.
***
Whoa! Whoa! No pushing! Everyone take it easy! Just take it easy!
Here we go! Standing at the gates of the show. Taking the road less, possibly never, traveled.
This is the first princess you meet. She was lovely. She was explaining the whole fairy tale story thing to me in this high-pitched fairy voice, really sticking to the script, and really trying hard to ignore the fact that she was talking to a 37-year-old, crazy eyed man. That's not on her though; she's just doing her job!
Through the doors: "Once Upon a Time Bjerrllerehuabfa!"
At the Snow White scenario. Got to ask the mirror questions into a microphone and then a Chinese dude in the back would answer them over the speakers. I did the whole "Who's the fairest one of all?" thing and he said I looked "creepy". No shit. The mirror said I looked "creepy".
Damn, mirror. Respect.
Sleeping Beauty!
Gotta say, all the princesses were very nice. They're expecting a four-year-old child to come through the gates and then this horrible bastard start lumbering towards them instead -- I think the mirror warned them we were coming though.
Sleeping Beauty presides over a hedge maze that you have to navigate through to get to the next scenario. Nailed that thing in like 30 seconds flat, due to one key architectural flaw: It's for small children.
This is me realizing I've got this thing dead to rights.
Mulan! This is like a Chinese rip on an American rip on a Chinese story. Boggles the mind.
The Frozen scenario had a mirror maze, which was actually pretty challenging stuff.
Dunno where the Frozen princess went. Maybe she was in the john. Sitting in her chair, it’s just a kingdom of isolation and it looks like I’m the queen.
Don't let them in! Don't let them see!
I wanna be where the people areeeeee... Little Mermaid!
Some sweet King's Quest-caliber graphics here, with me and Ariel in the ocean.
Hehe.
Beauty and the Beast!
"Beast" is a little strong though, really. She wasn't that bad looking.
(Swish!)
The Beast's famous rose...
Cinderella!
...and her sweet ride!
Cinderella presides over a court of manikins. THAT'S creepy, you damn mirror. You can tell she was a little loopy because she's trapped in this life-size display case all day hanging out with the plastic people. Spending time with her was like playing Mental Illness Twister.
Right root, dementia! Left hand, schizophrenia!
At the very end is the gift shop, where you can get the home version for 160rmb!
That's it! Hmmm... some missing princesses though. Like Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Tiana! Very strange!
***
So yeah, it was a great time. International Princess World. Love it. Recommend it. Would go back. Here’s the thing: SmartShanghai.com thinks they’re messing with me sending me to this stuff, BUT JOKE’S ON THEM BECAUSE I LOVE IT.
In all seriousness though, parents if you've got little boys and girls that you've already taken to Disneyland and they can't get enough of these characters, it could probably work as a Sunday afternoon stopgap until you've got to make the trip back. It's fine for like, ages 3 to ...oh say 36. It costs 150rmb to get in. It's on until October 6, open from 10am till the mall closes.
9th floor, Super Brand Mall. Daily 10am-10pm. 150rmb entry fee
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