Shanghai Expo 2010 is held between 1 May to 31 October 2010 (9 a.m. till midnight), a total of 184 days. It is built on a 5.28 kilometre square site with participations from 192 countries and 50 organizations. However only 50 of the pavilions are self-funded and self-designed. The rest of the participants rented space from the organizers.
Some countries (Denmark’s Little Mermaid and Luxembourg’s Golden Lady) even pulled out their prized statues and shipped them over to Shanghai!
Before you go:
Tickets
There are many options for purchasing your ticket to the Expo. You can buy a single day ticket or multiple days (3 or 7 days). There are also night tickets sold at the Expo ticket office after 4pm on the day itself.
There are 2 types of tickets:
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- Peak Day – Applies to 1-3 May, 1-7 Oct and 25-31 Oct. (17 days in total)
- Standard Day – The rest of the 167 days
What to Bring to Expo
If you are planning to be at the Expo for the whole day, bring enough snacks to keep your energy level up. Also, bring an empty water bottle to be filled up at the many water coolers onsite. You won’t be able to get past security with a full water bottle.
- Empty Bottle for Water. You can’t bring in liquids but you can fill it up with water at the water coolers.
- Snacks
- Umbrella (In case it rains or when the sun is blazing hot)
- Hat
- Sunblock
At the Expo:
Scoring the “Golden Ticket” to the China Pavilion:
If you are dying to get into the China Pavilion, you will have to get in line early in the morning to land the limited “Reservation Tickets” for the China Pavilion. They are handed out at the security checkpoints at the gantry where your Expo tickets are checked. Approximately 40,000 are handed out daily with one-third of the tickets going to group tours. The security checkpoints open at 9a.m. and the tickets are usually all given out by 9.05a.m. Get in line at the security checkpoints by 8.30a.m to ensure you are at the front of the line to increase your chances of getting one. You’re only entitled to 1 reservation ticket per person.
If you are short of time, I would strongly advise against visiting the China Pavilion as even with the Reservation Ticket (which only entitles you to get in the queue to enter), you still have a long wait at the snaking queues within the pavilion itself. Just take some pictures of the pavilion exterior and get on with seeing the rest of the site.
“Are We There Yet?”
You will find yourself uttering these words like impatient children on a road-trip during the course of your visit at the Expo. You won’t actually be grumbling at the back of the car though. Instead, you will be queuing and queuing and queuing some more throughout the day. The average queue time for the popular pavilions is around 2-4 hours. Rain or shine, you will standing in line with hundreds or thousands of other visitors. Remember to bring an umbrella to shield yourself from the elements!
To combat “queue-fatigue”, you can make use of the time to do the following:
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- Zone Out – Coz you probably woke up really early in the morning and rushed to enter the Expo site.
- Pig Out – Have some snacks to keep your energy levels up. You will need it.
- Chat Up – Talk to your neighbors and find out what are cool pavilions are worth visiting.
Popular Pavilions
- “The Grandest” – China Pavilion – It’s iconic of the Shanghai Expo 2010 and the pride of China.
- “The Most Technologically Advanced” – Japan Pavilion – You’ll see a robot playing the popular Chinese classic “Jasmine Flower” on the violin and many other technology surprises.
- “The Most Fun” – Germany Pavilion – The final exhibition where visitors participate in the performance by cheering and clapping makes it the “most fun” pavilion for me. The interactivity level was simply unrivaled elsewhere.
- “The Best Exterior” – Tie between Australia and UK Pavilion – The steel used to build the Australian pavilion rusted naturally to a vivid red, similar to the colour of the famous Ayer’s Rock in Uluru. Simply genius! As for the UK Pavilion, you’ll understand when you see it for yourself.
- “The Most Expensive” – Saudi Arabia Pavilion – Undoubtedly the
- UAE
- Coca-Cola
You can also explore the Virtual World of Shanghai Expo 2010 online!
Useful Links:
