Sleep No More Shanghai Visit Advice

Purchasing Tickets

There are a few avenues I've found to purchase tickets. One is through the Sleep No More Mini Program within the WeChat App, but I wasn't able to get that to work before my visit (I kept getting a registration error, likely because I didn't have a Chinese phone number). The one I ended up using is through this Trip.com Ticketing Link. Also, someone else mentioned that you can buy tickets through Klook.

Note that it seems like someone has to manually send availability to Trip.com, and this doesn't always happen smoothly. There was a time when tickets were available on WeChat but not elsewhere. And sometimes, VIP tickets are available on Trip.com and sometimes they aren't.

There are three entry times, and the later ones are cheaper. You obviously want to purchase the first one to get into the show when it starts. The earliest entry time comes with a free drink in the Manderley, which is nice! There's also a VIP option called Lounge M, which I'll describe below.

Tickets for a given month typically go on sale anywhere between the 12th and the 23rd day of the previous month, but it's quite variable. Occasionally they pop up weeks earlier, and sometimes they don't appear until the very last week of the month.

The week typically has evening shows on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, then a double on Saturday, followed by a matinee on Sunday.

Where is the McKinnon?

Search for Manderley Bar in Shanghai on Google Maps, and you'll see its location.

Arriving at the McKinnon

I always arrived at the hotel around an hour before showtime, and I was usually the first person in line, though always in the first 5 people. For a 7:00pm showtime, these were the times various things happened:

6:00pm - The first people get into the queue (update from Jan 2025: for sold-out shows, some people arrived closer to 5:45pm)

6:25pm - They send people in the queue to the box office to pick up physical tickets, go to coat check, and get your playing card

6:30pm - They start letting people into the Manderley Bar

6:50-6:55pm - The PIBs come out and start singing a song, and superfans with aces head to the corner to queue for first elevator 😉

6:55-7:00pm - They call Aces, punch a hole in your playing card, lock your cell phone bag, and send you to the elevator

It was nice to get into the Manderley 30 minutes before showtime because there was more time to grab a drink, use the washroom, etc.

Also a note: I read on someone's blog that they mix up the cards a bit when they hand them out, so the top of the deck might have aces mixed with twos, and then twos mixed with threes, and so on. After going ten times and always being in the first few people in, I got an ace 9 out of 10 of those visits. So from my experience, if you get there an hour early, you'll probably get an ace. But they might have a few twos shuffled in there.

As far as physical tickets go, if you buy them via the WeChat Mini Program, I believe you scan a QR code on arrival. For my tickets from Trip.com, back in August 2024 they weren't able to scan my QR code, so I had to tell/show them my name, and they found an envelope with my ticket in it. But in January 2025, they seemed to be able to scan QR codes from the Trip.com app.

Elevator Procedures

There are a couple of antechambers with speeches given in Mandarin. There's a thing on the wall that lists the rules in English, but you already know them.

Once the group is let into the elevator, the elevator operator lets one person out on 5, then lets 2-3 people out on 4, 2-3 more out on 3, and the rest are let out by the ballroom. Note that the elevator operator hand picks the people who get out on the upper floors. If you want to start on an upper floor, it's best to enter the elevator last and try to be closer to the front of the elevator and the operator. If you desperately want to go to the ballroom, it's best to enter the elevator first and try to be in the far back part of the elevator, away from the operator.

I believe if there are more people than will fit in the elevator, the overflow people get sent straight in on the second floor.

VIP Admission (Lounge M)

There is a VIP option for tickets called Lounge M. Tickets are definitely pricier (closer to 160 USD), but you get a lot for the extra money:

Are the McKinnon and McKittrick Built Similarly?

Yes and no. Most things in the McKinnon are on the same floor as they are in the McKittrick, but not everything is, and there's no mezzanine floor. Also, many spaces are different sizes and shapes in Shanghai than the are in NYC. In my experience, it took me about one show to get the lay of the land, but I'm pretty good with spatial awareness; some people might be lost for a lot longer.

The hardest thing is that the stairs are very different. In New York, there are two main staircases that go from the mezzanine up to the higher floors, and then a few staircases that go from mezzanine down to the ballroom, and then of course the stairs that go from the ballroom to the hotel lobby. In Shanghai, there are four different staircases, and I only one of them goes from the ballroom all the way up to the fifth floor. Also, some of the entrances to staircases are hidden behind closed doors, so you might be standing right in front of a staircase and not realize it's there! Sneaky, sneaky!

How Different Are the Shows?

I was surprised by how different they were. Without giving away too many spoilers, there are a couple of new characters who, in my opinion, have really excellent loops to follow. But also, they've changed some of the other characters loops so that they can interact with the new characters, so some of the characters you know and love have had large parts of their loops changed to account for this. And then even the characters who aren't really affected by the new characters sometimes have changes in their loops.

Many people who've read up on the differences have heard that there's no full nudity in Shanghai, which is true. I thought this might mean that the Shanghai version was a bit watered-down, but holy crap was I wrong. There are a few experiences in Shanghai that absolutely turned my world upside-down! One of these experiences is a private 4:2, and you're most likely to get it by looping the Bride or the Husband. The other one is a sort of extended public 2:1 that you'll see most of if you follow Speaks or Taxi (most of this is public, though part of it is private). Do not try to read up on these experiences and have them spoiled: it is so much more fulfilling to happen upon them with no prior knowledge.

Also, most of the 1:1s are different in some way or another. Some of the differences are small (the spaces are slightly different, speeches are a bit different, props might be different). Some of the differences are much larger (a performer in Shanghai might do a 1:1 that's done by a different character in NY). And some of the 1:1s are entirely new! Also, the western performers generally give 1:1 monologues in English, and the Chinese performers generally give 1:1 monologues in Mandarin, though some performers seem to be bilingual enough to deliver parts of their 1:1s in both languages.

Which Characters Should I Prioritize?

Assuming you've seen the show in New York several times and have seen a decent percentage of the show, I imagine you'll want to prioritize things in Shanghai that are different than they are in NY. Here's a list of the loops that will show you the most new things in Shanghai:

Other character notes:

I really recommend avoiding spoilers on 1:1s you haven't had. All of the experiences I had were much more exciting because I wasn't spoiled on the contents of any of them.

If you only can go to one show, I'd recommend spending one loop with the Bride (which shows you a lot of the Husband's loop as well), one loop with Taxi or Speaks (which overlap a bit), and then one loop with whomever you want.

If you get in with aces, you can likely find the Bride and Husband in the Chinese medicine shop on the 4th floor, after which they head up to the forest on the 5th floor.

Who's in the Cast?

The McKinnon has a page with photos and names of cast members, but it's not on the regular interwebs: it's in their Mini Program in the WeChat app, which can be a pain. Also, it's not always up to date.

There's a webpage where someone uploads the nightly cast list, usually within a few days of each show. Check out the SNM Shanghai Cast List Page on Weibo.

Note that the casting works differently in Shanghai than in NY. In Shanghai, there are often two casts throughout the week, and they alternate between days. So Cast A will be on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday evening, whereas Cast B will be Thursday, Saturday matinee, and Sunday. It doesn't always work this way like clockwork, as they sub people out, they have swings, etc. But many of the performers I followed played two distinct roles and swapped between them following that pattern. I found it helpful in trying to think in advance about who I might want to follow each show.

Where to Stay?

There is a hotel called The Drama that's affiliated with Sleep No More and located right next to the McKinnon. It was a bit pricier than I wanted to spend, so I found another hotel nearby. I did hear that if you stay at The Drama and have a first entry ticket, they arrange for you to jump ahead of the people who were in the queue. But this didn't make any difference actually getting into the show.

I stayed at the Meego Qingwen Hotel. It was about a 10-minute walk from the McKinnon, and it was about 40 USD per night for a deluxe queen room with a private bathroom. It was not fancy at all, but it was affordable, well-located, and had washers and dryers that were cheap and easy to use.

There are hundreds of hotels in Shanghai, so pick your poison.

How Do I Get Around Shanghai and Pay for Things?

Download the Alipay app - it is absolutely necessary for staying in China. You can connect it to an international credit card and use it to pay for pretty much anything. It worked flawlessly for me. I downloaded it and added my credit card to it before entering China.

There's an app called Didi that is like the local Uber. I tried downloading the app, but it never worked for me. However, there's a Didi section within Alipay that worked flawlessly. I used this for airport transfers and also rides around town.

Also, I used Airalo to get an eSIM for my trip to China. It was wonderful because I had no problem accessing websites and apps that are usually blocked behind the Great Firewall in China. If you just try to use your hotel's Wifi, things like Google Maps might not work.

Also, note that Google Maps usually has information that's horribly out of date in China. Because it's behind the Great Firewall, people just don't update things on it that often. I tried to eat at several restaurants on Google Maps, but they had been permanently closed. I used the Baidu app to supplement my Google Maps findings, and it worked well.

Visas for China?

The rules for visas are different for different countries, and they change sometimes, so I'd encourage anybody interested in going to do your own research. I will say that as a US Citizen, I would typically need a visa to enter China except I entered via the 240-Hour Visa-Free Transit Program. This meant that I was able to stay in Shanghai for up to ten days without a visa, provided I satisfied a list of conditions. One of those conditions is that you must arrive from one country, stay online in Shanghai during your visit, and then leave for a third country. This means that if you want to enter via this program, you cannot just book a roundtrip flight from your own country to Shanghai. I happened to be in the UK before my trip to Shanghai, and I flew to Indonesia afterward, so it was UK - China - Indonesia for me.

Many countries are not eligible for this visa-free transit program. And some countries don't require visas at all for tourists! So please do your own research before booking a flight.

Times to Avoid / Show Closures?

I've only been to the hotel once, so I've only really looked at the calendar near those dates. However, I have learned that the show is closed for approximately three weeks for Lunar New Year, which typically happens between late January and late February.

In 2024, Lunar Near Year was on Saturday, February 10th and the show was dark starting on Monday, February 5th for approximately three weeks. So in that situation, it was the week containing Lunar New Year, plus the following two weeks.

In 2025, Lunar New Year will be on Wednesday, January 29th and the show will be dark starting on Sunday, January 26th for approximately three weeks.