well it was a little hectic but I am a Type A anyway. My husband who is somewhat less "enthusiastic" then me agrees that he would not have wanted to miss it.I did feel that I may have missed something of Shanghai but on the one day we had there, we went on an Amex shore excursion to a fishing village and altho it was pretty interesting, in hindsight I would have probably rather seen more of Shanghai. But not instead of Xi'an. There are others on this board who have spent some time in Shanghai and are in a better position than me to advise about that. I personally think RSSC should skip Dalian and add another day to Shanghai. I would do this trip again in a NY minute!
Much as I try, I must acknowledge that you can't do everything!