Disneyland Paris 25th Anniversary Trip!

25 years. My second home has been open for 25 years. And I am so honoured to be able to say I was there 10th – 14th April, with the actual anniversary on 12th April.

If i spoke about every last thing i did on this trip, I would be here for hours! So i’ll just cover a few of the things that really stood out to me and got me all emotional!! I will only post a few pictures of each so not all is spoiled for those who haven’t been yet!

The Decorations

First of all, the decorations! More specifically, the Main Street Station decorations as you enter through the turnstiles. The LED screen is amazing! (Technically not a screen, it’s a set of LED lights behind a metal disc sheet) It alternates between the 25th logo and an animation of the castle. Its so beautiful and nearly made me cry! Also, the Gazebo was much better in person! Although the stars on it look a bit like the lumps in wallpaper before you smooth it out :’) The characters in the hub area scare me, especially Tink. Her eyes are filled in black and to me she looks a little possessed!

 

The Starlit Princess Waltz

This show was stunning. Absolutely stunning. Much better than the Christmas one as there was an actual storyline and told a mini story about each princess. The lyrics for this show were divided between English and French so everyone could understand the story being told. Also, the princess’s were all wearing their new gowns for the 25th anniversary and oh my god they were to die for. My favourite dress’s were Aurora and Tiana’s! Just generally a fantastic show and definitely worth watching!

  

Mickey Presents “Happy Anniversary Disneyland Paris”

This was my favourite of the two new shows by far!! I can’t even explain how amazing this show is! It really is such a high standard! Also as Max Goof is one of the main characters in the show, it automatically ranks very high for me! It split into 5 sections (much like the 25th Celebration cavalcades). Main Street, Frontierland, Adventureland, Discovery and Fantasyland. The music is just amazing. I won’t say to much as many of you will probably want to experience it in person! But for these you won’t be seeing it live, I would highly suggest watching it on youtube! It really is one of THE best shows Disneyland Paris has ever put on!

Disney Stars On Parade

I LOVE THIS PARADE! I cannot explain to you just how much I love this parade. I watched it every single day and loved it more and more each time.The music is fantastic (I didn’t like it initially!) and the floats are insane and we now have a FIRE BREATHING steam punk dragon which is pretty amazing if I do say so myself. But my favourite float has to be our dragon. Hands down, no questions asked. My least favourite (but certainly not a bad float at all!) is the Finding Dory float, purely because you don’t really get much interaction from it, but visually its fantastic.

My new favourite place to stand for the parade is at the end of the route, just before it goes backstage, as you get so much more character interaction and the music is so much clearer as its changing between floats! Oh and did I mention that the music corresponds with each float, pretty cool huh?

  

25th Anniversary Celebration/Cavalcades

I cannot put into words how much it meant to me to be able to experience what I did that day. I feel so blessed and lucky to have been able to be there and experience it with some of the best people!

The initial celebration and cavalcade was split into five sections, being Main Street (Mary Poppins/Bert/Aristocats), Adventureland (Aladdin/POTC), Frontierland (Song Of The South/Toy Story/Pocahontas), Discoveryland (Stitch/Atlantis/Treasure Planet) and Fantasyland (Alice/Pinocchio). From where we were stood (On main street opposite cable car + Harringtons) the only section we didn’t see on the morning was Fantasyland. The final section was actually around 1000 Cast Members which set me off!!! I followed the celebration right to the end of the route.

The cavalcades were INSANE!!! I watched both of them and they were the both the same as the morning celebrations just without the cast members! The amount of rare characters on the parade was just unbelievable!! Being able to see all these rare characters I’ve waited to see for years right in front of me was incredible! I mean, Milo and Kida from Atlantis?!?!?! I LOST IT!

  

Rare Character Meets

On the anniversary itself (12th April) there were a few are character meets added to the programme. Duffy, Shellie May, Max Goof and Clarice. I managed to meet Max Goof, Duffy and Shellie May.

The queues for all of these characters were insane!! I waited around 2.5 hours for Max Goof and 1.5 hours for Duffy and Shellie may as they were meeting together! The longest people waited for rare characters was around 4/5hours.

Surely this shows they should be out a little more often! I guess you could say I met Clopin from Hunchback of Notre Dame and Coda from Brother bear as i got hugs from both of them on the cavalcade!

 

Illuminations

Now, Illuminations. I haven’t really got much to say about this show in all honesty. I personally am not a fan. Visually it’s stunning. Absolutely stunning. But it just doesn’t have a storyline or any form of emotion like Dreams! did.

To me and many others, half of illuminations just seems like a marketing strategy. Which would be fine if the scenes were actually any good. These scenes are the live action Beauty and The Beast, Pirates of The Caribbean and Star Wars. To me, they should have kept the Star Wars show in the studios and added something else in its place in Illuminations. My favourite scene is The Little Mermaid, which is actually in french!

Overall I give it a 5/10!

Let us know in the comments below if you plan on visiting Disneyland Paris during the 25th Celebrations!