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Hi all!
We are finally back from our crazy 9 day trip to Disneyland Paris to celebrate the launch of their 20th anniversary, and WOW what a time we had!
I'm sure a lot of you have been following our adventures on our Facebook page where we were posting regular character picture updates, as well as the two blogs I managed to make (here on the blog). We also were on Twitter, but I don't use that so much, so Facebook was definitely the place to be for updates!
To be honest I don't even know where to begin with how absolutely FANTASTIC the events were for their birthday.
Of course throughout the 20th celebrations they are running the new anniversary version of the parade, there is the character meet 'n' greet train with the VIPS in their special costumes, the BREATHTAKING Disney Dreams! show and the decorations and merchandise throughout the park.
But, the big day itself saw an unprecedented number of special shows and character greetings that simply blew us away.
The day started with Euro Disney President Philippe Gas giving a welcome speech at the foot of Main Street USA in Town Square.
After he had finished, he stepped aside from the podium and Mickey came to greet him in his new 20th outfit.
With a little bit of pixie dust, suddenly two small planes zoomed over the park, making a giant 20 in the sky, and hundreds of cast members rushed down the street performing to the brand new 20th theme song.
They were then joined by some more characters, and the guests at the ropes - which included us! - were invited to be the first down Main Street USA!
The cast members formed a tunnel down the street and basically cheered everybody who passed through.
I must have hi-fived hundreds of people!!
The energy, excitement and pride in the cast members shone as bright as the second star in the new show, and you could feel the emotion in every person there. It was simply the most magical moment ever. Spectacular beyond anything I could have imagined, to be honest!
Apparently the cast members forming the welcome tunnel up Main Street were only meant to be there for a short while, but were having so much fun themselves, that they were there for a lot longer!
We also heard that they had been at the park rehearsing since 1am.
I thank each one of them dearly for the most magical welcome to a park I have ever experienced, and commend them for their hard work and passion for the job they do.
The day then proceeded with the five special shows created exclusively for that day.
Each of the five lands of Parc Disneyland had its own unique themed show which ran four times throughout the day.
Each show featured a selection of characters and performers in special costumes designed exclusively for that show and themed to the according land.
In between show times the characters would meet 'n' greet with their fans. This meant that you could meet the characters in their very special outfits, as well as some very rare characters too! We'll come to some of those as this report goes on...
After we reached Central Plaza (in near tears of joy in my case!) you could proceed to explore the park like normal.
Central Plaza continued to play a special soundtrack throughout the day which was more magical than the regular Main Street music, and the Castle lights glittered and shimmered all day to add some extra sparkle on its special day.
From Central Plaza we went to the first show of the day, over in Frontierland.
Each show had a simple but effective name. The land name followed by "Celebrates", making the first show Frontierland Celebrates.
Hosted in front of (the much underused) Cowboy Cookout BBQ at the band stage, the show featured cowboys Goofy and Max, and the four Country Bears; Big Al, Wendell, Liverlips and Shaker.
All of them had brand new outfits exclusively for the show. We especially loved Max's!
The country band were there and the characters and performers basically performed various country dance routines to Disney-fied country and western music.
All the characters had a small speaking part from what I recall. Max may not have done, but I'd have to check.
Overall I liked the show, and it was neat to see the Country Bears and Max get out in the park.
The second show we went to was the Adventureland Celebrates show, performed outside Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost.
This show was really extra special as it was Jungle Book based and featured Donald and Daisy in really great explorer outfits, King Louie, Baloo, performers, no less than four Jungle Monkeys and none other than Mowgli himself!
Similar to the Frontierland show, it comprised of songs from the Jungle Book performed by the characters and performers.
The performers did all the singing and the character speaking parts were limited, but I think they all said at least one line. For Mowgli that's pretty much a miracle and probably the first time he's ever had a speaking part in a show at a park!
I really liked this show and it was one of my favourites from the day.
While we were wandering through Adventureland we saw that Terk was meeting at the Jungle Rhythms meet 'n' greet area.
Now, I realise both Baloo and King Louie were in the show all day, and also did their meet after the show, but DLP do also have, and use frequently at that location both Timon and Rafiki. So it is very interesting that they decided to use Terk that day instead. Just a little more 20th anniversary magic!
Next it was off to Fantasyland for their happening.
The Fantasyland show was presented in the Castle Courtyard at the Sword in the Stone area.
Rumour had it that Merlin would be making some magic and this show would be a special Sword in the Stone show, but when we arrived it became apparent that was not going to be the case.
At each location that day the area where the show was performed was dressed up for the occasion with appropriately themed set pieces and banners.
The Castle one indeed had the name banners (Fantasyland Celebrates), but the sword was covered by a floral centre piece and the area was covered in flowers.
Instead of Merlin, the show featured Queen Minnie and King Mickey, Snow White, The Prince and all the Dwarfs as well as some performers.
This was probably my least favourite of the day (although I loved Mickey and Minnie's outfits ). It was basically the same format as the other shows, with the characters dancing along to fantasy related songs.
Next up, Discoveryland!
I was really excited to see this one as I had anticipated it would feature Stitch, most likely in a neat new outfit.
I was not disappointed!
The show starred Stitch, Angel, Chip, Dale and Clarice along with performer on roller skates - and they were ALL wearing Buzz Lightyear of Star Command themed costumes!
The show was presented at the Jules Verne monument area near the entrance to the land. It was a fast paced, high energy show that was a lot of fun to watch, though exhausting to perform I imagine!
As well as the fast disco music, they did include Stitch's theme song, Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride, which I was very happy about!
Interestingly, and I could be wrong, but it also featured Clarice's voice! It COULD have been Angel's, but I'm pretty sure it was Clarice's.
To the best of my knowledge, it is probably the only time her voice has ever been heard in the parks. Even if it was Angel speaking, I'm pretty sure it was one of the first times for her too (though Japan may have had her speak at TDL in the past where she features off and on).
Also, Angel was the new version, which is smaller than her previous incarnation, making her more appropriately proportioned to Stitch.
I really enjoyed this show, and it was definitely one of my favourites of the day.
Overall it was so hard to chose a favourite show as they were all so unique and different.
Fantasyland was definitely the least favourite, but other than that, all the other four are pretty equal!
This leads me to the fifth and final show on Main Street USA.
I think it is probably obvious what the main theme of this show was and who it featured!
Bert cycled out on his bike, imminently joined by Mary Poppins who arrived in style aboard the small yellow car, then four Penguins and Duffy the Disney Bear!
The Penguins had new outfits which comprised of a waistcoat and top hat, and Duffy wore a special Main Street outfit, not too dissimilar to the ones Mickey and Minnie have worn in the past at DLP.
Along with some performers they re-enacted songs from Mary Poppins, as well as a special rendition of Walkin' Right Down the Middle, which brought me great joy, as I love that song. To see it performed on Main Street was excellent.
I really liked this show too, and would love to see them perform a regular version of this on Main Street.
After each show, or between shows (on alternating sets) the characters would meet their fans.
This made for a fantastic opportunity that day to meet some very special characters indeed!
Mowgli and the four Country Bears were the rarest (with Mowgli being one of the rarest characters ever at a Disney Park!), followed by the Dwarfs. Along with all the other characters in their special outfits it really made for a simply magical day.
For rare character fans it was heaven on Earth!
The Parade this day was the new regular version, but Tinker Bell returned for the occasion. She was MEANT to be there anyway normally but is yet to make her permanent debut, so that was good to actually see her.
In the early evening (I don't recall the exact time, but it must have been about 8pm), there was an unannounced character flash mob in Central Plaza.
Down from the Castle in true magical Disney style came tens of characters carrying balloons. They met their fans around Central Plaza for a short while.
Characters I recall include Mickey and friends, Pooh friends, and some princes and princesses. There were a lot more, but I don't remember them all right now!
There were quite a lot there and it was a great final touch to such a magical day.
The day ended of course with the stunning, beautiful and spectacular Disney Dreams! show.
I cannot tell you how fantastic this show is, and to end such an overwhelming day with this show was pure Disney magic.
So, that is the official birthday celebrations covered! Wow what a day!
We were also very lucky to be able to attend some very special events the day before, on the 11th. We of course had a blast at these too, but as they were private events, I'll just leave you with a link to my previous post about that, instead of describing it in detail.
We have many thousands more photos to come, and lots to add to the site, so keep checking back for updates!
Dan. |