Dates: 26th October - 1st November 2009.
Guests: Dan and Jon; Hilde and Niels for Halloween day.
Hotel: Hotel L’Elysee Val D’Europe
First and foremost I apologise for this report for being so late in coming! I have been quite busy and have had two more Disney trips since this trip! But anyway, better late than never, here is the trip report for our awesome DLP Halloween trip!
The Hotel
On this trip we were staying for so long at DLP (7 full days), that the hotels onsite worked out too expensive, especially since it was a half term week. So, we ended up booking to stay at the official partner hotel just down the road, the Hotel L’Elysee Val D’Europe.
It is right in the heart of the modern and upcoming Disney-built town and just opposite the train station that takes you one stop, and a 5min ride direct to DLP.
The hotel was modern and functional. The rooms were nice and clean, and th reception staff friendly enough. I can’t really say much more; a hotel is a hotel - it wasn’t a Disney one so there is no theme to comment on etc. I would say if you’re looking for a cheaper but very modern and clean alternative to a DLP hotel, this certainly ticks all the right boxes.
Weather
As far as the last week of October in the heart of France goes, it was exceptionally good weather. The first day that we arrived it was warm enough to walk around with just t-shirts without jackets or sweaters! I have to say that was a nice and welcomed surprise!
Of course, as soon as the 1st November came, it rained and was cold and miserable all day! Luckily that was our last day of 7, and it didn’t matter so much. But mother nature sure knew when winter had arrived!
Even the as mad as he is, Mad Hatter was taking no chances…
Characters Before I get into the main report about things we did and saw, I’m going to just list the different characters we managed to meet on this trip. I have listed next to them the different outfits we managed to meet them in (if any).
Winnie the Pooh - bumble bee outfit
Gaston
Snow Witch - DLP face version
Stitch - Halloween “satchel” version, Halloween mask, Stars n Cars Elvis
Chip - ghost
Dale - ghost
Pinocchio - regular, Halloween mask
Lilo - regular, orange witch
Chicken Little
Abby Mallard
Jack Skellington
Sally
Suzy
Perla
Jack Sparrow
Jessie
Mulan - winter cloak
Ariel - regular dress, winter sleeves dress
Cruella DeVil
Clarice - orange witch
Merlin
Shan Yu
Robin Hood
White Rabbit
Brer Rabbit
Clopin
Esmerelda
Launchpad McQuack
Mr Smee
Remy
Emile
Scrooge McDuck
Prince John
Malficent
Meeko
Mad Hatter
Pumpkin Man - white shirt, orange shirt
Pumpkin Girl
Pumpkin Boy
Pumpkin Lady
Pumpkin Doc
Pumpkin Cop
Pumpkin Mum
Belle - winter sleeves yellow dress
Prince Adam
Mary Poppins - white winter sleeves
Bert
Abu
Piglet
Friar Tuck
Captain Hook
Tweedle Dee
Tweedle Dum
Queen of Hearts
Prince Eric
Gideon
Peter Pan - regular “long sleeves”, It’s Party Time
Wendy - It’s Party Time
Frollo
Buzz Lightyear
Daisy Duck - orange witch, Stars n Cars
Mickey Mouse - regular, vampire, Stars n Cars
Minnie Mouse - witch, Stars n Cars
Lady Tremaine - winter gloves
Drizella - winter sleeves
Goofy - regular, Stars n Cars, scarecrow, raincoat
Donald Duck - devil, Stars n Cars
Pluto - regular, Frontierland collar
Aladdin - Prince Ali
Jasmine - winter shawl
Yellow Devil
Purple Devil
Green African Drummer
Brown African Drummer
As you can see from the list, we were exceptionally lucky this trip in meeting some very unusual characters - even by DLP’s standards!
Halloween Fun
So of course being the last week of October it was Halloween, and the spooks and chills were out in full force! There were a lot of special characters out, such as the Pumpkin People, Jack and Sally and the villains (most notable the Snow Witch, Shan Yu and Gaston).
Regular characters also had special Halloween costumes, and we saw a variety of these from Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip, Dale, Lilo, Stitch, Daisy and Pinocchio.
Minnie’s Party Train (Character Express) was decked out for the Halloween Season, and made it’s way up Main Street multiple times a day. Usually on board with Minnie in her witch outfit were other Fab 5 members and some Pumpkin People. Sometimes Lilo and Stitch were there too.
The last Party Time show of the day was a special extended villains version, which basically involved the villains appearing on the stage and wanting to join in the party, then dancing out the final number with the rest of the characters.
There was also a Halloween Pre-Parade before Once Upon a Dream, which involved a number of villains, Jack and Sally, and Pumpkin People.
The actual parade featured Mickey and Minnie in their Halloween outfits, too.
There was a lot of Halloween decorations about, some more questionable than others (!) but nonetheless the effort was there and it looked very cool overall (though some of the larger orange pumpkin themed things could have been toned down some).
There was also an interesting show over in Frontierland, The Disney Witches Dancing Spells Party. It basically involved Maleficent and The Queen in some sort of battle of the witches, singing it out with some werewolf-looking performers. I can’t say much more than that to be honest! It was ‘interesting’!
Also over in Frontierland, as well as some special character meets (such as Devil Donald, and Scarecrow Goofy), the Crypt Quintet, who are DLP’s resident Halloween band, were out on a number of occasions.
Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party
On the Tuesday night (27th) we attended the new Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Disneyland Park. Although it in practice had been new the year before, it had been such a runaway success, that it was drastically improved and altered, and was a brand new version of a young year-old concept.
I have to say that it was a lot of fun. We managed to meet some VERY cool characters.
The night involved all of the following activities:
Winnie the Pooh, and Friends, too! Show at Fantasy Festival Stage
Merlin and the Witch Academy show in Castle Courtyard
The Disney Halloween Dance Party
The Disney’s “Not-So-Scary” Halloween Show at Central Plaza
The Disney’s “Not-So-Scary” Halloween Cars Cavalcade
Character Meets
Special Pin Tading
Candy Distribution (trick or treating)
Areas that we open were:
Selected restaurants on Main Street USA
Most of Frontierland
All of Fantasyland
Central Plaza
Pirates of the Caribbean area of Adventureland
We managed to see pretty much all of these things.
The Merlin show was ok as a show, but the best thing about it was you got a brief meet n greet opportunity with Merlin himself after! Merlin is of course a very rare character, and Jon and I were extremely happy to meet him!
The Winnie the Pooh show was the same show that they have run for years in normal park hours. The exception being now that the show is actually only seasonal, so it was a unique opportunity to see it outside of July / August and Christmas.
The main show at Central Plaza was quite good. It basically was a battle between the good and bad forces of Disney. It involved Disney heroes and heroines in a confrontation with their villainous counterparts. Sadly for some of the characters it didn’t end very well. Snow White was left asleep and appeared not to be awoken from her slumber! (It was just the way the show was written; it appeared in the way that they told it that she was never awoken!) The show came to a climax when the villains got all too confident, Mickey appears in a cloud of smoke and magic and offers the bad guys a peace offering - “distribution de la bonbon!” - he gives them candy, to keep them sweet!
The Cavalcade was interesting because it basically used the cars from the Stars n Cars event over at WDS, but replaced the characters with ones seen throughout the night at MNSSHP (which were mainly villains and regular characters in their Halloween finest - plus some other random ones too), and of course to a different soundtrack. It was neat to see these cars in a different park, and at night too. After the cavalcade made its way down from Central Plaza all the cars stopped in Town Square and gave you the opportunity to meet some of your favourite Disney stars.
Overall the night was a lot of fun. There was some very cool characters out. There was enough entertainment for the short time of the event (only 4 hours), and was definitely worth the 25,50 Euros each (AP discounted rate).
Stars n Cars
This trip was the first time we had gotten to see Stars n Cars event since it had premiered at the Resort back in March. It basically uses the same cars from the old Stars and Motor Cars Parade at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. Some of the characters have been switched around slightly, and a couple cars have had some modifications. The main difference about this “event” than its former incarnation is that now it makes its way across the park, and makes a major show stop at Place des Stars. The show I would say is ok overall. Nothing spectacular, but if you want to get some nice character pictures, then it’s good. Jon and I discovered that if you want any chance of meeting any of your heroes though during the brief meet n greet offered during and after the show (before the characters board their vehicles and leave again), the best place to be is actually directly behind the stage. Most of the cars stop here, and you can usually get a whole multitude of characters to stop for you for photos and autographs. This was particularly useful because we really badly wanted to meet Elvis Stitch - with success!
Part Two continues here :)
Dan |