Hello and welcome to Disneyland Paris! It’s been a while since we headed to the other side of the world for a Disneyland Paris update, so today’s article is a special double holiday feature. Today we’re exploring how the resort celebrated Halloween and is currently enjoying Christmas. Unfortunately, it’s not all good news. Cutbacks in holiday offerings are becoming more and more apparent with each passing season… Still, there’s magic to be found. Join us as we explore the ghoulish and glorious sides of Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland Paris A Hollow Halloween
Halloween at Disneyland Paris was much smaller than in previous years. There were decreases to nearly every aspect of the Halloween celebrations this time around; everything from decorations, meet and greets, the shows, and even the candy all suffered from cutbacks.
Mickey’s Halloween Celebration Parade
This parade is one of the primary celebrations for Halloween in the park. And while it may look good to the average viewer, there were some odd decisions that actually detract from the parade experience.
The parade is comprised of four floats and is split into two groups of two floats. The parade makes a stop in the Central Plaza for a show-stop (a sequence where the parade stops to perform a choreographed segment), but only showcases two floats at a time. The problem is that onlookers can’t see all the floats and characters at the same time in Central Plaza. To further complicate things, visitors on Main Street don’t always understand that there’s a section of the parade where everything comes to a halt for a 7-minute break (3 minutes to hold, and a 4-minute show). While the idea of show-stops is interesting, holding the parade for 7 minutes is significant considering there isn’t a whole lot of parade to watch. The Central Plaza show-stop can be beneficial to some guests, but it is much less than ideal than what we would like. Take a look at Mickey’s Halloween Celebration Parade below:
The only noticeable change to this show is the sunflower dancers who have had their costumes updated. We would love to see this parade rethought, especially to either make the show-stop sequence shorter and more frequent along the parade route, or even better… add more floats to make it a proper parade! Here’s a look at the original show and its changes over the years:
Disney’s Villain’s Den Stage Show
This year, the castle stage show, Disney Villain’s Den, was… a deception! And that sentiment largely carried over into the rest of Halloween in the park. DLP is known for its seasonal spectaculars, but this year there was nothing exciting about the offerings.
For the Villain’s Den show, the characters were simply put on stage as a method to introduce the audience to them before doing their meet and greets.
Another cutback to this year’s offering was the candy. If you’re looking for a little something sweet to eat, you’re straight out of luck. There’s no more candy offered here. You can see the Disney Villain’s Den show below:
Disneyland Paris Halloween Decorations
And now for the part that makes or breaks a holiday: the decorations. This year, the decorations were scarcer rather than scarier. There were fewer pumpkins along Main Street, the festive ghosts were limited just to Town Square, and Frontierland was devoid of decoration except for the Coco area.
The only new decorations were the arrangements of beautiful glass pumpkins in Town Square that lit up at night. The effect was stunning, but it was a shame that they were only limited just to Town Square.
Disneyland Paris Halloween Nighttime Show
This year, the only Halloween addition to the nighttime spectacular was a pre-show that played before Disney D-Light, which is itself a pre-show to Disney Illuminations. This pre-pre-show that played 15-20 minutes before the main show was nice — the animations and light effects around the castle were beautiful — but it was also lacking some more awe-inspiring moments. There were no drones or fireworks for this segment, which was a major disappointment. The music was actually borrowed from Hong Kong Disneyland for a previous Halloween season.
As you’ve seen, Halloween at Disneyland Paris was significently scaled back from previous years; it’s far from the highlight it used to be just a few years ago. With fewer villains and budget crunching at all levels, more than a few corners were cut.
Disneyland Paris Christmas Cutback
We’re sorry to say that the meager seasonal offerings at Disneyland Paris carry into Christmastime as well.
This year, there are significantly fewer holiday offerings than in 2018 and 2019. The holiday celebrations this year are contained to just three things (a stage show, a nighttime show, and a parade). In previous years, there were 9 different holiday entertainment offerings. Among the biggest losses for this year are Mickey’s Christmas Big Band show and Goofy’s Incredible Christmas nighttime show. To get you in the spirit for the holidays, take a look at simpler times in Mickey’s Christmas Big Band below:
And don’t get your hopes up for any holiday entertainment at DLP’s second park, Walt Disney Studios. The show Mickey and the Magician is still playing regularly. Without a seasonal swap of productions.
And without further ado, let’s head to Disneyland Paris to see what the holidays are actually offering this year…
Disneyland Paris Holiday Decorations
Just like for Halloween, holiday decorations are few and far between. The decorations parkwide have really been scaled back. And in Town Square, there aren’t any snow scenes anymore, which is a major disappointment.
Chip and Dale have an acorn-adorned heart where they do their meet and greet at. It’s cute, but it feels a little lackluster.
The scalebacks for Christmas are very apparent throughout the park. While the decorations that are in place are pretty, it just feels very sparse in comparison to how things used to be.
Let’s Sing Christmas Show
The first of the majority holiday activities at Disneyland Paris can be found at Videopolis, Let’s Sing Christmas. This show consists of four singers and some Dinsey characters. On occasion, the show is enhanced with a non-Disney choir that accompanies the four main singers. T
This isn’t a new show for DLP; it’s actually a less ambitious version of Christmas Wishes (2011) from Tokyo DisneySea. You can see the similarities between the video above and Christmas Wishes below:
Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade
While we’re nonplussed by much of what DLP has to offer this Christmas season, Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade helps make the holidays brighter. This is the second year for this parade, and it’s just as wonderful as its debut.
One of the things that is best about this parade is actually something we were very critical of for the Halloween parade. During Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade show-stop sequence, the floats make a full turn throughout Town Square in addition to their passing during the parade itself. While the ShowStop in Central Plaza isn’t amazing with a lack of a proper backdrop, in Town Square the sequence is simply brilliant. The floats and character framed by the Christmas tree is magical.
Take a look at the show from Town Square in the video below:
Disney Dreams! Of Christmas
The final offering for the holiday is the nighttime spectacular, Disney Dreams! Of Christmas. There are some new additions this year, like the delightful lighting added to the roofs of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
While the majority of the roofs look stellar with the new lights, there are several rooftops that weren’t included in the installation. The end result feels a bit unfinished.
The new lighting isn’t used just for the Christmas show, but also during the pre-show Disney D-Light.
The last performance of “Disney Dreams of Christmas” was way back in 2016, and it has proven to be a major success this holiday season. It’s always a good sign to see guests stick around for the real show after Disney D-Light ends. If the management of DLP wants their guests to stay for a quality nighttime show, they can take a note from Walt Disney World and bring out its classic shows from years past. This is their opportunity to take Disney Dreams! out of retirement…
This particular show is really nice to see, even if it does have some flaws. The quality of projections, variety of fireworks, and even the number of pyro set off have been reduced since 2016, but we love the narration of the show. Take a look for yourself:
At the end of the show, there is a post-show sequence that was created for DLP’s 30th anniversary. We think that it’s quite beautiful.
Our Thoughts On Disneyland Paris Cutbacks
Halloween and Christmas at Disneyland Paris were difficult for me to witness. To be honest, the experience is so significantly reduced from previous years that it feels insulting. In 2018 and 2019 it was next to impossible to do all the Christmas activities in one day; in 2022, everything could be seen in a meager afternoon. I’m tempted to suggest that guests skip Disneyland Paris this holiday season to teach them a lesson… but that’s just as likely to cause them to cut even deeper.
While the light Christmas offerings in 2021 were (arguably) justified as the resort was getting back into the swing of operations after its extended closure, 2022 doesn’t have that same excuse to use. There are no more attendance caps for visitors (except for annual passholders) and visiting Disneyland Paris is easier than ever. However, due to management decisions to understaff and create policies that result in long waits for everything (I recently had to wait 45 minutes for some “fast” food), the consumer is left with a subpar experience. So for DLP to put such minimal effort into Halloween and Christmas is salt in the wound.
With the return of Bob Iger as the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, we’re curious to see what changes might eventually be made to the Disney Parks— Disneyland Paris included. We hope that by this time next year, things are back to the idyllic version of DLP that exists in our memory. Until then, we’ll continue to watch what happens in the park and hold out hope for better and brighter days.
Are you as concerned about cuts to the theme parks during Halloween and Christmas as I am? I’ll keep an eye on on Disneyland Paris for you. I always appreciate you reading and seeing your comments.
See ya real soon!
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