Almost a week on and well recovered from my weekend, it’s time to tell you what I thought of this Annual Pass Christmas Night. After last year’s mixed reception, I was reluctant to go for a long time, but my friends were very convincing!
Christmas Night : A nice surprise
I have to say that I went there with a lot of preconceptions, but against all odds it was a rather enjoyable evening. Of course, there are a few things to say, but on the whole, I think Disneyland Paris has made up for the Villainous Night disaster (there was no harm done).
The opening ceremony begins and to our great surprise Betty Rose and Jimmy Ocean are not taking part. Much to our delight, I must say. Instead, we discover Angèle and Gaspard, who for me remain in the same vein.
The opening show lacked Disney characters, and we didn’t see Mickey for most of the evening. The show had a taste of déjà vu about it.
Many, many … characters
Over fifty characters were present in the four corners of the park, and that was really good. The big plus was that, as the evening wasn’t complete, we got to see lots of characters.
All the characters were in selfie spots and the cast members were really relaxed, which encouraged interaction. We really appreciated the lighting, which really brought out the characters and made for great photos (unlike Villainous Night).
The only thing to say is that the character sets were not equal. Let me explain: at Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing, you could have met Tiana & Naveen or Louis. Same thing at the Cowboy Cookout Barbecue with Koda & Kenaï or Clara Cluck. And let’s not forget the 50-minute break with Ariel and Prince Eric, so we met Alice instead!
Finally, I thought it was a shame that Meet Mickey Mouse featured Horace & Clarabelle instead of the famous mouse. What’s more, there were no characters in Christmas outfits, nor Elsa and Anna for the 10th anniversary of Frozen.
My favourite? Milo & Kida, Friar Tuck and especially Mushu.
And the shows?
Although the characters didn’t wear Christmas outfits, the theme of the shows was Christmas.
Rediscovering Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade on the Videpolis stage was a nice surprise, and above all it was an opportunity to keep warm in view of the temperature outside! It’s a shame we didn’t get to see all the characters.
Beauty and the Beast: Tale as old as time, for the moment this show wasn’t very interesting, because it retraced the cartoon (which we all know), the scene with Lumière came straight out of Mickey and the Magician (which we also know) and the big drawback was that if you weren’t very well placed, you couldn’t see Beauty and the Beast dancing very well.
The Enchanted Christmas Ball, which served as the closing show, was good but very long. The same music was played over and over again, but the performance by Fairy Godmother was really nice! The fireworks were beautiful, but the mapping wasn’t so great.
Christmas Night – The theme of the evening?
The biggest problem was the theme of the evening… You’re going to ask me what I have against Christmas, and well nothing, I love this season. Except that we’re still looking for a theme for the evening… Apart from a playlist of 4 songs that was played over and over in the park, there wasn’t much to do with Christmas apart from the shows. We would have liked to see Mickey, Minnie and their friends (more accessible than at the end of the evening in Town Square) in their best festive outfits or even a meet and greet with Santa Claus !
