15th anniversary - Press event, trip report

[SandraVB79]

Cast:

- Me, Sandra, 27, and completely Disney-obsessed
- My oldest brother, Michal, 24, likes Disney but not as much as I

For the press event held on March 31, my brother and I went two days to Disneyland Paris.
Tomorrow, I'm going again for 4 days with my mom to celebrate the actual anniversary.

The links in the trip report will show you pictures of specials, like the fireworks, and of the things we ate. (it was written for the DIS, and people there like to see Disney-food)

[SandraVB79]

Some time ago (like 3 months ago), my brother and I had said that we were going to DLP during the weekend of April 1, to be there for the launch of the 15th Anniversary Celebration and for the Unveiling of the Chateau. Three weeks ago or so, I finally made reservations for the hotel, we were going by car and would by APs.
So far so good, plans are looking OK till now! Oh, wait at some point, Shareholders club warned me I better not go on March 31 because of the huge press event, large parts of the parks being closed for the public and the event being a private thing for the press etc (and thrust me, I did put money on Disneys offshore account, it didnt help in getting an invitation ). Oops, my excitement is already a little less, but I decide to not say a thing to my brother, and just go and see for ourselves.

Thursday, March 29. On March 30, we have to hand in a proposal for a Belgian government (we = the consulting firm I work for), and I have the end responsibility for it. Not only is there still a lot of work on the proposal, there is also an event going on that I have to attend. In short: Friday morning at 3.15, I leave work, being in my bed at home by 4.30 am and my alarm clock went off at 6. At 8.05 I am back at work, do what I still have to do for the proposal document and hand it in. Around 1 pm, I am back home, and thrust me, I dont feel the slightest bit human anymore. And the day after I have to drive all the way to Paris!
I nap in the afternoon, but dont manage to finish packing early. By 11.30 pm, I am finally in my bed

[SandraVB79]

5.45 am: my alarm clock awakes me while I am somewhere far away in the galaxy. I had told my brother I wanted to leave at 6.30, 7 at the latest!. At 7 am, I am still eating breakfast in my PJs, oops! By 7.30, we are finally in the car and driving. After a 4 hour drive through heavy fog, rain, sunshine and the banlieus of Paris (thank you GPS for not showing me the right way to the Francilienne), we take exit 14 on the freeway, and all of a sudden, the ugly North-French roads look very Floridian to me. WE ARRIVED ON DISNEY PROPERTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I follow the signs to the parking lot, pay the parking, and drive all the way to the front of the parking. It seems that we are virtually alone in the park, yeah! Or at least, there are not that many cars.

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We park, get out, take our stuff, walk the walk, buy the temporary year passes (Dream for me, Fantasy for M) and then head over to Le Salon Mickey, where we enjoy a drink, a pain au chocolat and a croissant. And then we continue through the secret door (yeah, right) into the park. YEAH, WE ARE IN DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!

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And indeed, theres a lot of press in the park, though I really doubt there are 8000 of them. On the time planning, we see the parade is at 2.45, Frontier- and Adventureland close at 7 pm, the park closes at 8 and at 8.40 we are invited to watch something followed by fireworks on Main Street. Especially this last part confused me because I was told earlier on that the fireworks and show would be a private party. Anyway, it was still way too early to worry about all that. Lets go in the park! Oh euhm I didnt write down what we did at what time. Sorry.

[SandraVB79]

I can tell you we went for the first time ever on Autopia. It has always been closed when we were there, but now it was up and running, so I just had to go on it. We squeezed into one very pink car, and drove through basically nothing Too bad they didnt put more things in there, like a futuristic version of Storybookland or so Now that would be cool! After Autopia, we got I line for Buzz Lightyear, but at some point the line stopped moving, and we got out of the line. I think we then went to Fantasyland where we did some rides (like Snow White and the Carrousel) and headed over to Adventureland for Indiana Jones. Which was down. By that time, we were hungry. First thought was Colonel Hathis place (or however its called) but then I remembered someone on the board here mentioned Pizzeria Bella Notte was good, so we walked all the way back to Fantasyland. You want to read and see what we ate? Check the dining review!!!

Around 2 pm we went in front of the castle, because I wanted a good view of the parade. I kept waiting, my brother went looking through stores. A little later than planned, the parade started with a pre-parade.

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A car with the Fab Five drove along the parade route, there was marching band and there were a couple of hundred of guests (I think) with all the same blue cap and jacket and yellow scarf that were holding balloons. 15 of them had very big balloons numbered from 1 tot 15.

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On the center stage, lots of other characters came up and danced and I have no clue as to what happened for the press on Main Street, but at some point the balloons all went up and the released even more balloons from the castle. A little later, the real parade started.
For those who cant stand some critic on Disney, skip this paragraph. Yes, its a new parade, and yes, Im quite happy to not see the same old parade again. However it didnt really seem new to me. Lion King float? Looked a lot like the one in the Parade of Dreams (Disneyland). Princesse float and the flower girls? They reminded me of the princesse in the Share a Dream Come True parade (WDW-MK) Pinocchio? About the same as in Parade of Dreams (with the bungee-artists). Mary Poppins and Toy Story? Out of the parade at Disney Studios in Paris. I really had a seen it already feeling. Also, to me, every float had some music, but it didnt seem like there was an overall theme in the music. A nice novelty was the smell. Every float smells. Some better than others, and I really feel sorry for those along the Villains float during the stop!

[SandraVB79]

I dont remember very well what we exactly did after the parade. At some point we saw the train with characters. A train filled with characters drives through Main Street and then if you like to fight, you can fight for your right to have a picture with a character on the plaza in front of the castle. We also did some shopping and some rides, we went on Pirates, some other rides and iasw. After iasw, it was about 7.40 pm, and they were already chasing the people out of Fantasyland through Discoveryland towards Main Street.

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I was somewhat worried that they would chase us out of the park to view the fireworks from Fantasia Gardens or so, and my idea was as long as were IN the park, were not out, so we went in line for Buzz Lightyear. I think they closed the line about 10 persons after us. By the time we got off the ride, Main Street was completely closed off, and whether we wanted it or not, we had to stay in front of Plaza Restaurant or around the entrance of Discoveryland.

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Which was very good, because after waiting a long time in the cold, we had a rather great view of what was happening on stage and had the most wonderful view of the fireworks. With nobody around us! I think we were only 15 people who were standing there, so no pushing, no pulling, no one in front of you Lovely!
What I didnt understand was why they ask someone to come sing non-Disney songs. I mean, there are so many nice Disney-songs, then why sing a song that is called a Bad Day on such a lovely day???

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After the fireworks, it was very easy to exit the park, no masses of people to along Main Street, and we decided to not go to the car first (to put other shoes on) but to directly go to Caf Mickey and see if they could still seat us. At 9.30 pm or so, we arrived at Caf Mickey, and they could seat us at 10.15, which was fine for us. We went shopping until our table was ready, and you can read in the dining report what we ate.

After dinner, we went back to the car, and the search for our hotel began. We stayed off-site *gasp* I know, *gasp* off-site. At the Best Western Marne-le-Valle. IMO, the room/ hotel was of a quality equal to Hotel New York, and we paid a whopping 60 EUR for the night. To me, the Disney Magic in the hotels means that you have a boutique in the hotel where you can spend even more money, so I didnt miss any Disney magic while staying at my wonderful off-site hotel! For that difference in price, they will see me again very soon (on April 12, as a matter of fact, I had already made reservations for our 3-night stay then).

Note: I did book the hotel through hotels.com. During my next stay, its 80 EUR for the room. And rack rate is even way more than that. But thats why I never pay rack rate!

[SandraVB79]

We didnt book a room with breakfast (which I will do in the future) so after the morning shower and checking out, we went back to the DLP-parking lot and headed once again to Le Salon Mickey for breakfast. I really love this feature
Although it had rained the day before, this Sunday it was lovely weather. And there was a not so lovely huge crowd! Today we used our first (and only) Fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain. We did some rides, went shopping, saw the parade, experienced some problems with the parade, and had lunch at the Blue Lagoon. Once again, go see the dining review to read about this! After some more rides and an ice cream (45 minutes waiting to get the ice cream! And there were only 7 people in front of us!) we saw Bougillumination (or however they call it) Although its a very nice show, its not something that should be done when its not dark! I am sure many people didnt see the candles that were lit because of the sun (its good that I knew what was happening or I wouldnt have seen it either!) nor Tinkerbells golden pixie dust. Pixiedust: But its a very nice show, and I bought the CD with the music. After Bougillumination, we left the park, back to the car and back at home I didnt really feel like leaving, but I knew I had still more than a 3-hour drive ahead Although its cheap to go by car, its more comfortable to go by train. It was hard to keep concentrated on the road while driving back, because I was very tired. I must say that I was glad by the time we got home at 11.15 PM!

[SandraVB79]

Day 1 lunch: Pizzeria Bella Notte

I had the pizza with ham and mushrooms, and it was good as far as frozen pizza can be good. I dont mean it was cold, and I liked it a lot. At home I always eat those frozen pizzas. It just wasnt pizza hut or real Italian pizza. But for that price, it was a very decent meal.
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My brother had the pasta Napolitana. It was good, but he didnt like it, because it wasnt what he thought it would be. What did he think it was going to be? I eman, its counter service, its penne pasta with napolitana sauce. And it was warm.
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The paper thing on the tray, I liked it a lot!
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Day 1 dinner: Caf Mickey.

We both decided to take the menu. I had Tinkerbells Tantalizing Tart as appetizer. Its puff pastry with tomato, mozzarella and goat cheese and lots of rucola with some vinaigrette dressing on top. It was delicious!
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M. had Pocahontas mushroom soup.
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Bread (there were 4 to begin with):
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We both had Pinocchios Pasta as main course. It was great, but way too much! I couldnt finish it, and neither could my brother.
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After the pasta, we asked if we could pay the appetizer and entree la carte, because neither of us could eat dessert anymore.

During dinner, characters walked around the restaurant, but for some reason, they kinda ignored us. It cant be because we were two adults, they did interact with the two adults at the table next to ours. I guess we were both wearing our invisible suit. At some point, I did what you arent supposed to do, and I jumped up and grabbed Mickey to have a picture with THE mouse. Sorry Mickey.

Day 2 lunch Blue Lagoon

I have always wanted to eat here, but my mom doesnt like food that sounds exotic. So this was my chance to try it out. We didnt want to spend too much time in the restaurant, so we just had a main course and bread, nothing else. We were also quite lucky, because we got a waterside table!!!
Btw, if youre on the Pirates ride, it can be fun to yell bon appetite to the people that are eating. You yell it once, but when youre in the restaurant, you have to hear it every 30 seconds or so it does get old easily so stop doing that!

Bread:
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We both had the same meal, namely creole rice with chicken and sea food, and it was delicious!!!! I hope Ill be back here in the future to eat it again.
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Day 2 snack Fantasia Gelatti

I had lemon and blackcurrant, M had lemon and strawberry. It took us 45 minutes in line before we got the ice cream, but it was well worth it!
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[pokeypoke]

Thanks, SandraVB79, for the trip report and pictures. The photos of the food made me hungry!

Are they planning on doing something "special" on the actual date of the 15th Anniversary? Maybe it's just me but (and again, I wasn't there for the press event), the firework show (from the pictures) didn't seem too spectacular or different from the normal firework show. The parade would be new and fresh for those who have never seen Parade of Dreams and the one at WDW--as you stated, the floats were brought from these.

In any event, it would be nice to go for the 15th Anniversary (regardless of fireworks, parades, crowds, weather or what ever) because DLP is great!

Pokey

[geoffa]

Is it me or am I getting a "This wasn't quite the exciting bash I expected it to be!" One thing I note is the weather - wet! Why, oh! why did they ever build these parks in an area with such high rainfall? Southern France or Spain would have been so much better but I guess you can't get cheap beet fields down there. Don't get me wrong I love Disneyland Paris when the weather is good - it's every bit as magic as DL or WDW but when those clouds roll in - sheesh! I thought we were going to get a new fantastic parade - I didn't see that from the photos and, yes, the fireworks and castle looked no different from the other shows I've seen there. I think I may need more convincing before I venture over for the 15th celebrations.

[pokeypoke]

I'm relieved to know that you are on the same page as me, geoffa. For a minute, I thought maybe I was being too critical. I just wish that if DLP is going to celebrate an event, they would produce a spectacular show or parade that is unique and one-of-a-kind. I would love to visit DLP this summer but because it is so expensive, they would have to have a really fabulous celebration in order for me to shell out the money--otherwise, I can drive 5 hours and spend a week at Disneyland in California for less money.

Pokey

[SandraVB79]

I was there last week during 4 days for the actual 15th anniversary. A long trip report will follow.

On the 12th, there wasn't really something special. Apparantly, there was a special opening by Mickey, but due to some accidents on the way and the fact we had to buy an AP for my mom, we weren't in time to see that.
The parade was preluded (is that a word?) by a parade of all the cast members that have been there since the first day. While nothing very spectacular, it was somehow kind of emotional.

The parade is very nice, especially for those who haven't experienced the parades in the US. The fireworks... it was a one time thing, and it was very pretty (not all my pictures turned out ok, lol!)

I think I am too critical after the 50th celebrations at Disneyland. This is "only" the 15th anniversary, I shouldn't expect it too be as big as the 50th.


The weather: it was wet on the day of the press event, on April 1 and the past 4 days however, it was very warm! When we left the Disney golf yesterday around 5.30 pm, it was still 32C, which is very exceptional for this time of the year!!!!

Is it worth it to come from the US? No, I don't think so. However, since it's so close/ easy for me, I think you'll find me there about every other weekend, lol!