We have been lucky enough to visit Disneyland Paris twice before, once for Hubby’s 30th birthday back in 2003 and again for Isaac’s 5th birthday in 2013.
Both times were in spring / summer and we have been hoping to return to see the park transformed for either Halloween or Christmas.
During October half term, we spent the week with Al Fresco Holidays at their fabulous park La Croix du Vieux Pont, which is the perfect base for day trips to Paris and Disneyland.
We spent the first couple of days relaxing on the site and exploring Paris and made sure a trip to Disneyland wasn’t on the kids radar before, despite buying tickets before we left the UK. We told them we were off to visit a castle and made the 90 journey without any suspicions.
It was Sebby that spotted the Disney Castle first and the excitement in the car was electric as we headed inside the gates to park.
We have previously stayed at Disney hotels on previous visits, so mistakenly parked at the back of the carpark on the first day of our visit – definitely try to get closer to the entrance as it’s a good 15 minute walk from the car park, although the kids loved riding the travelators.
We purchased 2 day tickets to Disneyland Paris, which allowed us to spend a day in each park and the Magic Kingdom was our first stop.
Disney go all out on Halloween, with decorations throughout the square and along Main Street.
The kids adored being able to pose with various displays, as well as seeing witches hat lights and pumpkin decorations.
In fact, you saw something new every time you walked along it.
Isaac and Eliza were keen to introduce Sebastian to the magic of Disneyland, starting with the castle and its resident dragon.
We were delighted that some of the infamous Disney villains had decided to pay a visit to the park for the Halloween celebrations too.
The cheeky villains couldn’t resist a chance to perform a spectral spectacular in a spooky show at the royal Castle Stage.
I think Donald stole the show though!
The Halloween Cavalcade was also not to be missed with Disney Characters parading along the streets of Disneyland in their eye-popping Halloween attire.
As well as the Halloween parade there was also the 25th Anniversary Parade which is filled to bursting point with characters from all your favourite Disney films.
Some of the characters danced along the street, greeting their adoring fans, whilst others sat and waved from huge, impressive floats.
Maleficent’s dragon even breathed fire!
Ride wise, nothing has really changed since our last visit with the exception of the rebranding of space mountain to Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain.
The rides the kids loved the most were ‘It’s a Small World’, ‘Star Tours: The Adventure Continues’ and ‘Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast’ and we managed to fit in a good number, despite queues of around 40 minutes each.
We arrived at the park at 10am for opening and stayed right until the firework finale which started at 10pm, so it was a long day, especially for the kids.
It was gone 11pm by the time we made it back to the car, but the kids were still buzzing from everything they had seen.
We did enjoy a very quiet journey back to the campsite as they all slept well on the way back.
We purchased 2-day tickets to Disneyland Paris through Picniq as they had the best deal at the time, plus we earned 5.25% through Top Cashback, which allowed us to spend a day in each park and the Magic Kingdom was our first stop, but it is worth shopping around as these deals change all the time.
Keep your eyes on the blog for our experience at Hollywood Studios soon……..
Have you been to Disneyland Paris?
