“It’s Time to Sparkle” — Disneyland Paris just announced the very first details of its 25th Anniversary celebrations, including the launch date: Sunday, 26th March 2017! A brand new daytime parade, a new nighttime spectacular, two new Star Wars attractions and two new shows were all confirmed today for launch in spring next year. Titled “Disney Stars on Parade“, the brand new daytime parade for Disneyland Park will replace the current Disney Magic on Parade! with new floats, costumes and music. “Disney Illuminations” will be the name of a brand new nighttime spectacular to succeed the popular Disney Dreams!, using most of the existing technology, with new scenes including The Little Mermaid, the new live-action Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean. From “Spring 2017”,  it’s now confirmed that “Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain” will replace Space Mountain: Mission 2, while the opening of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue represents as close as we’ll get to a wholly “new attraction” during the festivities. Disney character fans will also have two new entertainment productions to look forward to: “Mickey presents ‘Happy Anniversary Disneyland Paris’” and “The Starlit Princess Waltz“.

[#Exclusif] 1ères infos sur le 25e anniversaire de Disneyland Paris https://t.co/ZIEpwGitMT #DisneylandParis25 pic.twitter.com/sM6r7DAjb8

— Disneyland Paris PR (@DLPpressnews) October 17, 2016

Having been unprecedentedly trailed a whole week in advance, the announcement finally came at 12:59pm exactly on the Disneyland Paris Press News Twitter account. The subsequent flurry of excitement from fans was enough to crash the PR service’s website for almost half an hour. Here’s the press release in full:

It’s official: Disneyland Paris 25th Anniversary Coming in 2017 – It’s Time to Sparkle

Disneyland Paris will celebrate its 25th Anniversary starting from 26th March 2017.

New Guest experiences to include sensational new attractions, a grand celebration with the beloved Disney Characters, a brand new Parade and a breathtaking new night time spectacular. Extra surprises and features to be announced. Join the celebration with a multitude of new shows from morning through to night where Guests are sure to be amazed! A brilliant anniversary celebration beyond your imagination awaits you during the 25th Anniversary of Disneyland Paris. Beginning March 26th 2017, Guests at Disneyland Park will experience Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. The new attraction will take Guests on an all-new, action-packed intergalactic voyage, all in 3D… Epic. Based on the Star Wars™ films, Star Tours will take Guests to multiple Star Wars destinations where they will interact with characters from throughout the Saga. Every destination will offer unique surprises with journeys through the worlds of Jakku, Hoth, Tatooine, the Death Star and more! Guests will be able to enjoy the attraction multiple times without knowing where the Force may take them. And all of the storyline’s twists and turns will be random, affording Guests the chance to ride the attraction multiple times.

Guests will also be able to join the Rebel Alliance by becoming the drivers of Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain (Disneyland Park) (from Spring 2017). The Force will be strong with this attraction, which hurtles through the Star Wars galaxy, following the twists and turns of TIE fighters and an intimidating Star Destroyer. Also arriving in spectacular style in 2017, Disneyland Park’s new parade Disney Stars on Parade, where favourite Disney Stars, together with stunning new floats, create magic and happiness for all. Guests will also be able to discover a new show Mickey presents “Happy Anniversary Disneyland Paris” at Disneyland Park where Mickey Mouse will start the celebration by assembling as many of his famous Friends as possible for a huge anniversary party. This festive show will take place daily for all guests to enjoy. In addition, fans of the Disney Princesses will be able to witness some of their most beloved Princesses as they host their own sparkling show The Starlit Princess Waltz at Royal Castle Stage (Disneyland Park).

Finally, as night falls, there will be another spectacular new event: Disney Illuminations. This new show, with dazzling lights, projections and breath-taking special effects, will be conducted by Mickey Mouse onto Sleeping Beauty Castle (Disneyland Park). It will transport Guests to a location where the stories of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Frozen and the motion pictures of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean will come to life before guest’s astonished eyes. What do Mickey Mouse and his Friends hope to achieve during these Anniversary celebrations? To dazzle all guests with amazement! This will no doubt be an opportunity not to be missed! Disneyland Paris 25th Anniversary – It’s Time to Sparkle. Celebrations for the 25th Anniversary of Disneyland® Paris will start on 26th March 2017.

A later tweet sent by the Euro Disney corporate account revealed Disneyland Paris Présidente Catherine Powell holding silver “25” balloons to introduce the announcement.

While many of the 25th Anniversary events confirmed today have been rumoured for some time, the announcements give us several useful clarifications and tidbits of information. Mentioning Jakku as a destination in Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, we now know that the attraction will of course have the additional new Star Tours: The Force Awakens scene in its randomised storylines from the start. In confirming Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain (note the added film title) without any reference at all to its actual host attraction, we can safely assume this is indeed an “as-good-as-permanent” overlay and that Space Mountain: Mission 2 effectively ends its life on Sunday, 8th January 2017. With Disney Stars on Parade illustrated by a photo of the spectacular steampunk-inspired Maleficent dragon of Florida’s Festival of Fantasy Parade, it looks certain that Paris’ new parade will receive a very similar float, just as rumours have suggested. Finally, the end of the resort’s sensational hit Disney Dreams! nighttime spectacular is suddenly and surprisingly upon us, as Disney Illuminations sounds like taking more than a few cues from Shanghai’s newer Ignite the Dream spectacle. We’ve already not long left to see Peter Pan and Wendy “soar beyond the stars”, the final show likely being sometime in late March 2017. Unmentioned in the press releases today were any of the major refurbishment projects currently going on across the parks and resort, including “plusses” such as an explosive new scene within Big Thunder Mountain and added movie characters in Pirates of the Caribbean (coming July 2017). Between additions old, new and borrowed, is all this for the 25th Anniversary enough to make Disneyland Paris “sparkle” in 2017?

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