The official Disneyland Paris 25th Anniversary holiday brochure is here! Well, if you know where to look. Though not accessible directly from the resort’s website, a simple change of a web address now suddenly reveals a whole load more “sparkling” secrets… Read More…
![St Patrick's Day fireworks at Disneyland Paris [Still © DlrpWelcome]](http://dlpguide.com/images/2013/03/130320_stpatricksdavids1.jpg)
Even before Pixar’s “Brave” makes its grand debut with a new scene in the show itself, the technology of Disney Dreams! has brought an extra Celtic flourish to Disneyland Paris, utilised for the first time in both the recent St Patrick’s and St David’s Day firework displays.
Installed before the debut of the top-rated nighttime spectacular this time last year, the high-powered video-mapping projectors, water fountains and pyrotechnics were put to great use for both shows to bring their respective Irish and Welsh themes alive. Though the graphics and animations were not as “clever” as those used nightly in Disney Dreams! itself, they created a far more stunning display than in previous years thanks to the now bright, vivid quality of the projections.
![St David's Day fireworks at Disneyland Paris [Still © DlrpWelcome]](http://dlpguide.com/images/2013/03/130320_stpatricksdavids2.jpg)
![St Patrick's Day fireworks at Disneyland Paris [Still © DlrpWelcome]](http://dlpguide.com/images/2013/03/130320_stpatricksdavids3.jpg)
The two displays, performed 9th and 17th March, were also another welcome chance to see the 40-or-so water fountains now permanently installed in the moat of Sleeping Beauty Castle in action, firing into the sky and lighting up in all new ways. The last time guests got to see the fountains utilised for a different event was the dazzling Christmas Castle Illumination a few months ago.
Watch a complete video of each fireworks show by ‘DlrpWelcome’ below… Read More…
Disney doesn’t have a Welsh dragon in its repertoire of characters, but Mushu is only too happy to get his face on the cover of today’s special programme for St David’s Welsh Festival, a three-day event happening at Disneyland Paris this weekend. Though the festival officially runs from the 9th to 11th this year, providing the perfect weekend package for visitors from Wales, the main day of events within Disneyland Park itself is today. The programme itself is similar to previous years, though with Meet Mickey Mouse seeing the end of Fantasy Festival Stage‘s days as an actual theatre, the traditional Welsh folk choir has been displaced to the somewhat less fitting Chaparral Theatre in Frontierland.
In fact, the whole Cottonwood Creek Ranch area has been overrun by green, red and white; now the base for face painting, the Waun Ddyfal Choir and meet ‘n’ greets with Mickey and Minnie in their very exclusive Welsh folk costumes, above; a real rarity for character spotters that you’ll only see here.
At 4.30pm, before the main Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, the traditional Welsh Festival pre-parade saw Mickey and Minnie travel down Main Street, U.S.A. in the bright red fire truck, decked out with Welsh flags, daffodils and leeks. In Disney Village, the avenue is filled with wooden market stalls selling all manner of Welsh crafts and merchandise. Then, as the park closes its gates at 10pm, the sky above Sleeping Beauty Castle comes alive with the special firework display to mark the occasion… albeit over a week late — St David’s Day itself always falls on 1st March.
The event is somewhat of an oddity in the annual calendar of the resort; one of only three national holidays recognised by the parks, including St Patrick’s Day and the Bastille Day fireworks, yet nowhere near as globally recognised as either as those. Falling conveniently in early March, however, it no doubt helps to fill a gap in the year, drawing in coach trips and extra custom from Wales, providing something fresh before the new Disney year in Paris traditionally begins each April.
Last year, Disneyland in California held a similar series of events at its comparable Big Thunder Ranch under the Family Fun Weekends name, with some nice branding and design work that Disneyland Paris could do well to be inspired by for its own celebration days.