On Saturday 30th September 2017 I, alongside a number of other fansites, was invited to attend a sneak peak of Disney FanDaze a day before the official announcement. The event itself was fantastic and Disney FanDaze itself is going to be a big hit for many fans. We came into the presentation with many questions and knowing that we wouldn’t find out everything. With this in mind, what do we now know about Disney FanDaze.
The ultimate Disneyland Paris fan event
Disney FanDaze: The Inaugural Party is being billed as the ultimate fan event, and for good reason as there are many different elements to the event and should have something to please most fans. On offer will be exclusive shows and parades, private ride time, character encounters, limited edition merchandise, special food and the opportunity to wear costume! The exciting thing is that this is just the inaugural event and that there’s the promise of more to come in the months and years ahead! The full press release with all the information can be found here.
The blogger event
To announce the plans for the first Disney FanDaze events, Disneyland Paris invited a whole host of fansites from across Europe. The aim? Give out the information of what is to come but also to give fans a small snapshot of what the events will actually be like – and if they manage to recreate the atmosphere of the bloggers event it will be something very special indeed, the emphasis was clearly on the fun.
The cocktail reception
As we arrived in the Walt Disney Studios park we were escorted to the Art of Disney Animation where we were greeted by Mickey and his friends – the official line up of the core characters of Disney FanDaze. The characters initially posed for photographs before coming out to greet the guests. Once this was done we made our way to the bar to try the ‘Crazy Blue’ cocktail. It was after this initial drink that we were escorted to Studio 1 for the main event: dinner and the Disney FanDaze presentation.
The Disney FanDaze presentation
The presentation itself was expertly handled and took place on the main walkway through Disney’s Studio 1 – it was a pure delight to eat in this intimate environment and a unique experience in itself, and something I hope FanDaze gives us more of; we fans love our unique and unusual experiences. The presentation was hosted by Emmanuel Lenormand and Marilyn Magness and the passion that was being exuded from the two of them was so warming to see and equally infectious, the passion was genuine and really allowed for me to feel that a lot of heart is being put into this event. They started off by defining what makes a Disney fan (Hint: It’s a transformation of the heart and somebody who credits that transformation to Walt Disney) before launching into all the details of the events.
The Dance your DuckTales parade
I must admit, when the introduction to the DuckTales parade began with that theme song, a big grin came on my face and, yes, I started singing along (it’s DuckTales, how can you not?). Scrooge came onto the stage with Marilyn and Emmanuel and the Dance your DuckTales parade was announced, I’m a big DuckTales fan and so immediately this appealed to me and it was immediately clear that the same could be said for many in the room who grew up with the Disney Afternoon cartoons. I think this is easily going to be one of the FanDaze highlights.
Max Live: Getting Goofy with it
A bit of Powerline came on from A Goofy Movie and Max came out to announce a special one of a kind show, Max Live will be the ultimate concert to Disney fans who know and love A Goofy Movie. It’s going to be one of those moments that you’ll just have to be there for. The concept sounds really intriguing and could be a lot of fun.
Character fans – this one is for you!
Over 50 characters were announced to be present at the Disney FanDaze inaugural party and just some that we already know of are: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Duffy, Shellie-May, Roger Rabbit, Tale Spin, Joy, Sadness, Bolt, Mittens, Hiro, Youkai, Nick and Judy. There’s a lot more to be announced making this a character lover’s dream.
Limited Edition Food and Merchandise
One of those exciting announcements is that there will be new limited edition Disney memorabilia on offer; at the moment we have no idea what this could be, but I am willing to bet that it will be something extremely exciting. Limited edition food was heavily mentioned during the event leading me to believe that the offerings will be very special indeed, but again we will have to wait a little bit longer to find out exactly what this entails.
The special surprise!
At the end of the evening we were treated to a very special surprise of many of the Disney characters that will be at Disney FanDaze coming out to meet all of us. The idea was to give us a real feeling as to what the Disney FanDaze inaugural party might be like, and if it is anything like the finale to this event it is clear that it will be both spectacular and memorable.
So… my opinions on Disney FanDaze
The most striking thing about the whole blogger event is how much passion both Emmanuel and Marilyn had for the event, and even better that it was genuine. For a while now Disneyland Paris fans have been asking to be able to meet their favourite rare characters and whilst seeing them on parades and events has been fantastic, there’s never really been a way to interact with them. It looks like Disney FanDaze will be changing all that and that they will be listening intently to the fans. The fans are at the centre of this event, this is an event made for fans, by fans.
And the best news? This is only the first event,there are clearly lots of ideas still being created for future events (and even for this event!) meaning we have a lot to look forward to in the years ahead. I’m also very pleased to see merchandise and food getting a high billing and being a key marketing point for the event – as a Disney Parks fan we are all interested in good merchandise but also unique foods and we really are getting that here.
We still don’t know pricing, a precise date (other than the first weekend of June) and what exactly will be happening – but all this will come in time and you’ll read it first on fan websites such as this one!
This is a promising move for fan events at Disneyland Paris – let’s hope this is a success. I think it’s clear from fan reaction that this inaugural party has a lot of intrigue and we will be hearing a lot more about it in the weeks and months ahead. It truly is fun to be a fan at Disneyland Paris!
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