Every year the Disneyland Paris Halloween Party is one of the most anticipated events; in 2019 two Halloween parties have been offered for those who can’t necessarily make the 31st October. This innovation allows more of us to experience one of the best events of the year, it’s something that is certainly to be encouraged as Disneyland Paris expands its hard ticket slate.
But how does the party compare to previous years?
Disney Villains Parade
The highlight of the night is always this very special Villains parade; it manages to straddle the creepy and fun divide almost perfectly whilst offering toe tappingly catchy music, it provides energy to the night that is the perfect send off.
All the floats are familiar to guests, from Mickey’s Illusion Manor to Maleficent breathing fire down Main Street, nothing here is out of the ordinary – except the characters featured are mostly the Disney Villains. New this year was the inclusion of Oogie Boogie making both his Disneyland Paris and meet and greet debut.
The additional dancers and costumes are the perfect side of creepy and fit into the neon theme that the Disney Halloween Party 2019 was going for.
Captain Jack’s Scary Island
Also returning for 2019 is the Scare Zone on Adventure Isle. Whilst this has been toned down this year (no more chainsaws or severed heads!) it remains a creepy experience as the caves of the Isle are filled with smoke and the crew of the Flying Dutchman roaming the caves. Whilst they don’t jump out and scare, they will walk past you in a creepy fashion.
The highlight of the scare island was the projections onto Skull Rock. These were really simple but provided such an incredible atmosphere to this part of the park making it one of the highlights of the night overall.
Fiesta de la terra de los muertos
Over by Cowboy Cookout, a special Latin dance party with Goofy was taking place. The area and music, inspired by the Día de los Muertos, worked really well with good music selections and fantastic dancers.
However, this part of the review would be not complete without a special compliment for Goofy. Goofy was not so much taking photos with guests (although he would pose) but more an integral part of the dance party taking guests aside for a special dance in an atmosphere that become more like a dance off than a party. Just one of those unique and special moments that can only happen at a party such as this.
Captain Hook’s Pirate Academy
After it’s success at various Halloween parties and this year’s Pirates and Princesses Annual Pass party, the Pirate Academy is back – minor change, Minnie has set sail for new adventures and we are not trying to join Captain Hook’s crew. This change works overly well as it was never really clear why we were joining Minnie’s team (despite her amazing outfits!).
This show is full of the best energy in any show I’ve ever seen in any Disney Park. It takes guests on the ultimate dance journey as they learn how to become a pirate. It’s really hard to put into words just how much fun this show is, each time you leave with the biggest grin on your face and I’ll even admit to leaving one show and rejoining straight away the queue to watch again.
I’d very happily take this in the park every single day of the year, I’d spend all my days watching it!
Mike Williams DJ
For those who love dancing the night away to big name DJs, the Disneyland Paris Halloween parties also have you covered – on the Saturday 26th October party it was DJ Mike Williams, and on the 31st October it is the turn of Offenbach.
These parties are not the most Disney of experiences, but in Discoveryland it works extremely well and the music is usually very good and is full of interactive experiences with dancers, bubbles and a wonderful light spectacular. This was the perfect way to close out the night.
Party Exclusive Snacks
Exclusive to the Halloween Parties 2019 are two chocolate cake snacks, one shaped to Tower of Terror and the other to Phantom Manor. These are priced at €4.99.
Taking one bite into this “cake” and the disappointment begins, the cake is nowhere to be seen and I’m eating solid chocolate. The problem here is that Disneyland Paris chocolate is generally speaking awful and I wanted cake. So I kept going and the cake existed, about 3/4 of the way down, but was small, thin, dry and almost stale tasting. What a let down!
Still, it looked pretty I guess? 10/10 for looks, 1/10 for taste.
Atmosphere
Anybody who has read a review here before knows that I love the atmosphere of the hard tickets, indeed the 100 character AP night fell so flat because it missed any sort of atmosphere. But this Halloween night hit it off perfect, from brilliant music choices, to great guest costumes, this night had it all.
Special mention here has to go to the wonderful castle projections which carried through the neon theme and looked fantastic. Each of the main Disney Villains were included throughout the night and it actually did look like the castle had been covered with neon lights. Fantastic work!
The best yet?
The Disneyland Paris Halloween party 2019 is not just one one of the best Halloween parties we’ve ever seen at Disneyland Paris, it is one of the best hard tickets we’ve seen full stop. Everything seemed to just work perfectly, from meet and greets to organisation. I came away grinning, wanting to go to the second party and really motivated to come back to another hard ticket event soon.
This party showed the absolute best of Disneyland Paris, I hope it sets the standard for future nights.
