The 25th anniversary of Disneyland Paris has allowed for the return of stage shows on a refurbished castle stage. This stage, located next to the Sleeping Beauty Castle, is typically used during the seasonal celebrations but left empty during the rest of the year. The anniversary celebrations sees a renewed focus on this stage with two unique performances presented daily.
Happy Anniversary Disneyland Paris is a show of pure joy and allows guests to see their favourite characters up close and personal. It is a true celebration of Disneyland Paris and all of its lands, a show for all fans to savour.
Staging and choreography
The show uses the castle stage rather beautifully with the castle being used as a central background piece which is especially useful towards the end of the show when characters pose for photographs for guests. As a wide open space characters and dance moves are able to be land-specific and give a real feeling of being a celebration of that area. This is most effective in the celebration of Adventureland as characters create a boat and appear to be sailing down a river.
The finale of the show is staged especially well as characters flood both the stage and the ground below the stage and allow Mickey to be centred. When watching the show is feels like a celebration – exactly what this show sets out to do. It is not the most spectacular show that you will ever see, but it is a show of happiness and celebration and the staging and choreography really does hinge on these messages.
Characters
The amount of characters in this show is staggering, a large cast consisting of many characters that fit several different lands. The selection is near-perfect and has a character for everybody. The surprising inclusion of Max as a leading character is a welcome choice – it is often nice and pleasing to see a character on stage that we rarely see in the parks. The inclusion of Duffy will also please many fans as, again, he is very rarely seen within the park in recent years.
Whilst the range is very strong, these are all characters we have seen often in the parks in Paris in the past (with the exception of Max) and it would have been nice to have some different and rarer characters in the show. A small criticism for a show that is flawless in most ways.
Music
The strongest aspect of this show is the musical score, it is extremely infectious in the best possible way. Each land has a unique and distinct sound and original song – each work alone as a perfect reference to each land and work together to make this fantastic show a complete piece.
The highlight is the Happy Anniversary song which is also currently the park opening announcement song. It is this song that sums up the feeling of this special celebration year and provides a fitting finale to a great show.
An excellent show
This show is not the biggest, the grandest or the most spectacular show you will see at Disneyland Paris but it is the one that feels as if it has the most heart. It is a show the creates the feeling of joy and celebration to the anniversary year (where other pieces of entertainment are lacking this crucial element).
The show is enjoyable and I hope we get to see more shows like this in the future that manage to encompass a lot of themes, characters and are as strong on the music. Bravo Disneyland Paris, this is exactly the type of show that we were looking for.
