Halloween is one of my favourite times of year, so of course I couldn’t wait to celebrate the spooky season this year by visiting Disneyland Paris.
It was my first experience of Halloween at a Disney park and, after seeing how much the Anaheim and Orlando parks go to town at this time of year, my bar was set pretty high. We all know Disneyland Paris has its fair share of hits and misses, but I was hugely impressed by how spectacular the season was this year.
If you’re planning a trip to Disneyland Paris at Halloween, check out what the park has to offer below!
Food & Drink
For the foodie in me, the most important thing about any special season at Disneyland Paris is the new snacks up for grabs.
This year at Disneyland Paris you can get your hands on a huge range of tasty treats, from full-on meals to quick bites and sugary sweets. A great spot for a blood-curdling Halloween breakfast inside the parks is Victoria’s Home-Style Restaurant – we all know this spot at the top of Main Street is a favourite of mine, and it’s worth a visit even more than usual this season thanks to the orange Mickey waffle and Maleficent hot chocolate on offer.
If you’re looking for something more on the savoury side, restaurants such as Café Hyperion and Annette’s Diner are offering horrifying hamburgers (with questionably coloured buns…) and a pumpkin dessert – sadly we didn’t get to eat these because they didn’t have a veggie option, but the meals looked great fun for kids.
You can also pick up plenty of grab ‘n’ go snacks as you wander around, with loads of different cakes, cookies and pastries available. Keep an eye out as you stroll along Main Street for the Jack Skellington cookies and chocolate orange Mickey cake pops (Boardwalk Candy Palace), muffins and cookies sprinkled with Halloween magic (Market Street Deli) and Disney villain biscuits (Cookie Kitchen).
And, finally, one for the adults – head over to the Sports Bar in Disney Village for some creepy cocktails and pumpkin spiced beer!
Character Meets
I’m not a huge fan of interacting with characters (or anyone, really…), but I do enjoy being a bystander and watching others meet their favourite Disney characters. This Halloween season saw some very random – but pretty great – meet ‘n’ greets.
Jack Skellington is, of course, massively popular this time of year, and can only be met by booking yourself a place in line on the Lineberty app – which I think is a shame, but maybe that’s just me. Other special character meets we stumbled across included Max at the entrance of the park and Mickey and Minnie in their adorable Day of the Dead costumes over in Frontierland.
However, the character who truly stole the show was Maleficent. With her own spot in Fantasyland, just behind the castle, she played a scary, scathing and brilliantly wicked villain and a crowd gathered simply to watch her interactions.
Shows
As with every season, Halloween at Disneyland Paris brings in some great new shows to entertain the whole family.
Are You Brave Enough? is a dastardly display of some of the best Disney villains, hosted by The Little Mermaid‘s Ursula. Taking place just to the right of the castle, it’s a short musical show which sees characters like Cruella De Ville, The Evil Queen and Gaston take to the stage. It’s pretty cheesy but good fun, and a whole host of rare characters make their way into the crowd at the end of the show, giving you a great chance to meet the likes of Governor Ratcliffe (Pocahontas), Jafar (Aladdin), The Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland) and Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
The main event this season, however, is Mickey’s Halloween Celebration. It’s similar to the daily character parade and follows the same route, but is much shorter and only features Halloween themed floats. It’s got a super catchy song (seriously, I’m still singing it!) and some unique characters in their limited-edition spooky costumes, which is really exciting to see.
Decorations & themes
When you first walk into the Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris, Halloween smacks you in the face right away – in a good way, of course. From the huge banner over the entrance to the creative bandstand decor and ghosts and ghouls dotted all over the place, the park has really made an effort to get that autumnal vibe going right from the off.
Merchandise
Disney never misses a trick when it comes to merchandise opportunities, and Halloween is certainly no different! You can barely move for Jack Skellington and Maleficent window displays, but they look so incredibly enticing that, honestly, you don’t really mind the overload.
If you know someone who is a fan of Disney villains or the more macabre side of the franchise (me, me, me!), this is the absolute perfect time to pick up some gifts – for them, or for yourself!
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