Disney gets in the Christmas spirit
Travelling by Eurostar for a long weekend enjoying the Christmas festivities at Disneyland Paris, you'll discover that the magic starts before you've left the UK
The older you get the easier it is to forget just what a special time Christmas can be for children.
I'm not just talking about the greedily unwrapping presents bit, but the whole shebang – the decorations, the music, the expectation of Santa's visit, families and friends getting together, the whole sense of it being a magical time.
And it's easy to think you're killing some of that magic when you're making do with a visit to a sad-sack santa in a dilapidated grotto in your local garden centre.
Yes, for some proper Christmas magic sometimes the big guns are called for. And they don't come much bigger and more professional than Mickey Mouse and friends at Disneyland Paris. Every year they lay on a feast of festive fun
that goes on right into the new year (January 6, to be precise).
And for the grown-ups who decide to take the plunge and visit, they'll find that Mickey's not got the monopoly on magic as channel tunnel train operator Eurostar's got plenty of its own.
With the new Eurostar terminus at St Pancras Station the train journey to Disneyland Paris is as simple as getting on a train to London, sauntering to the Eurostar check-in, and boarding the train that'll whistle you in just over two and a half hours and at speeds of up to over 180mph to the very doorstep of Disneyland Paris.
For someone who has previously made the journey to France by driving south for six or seven hours, queueing to get on a ferry, chugging across the English Channel, and then driving more long hours once on the continent, the realisation that you can hop on a train in Leeds at 6.40am and be in Disneyland Paris just after lunch without breaking a sweat is revelatory.
It makes the journey entirely stress-free and restful, which is a good thing as once you are at Disneyland Paris you're not going to stop, except perhaps for a brief few hours when you collapse into a hotel bed before getting up and doing it all over again.
Make no mistake, Christmas is a big deal at Disneyland Paris. There have been no half measures in 'putting the decs up' with a Christmas tree that's 24 metres high, weighs 24 tons and is decorated with nearly 500 lights and 600 baubles. It's certainly not the sort of thing you'd want to be unpacking and packing back in your loft once a year! Over 400,000 twinkling LEDs have been used to nightly transform Sleeping Beauty Castle into a glittering spectacle.
Other special festive treats include part of the park transformed into an authentic-looking medieval village, the Mickey's Winter Wonderland show, a 'Dreams Of Christmas' Santa Claus float and the chance to meet the jolly, bearded fella himself in his own village, and the all-singing, all-dancing Disney's Once Upon A Christmas Dream Parade.
I was fortunate enough to have a chat with Katy Harris, the senior show director at Disneyland Paris who has masterminded this festive parade. She's worked with Disney since 1993 and has headed up projects including Mickey's Winter Wonderland, Animagique and Playhouse Disney Live On Stage – even working alongside Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood for the creation of The Legend Of Lion King show.
She's quite certain about what a good parade's all about.
"It's about bringing the show out on to the street, creating the atmosphere of each particular film, being able to wow our guests," she explained, "it's about filling them with awe."
Two years in the making the parade's a real labour of love that involves the hard work of hundreds of craftsmen and performers.
"There were technical teams, costume designers, coaches for the bungee performers, the dynamic stilt walkers, puppeteers and flag throwers, a choreographer from Florida, special musical arrangements by British composer Steve Sidwell performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra..." reeled off Katy, giving a hint of the scale of the enterprise.
"When you see a float for the first time, which started life as a picture on a piece of paper, it's very exciting," she said.
Besides the parade and the tons of other festive treats on offer, don't forget there are the regular attractions to be enjoyed.
The Disneyland Paris park is split into five themed zones – Main Street USA, Discoveryland, Fantasyland, Adventureland and Frontierland – which radiate out from the Central Plaza in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. A short walk away are The Walt Disney Studios Park where there's a host of Hollywood-themed attractions. The park feels big but not overwhelming, and only at the end of the day do you stop to ponder exactly how many miles you must have walked going from attraction to attraction.
If you want to just spend your time wandering around pretending you've been transported to a magical kingdom where you keep bumping into your favourite Disney characters you can do that, but a major draw for many visitors are the rides.
With something for everyone, rides vary from the gentle to the hair-raising. There are plenty of fun ones for little ones – like the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, the Orbitron, Peter Pan's Flight and Car Race Rally – and more extreme thrills for the intrepid. A great many are undercover so inclement weather isn't a concern and in all cases , they offer a complete experience right from the moment you join the queue, such is the level of attention to detail.
Space Mountain: Mission 2 is decked out in finest 'steam punk' fashion and fires you at speed up a cannon before plunging you into the blackness of 'space' inside the ride. A dizzying series of turns and loops include dazzling illuminated sections which are really worth keeping your eyes open for – if you can!
The queueing area of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a masterpiece of set design, with dust-clogged cobwebs hanging from vintage light fittings overhead and all manner of ancient boiler room pipework snaking around the decrepit walls. The staff, in their vintage bellboy uniforms, have a ball creating an entirely appropriate atmosphere of fearful anticipation for a ride which puts you in an elevator with a mind of its own.
My 10 year-old companion's favourite was undoubtedly Big Thunder Mountain, a railroad-style rollercoaster that packs everything in – perilous turns and drops, hair-raising pitch black sections and even a threatened mine collapse – and all on a refreshingly lengthy ride. Her least favourite (because I dragged her on to it) was Phantom Manor, a gloriously realised haunted house which contains a ghost train that drifts between eerie vignettes that appear to be straight from the febrile imagination of Tim Burton.
And that's just a very brief taste of what's on offer. It's safe to say that even after a couple of days you won't be anywhere near sampling everything that's available. Fortunately, you'll be too tired to worry about having missed anything!
Visiting the park as a parent, it struck me how well everything was run. Whether it's down to good management, healthy wages or just some kind of mood-enhancing Mickey effect, all of the staff seemed genuinely happy in their work – a contrast to the long faces you seem to find in UK amusement parks. The Disney characters that you meet as you walk around are all brought to life by consummate professionals, and never just someone moping around in a costume. Plus, in three days I spotted just one piece of litter.
This all goes to prove that Disneyland Paris are fully committed to generating some truly special Christmas magic. With the park now more accessible to UK visitors than ever, maybe it's time for that generous present to yourself.
factfile
Martin Ross travelled to London with East Coast Main Line. Return fares start from 84. www.eastcoast.co.uk.
Prices for a two-night three-day package including return travel with Eurostar in December start from 417 per adult, 186 per child (aged 7-11) and 85 per child aged 4-6 (travel only). Children under 7 stay and play for free during Mickey's Magical Party (until Jan 2 2010). The price includes two nights' accommodation with continental breakfast at Disney's Hotel New York and three day hopper tickets for the Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park.
The same package staying at Disney's Hotel Santa Fe starts from 299 per adult, 186 per child (aged 7-11) and 85 per child aged 4-6 (travel only). Children under 7 stay and play for free.
For information about a family break to Disneyland Paris call direct on 08448 008 111 or visit www.disneylandparis.com.
Eurostar operates a daily direct service in each direction to Disneyland Resort Paris.
Fares are from 69 standard class return (adult) 44 return (child aged 4-11).
Children under 4 years-old travel free (not allocated a seat)
Leisure Select travel is from 146 return for an adult and 94 return for a child aged 4-11.
Tickets are available from.eurostar.com or from Eurostar's Contact Centre on 08705 186 186.
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