After several years of celebrating diversity during its evenings. This year, Disneyland Paris has decided not to repeat the experience and to make do with a single day, albeit with a few exclusive additions. So, success or failure, I’m going to tell you all about it!
Pride Day at Disneyland Paris: The programme
Given that it wasn’t an evening, the programme was necessarily very light. But that’s not what dampened my enthusiasm. Disneyland Paris decided to offer us a pre-parade, a character meeting with Stitch and a selfie spot with Mickey and his friends. A very enjoyable programme.
1) The pre-parade
The big positive of the day was undoubtedly the pre-parade. Now, yes, the moaners will say that compared to the Pride Parade at the parties, this pre-parade pales into insignificance. This pre-parade pales into insignificance. Yes, but we’re talking about a pre-parade that has the merit of existing and retaining what I think made the Pride Parade such a success: the cast members. Thanks to them for their energy. With the iconic Around the World music playing and the cast members bursting with energy, it was hard not to dance and sing along. There was a real party atmosphere all along the parade route.
As for the characters in the pre-parade, we’ll be sticking with the classic Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto in their rainbow outfits. On the positive side, Disneyland Paris is learning from its mistakes (at least, we hope it is) and hasn’t repeated its mistake of the 100th anniversary. Here, the floats from the 30 years and then the 100 years are back. Mickey and Minnie, who were too small to be seen in the 100th anniversary pre-parade. They’re here one floor lower, so everyone can see them properly. Instead, we have Goofy and Pluto at the very top of the float, Pluto towards the front, so that everyone can see him and Goofy behind, being taller we can still see him well. On a negative note, why didn’t you put Daisy, Chipe, Dale and Clarice on the float when there are rainbow outfits for them too? It’s a shame, but it didn’t take anything away from the moment.
Meet Stitch
Another highlight of the programme was a meeting with our favourite alien: Stitch. It was a disappointing encounter. Not because of Stitch, who always gives us incredible encounters, but more because of the way Disneyland Paris communicated about this encounter. Indeed, everyone (or at least most people) was expecting Stitch to be there in his rainbow outfit, just like at Disneyland Pride 2023. And what a disappointment when Stitch appeared in his classic outfit. Yes, Disneyland Paris never said anywhere that he would have a special outfit. However, on the visual of the application, Stitch is wearing his rainbow outfit, why? Why didn’t you put a photo of Stitch in his classic outfit on the visual, which would have avoided this disappointment?
Selfie spot with Mickey and friends
I’m going to start by talking about my aversion to the very principle of the selfie spot. At the time of the pandemic it was an excellent idea, but since then I’ve found it ridiculous and impractical. And, unfortunately, knowing Disneyland Paris, I knew that the selfie spot could be very well organised, with characters close to us and well lit, or just the opposite.
Here, the lighting was pretty good, but the characters were a little far away to take a real selfie. It’s about time Disneyland Paris learned that the resolution of the front cameras is not as good as the ones on the back of the phone once and for all. Apart from offering guests the chance to take blurry photos, this selfie spot wasn’t a great success. The characters were certainly hyped up by the music, but rarely posed for photos. How do you take a photo with characters who move without stopping and who are far away? How do you do it?
In terms of organisation, we’ve seen better! The queue was in an unlit backstage corridor. We came out with a headache because all we could hear was the boom boom of the music on stage. Once you get on stage, it’s up to you, several groups of people get on stage at the same time and then it’s up to you to get your photo. There were two small stages on which the characters were standing. Instead of telling people to start on the right and then go to the character on the left to create something fluid. The casts would direct people to where there was a hole in the middle of the guests. And as the characters kept dancing, you can imagine that getting a clear shot with the characters was more a matter of luck.
A Pride day at Disneyland Paris: Exclusive product of the day
Two products were exclusive to the day, a rainbow-coloured éclair and a goblet. The éclair was filled with passion fruit and the cream was a white chocolate mousse. The éclair was quite strong in passion fruit, but if you like passion fruit it was a very pleasant surprise.
Conclusion
It was a mixed day, with a very nice pre-parade and some less-than-stellar character encounters. Despite everything, I’d like to thank Disneyland Paris for at least trying to put something together for the day. It’s still very important for the fan community that a company like Disney celebrates diversity. So be proud!