Disneyland Paris Christmas Review 2022
The Disney Parks are magical year round, but they are even more mesmerising at the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
This year, I was lucky enough to visit Disneyland Paris over the Christmas period, spending Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day in the parks.
In today's post, I'll be reviewing my experience at Disney's Enchanted Christmas 2022 at Disneyland Paris.
What is Disney's Enchanted Christmas?
Disney's Enchanted Christmas is the name for the Christmas celebration at Disneyland Paris.
This year, it runs from 12th November 2022 to 8th January 2023, so if you're heading to the parks in the next 7 days, you can still experience the festivities.
As part of the event, Disney decorates its parks and resorts, sells limited time food and merchandise and offers a variety of special entertainment options.
Decorations
Disneyland Park
As you would expect, Disneyland Paris goes to town with its Christmas decorations.
The best decorations are on Main Street USA, where you will find a giant Christmas tree near the park entrance, several wintry displays featuring Mickey and friends and festive garlands lining the entire street up to the castle.
Speaking of Sleeping Beauty Castle, this year new shimmering white LED lights have been added to the turrets, which truly brought the castle to life at nighttime.
The decorations on Main Street are beautiful. Anyone who loves Christmas wouldn't be able to help but smile when walking under the train station and seeing the giant tree for the first time.
Plus, if you happen to be on the street at the right time, you may even see some 'snow' fall.
Main Street USA is the only place where you will find Christmas decorations in Disneyland Park.
To be fair though, I think this is a good thing. Christmas decorations fit perfectly with Main Street's turn-of-the-century small town aesthetic, whereas seeing a Christmas tree in the jungles of Adventureland or adorning the Nautilus submarine would take away from the immersion.
Walt Disney Studios Park
Over at the Walt Disney Studios Park, Christmas decorations can be found in both the Studio 1 indoor entrance area and the Ratatouille themed area towards the back of the park.
In Studio 1, the Christmas lights blend seamlessly with the old Hollywood feel. This is not generally an area I spend much time in, but I must admit I was surprised by how nice the decorations were here.
Over in Ratatouille, the fountain in the centre of the square has received a Christmas makeover with giant baubles and festive plant life.
The other areas of the park do not have any decorations, although I suppose the year-round larger-than-life Christmas lights in Toy Story Playland are festive.
Disney Village
Disney Village has some nice decorations on display, with festive archways at both entrances and a Christmas tree photo opportunity next to the Sports Bar.
Disney Hotels
If you're staying at a Disney Hotel, you'll also get to see some Christmas decorations at your resort.
I stayed at the Hotel Cheyenne on this trip, where garlands line many of the hotel buildings and the reception has a Toy-Story themed Christmas tree.
I also visited several other hotels on this trip to see what their decorations were like. The most impressive hotels for decorations were Sequoia Lodge and Hotel New York, followed by Newport Bay Club and the Cheyenne.
Christmas Food
As with every celebration at Disney, Disneyland Paris rolled out some new menu items for Christmas.
There are also a number of food chalets installed in the parks for Christmas.
At the Walt Disney Studios Park, L'Hiver Gourmand food festival runs for most of the winter, including Christmas, and features a wide variety of food items sold at booths in the Ratatouille area and the central area of the park near Tower of Terror.
This year, three chalets have also been added to Fantasyland in Disneyland Park.
In Fantasyland, I tried the Potato Tartiflette, which was sliced potatoes, cheese, bacon and onions. It cost €6 and, although the cheese was quite strong, I really enjoyed it and it was something a bit different to all the burgers and pizzas at the quick service locations.
Character Meet and Greets
Character Meet and Greets are a staple at the Disney Parks, but some of the characters also receive a festive makeover at this time of year.
Some, but not all, of the character meet and greets are listed in the Disneyland Paris app, so you can find out what time they are meeting and get in line shortly beforehand.
On my visit, I saw meet and greets with Santa Stitch, Winnie the Pooh and Santa Goofy.
Mickey's Dazzling Christmas Parade
Last Year, Disneyland Paris debuted a brand new parade for Christmas and the same parade has returned this year.
Mickey's Dazzling Christmas Parade features five floats and some of Disney's most beloved and classic characters, including Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald, Daisy and the princesses. Even Santa Claus makes an appearance.
There are also dancers and the parade song, Shine a Light, is an ear worm that you'll no doubt be singing for the rest of your trip.
The best place to see Mickey's Dazzling Christmas Parade is in the hub, near Sleeping Beauty Castle. Although the parade runs from the bottom of Main Street, there is a show stop in the hub where the characters get off the floats and dance to help Santa light the Christmas tree.
If you want a front-row spot for the parade, you'll need to get there 30-45 minutes before showtime as it is very popular. If it's not as much of a priority, you can usually find a spot with a slightly obscured view (i.e. you may not see all the dancers at floor level) you can turn up just 10-15 minutes beforehand.
Mickey's Dazzling Christmas Parade is performed daily at 16:35 and 18:15.
Let's Sing Christmas
Another returning entertainment offering is Let's Sing Christmas.
Let's Sing Christmas is a Christmas carol concert with live singers, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Santa Goofy.
The singers are fantastic live and perform both carols and modern Christmas pop hits such as All I Want for Christmas is You.
Kids will love this show as they get to see their favourite characters dancing on stage.
The show takes place in the Discoveryland Theatre and seating is fairly limited, so you probably need to get in line outside at least 20 minutes before the show.
Let's Sing Christmas is performed four times a day at 11:40, 14:10, 15:10 and 16:10.
Disney Dreams of Christmas
For the first time in forever (get it?), Christmas fireworks have returned to Disneyland Paris in the form of Disney Dreams of Christmas.
The show features Christmas music, projections on the castle and, of course, fireworks.
If you ask me, the show is a little too Frozen forward, especially with the choice of the song In Summer for a Christmas show, but I'm sure kids will love it.
I do like Disney fireworks, but personally, I have seen much better shows than this one.
However, I definitely recommend you see Disney D-Light, the drone show which debuted as part of Disneyland Paris' 30th anniversary celebrations in April.
This 5-minute show is breathtaking, with projections, water effects and, of course, colourful drones light up the sky in a variety of patterns, all set to the 30th anniversary theme song, Un Monde Qui S'illumine.
I remember seeing Disney D-Light for the first time in April and being absolutely amazed. If you only see one nighttime show, make it this one.
If you want to see either show, get to Main Street at least 30 minutes before the show to get a good spot. Fireworks are probably the most popular entertainment offering at Disneyland Paris, so there will be a large crowd.
If you only want to see Disney D-Light, I would recommend standing somewhere near the entrance to Discoveryland, where you can make a quick exit through the Discovery Arcade after the show.
Disney Dreams of Christmas takes place at park closing time (when I visited, this was 10pm) and Disney D-Light takes place 10 minutes earlier.
Is It Worth Visiting Disneyland Paris For Christmas?
Overall, I was very impressed by Disney's Enchanted Christmas.
Main Street USA is the ultimate place to be at Christmastime. Every time I entered the park, I couldn't help but stop to take yet another picture of the Christmas tree or the castle.
The entertainment was also great. I really enjoyed Mickey's Dazzling Christmas Parade and Let's Sing Christmas and would recommend these to anyone visiting the parks.
If you love Christmas, you will love Christmas at Disneyland Paris.
Just be prepared that a lot of people have the same idea, and so the parks are likely to be very crowded over the Christmas period.
Have you visited Disneyland Paris at Christmas? What was your favourite thing about the celebration? Let me know in the comments section below.
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Thanks for reading, and see you next time!
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