The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Reliving that Disney magic
As one of Europe’s most popular tourist attractions celebrates its 25th anniversary, Damon Smith regresses to childhood to join the fun
At the age of six-anda-half Disney became my recreational drug.
My parents kickstarted the habit one Saturday afternoon as an animated bear in an ill-fitting red T-shirt shimmied up a tree, rhapsodising the growl in his furry belly.
A most befuddling thing happened as I watched the antics unfold on the screen; pure, unadulterated joy washed over me. And that same feeling of unabashed glee bedevils me whenever I make a pilgrimage to Disneyland Paris.
I visited last year and the fizz of childhood wonder was diluted by a sombre realisation that Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park were looking a bit tired, like a beloved soft toy that has been hugged and snuffled until its colours are bleached and seams distressed.
A few months later, as I walk out of Marne-la-Vallee/Chessy train station, I find my little patch of heaven has been extensively replanted and repolished for the 25th anniversary celebrations.
The Newport Bay Club, which exudes the sprawling grandeur of a 1920s Cape Cod mansion, has been completely renovated with nautical but nice flourishes, including knotted profiles of a certain anthropomorphised mouse in carpets and animated characters peeking through portholes above the beds.
Anchored within a leisurely 10-minute walk of both parks, it’s a convenient, if disconcertingly labyrinthine, base of operations for the weekend.
I pack the bare necessities, including a portable mobile phone charger. The official app is invaluable to discern where you are and delivers real-time updates on queues for rides and shows.
Following a year-long refurbishment, the Big Thunder Mountain runaway train in Frontierland chugs past rainbowcoloured pools of water, encircled by glistening stalagmites. A falling oil lamp ignites a simulated explosion on the final ascent of the journey, replete with lit fuses skittering over jagged rocks and a theatrical blast of TNT smoke.
I dig a little deeper and discover night time scenes in Peter Pan’s Flight have been meticulously recoloured, so they sear my retinas under the ultraviolet glow of the second star to the right.
Meanwhile, the It’s A Small World boat ride has been given a welcome lick of pastel paint, delivering a whistlestop tour of a perfect world, where mechanical children greet visitors with a smile and a song.
Gluttonously, I hunger to try everything but two major attractions are closed. The transformation of the Space Mountain: Mission 2 futuristic rollercoaster into Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain won’t achieve light speed to the strains of John Williams’ score until May 7. A revitalized Pirates Of The Caribbean galleon ride is also just around the riverbend.
From July, animatronic Captain Jack Sparrow and swashbuckling special effects will enhance rum-soaked scenes from a pirate’s life awash with boisterous buccaneers barking at the moon and poor unfortunate souls trapped in a dungeon jail.
Back above ground, I see the light refracted in 250,000 hand-glued Swarovski crystals, which adorn the Royal Castle Stage, situated to the right of the moat.
Several times a day, weather permitting, the stage hosts the bilingual anniversary spectaculars Mickey Presents Happy Anniversary Disneyland Paris and The Starlit Princess Waltz. I hail to the Princess Aurora, Belle, Cinderella and five other spirited heroines as they waltz dreamily with their swaggering beaus.
At 5.30pm, we gather to witness eight gargantuan floats snake through the park, steady as the beating drum, on the inaugural Disney Stars On Parade.
Some are enlivened with Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics and a 15-metrelong dragon elicits gasps every time the mechanised behemoth rears its head and spews blood red fire, all in the golden afternoon.
At nightfall, millions of LEDS that frame Main Street are dimmed for the premiere of Disney Illuminations.
State-of-the-art projection mapping brings to life scenes from animated classics on the castle ramparts, enhanced with lasers, fireworks and choreographed water jets.
Tomorrow is another day and after a hearty, buffet-style breakfast in
the hotel’s ground floor Yacht Club restaurant, I join the excitable throng heading to Disneyland Park for the grand opening of Star Tours: The Adventure Continues.
Reimagined in eye-popping 3D, the white-knuckle simulator ride seesaws wildly through a whole new world of Star Wars-related escapades, against iconic backdrops including the ice planet Hoth and forest moon of Endor.
Outside, I’m in great spirits as I greet Chewbacca. In a world of my own, enveloped in a Wookiee hug, I fail to notice two approaching Stormtroopers in shiny white armour.
“Do you have clearance for this area?” asks one accusingly. I blush and blither a feeble response. “Calm down,” gestures his partner in intergalactic crime.
Very good advice for a 43-year-old man, who still thinks he’s that six-and-ahalf-year-old boy.
Damon Smith was a guest of Disneyland Paris (www. disneylandparis.co.uk, 0844 800 8111). A two-night/three-day stay at Disney’s Newport Bay Club, including return travel on Eurostar from London St Pancras (indirect via Lille) to Disneyland Paris starts from £1,203 for two adults and two children including park tickets and half-board meal plan. Price based on a May 2017 departure