Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary: New Rides, Food, Shows, Souvenirs–and Drones!

Disneyland Paris’ 30th Anniversary kicks off on March 6, 2022! This celebration features new attractions, decorations, costumes, merchandise, entertainment, shows, and the first-ever aerial drone show inside a Disney theme park. We’ll cover everything you need to know about the festivities, with all of the big announcements organized in one place.

April 12, 1992 marked the opening of Euro Disney Resort, which has evolved over the course of three decades–including a name change to Disneyland Paris–expanding to a second theme park, new hotels, and more. Having hosted more than 375 millions visits, Disneyland Paris has created unforgettable memories as Europe’s top tourist destination. Innovating and continuously reinventing itself, all while trying to fulfill Walt Disney’s vision of creating memories with friends and family.

As Walt Disney once said, “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” To that end, the passion and talent of 16,000 Cast Members is essential, and their attention to detail, creativity, and service help bring Disneyland Paris to life. Whether it be through attractions, shows, restaurants, shops, hotels, gardens or even decors, more than 500 professions contribute to shaping the daily landscape of Disneyland Paris.

According to Disneyland Paris, a new era will start on March 6, 2022. In honor of this historic milestone, the two parks will shine as never before, celebrating their bright future, and inviting guests to experience a variety of new offerings.

Let’s take a look at what’s coming in Spring 2022, starting with a new stage show and nighttime pre-show in front of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant…

For the 30th Anniversary of Disneyland Paris, a new daytime stage show called “Dream…and Shine Brighter!” will be performed several times every day on Central Plaza in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, which is more beautiful than ever following its recently-completed year-long refurbishment.

Consisting of three themes that celebrate the power of laughter, passion, and dreams, “Dream…and Shine Brighter!” will feature more than 30 Disney Characters and dancers with new colorful floats and a unique soundtrack.

Disneyland Paris organized its own fashion show with Mickey, Minnie, and their friends “hitting the catwalk” in a one-of-a-kind setting to offer a sneak peek at the upcoming show.

“Dream…and Shine Brighter!” will offer the opportunity to see them and other characters decked out in new iridescent costumes, as created especially for the Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary. Many other characters will join them, including the Genie from Aladdin, Princess Rapunzel, and Jessie and Woody from Toy Story, among others.

At nightfall, a new spectacular emotional moment will occur as a pre-show to the Disney Illuminations nighttime spectacular. Called “Disney D-Light,” this new pre-show will combine video projections, illuminated water jets, lighting effects, mist, and Disney songs.

Oh, and drone choreography to really punctuate the 30th Anniversary from high above Sleeping Beauty Castle. Filled with special effects, the different scenes will transform the castle as never before.

Specifically, “Disney D-Light” will feature 200 drones to end this new nighttime pre-show in an unforgettable way. This will mark the first time a Disney theme park uses drones as part of a daily outdoor show.

These synchronized drones will form a sparkling figure “30” in the sky above Sleeping Beauty Castle, while the new theme song created for the 30th Anniversary, “Un monde qui s’illumine,” is played in the background.

Disneyland Park will be home to entirely new Gardens of Wonder comprised of 10 different theme-based gardens. Installed in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, the gardens will feature 30 entirely new art pieces, plus kinetic Disney & Pixar sculptures that “come to life.”

Designed by the Disneyland Paris Landscaping and Entertainment teams, each piece is produced by local craftsmen whose know-how has contributed to guest experience for many years. Inspired by various sources of influences: from windmills for children to the world of Salvador Dali, among other things–this art exhibition will be installed in 10 different theme-based gardens and will represent a wide variety of characters. For example, the Garden of Asia will include sculptures of Baymax, Mushu, and Sisu from Raya and the Last Dragon.

The above video offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the new Gardens of Wonder at Disneyland Paris will look. As you can see, the Disneyland Paris creative teams used 3D modeling and handmade production of these 30 art pieces.

This was carried out in collaboration with 3 French companies expert in decor production based in Ile-de-France. These 3 companies, including different professions such as engineers, technicians, painters have worked in collaboration with Yves Ollier, Set Designer Manager at Disneyland Paris, to create the Gardens of Wonder.

At Disneyland Paris, the food and beverage experience will also receive some enhancements for the 30th Anniversary. For months, the culinary teams have been developing and testing new dishes to complete this celebration. Beginning March 6, 2022, there will be over 60 new dishes, delicious desserts, and exclusive cocktails. That is, assuming the restaurants serving these anniversary items are actually open when you visit!

Table-service restaurants will feature iconic new desserts developed by the pastry team. This features a white chocolate and strawberry cake served under a dome called “Le Bouquet final”, and all-you-can-eat buffets will serve up new 30th Anniversary-themed macarons that will be a feast for the eyes and a delight for the taste buds. Since this is France, the Disneyland Paris barman team has created exclusive drinks, too.

With 63 boutiques and shops, shopping is an experience in itself at Disneyland Paris. For the resort’s 30th Anniversary, teams have designed more than 350 new exclusive items. That makes this celebration the most significant product development program ever conducted at Disneyland Paris.

Guests will be able to discover a whole new collection of dazzling products exclusively dedicated to the Resort’s 30th Anniversary. From limited-edition collectibles to keychains, Anniversary-themed plush, iconic ear headbands, and trendy sweatshirts, the Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary will offer items to suit all tastes. Over the months, new collections and products designed in collaboration with renowned brands will be added to the 30th Anniversary merchandise collections in shops.

Disneyland Paris will also be decorated with the iridescent style, featuring sparkling blue and purple hues. Lighting effects, neon lights and backlit kinetic mobiles will be used to decorate Disneyland Park’s main places, such as the Gazebo, Main Street Station, and Disney Village as well.

A lot of this looks like a slight variation on the EARidescent look developed “exclusively” for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary. It’s actually much more common than you might think for Disney to recycle Anniversary designs, styles, and visual motifs (it used to happen a lot with theme songs, especially between Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland). The only difference now is the internet makes it a lot easier to see what’s happening at each of the international parks.

The Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary celebration will also mark the opening of the new Avengers Campus Marvel Land, which is an integral part of the transformation of Walt Disney Studios Park. Debuting in Summer 2022, super heroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe will gather at Avengers Campus.

This incarnation of Avengers Campus is similar to that at Disney California Adventure, in that it will also offer character encounters and the interactive shooter ride, Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure (although it remains to be seen whether that’ll be the name). The other highlight of Avengers Campus at WDSP will be an Iron Man-themed overhaul of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Ultimately, this sounds like a pretty solid slate for the Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary celebration, and I’m pretty excited about some of these additions (not Avengers Campus–I’ve had more than my fill of that in California). To be entirely honest, there are aspects of this that are more intriguing to me than what Walt Disney World is doing for its 50th Anniversary, a lot of which seems more focused on celebrating movie characters.

Also keep in mind that in addition to all of these new offerings, there’s a lot that’s returning to the parks in France–in some cases, for the first time in two years. Mickey and the Magician (resuming in Spring/Summer 2022), Disney Junior Dream Factory, Disney Stars on Parade, and Disney Illuminations will all be a part of the celebration. Here’s hoping there are some more surprises in store too, as Disneyland Paris gets back to normal–and continues with its big expansion plans for the Walt Disney Studios Park!

For the basics of planning a visit to Disneyland Paris, check out our Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide. Want to see more photos or read about Disneyland Paris in agonizing detail? Check out our Disneyland Paris 20th Anniversary Trip Report or our Disneyland Paris 25th Anniversary Trip Recap!

YOUR THOUGHTS…

Excited for the Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary celebration? Thoughts on this lineup as compared to Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary? Looking forward to upcoming additions and seasonal events in 2022? What are your thoughts on this huge Disneyland Paris expansion? Are you looking forward to visiting Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park once this is finished, or would you rather stick to other Disney Parks? Anything with which you disagree in this post? Any questions? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!

18 Responses to “Disneyland Paris 30th Anniversary: New Rides, Food, Shows, Souvenirs–and Drones!”
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