France has put several cities like Paris in a lockdown with a curfew, and we are back home just in time before also NL went back into lockdown last Wednesday.
Overall a good Halloween visit, but very hard to find the time to see/do it all.
We waited 1.5 hours for the villains. The villain selfie spot opened at 11. From 10 I saw a queue forming. At 10:30 we jumped in line, about 20-25 groups ahead of us, and at 11 there were 8
DAS groups. The CM warned us, this is a long line and whether or not we were sure.
First set at opening Gaston/Frollo/Cruella/Jafar. And the queue moved so slowly, not just because some more DAS groups joined the group and were let in ahead of us. It was a Sunday and all the locals + websites were there, each group had to take individual pictures, group pictures, just the character and then the Photopass. It was good that they have a Photopass here now, but even with a professional camera it's incredibly dark to get a good picture. Another good thing is, that while you are in line, you can see the other people taking pictures and the villains interact with the guests and each other, plus a good 30 seconds of a show with the characters getting on stage and go off stage at the beginning and ending of each set.
It became obvious that we wouldn't make it before the end of the first set. As we got closer during the second set (Lady Tremaine/Captain/Evil Queen/Queen of Hearts), we started to hesitate, my one of my favourite characters is Gaston, and Cruella was just amazing. So we asked if we could wait five more minutes and go to the 2nd set of the first group, which the CM granted.
Other possible villains are: Dr. Facilier and Ratcliffe we saw on pictures they displayed outside.
At least Gaston and Lady Tremaine had new costumes, makes me wonder what they had planned for Halloween originally that would require new costumes.
There is a little show with Maleficent on the back of the castle and a 2 minute show with Ursula on Castle Stage. The Maleficent was easier to spot, as they started the smoke machines a few minutes before she arrived. But Ursula's show, which they do 6 times a day, the CMs are not allowed to tell when it is. We saw it once, spite walking by the stage several times.The only clue they give is that when the chained fence is removed from the stage, it's a sign something is happening, but not clear if it will then take 5 minutes, or 20 minutes. We also only saw 1 float of the Halloween Parade, while it has 6 floats. But as it's the same as in previous years, no big loss.
The shows were all nice distractions, and good use of characters.
When the queue for Big Thunder Mountain is at 35-40 minutes, it stretches beyond the entrance. It is accurate, but you can probably save a few minutes by taking the left lane!
Except for a big family behind us at the Arendelle's selfies, everyone was obeying the distance rules. They got told off by the CM, but it didn't help for long.
Kristoff was from Belgium and spoke at least 4 languages, including Dutch, which always confuses me. But he was one of the best Kristoff's I have ever seen. He used every prop he had on his set.
Still mainly French audiences, on the parking lots some cars from the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg, but that was it.
We were able to see/meet Mickey in 6 different costumes in 2 days: Vampire 1 at the station when entering
Disneyland Park, Phantom manor when leaving the park, Classic when entering the Studios, Mickey & the Magician outfit in the Studios, Vampire 2 at Meet Mickey in Disneyland Park and his parade costume.
We had a great dinner at Ludwig's again for my friend's birthday, happy hour with great cocktails.
We missed it, but in the evening 18:00 - 21:00 there is also a character selfie spot in the reception area of Santa Fe.
There were some new magic shots. You can see it in the video below.
Oh one unusual thing, the parks open at 9:30 now. The weird 30 minutes between end of EMH and the opening at 10 is gone. However... at 9:30 only the EMH rides are open... So it's still EMH till 10! We walked by Phantom Manor, Pirates and meet Mickey, and they all opened at 10. DLP is a strange place...
That was it! Now to plan Christmas!
