Review of Swing into Spring 2015 in Disneyland Paris

I’ve been off the Disneyland Paris radar for 6 weeks, so I didn’t know anything about the Swing into Spring celebrations in Disneyland Paris before writing this article, and searching for the associated videos for each part. So far removed from the Disneyland Paris community have I been, that I had to text Mark from our podcast and ask him what elements actually made up Swing into Spring this year. Then it was off to PixieDust.be who I can always rely on to have photos and videos up pretty quickly, and he didn’t disappoint – great job as always Matthias.

Swing into Spring 2015: Minnie’s Little Spring Train

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9i3ntD1EFw

If you go to Disneyland Paris to focus on the intricacies of the Discovery Arcade interior and compare the technology of Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy to that of other rides around the world, it’s unlikely the train is for you, or ever has been in it’s previous guises. I personally didn’t appreciate it myself until seeing the 20th Anniversary Celebration Train with my 4 year old son at the time and see it through his eyes.

It is what it is – a very colourful and lively way for people to see a decent bunch of characters. The train itself looks very good and they’ve done a great job retheming it once again. With eggs and rabbits on the engine and carriages, coupled with topiaries and flowers on the second carriage, it does a really good job of combining both Spring and Easter. The characters seem to have little else to do apart from wave at and interact with guests, which is exactly what anyone watching wants from this.

Swing into Spring 2015: Welcome to Spring

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3qbGjR4Vyw

I’ll hold my hands up and say I’m far from the biggest fan of Mary Poppins, even after watching Saving Mr Banks. So this show doesn’t appeal to me a great deal, though being on the Castle Stage with the glorious Sleeping Beauty Castle as a backdrop is a huge positive. I did get quite bored watching it and fast forwarded through bits, my apathy towards Poppins and friends playing a big part in that. I’d like to see some other characters, films and stories represented, because for anyone who isn’t interested in Mary Poppins it’s a washout.

Swing into Spring 2015: Goofy’s Garden Party

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjm39EHvjaA

A little bit of Stars ‘n’ Cars, a little bit of Welcome to Spring and some small grassy floats being pushed by along, all to the soundtrack of a song that may need some getting used to. It has a kind of Spring carnival feel to it, but not a particularly exciting one if I’m honest. It could be one of those cases of having to be there to appreciate it, but from watching the video it does very little for me. There is just nothing spectacular about it, or anything that I’m seeing of Swing into Spring so far.

There are other elements of Swing into Spring, such as the Jolly Holiday Band and meet and greets with characters such as Thumper, but it all seems a bit dull to me. It’s hard to believe that on the one hand they can produce something like Disney Dreams! and on the other hand put out a Spring festival that all seems very samey and really quite narrow in it’s target demographic. Maybe you really do have to be there, but based on what I’ve seen in the videos and photos, I have no desire to experience it myself, especially when you couple it with massive barriers and tarpaulins covering attractions such as Videopolis. I’ve said before that due to lots of closures happening over the next 2 years I won’t be returning until late 2017 at the earliest, and Swing into Spring is confirming that as a wise decision, not persuading me otherwise.