Magical Pride – What You Need to Know About the Disneyland Paris Special Event

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Magical Pride is a truly unique event that other Disney Parks globally have yet to match. After two canceled celebrations of diversity in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, Magical Pride returned to Walt Disney Studios park this year. 

We managed to snag a pair of tickets and attended the celebrations this year. Magical Pride started on June 11th, 2022 and officially ran from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m.. Although early access was granted to several park goers who queued up outside about an hour before the event officially started. 

Interestingly, everyone had to go through a second security screening where all bags were searched. A cast member even opened and sniffed all of our water and soft drink bottles for what I can only assume is alcohol. Disneyland Paris really didn’t want folks bringing their own libations I suppose. Although alcoholic drinks were sold at the event. 

Ticket’s were priced at 89 Euro per person this year. Although an annual passholder discount was available when booked over the official hotline. We tried calling the hotline on the first day tickets went on sale but never got through. 

We must have been on hold for over an hour only for the system to automatically disconnect us. Which was totally not frustrating (sarcasm). 

Extreme FOMO reared it’s ugly head and were close to just paying full price and ordering the tickets online. Thankfully we had the good sense to wait until the second say. Called again and after about 30 minutes on hold we managed to get through and book the tickets for the event. 

This strategy comes at a major risk. Previous annual passholder parties have been known to sell out in under 4 hours. While Magical Pride is not an annual passholder exclusive party, we had no idea how quickly the tickets would sell out. At the end of the day the worries were all for nothing as tickets remained on sale leading up to the event. No guarantees on how that will go in the future though. 

Colorful Must Do’s

Magical Pride offered a unique pride parade known as “Disney’s Colorful Pride Parade”. Consisting of cast members and floats that we have seen before in other parades and shows but with rare characters. 

Another big draw was the Magical Pride stage which was set up in front of the Tower of Terror in Production Courtyard. Besides a neat introduction to the event featuring Edna Mode and Natacha Rafalski, there were also some world class musical acts. Including MIKA, Bilal Hassani and Becky Hill.

After the concerts a DJ Dance Party took place. An interactive sponsor area which mostly consisted of photo opportunities as well as 7 character meet and greet opportunities were also available. Last but not least there was exclusive pride merchandise, most of the attractions were open and a small dance party was happening throughout the event in Studio 1. 

There was also supposed to be a lip sync battle in Studio Theater which was cancelled last minute without any explanation as to why. We saw a couple of disappointed folks who really wanted to try out for the lyp sinc battle. Great idea, too bad it didn’t materialize.

In terms of merch, two exclusives were the pride fan and flag featuring the fab five (Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald Duck). There was also a beautiful rainbow statue of Mickey Mouse for sale which came in at a hefty 359 Euro. We didn’t jump on that offer. 

Some Magical Pride merchandise remained on sale after the event. We spotted mugs, various long and short sleeve t-shirts, plush, keychains and backpacks. There was quite a bit to choose from. 

We purchased two pride mugs and appreciated the fact that they can be placed in the dishwasher and microwave. A major upgrade from the 30th Anniversary Mugs.

The way merchandise was spread out was a little awkward. Some was available in the Les Légendes d’Hollywood store in Studio 1 while other merch was only available at the carts. The latter of which had extremely long lines while the Légendes d’Hollywood featured several open registers. 

Overall the event featured a diverse selection of great Magical Pride merchandise. We were also back in the parks on July 1st and witnessed several folks purchasing and wearing pride merch. The collection seems to be a great revenue stream for Disneyland Paris. 

Plus size park goers be warned my hubby couldn’t fit in the Disneyland Paris Magical Pride shirt. Thankfully Disney imported some pieces from Disneyland Resort in California which went up to 2 XL and fit him fine. We would love to see Disneyland Paris merchandise in big and tall sizes in the future as well. 

Diverse Entertainment 

The parade was fun, it was great seeing all the cast members living their extra lives. The energy was top notch. However, what really resonated with the crowd were the characters and floats from “Dream and Shine Brighter” which fit the pride aesthetic perfectly.

Unique characters or characters that folks don’t get to see everyday got major resonance. My highlight would have to be Edna Mode who closed out the parade. She was serving it on the platform and felt like the mascot of this years pride. 

Seeing all the Disney Friends in their custom pride outfits was also a big highlight. It made us wish that every character presented in the parade had special attire for the occasion (of course as Disney fans we always want more) but it was cool nonetheless.

Sing Your Disney Heart Out

One of our highlights was the pre-show of the opening ceremony. It featured an amazing Edna Mode remix of Madonna’s hit single Vogue. Absolutely something that we didn’t know we needed in our live’s but can’t live without now. 

All of the stage acts seemed to bring great vibes. We saw a bit here and there on the monitors but were mostly in the mood to ride attractions. The only show we stuck around to watch was MIKA. 

Disneyland Paris also set up a large LED Display near Studio 1 that streamed a live feed featuring the stage. It was great for folks with claustrophobia or those who are generally not fans of packed spaces. Hopefully they will install even more screens around the park in the future. You don’t hear a theme park fan say that everyday. It would be great to check out a live feed of the stage while waiting in line. As well as in other areas of the park.

MIKA was great, he included several of his most famous hit singles. The stage lighting looked gorgeous and the Tower of Terror rocked colorful patterns and shapes, synchronized to the music thanks, to the miracle of projection mapping. 

At one point the projection even spelled the word “LOVE” within the sing of the Tower of Terror. 

The sound quality was excellent, you could really feel the music in your chest as long as you were standing directly in front of the stage. My one critique is that there was nowhere to sit down and watch the show. It would have been awesome to have the concert in the former “Lights, Motors, Action!: Extreme Stunt Show” arena since there would have been lots of seating. Perhaps they even could have even set up a standing area near a temporary pop up stage in the arena, for those who want to be close to the action. 

Anyway enough if’s and could have beens. A major highlight of the MIKA performance was when an audience member gifted MIKA a pair of giant, inflatable rainbow wings. The park goer was walking around with the wings in the park and then held them up for MIKA to take. He took them and even put them on for a bit, it was a very cute moment.

MIKA has several hit songs internationally but apparently he’s even bigger in France. All the French park goers around us knew every lyric of his songs. We were familiar with a couple of his singles from the radio however it was nice to have everyone around you sing along. It added a whole new level of dimention to the performance.

Let’s go Meet Who?

In total there were 7 character meet and greets as well as one character dance party in Studio 1. The dance party in Studio 1 was really fun, Mickey and friends were dancing to electronic and disco music on the balcony above “Restaurant en Coulisse”. All of the Disney friends were wearing their custom magical pride outfits and spreading good vibes. 

Other than that there were several meet and greet opportunities including:

Stitch and his friends (Lilo & Stitch), Elsa/Anna/Kristoff (Frozen), Rémy (Ratatouille), Marie & Edgar (The Aristocats), Bo Peep (Toy Story, Joy (Inside Out), Frozone (Incredibles), and Sully (Monsters Inc.). 

There were quite a few unusual characters in the parks that evening. We didn’t meet any directly because the lines were so prohibitive. However, we did see a bunch from the sidelines while walking through the park. The folks who were meeting and taking photos with them looked like they were having the time of their life. 

Many of the unique characters were also present during the pride parade. We really enjoyed seeing them even if we didn’t meet any directly. The characters contributed to the overall atmosphere and made Magical Pride feel special. We did hear from other park goers that the unique chargers were only available for a short period of time at the beginning of the event which caused some anxiety.

Disneyland Paris also converted one of the restrooms into a non-binary gendered restroom. Meaning that no matter where you are on the spectrum you can feel comfortable using that restroom. 

We thought it was a great idea, it would be even better if it wasn’t just done for that one event. It makes it feel kind of half hearted like “look we’re being inclusive, but only for tonight don’t get crazy”. 

It is a tough call to make and some folks are more comfortable using restrooms with a gender divide. The most comfortable solution would be to construct new restrooms from the get go with 3 ports of entry, female, non-binary and male. That would, however, cost more money. Alternatively having at least one non-binary restroom in each park would be a step in the right direction. 

You’re almost there Disneyland Paris. Way ahead of other parks internationally, makes us very proud of our resort. 

Burgers Provided Nourishment

We did get to try one of the exclusive snacks, which tasted great. We dined at the “Restaurant en Coulisse” which was the only open eatery besides a few snack carts. 

The amount of restaurants and the food offered was limited. That’s something that could be improved upon in the future. If Magical Pride remains in the “Walt Disney Studios Park” we hope to see the new “Avengers Campus” restaurants open for future events. 

We also tried to use the mobile ordering feature in the app because the line was super long. Sadly Disneyland Paris did not expand on the regular operating hours so the mobile ordering system acted like “Restaurant en Coulisse” was closed. 

On a positive note the “Black Widow Burger” we received was fresh off the grill and much better than previous burgers we’ve had in “Restaurant en Coulisse”. We also tried the Lychee Tart which was one of several sweet snacks created for Magical Pride. 

It was delicious, creamy and fruity. The shape of the tart was simple and reminded us somewhat of an eclair. It was decorated with a purple edible flower, edible beads and a rainbow mickey silhouette printed on a piece of round chocolate. 

We would order it again in a heartbeat if we could. 

We do have a crazy drunk person story that is way to dirty share on the main feed so we’ll include it with a parental advisory warning at the very end of this months patreon exclusive show. 

Demonstration of Pride

We would definitely consider visiting Magical Pride again next year. Even if you’re is not into the stage acts… the characters, atmosphere and short wait times make a visit well worth it. 

One last tip we would give is don’t start you’re day too early if you plan on sticking around until 2 a.m.. Start the day by chilling out at your hotel, perhaps take a nice long siesta. Because if you’ve been running around the parks all day you’ll have zero energy left by the time Magical Pride starts. 

Overall Magical Pride is a great celebration of LGBTQIA+ diversity and Disneyland Paris. We loved experiencing the great vibes of Magical Pride and seeing the colorful projections on the Tower of Terror was so cool. Walt Disney Studios park at night is an attraction all by itself. We give it a score of pretty good with 85 points out of 100 and we’re looking forward to what Disneyland Paris will be serving next year.