Admittedly, we get invited to some pretty cool places, but the ‘Happiest Place On Earth’ is a win by any standard.
If you follow us on Instagram (if you don’t, amend the error of your ways here), you may have noticed we spent a whirlwind 24 hours in Disneyland Paris last week, to celebrate the launch of their collaboration with Vans.
The collection, called ‘Young At Heart’ sees some seriously adorbs shoes, bags, hats and the like, complete with Disney characters like Winnie the Pooh (on a skateboard, no less!), Mickey and Minnie Mouse and the whole rest of the crew. And, it’s seriously covetable, no matter what your age.
Our Alya Mooro joined upwards of 50 (!) media and blog representatives from a variety of countries to be given the VIP treatment in the park - yup, that includes a queue jump for the rides, too! We round up the highlights of the trip below…
The Rides
Having spent the majority of the afternoon freaking ourselves - and our fellow Disney revelers - out with horror stories of just how big the drop to each ride was - loosely based on hazy memories of terror stricken childhood experiences – it turned out that actually, they were an adrenaline rush and a great time rolled into one. Utilizing our queue jumps to maximum impact, we managed to skirt the lengthy queues and experience everything from rumbling down Big Thunder Mountain, being a rat in a kitchen alongside Ratatouille in an (awesome!) 3D ride and participate in a sing-a-long of Frozen, among others.
Tasked with completing a scavenger hunt, which required a ticking off of everything from taking selfies on rides (suffice to say we kept our phones safely zipped in our pockets and our hands pretty much super glued to the railings) to keeping our eyes out for various things around the park, we were kept well entertained and occupied. Rocking excitedly purchased Minnie Mouse ears and doing all we could not to race around the park, we reverted to big kids for the entirety.
Viewing The Collection
When they said it would be a Vans takeover, they really weren’t exaggerating! Following our gallivants around the park we were led into a closed off Liberty Arcade, where we were greeted with refreshments, canapés and a beautifully laid out Young At Heart collection. Perusing the shoes, bags, hats and clothes, camera phones at the ready, there were an abundance of approving sighs as our minds revived childhood memories. Our favourite were the adorable Winnie the Pooh lace up trainers, although Minnie Mouse was a close contender.
Disney Remixed
Only in Disneyland would our entertainment be a quartet that included three (identical looking) brothers who can all sing perfectly. Providing the soundtrack for the drinks and then later at dinner, they expertly remixed Disney classics like The Lion King’s ‘Hakuna Matata’ the Little Mermaid’s ‘Under The Sea’ and more in an impressive mash-up medley of Disney’s biggest hits.
The Lightshow
After dinner we made our way to the Sleeping Beauty castle of dreams where the lightshow was about to take place. Evidently ushering in all the magic of Disney, ever, the show was truly one of the most enchanting things we’ve ever seen. With fireworks exploding over the already captivating castle, the award winning show used lasers and fireworks to bring to life and intricately interweave Disney stories including Peter Pan, the Lion King, the Little Mermaid and more to truly mesmerizing effect.
The ‘Young At Heart’ Disney x Vans collection is available here.