I’ve noticed
#DisneylandParis25 is trending as a sponsored hashtag on Twitter to mark the park's
twenty-fifth anniversary; I was there for its first birthday: I’m older than
Steamboat Willie.
I remember three
things predominantly about that holiday: (1) it rained a lot, (2) my mum wouldn’t
go on any ride except The Adventures of Peter Pan (which was the tamest
option there, save a park bench on Main Street), and (3) my dad and I kept
going on the Haunted Mansion repeatedly every day because it was great.
People might
knock Euro Disney, particularly in its early days when it was a lot more basic,
but I loved it. I was so excited to be there, having always wanted to go to
Disneyland as a kid. There was no way the bad weather (or the fact it was in
France) was going to ruin it for me. It’s testament to how much I’d wanted to
go that so much of it is still so vivid in my head; it was my first experience
of a theme park and was a pretty good initiation, despite the grey days; there
was still enough cartoon magic about for my childlike eyes.
To acknowledge
the park’s first birthday, the castle was done up to look like a giant cake. It
looked very impressive towering above us as we arrived, even if in actuality,
it’s probably not that big; not as big as real castle in any sense, though
imagine the size of the baker. You’d also need a big oven, and a massive Paul Hollywood to judge it.