Dazed by the cost! A Disney FanDaze story.

Hey guys!
So 2018 is now under way, and as a Disney fan, but more specifically a Disneyland Paris fan, it’s hard not to look back on 2017 without a whole spectrum of emotion, and above all pride, for what our home resort achieved in its 25th year.


We entered 2018 with promises that it wouldn't stop there for DLP, with the sparkling celebrations of the 25th being extended until September. Two new seasons would bring Parc Disneyland and the Walt Disney Studios to life, Pirates and Princesses in the spring and Marvel Summer of Super Heroes debuting in June. Not only that but favourites Season of the Force, Electroland and Run Disney (now re-branded as Magic Run Weekend) will all be returning, and of course the classic Halloween and Christmas seasons remain intact.



But if all that wasn't enough to make you want to part with your cash to visit the resort during 2018 a new jewel in the Disneyland Paris crown was announced. On September 1st 2017 we got our first teasers of FanDaze, described as "A magical experience created especially for Disney fans!" that was about as much as we got for the next 30 days other than a series of teaser images and the strap line "It's fun to be a fan at Disneyland Paris". Of course social media kicked into overdrive with rumours and speculations over what this might all mean, until the 30th where a handful of specially selected bloggers and vloggers got invited to a special press event to find out about what would be on offer.



I won't spend a huge amount of time going into what was announced, it's been covered plenty by now and if you've some how managed to miss it fan sites such as DLP Town Square, Dedicated to DLP and Salon Mickey have all covered it far better than I ever could. What I can however say with some degree of confidence is what was announced got us all very excited, but right from that point the burning question was about price and availability.

Fast forward to the end of December 2017 and Disneyland Paris announce they've saved one special late Christmas gift for us all, and to welcome in the New Year the FanDaze package information would be announced on the 1st January. Suddenly that buzz from September was back in full force, as after months of speculation and itching to start making travel plans and hotel bookings, we'd finally be getting some answers.
So the New Year rolled in and the announcement came, but it wasn't with the fanfare we'd predicted. It was more of a daze of confusion and frankly for some, disbelief. I always expected prices for FanDaze to be on the higher side, as you only have to look at events like Run Disney to imagine what these events cost to put together. Scale the number of rare characters up a few times and of course the costs rise with it.

Full details of all the packages and what they include are available on the Fan Daze official site, so of course I won't go into too much detail here. The main things I have taken from the announcements so far are;

• Event is the first weekend of June 2018


• Tickets go on sale January 15th 2018


• At this time tickets can only be purchased as part of a package


• At the time of writing this no Annual Passholder discounts have been announced


• A limited (but as yet unquantified) number of standalone tickets will be launched in Spring 2018


• The cheapest package starts from €412.50 Per person (based on 2 adults sharing at the Santa Fe)


• Additional packages are then available to include bolt on options such as brunch and panel places.

So what are my initial thoughts? Well firstly, what’s on offer looks and sounds great. I'm a huge character fan and being able to meet characters like Bolt and Mittens would be amazing. The Duck Tales parade and Max Live shows sound like they'd be something I'd really enjoy, and new outfits for Mickey and the VIPs are never going to get anything other than thumbs up from me. I'm surprised however that it's once again taken so long to get this much concrete information out, and I'll be interested to see if the packages do go on sale at the planned date and how smooth the launch is. You may remember I had some trouble last year buying my Run Disney bib, so I desperately hope they've learnt from that.
As for the price, which seems to be probably the biggest talking point right now, I kind of expected it. I mean I knew it was going to be expensive, an event on that scale comes at a price and for a resort that needs to start turning a profit FanDaze was always going to be a fairly big cog in that machine. I am, however, a little disappointed at how much of it is an additional cost.
The panels in Animagique Theatre, for example, are going to be ticketed in addition to the main FanDaze event, at a cost of €25 per person per panel. I know there is obviously limited seating available, but I had expected it to be a case of having to prioritise queuing for that on a first come first served basis over some of the other events. The basic price seems slightly more than what I expected but not totally astronomical given it includes hotel and park tickets. It’s the upgrades that I think have sadly been misjudged and I know a lot of fans are feeling priced out.
Another annoyance coming from fans with regards to the cost is the fact that Disney have left it so late to announce prices and sale date. It's January, commonly one of the hardest months financially of the year, and they've only given a fortnight's notice for when the tickets will be on sale. Not only that, but the event is only a few months away. This doesn't allow much time at all for people to organise their finances, especially with many of the themed packages being so limited. It just causes additional panic which could have otherwise been avoided. I hate to say it, but part of me wonders if this is part of their plan to drive panic ticket sales.
So will I be attending? That's a hard one, and I guess the truth is I'm still on the fence right now. From day one this has sounded like the event of my dreams. Not only is it a hugely character focused event, Duffy and Shellie are part of the main line up of Mickey's VIPs and the information released on the 1st even listed a Duffy and friends panel as part of the one off event. I'll be honest here, as a self-proclaimed Duffy super fan, I do feel a certain amount of pressure to make it happen and find a way to attend. I'm worried what people will think of me if I don't go to the event where he finally has the spotlight I've been wanting for him.
But the truth is there's a lot more to consider as it is a large cost and there are additional expenses on top: extra days in the parks, travel and the fact that the prices are all based on 2 adults sharing, so that would probably increase further if I was to do this as a solo trip. It would also be on top of other trips I've already planned to do this year/next year that need to be saved and paid for.
That got me thinking, I don't think I'm at all alone as a Disney fan in saying that other than meeting rare characters in my home park, another huge goal is to visit the other Disney parks around the world. What could I do with the money I would have spent on FanDaze? It would be a sizeable chunk off a trip to Anaheim to visit Walt's original park, or it could go towards a trip to one of the Asian parks to see Duffy and his friends, and I'd probably even get more time with them that way!
It's still early days as far as FanDaze goes, and I hope as more information becomes available things will become clearer, and some of the negative points I have mentioned will be addressed. I'd really like to see Disneyland Paris make a success of this, and I'd really love the opportunity to be able to say I was a part of it when it does.
What are your thoughts? Did you hope to attend FanDaze? Have your plans changed following the announcement of the prices? Drop me a comment I'd love to see how other fans feel!
Hoodsie xxx

Pictures credit: 

Featured Image: Indiana John's Adventure

Other images: Disney fan Daze Official Twitter