Review: Disney Sand Magic

This review is about an event that took place on août 13, 2017 (Last Updated: août 14, 2017)

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in August we drove to Ostend in Belgium to pay a visit to Disney Sand Magic. Even though it was over two hours by car, all the Instagram posts of people we followed peaked our interest.

Disney Sand Magic 2017 - Van

For the 25th Anniversary of Disneyland Paris, 40 artists created 150 sculptures on the beach. 240 trucks with special sand were brought in to aid the artists.

Visiting Disney Sand Magic

The day we went, it was reasonably busy. Ostend was packed with tourists and it took us about 45 minutes to park the car. Every parking spot was full, even though the website of that specific location made you believe it was not. When we finally parked the car behind the station, we had a short walk to the Zeeheldenplein. Entrance was easy, there were just a few people in front of us.

The total length of the trail past all the sculptures is about 1 km and will take you around 1 hour to complete. The paths are clearly marked, and while we normally get sand in our shoes, this was not the case while we walked around. While we were there, it did get a bit busier, but it was no where near how busy it was outside of the festival area. Good to know; you can get drink inside and there are toilets. Making it a easy to sit down, have a drink and walk around for a second time to make sure you don’t miss any details.

When you enter the area, you first walk past Cinderella Castle. Mickey can be seen in this display as well. The two chairs on either side of the castle, make this for a great photo opportunity. For people who know the castle from their trips to Disneyland Paris, the detail is amazing. You can easily get lost in it.

In the middle section you will find several displays featuring Disney movies like Cars, Coco, Mary Poppins, Nightmare before Christmas, Little Mermaid and many more. What was nice to see is that also some of the classic characters like Scrooge McDuck, The Great Mouse Detective, Pluto and Goofy who we haven’t seen on screen for a while found their place on the beaches of Oostende.

Disney Sand Magic 2017 - Walt's Restaurant Disneyland Paris

A real treat was when we finished our walk through the middle section and we saw a display showing casing Walt’s restaurant. This restaurant can be found in Disneyland Paris on Main Street USA. The detail on this display was amazing and made us stop a few times to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

It is all in the details

We enjoy watching these art like items. Also when we visit Disney Parks, we tend to spend a lot of time soaking up the environment and atmosphere. The sand sculptures at Disney Sand Magic have amazing detail. When you look at sculptures like Aladdin, Mary Poppins or Nightmare Before Christmas, you can see all kinds of little elements in the overall object which complement the bigger picture.

Disney Sand Magic 2017 Mary Poppins

Standing in front of Mary Poppins, we loved seeing the Mary flying around in the background, or Bert with his signature dance move. Other displays like Star Wars or Frozen show amazing detail in the faces of the characters. And when you see displays like the Lion King, Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, Alice in Wonderland, Narnia or It’s a Bug’s Life, it is hard to believe that all this is made out of sand. And who knows, you might even see a hidden Mickey!

Is Disney Sand Magic worth a visit?

In short I would say yes. But let me add a bit to it. While we only drove to Ostend to see Disney Sand Magic, you might want to make a full day out of it. Especially when it is a long drive. It almost took us longer to find a parking spot than our actual visit to Disney Sand Magic. But if you are a fan of all things Disney, Disney Sand Magic is something you have to visit.

Discounts for Disney Sand Magic

For visitors who have a Disneyland Paris Annual Pass, or are part of the shareholders; make sure to bring your card. You will receive a 50% discount on the entry price.

Disney Sand Magic 2017

Disney Sand Magic is open daily from 10am to 7pm, and you can visit it until October 1st (although some flyers and banners might say September 10th, the dates have been extended).

Getting to Disney Sand Magic

Disney Sand Magic takes place on the beach of Ostend. If you are familiar with these points of interest, this is between the central rail way station and the Casino. You can either go by public transport or by car.

Disney Sand Magic is located close to the Central Train Station (about 15 min walk) which makes using public transport really easy and saves you the hassle of finding a parking spot.

When you do go by car (like us) take into account that Ostend can get really busy and parking is limited. Disney Sand Magic has listed several parking locations. We parked behind the Central Train Station. Here they only accept coins.

Photos Disney Sand Magic

Some more photos of the different sand sculptures of Disney Sand Magic. We won’t show all of course. For that, you just have to visit Ostend!


Related Pages

Related Resort(s): Disneyland Paris