Disneyland Paris is adding new Disney character topiaries to Central Plaza in Disneyland Park, with the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland already on display and a Tick Tock Croc from Peter Pan arriving over the coming weeks. The topiaries are a collaboration between Walt Disney Imagineering Paris, the park's Horticulture team, and the Entertainment Workshops.
Article At A Glance
- What's new: Two new character topiaries are being installed at Central Plaza in Disneyland Park
- Characters: The Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland) is already there - the Tick Tock Croc (Peter Pan) is coming soon
- Who made them: Walt Disney Imagineering Paris worked alongside the Horticulture team and Entertainment Workshops
- Where: Central Plaza, Disneyland Park - the main hub of the park
Search Disneyland Paris transport, hotel and ticket packages here
Read on for the full details including what the topiaries look like, why they make a bigger difference than you'd expect, and what EPCOT's Flower and Garden Festival can teach us about taking horticulture seriously.
What's Arriving at Central Plaza
The Cheshire Cat topiary is already installed and visible to guests. If you've been to Disneyland Paris recently and noticed something new near Central Plaza, that's it. The Tick Tock Croc - the crocodile from Peter Pan with the ticking clock inside him - is coming over the next few weeks, so if you're visiting soon, you may or may not catch both depending on your dates.
Central Plaza is the main hub of Disneyland Park - it's the open space you arrive at after walking under the train station and down Main Street U.S.A. It sits in front of the castle, which means these topiaries will be visible to essentially every single guest who visits the park.
Walt Disney Imagineering Paris producer Virginie Debray described the process of getting them right:
"To bring our creative teams' vision to life whilst ensuring it was achievable, we worked hand in hand with the Horticulture team on the landscaping, and with the Entertainment Workshops to craft designs that truly do justice to the Disney Characters. Having access to such a breadth of expertise and talent means we can deliver beautiful projects like this one and sprinkle just a little more magic into our guests' days!"
- Virginie Debray, Producer, Walt Disney Imagineering Paris
Planning a trip? Check the Disneyland Paris pricing calendar to find the cheapest dates for your visit.
Check out the latest official Disneyland Paris offers for Brits ↓
📅 Search Cheapest Disneyland Paris Dates
🚝 Disneyland Paris Transport Package Offers
🏰 Disneyland Paris Hotel+Ticket Package Offers
What Is a Topiary?
If you're not familiar with the term, a topiary is a living sculpture made by trimming and training shrubs or plants into a specific shape - in this case, Disney characters. They're not static props or painted fibreglass. They're actual plants, which means they take time and skill to grow and maintain, and they change subtly with the seasons.
Disney parks have a long history with topiaries. They require ongoing work from horticulture teams to keep them looking as intended, which is part of what makes them a meaningful investment from the park's side - it's not a one-and-done installation.
Why Topiaries Matter
Nobody is booking a Disneyland Paris holiday specifically because of a Cheshire Cat hedge. That's not really the point. What topiaries do - when they're done well - is contribute to the overall feel of the park in a way that's hard to pin down but very easy to notice when it's missing. They're one of the many things that makes the Disney parks stand out from the competition.
Disneyland Paris has made significant strides in recent years in terms of park quality and theming. Additions like these sit alongside that broader effort. A beautifully maintained, character-shaped plant near the castle isn't a headline attraction. It is, however, exactly the kind of detail that makes a park feel cared for - and that's something guests pick up on, even if they can't always articulate why.
They also make for decent photos. Central Plaza in front of the castle is one of the most photographed spots in the resort. A Cheshire Cat topiary positioned there is going to appear in a lot of holiday pictures.
For UK guests planning ahead, it's worth checking the Disneyland Paris offers page before you book - deals and packages come and go and it's worth seeing what's available for your dates before committing.
Don't miss out on the latest Walt Disney World package offers for Brits ↓
🏰 View Walt Disney World Package Offers
🎟️ View Walt Disney World Ticket Offers
What EPCOT Gets Right About Topiaries
If you want to understand why topiaries can genuinely elevate a theme park visit, it's worth looking at what Walt Disney World does with them during the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival - an annual event that runs each spring at EPCOT in Florida.
The festival is built heavily around character topiaries. Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Minnie, various Pixar characters - they appear throughout the park in elaborate, large-scale horticultural arrangements. It's become one of the most popular times of year to visit EPCOT, and a large part of that appeal comes from how the park simply looks during the event.
Nobody queues for two hours to see a topiary. They don't need to - you just walk past them. But they add something to the atmosphere that's difficult to replicate with rides or shows. EPCOT during Flower and Garden festival always looks beautiful. The colour, the scale, the care that's gone into them - it makes the park feel different to how it does the rest of the year. That's the effect that good topiaries can have. They're background detail that becomes foreground once you're actually there. UK visitors who have done the EPCOT festival will know exactly what I mean - and if you haven't, it's something worth considering for a Florida trip. You can check the Walt Disney World deals page for current offers on WDW packages.
Disneyland Paris isn't launching a festival around these new additions - this is a relatively low-key announcement. But the principle is the same. Done well, topiaries contribute to a park's visual identity in a way that's out of proportion to how much attention they tend to get in press releases.
Check out the latest official Disneyland Paris offers for Brits ↓
📅 Search Cheapest Disneyland Paris Dates
🚝 Disneyland Paris Transport Package Offers
🏰 Disneyland Paris Hotel+Ticket Package Offers
Disneyland Paris Topiaries: Your Questions Answered
Are the new topiaries already at Disneyland Paris?
The Cheshire Cat topiary is already installed at Central Plaza in Disneyland Park. The Tick Tock Croc topiary is coming over the next few weeks, so check timings against your visit dates.
Where exactly are the topiaries located?
Both topiaries are being installed in the green spaces surrounding Central Plaza in Disneyland Park - the main hub of the park in front of the castle.
Are these part of a seasonal festival?
No - these are permanent additions to Central Plaza, not part of a limited-time event. They'll be there year-round and maintained by the resort's Horticulture team.
Can you get close enough to photograph them?
Yes - Central Plaza is an open, walkable space. The topiaries are designed to be visible and accessible, and Disney specifically noted they provide a backdrop for photos.
Is Disneyland Paris worth visiting for UK guests?
Yes - it's the closest Disney park to the UK and reachable in a few hours via Eurostar to Lille and a connecting TGV, or by short-haul flight. It's a realistic weekend or mid-week break in a way that Florida isn't. See the Disneyland Paris deals guide for UK visitors here.
