Each year and with every new event, Disneyland Paris has to translate and localise every inch of its publicity and marketing like no other theme park on earth. Last year, we saw everything from La Fête Magique de Mickey to El Año de Mickey.

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French: L’Année de la Nouvelle Génération

There’s no true translation for the way they’ve used “Festival” in the English name, the closest being “Fête”. Since that was already used last year, they’ve opted for — translated literally — “The Year of the New Generation”.

Due to the order of words needing to be flipped around, the blocks for “L’Année” are forced to appear at the top of the logo, whilst the entire name has had to be squeezed incredibly tightly to fit above the main Disneyland Paris logo in the third incarnation.

German: New Stars Festival

No, Disneyland Paris hasn’t lost its German dictionary. The name here will be the same as the English, save for the less-understood “Generation” being switched out for “Stars”, commonly used to describe celebrities in Germany. “Festival” is in the German language, too, and most will understand the English spelling of “New”.

Unconfirmed, but it’s quite likely this version of the name will also serve the Benelux countries.

Spanish: El Festival de la Nueva Generación

The particularities of the language force another inversion of the word order, placing “El Festival” on top of “Neuva” for the Spanish edition.

Italian: Festival della Nuova Generazione

…With the same happening for Italian.

On the whole, the name translates well into each language. However, wouldn’t you agree it’s immediately clear that the English logo was designed first, with little thought of how it might be reconfigured for each international market? The choice of fonts, size of type, colours and layout — none of these versions look as balanced as the original.

Compared to the smartly laid-out English version — with the giant “New” underlined by a wider “Generation” and underlined by the blocks — many of these international versions look shoe-horned into place and, with the “de la” and “della” having to be added, rather clumsy.

The Toy Story-style blocks simply don’t look right hovering at the top of the logo, it’s clear it wasn’t designed that way originally. That the key visual of a parachuting Buzz Lightyear was released first in English and has yet to be localised seems to confirm the theory.

Still, if you’re reading this English blog well enough, you probably won’t have to see too much of these. The only one we’ll be seeing frequently might be the French “L’Année de la Nouvelle Génération” on any banners or decorations that might appear, similar to how “Mickey’s Magical Party” currently alternates with the French version around the parks.

Logos © Disney.