Saturday, 24th February 2007

Once Upon a Dream Parade in concepts

Here they are – the full series of eight colour concept arts for the brand new Disneyland Park parade, officially released at the shareholders’ AGM (of course!) and captured by Mouetto on Disney Central Plaza forum (naturellement!).

Each of the concepts is accompanied by a quick summary from our guide page, and then beneath that any additional notes, details or corrections we can spot after seeing the full-colour artworks.

Float 1: Dreams of Imagination

“Mickey and Minnie hover high in the sky in a golden hot air balloon! They’ve dropped anchor on a most dreamy location, the purple curve of a smiling moon, resting on a storybook. Donald showers the moon in sparkling glitter, as Goofy rests on the pile of storybooks and blows bubbles into the clouds!”

The same concept you first saw right here over seven months ago. How time flies, eh?

Float 2: Dreams of Laughter and Fun

“A traditional fairytale hut is featured at the centre of the float, used by Alice in Wonderland first and then Pinocchio at the rear. The Pinocchio section features “marionnette” bungee artists similar to those in ‘Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams’ at Disneyland in California, bouncing on bungee ropes from supports high above. Around this section of the float, stilt walkers will perform routines with their own puppets.”

The Alice in Wonderland scene features Tweedle Dee/Dum, the Caterpillar and a tree with painted red roses. As the theme shifts to Pinocchio, a number of clocks are featured. Pinocchio appears to be performing his “I’ve Got No Strings” routine, with Gepetto watching. Jiminy Cricket sits atop the bungee rope clock tower.

Float 3: Dreams of Friendship

“Features Toy Story and Winnie the Pooh characters, with a giant storybook in the middle separating the two themes. At the front, Woody joins his Roundup Gang to remind them “you’ve got a friend in me”, whilst at the back Pooh’s birthday party is in full swing, featuring all his best friends from the Hundred Acre Wood at a jolly tea party.”

This float was the hardest to decipher from the silhouette image, with a classic scene from the first Toy Story at the front and a Hundred Acre Wood tea party at the rear. Despite the logo of Toy Story 2 being used, the scene is more reminiscent of the first film, since Buzz has a rocket attached to his wings and the arcade machine of the Little Green Men is featured.

Float 4: Dreams of Fantasy

“This very British float first features Captain Hook’s galley splashing through the waves, before a sea of London rooftops bring Wendy peering out of her window at Peter Pan on the roof above! A whimsically-styled Big Ben towers in the centre of the rooftops, poking through the clouds, with Mary Poppins and her classic “jolly holiday” carousel behind, as a fleet of kites hovers above. A merry band of pirate flag artists will surround the ship at the front of the float.”

The crocodile from Peter Pan can be seen amongst the waves at the front of the float, whilst the Penguin waiters from Mary Poppins are featured in the Jolly Holiday scene.

Float 5: Dreams of Power

“The Disney Villains are out to take command of the parade, on a dark and menacing float filled with viciousness! As the serpent Jafar slithers along at the front, Chernabog towers over the parade route on the desolate summit of Bald Mountain. Bringing up the rear is the slimy sea monster Ursula. The float will be surrounded by menacing souls juggling (false) fire!”

Hades can be seen at the front of the float, whilst the Evil Queen from Snow White hides below Chernabog.

Float 6: Dreams of Adventure

“Serving The Lion King and The Jungle Book, a giant jungle tree towers out of the middle of the float, with Simba on Pride Rock before it and King Louie and Baloo behind. Various animals from both films can be found amongst the branches of the tree, including monkeys and giraffes. Rafiki is clinging to the tree behind Pride Rock, with Timon and Pumbaa joining in the celebrations below. It’s also likely that several of the colourful jungle animals from the Kids Carnival season will join the parade at this point.”

The Jungle Book scene chosen is King Louie’s temple, with Baloo in his coconut hula outfit and King Louie’s throne beneath the tree. Timon also wears his hula costume, and the entire tree is filled with too many animals to count – including The Jungle Book’s Vultures and Kaa the snake.

Float 7: Dreams of Romance (Part 1)

“A tropical garden oasis is the setting for Ariel and Jasmine, with beautiful flowers and an enchanted tree bringing a rainbow of colour to their romantic pursuits. The Dream of Romance section will feature the enchanted garden theme throughout, with each of the Princesses’ shimmering dresses scattered with beautiful gold leaves and several dancing flowers with yellow and green petals surrounding each float.”

The enchanted garden features Ariel at the front in some kind of sea shell grotto, whilst Jasmine swings on a tree with giant roses and Aladdin dances around her.

Float 8: Dreams of Romance (part 2)

“The grand finale to the entire parade, this giant float features a grand total of four princesses! The initial gazebo is an ornate shelter for Beauty and the Beast, whilst the whimsical fairytale bridge is occupied by Snow White and her prince. On the hill before the giant castle stands Cinderella and Prince Charming. Sleeping Beauty is possibly featured behind the castle, as a finale – afterall, the parade is named after one of her songs! The float will also be articulated (split into two free-moving, joined sections), giving an idea of its impressive size.”

Sleeping Beauty is indeed featured just behind the castle, which is a giant, glittering, crystal design. The gazebo of Beauty and her Beast is surrounded by giant red roses.

Finally seeing the full parade in colour concept art is a dream for any fan, and when it finally premieres in just over one month there’ll be even more to see, not just on the floats but all around – characters, dancers, confetti and more. We’re promised a unique parade in the history of Disney Parks, filling all five sense with wonder. Sight and sound are obvious, touch will be from the many Disney characters, more than in any other parade. Unique scents for each float were even confirmed some time ago, leaving just taste to be answered. Characters handing out sweets seems a likely option, already a popular stunt during Halloween events.

Some of the concepts here appear to be quite realistic (for example, the first and second floats), whilst others seem to merely give an artistic impression of the characters and details the floats will include (Dreams of Fantasy in particular), rather than an accurate plan.

To see these concepts made a reality will be the real moment of magic. And, when you spot the first new daytime parade at the park in almost seven years coming towards you along Main Street for the first time, it’ll be better than a dream.

Saturday, 24th February 2007

Candles, characters, decorations… and letters?

Candlabration / Bougillumination

In true Disney fashion, every element of this vast celebration gets its own piece of concept art. First, Candlabration – the evening ceremony show which will see Mickey and friends light up the fifteen candles on the castle in a twilight show similar to the hugely popular Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony of Disney’s Christmas Season. The concept art confirms that the Christmas stage will stay, but shows it with a beautiful, golden overlay and “15” emblems in place of the current “Once upon a time” motif.

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Chip ‘n’ Dale are all present, wearing pastel and royal blue outfits which might be more than a little familiar to anyone who follows the US resorts. These “Year of a Million Dreams” costumes are due to be carried over to Paris for both this show and for general meet ‘n’ greets.

In Walt Disney World’s “Dream Along With Mickey” show (video here), the characters even have “articulated” talking heads, a concept which was premiered back in 2004 with Timon in our very own The Legend Of The Lion King. Since the costumes are the same and the show is featured in a similar location, we have to ask – will our Fab 7 be talking for the 15th?

Even if they don’t, it certainly looks like they’ll be providing us with some music. Take a look at what they’re all holding – each character has their own musical instrument!

Finally, the candles themselves also present a question – just how bright will they be? Both here and in the new TV spot they’re shown as bright, shining beacons of light, rather than the small flickering flames we might have expected.

Lumière Banners

With the park located in Paris and much of the focus being on those candles, it seems almost too good to be true that Disney have the perfect showman and mascot for the celebrations – Lumière! And if his golden statue right at the centre of the Castle wasn’t enough of an ego boost, he’s soon to appear on brand new banners lining Main Street.

Recent visitors to the park will likely have wondered why the Enchanted Fairytale Illuminations “Chandeliers” are still in place – and here’s your answer! Come 1st April, though, they’ll be barely recognisable. The chandelier crown itself will be completely removed and replaced with a golden cap and horizontal frame for the banner, whilst other gold elements will be painted onto other sections of the giant, ornate lampposts.


Whilst it hasn’t been confirmed if the poles themselves will still be able to illuminate, it has been mentioned that the banners will be lit in some way by modern LED lights. Two of the banners were on display at the shareholders meeting, and perhaps give a typically “Disney” solution – LED lights fitted inside the banners themselves, lighting up the bright white dots peppered across the design? We’ll have to wait and see…

D-i-s-n-e-y-l-a-n-d Letters

And finally… something no-one could have expected. After the Pumpkinmen and Pink Witches, the entertainment teams of Disneyland Resort Paris have been off designing their own park characters again. This time, you’ll be able to meet one of the ten letters spelling out “Disneyland”. No, honestly!

It doesn’t seem to be confirmed yet whether these will be statues, walk-around characters or maybe even giant puppets (like those at WDW’s Finding Nemo The Musical), but an early name being given to them is “Alpha Bet You Are”.

There hasn’t even been confirmation if all ten will appear at once, so perhaps we’ll have to hunt them down, throughout the park? It could be massive for autograph book sales, with ten separate single-letter autographs to collect… Or am I the one getting carried away now?

Concept art © Disney, captured by Mouetto on Disney Central Plaza forum.
Additional photos by Joel.

Saturday, 24th February 2007

Buzz Lightyear makes the final 15

Yes, the 1990s icon himself, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear will soon be touching down in Disneyland Park for a second time, almost exactly one year after his own attraction, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, was inaugurated. But don’t fear – this time, Buzz won’t be replacing anything!

When we first saw the anniversary castle visuals back in July 2006 and realised decorations were being prepared, a quick count up of the character groups gave exactly fifteen – but with Mickey and Minnie counted separately. Now, it looks like the happy Mouse couple have joined together to allow a new fifteenth star to join, and Mr. Lightyear is apparently the “chosen one” to represent Pixar’s Disney classics.


2006 Visuals showing Winnie the Pooh / Pinocchio

This isn’t the first time we’ve noticed a change in the characters featured on the castle. In October 2006, all of the resort’s travel marketing visuals were updated overnight to suddenly replace Winnie the Pooh with Pinocchio and Figaro.

But, since the turret Buzz Lightyear will occupy was left free on all of those advertising visuals, it’s likely that he has been a planned character since the start – removed from visuals only to avoid the constant “inspired by Disney/Pixar’s…” disclaimer currently being slapped on everything to do with Crush and Cars.


New concept art shown at shareholder AGM

The new concept art first shows all fifteen characters (or groups of characters) floating in silver bubbles, before showing the final design of the highly anticipated Character Castle Makeover.

Disneyland Resort Paris have confirmed that the decorations will begin to arrive after St. Patrick’s Day, 17th March 2007, and will be added one-by-one overnight so avoid ruining the guest experience during the day. The redecorated castle will be “unveiled” (or rather “inaugurated”) on 31st March 2007 during the huge press events before the first “official” day of the anniversary year, 1st April 2007.

The addition of a Pixar character might cause some annoyance for those against the recent surge of park influence from the studio, but their effect on Disney and the world of animation shouldn’t be forgotten. For a ’90s child like Euro Disneyland, Buzz Lightyear seems the perfect icon to make up the fifteen and help take the anniversary “To infinity and beyond!”.

You didn’t think I’d get through the whole article without saying that, did you?

Concept art © Disney, captured by Mouetto on Disney Central Plaza forum.

Thursday, 22nd February 2007

Just Like You Dreamed It?

“Come a little closer… Turn another page… In the story of what’s waiting for you…”

The typically “Disney” lyrics couldn’t be more appropriate. Singing of their dreams coming true “as far as the eye can see” and “as good as good can be”, the two lead vocalists of the new song, “Just Like We Dreamed It”, could be speaking the words of any fan or guest at this truly incredible time in the life of Disneyland Resort Paris.

Shareholders at the Annual General Meeting were treated to a remarkable preview performance of the song lasting just over five minutes, as Disney characters and glittering Disney princesses made their way to the stage in their dazzling costumes created exclusively for the new parade. Member Scrooge on Disney Magic Interactive forum captured the moment on camera (below), with Entertainment Vice President François Leroux (seen just days ago on the backstage preview video of official anniversary website Disneyland15.com) presenting an on-stage preview of the music and costumes of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade.

All of the costumes are brand new and unique to Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade. The characters wear shimmering, silky costumes in vibrant rainbow colours, joined together with a beautiful theme of white and gold throughout. Up front is the Mouse himself, wearing a stunning purple, white and gold suit with a big top hat, whilst the other side of François is Minnie in a bright pink dress and golden shoes. Behind them, Chip and Dale wear green hats and bow ties with white detailing, whilst Goofy wears a snazzy orange tailor suit as seen in the parade’s key visual. As always, Donald is just left out of the fun – to the far left of the photo – though his bright sailor blue costume can clearly be seen.

And, whilst we’ve already seen two of the beautiful Princess dresses to be worn exclusively in the parade, their appearance at the event allowed a sneaky glimpse at the others – including Cinderella, who can also be seen in the photo. Her pastel blue dress continues the theme of golden leaves and flowers seen in the earlier dresses.

The new song itself will be used both as the opening to the parade and as the “parade stop” music, when the parade comes to a halt to allow the characters to interact with their audience. The version used for this presentation also features a short prologue medley of classic Disney music, suggesting, perhaps, that this could be the version which opens the parade, since a voiceover introduction could easily be overlayed. Some have likened it to the music of Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams already, which also features a slower beginning before the main pop song “Welcome” begins – and, just like our new parade, the music then shifts into classical Disney music, before the song returns for the parade stops.

For anyone desperately dreaming of hearing it for themselves, you’ll be glad to know the presentation was recorded and uploaded in mp3 by Mouetto on Disney Central Plaza forum. And, since many people are having trouble with the temporary fileshare site, we’re going to host it here for a brief time:

Temporary download no longer available!
Want to hear the music? Get to Disneyland Park from 31st March 2007!

Make sure you’re absolutely sure you want to hear it before you download, this is obviously quite a large spoiler for the upcoming parade! If you decide to wait, then you can always just look at the Lyrics instead, which have just been added to our Disneyland Resort Paris CD Archive already.

And if you can still resist that temptation, then you know where you have to be – Disneyland Park, Paris, from 31st March 2007!

Characters photo by Kyoto; Audio recording by Mouetto, Music © Disney.

This is the 200th news article on DLRP Today! Thank you to all those who continue to visit each day, the project has been more successful than I could have ever dreamed! And with the anniversary now just over a month away, there’s still plenty more magic still to come.

Thursday, 22nd February 2007

Selling the Celebration: TV Spot

The television commercial was featured on a loop of several different languages, each practically identical and each featuring some stunning new footage and post-production CGI.

The theme as we already know is the “Red Carpet”, and so after a brief glimpse at the illuminated Castle, the teaser begins with Mickey and countless other characters rolling out a huge red carpet down Main Street USA. In an instant, it shoots into the sky and travels across Europe, through forests, along roads and into the city and suburbs. Two children, a brother and sister, run to the window to watch it pass (you can even see it in a reflection in the window!), before it knocks on their door. When the girl answers, it transforms her immediately into a dazzling Princess dress.

Next, we’re treated to a shot of a huge red carpet stretching off into the distance, towards the Castle, lined with Disney characters. At one end, the girl dances in joy at meeting her favourite Disney friends, before she follows their beckoning along the carpet, past the new events unveiled for the year.

We see a shot of the Alice in Wonderland float of Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams in California to substitute for Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, and the girl waves to the Mad Hatter next to her brother. The brother is then shown in a computer-redesigned Animation Courtyard to preview Cars Race Rally, waving the checkered flag for Mater and Lightning McQueen. Sets from Moteurs… Action! have been added in on one side to give a bit more life to the unfinished area. Another interesting attraction preview comes next, with a family stood against a railing with the EAC flying around them, to give an idea the sensations Crush’s Coaster might give come June 2007.

With the new attractions unveiled, the trailer announces the “Kids Under 7 Stay & Play Free” offer on a red carpet background, before we return to see the little girl and her brother reach the end of the red carpet to find Mickey Mouse himself waiting at the end. A closer look here reveals the Main Street of Disneyland in California was used for filming, although effort was certainly made to convince the public otherwise – even the upcoming Lumiere banners have been added to the lampposts!

The girl looks beyond Mickey to the Castle, and, as the final shot, the whole family turn around to watch the stunning transformation of the Character Castle Makeover. The spot then ends with the now-familiar Disney Parks cloud visual, with the Disneyland Resort Paris 15 logo, a phone number and a link to disneylandparis.com.

The music used is the same as the recent “Disney Parks” and “Year of a Million Dreams” commercials – namely track 2, “Flying”, from the James Newton Howard-composed soundtrack of Universal’s live-action Peter Pan movie, the movie Disney pulled out of mid-production.

The stunning TV Spot will begin showing across Europe from early March, and with the hard work and quality on show here, it will hopefully be a huge success. Once this trailer is rolled out, people won’t even need a red carpet knocking on our door to remind them of the Anniversary. They’ll be there!

Video and stills © Disney. TV spot stills taken from video by Kyoto, of DisneyMagicInteractive.com.

Tuesday, 20th February 2007

Backstage at the Race Rally

After some footage from the scene in the Pixar film itself which inspired the attraction, the video quickly switches to a shot of a four-angle elevation for a yellow car, which surely must be the life-size Luigi we saw a few weeks ago.

The camera then pans upwards to show a 3D sculpt of the new ride vehicles, certainly in the style of the cars from Cars, but not without their own unique charm. The tall rear spoiler in particular is a very stylised addition that will make these vehicles stand out from the others in their very realistic landscape, and certainly give the attraction a much more “Toony” style.

Next we see work on a larger scale model of one of the vehicles, which will total 12 and have infact just been installed on-site this week.

Finally, an interesting view over the Toon Studio area from above the loading area of Cars Race Rally, before the video presents several pieces of concept art, of which only the piece shown above has never been seen before. It shows a neon sign with the “V8” logo, as well as the storefronts to the right of the attraction entrance. A backdrop to the attraction is provided by one of the film’s iconic rock formations, but it remains to be seen how much of this will make it off the drawing board.

Whilst some may fear the trouble Disneyland Resort Paris might be causing itself by marketing a “simple” tea-cups-style attraction so heavily, there still seems no doubting the excellent care and attention this relatively minor addition is thankfully receiving.

Stills taken from video on Disneyland15.com

Tuesday, 20th February 2007

Backstage Imagination and Wonderland

If you’d like to see the video in motion, simply click onto www.disneyland15.com and follow the link from “15th Anniversary” on the drop-down menu. Many of these shots are shown for less than a second, though, so unless you’re living in slow motion it might take a few viewings to take it all in!

The video is hosted by four very influential backstage Cast Members of Disneyland Resort Paris, each seen spinning around in one of Disneyland Park’s lands whilst they describe the events and the power of dreams. Kat de Blois, Creative and Artistic Director, begins the commentary, followed by Roland Kleve, Director of Operations Integration (most importantly the introduction of the new attractions). Next is François Leroux, Vice President of Entertainment, before WDI-Paris chief and head of Show Quality Standard Peter McGrath joins to describe the new attractions.

In just a few seconds, we’re treated to quick shots and close-ups of two elements from Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade – the moon from the first float, “Imagination”, and a giant Alice in Wonderland stuck inside a house, just part of float two, “Dream of Fun & Laughter”. The very first shot quickly shows a concept model for the first float, before the camera pans upwards to show the fully realised moon from the original design.

Whilst the moon appears to already be on its final base (a giant, open storybook), the house from Alice in Wonderland (with her legs sticking out) will form just half of the final float, with a second section starring Pinocchio (and several bungee artists similar to the Pinnochio float in California’s Parade of Dreams) to be slotted in behind on the final base.

Before now, we’ve only seen small silhouttes of the parade line-up and full concepts for just two of the floats, so to finally see such large elements becoming a reality certainly helps make this “Once Upon a Dream” seem far more real.

Tuesday, 20th February 2007

Disneyland15.com rolls out its Red Carpet!

After a day of brief tests and false starts caused anticipation to build further across fan discussion forums, the website officially went live earlier this evening, at around 20h00 CET. Available for nine different countries (with a further two to follow), the website is without doubt one of the resort’s most ambitious online projects to date, and in today’s world forms a key part of the 15th Anniversary advertising campaign, scheduled to be one of (if not the) biggest in the history of Disneyland Resort Paris.

Upon selecting your country or language, you’re treated to a “3D” flash teaser showcasing all of the key events, the same teaser previewed via an email newsletter late last week.

Welcome Page & Host

After the teaser, the Flash website opens to the music of Disney’s “Where Dreams Come True” campaign (itself music from Universal’s Peter Pan movie, believe it or not), with a scrolling view giving visitors the feeling of actually being inside the park itself during the Anniversary. This is where a concept from a previous campaign website begins to appear – the introductions and videos of real people and real characters interacting with the Flash environment.

Originally used for the Space Mountain: Mission 2 website in 2005, they have been brought back here to allow a red-suited host and his Red Carpet friend to introduce each of the main pages.

Visitors have the option of scrolling through several animated screens (seen below), or, for quicker navigation, the drop-down menu at the top links directly to the pages and games currently available.

More Dreams

Each of the colourful pages link into the categories of events seen the teaser videos, with the first – “More Dreams” – presenting Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade. No information is currently given about the parade, but an animation of the first parade float making its way around a stylised Main Street USA does give us an idea what to expect come late March. Make sure you have a listen to the music featured on this page, too, since this is almost certainly an instrumental excerpt from the anniversary’s new “Just Like We Dreamed It” song.

More Wow

The next page is for Crush’s Coaster, and so uses an undersea theme and bubbles to link to the extra pages – both of which currently unavailable.

Even More Wow

“Even More Wow” can be found with Cars Race Rally, where Lightning McQueen and Mater sit outside Walt Disney Studios Park, important since nowhere else is it mentioned that all of the new attractions are infact in the resort’s second park rather than its first.

More Scoops

Up next with an Alice’s Curious Labyrinth theme and an appearance from The Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony stage is “More Scoops”, which links to a clever new idea to help build excitement about the 15th Anniversary – a blog. We’ll have more on this in a separate article soon!

More Wishes Come True

The features on this Discoveryland-themed page have yet to be added, but we’re promised the chance to share photos of Disneyland holidays with families and friends, or send our own dreams and wishes in, to create a complete wishlist for all guests.

More Fun

With an Adventureland Bazaar theme, this page presents games and activities such as the “Dream Invitation” competition (see below).

Dream Invitation Competition

These pages allow users to create their own invitations using graphics available on the website or by uploading their own images. These can then be sent to friends or entered into the competition to pick the best invite.

More Affordable

Showing Fantasyland’s Sword in the Stone (perhaps a hint the streetmosphere show will return for the celebration?) the final themed page presents the three key special offers for the year – Kids Under 7 Free, Free Days & Nights and a “Deal of the Day”.

Downloads

Downloads are always a popular website feature, and it’s good to see Disneyland Resort Paris hasn’t forgotten to let visitors take a bit of the magic for themselves. The full official key visuals for the various attractions are available to download in full (without a single (C) Disney stamp or legal text), along with a well-designed screensaver and several e-cards. The most interesting wallpaper right now is shown above – a previously unseen key visual for Disneyland Park’s Extra Magic Hours, with a giant hourglass over the park!

Anniversary Programme & Preview Videos

Finally the two areas which will undoubtedly receive the most clicks. First, the full schedule of all the Anniversary events. Secondly, and best of all, a selection of official videos previewing the year. In addition to the teaser which opens the website, you can see a good quality English version of the early trailer we saw in French back in October and most exciting a new Behind-the-Scenes video featuring several important backstage Cast Members talking about their excitement for the event – with clips of Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally slotted in! Strangely, since the resort previously wanted to keep this silenced to ensure guests didn’t postpone visits, the Tower of Terror is featured in both of the latter videos. We’ll have a full report on this up next.

And there we have it – Disneyland15.com is now live for the world to see. Will it help sell the celebration to the masses? We’ll have to wait and see. With so many pages still yet to be revealed this probably won’t be the last time it appears here, and with the celebration spanning a full year and set to include features such as Tower of Terror and Stitch Encounter (which won’t be announced until this Summer), hopefully the site will be cared for and built upon for the entire 12 months ahead of us.

Look out for separate articles on DLRP Today covering the new Official Blog and interesting Behind-the-Scenes Video shortly.

Thursday, 15th February 2007

More Dreams, More Wow – 15th Teaser

The trailer follows the same format as the teaser which was released to the press back in October 2006 (and is currently featured on the resort TV channel), with preview footage of the new additions and features split into several categories. From “More Dreams” through “More Wow” to “More Hugs” and, finally, “More Affordable”, the events of the first six months of celebrations are shown in a spectacular, exciting teaser, with the red carpet interacting with the footage and the website itself…

The overall theme of the first wave of publicity will be of rolling out the red carpet, and the teaser therefore features the carpet bursting onto the screen in a cloud of confetti and stars, proclaiming “The Party is NOW!”. The final shot of the teaser doesn’t disappoint either, showing the red carpet now rolling all the way down a nighttime Main Street towards the Castle past the series of characters holding candles, where Tinkerbell guides us into the air to reveal the final logo.

Once the teaser has finished, the screen displays a link to the online booking facility, along with several links along the sleek interface at the bottom of the video, one of which links to a separate page detailing the events more fully and featuring a brand new visual showing all the Disney characters (and a strong presence from Pixar) lined up along the carpet with a huge burst of multicoloured confetti in the air.


Email Newsletter / Preview Page

Whilst this separate preview page basically runs through everything already featured in the Official 15th Anniversary Brochure, the final image should be particularly exciting for fans – this is the first still image of the forthcoming television advertising campaign, which features a girl running up the red carpet along Main Street towards Mickey Mouse himself at the end.

A launch date for the full anniversary website has yet to be announced, but with the wider campaign due to begin in the first weeks of March, the site should follow or lead nearby, therefore giving this teaser half a month to spread the word about “More Dreams”, with certainly “More WOW” than we’ve ever seen before…

You can see the website and the teaser trailer for yourself here: http://www.disneyland15.com/ebrochure/emailing.php?lg=uk

Thursday, 15th February 2007

Lost in CyberSpace

CyberSpace Mountain and its Disney Channel Cyberspace environment opened in late 2002 as a new post-show for the poorly performing Television Production Tour itself. The area was previously an additional soundstage for the Disney Channel Studios, but was given up in an attempt to improve the attraction. Props and decorations were added along with countless arcade games and activities relating to Disney Channel shows, with the key draw being CyberSpace Mountain, imported from the defunct Disney Quest in Chicago.

After designing their own virtual roller coaster using a special booth, guests could board one of four two-person simulators to experience the loops, twists and dives for real, with their reactions relayed live via plasma screens to guests watching in the CyberSpace area.

The post-show feature was often given a special mention in the Park Guide and, when the new official website launched in late 2006, it was given a prominment place throughout. Given its own page, listed amongst the “Big Thrills” attractions and highlighted as a must-see, the sudden disappearance of these mentions is therefore even more noticable. The page itself is still there, but all links to it within the rest of the website are gone.

Reasons for its closure are numerous, spanning from poor accessibility for disabled guests and a horribly low throughput to a large floorspace and, crucially, very high maintenance costs. For guests, queueing three times (for the TV Tour, for the build-a-coaster monitors and then for the simulators) almost guaranteed a low satisfaction at the end of the ride. The final nail in the coffin is reported, by member La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum, to have been some guests becoming stuck in one of the simulators, leading to the temporary closure which has now become permanent. (Obviously the guests in question aren’t still stuck in there, don’t worry!)

With Crush’s Coaster soon to fill the gap for family-friendly thrills, and Tower of Terror being prepared to provide the park’s second Big Thrill attraction, the need for CyberSpace Mountain to fill these roles is no longer there.

Right now, the CyberSpace post-show area itself is currently fully closed to guests, as the photos above from Mateo on Disney Central Plaza forum show. Even the signs pointing to the area have been removed, as work is starting on the removal of the CyberSpace Mountain simulators and a rethink of the area inside.

Of course, there is a light at the end of the tunnel here, and a very bright one at that. The soundstage next to Disney Channel CyberSpace, currently housing Art Attack exhibits and activities will become the home of a second version of Hong Kong Disneyland‘s Stitch Encounter in “early 2008”, finally giving Walt Disney Television Studios a reason to exist, some might argue. Currently, guests enter and leave these two post-show soundstages through individual, single doors. It has been reported, however, that automatic doors (like those at Art of Disney Animation) will lead from the new Stitch Encounter video theatre space directly into Disney Channel CyberSpace, and so the removal of the bulky simulators would help this – and improve guest glow and capacity – no end.

Walt Disney Studios might have one of the most interesting and dramatic first five years of any Disney Park, but the Television Studios alone will already need a whole history timeline just to itself!

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