Let’s begin our adventure beyond the berms 33km East of Paris, sometime between 12th April 1992 and 5th September 2004. Once inside the gates of Euro Disneyland, Disneyland Paris or Disneyland Park, we’re rushing straight for Discoveryland. At the entrance, the a circling, futuristic sundial and the impressive Reinstella draw us into Le Visionarium, the attraction proclaimed by Michael Eisner himself as his “favourite” in the entire park. When the magic begins, we’re treated to a journey through time and space, taking in great landmarks of Europe and great discoveries of the past, present and future.

The key location in the film “From Time To Time” is the towering pavillion of the 1900 Paris Expo, the “Conference sur le Future”. It was here that 9-Eye met Mr. Verne and H.G. Wells, where Verne clung onto 9-Eye to follow her through time and space, and where 9-Eye bashfully accepts a flower from the visionary master, with the location seen both in its 1900 heydey and 1990s pop-culture present.

Whilst the film and the attraction may have now been erased around the world, fans of the Timekeeper’s legendary voyage suffering from over 2 years of withdrawal should set their sights on only one place: Vienna. Here, just outside the city centre, Schloß Schönbrunn is home not only to its historic palace and zoo, but to a creation like something out of Disneyland itself. It may be a palm house, but this has now become a true piece of Disney history…

Jumping off the number 58 tram, you head into the gardens of Schönbrunn palace with an air of anticipation. Like a visit to Disneyland itself, you’re about to see something from a fictional legend come to life before your eyes, and, just as you see Space Mountain from the Eurostar or the Earful Tower from the autoroute, the Palmenhaus suddenly appears above the bushes and flowers.

Whilst the exterior of the Palmenhaus has become familiar with countless viewings of Le Visionarium, to then step inside the “Paris Expo” building is quite unique.

From the official website:

The Palm House is located on the site of the former Dutch Garden and was erected in 1881/2 to designs by Franz Xaver Segenschmid. One hundred and thirteen metres long, the Palm House consists of a 28-metre high central pavilion and two lateral pavilions which are three metres lower. Linked by tunnel-like passages, the pavilions contain different climatic zones: a ‘cold’ house to the north, a temperate zone in the central pavilion and a tropical climate in the south pavilion. The necessary temperatures are achieved by means of a steam heating system which means that rare specimens from all over the world can be grown here.

Besides the numerous stars and extras seen in the film, it’s clear that a large amount of set dressing was done to prepare the building, such as the addition of a raised entrance, clocks, banners… and French flags, of course.

This impressive iron construction used the most modern technology of its time, with the materials determining its form. The proportions of the convex and concave lines of the central and lateral pavilions are perfectly balanced and endow the iron structure with a perceptible lightness despite its massive dimensions. Inserted into the framework of the external iron construction, the glazing clings to the curved iron girders like a skin. The Schönbrunn Palm House was the last of its type to be constructed in continental Europe.

The beauty of the building speaks for itself and seeing it for real is something truly special. Bringing back memories of Le Visionarium and reminders of Discovery Arcade in Main Street, it’s always a wonderful feeling to find a little piece of magic so far from the magic kingdom itself. Almost as if they expect crazed Disneyland Resort Paris fans to visit, even the modern tickets have been produced with a design right out of the late 19th Century.

So if you’re looking for a holiday besides a visit to Disneyland itself, or need a little dose of Le Visionarium memories after 2 years of absence, why not consider Vienna. Not for museums, Mozart or the beautiful architecture, but for a special piece of magic from the history of Euro Disney.

Click here for a quick reminder of Le Visionarium.

The trailer has now appeared on DailyMotion, likely imported from a press CD given at the event or through other means, but should certainly not be viewed as a final 15th Anniversary commercial – it is simply a preview for press and travel companies only. Whilst the beautiful greyscale shots and modern blue text sections are all brand new, the character, attraction and parade shots inbetween have all been dug out from the resort’s archives.

The video:

This trailer has been distributed to travel agents and resort parters for use in a similar way to the “Where?” trailer seen a few years ago – simply to present and give a “feel” for the products on offer. A better-flowing and longer English version has also been distributed, featuring vastly improved mixing, more greyscale shots and speech in various European languages from the people featured.

The text in the French version reads:

“You’re invited to dream… like never before”
“In 2007, get ready…”
“For the biggest celebration in our history”
“With new attractions”
“A new parade”
“Even more characters”
“All year long”
“So that the magic is more affordable than ever”
“It’s our 15th Anniversary…”

The Little Mermaid attraction would have utilised a ride system very similar to Peter Pan’s Flight, except rather than flying pirate ships, guests would have travelled in large “clamobiles”, programmed to give the sensation they were being pushed and guided by currents, rather than flight.

The most talked-about feature of the attraction, though, has always been the “dry for wet” technology featured on each clamobile to simulate the clam’s dive underwater. The attraction was to have started off on dry land, at Prince Eric’s castle, and then after a few initial scenes, as Sebastien sings the lyrics from “Under the Sea”, your vehicle would have dived downwards to a lower-level show scene. As this happened, water would have flooded between two panes of glass in your clamobile to simulate the dive. Then, just before the “Kiss the Girl” scene, your clam bobs back up to the surface and floats along, with the water draining from the glass at the same time.

And now, something many Disneyland Resort Paris fans waited countless years to see – extensive concept art from this lost attraction. For the full experience with Imagineer commentary, you should buy the DVD, but in most cases these astonishing concepts speak for themselves…

Thanks again to Kristof for these screencaps!

The first image is actually one of the most interesting, showing an exterior design that never made it past rough sketches, and appearing to resemble some kind of Dumbo-style ride. The later exterior design of Prince Eric’s castle, seen as a concept model in numerous images above, shows how perfectly this undersea attraction would have mixed with Fantasia Gelati and Pizzeria Bella Notte nearby.

Although this attraction is likely lost forever, not least because of the current slew of Nemo attractions filling the void for an “undersea” theme, we can at last – after 15 years – enjoy this full sneak peek and hope that perhaps a couple of the still yet-to-be-realised ideas seen here will be featured in some way at Crush’s Coaster in June 2007.

This is the 100th post on DLRP Today!

Usually, unless you’re still a toddler, the “Games & Activities” section of Disney DVDs is the weakest of them all, but this time Disney have tried something completely different. They’ve taken the “Virtual Safari” idea from The Lion King’s DVDs and transferred the concept to a real Disney theme park attraction… almost. See, the attraction featured never actually made it off the drawing board, which makes this all the more interesting. Better still, this attraction was supposed to originally find its home in Paris, before then being transferred to other resorts if successful. Alas, like Discovery Mountain, the Indiana Jones Jungle Adventure, Splash Mountain, Toon Town and the Beauty and the Beast animatronic show, this expensive attraction was cancelled as soon as Euro Disney hit financial trouble.

Before this Autumn, the closest look we’ve had at the atraction was a quick glance at concept models during the Euro Disney Grand Opening TV special, the “F-File” articles at DLP.info or the attraction’s showbuilding on Euro Disneyland’s grand opening map (seen above). Luckily, then, Disney have dug through the archives to put together one of their most eagerly anticipated DVD extras – a full, CGI ride-through of “the attraction that never was”, running 4 minutes 15 seconds. But that’s not all – the DVD also includes the option to exprience the ride-through in a split-screen version, with an Imagineer (no less than Euro Disney legend Tony Baxter himself) riding alongside, describing details and showing concept art. Finally, a featurette running 5 minutes 53 seconds features Imagineer interviews and discussion about the attraction.

UltimateDisney.com, the online bible for Disney DVDs, described the features in their review of the DVD:

In design, the ride is not all that different from the very popular Peter Pan’s Flight. It feels very much like a real Disney park ride (complete with English and Spanish announcements after departing the queue area), though there are a few obvious differences: you don’t get to pick what you look at, but it moves slow enough to allow you to appreciate every detail (something that’s definitely not true of most of the brisk Fantasyland attractions). Also, there is no FastPass, but amazingly enough, there is no line whatsoever.
The commentary — another neat, unique touch — is provided by Tony Baxter, senior vice president at Disney Imagineering, who explains the thought that goes into designing a ride like this, from different effects to making sure that guests’ eyes are able to adjust to the dark setting. Concluding this sub-section is “Behind The Ride That Almost Was with Disney Imagineers” (5:53), a featurette which puts it all into context. Here, lots of informed interview subjects explain traits of the ride (which was put on hold in 1992) including the little touches that normally don’t get appreciated after your vehicle comes to a stop.

The “Platinum Edition” DVD will be released in the UK on the 4th November, Netherlands on 18th October and Germany on 2nd November, but is already available in France and the US, where it sold a staggering 4 million copies in its first week.

Each week we’ll feature a different travel company brochure and compare how well they’re selling the 15th Anniversary experience. Disneyland Resort Paris’ advertising campaign for the 15th will be their biggest ever, but the brochures are where the bookings come from, and outside travel companies give the resort a huge amount of business year after year. Many people also pick up an “unofficial” brochure before then booking direct with the resort anyway, providing a nice piece of (almost) free advertising.

Since I’ve only got access to UK brochures, if you’re reading this on the continent and have spotted the 15th Anniversary in your local brochures, send them in! The 15th will hopefully be a Europe-wide event, so it’d be good to get a bigger picture on how they’re doing. You can send images direct to today@dlrpmagic.com, and I’ll be sure to credit you if they’re featured.

This week, its Thomson, one of many companies owned by TUI AG of Germany, and their October 2006 to November 2007 brochure.

Front Cover & Contents

It was only recently that Disneyland Resort Paris began to allow outside travel companies to use the Fab 5 (except Mickey) in their brochures and advertisements – previously they were stuck with generic children, Princesses and “lesser” Disney characters, with key visuals for parades and shows altered to replace Mickey with, say, Chip and Dale. Now, though, the rules appear to have been relaxed and Thomson are wasting no time in using the classic characters to market their products. The Donald Duck key visual we presented on Thursday is used to create a beautiful, very striking cover that is totally different to Thomson’s other more restrained covers. They’ve kept the cover free of anything other than their logo and the brochure dates, so all emphasis is on Donald, the castle and the large “15”. Great stuff.

The contents page is nice and simple again, and features the 15th Anniversary key visual with a small piece of text about the events – even though this is the first brochure we’ve seen, you’ll notice throughout that the anniversary is mentioned absolutely everywhere. It’s a bigger marketing push, perhaps, than even the opening of Walt Disney Studios.

15th Anniversary & Tailor Made Dreams

The most important page for this – the 15th Anniversary double spread. It’s got all the visuals and the creative texts and generally does the job well. It puts emphasis on the great “Kids Under 7 Go Free” offer (available throughout next year) and even mentions Extra Magic Hours. It could have been designed better though, since the Once Upon a Dream Parade and Cars Race Rally images are on the opposite pages to their descriptions and the wavy edging of the images removes some of their professional style.

The Tailor Made Dreams page uses a nice image of Mickey and Minnie, but the lengthy text isn’t very inviting – a quick summary at the top of what this programme is all about would have been better. The logo for Tailor Made Dreams is featured again on each hotel page, though, which is a nice touch.

Park Introductions

Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade is featured again on the Shows & Events page, but its on the Park Introduction pages that Thomson score points, since both pages feature a summary of the 15th Anniversary events on offer at each park. Unfortunately, they do have small mistake on the Walt Disney Studios page – Crush’s Roller Coaster? Not good.

So, as our first brochure, it doesn’t do too badly at marketing the 15th. Even if the page design is a bit clumsy and the information not very readable, the nice front cover should draw people in to this one and make sure they know what’s going on in Paris. Hopefully, the constant presence of the anniversary throughout the entire brochure will be be a trend through all the brochures. The year to live your dream is the year Disneyland Resort Paris really need to see some positive financial results, and Thomson have kicked off their anniversary advertising well enough.

Celebration Score: 7/10

If you’re in the UK, you can order the Thomson brochure here.

The changes begin even before the parade itself, as the Pink Witches (added to the festival last year as a rival to the Orange Pumpkinmen) step onto the parade route at Town Square and make their way to Fantasyland, leaving a trail of mischief behind them. This new “pre-parade” uses the wacky “Boo To You” soundtrack from Walt Disney World’s Halloween celebrations, and shows a return to a more “complete” parade experience for the resort’s entertainment teams.

Once the parade begins, with the Pink Witches lined up at the opening gate, the changes continue throughout. The huge inflatable orange ball, which rolled along thanks to a walking parade performer inside, has obviously succumbed to the claws of Stitch. The Pumpkinmen’s orange paint well float from 2005 (also used as the Snow White float in Disney Princess Parade) is now a general orange paint float for the “fab 7”, with Mickey and Minnie no longer using their rustic horse-drawn wagon to begin the parade. Along with this, the scarecrow dance section has also been lost. The updated orange paint float features Stitch wearing a pumpkin mask in a paint pot at the centre, whilst the Pumpkinmen themselves are relegated to a dance section at the start of the parade.

The final change is the addition of some unlikely new faces to the parade’s character lineup. Not wicked Disney witches or gruesome bad guys, but instead a collection of some of Disney’s most innocent classic characters. With characters such as Peter Pan and Pinocchio, it seems clear the parade is now attempting to cater for more guests than simply those supporting the Villain’s devilish ways.

You can now find a full guide to this year’s parade at DLRP Magic!, or a full photo gallery direct from the magic at Photos Magiques.

Update 17:28 GMT: Photos Magiques have now uploaded a full video of this year’s Disney Villain Parade to YouTube, which can be found in 3 parts:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

As if the expected slew of Halloween pins wasn’t enough, this month also brings some new additions to the “cuties” range as well as a brand new design: the “message” pin. Add to these the Autumn 2006 pin, an expensive “jumbo” Lady and the Tramp pin and the first in a new “Walt Disney Studios Invasion” series, and Pin Traders should perhaps consider a hefty mortgage to get them through this frenzied month:

Saturday October 14th 2006

Jack Skellington Starter Kit (Lanyard plus 2 each of 2 pins)
Reference number 209411007000
Price 19.90 Euros

Cutie Pin: Chip & Dale
Reference number 209401006070
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Stitch
Reference number 209401006071
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Eeyore
Reference number 209401006072
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Winnie
Reference number 209401006073
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Tigger
Reference number 209401006074
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Piglet
Reference number 209401006075
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Eeyore
Reference number 209401006054
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Marie
Reference number 209401006055
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Thumper
Reference number 209401006056
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Stitch
Reference number 209401006057
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Chip & Dale
Reference number 209401006058
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Winnie
Reference number 209401006059
Price 6.00 Euros

Jumbo Pin: Lady and the Tramp
Reference number 209401006025
Limited edition x600
Price 39.00 Euros

Tinkerbell Autumn 2006 Season pin
Reference number 209401006053
Limited edition x1200
Price 10.50 Euros

Stitch Invasion #13 pin
Reference number 209401006062
Limited edition x1200
Price 10.50 Euros

Saturday October 21st 2006

WDS Invasion #1 pin
Reference number 209401007000
Limited edition x900
Price 10.50 Euros

Saturday October 28th 2006

Nightmare Before Christmas LE pin
Reference number 209401007010
Limited edition x900
Price 10.50 Euros

Stitch Chernabog LE pin
Reference number 209401007001
Limited edition x900
Price 10.50 Euros

Donald & Goofy Halloween LE pin
Reference number 209401007006
Limited edition x900
Price 10.50 Euros

Artworks of the pins should be available on the official Disneyland Resort Paris website, here, quite soon.

The trees are similar in style to those previously lining the fence where Cars Race Rally is now being constructed, with very long, thin branches and a box-like body. They’re similar even, perhaps, to those surrounding Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, and give a very stylised and refined look to the future entrance of Toon Studio, matching the nature of animation itself.

Today’s image by cameraphone.

This area of blue fences was erected back in late August, with the only sign of construction over the past month being a large hole. Now though, we can see the true start of the original Animation Courtyard’s placemaking, as more greenery arrives and the lands of Walt Disney Studios are finally separated.

Update (13:36 GMT): raptor1982 also reports that he believes the same line of trees may have also been added behind the green construction fences, next to Disney Studio 1.