The attraction in question is Stitch Encounter, an attraction which opened on 13th July 2006 at Hong Kong Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. It uses the same technology as Turtle Talk with Crush at Disney’s California Adventure and Epcot (a video of which can be seen here), which allows an audience to interact in real time with Stitch through a highly advanced computer animation system. After a question or respose from the audience, Stitch’s animation and (mostly alien) speech is then generated and selected by a hidden Cast Member.

The following quote from Wikipedia describes the Hong Kong attraction, which is presented in Cantonese, English and Putonghua:

Guests are invited to visit Space Traffic Control for a tour. Space Traffic Control (or STC) is the nerve center for this quadrant of the galaxy and where all space traffic is closely monitored. The tour goes as planned until the host is interrupted by Stitch, a fluffy blue mischievous alien known also as “Experiment Number 626” in a ‘borrowed’ space ship. Stitch interacts in real time with the guests, plays games with the kids and even teaches everyone how to speak Hawaiian. Ultimately, Stitch’s nemesis, Gantu shows up and wants his ship back. It is up to the guests in the audience to help Stitch escape! The show is a combination of action and comedy, and never the same show twice.

And the location of this new attraction for Walt Disney Studios Park? Not Toon Studio as you might guess, but instead the old Zapping Zone production stage of Walt Disney Televison Studios Tour, which has been occupied by an interactive Art Attack exhibit for the past two years. La Rouqine on Disney Central Plaza forum confirms the rumours, which originated with this forum post, by stating there will be 4 shows per hour, presented in French, English and Spanish. A budget of 5 million euros will apparently be required to complete the installation.
Largely criticised since its opening with the park on 16th March 2002, the Walt Disney Television Studios attraction quickly lost some of its excitement when the actual, live Disney Channel production stage for Zapping Zone closed in its first year of operation. In late 2002, however, the Disney Channel CyberSpace area opened, offering interactive computer arcade games and the popular CyberSpace Mountain, allowing guests to create their own simulated roller coaster ride.

With the opening of a second attraction-within-an-attraction at this location, it would seem possible the attraction will become similar to Disney Animation at Disney’s California Adventure or The Living Seas at Epcot, which both feature Turtle Talk with Crush in a free-roaming attraction experience, allowing guests to choose which section of the attraction they wish to experience. Currently, the Walt Disney Television Studios gives guests a very brief “tour” through the “backstage” of the Disney Channel before they are allowed to enter either the CyberSpace or Art Attack stages. It remains to be seen whether this tour section will still be included in the updated attraction.

Whilst only an “attraction-within-an-attraction”, though, Stitch Encounter could definitely be marketed by Disneyland Resort Paris as a full new attraction, and will bring yet another highlight to the incredible lineup for the resort’s 15th Anniversary. With Toon Studio getting its first luscious greenery and Walt Disney Television Studios rumoured to be finally getting something worth seeing, it looks like the Imagineers are well on their way to ticking off every box on their “How to Improve Walt Disney Studios” checklist…

It’s “radical” in Disneyland Resort Paris terms because, for the first time since the early years of the resort, it now comes in two sections – the entertainment listings being featured in a separate, grayscale “Entertainment Programme” leaflet. Following the styles of the US Disney resorts, this allows changes to be made to the programme much easier, as well as allowing the new Jiminy Cricket-branded pink park plan to be simplified and styled inside again more alike its American cousins.

On the cover, though, the identity of Disneyland Resort Paris is very clear. The “Believe in Your Dreams” font is used for the title, whilst the resort’s favoured sleek, modern typeface is used for the checklist and dates below. In the top-right corner, the language flag is still there, but now in a cut-out section using the graphics of the resort’s recent “Little Book of Big Dreams” brochures. The same cut-out is also used again inside the map, further tying this together with the resort’s external advertising and finally moving on from the previous “needmag?c era” designs. The Entertainment Programme features a very plain cover using the non-iconic Disneyland Park logo and a clock graphic usually reserved for Main Street USA designs.

It is currently unknown when or if the Walt Disney Studios park plan will follow a similar design, but trends in the past have shown that it will catch-up eventually.

The last redesign of the Disneyland Park park plan actually happened almost exactly one year ago, at the start of 2005’s Halloween Festival, again making the park guide smaller and more simplified. Earlier than this, in 2003/04, the park plan lost its conventional leaflet size to adopt a smaller, more “pocket-size” style. However, the biggest change to the park plan before tommorow’s latest introduction was back in 2002, when the “resort” concept was introduced with the opening of Walt Disney Studios Park and the plan lost its tradition of featuring a character photo on the cover in favour of simplified colour graphics and the park logo.

Below, you can see a “timeline” of park maps leading back in time to 2002, showing the changing dimensions and styles:

In a similar style to the Little Green Men of Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast’s walls, the deep blue expanse in Animation Courtyard has now been filled to bursting with characters, logos, visuals… even concept art! Beginning at Art of Disney Animation, the display first announces “Toon Studio : Ouverture Juin 2007” against a background of spotlights, confirming once and for all that the new name of the land will be “Toon Studio” rather than “Toon Studios”.

Next, Cars Race Rally takes centre stage, right in front of the attraction’s actual construction site. Either side of a new, brighter logo for the attraction are images of roads snaking off into the distance. The first features Lightning McQueen and Fillmore, the second Mater, Sally and Ramone.

After a sign pointing the way to Flying Carpets Over Agrabah, guests are next introduced to Crush’s Coaster, with the logo of the attraction on a large water splash underneath three seagulls perched on the fence (luckily without sound effects). The three sharks, Bruce, Anchor and Chum, follow next, and then a large version of the attraction’s key visual.

At both ends of the fence, the latest concept art to be released is featured, looking down from an aerial perspective to the new area of Toon Studio. Whilst appearing as nothing new for fans, this new supersize version does, at least, give us a better look at the Imagineer’s creation – as it was in the planning stages, at least.

Want to look beyond the fence again? Well, it seems work is progressing well on painting Studio 5 with white primer, whilst a small crane is now in use at the Cars Race Rally site as the Radiator Springs queue buildings progress further – unfortunately at an angle hard to photograph from Animation Courtyard.

Photos from Dlrp.fr

Back in May, after a month of “Extra Magic Hours” testing in April, Disneyland Park began trialling a new opening hours system based entirely on the amount of visiting guests. For weekends and busy holidays, extra hours are added. For slow weekdays, an hour is taken off, balancing out the hours. The trend continued throughout June and July, before making its mark on Autumn and Halloween hours. Now, it seems Christmas Season – a season now considered more important than Summer for the resort – is finally getting a taste of the changes.

Park hours are now available right up to the end of the season on 7th January 2007, and, whilst 18 days between November 6th and January 7th will see Disneyland Park open beyond 8pm, it should be noted that on 33 days the park will close one hour earlier than normal at 7pm. Still, for anyone vising at weekends or during the incredibly busy Christmas holidays, an extra one to two hours of park time to enjoy the magic lights of Christmas is sure to be a pleasant surprise.

Here are the hours in full:

from November 6th to December 1st, 2006:
10.00 – 19.00 from Monday to Friday
9.00 – 20.00 on Saturday and Sunday

from December 2nd to 7th, 2006:
10.00 – 19.00 from Monday to Friday
9.00 – 20.00 on Saturday
9.00 – 21.00 on Sunday

on December 8th, 2006:
10.00 – 20.00

from December 9th to 21st, 2006:
10.00 – 19.00 from Monday to Friday
9.00 – 20.00 on Saturday
9.00 – 21.00 on Sunday

on December 22nd, 2006:
10.00 – 20.00

from December 23rd to 30th, 2006:
9.00 – 22.00 daily

on December 31st, 2006:
9.00 – 1.00

from January 1st to 6th, 2007:
9.00 – 22.00 daily

on January 7th, 2007:
9.00 – 20.00

Unsurprisingly, the closing time for Walt Disney Studios Park remains permanently stuck at 6pm.

It seems likely that, on the days Disneyland Park closes later than 8pm, Disney’s Fantillusion will be shifted to a later timeslot to make sure guests stay in the park. The Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony will likely retain its usual dusk timeslot, the perfect time to light up the park, so the only question remaining is whether, like the late opening nights in May, June, July and September, some special fireworks will add an extra fiery sparkle to those cold Winter nights…

Disneyland Resort Paris are certainly not just looking for parade dancers for their 15th Anniversary extravaganza, set to be a veritable circus of animation and entertainment, with the advertisement calling upon bungee acrobats, jugglers, flag artists, puppeteers and stilt walkers. The two casting calls are scheduled for Lyon and Montpellier on the 21st and 23rd September 2006 respectively, with the listing informing participants they should plan for the day with casual (sports) clothing, sneakers and a possible call-back in the afternoon. As usual, the casting has a height requirement of between 142cm and 193cm.

Rumours suggest the parade will only feature around 50 dancers (around 20-30 fewer than current parades in high season), since the balance will be shifted more towards character performers for the new parade. The silhouettes of the parade floats confirm most of what has already been rumoured about the design of the floats – here’s a full run-through of everything we can see:

Float 1: Dream of Imagination
We’ve seen this one aleady… Mickey and Minnie ride high above the clouds in a sun-stylled hot air balloon. You can see the full concept artwork here.
Float 2: Dream of Fun and Laughter
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 appears to feature “marionnette” bungee artists similar to those in Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams at Disneyland California, bouncing on bungee ropes from supports high above.

Float 3: Dream of Friendship
Features Toy Story and Winnie the Pooh characters, with a giant storybook in the middle separating the two themes. The rear section appears to feature Winnie and friends, with lamps hanging on strings, whilst the front section isn’t too clear…

Float 4: Dream of Fantasy
The most obvious of all the designs, this very British float will feature a whimsically stylled Big Ben tower in the centre, with Peter Pan’s pirate ship at the front and Mary Poppins’ “jolly holiday” carousel and a fleet of kites at the rear. An interesting change of theme for Mary after the current chimneysweep theme, since the Disney Cinema Parade also currently uses the carousel theme.

Float 5: Dream of Power
The villains’ float isn’t too clear, but you can clearly see Fantasia villain Chernabog towering over it all and a serpent Jafar slithering along at the front.
Float 6: Dream of Adventure
Serving The Lion King and The Jungle Book, this one is bound to be popular. A giant tree towers out of the middle, with Simba on Pride Rock before it and Kong Louie and Baloo behind. You can see various animals from both films in the tree, including monkeys and giraffes. Rafiki is clinging to the tree behind Pride Rock and Timon and Pumbaa are likely featured below.

Float 7: Dream of Romance (Part 1)
The most difficult of all the artworks, float 7 is due to feature The Little Mermaid and Aladdin and Jasmine in an “enchanted garden” setting. Ariel seems to be featured at the rear, with Jasmine further forward.

Float 8: Dream of Romance (Part 2)
The grand finale to the entire parade, this float looks suitably huge and is due to feature not two but four princesses! The initial gazebo is likely for Beauty and the Beast, whilst the ornate fairytale bride is occupied by Snow White and her prince. On the hill before the giant castle stands Cinderella and Prince Charming. No sign of Sleeping Beauty yet, but the rumours of this float being articulated (split into two free-moving, joined sections) look to be quite possible.

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With a double-character style similar to Walt Disney World’s Share a Dream Come True and an extravagant, classical float design similar to Disneyland’s 50th anniversary Parade of Dreams, the first all-new daytime parade in Paris for 5 years looks set to truly be a dream come true. You can find out more about the parade here.

Advertisement scanned by Sébastien Antunes for dlrp.fr.

The unique series has seen Stitch invade locations across the resort on special Limited Edition pins, and will come to an end with the 13th pin on this special Saturday. Also, for the first time in many years, shuttle buses will be running to Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch for those without their own transport! Here is the full announcement:

Dear All,

Come and discover the final pin in the Stitch Invasion series at Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch®

Saturday September 30th, 2006 from 2:00 pm onwards

En avant première : Stitch Invasion Pin N° 13 , 2007 Pin, Tinkerbell Autumn Pin , and the latest JUMBO Pin from Disneyland® Resort Paris.

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A discount of 30% will be offered for the reservation of a bungalow at Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch® on this occasion * , including a special Barbecue offer at the Crockett’s Tavern restaurant in the Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch®, (special offer limited to 4 persons and only valid for the arrival night, drinks not included. An additional Room Tax charge of 0.40€ will be applied to each additional person. Additional Guests may choose from the menu at Crockett’s Tavern (standard rates apply).

Special shuttle buses will be available from Marne la Vallée Chessy Train Station at 1.00pm and 1.45pm and from Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch® at 6.15pm and 7.00pm on Saturday September 30th.

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Reservations : 00.33.825.306.030.

*Available only for the night from Sept 29th to Sept 30th and/or from Sept 30th to Oct 1st 2006.

See you soon,
The Pin Trading Team

Marne-la-Vallée … 23 August 2006 – With this press release, the Management of Euro Disney Associés S.C.A. intends to make its position clear regarding the recent strike of some Resort photographers that began on 13th August 2006.

After having met and discussed with the striking employees on August 2nd, 10th, 14th and 18th and having listened carefully to their demands, Management would like to go over advantages recently gained by the photographers concerning the organization of their shifts, working conditions, career advancement and pay. For example, in terms of organization, the supervisory structure has been reinforced and photo sales promotion is part of a voluntary program for the photographers. Shifts have also been adapted to take into account the constraints of this activity, especially concerning weather conditions.

In addition, a new work area, new equipment and training sessions have been supplied to the employees.

Concerning career advancement and pay … the central point of the movement … Management has already begun to implement a program to recognize the professional qualifications of the photographers which reinforces the professional development plan already in place. In 2006, promotions were given (+10%) and a market study was performed on the positioning of our pay standards.

The result of this study confirmed that the wages we pay are in alignment with the market, especially when one considers that Disneyland Resort Paris offers stable employment in permanent contracts. Employees work a 35-hour workweek, are paid on a 13-month scale (after one year of seniority) and receive an additional 10% of their pay as compensation for the cessation of the copyrights to their photos. The average monthly salary for photographers at Disneyland Resort Paris (not including author’s rights compensation) is 7% higher than the French minimum wage prescribed on 1st July 2006.

Considering all of these elements, Management does not intend to take into account these new demands by the striking employees, as a number of them have already been covered through the measures described above and that show the level of recognition that the Management of Disneyland Resort Paris has given to the statute of its photographers.

– – – End Release – – –

So, it seems Euro Disney Associés SCA aren’t keen to bestow the photographic team with any more advantages and pay increases just yet, instead attempting to get them to smile (or “say cheese”) with this list of recent improvements to their jobs. You can see some photos of their strike efforts – both in and out of the parks – here.

Your thoughts?

Saturday, 9th September 2006

Princesses 4 Pin Set
SKU: 209401006042
Price: 18.00 Euros

Saturday, 16th September 2006

Pirates Pin Trading Starter Kit
SKU: 209411006006
Price: 19.90 Euros

Stitch Invasion 12 LE pin
Limited Edition: x1200
SKU: 209401006061
Price: 10.50 Euros

Happy trading!