News / Advertising & Print

The new brochure appears to break from the tradition of the past three, which since Spring/Summer 2006 have featured simple, bright covers with a single image at the centre. Perhaps as a final kick to the 15th Anniversary Celebration, this new Autumn/Winter brochure for the second half of the Anniversary features a crowded cover of Disney characters surrounding a re-designed version of the Anniversary Castle visual. It’s an image that has become familiar from the resort’s impressive advertising campaign, however, so should work well as a recognisable Disneyland Paris image for prospective guests.

At the foot of the red carpet, you can read “There’s still time to join the party!”, with an inside page proclaiming “The time is now, the magic is here!”. If the original 15th Anniversary brochure was all about pouring out their long list of new features, this second brochure is all about trying to capture as many people as possible before the celebration concludes.

What can we expect inside the brochure? Along with the usual information about Halloween and Christmas, there should be fairly big push for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, likely using that key visual we presented a couple of weeks ago. If you’re outside the UK and have to wait a little longer for the next official brochure to arrive across your borders, don’t worry – as soon as it arrives at DLRP Today we’ll be giving you a good look inside at all the best bits!

» Click Here to order your Autumn/Winter brochure today! (UK)

…And this time, it really is being rolled out to us. Not only will the press come in smaller numbers (700 compared to 1700 for 31st March) and one week after the opening (16th June), but the organisers of the resort’s Shareholders Club and Annual Passport Dream privileges have finally mailed invites and organised events to celebrate the 15th.

First, the Shareholders Club. Announced via email, on the official website and now through a mailed invite (below), shareholders of Euro Disney SCA have the exclusive opportunity to ride Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally as many times as they wish between 12pm and 3pm on 2nd June 2007.

Places at the event are strictly limited to a first-come first-served basis, and you must apply online no later than 25th May 2007. Your Shareholders Club card must also have been valid at 1st May 2007.

Shareholders will be able to receive up to 2 free Passe-Partout park hopper tickets for the day and up to 4 wristbands to gain access to the attractions – meaning up to 3 friends or family can join you for the rush to Crush! In addition to Salon Mickey, the mezzanine of Restaurant En Coulisse will offer a similar service of complimentary refreshments from 9:30am to 11:30am.

More details can be seen in the flyer above, and don’t forget to register now if you’d like to attend!

Not a shareholder? Well, grab your Passeport Annuel Dream and you too can join the rush – a few hours earlier than those Shareholders, infact! By simply showing up at Walt Disney Studios Park and presenting your Annual Passport Dream, you can get exclusive access to the two new attractions at the following times:

Saturday 2nd June 2007 – 9am to 12pm
Sunday 3rd June 2007 – 4pm to 7pm
Wednesday 6th June 2007 – 10am to 12pm

Dream passholders can also invite one friend (with a valid park passport) to join them in the rush. As with the Shareholders event, the attractions can be closed at any time during these final test runs, to troubleshoot or tweak at the Imagineers’ discretion.

It’s important to note that, whilst all of these events are being labelled as “Avant-Première” previews, guests will by no means be the “first” to ride the two new attractions. Like all new Disney attractions, they will be opened to the public for select periods in the fortnight before their official opening to test the systems, train the Cast Members and respond to the guest reaction. These events simply help loyal guests get an extended preview before the “rush” truly begins.

The “Soft Openings” themselves are scheduled to run most days from the end of May to the 9th June grand opening, so Shareholder, Dream passholder or regular guest – the avant-premières will continue for some time, and the “red carpet” finally available for all.

Finally, impressive proof that the Red Carpet has returned after his success in early April. Making a dazzling comeback last night on French TV network M6 (think E4 if you’re in the UK), he flew through the sky once again before diving down into the depths of the ocean and spiralling around to help launch the first piece of advertising directly aimed at Crush’s Coaster and a competition to win your own avant-première visit.

You can download the brief TV spot (around 18 seconds) here, uploaded by Mouetto on Disney Central Plaza forum.

The large and much thought-out Disneyland15.com and the recent relaunch of DisneylandParis.com prove that Disneyland Resort Paris certainly know the power of online advertising, but a website is no good without a bit of publicity to get it started, and it’s here that these Flash banner advertisements come into play.

Using the now-familiar red carpet and Disney characters motif, the banners and buttons all mention the “Kids Under 7 Stay and Play Free” offer and direct internet users to the special offer page of Disneyland15.com, where the option to book a stay is clear for all to see.

An unfortunate aspect of online advertising, however, is the limitations it puts on graphic design and photography. For a company such as Disneyland, which very much relies on colourful, bold and crisp visuals to sell its magical product, the limits of Flash and GIF advertisements give an end result far less pleasing than print advertising, as seen with the blurry and bad quality character photos above. Be it a software limitation or a design flaw, we have to hope it won’t affect the number of people who click-through to discover the anniversary events.

The advertisements have now been released for all of Disneyland Resort Paris’ TradeDoubler territories, and should also be appearing (along with other specially-created online competitions and promotions) on several high-profile websites such as MSN as the campaign gets further underway.

In the UK, the eye-catching red carpet scene leads with the tagline “You’re Invited”, calling out to the audience and attempting to highlight that this is a truly special, VIP event. The text at the bottom reads “Dream like you’ve never dreamt before, with all the characters, a new parade and new attractions”, whilst the “hook” of the advertisement is – as with all the 15th promotion so far – the fairly substantial “Kids Under 7 Stay and Play Free” offer.

High Quality (900Kb) Download

The double-page magazine advertisement has already been spotted in this week’s Radio Times, a very widely circulated tv listings guide, along with several of the Sunday newspaper magazines. Single page versions have already even been seen in such obscure publications as the Cineworld/UGC free film preview magazine, “Unlimited”.

In France, the advertisement leads with “C’est l’année de tous les rêves” (roughly “It’s the year of every dream”), with a longer piece of text at the bottom describing package prices and room rates. The “Séjour gratuit pour les moins de 7 ans” text is also silver, and more “sparkly”, compared to its British cousin.

Photo by mickey3101, DCP forum.

It’s this same key advertising visual that will soon be appearing not just in magazine advertisements but all over Paris and beyond. Disneyland Resort Paris plan to fill the billboards of Paris with over 6000 of these posters, including one in particular which will allow a child’s photo to be uploaded to it, appearing for a select period of time with a phrase such as “Charlotte dreams of becoming Cinderella”. A unique “first” and a great bit of fun for the children lucky enough to receive their 15 minutes of fame.

Other “red carpet” billboards will interact with their surroundings, showing the red carpet continue beyond the poster to wrap itself around the entire building. There will also be advertisements on 22 buses, and in particular 4 completely decorated Paris sightseeing coaches, plus special, full “red carpet” makeovers of selected Métro stations.

The size and scope of this campaign and the entire year has exploded beyond anything that could have been expected one year, or even six months, ago. After such a successful and widespread launch, it all looks good for the effect of that sparkling red carpet on the resort’s most important year.

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.

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.

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

This is the latest press frenzy whipped up to try and get the “Year of a Million Dreams” campaign off the ground, but it would appear to benefit Disneyland Resort Paris too. A series of three images showing world famous celebrities “living their dreams” have been created by acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz as part of what seems to be an ongoing attempt to move the Disney Parks further upmarket and a true step above the competition.

Whilst released to support the “Year of a Million Dreams” dream giveaway promotion at the US Disney resorts, the images are all generically branded “Disney Parks”, with the main logo showing DisneyParks.com, where the Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong resorts are also featured. Fittingly, the David Beckham image – featuring the footballer in a scene reminiscent of Prince Phillip’s battle with dragon Maleficent – features our very own European Disney castle, Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, albeit mirrored for better placement on the photo.

David Beckham as Prince Phillip slaying the dragon, Maleficent / Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella

They must have been jumping for joy at Disney PR when he jumped back into the spotlight a couple of weeks ago, announcing a move from Real Madrid to LA Galaxy in the US itself. If that wasn’t enough, they’ve got Beyoncé Knowles playing Alice in Wonderland, whose latest film “Dreamgirls” received eight Academy Award nominations on tuesday, alongside Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter and Lyle Lovett as the March Hare.

Beyoncé Knowles as Alice, Lyle Lovett as the March Hare and Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter / Annie Leibovitz

Finally, Scarlett Johansson, acclaimed actress and associated with L’Oréal, Louis Vuitton and more gives a 21st Century Hollywood touch to Cinderella. Disney are certainly not forgetting to add that she “wears a stunning, one-of-a-kind Harry Winston tiara … a dazzling piece in platinum with more than 62 carats of sparkling diamonds and valued at $325,000. The dress worn by Johansson is a custom-made, Cinderella-inspired gown designed by Nicoletta Santoro” there.

‘Dreamgirl’ Spins For Disney Parks / Beckham Bends It For Disney Parks

The images are expected to be part of a larger series, with more celebrities signed up to be featured shortly. The campaign will premiere as a special insert in the March issues of Vanity Fair, GQ, Vogue, W, The New Yorker, Conde Nast Traveler and Cookie. However, there’s still a chance they could head across the Atlantic too, particularly to the UK or other countries where Walt Disney World and the general “Disney Parks” brand is strongly advertised.

Beckham Bends It For Disney Parks / Stars Come Out For Disney Parks And Leibovitz

With these well-chosen celebrities, though, they’ve already raised interest simply through the press, giving valuable promotion to all Disney parks… and it didn’t cost DLRP a cent!

Whether it’ll be the much-needed kick to get Jay Rasulo’s 50th-follow-up Dreams campaign well and truly started remains to be seen, but David Beckham alone is usually enough to get people talking – imagine the effect of the star on a horse, with fire… in front of a Disney Castle! Swooning women are surely about to fall to the ground the world over.

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The press release in full:

Stars Play Out Disney Park Fantasies In New Images Unveiled by Annie Leibovitz

Photography Featuring Scarlett Johansson, Beyoncé and David Beckham Kicks Off Disney’s ‘Year of a Million Dreams’

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (Jan. 26, 2007) ‘” To launch Disney Parks “Year of a Million Dreams” celebration, spectacular new images were unveiled today featuring the work of acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz, and starring Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella, Beyoncé taking a spin in a giant teacup and David Beckham slaying a dragon.

Leibovitz’s images also fulfill one of Beckham’s “dreams,” as the Disney Parks project is his first endorsement since signing a contract to play professional soccer in the United States.

In addition to the three debut images, Disney Parks has commissioned more images by Leibovitz that will feature other celebrities in classic, Disney fairy tale settings.

“I’m really delighted to be part of the ‘Where Dreams Come True’ campaign,” said Leibovitz. “We live in difficult times and I feel, especially as a parent, that keeping dreams alive is one of the most important things we can do.”

Each image features a scene with the featured celebrities transformed into the role of a fabled Disney character, expressing their own dreams and imagination.

* As Cinderella, Scarlett Johansson is seen running down a flight of stairs as the clock strikes midnight with her glass slipper unknowingly left behind. The tagline reads, “Where every Cinderella story comes true.”

Befitting a true princess, Johansson wears a stunning, one-of-a-kind Harry Winston tiara … a dazzling piece in platinum with more than 62 carats of sparkling diamonds and valued at $325,000. The dress worn by Johansson is a custom-made, Cinderella-inspired gown designed by Nicoletta Santoro.

* David Beckham plays the part of the gallant Prince Phillip from “Sleeping Beauty,” atop his trusted steed fighting the evil dragon. The tagline reads, “Where imagination saves the day.”

“There were many Disney characters I liked as a kid,” said Beckham. “Now my sons love the Disney characters and it’s a big part of their lives, a big part of many children’s lives around the world. So to be part of that is an honor and very exciting.

“I love going to Disney, I’m like a big kid,” he added.

* Beyoncé appears as “Alice in Wonderland,” twirling in a teacup, accompanied by Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter and Lyle Lovett as the March Hare. The tagline reads, “Where Wonderland is your destiny.”

“It’s two great imaginations coming together … Disney and Annie Leibovitz,” said Lovett. “To be along for the ride really is quite something, just knowing that you’re going to be part of a great Disney character. And then when you step into the imagination of Annie Leibovitz, you know you’re in another world.”

“The ‘Where Dreams Come True’ campaign is about the imaginations and dreams that are inside us all,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “By capturing these transformational experiences, these emotional images communicate a powerful concept. Working with Annie Leibovitz was a natural fit … Disney is known for immersive storytelling and Annie is a masterful artist whose photos speak volumes.”

The campaign premieres as a special insert in the March issues of Vanity Fair, GQ, Vogue, W, The New Yorker, Conde Nast Traveler and Cookie.

As part of the “Where Dreams Come True” initiative, Disney Parks introduced “The Year of a Million Dreams” (Oct. 1, 2006-Dec. 31, 2007). During this 15-month, first-of-its-kind celebration, more than one million very special dreams are being granted to guests visiting Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. The celebration also is highlighted by the debut of innovative Disney attractions and entertainment spectaculars at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts.

For more information about Disney Parks, “The Year of a Million Dreams” and “Where Dreams Come True,” guests may visit www.mydisneyparks.com.