News / Cast Members

Antonella and Jonathan are about to hand over to a new pair of Disney “ambassadors”. The Disneyland Paris Ambassador Team for 2015-2016 will be announced on 3rd October 2014 at a public ceremony in Videopolis Theatre, Discoveryland at 11am.

No less than ten semi-finalists have been selected from those who applied for the roles, pictured below, chosen from all corners of the resort to represent Disneyland Paris Cast Members on the public stage for events and promotions.

The 2013-2014 team, Antonella Giallombardo and Jonathan Rabeute, will continue as ambassadors until the end of the year, when the new recruits will take over.

This year marks a special milestone for the Disney Ambassador Program as it records its 50th Anniversary, to be celebrated at the ceremony next month, having begun in 1964 at the hands of master Disneyland marketeer Jack Lindquist.

At Disneyland Paris, the visibility of the programme has improved noticeably in recent years, not least thanks to the use of social media, and helped by a run of enthusiastic and knowledgeable representatives, each truly raising the bar (tip: great Cast Members who also happen to be real fans make perfect ambassadors).

Originally just seeing a single candidate elected, the Disneyland Paris programme now elects two Ambassadors to represent the resort for two years.

• Photos — Every Disneyland Paris Ambassador in pictures

• Ambassadors in action — Ratatouille: The Adventure opening day ceremony

While Osvaldo and Régis got to enjoy the 20th Anniversary and Antonella and Jonathan excelled at the Ratatouille grand opening events, we don’t yet know what our next two ambassadors could be cutting the ribbon on in the next two years… but we wish all semi-finalists, and the selected ambassadors, the very best of luck.

Update — The finalists of the 2015-2016 Disneyland Paris Ambassador selection have been announced today; they are: Sonia Demay, Romina Grochow, Anthony Houdinet and Rut Sospedra.

Disneyland Paris has been named a three-star tourist attraction by the famous Michelin Green Guides, the highest distinction from the travel publisher. The accolade was accepted by ambassadors Jonathan and Antonella, dedicating it to the Cast Members who “offer daily hospitality and quality service to our visitors”.

Listed separately as Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios, the two Disney parks are now both marked as “Highly Recommended” three-star attractions on Michelin’s Paris travel guide. Looking at the competition, Parc Astérix to the north of Paris has only a two-star “Recommended” rating, though the mouse shouldn’t be too complacent — Disney Village is marked out by only a single star.

Many will of course remember the excellent series of classic Green Guides or “Guides Vert” and fold-out maps produced by Michelin in the early years of the resort. Providing concise and clear overviews of the resort — and now, a fascinating glimpse into its history — they’re well worth hunting down on places like Amazon Marketplace.

VIA Ambassadeurs Disneyland Paris (Facebook)

When you’ve got a big new attraction and a well-received expansion to your subpar second gate, you never have enough ceremonies to celebrate it. So the stage was set in front of Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy for the fourth time this past Thursday, 17th July 2014, for the visit of Anne Hidalgo, Maire de Paris, and one thousand Parisian children through the Disney VoluntEARS programme.

Following the Grand Opening with Bob Iger on Saturday 21st June, the second French ceremony on the same day, and the 10th July Opening Day Inauguration ceremony, this event acted as more of an inauguration for La Place de Rémy itself.

After speaking at the ceremony alongside Disneyland Paris president Philippe Gas, the Mayor of Paris unveiled an oversized dedication plaque for the square with the date of the inauguration — also by chance the anniversary of the original Disneyland.

On Ratatouille: The Adventure, Anne Hidalgo said it is “the symbolic attraction to mark the link between Paris and Disney”. She later tweeted that it was the first time a Mayor of Paris has visited Disneyland Paris, and she wishes to strengthen their ties to improve tourism.

Official video — Parisian children experience the world of Ratatouille thanks to Disneyland Paris and Anne Hidalgo

Joining the mayor were 1,000 Parisian children who are members of leisure centres in the capital and aren’t lucky enough to be going away this summer. They got to enjoy a full day the park with 30 Disney VoluntEARS, volunteer Cast Members participating in Disney’s community outreach programme, showing them around.

Hidalgo even stepped onboard a Ratmobile next to Philippe Gas to experience the new attraction for herself — an important symbolic moment for Disneyland Paris, not least given the Parisian theme. In building a true piece of (fictionalised) Paris within its parks, has Disneyland Paris finally cemented itself as a positive force for the region?

It’s open! Today was the day, 10th July 2014, that La Place de Rémy and its key attraction, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, officially opened to the public following several weeks of previews with a special inauguration ceremony shortly after 10am.

Hosted by the Disneyland Paris Ambassadors, Jonathan and Antonella, the opening ceremony welcomed Fleur Pellerin, Secretary of Commerce, of Tourism Promotion and of the French abroad, to Disneyland Paris.

The resort’s new chief operating officer Daniel Delcourt also took to the stage, while several elements of the earlier Grand Opening ceremonies for the press made a return to Walt Disney Studios Park, including that gingham ribbon, Rémy himself and even a surprise reappearance by the real-life Linguini.

Once opened, lines quickly reached blockbuster levels with guests filling the exterior queue, a roped extension area in front of the Fastpass distribution, and lining the full length of Rue Auguste Gusteau, with the queue beginning somewhere back in Toon Studio. Good thing today was also the first day the park remained open until 9pm, extending its operating day by a whole two hours, a milestone in itself.

A 120 minute wait time was posted on the park’s electronic tips board, which now lists the attraction, simply calling it “Ratatouille”. However, at one point temporary signage advised guests that, from the entrance to La Place de Rémy next to Toy Story Playland, a wait time of 190 minutes was possible.

Wait times for other popular Studios attractions appeared unaffected, particularly Crush’s Coaster which continued to offer up to an 80 minute wait. Of course, as much as Ratatouille could draw guests away from those attractions, it will (hopefully) be bringing more people to the park altogether, unfortunately mitigating any dramatic change.

But here’s the important fact: those lines aren’t due to bad planning, at least with this attraction. Ratatouille actually (just about) has the capacity to cope with its popularity on a normal day. It’s not quite a Pirates of the Caribbean juggernaut, but the packs of Ratmobiles were thankfully specced pretty well in their ability to cycle guests through.

As we concluded on Twitter, Ratatouille is officially a “blockbuster” attraction for Walt Disney Studios Park, and that’s down to quality, not poor capacity.

Seeing guests queueing round the block, clamouring to experience La Place de Rémy for themselves, says a lot about the demand for investments of this scale or, perhaps even more so, the rest of the park which those guests are turning their back on.

Complete video: Ratatouille Opening Day Inauguration Ceremony

Fun facts from today’s opening day press release

• Including the attraction, restaurant and upcoming boutique, the new Ratatouille area has created 200 new and permanent jobs.
• The project required the skills of more than 4000 craftspeople, 80% of which were French. A total of 44 French companies helped to create the attraction, including 34 from Île-de-France and 11 from Seine-et-Marne.
• A special ultrasonic cleaning system was developed for the attraction by Fisa, a company based in Essonne, which allows 22,000 pairs of 3D glasses to be cleaned in five hours.
• With 370 seats, Bistrot Chez Rémy is the largest table-service restaurant at Disneyland Paris. 80% of the produce used is of French origin, and the meat is sourced from within Europe (Scotland or France).
• Disneyland Paris has generated more than 55,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs since its opening. In 2014, the group signed 8000 employment contracts, of which 1000 are permanent. Almost 15,000 people are currently employed at Disneyland Paris.
• Disneyland Paris contributes on average 6.2% of the French tourism industry’s foreign currency revenues and contributes €50 billion in added value for the French economy.
• Disneyland Paris is Europe’s number one tourist destination, with more than 275 million visits since its opening. Within a tourist sector elevated to the ranks of “national priority”, according to François Hollande during the Tourism Forum in June 2014, Disneyland Paris takes pride of place.
• Over the past five years, investments centred on maintaining and developing Disneyland Paris have amounted to €510 million.

Explore all DLP Today’s Ratatouille: The Adventure content and features:

• Complete Grand Opening Day Report – with 80+ photos from the press preview
• Grand Opening LIVE Roundups – 100+ live Twitter photos rounded up day by day
• Video: Ratatouille Full Ridethrough Tour (Onride)
• Video: Ratatouille Walkthrough Tour (No onride)
• Video: Ratatouille Grand Opening Ceremony with Bob Iger
• Video: La Place de Rémy
• Video: Bistrot Chez Rémy
• Minisite: Ratatouille guides and information on DLP Guide
• News: Six years’ worth of news and rumours dating back to 2008

It would be fair to say the last thing which needed changing to improve Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic from a guest’s point of view was the trams themselves. But here we are, with Disneyland Paris sharing photos of the new driving trucks which recently replaced the former twelve year old-plus vehicles.

Boasting more spacious cab areas, more fuel capacity and new sensors making them easier to manoeuvre, the four new trucks are now pulling the same original six-carriage trams through the attraction’s (almost literally) “backstage” route.

Along the way, guests can still discover action-packed sets including Catastrophe Canyon, Reign of Fire and, er, that’s about it. The (not particularly missed) Costuming workshop loop was removed during the construction of Toy Story Playland and is now occupied by La Place de Rémy, while the tour has had no genuine additions whatsoever since opening in 2002, despite several park masterplans in that time calling for improvement and expansion.

The Studio Backlot Tour at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida is similarly disappointing.

In fact, it might have been sensible to assume Disney would retire the attraction, ending the pretence that Walt Disney Studios Park is in any way a real working studio. The purchase of four new trucks would now seem to disprove that, at least for the foreseeable future.

Starting with the utterly pointless Dinotopia set and ending with Jeremy Irons’ ageing video commentary, come back next week for an article titled “100 Things Any Fan Would Change About Studio Tram Tour Before Replacing the Trucks”…

• Watch a complete on-ride video of Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic here

VIA @Disney_ParisEN (Twitter)

If you’re a Shareholder or an Annual Passholder, no doubt you’ve been going “Totalement Toquée” for a few weeks now, waiting to hear exactly when you’ll get your first chance to experience Ratatouille: The Adventure.

Putting an end to what, unsurprisingly, sounds like an onslaught of requests for information, Disneyland Paris has confirmed today the all-important dates.

In a brief notice, Annual Passport previews for 26th – 29th June 2014 are confirmed:

Due to a lot of requests, please note that there will indeed be Ratatouille previews for Annual Passholders (Dream, Fantasy, Francilien) from June 26 to 29.

More information about the registration process will be sent soon by the teams in charge.

Meanwhile, members of the Shareholders Club for Euro Disney S.C.A. were sent their full registration details this morning, with the “Actionnaires” event taking place on 28th June.

If you’re a member of the club, you should have received an email with the full details, though these are also available on the club’s official website under “Your Personal Space”.

Online registration for this event is mandatory, on a first-come-first-served basis, and must be completed no later than Monday, 23rd June 2014.

On the date, Saturday, 28th June, attendees will be able to check in from 9.30am at the entrance of Walt Disney Studios Park, with both the attraction and Bistrot Chez Rémy reserved for shareholders between 10am and 2.30pm (thanks to @Jorienvh_ for these details).

So, let’s recap all the Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy dates in full:

• 17th June 2014 onwards — Cast Member previews
• 21st – 22nd June 2014 — Grand Opening / Press Event weekend
• 26th – 29th June 2014 — Annual Passholder previews
• 28th June 2014 — Shareholders Club preview
• 10th July 2014 — Official Public Opening Date

All of which leaves a mighty space to fill of almost a fortnight between the last preview on 29th June and the official 10th July opening, during which we can surely expect some wider public “soft openings” — when regular park guests are invited to unofficially ride the attraction, allowing a final test and adjust phase before opening.

It can’t be stated so confidently that Bistrot Chez Rémy would be included in this, although you’d think Disneyland Paris would want to continue trialling that too — it’s spectacularly important that they get this restaurant right, first time, and the general public can often behave and react to concepts very differently than invited guests and Disney fans.

Regarding the release of preview dates, hopefully the teams involved at Disneyland Paris have learnt a lesson that guests prefer this information sooner, rather than later — say, a month in advance at the very least — especially when complicated travel plans and accommodation bookings from outside France have to be made.

So there we go, folks — now tell us below, when will your first “Ratmobile” ride be?

Disneyland Paris formally unveiled the new Cast Member costumes for Ratatouille: The Adventure last week, resplendent with a rich style to make them perhaps the most luxurious in the whole of Walt Disney Studios Park.

Naturally, considering the theme of Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, the costumes of the Toon Studio attraction are closely matched to those of its adjoining restaurant, Bistrot Chez Rémy, with sumptuous gold and burgundy colours, bow ties and short-cut jackets for both ride operators and restaurant waiters alike.

Despite taking inspiration from swanky Parisian restaurant uniforms, the designs retain an important touch of whimsy with the cut of the jackets, the eccentric placement of buttons and those fun bow ties around everyone’s neck — a hint to the shape of Rémy’s whiskers, perhaps?

Disneyland Paris Ambassadors Antonella and Jonathan joined fellow Cast Members to model the new outfits.

One final fun detail, even here on the costumes: Ratatouille buttons!

VIA @Disney_ParisEN (Twitter)

You’ve less than four days to get to Disneyland Paris for the opening of ‘Swing into Spring’, the almost mythical Spring Festival which now at last has been given its official English title, dates and some welcome publicity by the resort.

Released today is a new video featuring Show Director Christophe Leclercq, introducing the season of springtime decorations and entertainment. If not revealing any new details of the much-speculated festival, Christophe confirms again some important details, such as the main event featuring no less than 90 dancers, 22 musicians and a quite startling 33 characters, taking place “in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle”.

The video includes an additional piece of concept art for the Central Plaza “topiary” displays (above) which feature characters from Bambi, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Aristocats and The Lion King interacting with musical notes and instruments.

This is also the first time (besides a lone Belgian press release) that Disneyland Paris has confirmed the season will run from 5th April to 22nd June 2014.

In French, the season will be known as La Balade Printanière, or “Springtime Stroll”.

An earlier version of the video mistakenly subtitled Town Square as Times Square.

VIA Disneyland Paris (YouTube)