News / Chez Marianne Souvenirs de Paris

Farewell, Rémy and Emile! Only a year ago it was a cleared parcel of earth at the back of Walt Disney Studios Park, today it’s an enormous shell of a showbuilding to envy the “it’s a small worlds” of the Disney Park world. Work on the Ratatouille dark ride celebrated another milestone last week as the two towering cranes we nicknamed Rémy and Emile were gradually taken apart and removed from the site and construction entered a new phase.

New photos were shared by @InsideDLParis over the weekend and our friends at Photos Magiques earlier posted a nice high-resolution zoomable image from their January trip.

However, as we return from an all-too-long hiatus, let’s first jump back to share some photos from our trip in December 2012. Keen-eyed Rémy fans will be able to spot many further changes in the past eight weeks, but for those who haven’t been watching and for the sake of history it seems a shame not to pin these onto the construction timeline before moving onto current developments, so here we go…

Rumoured to have the working title Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity, this major new “dark ride” is due to open in 2014 at the back of Toon Studio in Walt Disney Studios Park, next to Toy Story Playland and the backstage ‘Imaginations’ Cast Member building. Construction has required felling a large number of trees and moving the resort’s costuming workshop.

Also including a new restaurant integrated into the attraction, toilets and a Fastpass system, the development is costing up to €150 million. The ride itself has been rumoured to utilise everything from “trackless” ride vehicles to giant 3D projection screens in order to simulate a chase through the kitchens of a Parisian restaurant.

The exterior will be themed to a real Parisian square, complete with fountain.

Follow @DLRPToday on Twitter or ‘Like’ our Facebook Page to follow developments through 2013!

Since the first crane rose over the Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity (working title) construction site in April, a second crane has joined the effort to realise this much-anticipated dark ride and restaurant in time for 2014. With the second crane shorter, wider and less colourful than its cousin, it seems only fitting we call the pair, who now tower over both parks from several viewpoints: Rémy and Emile!

Their work so far has remained steadfastly at ground level, preparing the foundations for the vast future showbuilding. Piledriving, which steadies the ground and provides a solid foundation for the actual concrete base to rest on, has now been complete for several weeks. The latest work allows us to see the footprint of the new building at its clearest yet; each portion of the building marked out with solid concrete edges ready for the concrete base to be poured in sections.

Already in the first photo above, taken a couple of weeks ago by DLRP Today.com reader Maarten, you can see how the outline of  the new building(s) will match the side of the Cast Member building opposite, creating a “Parisian” square around the future centrepiece fountain. This existing ImagiNations building, currently crudely themed as “Studio 4”, is expected to be dressed in new Parisian façades along its length, as well as possibly hosting the toilets or shop for the area.

Our last update included a video walkthrough of the construction site and pre-existing Ratatouille-themed road, which it turns out we caught just in time: days later, it was closed completely to guests. Wooden boards have been laid over the street cobbles and temporary fences and gates moved outwards to give construction crews more room inside the site itself.

This means Toy Story Playland is currently a dead-end for guests, the Barrel of Monkeys tunnel leading to nothing but an unthemed gate with no hint or tease whatsoever at what’s next.

• Catch up on all our earlier Ratatouille dark ride reports so far here!

PHOTOS Maarten for DLRP Today.com

This week, the future Ratatouille dark ride made another highly visible step forward as a second tower crane began to rise above the Toon Studio construction site. The first, of course, made its mark on 11th April — a valiant effort by the second gate to steal the thunder of its partner a day before the 20th Anniversary events on 12th April 2012. Whether this date was chosen by chance or by reason, it was a fitting way to end one chapter with the beginnings of the next.

So what does a Disneyland Paris fan do, upon arriving at the resort after a long train journey on a blustery, rainy evening like that? Rush straight over to Walt Disney Studios Park, just 15 minutes before the gates closed, and photograph our exciting new landmark from every angle, of course. And then, a month later, actually find the time to post the pictures online.

But here we go, crane fans: over 40 photos and six minutes of video featuring “La Grue Ratatouille” — from Val d’Europe, Toon Studio, Backlot, Frontierland and beyond. This first crane alone was imposing enough on the skyline: this ride may be all about rats, but it won’t be small by any standard.

Continues… Read More…

Drilling for rats? The Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity construction site has seen a new arrival with the start of pile driving for the attraction’s foundations. After clearing and levelling the area, then laying and compacting loose stone, work has now moved to drive in deep foundations for the future showbuilding using a pile driver: the tall, drill-like piece of machinery seen above. This moves around the site, planting supports in the ground at intervals to provide a solid base for the new building.

Also visible on the construction site, seen in these photos by the ParisCastMember blog, are several large steel “screws”, a shipping container and large pieces of wire frame. Not quite the usual recipe for a ratatouille, then. Costuming workshop Cast Members in the “Imaginations” building to the right now have an unimpeded view over the large construction site for the dark ride, thanks to the removal of the adjoining wall and awning which used to be part of Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic.

But the views are easy to obtain for guests and fans, too: as well as aerial sightings from Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, a temporary gate, lower than the hoardings, has been installed in the blue construction walls here (below the camera), next to Toy Story Playland. Though intended to provide a temporary evacuation route, it would be more than welcome if this stayed in place throughout the construction, to allow visitors to easily catch a glimpse of the future — and a reason to return.

As a reminder: the €150m ride is due to open sometime in 2014, rumoured to use a trackless ride system with 3D projection effects, with an adjoining restaurant that will possibly be integrated into the attraction queue. Fastpass is expected to be in place from day one, while a boutique might follow later. Read back our previous updates here, which included a look at the first concept art.

PHOTOS ParisCastMember blog, @ParisCastMember (Twitter)

UPDATE: Disneyland Paris has confirmed Le Figaro’s transcription was inaccurate — only one new attraction is scheduled to open in 2014.

We know Disneyland Paris has the money, we know they’ve finally started construction on the Ratatouille dark ride, and Brad Bird knows all about it, too. But now, in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Philippe Gas has let slip a surprising statement that Walt Disney Studios Park will see not one, but two new attractions opening within its gates in 2014. In the brief article headlined “Disneyland Paris ‘has learned from its mistakes'”, the resort president and CEO of Euro Disney SCA discusses the company’s tumultuous financial situation as it approaches its 20th Anniversary.

Asked as a final question “What will you do to avoid the park reaching saturation?”, he comments:

Knowing that a customer is satisfied when they can see at least six attractions in a day, we estimate our maximum capacity to be 17 million visitors annually. So we still have room for improvement, but we must grow. In January, our banks have given us 150 million euros in new funding to build two new attractions, which should open in 2014 in our second park, Walt Disney Studios. In 2010, we also obtained the agreement of the State to build a third park. We are looking at it very seriously, even if the decision won’t be made until 2020. We will also build new hotels, restaurants and shops.

Now, presuming Mr Gas doesn’t count the adjoining restaurant or those desperately needed new toilets which should be installed next to Ratatouille, this gives us an odd surplus in the new attraction count for 2014. So what are the possibilities? Again, this could depend on how you define a new attraction, but let’s throw Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic right out there straight away.

An expanded Tram Tour, perhaps a new show scene, perhaps even a relocated station — allowing the park to begin that announced “multi-year expansion”, expanding the current Hollywood Boulevard — could all be strong possibilities come 2014. Relaunching it as a “new attraction”, given changes like these to make it a worthwhile experience, would be far more appreciated than previous half-hearted relaunches such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril: Backwards! and Space Mountain: Mission 2. The route itself has already been pushed even further back into the forest by current construction works, yet still desperately needs things to actually see along it. Those huge, people-eating trams are surely not reaching their full capacity with the disappointing tour which exists today.

We had assumed that €150 million would only just cover Ratatouille itself, so a second attraction would likely be a smaller, less expensive project. We’re not expecting a Soarin’ here just yet. So presuming CinéMagique is safe and Aerosmith still have a few years left in them yet, the only likely replacements for existing attractions are Armageddon: Les Effets Speciaux and Animagique.

Armageddon suffers with its poor throughput and even poorer pre-show; having been the focus of a previous replacement proposal, to build a Chronicles of Narnia-based attraction in its place, could its time finally be up? Recent rumours have suggested that the licence to the 1998 Jerry Bruckheimer film itself could soon run out, further fuelling the desire for a replacement. With the more neutral Backlot location, this could be the perfect opportunity to introduce Disney’s recently-acquired Marvel characters to the parks, although the building’s small size would certainly be restrictive. It might not be the easiest way to add capacity to the park, as Philippe Gas desires.

Meanwhile, the live Animagique blacklight puppetry show in Toon Studio will be approaching its twelfth birthday in 2014. Popular though it is, that’s a long time for a live show, and considering the huge 1,100-seat capacity of Studio 3, the show provides the park with relatively little capacity. Finally going ahead with a long-mooted replacement by a certain 3-D film such as, ooh, Mickey’s Philharmagic would boost capacity in this part of the park enormously — and that’s precisely what Philippe Gas seems concerned about here, making it a very strong possibility.

Due to the live puppeteers involved, Animagique stages only around five shows per day in the vast auditorium, whereas a 12-minute projected film show such as Philharmagic is able to play continuously from park opening right to closing time; cycling through audiences every 20 minutes or so, and with lower operational costs to boot. The pair are practically cousins, conceived around the same time and both seeing Donald Duck getting lost in a series of classic musical scenes. But with 3-D films becoming passé again and Philharmagic due to be nearing 11 years old in 2014, could it still be viable as a new attraction? A belated opening at Tokyo Disneyland just last year suggests it certainly is.

As you can see, while two new attractions in one year may be a surplus, there’s still no shortage of possibilities in Walt Disney Studios Park to use that valuable credit on. Watch this space…

VIA Le Figaro.fr

We’ve known about the plans for a Ratatouille dark ride since as long ago as 2008, but what about the writer and director of the Pixar film himself, Brad Bird? The answer is yes: and he’s very excited.

Most recently credited for a turn to live action with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Brad still finds the time to reply to messages from his 25,000 followers on Twitter. One of today’s replies saw him pick up a question from @CreativeAlan, who shared the photo above and asked: “Are you excited about the Ratatouille dark ride currently under construction in Paris?”

Bird’s reply? Simply: “Very. It’s going to be really cool.”

So there we have it. And that photo above, which comes from the excellent ParisCastMember blog, is the latest look at construction progress as seen from Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop.

Trees have been cleared, the old Pearl Harbor hangar removed and the roof over the former Studio Tram Tour route alongside the costuming building torn down. A large rectangle where the bulk of the future showbuilding will sit in 2014 has been levelled and covered with what appears to be loose stone, to be compacted, forming the start of the building’s foundations. The large concrete-walled “soundstage” of Crush’s Coaster looked similar at the same point in its early construction.

In the distance, we can also see the redirected route of the tram tour, which has now reopened, lined by darker green construction walls. The earlier route, nearer the camera, will apparently be used for construction vehicles to access the site without disrupting normal park operations.

PHOTO ParisCastMember (Twitter), VIA @CreativeAlan

Hard to believe now that, just a month ago, all was quiet on the Ratatouille dark ride construction site as Disneyland Paris awaited the necessary funding. Then, on 10th January, it came: a €150m package from The Walt Disney Company, and this long-awaited Toon Studio addition was finally go! Just 10 days later the site was cleared of all its remaining trees, and now more movement to ensure Rémy is ready to go vertical in the next few months. It’s surprising how much room you need to make for a rat.

An unsurprising move is the removal of the awning along the side of the “Imaginations” Cast Member building, caught in this series of photos by Disney Central Plaza’s Mouetto. This was where, from 2002 to early 2009, our studio trams would drive up alongside the building allowing us to get a glimpse inside at the “real working costuming studio”. Reflecting the ethos of the original park this, of course, was not a real film studio costuming workshop but that for the entertainment Cast Members of the resort itself. Now perhaps symbolically, as the park stumbles towards a redefined identity, it is falling to make way for our new Pixar hero.

Elsewhere, changes are more unexpected. Given the effort Walt Disney Imagineering went to providing a ready-and-waiting Parisian street next to Toy Story Playland, and that they had already moved the Studio Tram Tour route for that very expansion, you might be surprised that the road is in the process of moving again. While the 2009 re-route gave plenty of room for the Ratatouille showbuilding, this new road, pushed ever further back, will allow construction vehicles easier access to the site.

A mysterious stone foundation could be seen disappearing into the trees in our previous update. Now the road looks laid and almost ready to open. The attraction is scheduled to re-open as soon as this Saturday. And yet still, the Dinotopia “set” remains…

Mouetto has also shared photos of the vacant corner in front of the Costuming building, where it is expected the attraction’s associated toilets will be built. And, from the elevated viewpoint of Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, another element of the original Tram Tour already (or, at last) taken away to Euro Souvenirland: the green Pearl Harbor aircraft hangar.

The fact that much-needed toilets could be built here without eating into the operational Costuming workshop might add meat to the rumour that the attraction’s gift shop, rumoured to go into this existing building, won’t be ready at opening. Nevertheless, all this side of the hastily-christened “Studio 4” is still to be hidden, somehow, behind a new series of Parisian façades.

Soon we’ll all be able to feel a little less guilty about visiting Paris without actually visiting Paris…

PHOTOS VIA Mouetto (Disney Central Plaza)

What’s the one thing Walt Disney Studios Park needs more than a dark ride? This: a new restaurant! While the initial planning notice for the Ratatouille dark ride only noted a project known as “Toon Studio D”, this new full-blown Marne-la-Vallée construction notice, spotted by Mouetto of Disney Central Plaza, confirms that both an attraction and a new restaurant are on their way to the park. For the Studios, this is a big deal: the park only has three true restaurants to its 17 attractions, even including the minuscule Café des Cascadeurs. This will also be the first real dining location in the whole of Toon Studio — the park’s largest land, taking up the whole of its right side.

Don’t let the French theme lead you to expect a traditional Bistro de Paris-type dining experience here, though. As we teased earlier this month, we’re more likely in fact to be dining in a giant-sized version of Rémy’s rat restaurant, perhaps on the first floor of the new showbuilding’s frontage. This would allow Imagineering to create something truly unique and fun with the theme — after all, if you want a traditional, stuffy Parisian restaurant, there are plenty just a short RER ride away.

Surprisingly, with the restaurant confirmed, there is now some doubt whether the plan for a boutique adjoining this “Kitchen Calamity” will see reality, or if it could be built as a later phase. This was rumoured to be built in the workshop of the existing Imaginations (Costuming) backstage building, bordering the construction site. Hopefully sense will prevail because, if there’s one thing the park needs more than a dark ride or a restaurant… well, you get the idea.

VIA Mouetto (Disney Central Plaza)