Thursday, 7th April 2011
The fourth repurposing of Disneyland Park’s resident character express train in five years has officially premiered in its new guise: Disney Dance Express. This isn’t a straightforward redecoration or just another chance to meet and greet Disney characters, either — it’s a whole new show happening three times per day at the end of Main Street, U.S.A. and featuring a mix of modernised Disney tunes with well-known pop songs. A cast of 14 dancers is led by a live host, with Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale joining in to coax the notoriously composed European audience to dance in the street. And one thing’s for sure: fluorescent is definitely in for 2011.
Photos and two videos of the show here! Read More…
Wednesday, 6th April 2011
Today’s the day — another year, another new festival begins at Disneyland Paris. And this year, it’s the Disney Magical Moments Festival, bringing a big (yet at the same time, rather modest) selection of new character “moments” and entertainments to the parks. Needless to say, there was nothing modest about the anticipated media launch event, which took place over last weekend and included the usual blow-out grand opening show and fireworks to round things off. Over 1,000 media types (plus for the first time ever, and at long last you could say, fan websites like DLRP Today and Photos Magiques) were officially invited along to see Mickey kick things off. Read More…
Monday, 4th April 2011
Alright, so, as we’ve said before in previous updates about the big Fantasyland floor replacement works ongoing for the past two months, a new bit of paving is not quite as exciting as a new dark ride or parade. But DLRP Today is not alone in its excitement for this vast stretch of new paving stones, oh no — as Peggie Fariss herself said to us, “sometimes there’s nothing better than a freshly-laid floor” in a Disney park. Couldn’t agree more! We were even taken for a quick “site tour” up to the Fantasyland Gate, where we got to exclusively step through the construction walls for a first look at the almost-finished paving project, switching dirty and crumbling poured concrete for real interlocking pavers.
Even better, we can now take a look at the finished product, too — as the whole parade route up towards “it’s a small world” re-opened right on schedule this weekend! Read More…
Saturday, 2nd April 2011
Saving months of speculation, last week during the special fan presentation Disneyland Paris showed us exactly what’s ahead for the refreshed Sleeping Beauty Castle. No, no dramatic changes of story or style — in fact, if anything, a return to the grace and elegance of opening day in 1992. Ever since the enormous restoration project began, fans have been trying to predict what colours the new team would choose for Le Château‘s third era. Now we can reveal all, long before the scaffolding comes down, along with a big photo update on current progress! Read More…
Wednesday, 30th March 2011
A quick break from our Refurb Roundup Day reports of the March 25th fan presentation now, for a bumper load of new World of Disney construction photos. The concrete walls of the resort’s future flagship store have grown incredibly fast since our last look just a couple of weeks ago. Now surrounding the site on every side, many appear to have reached their full height. You can see window openings and even the first doorway. The general curved shape of the building and its main entrance has begun to take shape, really making the concept art much easier to imagine in reality.
Here we go on our journey Around the World in 32 all-new photos! Read More…
Tuesday, 29th March 2011
All aboard! Here we go, after the perfect opening ceremony, on-board the Molly Brown riverboat for a special first-look at the rebuilt vessel. We rushed up through the stairs to the top deck for a complete overview of the new boat as the Hill Billy Trio played on the bow below and Buffalo Bill fired off his guns as we departed on this exciting, inaugural Western river expedition.
No less than 57 photos, an HD video and countless fun details await! There’s a lot to point out and a lot to see — as promised to us at the earlier presentation: new colours, new spiels, new story. This isn’t just the Molly Brown given a fresh coat of paint, this is a whole new chapter in Thunder Mesa. Read More…
Monday, 28th March 2011
So, Friday was an exciting day both for us and for Disneyland Paris. Our group of around 15 fan website owners and reporters met at 9am sharp inside Walt’s – An American Restaurant for the first presentation about all the refurbishment projects ongoing and upcoming in 2011. But first, let’s skip ahead to 11am and the main event of the day; seeing the fruits of one of those huge restoration projections: the re-dedication of the Molly Brown riverboat.
The night before, Molly Brown had been brought around to Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing for final checks, looking stunning on the waters with her new colours and every bulb perfectly illuminated (above). Technical crews rushed around the deck, wiping her down and making final preparations.
Note: Since we’ve a lot of photos and videos to share from these events, you’ll need to click “Continue Reading” below (only on the front page) for the full reports! Read More…
Sunday, 27th March 2011
Friday, 25th March 2011 — what a wonderful day! Not just because the sun was shining brightly over Marne-la-Vallée, nor because temperatures hit a delightful 20 degrees Celsius. No, this was the day a unique gathering of Disneyland Paris blog authors, fan website creators and forum moderators were invited to an exclusive presentation about all the current and upcoming developments in 2011 at the European magic kingdom. As the guy behind both this website and DLRP Magic.com, I was lucky enough to be invited along — the only attendee from the United Kingdom!
Peggie Fariss, the new head of Walt Disney Imagineering Paris led a fascinating meeting with contributions from several more key figures in the upkeep of the parks and resort, unveiling perhaps the most expansive programme of refurbishments and renewals ever seen at Disneyland Paris. With two presentations revealing umpteen pages of news and surprises, a tour of the projects and of course the re-dedication of the Molly Brown riverboat in a fantastic ceremony at Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing, there was a lot to take in and a whole lot to be excited about. So this week, DLRP Today.com will tell you what’s new and what’s next… direct from Disneyland Paris!
Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
It’s official: the Molly Brown riverboat will return to the Rivers of the Far West as planned this Friday, with a special re-dedication ceremony even planned to mark the occasion. Having been practically rebuilt during an extensive year-long restoration, the unique side-wheel riverboat will be re-dedicated by Disneyland Paris ambassadors Régis Alart and Osvaldo del Mistero at 11am this Friday, 25th March. The public event will take place at Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing in Frontierland, so be sure to drop by if you’re visiting the resort and witness a little piece of Disneyland Paris history.
As noted in the comments following our article last week, the riverboat has actually lost her “Queen of River” title during the restoration, with the side wheels now displaying the slightly more generic nomenclature: “Western River Line”. It remains to be seen what other smaller changes may have taken place. DLRP Today will be reporting back from the rebuilt vessel’s maiden cruise and might even tweet a few live updates on Friday — so follow us on Twitter, if you’re not already!
Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
Your Disneyland Paris park ticket will be celebrating the Disney Magical Moments Festival very soon. Like the past three celebrations, a number of different coloured ticket designs will be available, each featuring one of the key characters of the year. Whilst last year was all about the New Generation, this year sees some old favourites such as Timon and Pumba, Captain Hook and the Queen of Hearts given their own design. The golden tickets also now clearly state “2 Parcs” and the logo used this year is the main Disneyland Paris logo, rather than the festival logo. Although the tickets still have some way to go to beat the boldness of the 1990s designs, they might become even more collectible. As more and more visitors now print out their own rather drab “E-Tickets” at home, these “proper” tickets must surely be beginning to drop in circulation.
The resort’s four Annual Passports will also be updated, with Rapunzel’s huge box office success in Tangled scoring her the prized “Dream” spot already, from Woody and Buzz last year.
