News / Disneyland Park

Here they are – the full series of eight colour concept arts for the brand new Disneyland Park parade, officially released at the shareholders’ AGM (of course!) and captured by Mouetto on Disney Central Plaza forum (naturellement!).

Each of the concepts is accompanied by a quick summary from our guide page, and then beneath that any additional notes, details or corrections we can spot after seeing the full-colour artworks.

Float 1: Dreams of Imagination

“Mickey and Minnie hover high in the sky in a golden hot air balloon! They’ve dropped anchor on a most dreamy location, the purple curve of a smiling moon, resting on a storybook. Donald showers the moon in sparkling glitter, as Goofy rests on the pile of storybooks and blows bubbles into the clouds!”

The same concept you first saw right here over seven months ago. How time flies, eh?

Float 2: Dreams of Laughter and Fun

“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 features “marionnette” bungee artists similar to those in ‘Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams’ at Disneyland in California, bouncing on bungee ropes from supports high above. Around this section of the float, stilt walkers will perform routines with their own puppets.”

The Alice in Wonderland scene features Tweedle Dee/Dum, the Caterpillar and a tree with painted red roses. As the theme shifts to Pinocchio, a number of clocks are featured. Pinocchio appears to be performing his “I’ve Got No Strings” routine, with Gepetto watching. Jiminy Cricket sits atop the bungee rope clock tower.

Float 3: Dreams of Friendship

“Features Toy Story and Winnie the Pooh characters, with a giant storybook in the middle separating the two themes. At the front, Woody joins his Roundup Gang to remind them “you’ve got a friend in me”, whilst at the back Pooh’s birthday party is in full swing, featuring all his best friends from the Hundred Acre Wood at a jolly tea party.”

This float was the hardest to decipher from the silhouette image, with a classic scene from the first Toy Story at the front and a Hundred Acre Wood tea party at the rear. Despite the logo of Toy Story 2 being used, the scene is more reminiscent of the first film, since Buzz has a rocket attached to his wings and the arcade machine of the Little Green Men is featured.

Float 4: Dreams of Fantasy

“This very British float first features Captain Hook’s galley splashing through the waves, before a sea of London rooftops bring Wendy peering out of her window at Peter Pan on the roof above! A whimsically-styled Big Ben towers in the centre of the rooftops, poking through the clouds, with Mary Poppins and her classic “jolly holiday” carousel behind, as a fleet of kites hovers above. A merry band of pirate flag artists will surround the ship at the front of the float.”

The crocodile from Peter Pan can be seen amongst the waves at the front of the float, whilst the Penguin waiters from Mary Poppins are featured in the Jolly Holiday scene.

Float 5: Dreams of Power

“The Disney Villains are out to take command of the parade, on a dark and menacing float filled with viciousness! As the serpent Jafar slithers along at the front, Chernabog towers over the parade route on the desolate summit of Bald Mountain. Bringing up the rear is the slimy sea monster Ursula. The float will be surrounded by menacing souls juggling (false) fire!”

Hades can be seen at the front of the float, whilst the Evil Queen from Snow White hides below Chernabog.

Float 6: Dreams of Adventure

“Serving The Lion King and The Jungle Book, a giant jungle tree towers out of the middle of the float, with Simba on Pride Rock before it and King Louie and Baloo behind. Various animals from both films can be found amongst the branches of the tree, including monkeys and giraffes. Rafiki is clinging to the tree behind Pride Rock, with Timon and Pumbaa joining in the celebrations below. It’s also likely that several of the colourful jungle animals from the Kids Carnival season will join the parade at this point.”

The Jungle Book scene chosen is King Louie’s temple, with Baloo in his coconut hula outfit and King Louie’s throne beneath the tree. Timon also wears his hula costume, and the entire tree is filled with too many animals to count – including The Jungle Book’s Vultures and Kaa the snake.

Float 7: Dreams of Romance (Part 1)

“A tropical garden oasis is the setting for Ariel and Jasmine, with beautiful flowers and an enchanted tree bringing a rainbow of colour to their romantic pursuits. The Dream of Romance section will feature the enchanted garden theme throughout, with each of the Princesses’ shimmering dresses scattered with beautiful gold leaves and several dancing flowers with yellow and green petals surrounding each float.”

The enchanted garden features Ariel at the front in some kind of sea shell grotto, whilst Jasmine swings on a tree with giant roses and Aladdin dances around her.

Float 8: Dreams of Romance (part 2)

“The grand finale to the entire parade, this giant float features a grand total of four princesses! The initial gazebo is an ornate shelter for Beauty and the Beast, whilst the whimsical fairytale bridge is occupied by Snow White and her prince. On the hill before the giant castle stands Cinderella and Prince Charming. Sleeping Beauty is possibly featured behind the castle, as a finale – afterall, the parade is named after one of her songs! The float will also be articulated (split into two free-moving, joined sections), giving an idea of its impressive size.”

Sleeping Beauty is indeed featured just behind the castle, which is a giant, glittering, crystal design. The gazebo of Beauty and her Beast is surrounded by giant red roses.

Finally seeing the full parade in colour concept art is a dream for any fan, and when it finally premieres in just over one month there’ll be even more to see, not just on the floats but all around – characters, dancers, confetti and more. We’re promised a unique parade in the history of Disney Parks, filling all five sense with wonder. Sight and sound are obvious, touch will be from the many Disney characters, more than in any other parade. Unique scents for each float were even confirmed some time ago, leaving just taste to be answered. Characters handing out sweets seems a likely option, already a popular stunt during Halloween events.

Some of the concepts here appear to be quite realistic (for example, the first and second floats), whilst others seem to merely give an artistic impression of the characters and details the floats will include (Dreams of Fantasy in particular), rather than an accurate plan.

To see these concepts made a reality will be the real moment of magic. And, when you spot the first new daytime parade at the park in almost seven years coming towards you along Main Street for the first time, it’ll be better than a dream.

Candlabration / Bougillumination

In true Disney fashion, every element of this vast celebration gets its own piece of concept art. First, Candlabration – the evening ceremony show which will see Mickey and friends light up the fifteen candles on the castle in a twilight show similar to the hugely popular Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony of Disney’s Christmas Season. The concept art confirms that the Christmas stage will stay, but shows it with a beautiful, golden overlay and “15” emblems in place of the current “Once upon a time” motif.

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Chip ‘n’ Dale are all present, wearing pastel and royal blue outfits which might be more than a little familiar to anyone who follows the US resorts. These “Year of a Million Dreams” costumes are due to be carried over to Paris for both this show and for general meet ‘n’ greets.

In Walt Disney World’s “Dream Along With Mickey” show (video here), the characters even have “articulated” talking heads, a concept which was premiered back in 2004 with Timon in our very own The Legend Of The Lion King. Since the costumes are the same and the show is featured in a similar location, we have to ask – will our Fab 7 be talking for the 15th?

Even if they don’t, it certainly looks like they’ll be providing us with some music. Take a look at what they’re all holding – each character has their own musical instrument!

Finally, the candles themselves also present a question – just how bright will they be? Both here and in the new TV spot they’re shown as bright, shining beacons of light, rather than the small flickering flames we might have expected.

Lumière Banners

With the park located in Paris and much of the focus being on those candles, it seems almost too good to be true that Disney have the perfect showman and mascot for the celebrations – Lumière! And if his golden statue right at the centre of the Castle wasn’t enough of an ego boost, he’s soon to appear on brand new banners lining Main Street.

Recent visitors to the park will likely have wondered why the Enchanted Fairytale Illuminations “Chandeliers” are still in place – and here’s your answer! Come 1st April, though, they’ll be barely recognisable. The chandelier crown itself will be completely removed and replaced with a golden cap and horizontal frame for the banner, whilst other gold elements will be painted onto other sections of the giant, ornate lampposts.

Whilst it hasn’t been confirmed if the poles themselves will still be able to illuminate, it has been mentioned that the banners will be lit in some way by modern LED lights. Two of the banners were on display at the shareholders meeting, and perhaps give a typically “Disney” solution – LED lights fitted inside the banners themselves, lighting up the bright white dots peppered across the design? We’ll have to wait and see…

D-i-s-n-e-y-l-a-n-d Letters

And finally… something no-one could have expected. After the Pumpkinmen and Pink Witches, the entertainment teams of Disneyland Resort Paris have been off designing their own park characters again. This time, you’ll be able to meet one of the ten letters spelling out “Disneyland”. No, honestly!

It doesn’t seem to be confirmed yet whether these will be statues, walk-around characters or maybe even giant puppets (like those at WDW’s Finding Nemo The Musical), but an early name being given to them is “Alpha Bet You Are”.

There hasn’t even been confirmation if all ten will appear at once, so perhaps we’ll have to hunt them down, throughout the park? It could be massive for autograph book sales, with ten separate single-letter autographs to collect… Or am I the one getting carried away now?

Concept art © Disney, captured by Mouetto on Disney Central Plaza forum.
Additional photos by Joel.

“Come a little closer… Turn another page… In the story of what’s waiting for you…”

The typically “Disney” lyrics couldn’t be more appropriate. Singing of their dreams coming true “as far as the eye can see” and “as good as good can be”, the two lead vocalists of the new song, “Just Like We Dreamed It”, could be speaking the words of any fan or guest at this truly incredible time in the life of Disneyland Resort Paris.

Shareholders at the Annual General Meeting were treated to a remarkable preview performance of the song lasting just over five minutes, as Disney characters and glittering Disney princesses made their way to the stage in their dazzling costumes created exclusively for the new parade. Member Scrooge on Disney Magic Interactive forum captured the moment on camera (below), with Entertainment Vice President François Leroux (seen just days ago on the backstage preview video of official anniversary website Disneyland15.com) presenting an on-stage preview of the music and costumes of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade.

All of the costumes are brand new and unique to Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade. The characters wear shimmering, silky costumes in vibrant rainbow colours, joined together with a beautiful theme of white and gold throughout. Up front is the Mouse himself, wearing a stunning purple, white and gold suit with a big top hat, whilst the other side of François is Minnie in a bright pink dress and golden shoes. Behind them, Chip and Dale wear green hats and bow ties with white detailing, whilst Goofy wears a snazzy orange tailor suit as seen in the parade’s key visual. As always, Donald is just left out of the fun – to the far left of the photo – though his bright sailor blue costume can clearly be seen.

And, whilst we’ve already seen two of the beautiful Princess dresses to be worn exclusively in the parade, their appearance at the event allowed a sneaky glimpse at the others – including Cinderella, who can also be seen in the photo. Her pastel blue dress continues the theme of golden leaves and flowers seen in the earlier dresses.

The new song itself will be used both as the opening to the parade and as the “parade stop” music, when the parade comes to a halt to allow the characters to interact with their audience. The version used for this presentation also features a short prologue medley of classic Disney music, suggesting, perhaps, that this could be the version which opens the parade, since a voiceover introduction could easily be overlayed. Some have likened it to the music of Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams already, which also features a slower beginning before the main pop song “Welcome” begins – and, just like our new parade, the music then shifts into classical Disney music, before the song returns for the parade stops.

For anyone desperately dreaming of hearing it for themselves, you’ll be glad to know the presentation was recorded and uploaded in mp3 by Mouetto on Disney Central Plaza forum. And, since many people are having trouble with the temporary fileshare site, we’re going to host it here for a brief time:

Temporary download no longer available!
Want to hear the music? Get to Disneyland Park from 31st March 2007!

Make sure you’re absolutely sure you want to hear it before you download, this is obviously quite a large spoiler for the upcoming parade! If you decide to wait, then you can always just look at the Lyrics instead, which have just been added to our Disneyland Resort Paris CD Archive already.

And if you can still resist that temptation, then you know where you have to be – Disneyland Park, Paris, from 31st March 2007!

Characters photo by Kyoto; Audio recording by Mouetto, Music © Disney.

This is the 200th news article on DLRP Today! Thank you to all those who continue to visit each day, the project has been more successful than I could have ever dreamed! And with the anniversary now just over a month away, there’s still plenty more magic still to come.

If you’d like to see the video in motion, simply click onto www.disneyland15.com and follow the link from “15th Anniversary” on the drop-down menu. Many of these shots are shown for less than a second, though, so unless you’re living in slow motion it might take a few viewings to take it all in!

The video is hosted by four very influential backstage Cast Members of Disneyland Resort Paris, each seen spinning around in one of Disneyland Park’s lands whilst they describe the events and the power of dreams. Kat de Blois, Creative and Artistic Director, begins the commentary, followed by Roland Kleve, Director of Operations Integration (most importantly the introduction of the new attractions). Next is François Leroux, Vice President of Entertainment, before WDI-Paris chief and head of Show Quality Standard Peter McGrath joins to describe the new attractions.

In just a few seconds, we’re treated to quick shots and close-ups of two elements from Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade – the moon from the first float, “Imagination”, and a giant Alice in Wonderland stuck inside a house, just part of float two, “Dream of Fun & Laughter”. The very first shot quickly shows a concept model for the first float, before the camera pans upwards to show the fully realised moon from the original design.

Whilst the moon appears to already be on its final base (a giant, open storybook), the house from Alice in Wonderland (with her legs sticking out) will form just half of the final float, with a second section starring Pinocchio (and several bungee artists similar to the Pinnochio float in California’s Parade of Dreams) to be slotted in behind on the final base.

Before now, we’ve only seen small silhouttes of the parade line-up and full concepts for just two of the floats, so to finally see such large elements becoming a reality certainly helps make this “Once Upon a Dream” seem far more real.

Beginning with a walk right down the middle of Main Street, U.S.A., the Tilyou Building and Boardwalk Candy Palace are fenced off for a major refurbishment similar in scope to that at The Emporium last year. The bright pistachio and pink façades were repainted before Christmas, and in early January the store closed to allow for a major refurbishment and remodelling. The displays and props of sweets inside had been looking a little less than tasty for a few years, so hopefully this will return a bit of the sparkle and sugary sweetness to the Atlantic City-themed boutique.

On Town Square, the Riverboat Excursions advertisement mural outside the Southern entrance to Liberty Arcade is being given a touch-up, following the completion of work on the buildings at its Northern end – see photo here.

Plaza Gardens has been looking a little worse for wear over recent months (and years), but whilst the rest of Main Street has seen copious amounts of new paint and rehabs the country park restaurant has been left overlooked. Now, the rehab crews have finally reached the end of Main Street and the restaurant is at last getting a well-deserved spot of TLC. The main building has been wrapped in scaffolding and tarps ready for work to begin.

Over on Central Plaza itself, it looks like a familiar Christmas gift will be here to stay. Whilst the flower beds and planters surrounding the hub were returned to their normal, non-elevated and non-snow-covered normality, the removal of fences around the plaza reveals the stage is now ready and waiting for the April launch of the new Candlabration show. The Christmas props have been entirely removed, and a hint of blue colouring even seems to have made its way onto the sides of the cleaned-up stage. The “Once Upon a Time” motif may sit rather oddly with the non-Princess-themed ceremony, but within a few months it could be that we won’t be able to remember Central Plaza without the addition, due to stay now until March 2008.

Now, with themeing, restaurants and boutiques all covered by refurbishments, shouldn’t the attractions get a polish-up too? Scheduled to finish tomorrow are the clean-ups of Le Carrousel de Lancelot and Les Mystères du Nautilus, whilst Casey Jr. – Le Petit Train du Cirque and Le Pays des Contes de Fées are also due to return for the new year.

With all this Disneyland Park-centred refurbishment beginning to rival the construction wall record of Walt Disney Studios Park, could the second gate be getting worried? It need not fear – the major resurfacing works in front of – and around – its grand entrance arch more than outdo the competition! All of the old searchlight and stars floor decoration has been scraped away, leaving a bare concrete base for new – and hopefully more resilient – flooring to come, ready for the park’s first ever new attraction openings in mid-June.

All photos by Photos Magiques. You can see much more here.

We begin with Imagineer Beth Clapperton, who poses next to one the turtle shell ride vehicles from Crush’s Coaster in Toon Studio, holding plans to the entire track layout. The turtle shell follows all the usual standards of a Maurer Söhne Xtended SC-2000 car, with four seats back-to-back in rows of two. However, the car has also been extensively customised by the Disney Imagineers, extending the front and sides to perfectly resemble a turtle shell, with an incredible level of detail compared to other Disney ride vehicles.

The photo appears to have been taken on the break-run of the attraction’s “coaster” section, likely sometime in mid-2006 since the building does not appear to be fully enclosed. It also seems restraints and seat backs had yet to be fitted to the first vehicle at this point.

Next up, we move across to Cars Race Rally and into the backstage workshops of Walt Disney Imagineering, where a life-size Luigi is being crafted by hand for the upcoming attraction. Also sporting an exceptional level of detail, Luigi is due to appear at the Casa Della Tires photo location near the attraction’s entrance (see the map here), similar to the Mike Wazowski and CDA figures at the Monsters Inc Scream Scene location.

As you can see from the photo, it luckily seems that the resort have been given the rights to use the badge of this 1959 Fiat 500 on the real-life reproduction itself. Guido, Luigi’s forklift sidekick, is also expected to appear at the finished attraction, marking the first time these characters have been created in life-size 3D form.

Finally, the series of photos take us into the colourful Costuming Workshop at the ImagiNations building, backstage at Walt Disney Studios, for a glimpse at two stunning new dresses created exclusively for Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade. The dresses featured are Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, and the “one that started it all”, Snow White.

Along with rich, glistening fabrics and remarkable attention to detail, the dresses have been peppered with beautiful gold-laced leaves, petals and flowers (roses for Belle), allowing them to match perfectly with the garden-themed “Dreams of Romance” finale float where they will be featured. This is the first time such a high level of customisation has been used to allow the dresses to match their floats.

Sumptuous dresses, detailed props and “turtally” unique ride vehicles, all oozing Disney quality… as if the 15th Anniversary wasn’t an exciting enough prospect already!

All photos © Disney, courtesy of WDSfans.com and PhotosMagiques.com!

The new park tickets were announced at the Cast Member Rendez-Vous event earlier this month, and now the designs of the eight different new passport designs have been released. Each ticket option, Park Hopper and 1-Day/1-Park, will have four different designs, each featuring a different graphic from the set of fifteen candle-holding characters we’ve grown to recognise over the past six months.

The characters chosen to feature are Dumbo, Pinocchio and Pluto, with the fourth design presenting the full set of characters surrounding the large gold “15”. Unfortunately, the same set of designs are re-used for each ticket type, with colours and text changed, perhaps making the collection a little less exciting than if a larger number had been used. As reported earlier, Passe-Partout (Park Hopper) tickets are gold, whilst 1-Jour/1-Parc tickets are purple.

One noticable addition to these tickets is the text on the front. Early tickets simply featured the Disneyland Paris logo, whilst those from the past five years simply featured either the Passe-Partout logo or, for the 1-Day/1-Park, a set of Mickey ears. Whilst strange to see the text is presented only in French rather than the usual French/English combination, this should make it much easier for guests – and Cast Members – to see at a glance which ticket they have.

The tickets are expected to begin use on 1st April 2007, the official start of the 15th Anniversary Celebration, and will be used throughout the entire Anniversary year. Then, in March 2008, we’ll almost certainly get another new design – good news for collectors (and eBay sellers) !

Passport images © Disney, thanks to DLRP.fr

Almost all the information in this article and those to follow was reported by La Rouquine on the French Disney Central Plaza forum, giving the fan community an excellent service with not a moment wasted in reporting the exciting confirmations!

The Cast Member event first confirmed the general anniversary events, such as the character castle decorations to definitely be a bronze/gold colour. The “Bougillumination” (Candle Illumination) ceremony will take place every evening during the celebration (1st April 2007 to 31st March 2008) on a special stage in the middle of Central Plaza, featuring Mickey and the other classic characters. The ceremony show is more and more appearing to be a birthday version of The Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony, with different illuminations and minus the Disney Princesses. It will be accompanied by the song from the parade interaction stops of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, more on that later…

The previously rumoured “Character Train” cavalcade was also confirmed, to parade around Main Street USA at several times early each day using popular characters and the Dumbo Casey Jr float from The Wonderful World Of Disney Parade – reportedly to be repainted gold, silver and blue for the occasion. This event uses a similar idea to the classic Good Morning Main Street mini-parade from many years ago, or perhaps the Cavalcade de Stitch from 2006’s Halloween.

As for the rest of the current and recent parade floats, many of them 15 years old themselves, La Rouquine reports none will be kept except those of Snow White (often converted for other uses) and Cinderella. It remains to be seen, then, what will happen for the Halloween and Christmas parades this year.

Still on the subject of parades, more secrets from Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade have surfaced whilst others have been confirmed. There will be two sections to the music. The first, individual float scores, will be based on themes from the animated films presented, reorchestrated for the parade (by Steve Sidwell – see our report from last week). The second will be a new theme song, written especially for the anniversary events and used during the parade’s interaction stops.

Whilst La Rouquine reports the new song is sung in English by a couple (and reviews it favourably), we can add that its full title is “Just Like We Dreamed It”. The parade will apparently stop on average four times during its course, therefore amounting to a single parade stop for those watching. The stops will allow the Disney characters to interact with the audience.

The idea of scents used during the parade is confirmed once again, with examples being the smell of sweets from the first float (Dream of Imagination, with Mickey and friends) and the smell of flowers from the Princesses’ garden float, Dream of Romance. The specialised artists replacing the dancers have been discussed for quite some time, and now several interesting examples are given. Jugglers with (false) fire for the villains’ Dream of Power float, bungee rope acrobats for Pinocchio’s Dream of Laughter and Fun, stilt walkers with puppets also for Pinocchio and finally flag throwers for Peter Pan’s Dream of Fantasy.

Cast Members will wear the badge of the anniversary with special commemorative name tags featuring the 15th Anniversary logo and generic “Where dreams come true” slogan of Disney Parks, as seen below:

Scan: DLRP.fr

But how to get the word out outside of the resort? They’ve got that covered too – www.disneyland15.com will soon be host to a dedicated website for all the anniversary events! It was announced at the rendez-vous that the design is already completed, but the website won’t be launched just yet. (Last year, the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast website launched in early February, with the attraction also opening early April.)

Member tom_swiss on the same forum adds information about other elements of the advertising campaign on display at the event, which runs several days to allow all Cast Members to visit, in particular the decoration of several RER or Métro stations. The stations will be entirely dedicated to the anniversary, with stars and a red carpet on the floor and Disney characters on the walls in a very impressive advertising campaign.

One of the key desires with the 15th Anniversary campaign is to attract more families with younger children, since research has shown this to be an underdeveloped area of custom as parents generally wait until their children are older before visiting. And so, in addition to improved advertising, the popular “Kids Free” campaign from the early months of each year will be transferred to the entire celebration, but only for children under 7. La Rouquine reports that if it the idea is successful it could be extended beyond the anniversary year.

Finally, La Rouquine adds that special entrance tickets will be produced for the anniversary year, giving the biggest design change since the opening of Walt Disney Studios Park in 2002. 1-Day/1-Park tickets will be given a purple colour, whilst Passe-Partout (Park Hopper) tickets will be gold. Each will feature one of the fifteen characters holding a candle (though not all the character graphics will be used), with a total of around 8 different ticket designs for each option – and a surefire hit for Disney collectors? This follows the introduction of special 15th Anniversary-styled Annual Passports in November 2006.

Overall, Karl Holz clearly stated his desire to concentrate all resources and use all means to continue to raise the level of the quality of service at the resort. With all that listed above, he certainly knows how to motivate the cast!