How many people have a “ten year plan” that seems to go astray? Chalk Disneyland Paris up for one.
The phenomenally successful Disney Dreams! nighttime spectacular, which launched for the 20th Anniversary and has arguably carried the entire resort on its shoulders for the past five years, will very soon be no more. Read More…
Have more pictures of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant than your own home? Visiting Mickey and Minnie more frequently than your actual relatives? You’d best not look at the next ten photos — each one will make you want to drop everything and book another Disneyland Paris trip right now. Read More…
Deadly thorns and an enormous, tangled briar patch are now occupying the usually peaceful Castle Courtyard in Fantasyland, as the Maleficent’s Court transformation sees its Halloween opening. Read More…
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of “it’s a small world”, around 50 new artworks by Mary Blair are now available to purchase from The Art of Disney on Demand, at The Disney Gallery boutique in Disney Village. Read More…
Bringing Home Imagineering to the masses, Disneyland Paris has launched its latest promotional effort dubbed “The Imagination Castle”, an online competition inviting children to become the next Tom Morris and design their own Sleeping Beauty Castle.
From 6th to 24th February, children aged 3 to 8 years old can draw, paint or create their own imaginary castle and have their parent or guardian submit it to win a full board trip to Disneyland Paris and a chance to see the “Imagination Castle” itself brought to life. A mélange of all the winning entries, the castle will actually take shape somewhere in the centre of Paris — so don’t fear for crayon marks and paint smudges on our dear Château.
The contest is being run concurrently for residents of the United Kingdom, France (Le Château de l’Imagination), Spain (El Castillo de l’Imaginación), the Netherlands (Het Kasteel van de Verbeelding) and Belgium, with three winners from each competition.
Here’s the English promotional video:
It’s worth noting from the competition rules that Euro Disney S.C.A. will not be held responsible for “any damage caused to a Candidate’s computer”, so do make sure your child doesn’t paint directly onto the screen — and don’t forget the all-important dragon underneath.
Wait, did they finally retire the Roger Rabbit float?! The latest Disneyland Paris TV commercial to hit the internet, via a Danish travel agency, features a brief glimpse of the all-new Disney Magic on Parade aerial “flyover” footage, painstakingly shot over a whole day last summer.
This scene will at last replace the over two decades-old footage of Walt Disney World‘s 20th Anniversary Surprise Celebration Parade that Disneyland Paris has been using in countless trailers and promotional films since before the park’s 1992 opening.
Besides that well-choreographed shot, this TV spot just happens to be an all-round solid production. There’s footage of actual rides (!), real hotels (!) and of course a Disneyland Paris parade genuinely travelling down the true Parisian Main Street.
It uses a familiar concept of transporting people from the “real world” into a more magical Disney setting, but those clips last mere milliseconds. The recent “30 Yes Days” commercials for example, like far too many of the resort’s TV ads, dawdle endlessly on setting up a “concept”, when Disneyland Paris should probably just be using their precious airtime to show footage of the parks, like this.
We can even let the family off for apparently sneaking into the Newport Bay Club pool.
Watch the new Disneyland Paris commercial embedded below…
Please don’t “feed the birds”, as several notices around Disneyland Paris kindly request. Maybe it’s the large bodies of the water, the endless dropped food and crumbs, or perhaps even the allure of the Disney magic itself; over the years seagulls have become a frequent nuisance for the mouse in Marne-la-Vallée. Not just detracting from exotic vistas such as the legendary Rivers of the Far West, but causing a maintenance pain for cleaning and repainting too.
Time for some new tactics, then, as the resort unusually announces on its official Twitter the past eight days have seen a trial operation with a falconer and his trusty bird of prey, circling the Chessy skies to deter gulls from descending in the parks. One moment saw the falcon swoop right across the stained glass window of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant.
Disney_ParisFR later confirmed the effort had been a success and would be used again in the future. Coincidentally, seagulls only ever appear to be an issue in Disneyland Park and around Lake Disney in Disney Village. In Walt Disney Studios Park, you’re actually far more likely to see animatronic versions. Maybe they’re disappointed by the park, too?
With this trial proven, perhaps falconry could be employed to discourage other Disneyland Paris nuisances: the street sellers on the resort hub, that guest who blocks your view of Disney Dreams! just as the show begins, the lone smoker along a crowded parade route… What, no?
Right about now, over 1700 invited guests will be wrapped up warm on Central Plaza eagerly awaiting the premiere of ‘Disney Dreams of Christmas!‘ (Disney Dreams! fête Noël in French), the brand new seasonal edition of Disneyland Paris’ award-winning, world renowned nighttime spectacular. If, however, you’re sadly not one of them — you can still experience the entire show right now form the comfort of your home with the first complete video of the show to hit YouTube.
Featuring segments based on Disney’s upcoming Frozen, along with moments of Toy Story, Bambi, 101 Dalmations and even classic Mickey Mouse shorts, the show utilises most of the technology from the original Disney Dreams! along with some new tricks, such as colour-changing lights in the trees of Central Plaza and garlands of Main Street. California has also developed a full seasonal version of its own World of Color show in tandem with this project, titled World of Color: Winter Dreams.
It performs exclusively from now, with its public premiere tomorrow, until the end of Disney’s Enchanted Christmas season on 6th January 2014. This early video was likely filmed during last night’s exclusive Cast Member preview. So draw those curtains, put an extra log on the fire and enjoy 20 minutes of all-new, incredibly festive Disneyland Paris magic…
• VIDEO: Watch the regular Disney Dreams! show, updated for 2013, here
Neatly timed to coincide with the celebrations of 12th April 2012, Channel 5 in the UK broadcast a special behind-the-scenes “documentary” on Sunday, 15th April giving a unique look at the preparations for the 20th Anniversary. Titled Making the Magic: Disneyland Paris – 20th Anniversary, it will be available to watch on the online Demand 5 player until March 2013, but only within the UK.
Not wanting to let such a great promotional piece for the resort go unseen for everyone else, we managed to record the whole show from a DVR box. Quality isn’t perfect (no need for 720p), but hopefully it’s good enough to enjoy. (And yes, Walt Disney built his first park in 1955, not 1957!)
The show naturally focuses mainly on Disney Dreams!, with exclusive input from Steve Davison, Katy Harris and technical director Chuck Davis, but Disney Magic on Parade! is also featured with Kat de Blois and two British parade Cast Members preparing for the parade’s changeover. We get to see “Team Dreams” making last minute preparations on the same day Steve, Katy and Kat took time out to attend a Q&A session with fan sites, making us even more grateful for that opportunity. Added drama comes as Steve drops into the Dreams control room to announce: “There’s a big blue square which appears in the middle of Jungle Book, which I’ve never seen..!”
Knowing the promotional tie-up between Channel 5 and Disneyland Paris before the launch of the 20th Anniversary, this show is clearly more of a glossy promotional piece than a true “documentary” — but it’s also 22 minutes of the best British TV promotion seen for the resort in years. No CGI, no greenscreen, just letting the magic — and the people behind the magic — speak for themselves.
Meanwhile, across the Channel, French viewers recently got to enjoy the far less glossy but rather more revealing “Disneyland et ses Secrets” feature-length documentary on France 3, which can also be found in full on YouTube.
Videopolis Theatre in Discoveryland saw a packed house at 10.45am on 12th April 2012, as the Disneyland Paris Ambassadors welcomed legendary Imagineer Tony Baxter to the stage for a one hour discussion of its history, creation and progress “from concept to reality”. From broader points about the challenges his team faced in bringing a Disney park to Europe, he went on to discuss his favourite hidden details in the park, anecdotes of meeting Walt Disney, and even shares his very own version of the contested Phantom Manor storyline…
Couldn’t make it there yourself? We’re proud to present our own, exclusive video of the entire event for you now, above — including the special appearance of all the worldwide Disney Ambassadors from every resort to pose questions to Tony himself.