Wednesday, 22nd March 2017

Final Disney Dreams! nighttime spectacular performance announced

Final Disneyland Paris Disney Dreams! nighttime spectacular performance announced

The final performance of award winning Disneyland Paris nighttime spectacular Disney Dreams! will take place this Friday, 24th March 2017, ahead of its replacement by the new Disney Illuminations show. Read More…

Friday, 10th March 2017

Beauty and the Beast’s Belle to replace Moana meet at Art of Disney Animation

Beauty and the Beast Belle live-action 2017 character meet and greet Disneyland Paris

The star of Walt Disney Pictures’ live-action Beauty and the Beast remake will replace animated heroine Moana at the Walt Disney Studios Park meet and greet spot from the new movie’s release date. Read More…

Friday, 26th September 2014

See the first 10 days of Disney’s Halloween 2014 events and times in new Programme

Disney's Halloween Festival 2014 Programme Disneyland Paris

Mickey’s Halloween Celebration, Maleficent’s Court and the Maleficent Disney Villains Promenade are all on the latest official Disneyland Park Programme, published today for the first ten days of Disney’s Halloween Festival in 2014. Read More…

Thursday, 25th September 2014

Disneyland Paris launches brand new official website in line with American Disney resorts

Disneyland Paris launches brand new official website fully in line with American resorts

The oft-criticised official Disneyland Paris website has seen a complete relaunch of its UK edition today, bringing it in line with the websites for its American cousins in perhaps the biggest update yet both visually and technically. Read More…

Monday, 31st March 2014

Ratatouille’s La Place de Rémy joins Walt Disney Studios Park and resort maps

Ratatouille Walt Disney Studios Park Disneyland Paris 2014 Map

La Place de Rémy has officially joined the Walt Disney Studios Park map. Pre-empting the expected guide map changeover on 3rd April, Disneyland Paris has released an early peek at the new, updated map for its second gate featuring the brand new mini-land.

Depicting the Parisian quarter to the right of Toy Story Playland in Toon Studio, the park map now shows the square, buildings, façades and all-important fountain of Ratatouille: The Adventure. The marquee logos of the ride, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, and the restaurant, Le Bistrot Chez Rémy, are both included, as is the logo-orientated style of the studio park map.

The map’s designers have chosen to end the façades immediately behind their rooftops, similar to several attractions such as Pirates of Caribbean on the Disneyland Park map, and not depict the massive showbuilding in any way. This makes the attraction the first to have a “hidden” or backstage showbuilding on the Walt Disney Studios Park map (even if in reality there’s no hiding it from within the park).

While Catastrophe Canyon and the Dinotopia set of Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic have been moved to the right in order to fit the latest expansion on, the rest of the park map remains completely unchanged:

Ratatouille Walt Disney Studios Park Disneyland Paris 2014 Map

In fact, so much so that the version sent out today still features the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage! logo — the attraction has been rebranded to Disney Junior. The full map also inexplicably features Disney Village in the bottom-left corner, seen from the same viewpoint.

Besides the park, Ratatouille will also be featured on the general Disneyland Paris resort map, with a few of its façades pictured above Buzz Lightyear:

Ratatouille Walt Disney Studios Park Disneyland Paris 2014 Resort Map
Ratatouille Walt Disney Studios Park Disneyland Paris 2014 Resort Map

Looking back through the park’s previous maps, it is now relatively impressive to see the changes and expansions since opening day — though they have certainly been somewhat lop-sided, with Toon Studio getting much of the attention.

In 2001, perhaps the barest Disney Park map in history was released for pre-opening brochures:

Walt Disney Studios Park 2002 Map Disneyland Paris

This was thankfully soon updated with more of the park’s finer details (if not any of the numerous expansion rumours of the time, which would take five years to materialise):

Walt Disney Studios Park 2003 Map Disneyland Paris

Then, the first and still biggest change to date came in 2007, when Crush’s Coaster, Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Hollywood Boulevard were all added to the map in one go:

Walt Disney Studios Park 2007 Map Disneyland Paris

In 2010, the map was updated with Toy Story Playland along with updated logos for Disney Blockbuster Café and Restaurant des Stars.

As with 2007, the early addition of Ratatouille will give the ride some much-needed advance publicity for guests visiting in the months before its opening.

While teasers have been shared online, the expansion must be one of the first in Disneyland Paris history not to see its construction walls decorated with even a modest teaser of what is being built within. With so many missed promotional opportunities already, it’s a relief to see this one seized, if only thanks to the traditional bi-annual guide map changeover…

Friday, 15th March 2013

St Patrick’s Day 2013 programme: Irish music and dance takes over Disneyland Paris

St Patrick's Day at Disneyland Paris

This Sunday, Disneyland Paris celebrates St Patrick’s Day for one day only with music, dance, fireworks and special character appearances. The full programme of events was released today, confirming the annual Irish celebrations will again be hosted largely in the Cottonwood Creek Ranch area of Frontierland, a tradition begun last year and continued with the St David’s Welsh Festival just last weekend.

On 17th March 2013, guests can expect special appearances from Disney characters in costumes inspired by the Emerald Isle, along with free face painting, a pipe band, Irish musicians and dance shows from the Sarah Clark Academy with special guests Chip ‘n’ Dale. A special fireworks display ends the day as a precursor to Disney Dreams! and the fun continues into the night at Disney Village.

All the times and details are in the programme attached below… Read More…

Tuesday, 12th February 2013

The Aristocats to appear for “Be my Valentine!” day at Disneyland Paris

"Be my Valentine!" day at Disneyland Paris [Photo: Loren Javier (Flickr)]

Disneyland Paris certainly knows how to win over the hearts of its character fans. Along with the usual special meet ‘n’ greets for Valentine’s Day on 14th February, this Thursday will also see a special mini event on the parade route featuring “The Aristocats” characters. Programmed for three performances in the afternoon — at 14:35, 15:35 and 16:30 — it will be a very rare chance to see the Parisian characters in their home park.

In fact, only Marie (pictured above) is known to us to make regular appearances at Disney Parks, so will she be the lone Aristocat in the cavalcade?

According to Disneyland Paris – Fans on Facebook, the 2013 date will also give the chance to meet Disney “couples” together such as Mickey & Minnie, Donald & Daisy, Woody & Jessie, Stitch & Angel and Peter Pan & Wendy, along with rarer characters Phoebus & Esmeralda from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and Bernard & Bianca from “The Rescuers”.

"Be my Valentine!" day at Disneyland Paris

A limited edition (ex. 600) pin featuring Lady & the Tramp was already released last Saturday, 9th February 2013, for the occasion.

Update: @InsideDLParis reports on Twitter that Marie will be joined by fellow kittens Berlioz and Toulouse, making for their first ever character appearance in any Disney Park.

VIA Disneyland Paris Programme, PHOTO Loren Javier (Flickr)

Saturday, 10th March 2012

St David’s Welsh Festival underway with special day of music, costume and fireworks

Disney doesn’t have a Welsh dragon in its repertoire of characters, but Mushu is only too happy to get his face on the cover of today’s special programme for St David’s Welsh Festival, a three-day event happening at Disneyland Paris this weekend. Though the festival officially runs from the 9th to 11th this year, providing the perfect weekend package for visitors from Wales, the main day of events within Disneyland Park itself is today. The programme itself is similar to previous years, though with Meet Mickey Mouse seeing the end of Fantasy Festival Stage‘s days as an actual theatre, the traditional Welsh folk choir has been displaced to the somewhat less fitting Chaparral Theatre in Frontierland.

In fact, the whole Cottonwood Creek Ranch area has been overrun by green, red and white; now the base for face painting, the Waun Ddyfal Choir and meet ‘n’ greets with Mickey and Minnie in their very exclusive Welsh folk costumes, above; a real rarity for character spotters that you’ll only see here.


At 4.30pm, before the main Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, the traditional Welsh Festival pre-parade saw Mickey and Minnie travel down Main Street, U.S.A. in the bright red fire truck, decked out with Welsh flags, daffodils and leeks. In Disney Village, the avenue is filled with wooden market stalls selling all manner of Welsh crafts and merchandise. Then, as the park closes its gates at 10pm, the sky above Sleeping Beauty Castle comes alive with the special firework display to mark the occasion… albeit over a week late — St David’s Day itself always falls on 1st March.

The event is somewhat of an oddity in the annual calendar of the resort; one of only three national holidays recognised by the parks, including St Patrick’s Day and the Bastille Day fireworks, yet nowhere near as globally recognised as either as those. Falling conveniently in early March, however, it no doubt helps to fill a gap in the year, drawing in coach trips and extra custom from Wales, providing something fresh before the new Disney year in Paris traditionally begins each April.

Last year, Disneyland in California held a similar series of events at its comparable Big Thunder Ranch under the Family Fun Weekends name, with some nice branding and design work that Disneyland Paris could do well to be inspired by for its own celebration days.

MORE PHOTOS @InsideDLParis (Twitter)

Saturday, 11th February 2012

“Retro-Vintage” one of three promising buzzwords for 20th Anniversary merchandise

The ’90s are back, baby! What once was cast aside as garish colour and simplistic design could be set for a renaissance, if reports of Disneyland Paris’ merchandise ranges for the 20th Anniversary prove accurate. Alongside buzzwords “Celebration” and “Signature”, we’ll see a range titled “Retro-Vintage”, reports Cast Member @ulyssecuvelier on Twitter. Though some niche “Euro Disney” throwback pins were released for the 15th Anniversary, this could be the first time Disneyland Paris has truly explored its own past as a “vintage” idea to be resold anew.

However, with modern 2012 trends now looking back particularly favourably on this early 1990s era, what was garish or simplistic is now gradually being seen again as bold or refined instead. We’re all familiar with throwbacks to the 1950s design style of the original Disneyland, epitomised in websites such as Yesterland, with its colourful flags and block lettering. Even Walt Disney World mines its own past with much focus on Spaceship Earth and its original globe logo (examples below).

But what does “retro-vintage” mean to the relatively youthful resort in Paris? Well — take a look back at the first collage above! We’ve collected together just a few fine examples from our own Euro Souvenirland website, showing off the striking design style which saw Disneyland bombastically launch itself into Europe. A world away from the dazzling, multifaceted, but ultimately somewhat hollow, heavily photoshopped brand of 2012, the simple graphical designs of 1992 look ripe for revisiting.

Incredibly evocative of their time, any of these examples would work wonderfully re-applied to bags, T-shirts, keyrings and beyond. Just look at those paper bags and napkins — the illustrations on those are far more attractive than anything you’ll find even on the merchandise itself today!

It remains to be seen whether Disneyland Paris would want to reuse the Euro Disney logo specifically (unlikely), but it wouldn’t be hard to work the current logo back into this style… that’s if the merchandisers have the same idea of “retro-vintage” as us. We await 1st April 2012 to find out, if 12th April 1992 will come around again…

Also reported to be making up the range of birthday merchandise is a special Disneyland Paris 20th Anniversary wine by Domaine Bertrand. A revisit of an idea from the 15th Anniversary, it will be available in a commemorative bottle as red, white or rosé.

• In the meantime, explore more “retro-vintage” memorabilia at Euro Souvenirland.com!

VIA @ulyssecuvelier (Twitter)

Friday, 11th February 2011

Disney gives 20% off dining outside peak hours… with your Park Programme

Disneyland Paris Park Programme

Pick up a Park Programme under Main Street Station or inside Disney Studio 1 between tomorrow and next Friday and you’ll now get a little more than just the latest show and parade times. This week’s guide has gone full-colour with a New Generation Festival theme and extended in size to feature a new discount voucher, offering a 20% discount at selected restaurants. Valid before 12pm and between 2.30pm and 6pm each day, the special discount can be used at Cowboy Cookout Barbecue, Fuente del Oro Restaurante, Restaurant Hakuna Matata, Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost, Café Hyperion, Au Chalet de la Marionnette, Toad Hall Restaurant and Plaza Gardens Restaurant in Disneyland Park, whilst your choice in Walt Disney Studios Park is between Disney Blockbuster Café and Restaurant des Stars.

Disneyland Paris park guides have always contained a little tip that guests should try to dine during these “off peak” hours for shorter queues, but this is the first time Disney has offered such a tempting bonus for doing so. The savings could be big, especially if you’re with a family. Four people taking the €23.70 Buffet menu at Plaza Gardens Restaurant, for example, would pay €75.84 rather than €94.80 — a considerable saving of €18.96, especially if you’re having to use the still rather unforgiving Pound/Euro exchange rate. And if you’re going to take advantage, did you know DLRP Magic.com now has fully up-to-date complete menus for all those restaurants listed above? Take a look!

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