Saturday, 14th June 2014
Disneyland Paris has launched one of the first elements of its Ratatouille: The Adventure advertising campaign with a new “Rat Booth” app designed to turn you into a rat using your phone or portable device’s camera and a range of customisable options.
Available for iOS and Android devices, the app utilises augmented reality to map a rat’s face onto your own. As you look up and down, grin or frown, blink or gaze in wide-eyed wonderment, your Rémy-alike does exactly the same.
You can personalise your RatBooth rodent with a range of fun “accessories” borrowed from humans, and take a photo or even a video of its movements.
The app features numerous mentions of the new attraction Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, including on the splash screen and after taking a photo.
A link to “discover the attraction” leads to www.ratatouille-attraction.disneylandparis.co.uk, revealing the location of the promotional website, although this link was inactive at the time of writing. A guess at the French address, www.ratatouille-attraction.disneylandparis.fr, reveals the new mini-site in all its glory, including an online Rat Booth.
• For Apple devices, the 66.3 MB App Store download requires iOS 7.0 or later, while the 44 MB Google Play download requires Android 4.1 and up.
• Discover more about Ratatouille: The Adventure on the DLP Guide mini-site
Tuesday, 4th March 2014
It’s not quite a 3D trackless dark ride, but it’s still impressive: the famous Belgian Sand Sculpture Festival, which it has been announced will return to a Disneyland Paris theme again this year with an event titled “Disneyland Paris Sand Magic”.
Due to be held in Ostend (Oostende) from 28th June to 31st August 2014, the exhibition’s new flyer even hints at a well-timed Ratatouille theme.
Touting 30 artists of 12 nationalities, creating 150 statues between 2 and 12 metres high, the official website also reveals 3,000 tons of sand will be used to recreate the Disney scenes.
Part of a joint promotional commitment between Disney in Benelux and the organisers of the event, it’s also been confirmed already that next year’s festival will see the theme of Pixar’s upcoming The Good Dinosaur, while 2016 will feature Finding Dory.
Disney provided the theme for the show in 2011 and 2012, with countless landmarks from both parks painstakingly recreated in nothing more than golden sand — from Sleeping Beauty Castle to Main Street Motors, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and much more.
• Read our report on the first Disneyland Paris sand sculpture festival here
• See Photos Magiques’ pictures of the 2011 festival here
Disneyland Paris went big on the sculptures in 2011: a huge Sleeping Beauty “sand” castle was crafted on the banks of Seine in August, while November saw the resort become the theme of the Bruges Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival.
Which landmarks would you like to see recreated this time around?
