News / Refurbishments

The changes began back in December of 2007, when, as if preparing for its New Year resolutions, new planters suddenly appeared at the esplanade entrance to Disney Village. Contained within simple wooden borders like you can find at any garden centre, the new trees, shrubs and plants were a shock to the system, wrapped around either side of the entrance and behind the staircase into Planet Hollywood. It was a very good start — not great, the Disney “finish” was lacking, but certainly a major plus for the once barren, concrete areas.

Late December 2007 [Fabawan, DisneyGazette.fr forum]

Whilst the fans on magicforum whiled away the first month of the year dreaming of concrete borders à la the American Downtown Disney areas (and the esplanade leading to the Disney Village parking lot, in fact), little did we all know what would suddenly appear at the end of the month… Yes, concrete borders. Disney’s standard issue for planters in the resort area, and one of the first true, permanent “Disney” touches the multi-year makeover of the Village has seen so far.

7th-8th February 2008 [Photos Magiques]

Before we knew it, walls were popping up here, there and everywhere — brand new trees climbing into the sky behind them, housed in new footers being dug into the concrete flooring.

21st February 2008 [Disneytheque.com]

Next to Annette’s, between Planet Hollywood and King Ludwig’s, between Sports Bar and Disney Fashion and between Disney Fashion and the Hollywood Pictures store they arrived…

29th February 2008 [Mousy.be]

The entire lot reaches its crescendo at Café Mickey, where the uninspiring black tarmac terrace, bordered only by temporary potted plants for years, is finally being ripped up and replaced by a brand new pavement terrace, like the great cafés of Paris itself.

6th February 2008 [Fabawan, DisneyGazette.fr forum]

After the balloons and garish repainting works, Disney Village finally looks to be on the right track. With its harsh architecture softened by greenery and “through-passage” feel broken by all the extra seating on the concrete borders, wrapping and curving their way along the street, the area is finally beginning to appear like a real extension of the parks themselves.

Well, it at least now, finally, has that aspiration.

— Look out for another update following this soon, with the latest progress from the project.

[Photos by Photos Magiques, Disneytheque.com, Mousy.be and Fabawan on DisneyGazette.fr forum]

This really is a year when “any dream can come true”… Once again, guests can wind their way through the thick forests and jagged ochre rocks to Smuggler’s Cove, where either the Coyote or Raccoon keelboat will be waiting to take them for a pleasant, slow-paced tour of the Rivers of the Far West.

Controlled entirely by the Cast Member skippers, these keelboats follow a course that takes them far closer to Big Thunder Mountain and Wilderness Island, giving those on-board a unique close-up of the Western landscape and its wild animal population. As the boat rounds the farthest end of Big Thunder, you’ll even get to sail right through the giant Rainbow Arch.

Along the way, you’ll be kept in the Frontier mood with special area music on-board the boat and your “river pirate” skipper will entertain the decks by pointing out key features of the landscape, not to mention knocking out a few Jungle Cruise-style jokes! (though not quite as bad, apparently!)

Sounds pretty fun, doesn’t it? The two keelboats – directly inspired by the 1956 Disney film ‘Davy Crockett and the River Pirates‘ – are quite a unique feature for the park themselves. We’ve not been able to see inside them for 7-8 years, so the unusual seating either on top of the boat or down almost below the water level might come as a surprise to some.

The boats are scheduled to run at least until the end of the Summer season (26th August 2007), but no word yet if they’ll continue to ply the rivers beyond that date. We can certainly hope to see them as a permanent Summer fixture each year from now on.

The West isn’t Wild enough yet!

So, after returning Molly Brown to service, giving Mark Twain another touch up, repainting almost all of the Thunder Mesa town, completing a two-month refurbishment of Big Thunder Mountain, restoring the Disneyland Railroad Frontierland Depot and bringing a bright “ranch” red glow back to Cowboy Cookout Barbeque, have they reached the end of the tick-list? Not yet…

For over five years, Critter Corral has sat empty with a sign stating, “We’ll be back next season!” – only to remain empty the following year.

In their photo roundup dated 14th July 2007, the Photos Magiques team noted a few construction fences around one of the buildings at the entrance to the former children’s farm. This weekend, more strange things have happened – the entire area has been surrounded with fences, from the railroad to the old Woodcarver’s Workshop, even entirely obscuring the view of the area from the railroad line, all carrying the 15th Anniversary “we’re preparing something new” signs…

So, preparing for the return of animals to the Cottonwood Creek Ranch farm, or preparing for an entirely different future development? With such an abundance of fences and the permanent return of live animals seeming very unlikely, the days of the old Critter Corral appear to be numbered.

But before any inevitable rumours start – no, this won’t be for a Splash Mountain!

All photos by the new-look Photos Magiques! See more in their latest updates.

As we’ve watched the Village change its colours over the past couple of years, removing pillars and the “starry sky”, adding garish colours and poorly designed signs, there’s no doubt the thought that has always been at the back of our minds – “It’s ok. It’s only temporary. Once Tower of Terror is complete, Disney Village will be next on the agenda.”

But what then? Sure, we might finally get a brand new ‘World of Disney’ Store, but in the old part of town, will all this work be replaced again? They’ll have another go, but with a bigger budget? When you stop to think about it, the future for the current street — unless they do something seriously drastic when they start to expand — doesn’t look that good after all. Nor does the present…

DLRP Today is a happy place, let’s not forget that. We’ve had complaints, we’ve had moans, we’ve had could-have-been-done-betters, but, of 300+ articles, very few contain anything remotely negative about Disneyland Resort Paris. In that spirit, let’s start with a few kind words before the real disappointment begins…

The GOOD

Now, it’s quite unfair to entirely blame the current team on the state of Disney Village. The blame really has to go back to the original lead architect – Frank Gehry – or better still the person who comissioned the entire project – Michael Eisner. It’s no secret Eisner wanted Disney to become reknowned for world-class modern architecture as well as world-class theme park design. Whilst he may have given us the most stunning Magic Kingdom, he also gave us the most stunning mess right outside its gates.

Frank Gehry’s minimalist, geometric styles are all well and good – but at Disneyland? Even upon opening, the effect of this rather clever, giant “outdoor warehouse” with its pillars and “roof” of lights was ruined by the necessary signage for Disney’s stores and restaurants. Minimalism needs to be minimalism, not minimalism-with-a-giant-‘STEAKHOUSE’-sign-stuck-on-top. It’s simply impossible for a place like Disneyland to use this type of architecture.

Recently, they’ve added even more to the blank, uninspiring buildings in an attempt to “soften” the atmosphere, such as the rather nice stencil lettering and blocks of colour across the front of Billy Bob’s Country Western Saloon. Already one of the better-looking locations in the Village, the bar/restaurant and its adjoining Steakhouse have now been de-minimalised further with large boards wrapped around the top of their facades, finally giving them the look of real buildings, rather than overstated portakabins.

With the boards also wrapping around the top of The Steakhouse, which still has a fairly empty front, could a final stage in the makeover see some extra decorations here?

The first refurbishments to the work carried out back in 2005 are also happening, such as the much-needed repainting of the dark red pillar bases.

Even from a distance, the new, completed facade of the Disney Store is colourful, attention-grabbing and unmistakably “Disney”. With the balloons applied on top, the Village can now look colourful and welcoming even during the day… That said, whoever thought a red and white tape to cordon off the platform on the left would be OK needs to remember this is meant to be Disneyland, and not some war-torn country.

Hurricanes has some rather nifty new projections across itself, and another new kiosk has popped up over by Disney’s Hotel New York to advertise the Marriot Ile-de-France vacation club. Simple, stylish and with an understated Disney touch – we need more like this, please!

Ironically, it’s placed next to possibly the worst, ugliest, tackiest, (etc), feature in the entire resort – that New York “driving school” which continues to ruin the grounds of Hotel New York. Would the resort really not survive without this feature, would they have to close because they need the profit so much? No. So why, oh why, is it there?

The BAD

We’re definitely onto “the bad” now. You know, in almost an entire year of DLRP Today being online, we’ve rarely added any opinion or comment to our news reports about Disneyland Resort Paris. But when you see things like the “new” Disney Store facade, you just feel like screaming.

First and last impressions are always the ones people remember. With its location right at the heart of the resort, Disney Village is both the first location guests explore upon arriving and the last place they visit before leaving. Oh dear… Sure, there’s the excuse that all of the resort’s money is being pumped into the two parks right now, but that’s no excuse for awful design, especially when they clearly do have money to spend on Disney Village, and have in fact spent it on the following…

The odd, 2D signage, apparently in the style of a child’s colouring book, looks even more bizarre when you take a closer look at the characters. It’s almost as if you’re hallucinating.

I’m sorry, you’re not.

The UGLY

And it gets worse. On the entrance of the Disney Store facing the Sports Bar, the cute “Mount Disney Store” decoration, featuring the heads of Donald, Mickey and Goofy rather than George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, has just been given an extra-special coat of paint…

So what was once a fun salute to one of America’s greatest landmarks now becomes something that makes you feel like you just stepped through the gates of that fake Disneyland in Beijing. They could have taken this “American landmarks” theme and ran with it – Minnie Mouse as the Statue of Liberty, Daisy Duck in Hollywood… but no, that might be too boring. That wouldn’t look anywhere near enough like a rip-off market stall at all, it’d never work.

Come to think of it, Mount Rushmore is pretty boring isn’t it? It’s just a load of pale, grey rock. They really ought to follow the lead of Disney Village and get painting some bright primary colours across the faces of those dull presidents.

If they’re so intent on refurbishing Disney Village to a tight budget, a good place to start tightening the purse strings might have been shrinking the size of Donald and Mickey’s pupils, don’t you think?

Disney Village… will you ever be a worthy hub for Disneyland Resort Paris?

All photos by Photos Magiques.

We watched as Big Thunder Mountain regained its ochre glow, lost its ugly green moss and had colour brought back to its buildings in a 2-month refurbishment last Autumn. We saw Fuente del Oro dazzle once again in its South-of-the-border colours, new paint details and harvest props. Frontierland Depot was restored to life inside and out, the Boot Hill paths were completely rebuilt and, of course, Molly Brown returned to the Rivers of the Far West looking more “unsinkable” than ever before…

Has Diamond Lil’ found another lucky nugget? It looks like the town of Thunder Mesa and its lazy farm ranch have struck another Gold Rush with all these refurbishments. Even at the relaxed meadows of Cottonwood Creek Ranch, they’ve been busy treating the wood of Cowboy Cookout Barbeque and returning its bright red overcoat. How many people even knew Cowboy Cookout was meant to be this colour?

The ranch windmill also recently returned to the paddocks in front of The Chaparral Theater, with the barns and ranch buildings across from it looking brighter than ever. Compare the first photo below (taken April 2007) to the second (taken 26th June 2007 by Joel).

With all the wood treatments and repainting, they’ve still been sure to keep all the old details, such as the Cottonwood Creek horseshoe symbols, and even add a few we’ve not seen for years – such as the bale of hay hung out the top of the barn. The ‘Cowboy Cookout Barbeque’ sign itself is away being fully refurbished, replaced with a smaller, temporary sign for now.

It’s no secret that the buildings along Thunder Mesa Road had seen better days recently. From Tobias Norton & Sons and Bonanza Outfitters across to The Lucky Nugget Saloon and Silver Spur Steakhouse, the entire town was beginning to resemble more the ghosttown of Phantom Manor’s final scene rather than the prosperous settlement which had gold to its name.

As the buildings now finally receive their well-deserved repaint and care, the removal of signage and other details in preparation reveals a little just how downhill this ghost-town went in the early 2000s…

Thank the Lucky Nugget, that’s all about to change, partner! The rotting Thunder Mesa Mercantile Building beside Fort Comstock is getting a heavy dose of care as we speak…

As for the heart of the town itself, The Lucky Nugget Saloon is glistening brighter than it has done for years. When the first coat of paint appeared almost two months ago, it was quite a shock – should it be that bright?

Yee-ha, yes it should! The difference between old and new is startling. The final cracks and rotting corners from the Jay Rasulo age are finally being painted over, the unique paint details which had become barely noticeable (such as The Lucky Nugget’s talent scouting advertisements), returned to their former, very colourful selves…

With Molly Brown back on the rivers, Cottonwood Creek Ranch in full colour, Thunder Mesa shining brighter than a golden nugget and – as if we could forget – the River Rogue Keelboats due to be plying the rivers in less than one week… Frontierland is gonna’ have the rootinest, tootinest Summer ever!

The Gold Rush has come again!

Photos by Joel’s Photo Hunt and Photos Magiques.

The return was first confirmed by La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum just last Wednesday, and before fans of Keelboats even had time to pick their jaws up off of the floor, the Keelboats were sighted plying the rivers of Frontierland in preparation for the grand re-opening:

A full refurbishment of the two boats, the Coyote and the Raccoon, and their well-themed loading dock was actually completed over one year ago, with Karl Holz and the operations teams hoping the boats would return for Summer 2006… but they never did. According to La Rouquine, it wasn’t a budget issue as many would have guessed, but infact an issue with training Cast Members to French boating standards in time for the Summer season.

Since the Cast Members running the boats entirely control their route, they must now have a full boating licence, which would have meant training off-site for a considerable time. La Rouquine reports that for the first time the go-ahead has now been given for the Cast Members to train on-site, but with an experienced, external instructor.

The boats originally ceased general service at the end of the 90s, with several brief days of opening in 2000 and 2001 before a full closure from the start of 2002. With only two boats in operation and a large team of Cast Members required, the boats don’t offer the kind of guest-munching, low-cost service operations teams usually enjoy, but in terms of giving life back to the Rivers of the Far West, their effect is unparalled.

Around fifteen Cast Members will join the attraction’s operations team, with an opening currently aimed at late June or early July. It seems likely the operations schedules currently call for a Summer season operation only, but should the return be a success, who knows what this fan-pleasing operations team will decide for the future…

Photos by Photos Magiques, 16/06/2007.

Most guests rush through the resort area each day on their way to Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Studios Park, perhaps missing these clever new symbols on the central hub of the entire resort. For these guests there’s still an improvement to be spotted — the bright-white security tents have finally been changed to a much more pleasant green, as at Disneyland Resort in California, for example.

And for anyone who takes their time and takes a look down at the ground, they’ll spot some unique floor decorations that bring the five Disney resorts closer than ever before. With all the current ‘Disney Parks’ branding going on and each resort beginning to share more styles, ideas and advertising, this is another step in the widespread plan of Bob Iger and Jay Rasulo to bring the parks and resorts closer together, to work off of eachother and help eachother out.

At select angles of the compass design embedded into the floor of the hub, you’ll now find a series of golden discs showing the logo for each of the four other Disney resorts, their opening date and the distance from Disneyland Resort Paris to these overseas parks.

Whilst Disneyland Resort Paris is often short-changed when mentioned by the other resorts with an incorrect name or logo (usually the old Disneyland Paris logo, now 6 years gone), the people behind these new compass points have made sure to get the logos of Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Tokyo Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland right up-to-date. You’ll see Disneyland Resort with its classic Walt Disney script, rather than the clinical 2001 version, and Walt Disney World Resort with its golden arc and stars — “stolen” from the 2002 Disneyland Resort Paris logo.

Currently, Disneyland Resort Paris is the only Disney resort in the world to acknowledge the others in this way. Will each resort get a similar centrepiece, or is this just a friendly “Bonjour!” from the folks in Paris?

The distances from Paris to the other Disney resorts…

Disneyland Resort – Anaheim, California
9102 km

Walt Disney World Resort – Orlando, Florida
7272km

Tokyo Disney Resort – Tokyo, Japan
9698 km

Hong Kong Disneyland – Hong Kong, China
9584 km

As you can see, Disneyland Resort Paris is around halfway between the resorts of the West (California and Florida) and the East (Hong Kong and Tokyo) — the Disney magic has wrapped its way around the entire globe!

“It’s a small world afterall”, and the hub of Disneyland Resort Paris finally has a little golden touch of Disney magic.

All photos by Photos Magiques.

Remember the old Candy Palace? Faded decorations, overcrowded shelves and not a particularly appetizing overall look…

Now, thanks to the ongoing refurbishments both inside and out of Main Street‘s famous boutiques, the Boardwalk Candy Palace is glowing with a cleaner, fresher, pinker feel. With bright colours returned to its façade and two new pink-striped canopies, the Candy Palace has a sweet-toothed new look to match that given to The Emporium last year. Like a real street in a real turn-of-the-century town, trends are passing and times are changing – the boutiques following with them.

Stepping inside, you’re now met not by cash registers and a large, over-crowded sales counter, but instead by a bright and open interior populated with simple, organised and – important for the park’s child-orientated demographic – lower sales displays. The reorganised floorplan, just like that at the “new” Emporium, gives the beautiful wall painting a much more prominent feel, by moving the loose candy sales counter over to join the take-away counter – easier for the Cast Members as well as giving the sweets a fresher feel.

With this gone, the mural is open for photographers and fronted with a brand new pick-n-mix display, adding even more colour to the Atlantic City seashore above.

The cashiers are now hidden behind the two main pillars, with a third in the front section of the store opposite the fresh candy counter. With a fresh coat of white paint and a soft pink touch to the ceiling skirting, the hidden candies and delights of the store’s interior design are much easier to spot.

With the redesign comes a new menu design and point-of-sale displays. Using a pink scheme mimicking traditional wallpaper style and using the seashell motif from the store’s façade, they’ve created an authentic, new turn-of-the-century “brand” similar to the paper wrapping of old-fashioned hand-packed confectionary. As a break from the fairly cheap character-covered sweets already available in every other boutique, it’s a shame this new design hasn’t been extended to the candy packaging itself, for a new line of more exclusive Board Candy Palace-exclusive creations, perhaps?

Like their work on the Emporium across the street though, the refurbishment teams have once again worked hard to really bring out the best features of this popular store. Not just following guidelines for better sales, but helping also to highlight the beautiful original designs of 1992, fifteen years on.

With thanks to Photos Magiques for photos featured here.

So what exactly does a second gate need? Let’s say… immersive themeing, its own character, attractions to rival those next door and enough to keep you busy for at least a day. Step into Animation Courtyard right now, and the Toon Studio project fills the entire area as if ticking these boxes piece-by-piece around the land.

The entire park is suddenly receiving a huge amount of interest from Walt Disney Imagineering, arguably more than any other Disney Park in the world. When you consider the four new attractions and two completely transformed theme areas they’re working on, it’s good to know that finally, after five years, Walt Disney Studios Park is getting more spells from the Sorcerer’s Apprentice wand than anywhere else.

Of course, much of the improvement (including the recently installed Toon Town backdrop) is still behind fences…

…But no-one can argue now that there’s a definite “buzz” about this second gate – especially not if you’re enjoying the Studios at the same time as countless construction workers…

This video features footage of the hills for the new Toon Town backdrop being lowered into place, with the briefly-presented new area music loop we mentioned in the previous Toon Studio update in the background – first a piano waltz of ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’, then an instrumental track from ‘The Rescuers’. The backdrop serves to not only place Toon Studio within its Toon Town location and cover the ImagiNations Costuming building behind, but also provide new locations for character meet ‘n’ greets along its bordering wall.

So that’s good, that’s it, the area is done. No, not by half – the old Walt Disney Studios Park might have stopped with a wall, but this Studio – for perhaps the first time – has a real trick up its sleeve…

This exciting brand new concept art was first posted by La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum, and shows the expected Toon Town backdrop with its wall and studio entrance gate. A surprise addition, though, is the studio security booth. It was featured on the new map unveiled on 1st April, but with the area still under construction its presence in the final design was questionable – especially with this park’s history.

The wall, gate and archway are all distinctly more “toon” inspired than originally expected from earlier concepts, adding a huge boost of “character” to the Studios. It’s also fun to see that an idea from the very first Toon Studio concept has reappeared (and made it to reality) just in time – the “shooting schedule” board, which appears to give the times for character meets as well as details of the other productions (Crush’s Coaster, Cars, etc) currently filming.

Add it all together with details like the wavy yellow line along the middle of the street, the twisted blue toon lampposts and lots of new planting around this entrance square… and the Toon-y reality of this project is a stunning sight…

Simply a million miles from anything else at Walt Disney Studios Park, the area already exudes a fun, colourful atmosphere in these photos by Alain Littaye. Large planters hide pathways, details are everywhere and – in what could be a groundbreaking first for Imagineering – the reality actually looks more impressive than their original concepts. With Crush’s Coaster, Cars Race Rally and the new Toon Studio entrance area, this is three detail-rich areas in one relatively small space. Yet, thanks to the magic of the movies, it works.

Strangely, the “Toon Studio” lettering on the entrance arch currently faces inward, whilst on the concept – and according to logic – it should face outside of the studio, to the street where Goofy can be seen driving into the distance. An original idea here was for a food retail cart themed to “Goofy’s Catering Co.”, with the back end of the vehicle smashed into the wall. According to the latest word – and indeed to the new park map illustration, this theme is no longer planned.

Some details are still on their way, though, such as the 3D “Toon Town” lettering itself and several lights to fill the holes in the wall, like those seen on the concept above. Beyond this, the area will of course feature some brand new character locations. Mickey Mouse and The Incredibles have been shown in all recent concepts, but Ratatouille is the only confirmed taker for a spot in the new area, due to arrive in-person (or rather in-rodent-form) from 16th June 2007.

The photo above, by Scrooge on Disney Magic Interactive forum, shows the placement of the backdrop and security booth in relation to the rest of the new area, nestled in the corner next to Crush’s Coaster. The large bushes in front of this square, hiding it from guests passing by on “Route 66” outside Cars, can also be clearly spotted.

More hidden “weenies”, as they’re called in Imagineering terminology (like weenies in the distance drawing guests toward them) can be found a little closer to the current Animation Courtyard area. MagicMouse on Disney Central Plaza forum snapped the following photo over the fences a few weeks ago, giving an amazing angle on the new Studio 5. Picture Walt Disney Studios as you remember it, then take a look at this – the “Toon Effect” at its best…

The photo also shows details such as the green metal lamps attached to the dark wooden poles in the area, the blue fence surrounding the Animation Courtyard side of Cars and the light wooden supports for the future Crush’s Coaster entrance sign, which was recently revealed by WDSFans.com in an updated piece of concept art.

The effects of the project haven’t just been felt in the new area either. Finally, some major changes to the existing Animation Courtyard have been completed, such as Animagique‘s new blue colour scheme and the new flooring pattern. Interestingly, the flooring directly in front of and surrounding Animagique has yet to be completed, despite this area being re-opened to the public. Concepts and even the new park map have shown new planters and flowers here on the unused overflow queue area, so this could indeed be a possibility for the future.

One thing that’s certain – blue is without doubt still the “in” colour for Toon design. Even the wall bordering this part of the land is ready to receive a coat, just like the extended wall leading up to Crush’s Coaster has. One notable absence of blue, though, is on the new railings surrounding the trees added way back in October. Not only has the railing taken over six months to arrive, but it features exactly the same pale green colour and style as the others around Disney Bros. Plaza – hardly giving an exciting entrance to the wonders of the “Toon Effect” that lie beyond…

And so here we are – less than one month to go until Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally are officially handed over from Walt Disney Imagineering to Euro Disney SCA for final operations tests. With the entire area expected to be complete by 9th June, this leaves exactly seven weeks for the Toons (and their Imagineers) to complete the transformation. They’ve come a long way already, but with an entrance statue to install, a Sorcerer Hat to decorate, flooring to finish and a whole new area to polish off, Mickey had better get working that magic wand…

Latest photos with thanks to Alain Littaye’s ‘Disney & More’ blog, Scrooge on Disney Magic Interactive forum, Mousy.be and Photos Magiques.