News / Shows

Between the drama over The Tarzan Encounter cancellation and the new Goofy’s Summer Camp replacement, the life of The Chaparral Theater in Frontierland has been constantly at the peril of the rumour mill this year more than ever.

First they said it would be gone by the Summer, then demolished over the Winter… now, it looks set to stand firm until at least 2010. After an ambiguous early Christmas press release, casting calls on French website www.paris-casting.com have finally confirmed that Mickey’s Winter Wonderland will be back for this year’s festive season!

Yes, whilst we’re enjoying the Summer sunshine, the Entertainment department in Paris is already well advanced with their plans for this year’s Halloween and now just beginning on Christmas. The show will begin casting from 22nd August to find performers for its run from 7th November 2009 right through, as usual, to early March 2010.

Here’s the casting announcement, for the male and female hosts of the show:

Jusqu’au 22 août audition comédienne/comédien pour
le spectacle “Mickey et la Magie de l’Hiver”
par Disneyland® Paris

Dans le cadre du spectacle “Mickey et la Magie de l’Hiver”, Disneyland® Paris organise de nouvelles auditions.

Afin de tenir les rôles de Maîtres de Cérémonie, nous recherchons des comédiens/comédiennes sachant impérativement patiner sur glace :
– ayant de bonnes bases de danse.
– bilingues anglais/français.

Contrats CDD (statut intermittent) à temps partiel.
Pour la période de : début octobre 2009 à début mars 2010.
Cachet de 127 Euros brut/jour pour les répétitions.
Cachet de 159 Euros brut/jour pour les spectacles.

Rumours have persisted for over a year that the theatre at the back of Frontierland would meet the bulldozers sooner or later, likely hinting at a redevelopment of the area for something like… ooh, Splash Mountain, of course. All this, strangely, despite the fact that plans exist showing that it could sit perfectly well alongside a new version of that popular water ride, with only the Frontierland Depot railroad station moving further up the line.

Focus has been shifting constantly between possible candidates for a “20th Anniversary” attraction, and though Splash Mountain has been heavily rumoured (as it has been generally for over a decade), it’s still certainly at the upper end of the cost scale. With word coming that a different proposal has apparently been greenlit for 2012, should the Chaparral really be too worried just yet?

As for Mickey’s Winter Wonderland, the show will return just as it has for the past 11 years. The only rumours here, via magicforum, are speculating a replacement of the real ice rink in the stage with a synthetic plastic substitute. Perhaps a more eco-friendly Winter Wonderland this year, then.

Picture: © Disney; Casting link via Characters Photos News.

Well yes, quite a lot obviously. Just shows you shouldn’t go wandering into the Adventure Isle caves just before park closing… it’s been four long months!

If you’ve been similarly deprived of Disneyland Resort Paris news, given up trying to translate what they’re saying on the French forums, sit back and enjoy a quick and concise round-up of all the big stories of recent months — here we go!

SLEEPING BEAUTY’S BLING

Was it coincidence that updates here ended just about the time that Sleeping Beauty Castle succumbed to its most horrific, misguided meddling-with to date?

The birthday cake, the jester’s hat, the Epcot wand, the MGM hat… you’ve met your match. There truly aren’t enough negative adjectives in the dictionary.

— — —

MAGICAL PARTY LAUNCHES WITH MEGA-PARTY

‘You’re invited!’ …but not to this. Press and media types were schmoozed in spectacular fashion as new theme year Mickey’s Magical Party kicked off with fireworks, projections, lights and so many characters they couldn’t even all fit on the damn stage.

Did it generate headlines, articles, media coverage? No.

— — —

ACTUAL PARTY GROWS ON FANS

Frustratingly-titled new Central Plaza show ‘It’s Party Time… with Mickey and Friends’ initially looked rather like a drab flop on an overbearing and unnecessary new stage, but it has grown on most fans. The score by Vasile Sirli is actually plain fantastic (especially considering the lacklustre music in the year’s other new shows) and it provides a fresh, colourful heart for the year.

Watch the full show in HD here.

ShoulderKids – this year’s must-have accessory

— — —

LIGHT MAGIC GIVEN FORMAL APOLOGY

Over in Discoveryland, the other show with an annoying name — ‘It’s Dance Time… in Discoveryland’ — brought delights such as large, primary-coloured circles on the floor of a retro-futuristic land, and the expertly-chosen hits of Block Party Bash.

Despite the show being considered terrible on every level by most who’ve seen it, the performers put so much effort and energy into their routine they each almost deserve a window on Main Street.

Watch the full show in HD here.

— — —

PLAYHOUSE DISNEY QUIETLY OPENS

Beyond the forced MMP hoopla over the other side of the esplanade, Walt Disney Studios Park gained a brand new attraction — its fifth addition since opening — in ‘Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage!’. Jolly good fun it is too — wonderfully staged, very charming. The Paris version even has a “1 Up” on the two earlier versions with a big new pre-show studio.

Watch the full show in HD here.

Credit crunch souvenirs

— — —

RESTAURANT GENERIQUE

Changing its name to ‘Restaurant des Stars’, the far too interestingly-named ‘Rendez-Vous des Stars Restaurant’ gained a new logo, some new colours and a new entrance canopy.

— — —

DUDE LOOKS LIKE A FIRE!

In a quite bizarre coincidence, just days after fans launched an online April Fool suggesting Aerosmith would be succeeded by French rocker Johnny Hallyday as musical guests at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, a fire began in the roof of the showbuilding.

Luckily the damage was minor — though it did allow for these dramatic photos (below) as the inspection crews ripped off the cladding, checked and replaced it. The attraction reopened just the next day.

— — —

SMEE GIVEN SURGERY

Captain Hook’s bumbling first mate was given a random makeover by the worldwide Disney Parks character team and, unlike most famous faces, he returned from the cosmetic surgery with a face more expressive than before. Remarkable.

Hopefully they’ll tackle some of the clearly worse-looking characters next, like the dead-eyed Woody, Jessie and Buzz…

— — —

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL PARTY!

Now back for a third year, the Studios’ High School Musical show this year gained musical numbers from the third film but stopped short of going for the full ‘HSM3’ show the other resorts put on. ‘I Want it all’ is the standout number, but one that certainly won’t win over any new fans.

Watch the full show in HD here.

— — —

THEMED SMOKING

The ‘Smoking Areas’ inside the parks had been extended little beyond their miniature park map icons, so it’s reassuring to see that each area now has its own themed sign, tied into the location. Give it a few years and the public might actually use them.

— — —

STUDIO STORE OPENS UP

Behind construction walls last time we saw it, the Walt Disney Studios Store has now been completed, with three new doors and payment desks in front of new, large windows.

Photo: dlrptimes.com

Photo: dlrptimes.com

— — —

STORYBOOK ENDING

Main Street has always had the best-kept exteriors of the entire park, always popping with a fresh bit of paint here or there. A new development in recent years are the nice tarpaulin coverings given images of the building hiding behind. Even for tiny spots like this one on the end of The Storybook Store, the hidden façade is still presented on top.

— — —

PLAZA GARDENS GLEAMS

After a major refurbishment of the interior, including bringing the central fountain back to daily life, the whole Plaza Gardens Restaurant building was wrapped in themed tarps for an expensive top-to-bottom refurbishment and repaint. It didn’t stand out as being particularly bad before, there are other areas needing paint sooner, but it does look fantastic.

— — —

STUDIO 1 REFURBISHMENT CONTINUES

Over the hub, it’s surprising to see that the refurbishment of Disney Studio 1 continues, the huge centrepiece building of the park still wrapped up in scaffolding. Must be a bigger job than originally thought, right?

— — —

FLOORS OF ADVENTURE, DISCOVERY

Tripped up in Disneyland Park recently? No wonder, some of the concrete pathways are literally falling to pieces. Thankfully, the first resurfacing works seen for many years have been taking place, with areas of Adventure Isle and vast swathes of Discoveryland closed off and given new flooring, the effect — especially just in front of Space Mountain — very noticeably making the whole land look brand new.

— — —

TENNIS, MICE, MAIN STREET

Some of the resort’s press and advertising efforts have been surprisingly inventive this year, like this — turning the top of Main Street into a full-size tennis court and inviting Gaël Monfils and Stanislas Wawrinka to play with Mickey Mouse.

Just a few days later, Serena Williams visited the park and was met in front of the Castle by Minnie Mouse, wearing a special tennis player costume.

— — —

JUST ‘PARIS’

Effectively the biggest change of the past few months, the news in April and subsequent official changeover in May that has seen ‘Disneyland Resort Paris’ — the resort’s name since the 2002 opening of Walt Disney Studios Park — change back to just plain ‘Disneyland Paris’.

It certainly makes sense — the extra word was always unpopular, confusing to non-English speakers and now, with every park from Alton Towers to your local fairground claiming itself as a “Resort”, it simply doesn’t have any value. “Disneyland Resort Paris” is cumbersome and never spoken, “Disneyland Paris” is short and very strong. Whilst things like the official website have changed over, don’t expect this to be an overnight transition — the new (or rather, old) logo will reappear just as and when things need replacing.

Unfortunately, this decision — made by new CEO Philippe Gas himself — came in April, just weeks after the resort had launched a whole new brand campaign for the theme year. These traditionally start in April, and everything from Cast Member name tags to park tickets and guidemaps had already been printed up with the full “Disneyland Resort Paris” name. Smart name reversal, silly timing.

There’s also a whole myriad of logo variations now available (above). Which should be used, when? The standard logo is being presented as two-colour, with the “Paris” in a gold gradient that already looks rather dated.

— — —

BURNING FIRES, FLOWING WATERS

Tasked with bringing back old and forgotten effects, a new “taskforce” within the resort’s maintenance department has been one of the most positive steps in recent months. We already appear to have seen some brilliant reawakened touches, such as the torches on Fort Comstock at the entrance to Frontierland (lit from nightfall)…

And the water channels leading to the drinking fountains beside La Cabane des Robinson.

Whilst a long way short of having the full irrigation system working again (water should be hoisted right up to the top of the tree by the water wheel, before being poured out and running through the channels back to ground level), it’s great to think someone took the time to figure this out.

Elsewhere, these moving fairground balloons inside Boardwalk Candy Palace have been back working again, for the first time in years.

— — —

CAFE DE LA BROUSSE

Mostly sitting closed, Café de la Brousse has never the less just had a large-scale refurbishment completed, bringing colour back to the “bush café” buildings. Dole is presented heavily as the host, but still no one thinks of bringing the legendary Dole Whip to Paris!

— — —

DISNEY VILLAGE NOW ‘COOL’

So. It took a Starbucks to make Disney Village “hip” again.

Yes, it meant losing the wonderful Buffalo Trading Co. and inviting a quite equally despised/appreciated corporation into a Disney-branded area, but the coffeehouse itself was built using genuinely eco-friendly ideas and looks really quite trendy inside, with a wonderfully modern exterior — industrial elements clashing beautifully with earthy materials.

— — —

ROSES PAINTED RED, FINALLY!

The on-off refurbishment of Alice’s Curious Labyrinth — with little areas regaining sparkle each month or so — has continued, the Paris-exclusive attraction even seeing… new paint! The red edgings of the entire labyrinth have finally been repainted, a year after similar edgings on the Fantasyland-Discoveryland path received paint before them, and scenes like the Caterpillar suddenly “pop” like they should again:

— — —

ROBINSONS RETURN TO LA CABANE

Also brought back to life this Summer is La Cabane des Robinson, previously the only other “blackspot” alongside the Labyrinth. For too long the treehouse has been bleak and worn. Props missing, effects broken, no colour. It was as if the Robinsons had long ago moved on from their treetop abode. Not any more — refreshed woodwork, new props and a complete clean-up really make it “pop”. Effects like the self-playing organ are still missing.

Even the water fountains were revisited and given an extra spruce-up:

— — —

WOODCARVER’S WORKSHOP RE-OPENS

Not entirely the amazing news that might suggest, but nevertheless the long-abandoned Woodcarver’s Workshop over in Cottonwood Creek Ranch, next to what is now Woody’s Roundup, has finally been brought back into service — selling drinks and souvenir photos from the character meet ‘n’ greets inside.

A long way from the actual woodcarvers who used to create personalised souvenirs here, but good to see it alive and well in some form, eh?

— — —

ENCHANTED FIREWORKS DAMPENED AGAIN

The Enchanted Fireworks have returned for their second year — dampened again in similar style to the later shows last year, when the nearby town of Chessy apparently banged on the wall and issued a loud “shhh”. Fans, and even apparently some regular guests, aren’t too impressed with the “new” show.

— — —

ATTRACTION OPEN 12:00 – 12:05

The same limited opening schedule of attractions put in place last Summer has returned again this year, with visitors taking much more notice. Some say it’s fair enough that they have to close attractions early, since most people have headed to Main Street to watch Fantillusion, whilst others leave annoyed that the park’s advertised opening time of 10am to 11pm isn’t strictly true.

Most agree that the whole situation would be better if the limited openings schedule was at least published somewhere other than only at the attraction entrances themselves — on the tips board, in the Programme leaflet, for example.

— — —

GOOGLE EARTH 3D: WORTH THE WAIT

The much-publicised and subsequently much-delayed official 3D recreation of Disneyland Paris in Google Earth finally launched in mid-May and proved to be well worth the wait, offering a truly spectacular metre-by-metre recreation of every inch of the parks and resort. Visit www.disneylandparis.com/googleearth3d and lose a few hours.

A few days later, Google Street View was also added for small stretches of each park:

— — —

BROCHURE TESTS THE LIMITS

Have you seen the brochures and advertising for Walt Disney World? How grand and high-class it all looks. For Paris, however, the brochures in particular seem to be getting ever more garish and in-your-face with each publication. The latest, current brochure for Autumn/Winter 2009/10 features some truly frightening images of blurred children flying above the parks, with so much photoshopping and saturated colour you can barely see the resort they’re trying to advertise.

The actual, printed version also comes with a bizarre claim on the cover of “First ever interactive brochure”. Beyond the cut-out on the cover (Mickey is actually on the page behind), the only evidence of this is a French (+33) mobile number you can text to get a video trailer of the new theme year. Several weeks later, nothing received here.

— — —

VAT REDUCTION? VAT CHANCE

The French government has officially lowered the VAT rate for cafés and restaurants from 19.6% to just 5.5% in order to keep the industry afloat, and, while you’ll certainly find many notifications of this within the resort, you’ll be much harder pressed to actually find reductions.

Whilst some things, especially the Half Board vouchers, have come down in price, most scenarios have just seen the prices stay the same and Disneyland Paris pocketing the difference in order to prop up the large drop in food and beverage sales this year — mostly on account of the prices being too high during a recession. Good thinking.

— — —

ICE CREAM ARRIVES ON-SET

Walt Disney Studios Park must have been the only theme park in the world without a proper ice cream location until the latest change in its food & beverages offering. The Franklin Department Store façade (similar to the exterior of Gone Hollywood at DCA, international fans) gave up its wonderful 1950s-themed period window to become a new kiosk serving actual, real Ben & Jerry’s by the scoop.

Photo: dlrptimes.com

The lost window was more interesting than the one remaining, featuring a mannequin woman sitting with a 1950s travel magazine, retro television and monster/sci-fi movie poster. The Tower of Terror across the way has such a minimal build-up in Paris that small period-setting details like this really mattered — the Imagineers would have put an ice cream kiosk in there from the start otherwise.

Couldn’t such a vital theme park component as ice cream have commanded its own building somewhere? Rather than expanding, the park almost seems to be imploding, with under-sized kiosks popping up all over where real, full-size boutiques and restaurants should be. More than anything, one single serving window for this in such a prominent position is madness.

— — —

BLOCKBUSTERS IN THE BACKLOT

Over in Backlot, the big news has been the complete gutting of Backlot Express, the “props warehouse” counter service restaurant, in favour of the more brand-friendly idea of themed rooms dedicated to the Pirates of the Caribbean and High School Musical franchises. The changeover began with the arrival of a plain Ford Focus outside the restaurant, plastered with “HSM3” stickers…

The new logo has been completed on the outside…

And as for the inside? Well, real props from these two trilogies have yet to appear, with the High School Musical area causing much fan hair-tearing already with its “themeing” of bland posters, banners and mini basketballs (taken from merchandise). The “East High” theme does sit well within the building, but this isn’t anything someone with a good printer could set up themselves. Are there not even any costumes from the film lying around over in Burbank?

Beyond the “torn bedsheets” (as described by magicforum members) hanging from the ceiling, the ‘Pirates’ area has defied the odds and just presented the first real surprise of this project — the removal of the metal railings of the raised “garage” area to be replaced with pirate ship-styled wooden banisters and a full ship’s wheel.

— — —

TELEVISION STUDIOS GOES ’50s

…Or is that wishful thinking? With a long-overdue repaint of the Walt Disney Television Studios building (home to Playhouse and Stitch Live) finally beginning back in April and only just making real progress, have the maintenance teams really taken a step back and reconsidered the building, rather than just bursting ahead with the same ugly yellows the original designers chose in 2002?

Yes, it seems so! The architecture was already within the period, but the colours didn’t quite fit. Now, a deep red has replaced the turquoise on the “fins” atop the building, with the yellow turning a much more earthy, peachy shade, in whole much closer to a 1950s Hollywood look and more pleasing next to the subdued tones of the Hollywood Tower Hotel just opposite.

— — —

ANIMAGIQUE KIOSK MARK II

The bland merchandise kiosk which appeared outside Animagique in 2007 now has a partner. Filling in dead space on the right of the same TV Studios building, this little location opened just this week, using the new colour scheme and dressed up in a pleasingly similar style of fins and neons.

Photo: Sean Hamilton

In any other Disney park, such a location would be given a name or some kind of personality (think Crossroads of the World at Disney’s Hollywood Studios). It offers the usual generic collection of character merchandise.

— — —

ROCKEFELLER PLAZA REBORN

Could this be the start of a new era for the environs of Disney’s Hotel New York? The Rockefeller Plaza building, a dull games arcade for far too long, has finally reopened as a lovely café refreshments location for the Summer.

— — —

MICKEY SWINGS INTO — AND ONTO — BUFFALO BILL’S

It was the controversy of the year — nay, the decade — and now it looks like Mickey Mouse has made home. The not-so-great poster previously stuck on the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show entrance has just been replaced by a large model of Mickey Mouse abseiling down over the building.

Whilst it looks much smarter now, it has fans worried that the mouse may well be there to stay. On the subject of the show itself, the current Summer park programme leaflets are now advertising Adult tickets for the price of Child tickets. In high season? Maybe adding a mouse wasn’t the best way to sell the scale of this truly epic dinner show.

— — —

FASTPASS FOR MONEY

This one must be the second-biggest controversy of the year, then. In itself not a huge thing by any means, this could however be the first step of a huge shift in how Fastpass works. From 18th July to 4th August, guests staying at Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Hotel New York and, it seems, Disney’s Newport Bay Club, can buy a special “Premium FASTPASS” for €80 per person per day.

The ticket is effectively a VIP FASTPASS, the unlimited-access ticket previously given only to guests in Club rooms and Suites, allowing you to use the FASTPASS queues for attractions as and when you want, as many times as you want to.

— — —

STUDIO 1 REFURBISHMENT CONTINUES

— — —

GOOFY’S SUMMER CAMP

Somewhere you won’t find Mickey this year is the new show at The Chaparral Theater in Frontierland. Yes, since we last updated the topic, The Tarzan Encounter was cancelled again — for good.

This new show is somewhat like the Summer cousin to the brilliant Mickey’s Winter Wonderland, only scuppered by a desperation for audience interaction, with too few scenes between. However, with a live country band as the big “plus” to replace the Winter ice rink, a great stage and some nice musical numbers, it’s winning more fans than certain other shows this year, and much more fitting for its location than Tarzan ever was.

— — —

MAIN STREET COMES ALIVE WITH MARCHING BAND

Last seen making brief appearances last Summer on the old Central Plaza Stage, the brass band has returned! Now performing a brilliant set of Disney music (even including Hans Zimmer’s Pirates score!) on Town Square, this is the kind of classic Disneyland entertainment we rarely see in Paris, so enjoy! The only problem — no one, not the makers of the park programme, nor the Cast Members inside City Hall, appear to have been given their performance schedule.

— — —

CARL’S HOUSE FLIES OVER FRANCE

The real-life version of the balloon-lifted house from Pixar’s next — and 10th — major hit, “Up”, travelled over to France recently and, amongst appearing in some truly spectacular hot air balloon festivals, paid a visit to Disneyland Paris early one morning.

— — —

AND FINALLY…

Who’d have known — the Sleeping Beauty fountain inside the Castle gallery was actually meant to trickle down into the waterfall below, beside the staircase, as one, complete water system! Now, after truly years of being turned off and ignored, it’s fixed and running. The “crystal” at the bottom of the falls glows, too!

Photo: pussinboots

Wonderful. Utmost appreciation to whoever made this happen.

— — —

So there you go, DLRP Today returns!

With thanks to www.photosmagiques.com!

With the colourful construction walls down, we get our first look at the “new” Central Plaza that’ll be with us for at least the next year. So far: no flowers, fewer trees and one giant show space you simply can’t miss.

Photo: Scrooge, Disney Magic Interactive.

The gates of the old plaza stage have been moved outwards and supplemented with new additional, matching railings and concrete columns. Seen from this view, the slightly lower satellite platforms of the new stage fills your entire line of sight from left to right, each given decorative edging and sympathetic red and yellow tops to sit well in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Photos: Fabawan, Main Street Gazette.

Even the four sets of stairs up to the new Central Plaza Stage have been decorated rather well, with low walls and matching end columns. Despite what we’ve seen of the construction revealing it to have quite a hollow and temporary build, from every angle now that it’s complete, the stage looks as good as permanent.

Photo: Fabawan, Main Street Gazette.

With this vast a performance space, at least, we can begin to understand why the signature It’s Party Time… with Mickey and Friends show will have a cast of 40 — of which around 30 alone will be dancers.

So far, the stage is surrounded only by flat grass. Considering the wonders worked by the resort’s gardening team to celebrate the 15th Anniversary, it’s still hoped that the reworked hub will see a colourful flower or two to break up the slightly desolate feel at the moment, and soften the very imposing walls of the stage itself.

Speaking of those walls — the satellite stage nearest the Castle looks as if it holds a secret or two. Like the stages before it, a removable panel has been built into the side to allow projection equipment for events like The Enchanted Fireworks to continue to be run from here.

But these satellites aren’t universally popular. Though they’re certainly a fair bit lower than the main stage itself, fans have been quick to realise that, if you arrived early and stood right in front of one of the platforms, it’s just that little bit too high to allow you to also see the main stage itself. Which would, to be honest, be quite a shame, since that’s where Mickey and many of the characters will be “bursting” out from, thanks to a hidden vertical stage lift we’ve mentioned previously.

So, ever planning their next magical trip to the resort, the fans of magicforum have already sussed out the best place to stand for the new show. Definitely not in front of one of the satellites, but just slightly to the left or right. Better still, facing the Castle — where the two arrows above are, and as shown in the picture below.

Photo: Tef, Disney Central Plaza.

Though, even here, you’ll face the perils of bright lights from the opposite side of the stage in your eyes, or parade poles, trees or even lampposts (which still, strangely, remain around the inner Plaza). Let the sussing-out continue…!

Photos as credited.

Two years ago, when this old Dumbo parade float, originally created for The Wonderful World of Disney Parade in 1998, was converted into Disney Characters’ Express for the 15th Anniversary, it was perhaps the hit of the season. In one event, it brought frequent life to Main Street, U.S.A. and fulfilled many guests’ wishes for more — and more easily accessible — character meet ‘n’ greets.

Here’s how it looked on one of its first arrivals, back on 2nd April 2007…

And yesterday, Saturday 21st March, guests were given their very first look at the newly-redecorated engine and carriages, as a certain mouse climbed on-board Minnie’s Party Train for a special trial run, captured in these photos by julien59 on Disney Central Plaza forum…

On the whole, any blue of the old Disney Characters’ Express has simply been replaced with red polka dots for this new overlay, though there are a few exceptions — the roofs inside the carriages for example, previously white, are now red polka dots, too.

The concept art and latest marketing visual were ultimately fairly accurate, with the concept art’s colourful streamers at least making it to final design here, even if they didn’t for the lampposts of Main Street. The blue flags atop the old train are replaced by those famous Minnie Mouse bows.

However, the Mickey Mouse shapes on the top of each carriage don’t carry the logo of either the celebration or the new Party Train as proposed, given (arguably nicer) polka dot backgrounds instead.

And of course, as the introduction described, the redecorated train certainly looks a little more blushing than its predecessor. Though all previous concepts and images showed the face remaining white with the eyes given red rather than blue outlines, the final design has kept the blue outlines — with the red instead applied to the entire face!

Fans of the previous event need not be too worried by Minnie’s commandeering, however, since the ridiculously-popular soundtrack song Tous en Train has remained — now with frequent interruptions from the new hostess.

Suddenly, the more regal, minimal Disney Characters’ Express seems very dour indeed compared to this colourful new design. Though we do hope his nasty illness clears up, before the grand premiere on 4th April…

Photos, videos source as credited.

Heading to Disneyland Resort Paris with Playhouse Disney fans over the next three weeks? You could be in luck. Member (and Cast Member) guimik at Disney Central Plaza forum has posted the full “soft opening” show schedule, as published internally at the resort.

It goes as follows:

Saturday 21st, Sunday 22nd, Monday 23rd March 2009

French: 11:30, 13:00
English: 12:15
Spanish: 13:45

Tuesday 24th, Wednesday 25th March 2009

French: 11:15, 12:45
English: 12:00, 14:30
Spanish: 13:30, 15:15

Thursday 26th March 2009

French: 11:30, 13:00, 15:30
English: 12:15, 13:45, 17:00
Spanish: 14:45, 16:15

Saturday 28th, Sunday 29th March;
Wednesday 1st, Thursday 2nd April 2009

French: 10:30, 12:00, 13:30
English: 11:15
Spanish: 12:45

Friday, 3rd April 2009

French: 10:30, 12:00, 13:30, 15:15, 16:45
English: 11:15, 14:30, 17:30
Spanish: 12:45, 16:00

So, Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! certainly won’t be the five-performances-a-day attraction expected. If the final soft opening date, 3rd April, just a day before the official opening, is the most likely to show the final schedule, this means we’ll be seeing 10 shows per day on peak dates. Five of those French, three English and two Spanish.

The same source, guimik, also confirms another very interesting detail — the capacity of the new theatre/show room is 480 guests. Next door, the benches of the Stitch Live! theatre welcome 200 guests per performance.

So, even given that guests at Playhouse Disney will sit on the floor close to the puppets’ stage and mostly be quite small-bodied, this new show room in the former Disney Channel CyberSpace post-show area will be quite a bit bigger.

Note: “Soft Opening”, by the way, is a Disney term given to advance previews of a new attraction, when it opens to the public ahead of the advertised date in order to train the Cast Members, test satisfaction and simply make sure everything is ready for the big day. It should be noted that these dates and showtimes can therefore be subject to change or cancellation without notice.

Last Monday, 9th March and Tuesday, 10th March 2009 saw the cast of Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars roll out into Walt Disney Studios Park for their very first public performances, one year on from the announcement that the predecessor, Disney Cinema Parade, would wrap for good.

One year without a parade seems to have done this embellished version of the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade the world of good. “It looks amazing!”, “I want to be there”, “Oh wow!!”, “Wonderful”, read the comments on our first article. Best of all, “It’s great to see Paris take this show and really add some magic to it.” Looks like they pulled it off.

Now, here are two of the best additional videos of the previews; the first showing the cars arriving around Place des Stars, the second presenting the entire “production number” show, where (almost) each of the stars gets their moment in the spotlight.

Enjoy, thank jjasonz54 for uploading them to YouTube, and we’ll see you after for a few extra thoughts…

First question on most peoples’ lips has been “With a show this big and this good, why hasn’t it been featured in any of the TV advertisements?”. The simple answer could be that they just wanted to focus more on the “simpler” events like It’s Dance Time… in Discoveryland, which are very easy to put across in an advert.

The more interesting reasoning, on the other hand, is one that rips open the major flaw in this otherwise very well-executed concept: If this is going to be performed just once a day, before park closing, with the entire cavalcade gathering around Place des Stars Stage, there’d be some very disappointed guests if this were advertised too much.

Sure, the first half of the parade route does give a pretty big space for lots of guests to get a look at the cars passing, but people won’t be happy if they can’t get anywhere near this surprisingly lengthy 10-minute show at Place des Stars because the viewing area is so small.

If you’ve been following the arrival of this parade-event in Paris, you’ll know that the original concept for many months was to have the cars entering the park at three or four set locations, several times a day, perform their own little musical number and then give time for meet ‘n’ greets.

Combining all that into this single, evening event has arguably given a much better end product — with the downside of only allowing for a much smaller audience.

Videos as credited; Lead photo: Chti Greg.

Usually it’s the press, shareholders or Cast Members who get first-look at the latest new events and attractions at Disneyland Resort Paris. Earlier tonight, just as daylight was fading over Marne-la-Vallée, that tradition was delightfully broken and normal, regular guests were the first to see a complete presentation of Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars.

As reported several times previously, you might recognise most of the vehicles — but this certainly isn’t the linear parade you’ll remember from Disney-MGM Studios in Florida. The event now combines a cavalcade, a surprisingly lengthy dance medley on Place des Stars Stage and a meet ‘n’ greet with guests all in one.

Showtime sign on Place des Stars Stage

Different also is the showtime of this new event — not 1pm as with the old Disney Cinema Parade, nor earlier in the day like Good Morning Walt Disney Studios. Instead, it’ll be happening half an hour before park closing each day, as a grand finale of the stars arriving for their “premiere” after “wrapping production” on the film shoots of the day.

So, for the parade doors in Toon Studio to open and reveal the first of the Stars ‘n’ Cars driving out onto the parade route earlier tonight, fans had to wait right until 6.30pm. We’ve collected some of the best of the first photos, taken by Grégory Grienche, Aléxandre Rosa and Clément Poizot. See the links at the bottom of this article for more of these lucky fans’ first photos…

And now, the very first video clip!

This video shows the stars returning back to Toon Studio across Disney Bros. Plaza, with the original “Roll out the red carpet” theme from Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade now combined with a park closing announcement:

Tonight, 10th March 2009, at 6.30pm, the Stars ‘n’ Cars will do it all over again in a second and final preview performance, so check back soon for even more photos and videos!

These two avant-premieres are designed to test both audience reaction and the handing of the event by park operations, to tweak or improve the performance if necessary before its actual premiere on 4th April 2009.

Photos: 1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27 by Grégory Grienche (more 1 | more 2); 2, 3, 4, 14 by CharactersPhotos Blog (more); 5, 6, 9, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 by Aléxandre Rosa (more); Video: pitiguigui, YouTube.

After the success of High School Musical On Tour and High School Musical 2: School’s Out! at Walt Disney Studios Park over the past two years, would it be correct to assume 2009 will see the excessively-titled High School Musical 3: Senior Year – Right Here! Right Now! lifted direct from the US parks? Actually, no.

High School Musical On Tour (2007-08) / High School Musical 2: School’s Out! (2008)

From 4th April 2009, the Studios will present a new High School Musical street show — but, it’ll be a medley of all three, titled simply High School Musical: The Party, to tie in with the overall Mickey’s Magical Party celebrations.

Whilst it was expected there’d be two songs chosen from each film to make up a total of six scenes, the final tally has seen High School Musical 2 triumph with three songs, whilst High School Musical has two and the theatrically-released High School Musical 3 just one.

Here’s the final set list:

• “Get’cha Head in The Game” (from High School Musical)
• “We’re All In This Together” (from High School Musical)
• “What Time Is It” (from High School Musical 2)
• “Work This Out” (from High School Musical 2)
• “You are the Music in Me” (from High School Musical 2)
• “I Want It All” (from High School Musical 3)

The set list means we’ll keep the basketball skills of Get’cha Head in the Game, the infamous clock/wave choreography of What Time Is It and the sign language of You are the Music in Me.

Reports state there’ll be four performances a day, with the same rolling stage stopping to perform the full show twice each time in the usual places — though there’s no news of another redecoration or any new costumes for the cast yet.

High School Musical: The Party will run from 4th April to 27th September 2009.

— — —

Full French press release for “High School Musical : la Fête !” follows:

Les héros de toute une génération sont de retour avec un spectacle inédit.

A partir du 4 avril 2009, les héros de High School Musical font leur grand retour à Disneyland Resort Paris. Sur les traces des chanteurs et danseurs de la comédie musicale devenue un véritable phénomène culturel, les élèves d’East High reprennent la route du Parc Walt Disney Studios avec un spectacle plus énergique que jamais.

Ils ont fait vibrer la nouvelle génération avec leurs deux premiers téléfilms sur Disney Channel (High School Musical et High School Musical 2) avant de voir leurs dernières aventures portées sur grand écran (High School Musical 3: Senior Year) et affirmer leur succès interplanétaire. Les camarades de Troy et Gabriella reviennent à Disneyland Resort Paris pour faire la Fête !

La troupe du nouveau spectacle High School Musical : la Fête ! reprend en chœur les plus grands numéros et les tubes qui ont fait triompher les trois films des Studios Disney :

“Get’cha Head in The Game” (from High School Musical)
“We’re All In This Together” (from High School Musical)
“What Time Is It” (from High School Musical 2)
“Work This Out” (from High School Musical 2)
“You are the Music in me” (from High School Musical 2)
“I Want It All” (from High School Musical 3)

Alors que la fièvre « Wild Cats » n’en finit plus de se répandre à travers le monde, les élèves d’East High profitent de La Fête Magique de Mickey pour inviter petits et grands à se déhancher autour de leur grande scène mobile sonorisée.

Ballons de baskets et pompons de chearleaders sont au rendez-vous de cette nouvelle célébration qui va enflamme, plusieurs fois par jour, le Parc Walt Disney Studios et les fans du phénomène « HSM ».

Du 4 avril au 27 septembre 2009, High School Musical : la Fête ! va faire danser et chanter les visiteurs du Parc Walt Disney Studios et pourquoi pas marquer quelques paniers à l’occasion de La Fête Magique de Mickey ?

Pictures © Disney