News / Toon Studio

Our very first glimpse at one of the dark ride scenes inside the second portion of Crush’s Coaster (after the initial outside drop and before the spinning coaster section) comes from the French weekly weekend magazine VSD, which presents a special article dedicated to the backstage happenings of the Paris resort in commemoration of its upcoming anniversary.

Like the Dutch newspaper supplement we saw just last week, it seems Disneyland Resort Paris have been generous with the press images they supplied, giving a glimpse at attraction refurbishments, a parade waiting backstage and – of course – this first look at progress inside Crush’s Coaster.

As one of the concept creators checks plans for the colourful dark ride scene, another worker sprays paint on the detailed coral decor behind. The colour scheme is generally blue, with particular undersea plants highlighted in vibrant, saturated pinks, yellows and greens. The scene is very much reminsicent of that recently installed underwater in the Submarine Voyage lagoon of Disneyland Resort in California, though its use in a traditional dark ride design can clearly be seen.

The painted wall at the rear shows the minimal depth of the actual scenes – using advanced lighting and show design the Imagineers have been able to create very shallow scenes which, when correctly lit, appear to have the depth of the real Big Blue, allowing more space for a longer dark ride section on a comparatively small location.

The second image isn’t quite so beautiful, but is certainly a very exciting glimpse into the coaster building of the ride. With full work lights on, you can see the completed track we last saw disappear behind the concrete walls in July 2006. The large first drop can be seen middle-right, whilst turtle shell ride vehicles appear to be sitting on the brake run bottom-right, covered in protective plastic. Gantries, ladders and netting fill the roofspace, with some blue lights visible at the far end of the building.

Finally, a huge black diagonal tube can be seen on the left of the photo, enclosing the lift hill and providing the walls of the sunken submarine themeing inside. Bruce the shark, seen on-site just last month, can even be seen in position outside the submarine, waiting for the first guests to pounce on.

These photos are the latest in a growing series of unprecedented backstage previews from the resort, covering the breadth of its new 15th Anniversary attractions. Covering both sides of this unique attraction, they appear to prove that not only do we have a pretty thrilling coaster to look forward to, but that it has a beautiful Big Blue dark ride introduction to go with it.

Many thanks to abu on Disney Central Plaza forum for photographing these images.

Today’s edition of the newspaper included a special supplement dedicated to the 15th Anniversary of Disneyland Resort Paris. A clever publicity stunt from the resort’s Dutch sales office, it includes details of the aniversary events, articles on the history of the resort, an interview with Imagineers and countless travel offers and promotions for trips during the anniversary year. The entire supplement has thankfully been photographed by the members of Themepark.nl, including an entirely unprecedented special inclusion on page 9.

To show the impact of its new attractions on the park, a work-in-progress version of the 2007/08 Walt Disney Studios park map has been printed. As with most new attraction additions, the rough plan has been available to the international sales offices of Disneyland Resort Paris for some time. Almost never before though, has a plan such as this been released to the public. It’s a daring move from the Dutch team, and another bold attempt to really make an impression on the public as the anniversary year approaches.

Disney theme park maps always have to power to allow fans to stare away at them for hours, so a map which gives us a look 12 months into the future? Well, there’s a lot to take in…

(Nr.1) Extra plants between Disney Bros Plaza and Toon Studio, with the first appearance of the Sorcerer Mickey entrance statue! Strangely, Mickey is shown as a gold statue as in the latest concept art we’ve seen, rather than the full-colour statue generally expected. The plinth he stands on also appears to match that in the latest concept, mirroring the blue and stars of the Sorcerer Hat.

(Nr.2) The Sorcerer Hat now features golden stars, stripes and moon with its upcoming golden Disney characters also featured. Dumbo in particular can be spotted below the word “Disney”.

(Nr.3) New planting areas in front of Animagique! These were shown in an old piece of concept art which was uncovered recently (see image on WDSfans.com), but their inclusion in the final plans for the land still isn’t confirmed.

(Nr.4) The new, extended “oasis” area in front of Flying Carpets Over Agrabah.

(Nr.5) The colours of Flying Carpets Over Agrabah’s backdrop have been updated and the reverse is now purple.

(Nr.6) Crush’s Coaster. With pink rockwork, a hazy queue line (the pink path leading to nowhere) and a different design to Studio 5, this isn’t the most accurate view of the attraction but should be adequate. The logo is featured above the building to match the rest of the attractions on the map.

(Nr.7) The Toon Town backdrop and new Toon Studio area. The Toon Town hills backdrop features only limited buildings, in the exact design of the steel frames recently erected on-site, and the smiley-faced Sun from the 2007 Resort Map and early concept art doesn’t appear. Two planters are featured, and, though hard to make out, there appears to be a yellow, faux Toon Studio security booth at the “entrance gates” to the backlot – a great touch, if it becomes a reality!

(Nr.8) The ImagiNations costuming workshop is no longer featured at all on the plan, with the corner of a plain building just peeping out from behind the Toon Town backdrop. Curiously, there doesn’t appear to be a clear path between Studio Tram Tour and Toon Studio here.

(Nr.9) Cars Race Rally. The large neon “Cars” sign atop the circular entrance building is used as the main symbol of the attraction, with Flo’s V8 Café next door. The area isn’t particularly detailed – only two turntables are shown, as previously seen in the 2007 Resort Map. We’ll have to wait and see if the final version of the map brings further updates.

(Nr.10) Now we’re onto Hollywood Boulevard/Studio – probably the most interesting part of this early plan. As a sign of its work-in-progress nature, two skyscraper buildings appear to have been grafted in from Disney-MGM’s New York street sets, coloured dark red here to likely show they’re only placeholders for a custom design on the final plan.

(Nr.11) The new Studio Tram Tour tunnel entrance and Hollywood Hills backdrop is shown, but hasn’t been matched up to the rest of the plan yet (the old entrance can still be seen behind). The tunnel appears almost identical to that seen on the fresque inside Disney Studio 1.

(Nr.12) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror itself. The design appears to have been copied over exactly from the Disney’s California Adventure plan.

(Nr.13) A new street now runs diagonally from Place des Stars to Studio Tram Tour, right past The Hollywood Tower Hotel. The Hotel therefore looks likely to have more of an on-street inner-town feel like Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea, rather than the abandoned hillside location of the Florida version. The iconic fountain has retained its position from California, therefore appearing to make the Production Courtyard side the main entrance to the new attraction.

(Nr.14) And finally, most fascinating of all – their current plans for La Terrasse. It appears there will only be a minimal path through to the Tower from Hollywood Boulevard, with the entire current La Terrasse building now surrounded by the new Mediterranean/Pueblo Deco building described previously, creating a new area surrounded by trees and what appears to be a fountain. An outdoor terrace seating area appears to be featured behind the sets, looking across the street to Tower of Terror. Across the boulevard, the Gone Hollywood storefront can be seen.

The Walt Disney Television Studios and Rendez-Vous des Stars/Backlot Express buildings have also been shrunk compared to the current map, and extra plants and details have yet to be added to Production Courtyard and Toon Studio.

And there we have it. Disney theme park maps are never the most accurate of plans, but this certainly gives a fascinating look at the bare minimum of additions and improvements currently being worked on.

Imagine… in just 12 months’ time this won’t be work-in-progress, this will be Walt Disney Studios Park. Now, that really is a Studio of dreams…

Many thanks to Pantagor and the members of Themepark.nl for sharing this plan!

Beginning with the familiar view over Cars Race Rally, something here will catch your eye as interesting progress. The whole area has suddenly become surrounded by large wooden poles and posts of various sizes, most surrounding the ochre desert rocks. Though we can’t be sure if they’ll remain this size, they appear to be ready to act as path barriers and to help restrain the extra greenery due to arrive in this area, eventually forming a large natural sheild around the canyon from the courtyard outside Animagique.

However, a series of far larger poles could have a different story. Roughly bordering the future Route 66 leading from the Crush’s Coaster entrance to the far edge of the Cars area, their height gives the impression of large telegraph poles, a common sight along Route 66. Though perhaps currently, at least, their vast height is too large even for this when compared to the miniaturised canyon below. We’ll definitely keep you posted on this one. (oh yes!)

The poles even appear to tower above the Toon Town backdrop, seen above, which has now added a few more metal frames to its collection. These will eventually be the supports for various buildings in the faux environs of Toon Studio.

A few short steps and there’s even more progress to see, this time with paint and primer. Paint, for the side wall of the Crush’s Coaster dark-ride building. After the installation of the stunning “fresque” early last month, the wall to its left has finally received colour, leaving only the longer section of the building, to its right, without its ocean blue finish.

The primer is, of course, for Disney Studio 3. After several months of “will they”/”won’t they”, the front wall of the Animagique theatre was finally wrapped in scaffolding late last month and has already lost its classic yellow to a fresh coat of white primer. The building will almost certainly be repainted in the same blue as Art of Disney Animation and Disney Studio 5, completely tying the land together in a single, different colour scheme. No signs of work on the rear wall facing Front Lot have yet been reported, and, since blue here would throw off the entire park entrance, it’s safe to say this will remain yellow.

Now, whilst not an incredible step in the transformation of the land, it’s nice to see that the new planter in front of Art of Disney Animation (added last October) has now received some extra plants amongst its tall, stylised trees. No signs of a barrier around the planter yet, though this will perhaps be added along with the Sorcerer Mickey statue and his arch of stardust.

Time for the most major part of our update today – a unique look at the rapid progress made on Cars Race Rally recently. Specifically, the queue line buildings and boarding area. The photo above shows the circular entrance building with the pistachio-green Flo’s V8 Café canopy on the far right. Concrete flooring and queue line barriers can already be seen, and some very traditional Route 66 tiles have already been applied to the bare concrete of the circular building.

Finally, two photos exclusive to DLRP Today from Photos Magiques! Over the temporary fence next to Art of Disney Animation, the zoom lens focuses in further on the queue and boarding area, giving a very first look at the more industrial, “backstage” area of this Pixar “film set”. To familiarise yourself with the layout of the attraction, take a look at the map here.

In the first photo, one of the two boarding areas and the ride’s main control booth can be seen. The boarding areas will be used to group the correct number of guests ready for the two pairs of turntables, and the gas station themeing of Flo’s V8 Café can already be clearly seen. Rounded concrete footers and gas pump-themed supports will enclose guests, whilst the booth is themed somewhat like the pay kiosk of a Route 66 filling station. Buttons and control equipment can already be seen inside.

The second photo turns the lens as far to the left as possible, with the attraction entrance and Radiator Springs storefronts directly ahead. Upon entering the queue, guests will walk through several indoor corridors inside these “film set” buildings, before then stepping outside to this “backstage” canopy-covered area. The bare concrete form of the paths can be seen, and many of the queue line railings are already in place.

All three of these photos also show the height difference very clearly – once out of the higher entrance building, the paths lead down a small gradient into the Flo’s V8 Café boarding area seen above. This adds not only to the effect of the “canyon” ride area but to the general immersiveness of the entire Toon Studio area.

So much progress from every angle! And all in a park named after the champion of progress, Mr Disney himself. The themeing seems on an entirely different level to the rest of the current park, taking you into different, foreign lands, and they’re still not done! The next few weeks should see even more construction walls descend on the land, as the tarmac flooring is replaced with a more “Disney” alternative and Flying Carpets Over Agrabah receives a long-awaited, three week refurbishment.

And so, to end, a photo dug up from the WDSFans.com archives, taken little over one year ago, that truly shows the power of progress…

Click Here and remember what we’ve left behind!

All photos by Photos Magiques. You can see the full collection here.

It was confirmed back in 2006 that, unlike the designs shown on much of the attraction’s concept art, the vehicles would not be characters from the film. Instead, to give the “Race Rally” its own story and identity, they would be new, unique vehicles, yet cars which could certainly be from the “Cars” universe. Aside from that, nobody quite knew what to expect – until these first photos were posted by Frank on MagicForum and the e-pinions began speeding in.

The new introductions to the Cars world certainly have a unique look. Beyond the familiar hood/bonnet-noses, windscreen eyes and grill moustaches, the cars have a very stylized raised back, dotted with red break lights. The rear wheels are either missing or hidden, and the cars feature many nods to those which may have populated Route 66 in its heydey – such as metallic fins, chevrons and raised headlights. Whilst the characters in the film were designed as ultra-realistic real-life car models, the more abstract and cheeky design of these little vehicles gives the currently very well-mannered Toon Studio one its first truly “toonish” icons.

The cars work wonders for the forced perspective of their Route 66 desert surroundings, too. The miniaturized Willy’s Butte rock formation suddenly appears to tower over the entire area, thanks to the ride platform being 1 metre below ground level, whilst the earthy, deep colours mix with the turquoise of Flo’s V8 Café canopy and the brown rockwork to give a real sense of place like nothing else at the Studios.

Like Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups at Disneyland Park, the spinning cars only come in a select palette of colours – red, blue and teal. They feature two seating rows but, from these photos, it is hard to confirm how many guests will be able to fit into each. It could certainly be possible that only one adult will fit in each row, though two handrails are featured for both.

The boarding area, themed to Flo’s V8 Café, has also progressed a great deal from our last update on the attraction. The full, turqoise roof is now in place and themeing has begun on the brown supports, the location (in the film, at least) of the gas pumps. With new planting added to the area, the cars installed and themeing begun, the photo above right already bears a good resemblance to the key concept art featured on the construction walls.

Finally, a look at the current state of the general Toon Studio expansion area – in particular the wall at the back of the land, which has now been fully constructed and prepared for painting. At the gateway on the far right, several steel frameworks are now in place for the buildings of the Toon Town backdrop which will enclose this area of the land, placing the backlot of Toon Studio within its own theme world.

Thanks to Frank on MagicForum for all photos featured. You can see more here.

After some footage from the scene in the Pixar film itself which inspired the attraction, the video quickly switches to a shot of a four-angle elevation for a yellow car, which surely must be the life-size Luigi we saw a few weeks ago.

The camera then pans upwards to show a 3D sculpt of the new ride vehicles, certainly in the style of the cars from Cars, but not without their own unique charm. The tall rear spoiler in particular is a very stylised addition that will make these vehicles stand out from the others in their very realistic landscape, and certainly give the attraction a much more “Toony” style.

Next we see work on a larger scale model of one of the vehicles, which will total 12 and have infact just been installed on-site this week.

Finally, an interesting view over the Toon Studio area from above the loading area of Cars Race Rally, before the video presents several pieces of concept art, of which only the piece shown above has never been seen before. It shows a neon sign with the “V8” logo, as well as the storefronts to the right of the attraction entrance. A backdrop to the attraction is provided by one of the film’s iconic rock formations, but it remains to be seen how much of this will make it off the drawing board.

Whilst some may fear the trouble Disneyland Resort Paris might be causing itself by marketing a “simple” tea-cups-style attraction so heavily, there still seems no doubting the excellent care and attention this relatively minor addition is thankfully receiving.

Stills taken from video on Disneyland15.com

After a Winter break so long that all confidence in the project was beginning to be lost, this beautiful new concept without doubt restores all hope in Toon Studio, the park, the resort, the world of Disney and maybe even the universe!! Apparently it shouldn’t have been released so soon, if at all, but now that the artwork is out in the real world, this is surely nothing but superb publicity for the resort and its 15th Anniversary. Take a deep breath before you look – the transformation is astonishing. From drab asphalt and uncomfortable yellow buildings to a unique, memorable and magical Disney land – and best of all, this looks like the closest concept art to reality we’ve seen yet.

Not only are the colours and design of Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally at the back of the artwork spot on, but the new blue and pink colour scheme of Art of Disney Animation is also finally shown in true-to-life form, suggesting, perhaps, that the rest of the artwork may also make it all the way from sketch the reality!

Toon Studio Revealed

If a picture speaks a thousand words, a piece of concept art says a million and one – so let’s take a point-by-point look through this revealing new concept and see things we know, things we don’t and things we never would have dreamed of, a few months ago…

1 – The lines, stars and moon of the Sorcerer Hat all painted gold, as rumoured earlier and confirmed on the 2007 Resort Map. They have also been joined by extra gold lines, spiralling out of the hat to give a 3D effect to its design.

2 – Peter Pan characters (Tinkerbell, Peter and Wendy) circling the Hat from Walt Disney World’s Cinderella Castle.

3 – Extra characters we’ve never heard about before! Ariel and Flounder from The Little Mermaid above the canopy around Art of Disney Animation, and Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh on the Hat itself.

4 – The repaint of Art of Disney Animation continued around the entire building.

5 – The pistachio-coloured canopy of Flo’s V8 Café at Cars Race Rally, with a relocated Studio Catering Co. van in front.

6 – Crush’s Coaster

7 – Sorcerer Mickey statue. The bolt of magic coming from his wand can finally be seen, sparking out of the wand and then reappearing on the opposite side of the entrance to fall to the ground in the new planter. Strangely, the statue is entirely gold, whilst all other concepts have shown a full-colour red and blue statue.

8 – The recognisable lines and stars of the classic Sorcerer Hat have been translated to the blue base of the statue, and also appear on new decorations across the metal lighting rigs along the parade route, giving quite a stunning and consistent theme effect.

9 – Finally, the “Toon Studio” name itself!

The majority of these changes and additions are scheduled to take place from next month, though it remains to be seen how many of the new details will make it to the final design. The entire project will be completed with the June opening of the renamed land’s two new attractions. From the looks of it, picking up Yensid’s wand was the best decision Mickey ever made. It may be sorcery, but soon – the magic will be real.

Concept art (C) Disney.

The statue is shown being sculpted by an Imagineer in a full-page image, with a coloured concept art opposite giving an impression of the finished product. The statue is large, very rounded and depicts Mickey pointing his wand into the air – which rumours persist will be followed by a trail of gold stars leading across the parade route and into the planter outside Art of Disney Animation.

The preview for the article reads: “Tooning Up: A sneak peek at the new Toon Studios that will debut in June at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris with the executive producer Corey Sewelson;”

This marks the fourth statue of Mickey to be featured in the park, after his appearances at the Front Lot “Fantasia Fountain”, Disney Bros Plaza “Partners Statue” and miniature Art of Disney Animation Character statue. It will be installed at the park sometime in March, serving as a grand entrance for Toon Studio, with the name itself featured on the blue stone base below Mickey.

The first page of the article also features a previously unseen piece of concept art for Toon Studio, focusing on the Animation Courtyard side of the area. It shows not only the entrance statue, but the Peter Pan figures flying around the Sorcerer Hat, extra planters, beautified flooring and even a fountain in front of Animagique!

Look out for larger versions of the images featured in the article here and on www.wdsfans.com within the next few weeks.

Last week press photos revealed the life-size Luigi soon to be arriving in the Studios, and now we can see how the Imagineers are preparing his beloved House of Tires in Toon Studio. Three decorative tires have appeared atop the Mediterannean-styled building, wrapped in plastic for protection until the basic themeing surround them is complete.

Next to Casa Della Tires, two more facades are in preparation from the world of Radiator Springs. Though they can’t be pinned down exactly yet, the larger central storefront seems to belong to Lizzie’s Radiator Springs Curios, whilst the smaller facade to its right is harder to distinguish – is there a slight resemblance to the Radiator Springs Traffic Court, perhaps?

On the ride itself, progress has been made with the installation of the ride’s main control booth, seen in the final photo below. Nestled between the two boarding areas in the canopy of Flo’s V8 Café, it appears to feature a turquoise and cream colour scheme similar, perhaps, to Flo herself.

Whilst the past few weeks has seen the ride area filled with more scaffolding, both around the V8 Café canopy, on the miniaturised Willy’s Butte rock formation and in the foundations of the turntables themselves, La Rouquine at Disney Central Plaza forum today reports that work has started on installing the technical elements of the ride system in the two pairs of concrete platforms. The metal canopy for Flo’s V8 Café has received the first spots of turquoise paint similar to the control booth below, and, despite appearing to be complete, the rock formation continues to be wrapped in more scaffolding and tarps.

“More than 2000 miles all the way”… the finish line is still a long stretch away!

All construction photos by Photos Magiques. You can see more here.