News / Walt Disney Studios Park

If we needed any final evidence that construction is at last ready to begin on the first dark ride at Walt Disney Studios Park, here it is! The view from the top of Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, captured here by @ParkZone_es, now reveals a vast plot of cleared land after final tree clearance work throughout this week. Workers in fluorescent jackets can be seen milling around the site again, the first activity in almost a year. With the plans submitted, funding found and construction permit posted, the Ratatouille dark ride and its Parisian place-making is now almost ready to start rising.

Despite clearance beginning on the site during the construction of Toy Story Playland in 2010, a large patch of trees were left in place. As the photo above now shows, this was likely to prevent opening up unwanted sight lines before absolutely necessary. As well as a perfect view of the construction site (thank you, Imagineers!) riders on the Parachute Drop now have a clear view right along the route of Studio Tram Tour (which is currently closed) towards the main backstage area of the resort.

Meanwhile, the rumoured project title of this long-awaited dark ride has just come to light: Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity!, or Ratatouille: Désastre en Cuisine in French. It’s not quite the tongue twister of Crush’s Turtle Twister, the project title for Crush’s Coaster, but it will still be very much open to change before Rémy finally throws open the restaurant doors sometime in 2014. Until then, Parachute Drop just became our favourite ride…

PHOTO VIA @ParkZone_es (Twitter)

It turns out, a construction permit really can be this exciting to see. A mere two days after The Walt Disney Company agreed to loan Euro Disney S.C.A. funding of €150m for park expansion, a fresh “permis de construire” has appeared at the rear of Walt Disney Studios Park for a project ostensibly titled “Toon Studio D”. This can only mean one thing: the Ratatouille dark ride is ready to go!

From the first rumours back in 2008 to the first planning application in 2009, apparent special effects testing in 2010, then final confirmation from Disney, concept art and planning permission and a visit from John Lasseter in 2011, this has been one long project. With today’s new permit signalling that construction is imminent at the Studios, it could be around another two years until the attraction opens, such is the average construction period for a large Disney attraction. All hopes are now set on 2014 for a grand opening, providing the perfect pick-up from what might be expected to be a two-year 20th Anniversary celebration, as the previous 15th, to maximise the “anniversary” draw.

The permit also reveals that the new showbuilding will stand 17.8 m tall with the surface area of construction totalling 5719 m2. For comparison, RC Racer reaches a height of 24.8 m, while the vast “it’s a small world” showbuilding covers around 4000m2. The date of 13th April 2011 coincides well with the publication of concept art and planning documents last May (above), which gave a very detailed look at the exterior of this new “Parisian quarter” but very little clues as to the attraction which will lie inside its walls. Rumours continue to point to a primarily projection-based experience, likely in 3D, likely utilising a “trackless” ride system first used at Pooh’s Hunny Hunt in Tokyo in 2000 and conveniently due to be used for Hong Kong Disneyland’s new Mystic Manor dark ride, due to open late 2013.

Almost more important than the dark ride, for a park so starved of facilities as Walt Disney Studios, will be the restaurant incorporated into the showbuilding itself. As we’ve hinted in the past, this probably won’t be the stuffy Gusteau’s dining experience you might have expected, but a rather more informal and fun “rat-sized” restaurant as imagined at the end of the film itself. Despite much investment in attractions, a short-sighted lack of dining provision is one of the key reasons why the Studios’ opening hours remain cut short even in peak seasons.

Euro Disney S.C.A.’s first quarter revenues announcement on 7th February could be a good moment for the company to confirm the project. Though given past experience, don’t expect anything more than a black and white footnote to trumpet what may well be the most exciting development for the Studios in all its beleaguered ten years. Something unique to the park, technologically advanced, classically Disney and inclusive to all ages. Come on Rémy, surprise us!

VIA Disney Central Plaza

It’s 2012 (Happy New Year!) and time for a fresh start. For Disneyland Paris, that appears to mean several key elements of the current Disney Magical Moments Festival, marketed to run until 4th March 2012, will be cleared out early. Rumours long suggested the main Mickey’s Magical Celebration show on Central Plaza would face an early finish, due to the much detested Central Plaza Stage finally being ripped out, opening up the hub of the park ready for Dreams.

Now, here’s the confirmation: no performances from 9th January onwards! In truth, the show has had a lukewarm reception ever since last April. Notably lacking the grander spectacle of the previous Disney Showtime Spectacular, it wasn’t quite the kind of production to justify such a monolithic stage to take over the heart of the park. Initially it seemed the four large satellite “arms” of the stage might be lopped off, but now the whole stage is said to be for the chop. For stage shows, this means any future open-air productions will (quite rightly) be on the Théâtre du Château where they belong. For new nighttime spectacular Dreams, the rumour mill is still pumping: Will the removal of the stage open up the area purely for more standing room again, or could the hub become part of the show? One particularly fun (if purely fabricated) rumour is for a “magic” dancing fountain to take the place of the former flower bed. To be honest, even being able to walk across and use the plaza as a “hub”, rather than an impermeable roundabout, seems an exciting prospect at this point.

Surprisingly, this show isn’t the only “Magical Moment” preparing for early retirement. It will be joined on 9th January by Disney Dance Express, the garishly-coloured dance show which reused the old Dumbo Casey Jr. parade float. Could this, the float’s fifth iteration since its launch as part of The Wonderful World of Disney Parade, be its last? Meanwhile, the Green Army Men Meet & Play event over in Toy Story Playland will also end on the same date and, as reported earlier, the first float will be removed from Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade for its “Magic on Parade!” makeover.

Making it all the way to the 4th March end date, but not continuing beyond that date, will be the “interactive” show stops of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, the temporary Tangled meet ‘n’ greet location for Rapunzel and, surprisingly, the small Following the Leader with Peter Pan show in Adventureland. That event was perhaps the most appreciated of all the new “moments” in 2011. For Rapunzel, we must presume she will simply join the other princesses in the new Princess Pavilion.

Finally, continuing into the 20th Anniversary are the many photo locations which popped up around the parks: Wall•E and Eve in Discoveryland, Alice in Wonderland near the Labyrinth, Aladdin near Adventureland Bazaar, Ratatouille near Restaurant des Stars and Monsters, Inc. in Toon Studio (which, added in 2006, was never “new” for 2011 to begin with, but never mind). Lighting McQueen will remain in his Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular cameo and the new Adventureland Rhythms of the Jungle location next to Restaurant Hakuna Matata will remain the home of the popular Tam Tam.

PHOTOS VIA Photos Magiques

First sand, now ice: The weather in north west Europe might still be unseasonally mild outside, at least compared to this time last year when we were being hit by heavy snow, but that hasn’t hampered the efforts of the “Ice Wonderland” Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival in Bruges, Belgium one bit. For the first time, Disneyland Paris has lent itself as the theme of the event, with the artists creating giant sculptures of its landmarks and characters. In a controlled environment of -6 °C, ice sculptors were allowed to work only limited hours due to the cold — but look at the results!

Following this Summer’s popular Sand Sculpture Festival on the coast at Blankenberge, the focus here is more on Disney characters than the parks’ lands and attractions. There’s the famous Partners Statue created entirely out of ice and a whole parade of stars from WALL-E to Toy Story, The Jungle Book to Beauty and the Beast and beyond. The event is being held in the Stationsplein at Bruges (Brugge) until 15th January 2012. You can find out more at ijssculptuur.be and, for a whole photo tour of the sculptures, be sure to check out Brakesection.be’s report from the event!

VIA Brakesection.be

We’ve no doubt become acclimatised to the biannual Disneyland Paris ticket price rises in April and November each year — a pound here, a Euro there — but this season holds a pleasant surprise for visitors from the United Kingdom, at least. Rather than ticket prices jumping up again, as they did with a big increase for the price of longer stays in April, almost all of the Adult ticket prices and even a few Child prices have actually been reduced by a pound or more.

This means that a 1 Day/1 Park Ticket will now cost you a rounded £50 bought in advance from the UK, rather than the £51 before 8th November. Likewise, a 1 Day/2 Park Ticket has been rounded down to a neat £60. And, perhaps realising they stepped too far up earlier this year, the top 5 Day/2 Park Ticket has been reduced by a whole £8 to £169 (although with the Extra Day Free offer, the real price is £152 — and even then you’d be mad not to just buy an Annual Passport).

Here’s the full round-up of price changes for both Pound Sterling and Euros:

Ticket Type — Adult/Child (3-11yrs)

• 1 Day 1 Park
  £51/£45 to £50/£45 (-£1/+-£0) — €57/€51 to €59/€53 (+€2/+€2)
• 1 Day 2 Parks
  £61/£55 to £60/£54 (-£1/-£1) — €69/€62 to €71/€64 (+€2/+€2)
• 2 Days 2 Parks
  £108/£97 to £104/£94 (-£4/-£3) — €122/€109 to €123/€111 (+€1/+€2)
• 3 Days 2 Parks
  £134/£115 to £129/£117 (-£5/+£2) — €151/€130 to €153/€138 (+€2/+€8)
• 4 Days 2 Parks
  £159/£134 to £152/£137 (-£7/+£3) — €179/€151 to €180/€162 (+€1/+€11)
• 5 Days 2 Parks
  £177/£141 to £169/£152 (-£8/+£11) — €200/€180

You can find a complete guide to Disneyland Paris Park Tickets here.

From rumour to reality: Disneyland Paris has just begun trialling its very own Disney’s PhotoPass-style service for souvenir character photos. Word spread across Twitter last month that it might be happening, now low and behold @InsideDLParis has provided the very first look at one of the new cards. The “Disney’s PhotoPass” branding is conspicuously absent (and so is some of the functionality — see below) but the essence of the system is there: By handing this card to an official photographer before posing for a photo with characters, they’ll be able to “link” all your souvenir snaps into a single “account” on the resort’s computer system, meaning you can view and purchase all your photos in one go. Currently, guests have to fumble around with a separate paper ticket for every single photo. This credit card-sized slip, being less easy to lose or spoil, should also translate into more photo sales for Disney — if guests bother to check out their photos at one of the nine boutiques listed on the reverse.

Because it’s the clever online element to the American parks’ PhotoPass which appears to be missing, at least from this trial. Over the in US, guests can actually log into www.disneyphotopass.com after their visit using the details on their card, where they can then order prints or photo souvenirs at their leisure.

Quite why Paris don’t simply jump in with the same smart functionality (and branding) of the US system is a mystery, but at least this is a welcome first step to a more user-friendly (read: sales-friendly), 21st Century system for photo sales at a time when the resort’s guest spending levels remain stagnant.

VIA @InsideDLParis (Twitter)

Here it is: the 20th Anniversary Disneyland Paris brochure! The multicoloured edition has been spotted out in the wild at travel agents in the UK since its limited launch a couple of weeks ago, but now it’s available online for all to see. Check it out here. Of course, there are new prices, new options and yet another new design for all the pages, but it’s the 20th Anniversary events and images we want to see. The final line-up to make the brochure cut is modest but promising. Star of the show in 2012 will no doubt be Dreams – the “magical, immersive” nighttime spectacular that’s due to take over the Castle, Central Plaza and even Main Street with projections, special effects and — yes — at least a few fountains, as it plunges guests inside a journey through classic Disney dreams.

Also given top billing is Disney Magic on Parade!, actually a reworking of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade that will see the 15th Anniversary‘s showstopper (certainly the best parade ever to be seen in Paris) given new costumes, music and characters. The current Dreams of Romance Finale float will be turned into a mountain ledge for Sorcerer Mickey, with the gang expected to appear in their spangly multi-coloured outfits seen throughout the brochure, while the original opening float will become home to the fairies, wizards and sorcerers of the Disney world. Oddly, that appears to oust the Princesses from the parade almost entirely, although Rapunzel and Flynn are said to be taking over from Aladdin and Jasmine on the smaller Romance Prelude float to freshen up that aspect.

The new magician-themed permanent meet ‘n’ greet for Mickey is advertised simply as Meet Mickey Mouse, while the fourth and final 20th Anniversary event is the mysterious Main Street, U.S.A. Celebrates. The brochure blurb is suitably blurry but its references to “twinkles” and “glowings-on” are spot on with our sources, suggesting a gold theme for the street and certainly a lot of lights…

As we revealed in September, longer opening hours for Disneyland Park are due to be one of the big bonuses of the year. Advertised as 20th Anniversary Extended Hours, they’re confirmed to be in operation from 1st April to 30th September 2012, although there’s no mention of just how many extra hours we can expect beyond the usual closing time. Presumably, just as many as it takes for the park to see nightfall, providing a suitable canvas for Dreams.

Whilst the 20th Anniversary doesn’t coincide with any major attraction investments, the chance to stay in the park until nightfall every day of the year represents a big gear-change for Disneyland Paris. Add to that a real, signature finale to each day with Dreams — produced by Disneyland California entertainment legend Steve Davison and the team behind World of Color, did we forget to mention? — and the culmination of a huge investment in refurbishments. Looks like an E-Ticket year here.

VIA Disneyland Paris 2012 Brochure

1, 2, 3… 250,000,000! A huge milestone was celebrated at Disneyland Paris yesterday, 15th November 2011, as the resort welcomed its 250 millionth guest into the parks. That’s a quarter of a billion visitors in just 19 years, 7 months and 15 days. Yes, ok, so they’re still not able to turn a consistent net profit, but let the urban myth that Disney’s European resort has been under-attended since 1992 officially be put to rest. In the 2011 financial year, the parks set a new record of 15.6 million visitors, making the outlook for the 20th Anniversary year rosy indeed. With the usual birthday year boom, longer opening hours through the year and the premiere of Dreams, the resort may well hit the magical 16 million.

The guests in question yesterday received the honour of a celebratory ride up Main Street, U.S.A. on the Fire Truck with Disneyland Paris Ambassador Régis Alart and a photocall with Mickey, Minnie and Duffy in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Just like the 100 millionth visitors in 2001 and the 200 millionth visitors in 2008, they were a family of mum and dad with two photogenic young kids, but in a groundbreaking move they were Spanish, not French, and visiting for the fourth time. Euro Disney SCA’s own press release (PDF) notes that families with young children make up 66% of visitors. So, by those odds, maybe we’ll see someone from the other 34% awarded the 300 million honour in a few years?

VIA Ambassadeur Disneyland Paris (Facebook), Disneyland Paris Corporate (PDF)