News / Walt Disney Studios Park

Arriving on Hollywood Boulevard in their most glamorous outfits, the pair walked arm-in-arm toward the recently reopened Hollywood Tower Hotel, ready to check in. Nothing to worry about, it’s been getting some great reviews! Mickey was ever the gentleman, carrying their suitcase as they posed for the photographers…

Not even the hotel’s gaping hole into The Twilight Zone could dampen their smiles. Minnie’s bow even survived the faulty service elevator!

This series of photos have just been released by Disneyland Resort Paris ready for the upcoming explosion of press and publicity surrounding the new attraction, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, in a couple of months. It’s unusual and certainly fun to see the two starring characters dressed up for a new attraction in fitting costumes, even posing around the rest of the Hollywood Boulevard area with their suitcase prop…

It almost seems like something Tokyo Disney Resort would do.

Hopefully, the fickle people of Hollywood will be kind to Minnie for wearing her favourite white dress again — after all, she did first wear it to the opening of the park itself back in 2002, so it seems fitting. Photoshop aficionados should also try to forgive the colour enhancing in the photos, taken earlier this month — the Mouse has achieved a lot in Paris, but consistent blue skies are still a “grey” area in particular.

Dancing in front of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, they probably mirror many managers backstage at the resort right now. The happy couple might have just spotted one of the only “Hidden Mickeys” in the new area, carried across from other versions of the Hollywood Tower Hotel — the little girl in the pre-show video carries a Mickey Mouse doll into the elevator.

Expect to see these fun photos many more times throughout this year — and well into the future. The 2009 calendar, perhaps?

— Photos © Disney.

From having one incredibly weak attraction dedicated to the television side of Disney entertainment, Walt Disney Studios Park will very soon have two incredibly strong attractions based around the medium, both with their own retro style.

Whilst the Tower of Terror sees guests entering Hollywood in the 1950s to film an episode of The Twilight Zone in an abandoned 1930s hotel — an episode which will never make it to air, ‘Stitch Live!‘ across the courtyard appears to be taking on a far more kitschy, geometric style than the boulevard. The kind of style which took over in the late 1950s and 1960s, that the original Disneyland was very much a part of.

The letters spelling out “Stitch Live!” arrived this past weekend, ‘Stitch’ in red with a blue outline and “Live!” simply in bold blue, caught on camera here by the Characters Photos Blog as the alien himself passed by. Whilst ‘Stitch’ uses the typeface familiar from the film, as guessed from the white outline seen earlier, the typeface for “Live!” surprises with a continuation of the kitsch red/black surround, rather than the modern and almost Diet Coke-esque style seen in the promotional logo.

Disney-MGM Studios’ 50s Prime Time Café and Sci-Fi Dine In Theater could be seen as close Imagineering relations of this new creation for Walt Disney Studios Park. What remains to be seen here, however, is whether the retro styles will be continued inside the attraction — this would be the perfect place for an homage to Walt Disney’s overlooked work in television during the era, after all. Unfortunately, the modern Disney Channel logo on the signage would point to the flogging of Hannah Montana than the celebrating of television history.

Disneytheque.com provides photos capturing the entire complex, including its recent satellite dish addition. Another add-on has also now appeared under the signage itself — thin, horizontal metal casing, with best guesses pointing to this being an illuminated show times display.

However, Disneytheque also guesses that the removal of a tree in front of the attraction could point to a stand-alone show times board, as depicted in the original concept art.

— Photos by Characters Photos Blog and Disneytheque.com

Would you book an entire trip to Disneyland Resort Paris to enjoy the big new attraction, knowing that the dates you’ve chosen are based entirely on rumour, unpublished dates? Anyone who has already booked to take advantage of the special December previews of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for Passeport Annuel Dream holders will have certainly done just that.

Because, with just 7 days (or 14 days, for the second round of previews) to go, the Annual Passport service has finally got round to that rather important task… sending out the invites. The first ones have now been received by French fans, which should leave only around one month to wait for anyone in another country. Regard, in all its splendour, the AP service’s constant belief that no-one — not a single fan — outside of Ile-de-France owns an Annual Passport Dream, and may not have to plan a visit in advance.

The invite for “La Tour de la Terreur: Un Saut dans la Quatrième Dimension”:

Sarcasm aside, those who have already taken a chance on rumours and booked or can do so within the next 7 to 14 days will be able to enjoy some generously lengthy preview slots — the people deciding those, at least, know that the Tower of Terror is a really big deal…

Saturday 8th December — 10.00am to 6.00pm

Sunday 9th December — 10.00am to 7.00pm

Saturday 15th December — 11.00am to 3.00pm

Sunday 16th December — 12.00pm to 7.00pm

Annual Passport Dream holders need only turn up at Walt Disney Studios Park on those dates and show their pass at the attraction entrance to enjoy the ride. Each holder can invite one friend (with a valid park entrance ticket) to join them on the new attraction.

Previews for Shareholders are currently rumoured for January, with the official public opening now sure to be 22nd December 2007, following neatly the weekend after the second of these AP Dream preview weekends.

The preview times have also been added to the DLRP Magic! Calendar schedules for these days >>

— With thanks to Scrooge on Disney Magic Interactive forum for the invite scan.

Time is ticking away quickly now to the opening of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror… in fact, judging by what lies beyond those immortal yellow fences, time has been ticking away for this abandoned Hollywood hotel for quite some time. Yesterday, 29th November 2007, the first section of construction walls were finally removed after almost three years of service!

Scrooge, moderator of Disney Magic Interactive forum, has shared the first photos, with the Tower shrouded in a spectacular covering Winter mist 183 feet up…

Guests inside Walt Disney Studios Park now have a direct view across the hotel’s East gardens to the building itself, with no obstructions. The gardens are large and lushious, far larger and arguably giving much more impact than those around the Tower’s Californian cousin.

Prior to construction of the Tower, fans might remember most of this area as a small grass lawn — the entirety now turned to brown dirt/bark and filled completely with coniferous trees, small bushes and thorny, spiny evergreens.

Very noticeable absentees here are palm trees — in California, the Tower is flanked by a row of giant, towering palms which spread an air of exoticism across its square frontage. Not so in Paris, at least not yet — the climate is hardly suited to such large palms in Summer, let alone the middle of Winter. So far, the option of fake trees like those spectacularly realistic-looking ones lining Hollywood Boulevard has also not been taken.

However, this side of the hotel is not entirely devoid of palm trees — as DynastyGo on Disney Central Plaza forum picked up on camera, some far smaller varieties can be found hidden within the area, forming a circle around some forgotten stone garden furniture…

Running from right to left within the gardens here is a path toward the Tower Hotel Gifts boutique and the Toilets of Terror, currently closed by barriers and walls at either end. The queue line is then even further within, having its very own overgrown gardens, surrounded by a beautiful metal fence taken over with shrubs and odd trees with split branches, as if hit by lightning…!

One surprise here is a small circular patio hidden in the middle of the gardens next to the path, a new place to relax on a bench amongst lush green surroundings, whilst those braver enjoy a highly themed E-ticket… yes, this is still Walt Disney Studios, honestly! The gardens around the patio are filled with old ornaments, statues and stone fountains, which have all seen better days. Identical curios can be seen scattered in slightly different positions through the much smaller gardens in California.

Notice also the blue awnings on the windows of Tower Hotel Gifts, and the newly-aged Toilets of Terror, now with additional turquoise details and rusty dirt to match the Tower.

No confirmed date is known for the removal of the remaining fences, either around only the Tower or even the whole Hollywood area. Most, if not all, will obviously be down by the 22nd, and it could be wise to assume they could be gone as early as the first Annual Passport previews in just over a week…

— Photos by Scrooge on Disney Magic Interactive forum and DynastyGo on Disney Central Plaza forum

Since April of this year and the start of the 15th Anniversary festivities, the resort has been using two generous online special offers to help boost general ticket sales for the two parks — 15% off on the shortest ticket and extra days on the longer park hoppers. The latest official brochure now introduces new names for the two ticket offers, the first new ticket naming (for guests outside of France) since the opening of Walt Disney Studios Park.

The special offer tickets are now officially named “Discovery” and “Celebration“, making the offers easier to market and no doubt a little more attractive to guests than the offers which previously seemed a little unplanned.

The “Discovery ticket” offer, giving 15% off a 1-Day/2-Parks hopper ticket, is now advertised as “Ideal for enjoying some of the treats of our celebration, while visiting Paris”. Meanwhile, the top-class “Celebration ticket” offer, giving a whole extra day on your ticket for 3 and 4 day tickets (therefore becoming 4 and 5 day tickets respectively), is promoted as “Ideal if you want to fully enjoy the celebration in two Disney Parks!”. You can find out more about the offers on the official website.

Following the annual report earlier this month, it’s a new financial year for the resort and so time for the ticket prices to be updated for 2008. As has become tradition, prices have generally changed by only a Euro or two, the highest increases for Child 2-Day and 3-Day hoppers.

2008 Ticket Price Changes (Adult/Child)

1-Day/1-Park — 2007 : €46 / €38 — 2008 : €47 / €39 — (+€1/+€1)

1-Day Park Hopper — 2007 : €56 / €48 — 2008 : €57 / €49 — (+€1/+€1)

2-Day Park Hopper — 2007 : €103 / €84 — 2008 : €105 / €89 — (+€2/+€5)

3-Day Park Hopper — 2007 : €128 / €105 — 2008 : €131 / €111 — (+€3/+€6)

Special offer tickets for UK advanced sale:

“Discovery” 1-Day Park Hopper — Until 4/04/08 : £33 / £29 — Then : £35 / £31 — (+£2/+£2)

“Celebration” 4-Day Park Hopper — Until 4/04/08 : £89 / £76 — Then : £93 / £79 — (+£4/+£3)

“Celebration” 5-Day Park Hopper — Until 4/04/08 : £104 / £88 — Then : £109 / £93 — (+£5/+£5)

Remarkably, and quite unbelievably, prices for the full range of Annual Passports remain the same, now several years on from their last price increase!

— Head over to the official Disneyland Resort Paris website for full ticket details and sales.

Now, DLRP Today usually tries to keep up the illusion, stay away from spoilers, … But when you spy a video which not only reveals the long-awaited first-hearing of The Hollywood Tower Hotel’s French narration but a truly spectacular nighttime view over the resort from the top of said hotel… Well, who can resist that?

Can you?

Leave this page now if you don’t want to take an early drop into The Twilight Zone…!

Just released to the world less than 2 hours ago via video website Dailymotion, the video is labeled as “Tower of Terror Avant-Premiere”. The resort generally tries to stop video capture or picture taking during its Cast Member and various other attraction previews, but, in this new video sharing world, one inevitably slipped through the net – from the Imagineer family preview this weekend. It reveals enough to seriously excite, but not nearly enough to spoil the massive, immersive experience of an entire, real ride on the attraction, starting as it does just as the elevator “pushes away” and ending during the final drop.

The French commentary follows exactly that of the original English version with no room given for improvisation. “Your destination… unknown” becomes simply “Votre destination… inconnue”. Impressively, even this relatively low-quality still camera video picks up the sublime show lighting throughout the Tower’s scenes, along with one other major feature…

That view!! What can you say? If the Paris Tower wins in one field, it’s having the most spectacular, jaw-dropping Twilight Zone panorama of them all.

Your thoughts…?

— Video by Mustaleski on dailymotion.

Come March 2008, when guests step into Production Courtyard (or should we say Hollywood Studio?), the Walt Disney Television Studios home of Stitch Live will begin to tell its story, like any good Disney attraction, from the very first glance. Installed just recently atop the entrance pillar is a small golden satellite dish, pointing upwards into the sky.

So, as The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has its purple scorch marks to suggest the lightning strike, Stitch Live will suggest its live satellite link-up to outer space… in a more modest fashion. Notice also the extension of blue construction fences, previously only around the exit, to hide the entire queue area.

The satellite dish simply replaces the old decoration atop the purple/pink pillar, as compared here by our partner website WDSfans.com — a thin antenna which served more as a traditional Disneyland Resort Paris lightning rod than a piece of themed storytelling.

Aside from changing the green Disney Channel sign to a new Stitch Live design, the addition of this satellite dish will likely be the biggest change to the exterior of the attraction before its opening.

The Imagineers working on the project (or rather the accountants) are no doubt glad that the original 2002 building already had a somewhat extra-terrestrial look about it, with a larger antenna on the corner facing Tower of Terror clearly having quite a 1950s sci-fi look.

It remains to be seen, however, what effect the probable extension of the current Hollywood Boulevard placemaking will have on the building and its comparably vague era and setting.

As reported previously, the new interactive attraction is expected to open around 22nd March 2008.

— Photos by Photos Magiques / WDSfans.com and DLRP Today.

Since the opening year of 1992, Disneyland Resort Paris has celebrated Christmas with bigger and better events each and every year. For the 15th Anniversary, we were promised an “exceptionnoël” season, and, with a Father Christmas Village and Enchanted Candleabration to discover amongst countless old favourites, this is truly the biggest and most spectacular Christmas season the resort has ever seen.

Click below to play the video — and chante, c’est noël!

The video is exclusive to this page and cannot be seen on our usual Dailymotion account, so please do spread around this link to share the sights of the most magical Disney Christmas on Earth!

You can find full guides, histories, photo galleries, fun facts and useful tips for Disney’s Christmas Season 2007/08 in the extensive DLRP Magic! Guidebook chapter for the season.

— Video footage and music © Disney/Euro Disney Associés S.C.A.