2006

It appears that, despite obviously continuing her travels through time, Timekeeper’s energetic robot 9-Eye no longer travels through space. She can now be spotted in the first scene of the attraction – “Robot Attack”, next to the first robot encountered. “DLRP_Bopazot” on MiceChat forums spotted her first, and you can see a photo right here. The photo above is from the Photos Magiques Le Visionarium gallery.

Piglet performs a brand new song by well-known resort composer Vasile Sirli, and the show is filled with new music and narration throughout.

Photos Magiques have a great gallery of photos from the show, and have just today uploaded the first full-length video, which is definitely worth a watch.

The move was to allow the temporary fences in Animation Courtyard to be moved further into the park so that construction could fully begin on the Toon Studio attractions.

Now, after many months of confusion for first time guests, the park map has finally been updated to show the change, with the trailer filling the gap in Production Courtyard. No other alterations have been made to the map, but it seems likely, according to many sources, that the lack of information about the attractions currently under construction at the park is “set to change soon”…

You can see a large scan of the updated map at WDS Fans »

As you can see from the sleeve, the main feature lasts 28 minutes, with the advertised 9 bonus videos totalling 26 minutes of footage. The main feature is said to use a story to guide you around the resort, with Chip ‘n’ Dale stealing a boy’s camera to lead him on a wild adventure across both parks.

The 9 bonus videos include: The Making of the Film, The Seasons of Disneyland Resort Paris, The Parades of the Parks, The Construction of Sleeping Beauty Castle, A Visit to the Disneyland Resort Paris Hotels, and more. The whole disc is presented in 4:3 fullscreen aspect ratio, with the newer footage appearing to be letterboxed.

Previously empty sections now feature spectacular new fireworks, and the opening and finale have been given more fireworks than before.

The most noticeable changes begin with Ariel’s wishes, previously featuring just image and laser projections on the castle, which now features large blue/purple fireworks and enhanced projections. During the Fantasia sequence (pictured), large new sparkling red bursts of fireworks have been added where previously there were none. Later in the villains section, the Evil Queen’s voice is also now accompanied by fireworks. There are also countless other smaller alterations and additions throughout the show.

Just goes to show what a little wishing can do! Thanks to Tron 2.0 on MouseInfo.com forum for the list of alterations. And for more magic from Wishes, check out Photos Magiques’ new gallery of photos from this year’s show.

Top of the bill: Karl Holz was watching the show on the hub, next to the Wishes logo. (We were staning on the gate right in front of it). He was already in a bad mood when there were a lot of errors during the Fantillusion parade (appearently the 3 Fairies float crashed when it drove on stage, causing the stop animation and music to play while it was driving along the parade route). Quite a few floats had missing effects or weren’t working like they’re supposed too.

And then the fireworks started way too late, because (we were told by someone from Guest Flow) there was a group at the Blue Lagoon which refused to leave, so they had to wait until they had left before the fireworks could start.

And then ofcourse almost nothing happened during the fireworks. Most of the show was dead, with people actually boo-ing or plain leaving. Karl Holz told to some Disney Central Plaza forum members that there were problems with the computer that launches the fireworks.

Photos Magiques will be featuring a full gallery of photos from the fireworks very soon.

The problems began with the 22.30 performance of Disney’s Fantillusion, the first since January, when the “Fauna’s Carousel” float began the parade without its lighting effects turned on. The blacked-out float continued along the parade route from “it’s a small world” to Pizzeria Bella Notte in darkness, before maintenance crews dashed towards it and corrected the problem. By this time, however, the problems had caused a backlog of floats and the rest of the parade saw these floats (and their dancers) frantically trying to keep up with the earlier floats.

Bigger problems were yet to come, however, as the epic Bastille Day Fireworks – the biggest display of the year at the park – faced technical problems with the ground-based pyrotechnics. Raptor1982 from Photos Magiques messaged us right away after the fireworks with news of the problems:

“The fireworks were a big disaster. None of the rockets behind the castle went up. Only the big shells behind the park went off.”

Despite these problems, causing some sections of the show to feel very (and sometimes totally) devoid of fireworks, guests were still treated to an incredible display of large firework shells – a rare event for the Parisian resort in recent years. Unfortunately for the team working on the fireworks, however, the crowd featured one special VIP who was no doubt watching their efforts very closely – Karl Holz, CEO of the resort’s operating company, Euro Disney Associés SCA. (See photo above). Kyoto from Disney Magic Interactive forum caught him on camera, wearing an oddly John Lassester-esque shirt…

Kyoto also has three videos of the fireworks online. You can download them right here.

The theatre itself has been decorated with branches and leaves covering the lighting equipment above the stage, plus woodland murals on the side walls, totally enveloping guests in the Hundred Acre Wood. The show now also includes a solo musical number from Winnie, a rainbow adventure and a Heffalump musical number.

Rumours of Pooh Bear’s move to the smaller, indoor theatre began spreading last year, with the possibility of a year-round show adapted for each season (Halloween, Christmas, etc.) strongly rumoured. The new show was confirmed by Katie Harris of Disneyland Resort Paris Entertainment in Annual Passport magazine “Envie de +” on 4th January 2006. Today, the new show begins its first season, but it is already scheduled to return for Disney’s Christmas Season from 11th November 2006 to 7th January 2007.

You can see a full run-through of the new show on a new guide page at dlrp.co.uk » The site also has a 9-minute video, giving a good impression of the style of the adapted show. Video »