2006

In 2005, the Happiest Celebration On Earth allowed Disneyland Resort Paris to launch the new Wishes Nighttime Spectacular under the umbrella of a new, specific seasonal event. After the success of the Halloween, Christmas and Carnival seasons in dispersing crowds throughout the year, it seemed more effort was needed for the Summer season to remain profitable for the resort. And so, Summer Magic was born.

Here are this year’s most talked-about Summer Magic events, which we’ll no doubt be covering in much more detail over the next seven days:

Wishes Nighttime Spectacular
The controversial nighttime spectacular returns for a second season, from 15th July. Labelled “controversial” because its over-reliance on projections and special effects caused many fans to raise criticisms about a shortage of fireworks. Whilst new special effects were mentioned in official Annual Passport magazine “Envie de +”, initial reports suggest the show has remained almost identical to the 2005 version.
Latest News & Discussion »

Disney Princess Parade
For just over two months, The Wonderful World of Disney Parade becomes known as Disney Princess Parade.
Latest News & Discussion »

Winnie the Pooh and Friends, Too
The popular Summer season show has now moved to the indoor Fantasy Festival Stage. Along with a totally reworked soundtrack and a new song by legendary resort musical director Vasile Sirli, the show is presented with new lighting effects and redesigned stage sets. With only 375 seats compared to the 800 at the outdoor Royal Castle Stage, however, can the new location cope with demand for the silly old bear?
Latest News & Discussion »

Captain Jack Sparrow Meet ‘n’ Greet
The unforgettable pirate captain from the movie series drops anchor in Adventureland for meet ‘n’ greets, next to Au Chalet de la Marionnette.
Latest News & Discussion »

Bastille Day Fireworks
Tomorrow night, one of Disneyland Park’s biggest fireworks displays once again illuminates the night sky on France’s major national holiday. With massive bursts of fireworks and traditional French music, this is Disney entertainment with a twist!

Summer Magic begins tomorrow, 14th July, and will run until 27th August 2006.

On the 28th March 2006, the tarp surrounding the upper section of the boutique’s exterior was covered in a specially-created full-length rendering of the normal exterior so that, from a distance, everything looked normal. This was especially important during the press events of Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast in early April 2006, and the design featured extra trees with balloons and birds to lighten the mood further. The slow deconstruction of the tarp and scaffolding began on the final days of June 2006, as PATMAGIC reports here.

This marks the end of another major refurbishment at Disneyland Park, which has been blessed with countless improvements and updates since new CEO Karl Holz (who was previously president and chief operating officer of Euro Disney S.A.S.) and his new management team moved in in May 2005.

Each group or character will hold a candle that counts towards the 15 years being celebrated, and some brand new official visuals (for use as Travel Operator brochure covers) have just been released featuring these impressive character designs.

Aladdin: Day – Night
Baloo: Day – Night
Cheshire Cat: Day – Night
Chip & Dale: Day (unavailable) – Night
Dumbo: Day – Night
Dwarfs: Day – Night
Hewey Dewy and Lewey: Day – Night
Jiminy Cricket: Day – Night
Lumiere: Day (unavailable) – Night
Pinocchio: Day – Night

Disneyland Resort Paris promises “A celebratory atmosphere, with castle & park specially decorated for the 15th anniversary year”. More information has also now surfaced about the functionality of these decorations. Official documents describe how guests will be able to “Enjoy the beauty of a captivating one-of-a-kind anniversary ceremony every night at Sleeping Beauty’s Castle”.

Since the characters are holding candles, some kind of birthday blowing-out-the-candles ceremony seems very likely, along the same lines as The Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony’s castle and tree light-up at Christmas.

This brand new parade will feature totally new floats with one of the biggest ever collections of characters – indeed, it has been rumoured for a long time now that the number of characters will actually outweigh the number of dancers! Rumours of bungee stilts and trampoline effects (similar to those seen in Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams in California) have also been bouncing around for quite some time.

Today, take a look at this exciting concept visual on the right – this is our first look at the new parade, and appears to be showing the opening float featuring the “Disney VIPs”. As Mickey and Minnie gently float by the smiling purple moon in a sun-shaped hot air balloon, Donald and Goofy float on the clouds, fishing for dreams in the world of adventure and fantasy below them. Pluto and Chip & Dale meet and greet the fans in front of the float.

The parade’s opening float seems to take the theme of “dreams” and wrap it up in more whimsy than we’ve ever seen before in a Disneyland Resort Paris parade. This looks set to be a stunning and truly original spectacle.

After the April testing of Walt Disney World’s “Extra Magic Hours” concept (extra hours in the park only for Disney Hotel guests) and May’s more unpopular “Demand based Opening Hours” (shorter park hours on quiet weekdays), June’s trial of extended weekend openings with a specially created fireworks show came as something of a surprise.

Fans of the old Tinkerbell’s Fantasy In The Sky Fireworks show, which enjoyed its final season during the Summer of 2004, were given the gift of a brief return of its classic soundtrack along with new (albeit smaller) pyrotechnic effects. Despite featuring fewer fireworks than its 2004 cousin, this new 2006 Summer Fantasy In The Sky could be said to rival 2005’s Wishes Nighttime Spectacular in the same department!

Tinkerbell’s 2006 Fantasy finished its impromptu season last night, however you can still experience the magic for yourself at home. Photos Magiques has a gallery full of spectacular photos of the show, whilst DLRP.fr presents a video of the show (right click to download) to give the full in-park experience: complete with obligatory “oooo!” as the lights dim and over-excited children standing too close for comfort.

Wishes is set to make a welcome return next Saturday, with promises of more brand new special effects from the resort’s vice-president of shows, François Leroux.

An epic refurbishment has been pencilled in for many months now, with the attraction confirmed to be closed from 21st August to 13th October 2006, a move that has already upset many guests planning to visit in the later days of this year’s Summer Magic season.

It should be noted, however, that Disneyland Resort Paris do not make decisions like this lightly – a two month closure for the park’s most popular attraction is a brave step to take. But, with the 15th Anniversary looming on the horizon, it seems the new park management is willing to take more drastic steps to make sure the park looks better than ever for its biggest ever celebration. You’d like proof? Just take a look at this latest photo from Joel’s Photo Hunt, and compare the colouring of the main body of the mountain to that of its peaks. Notice the difference? It seems the park maintenance crews have started work already, painstakingly cleaning sections of the mountain after park closure each night.

Whilst we wait for the start of the full-on refurbishment project and even more improvements to the Frontierland landscape, why not check out the attraction’s main fansite – ThunderRide.com – which features a huge range of material about the ride’s design, construction, story and much more.

As these latest photos show, the parade also travels in a reversed direction, with its finale taking place in Backlot after a grand opening between Disney Studio 1 and CinéMagique.

Interestingly, the float order has also been altered, with Donald’s director chair and Minnie’s costume department arriving on set before Tinkerbell’s original opening float, and The Lion King’s script now travelling behind Pinocchio’s clapperboard.

News from WDS Fans.

In addition to the vertical white cladding fixed onto the back of the tower to give the finished building more depth and detail, preparations for the dome on top of tower have begun with the addition of a circular steel base frame.

Windows on the back and lower front of the building have been enclosed by the concrete interior walls and even a small section of paint testing has begun on the walls surrounding the attraction’s power grid at the rear of the construction site.