2006

First, an up-close look at the new queue buildings for Cars Race Rally. Disney Central Plaza forum moderator Grandmath posted new photos today showing the current status of Toon Studio, including one shot from Art of Disney Animation towards the future Cars attraction that gives a good close-up view of progress here (photo 2).

The section of this series of buildings seen above is the circular main entrance and the long, thin, double-back section. You can see the circular centre of the entrance above, as well as the tall metal structure already in place to hold the large “Cars” logo seen on concept art. The thin rectangular building extending from this into the distance will also feature a “storefront” with Guido and Luigi, likely where the curved section of concrete can be seen extending from the building.

The thin metal supports in the foreground of the picture are for the queue section just before the boarding pens, which will be themed to Flo’s V8 Café.

Over at Crush’s Coaster, the side wall of the coaster building is now totally blue, whilst the dark ride section has been given a tester strip of blue paint along its rim. Blue paint has also recently spread to Art of Disney Animation. La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum reported a few days ago that the section of this large building nearest Studio Tram Tour, including the tall toilets building at the rear, has been given a new coat of paint to welcome it into the new Toon Studio. It remains to be seen where else in the existing land will be given a spot of blue paint, such as Animagique or the remaining sections of Art of Disney.

Finally, WDS Fans confirmed some interesting new details about Crush’s Coaster yesterday. It appears that although the coaster section of the ride is an “off-the-shelf” design by its manufacturer Maurer Söhne, the track has been tweaked at almost every turn by the Imagineers and designers, to make sure it perfectly fulfills the requirements of their design. Whilst most of the changes to this section won’t be noticed by guests, one major change has been confirmed. Unlike normal models of this roller coaster, which feature the “spinning unlock” section (a track section which unlocks the vehicle’s free-spinning design) after the first drop, Crush’s Coaster will feature this section before the drop, giving extra “spin time” as well as a more exciting experience as guests spin whilst swooping down the 40ft drop.

WDS Fans also confirms that the submarine spanning the length of the lift hill will indeed be present, with the Bruce animatronic measuring 4 metres from head to tail!

Photos by Grandmath, Disney Central Plaza. Other images copyright Disney and Maurer Söhne.

Reopening day itself, Saturday 14th October, was reportedly an eventful one. Scrooge at Disney Magic Interactive forum reported that just seconds after opening the whole of Frontierland was closed, before reopening a few minutes later. Big Thunder Mountain itself didn’t open until after midday, and suffered several technical problems throughout the day.

As for the refurbishment, which began on 21st August, whilst Big Thunder itself was cleaned and repainted in sections before the closure and during its early stages, impressive changes have taken place at the attraction’s loading station recently. The most noticable of these to mine train riders is the addition of new safety gates on each platform, similar to those installed in 2005 at Space Mountain: Mission 2. Unlike the gates at other attractions, though, these have been themed to fit perfectly with the attraction, with the seams of the metal bars made clearly visable to give an old-fashioned, Western style.

Outside of the station building itself, the difference between old and new is remarkable. The classic red tint on the wood has been restored to its full glory after becoming practically invisible due to years of weathering and neglect.

The ochre rockwork around the station has been cleaned just as spectacularly as the mountain itself, and the Southern sides of the queue building have had their vibrant yellow tint restored, completing the ride’s iconic Western colour scheme of brown, red, yellow and green (the wagons). Meanwhile, a new height indicator is just one of the many minor tweaks and modifications to the attraction.

The only way to truly experience the superb changes here, though, is to take a ride on “the wildest ride in the wilderness” itself. Whilst every turn presents new areas of rockwork painstakingly cleaned and repainted, one of the key scenes with a lot of new vibrancy is just after the first lift hill, where all manner of spiky cacti grow in the middle of a u-turn in the track, seen below. Finally, the moss and dirt have been removed to return the arid, desert feel to this incredible landscape.

Adjustments have, of course, been made to the more major elements of the ride, such as the roller coaster’s track (in particular the first lift hill), animatronics and special effects. Whilst some effects were reportedly not functioning this weekend, it is expected they will all return eventually.

Photos by DLRP Today, Photos Magiques, Dlrp.fr and Scrooge (Disney Magic Interactive forum).

Starting at Toon Studio, after a modest start with the paint tests one week ago, the painters have truly splashed out. Since the photos below were taken, one entire wall of the massive showbuilding has been given its first coat of vibrant blue paint, which does indeed appear to be almost the same shade as the iconic Sorcerer’s Hat and definitely a deeper and more intense colour than that seen on the original concept model.

The curved edging around the building’s Studio 5 placard has also been given a spot of paint, the pale yellow colour obviously chosen to contrast less with the deep blue soon to appear below and blend nicely with the very vibrant yellow on the placard itself. The Disney-style number 5 itself has even been included, gaining a sky blue colour. It is still unknown whether Studio 3, Animagique, will follow Studio 5 and replace its current placard with a Walt Disney Script version.

A ray of sunshine from high above The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror gives us a good glipse through the netting on its towering scaffolding rigs. What was previously a bare concrete shell has been quietly gaining more and more detail.

Indented edging around the top of the building supplies the essentials for its terracotta tiled Pueblo Deco style, whilst right-angled blocks either side of the windows already give a discomforting, foreboding, Hollywood edge to the design.

All photos by Joel, more available here.

The video was filmed last Christmas in the backstage area of Hotel New York, as the Cast Members waited to go “on stage” to perform as their respective characters. It was reported by two different daily national newspapers in the UK. First by The Sun, who sexed up the story with well-captured stills and sensationalised descriptive words in bold type. Later, the Daily Mail also caught on to the video, describing it as “smutty” and harking back to Walt Disney’s original vision for his characters, in the good old days.

Introductions to the varying styles of British tabloid journalism aside, even Reuters picked up the story later in the day, adding:

“The behavior shown on the video is unacceptable and inexcusable,” Disney said in a statement.
“The video was taken in the backstage area not accessible to guests. Appropriate action has been taken to deal with the cast members involved.”

As irresponsible as the behaviour was, whilst repesenting such iconic and respected characters, the fact that the event took place behind closed doors perhaps leaves only the cameraman as truly irresponsible. Admittedly, performers “larking around” backstage probably happens every day at Disney parks around the world, yet before now no one has found the need to film it and share it online.
Perhaps a better question here then is why, after already knowing about the video for several days, Disney has yet to use its legal muscle to have it removed. That’s what I call being Goofy.

Starting as every budding starlet does, on the Place des Frères Lumières in Front Lot, the refurbishment of Walt Disney Studios Store is progressing well. A few weeks ago the huge boutique was repainted in a basecoat of grey, but now its trademark yellows are beginning to return and, so far, they seem a shade or two deeper than before. There also now appears to be more contrast and detail between the different areas of paint, with the arches in the side walls receiving a darker yellow to the pale edging. Repainting has also been going on outside the park gates, across the canopy of Studio Services.

Further into the park, at the Tower of Terror construction site, everything seems to be going, ehm, “peachy” with the installation of fabricated windows and window frames across the front of the tower, whilst scaffolding has grown up around both sides of the main showbuilding as more details are added. The concrete panels already in place on the back of the tower, to give more detail and relief to the design, are now making their way up the sides of the tower.

At the back of the tower, the peachy base coat has now been applied to almost all of the bare concrete, giving a slightly more pleasant look to the imposing construction. The lower concrete building at the back of the tower, housing the large power grid needed to operate the tower and its three high-power elevator shafts, has also been given the same basecoat along with extra art deco touches on its corners. Eventually, the entire Tower of Terror will gain a colour more akin to that seen in Front Lot above, although with a few extra scorch marks…

As for the opening of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, nothing at all has been confirmed. In fact, apart from the small billboard in front of the construction site, Disneyland Resort Paris seem to want to pretend it’s not even happening. Why for? Well, with even only a vague opening schedule rumoured, people are more likely to visit for Toon Studio in June 2007, rather than wait a little longer for the fully expanded Walt Disney Studios experience.

The theme of prolonging things has spread further recently, though, since current favourite rumours indicate previews of the attraction in late 2007 and a January 2008 official opening. This would mean the attraction won’t clash with the popular Halloween and Christmas seasons, nor will it’s opening come too early in the timeframe of the 15th Anniversary year. With a large number of people traditionally booking their Summer holidays in January each year, could they be booking themselves into a visit to the Hollywood Tower Hotel instead? It’s possible. But then, so could be an opening of January 2208 at this point…

Photos by Photos Magiques / WDS Fans.

The changes begin even before the parade itself, as the Pink Witches (added to the festival last year as a rival to the Orange Pumpkinmen) step onto the parade route at Town Square and make their way to Fantasyland, leaving a trail of mischief behind them. This new “pre-parade” uses the wacky “Boo To You” soundtrack from Walt Disney World’s Halloween celebrations, and shows a return to a more “complete” parade experience for the resort’s entertainment teams.

Once the parade begins, with the Pink Witches lined up at the opening gate, the changes continue throughout. The huge inflatable orange ball, which rolled along thanks to a walking parade performer inside, has obviously succumbed to the claws of Stitch. The Pumpkinmen’s orange paint well float from 2005 (also used as the Snow White float in Disney Princess Parade) is now a general orange paint float for the “fab 7”, with Mickey and Minnie no longer using their rustic horse-drawn wagon to begin the parade. Along with this, the scarecrow dance section has also been lost. The updated orange paint float features Stitch wearing a pumpkin mask in a paint pot at the centre, whilst the Pumpkinmen themselves are relegated to a dance section at the start of the parade.

The final change is the addition of some unlikely new faces to the parade’s character lineup. Not wicked Disney witches or gruesome bad guys, but instead a collection of some of Disney’s most innocent classic characters. With characters such as Peter Pan and Pinocchio, it seems clear the parade is now attempting to cater for more guests than simply those supporting the Villain’s devilish ways.

You can now find a full guide to this year’s parade at DLRP Magic!, or a full photo gallery direct from the magic at Photos Magiques.

Update 17:28 GMT: Photos Magiques have now uploaded a full video of this year’s Disney Villain Parade to YouTube, which can be found in 3 parts:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

As if the expected slew of Halloween pins wasn’t enough, this month also brings some new additions to the “cuties” range as well as a brand new design: the “message” pin. Add to these the Autumn 2006 pin, an expensive “jumbo” Lady and the Tramp pin and the first in a new “Walt Disney Studios Invasion” series, and Pin Traders should perhaps consider a hefty mortgage to get them through this frenzied month:

Saturday October 14th 2006

Jack Skellington Starter Kit (Lanyard plus 2 each of 2 pins)
Reference number 209411007000
Price 19.90 Euros

Cutie Pin: Chip & Dale
Reference number 209401006070
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Stitch
Reference number 209401006071
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Eeyore
Reference number 209401006072
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Winnie
Reference number 209401006073
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Tigger
Reference number 209401006074
Price 6.00 Euros

Cutie Pin: Piglet
Reference number 209401006075
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Eeyore
Reference number 209401006054
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Marie
Reference number 209401006055
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Thumper
Reference number 209401006056
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Stitch
Reference number 209401006057
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Chip & Dale
Reference number 209401006058
Price 6.00 Euros

Message Pin: Winnie
Reference number 209401006059
Price 6.00 Euros

Jumbo Pin: Lady and the Tramp
Reference number 209401006025
Limited edition x600
Price 39.00 Euros

Tinkerbell Autumn 2006 Season pin
Reference number 209401006053
Limited edition x1200
Price 10.50 Euros

Stitch Invasion #13 pin
Reference number 209401006062
Limited edition x1200
Price 10.50 Euros

Saturday October 21st 2006

WDS Invasion #1 pin
Reference number 209401007000
Limited edition x900
Price 10.50 Euros

Saturday October 28th 2006

Nightmare Before Christmas LE pin
Reference number 209401007010
Limited edition x900
Price 10.50 Euros

Stitch Chernabog LE pin
Reference number 209401007001
Limited edition x900
Price 10.50 Euros

Donald & Goofy Halloween LE pin
Reference number 209401007006
Limited edition x900
Price 10.50 Euros

Artworks of the pins should be available on the official Disneyland Resort Paris website, here, quite soon.

The trees are similar in style to those previously lining the fence where Cars Race Rally is now being constructed, with very long, thin branches and a box-like body. They’re similar even, perhaps, to those surrounding Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, and give a very stylised and refined look to the future entrance of Toon Studio, matching the nature of animation itself.

Today’s image by cameraphone.

This area of blue fences was erected back in late August, with the only sign of construction over the past month being a large hole. Now though, we can see the true start of the original Animation Courtyard’s placemaking, as more greenery arrives and the lands of Walt Disney Studios are finally separated.

Update (13:36 GMT): raptor1982 also reports that he believes the same line of trees may have also been added behind the green construction fences, next to Disney Studio 1.