October 2007

You can find Part 1 of the series here and Part 2 here.

Video – Corbin Bleu visits Walt Disney Studios Park

The main video begins with Corbin riding Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith and feeting the first few fans to recognise him, before strolling across the park (pointing to Tower of Terror) toward Crush’s Coaster, which he rides several times. Next, the video features his entire pre-parade and the star watching Disney Cinema Parade itself. The video ends with clips from 2007’s final High School Musical On Tour performance and Corbin signing more autographs from fans gathered during the show.

Video – Corbin Bleu interview at Walt Disney Studios Park

Against a backdrop of the High School Musical On Tour stage, Corbin speaks about visiting Paris, the differences between Disneyland Paris and California, the cast of the show, the 15th Anniversary and more.

The young star has certainly been trained in the art of making good soundbites, hasn’t he?

Both videos © Disney.

Back in 1999, when the ‘Disney Studios Paris’ project was first finalised and announced, you could say they left something rather important out of those original plans. When the average European thinks of a movie studio, they think of Hollywood. When they think of Hollywood, they imagine tall palm trees, towering into the sky…

Yet, once past the smaller and more hardy Chinese ‘Trachycarpus’ palms (thanks, Wikipedia!) found throughout Front Lot, ignoring the two or three palms of similar species next to Flying Carpets Over Agrabah, the main body of the park lacked the lush exoticism usually associated with the world of moviemaking.

Yesterday, the central, most important area of Walt Disney Studios Park finally took its climate beyond the bounds of Marne-la-Vallée, France. Along the left hand-side of Hollywood Boulevard, four giant palm trees now reach high into the sky as tall, almost, as the placemaking buildings they surround, seen here in photos by member Silver at Disney Central Plaza forum.

Immediately, if you can ignore the grey Marne-la-Vallée skies, the new developments are transported to an exotic, sun-kissed Hollywood setting. Finally, the heart of ‘Disney Studios Paris’ has the power to make us believe, for a second, that we might not be in Paris. And all acheived with four fake palm trees?

Yes, they’re fake. But not only because species such as these (they appear most similar to Washingtonia robusta, found in both Southern California and Florida) would never grow in Paris.

Look a little closer and it becomes clear the trees have actually been “designed” to shrink in both their height and size as they go further along the boulevard, helping the forced perspective of the background sets at the far end of the street. The tree nearest to Disney Bros Plaza is much larger than those which follow, also providing a perfect silhouette against the façade of Tower of Terror to immediately evoke a more exotic climate when guests step into the park.

A matching series of faux palms should frame the right-hand side of the boulevard once construction on the ‘Gone Hollywood‘ storefront moves forward a little more. Not satisfied with fake palms? The developments will also include several new or redeveloped planters around the area, filled with real palms in the same variety of those surrounding Crush’s Coaster — a couple are already planted, behind the fences.

It might finally be time to say goodbye to our old, deciduous Studios and welcome a park which will have the glamour and greenery of Hollywood, all year round…

( Photos by Silver, Disney Central Plaza forum )

Look out for a major photo update of the latest Hollywood Boulevard contruction this weekend!

When DLRP Today broke the news Corbin would be visiting Disneyland Resort Paris back on Saturday, we knew right away the resort wouldn’t be wasting this perfect opportunity for some of their own publicity. They announced the news on their own 15th Anniversary Official Blog, and, when the day rolled around, it was clearly covered from all angles by their audio/visual crew.

Even before his day at Walt Disney Studios Park began, Corbin was allowed to enjoy the sights and attractions of Disneyland Park, with a stop at Disneyland Hotel’s luxurious Café Fantasia to sign some prizes, pose for photos, show off a Mickey Mouse watch and meet a selection of journalists…

On Monday at Walt Disney Studios, Corbin first visited the Walt Disney Television Studios within the park (home of Disney Channel France and future home of new interactive attraction Stitch Live) to give interviews with reporters from radio stations and Disney Channel’s European networks.

The star wasn’t present at the main European launch event in London last month, so this was his first chance to promote High School Musical 2 and his new album over here.

As promised, at 1.15pm Corbin began the day’s performance of Disney Cinema Parade in Hollywood style, riding atop a vehicle from Good Morning Walt Disney Studios. The dancers and performers from High School Musical On Tour surrounded the car for a special pre-parade set to the music of “What time is it?” and “Get-cha head in the game”, amongst other songs.

The guest reaction was mixed between slightly confused and completely starstruck — the original film wasn’t quite as big a success in France as other European countries, but the look on many kids’ faces as their hero calmly drove by was priceless. Luckily, visiting on a Monday in early October meant park attendance was lower than usual.

High School Musical fans who spotted Corbin here then had less than an hour to prepare themselves for the main event — the final 2007 performance of High School Musical On Tour, with Corbin not just making a cameo appearance but singing and dancing along with the cast…

The show ended with a dream photo opportunity for the show’s 2008 return, plus some final extra pictures for the journalists covering the event…

Corbin was then free to meet his screaming female fans gathered around the area, signing autographs against the backdrop of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, answering questions such as “where’s Zac?” and posing for photographs.

And that’s it, the first season of High School Musical On Tour has come to a close!

Throughout the later months of 2007 it has symbolised the quite remarkable change seen throughout the whole of Walt Disney Studios Park — the “Start of Something New” would sum it up nicely. With new attractions opened, new theming completed and this mega-hit show presented several times each day, a worthy partner to the original Disneyland Park finally began to appear.

Didn’t have the chance to visit this Summer? Lucky for you, the celebration continues — and so does High School Musical On Tour, returning April 2008!

Join DLRP TODAY tomorrow for EVEN MORE from Corbin’s visit to Disneyland Resort Paris!

All pictures © Disney.

It can be said a thousand times more — stepping out of Disney Studio 1 to see the Hollywood placemaking couldn’t be a more different view to the lone Studio Tram Tour billboard if they tried…

Last October, fans were well prepared for a Tower of Terror sans area development, standing alone at the heart of the park. Luckily, someone stood up and dared to suggest — “shouldn’t we try to squeeze a little more budget?”, and as if by magic, less than one year later, the Hollywood hills have arrived…

The first piece of the boulevard’s “backdrop” stands on the exact location of the old Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic entrance, using a design identical to the ‘Cadillac Range’ backdrop at Cars Quatre Roues Rallye to hold its vision of lush green vegetation, two palm trees standing either side of the tunnel below.

The tunnel, even, has turned out to be rather a surprise. Not at all in the two-dimensional style expected by most, it’s a fully-sculpted 3D entrance with details at its centre matching those of the new Hollywood buildings enclosing La Terrasse.

The more two-dimensional developments also have their details, above the three separate signs placed on what can now be considered a hotel, department store and apartments building. As mentioned previously, Los Feliz was the location of the very first Disney Bros Studio, whilst Larchmont and Ivar have no clear connection to Disney but are certainly well-known Hollywood names.

The above photos from 6th October 2007, jump forward to this weekend just passed — Sunday 14th October to be precise — and the Hollywood hills are looking very much complete:

Photo: Kyoto, Disneymagicinteractive.com

The hills appear very true to their real-life form, relatively flat on top with a small collection of trees to the left of the Hollywood sign. The hills, combined with the forced perspective of the buildings, certainly have a distant, towering effect on the development, bridging the gap between both sides of the street and closing off the rear of the park. From its hub, the park now immediately feels far more enclosed.

Photo: Kyoto, Disneymagicinteractive.com

Looking closer at the hills, your eyes may take some time to decide whether the four/five elements here are indeed flat backdrops or actually real. Without the fake blue skies of the backdrops seen at Disney’s California Adventure, or the hand-painted style of many Disney-MGM Studios backdrops, the Hollywood hills appear more photo-realistic, again matching the qualities of the Cars background.

Photo: EricLovesTZTOT, Disneycentralplaza.com

Stepping to the far side of the street starts to break the illusion the series of elaborate sets gives. The photo above is the first to show the hills together with the tunnel entrance, this portion of the boulevard appearing to thankfully have just the right balance between three dimensions and two. Notice also the forced-perspective awning of the Los Feliz Hotel, which extends into the street a little.

Now, what’s going on elsewhere on the boulevard?

Well, Paris’ version of DCA’s “Off the Page” store entrance has a completed facade and work now starting on its inner archway. The completely redesigned new version of MGM’s “Sweet Success” facade appears the same as our previous update (at least above the fences), with no signage yet. Progress can, however, be seen at that old favourite — La Terrasse — where, finally, a colour scheme appears to have been settled upon, grey with brighter turqoise/green details.

Photo: Kyoto, Disneymagicinteractive.com

The facade of “Gone Hollywood” should become a popular new icon and photo location for the park, realised in full 3D and now moving ahead fast with turquoise art deco details and brown window framings. The park’s new version of DCA’s “La Brea Carpets” set is currently covered in scaffolding and tarp, like much of “Gone Hollywood”, making progress checks a little hard at this point.

Finally, an important new detail which sprang up relatively unnoticed — the new home of the park’s tips board! It’s due to be a wooden/concrete canopy with tiled roof almost identical to the tips board shelter at Disney-MGM Studios. The basic framework and roof is already in place, as seen above. The park’s recently-updated art deco tips board will simply be moved across to sit underneath this new Californian-styled structure.

Photos with great thanks to Kyoto, EricLovesTZTOT and Photos Magiques.

In what must be the quickest blue-sky-rumour to open-for-guests attraction turnaround in Disney history, the redevelopment of Frontierland’s old Critter Corral lost its green construction walls and opened for guests this past weekend on 6th October, less than three months from when the walls first arrived.

In that time, we’ve seen two new, wooden buildings constructed to enclose the central square, a sharply-pitched roof joining the two and a third construction creating a raised platform in the middle of the area. On a minimal available budget and in practically no time at all, it seems Disneyland Park is already ready to present a brand new Frontierland attraction, the first since 1996…

Woody’s Roundup! And isn’t that just the most rootinest, tootinest attraction logo around?

Recreating the logo seen in the film Toy Story 2, for the 1950s children’s television series which Woody discovers he was once the star of, the new signage sits on a support of a horseshoe standing in two cowboy boots — very much the style old-fashioned Wild West humour, as seen elsewhere in Thunder Mesa on posters and notices and other imagery. Woody cowboy hats rest either side, telling us this is where the “rootinest tootinest cowboy around” comes to relax. The letters of “Woody’s” are made in 3D as if styled from rope.

Yes, here it is, the Pixar cowboy-themed area predicted and promised by magicforum and DLRP Today for several months (or with this construction timescale — weeks), the first areas of Woody’s Roundup are already open!

With the Father Christmas Village the only use for the redeveloped area confirmed by the resort so far, it’s a surprise to see this attraction logo installed so soon and the area already fulfilling its new purpose, albeit with an impressive Halloween theme.

The roofs of the new buildings (now a Halloween workshop to replace that usually in Central Plaza’s Giant Pumpkin) are decorated with small pumpkins at their peaks and corners, whilst the area beyond the roundup, around the small grassy slope at the rear of the Roundup, has been filled with all kinds of Halloween props…

Amongst Pumpkin Men in various poses and some props from last year’s FantaStitch Stage decoration, there seems to be a resurgence in the number of traditional and/or real pumpkins in this year’s Halloween decorations, in addition to the oversized false ones.

However, after so many years of Disney’s Halloween Festival, it’s hard for us to keep track of what’s actually new in these lavish overlays. Some things, on the other hand, are simply confusing on their own…

Back over at the Roundup village, the Halloween workshops are presented alongside the main attraction of the redeveloped area… the meet ‘n’ greets.

New signage displays the times Woody and Jessie, the two main members of the Roundup Gang, will arrive from their Frontier adventures to meet the fans in their real-life home.

The signage again uses the Pixar-designed logo, which thankfully stands very well amongst the rest of Frontierland — a rather sacred ground for the average Disneyland Resort Paris fan. The wooden pole is wrapped with rope for an extra touch of theme.

The idea of the area is very much like Toon Town — or Toon Studio, for that matter — with a Western theme. Whilst we won’t get a true idea of what the Roundup will offer until next year when its Halloween and Christmas uses have passed, guests can already step up onto the new raised platform in the middle of the area to meet the characters against a backdrop of the cowboy village.

Unfortunately for his many fans, the third member of the Roundup Gang — Bullseye — is not currently scheduled to make appearances.

Whilst you’re in the area, you can’t fail to notice the brand new area loop which has been introduced, the first new loop at Disneyland Park for quite some time. Featuring the classic song “Woody’s Roundup” itself along with many others from The Riders in the Sky‘s album “Woody’s Roundup – A Rootin’ Tootin’ Collection of Woody’s Favourite Songs“ which was released with the film back in 1999.

The buildings all have classic Frontierland-style lanterns hanging from their roofs, as seen across the land, plus a mixture of wooden-tiled and metal roofs. The two new buildings come fitted with windows to keep out Paris’ unfriendly climate. More horseshoes across the wooden (or in some cases, such as roof supports — faux wooden) supports to continue the theme of the entrance signage.

However, as these latest pictures by Photos Magiques show, the Roundup still has much space left to be used and more final details and developments to be completed. The covered animal stables and enclosures remain empty and the Woodcarver’s Workshop remains closed.

The changeover to the much-advertised Father Christmas Village should no doubt bring more completion to the overall area, likely then giving it a feel similar to the stage set of the Mickey’s Winter Wonderland show across the path. It is not confirmed whether the Woody’s Roundup characters and signage will be removed during this event, but it’s certainly possible Woody could be heading into the sunset — temporarily — just one month after he arrived.

All photos by Photos Magiques; You can see even more from Halloween here »

Our friends at Photos Magiques bring us the latest photos from The Hollywood Tower Hotel…

From outside Walt Disney Studios Park, the view we’ve waited over five years to see is finally there. “The Hollywood Tower Hotel” looming on the horizon, partnered with the Earffel Tower.

The neon signage was installed back in July, before “The Hollywood Tower” was turned to sit in its final position in September. It was only last Thursday, 4th October 2007, that the final word — “Hotel” — was turned and the Tower officially christened.

This hasn’t been the only signage to be completed on the exterior. Back at ground level, next to the developing Hollywood Boulevard, the Fastpass structure was recently completed with all its art deco details and classicaly-styled “Fastpass Tickets” text. Coinciding well with the refurbishment of all the Fastpass machines at Disneyland Park, the Tower’s are set to be themed as piles of luggage, as in California.

The entire exterior of the attraction above ground level is now pretty much complete. Scaffolding has been entirely removed since the signage and purple “lightning blast” was completed. As it turns out, the purple paint effect appears just as intense as its Californian sister, despite early appearances suggesting it may be a little less heavy.

Work now continues around the ground level developments of the faux hotel complex, not to mention on the heavy detailing which is going into the interior — as with parts of the exterior, early word suggests much of the themeing has been completed to a higher standard than the budget-tightened Californian version.

The final balconies have been installed on the front of the hotel, paintwork completed around the entrance and Tower Hotel Gifts boutique, and — most noticable of all — landscaping has begun behind the fences…

At the heart of the park and with more space and money to work with than at Disney’s California Adventure, the gardens and greenery surrounding the Parisian version of the attraction are already much more developed and expansive. The area to the left of the attraction which was previously an empty grass lawn has been absorbed into the hotel grounds and filled with conifer trees similar to those found throughout the real Hollywood Hills of California.

Last, but most certainly not least — testing has begun. The sight which Disney fans in Anaheim enjoyed for countless months in early 2004 has finally arrived in Paris — the very first elevator drops, taking place throughout the day. Spend a while in Production Courtyard and you might just notice the doors on the front of the hotel “ping” open and a doomed elevator car plunge into the Twilight Zone.

A french fan, ice0ice, posted the following video on Dailymotion:

Ladies and gentlemen, the Tower of Terror is here.

All photos by Photos Magiques; dated 6th October 2007. Video by ice0ice.

The trailer has been published online by Parisian post-production company nightshift, labelled ‘Disney Big Time’ and running for around 2 minutes, it comprises a series of footage and graphics introducing the extended celebration and its main attractions, set largely to the gospel choir song “Oh Happy Day”.

You can watch the trailer in Flash format here, before we take a shot-by-shot look at what they’ve created…

“The 15th anniversary celebrations… Extended by popular demand” reads the first graphics sequence, against a deep red background of ’15’ logos and the words ‘Big Time’, which is used throughout the trailer.

The the familiar 15th Anniversary anthem music of “Flying”, we’re reminded of the launch campaign for the 15th and its events so far through footage and, later, still images cut together at split-second overlaps, building to the grand finale…

…of the original television campaign, where a family watched the illumination of the Castle’s decorations. The music here suddenly dips, the footage seeming entirely separate to the new publicity campaign which follows.

A round of slow clapping, illuminating more stars againt the red background each time, eventually builds to a full applause and the full, sparkling ’15’ symbol seen on Disneyland Park’s LED banners.

As pre-recorded applause continues, the words “The party continues… big time” and “Ready for even more… Happy Days?” appear on screen.

As the title song fades in, the screen dissolves to black…

…And we’re introduced to a young girl, squinting in the sunlight on the Central Plaza stage, swaying her head from side to side and tightening her face as she reaches for the first notes of the song. Mickey clicks his fingers next to her…

…Before a man appears on screen to sing the opening “Oh Happy Day!”, shaking pixie dust from his fingers.

The same man then appears in a rather barren shot stood before The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, still shaking his fingers, with the first of three large letter effects used to introduce this “New Attraction”. The construction walls are painted over digitally with a plain yellow wall, whilst a neat effect of thunder and lightning fills the sky above The Hollywood Tower Hotel.

The shot is soon filled with the other members of the “family” who appear from behind him, as a “bellhop” leans in to give a menacing stare to the camera. The costume used here is actually that seen in the video introductions of Disneyland15.com — the actual bellhops have much darker outfits with plentiful ‘HTH’ branding.

The logo for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror appears on-screen with a starry black background.

Then, still to the words of “Oh Happy Days”, we’re shown a selection of footage from the terrifying, faster-than-gravity freefall of the Tower of Terror…

Continued on Page 2.

Bursting onto the screen with a “swoosh” amid an array of stars, the logo for Stitch Live is a surprising departure from the sail of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean‘, the plaque of ‘Phantom Manor‘ or the storybook of ‘Le Pays des Contes de Fées‘. It animates with the blue trail spiralling onto the screen, uses the modern (and widely available) Cooper Black font for the word ‘Live’ and shines with a white glow moving left-to-right across the word ‘Stitch’.

Whilst the logo used for the ‘Stitch Encounter’ original at Hong Kong Disneyland is thoroughly “Tomorrowland” and even the logo seen on the first Paris concept art was more along the lines of Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, the inspiration for this final logo is clearly taken straight from the title cards of television talk shows and light entertainment programmes.

It’s cheap, it’s slightly cheesy — it’s everything we wouldn’t want an attraction logo to be, under normal circumstances.

But this is Stitch Live, where the “living character” concept has finally found a more natural environment in the guise of a faux chat show. Pre-opening texts from Disneyland Resort Paris already show that Walt Disney Imagineering are keeping the television studio theme of the previous walk-through attraction — even expanding it, since now guests will get to take part and interview Stitch, rather than gazing from a distance into the real, tedious world of television.

The logo comes from a trailer posted in the portfolio of post-production company nightshift, which has been comissioned to create advertisements and footage to promote the extended 15th Anniversary. The trailer also features Stitch running through Front Lot, with some brief footage from inside the Hong Kong attraction following.

Whilst the attraction was previously hardly mentioned by the resort, it has recently taken a much more prominent placement in advertising, promoted as a “New Experience” and even a “world-first”. Not quite, but “European-first” is still impressive.