2007

Approaching the park through Fantasia Gardens, the rush of guests was already much stronger than the day before, with extra ‘Guest Flow’ Cast Members even positioned out front to direct guests. At the top of the gardens, it immediately became clear Disneyland had been very busy overnight, with the new, recorated, Lumière entrance adding a new touch of gold and blue to the 15-year-old Disneyland Hotel.

The banners seen on the resort hub and around Central Plaza had also now made their way to the gardens, surrounding the Disney Legends statue whose wand pointed upwards to a blue sky… that wouldn’t last (look out for another article with slightly sunnier pictures than 31st March soon!).

New park entrance decoration and banners

The entrance itself is a brilliant overlay of the 1992 original, replacing the old Euro Disney-years’ castle silhouette with a new 3D Lumière and two new oval plaques displaying the 15th Anniversary logo and castle. The plaques appear as if they’ve been on the entrance for fifteen years themselves, the design is so in tune with the entrance. For once, seasonal decorations that won’t make an Imagineer cringe!

The surprises didn’t stop with the new entrance. Stepping through the turnstiles, guests were greeted by one of the rarest sights from the resort’s history – a live dixie brass band performing at the foot of Main Street Station! Fresh from their brief appearance at the earlier Red Carpet Ceremony for the press, they gave a hint of the things to come during this day of new surprises and returning favourites…

Dixie brass band under Main Street Station

Not everything in the park for the anniversary was quite so complimentary to the theme, though at least they were trying. The huge white press platform erected a day earlier was given a new covering of “15” logo symbols, to make clear it was only a temporary feature for the anniversary press event. Lights surrounded the platform, important for the cloudy day, whilst film crews already began to prepare their waterproof camera covers for the afternoon’s launch ceremony.

Press viewing platform takes over Town Square

Lights were also positioned along the length of Main Street, as were large blue and white balloons containing confetti, to be burst during the launch ceremony later. A temporary projection and filming booth on the roof of North-East Main Street provided the location for many of the official press photos to be featured in later articles, as well as the source of the startling projections seen during the night’s special performance of Candleabration.

Lights and balloons prepare for the afternoon’s opening ceremony

Walking further on, right down the middle of Main Street USA, as it happened, and suddenly another lost favourite from the past strolled into view – turn-of-the-century townspeople! Fresh from their appearance in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, they took a stroll back along the street and clearly relished the chance to meet and greet with guests… and the Emporium statues.

Turn-of-the-century townspeople stroll Main Street, including the Mayor

At the end of Main Street, standing to one side from the press cameras and presenters still on the cobbles, the rarely-seen mayor took the chance to chat with guests after the opening ceremony. The entire park opening ceremony and much of the events to follow were all surprisingly traditional and almost entirely in tune with the park and its lands. This anniversary is clearly about the classic magic of Disneyland, rather than giant birthday cakes and ill-fitting Jester hats.

Finally, how to top-off one of the most exciting and bustling early-morning walks down Main Street for years? Can you say… marching band?! Originally a daily feature at the park upon its 1992 opening – much like the original Disneyland – they were lost amongst the financial choas that ensued. The most recent memorable performance of a Disney marching band in the park was perhaps as far back as the 5th Anniversary. But, for one day only, Disneyland Park once again had its very own marching band.

The video below shows a glimpse at their walk around Central Plaza, but their star performance – with an even larger group of muscians – was without doubt during the special pre-parade at 14:45, to be featured shortly.

Video features:
1. Park Entrance
2. Main Street Station Band
3. Mayor of Main Street & Press
4. Marching Band

An exceptional welcome to what would become an exceptional day. Love or loath the press invasion, their power to kick the park into full motion is always appreciated!

Disneyland Park ready to begin its biggest party ever

As the press filled the end of Main Street, a bright red carpet stretched off into the distance towards the Central Plaza stage and Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, creating an image like that of the striking print advertising for the anniversary. The ceremony was hosted by the Mayor of Main Street, only seen on the most rare occasions, along with one of the two 2007 Resort Ambassadors – Wendy Courquet, first introduced during The Christmas Parade of 1st January 2007.

The show began with a special marching band, not seen at the park since perhaps as long ago as the 5th Anniversary, who provided music for the equally rarely-seen Victorian townspeople to dance to.

Miley Cyrus joins the Fab 7 on the red carpet

With cameras frantically zooming and photographers clicking away, the stars of the show strolled onto the red carpet – Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Chip n Dale, joined by 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, star of Disney Channel’s hit show Hannah Montana. The Fab 7 wore their new, blue “Year of a Million Dreams” costumes, as seen in the new nightly Candleabration ceremony show. Following them was a colourful gang of Disney characters old and new, from Lilo & Stitch and Chicken Little to the Three Little Pigs and Genie, helping to recreate the red carpet scene from the resort’s current commericials.

Miley with Mickey & Minnie / Cutting the ribbon with Wendy Courquet

After posing for the cameras, Mickey stepped forward with Miley and ambassador Wendy. Making a short speech in English, Miley said “I am very excited to be celebrating this day of dreams with you. I would love to wish a very happy fifteenth anniversary to Disneyland Resort Paris, especially since this year is my fifteenth birthday too,” before the Mayor of Main Street proclaimed “C’est Magique! Miley, Mickey, Wendy, it’s time to – cut the ribbon!”

The drums of the marching band swelled to a climax as Miley cut the ribbon and the anniversary celebrations officially began, with all of the characters, Victorian dancers and stars joining together to dance to a live brass band rendition of Mary Poppins’ classic “Spoonful of Sugar”.

Press overrun Main Street / Rolling up the red carpet

With the ceremony over, guests could finally move forward to enter the park or get a glimpse at the red carpet being rolled up, as film crews continued to capture the events and find suitable backdrops for their presenters. Amongst the well-known faces watching over events amongst the crowds – Vasile Sirli, the resort’s Musical Director, and Karl Holz, CEO of Euro Disney SCA.

Photos 1-3 © Disney.

The anniversary now begins right as you enter the resort. After a limited number were added the day before, Friday 30th March 2007 finally saw the end of the circa-2002 dark blue Disneyland Resort Paris banners, featuring the Castle and Earffel Tower, now replaced by the familiar 15th Anniversary Lumiere designs. The base of the three new flagpoles, previously just concrete footers and earth, has now been filled with a bright array of yellow and orange flowers, guiding people toward the information sign and bringing some much needed colour to the hub.

New banners and flowers on the hub / Press viewing platform

Not all the last-minute changes were positive for the park, though. To accommodate the press photographers during the following day’s pre-parade ceremony and debut of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, a tiered viewing platform was installed in front of Town Square’s gazebo, covered in white tarp and also featuring an undercover area for the resort’s own cameras (lucky, considering the weather). Notice also the sea of yellow ponchos – now also featuring the 15th Anniversary logo!

New banners and flowers on the hub / Press viewing platform

More strange additions could be found in Frontierland, ready for the nighttime event following the 31st March fireworks. Whilst unnoticed by most normal guests rushing to Big Thunder Mountain and Phantom Manor, the restaurants, boutiques and Thunder Mesa themeing were all covered end-to-end in anniversary flags featuring yellow lanterns. And the guests rushing to Big Thunder? They might have been disappointed – the attraction remained closed for several hours, perhaps also due to press event preparations.

Flags and lanterns cover everything in sight at Frontierland

Amongst all the new additions for the 15th Anniversary Press Event, there were also a few final changes to the already-familiar events and decorations. After losing his bouquet of flowers for several days, the Character Castle Makeover statue of Mickey now instead picked up his magic wand…

Original Mickey with flowers (Photo by Joel) / Mickey now with magic wand

Whilst Disney Characters’ Express began its rehearsal performances. Steaming up Main Street through the rain, its characters then ran off to their four Lumiere locations around Central Plaza, without their candles seen in the previous weekend’s trade preview but instead with their new 15th Anniversary medals…

Characters receive their 15th medals / Disneyland Hotel roof cleaning, afternoon

Of course, there were also the expected clean-ups and repainting around the park. Best of all, the cleaning of Disneyland Hotel’s roof – from almost-black to its warm original shade of red.

With the Plaza Gardens Restaurant refurbishment completed a few days earlier, repainting continued (weather permitting) of the railings between its entrance doors and Central Plaza. The drained centrepiece fountain, still being returned to its former glory, was filled with temporary plants over the weekend to make sure not a single hint of the magic was broken for the press visitors.

Central Plaza railings repaint / Plaza Gardens fountain given temporary plants

The park was quiet for the most of the day, Walt Disney Studios Park even more so, definitely giving the impression of a “calm before the storm” (almost literally). And as the light faded, guests slowly left the park at 6pm, leaving it to get a long night of rest before its big, premature birthday bash the next day… Though, no doubt, its workers continued on long into the night.

A good night’s sleep before the big day tomorrow…

The lower section of Disney Store at Disney Village has been transformed almost into a dedicated 15th Anniversary boutique, both with its standard Lumière banners, wall decorations and floor stickers and with its new golden yellow colour scheme outside. Like almost every boutique across the resort, Hollywood Pictures has a special area reserved for the general merchandise line of the 15th, complete with 3D Lumière decorations and banners.

Disney Store decorations / Hollywood Pictures sale display

The same selection is available almost everywhere, and much of it is currently aimed at children, with colouring books, clothing and stationary completing the standard range of merchandise. More variety has just arrived though, such as a new clothing line with a more “adult” anniversary logo – featuring the date of 2007 and “15 Magical Years”. Strange, since the Anniversary continues into 2008, but with several different t-shirts and sweatshirts already available this provides welcome variety to the offering.

Generic 15th merchandise / New 15th clothing line

A little more exclusive and exceptional Anniversary merchandise has also just appeared, such as the 15th Anniversary wine revealed a few weeks ago, now available from Disney’s Newport Bay Club, Disney’s Sequoia Lodge and Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne. The first wine with the Disney stamp on it, this has yet to actually be spotted inside the Disney Parks, perhaps suggesting it’ll be a resort-hotel-only offering, to keep the more traditional Disney execs happy.

15th wine at Sequoia Lodge / Pair of 15th glasses at Harrington’s

But how to drink the wine in perfect Anniversary style? Head to one of the more exclusive stores, such as the glass workshop section of Harrington’s Fine China & Porcelains in Main Street USA, and you’ll find these beautiful pairs of glasses with the 15th Anniversary logo etched into the glass, supported by none other than Mickey and Minnie Mouse themselves.

Limited edition Swarovski pendant

And finally, for the most exclusive of all Anniversary merchandise and souvenirs so far, splash out on a limited edition Swarovski Crystal pendant featuring Tinker Bell, created exclusively for the resort and its 15th Anniversary! The price tag? Probably larger than the pendant itself…!

Expect photos, expect videos, and expect a complete guide to the entire long weekend of premieres, magic and press at the resort, truly one of the biggest, most impressive and most important since its inauguration 15 years ago.

There’s a lot of magic to fit in, a lot of dreams-come-true to share, and it’s going to take a lot of work. The red carpet begins now, as we recap it all in chronological order, as if you were really there.

Couldn’t make the invite? Step onto our own red carpet, and experience the dream…

That’s right, the classic parade song Dancin’ (A Catchy Rhythm) has not returned for this new morning parade, as was expected by many beforehand. Nor has the popular All Around the World from Disney’s ImagiNations Parade. Not even Just Like We Dreamed It, the new anniversary song…

The music is… new! To Paris, at least – taken from “Disney’s Party Express” at Tokyo Disneyland, a similar parade featuring a steam train filled with characters, the music has been reworked by Vasile Sirli and the Disneyland Resort Paris team with totally new lyrics, including French and several “choo choos” throughout its fast-paced Casey Jr-style tempo. The music begins with a new announcement declaring “Attention! Attention!” “The Disney Character Express is coming!”.

But what of the parade? Casey Jr has been lucky enough to survive the chop after The Wonderful World of Disney Parade‘s demise, and now his 8 month absence from the parade route can really be understood. Sporting a slick and shiny new coat of white, gold and blue paint as seen in the recent concept art, the try-as-he-might steam engine from Dumbo has suddenly found a whole heap of new confidence…

Large 3D “15” plaques adorn each of the carriages and the engine, whilst Casey himself wears a special blue sash that appears to be blowing over his face, adding a frenzied touch of “can he see where he’s going?” to the “express” parade. The coal in his tender has been painted blue, with large silver stars dusted all over.

The most impressive change of all, though, is with the carriages. After almost nine years of knowing the old design, Casey Jr suddenly looks as good as new – better than new. It’s hard to believe they were able to reconfigure the carriages to include the ornate, swirling gold edges and fully-open design (the final wagon of the previous design, remember, was totally enclosed) seen here, especially on the budget the resort has to work with. Elements such as the old Lion Cage can still be spotted, but the final wagon is almost totally new – with its support columns decorated with a spiral white design similar to the wax of the characters’ candles…

The parade featured 13 characters: King Louie, Baloo, Captain Hook, Mr Smee, Goofy, Pinocchio, Gepetto, two mice from Cinderella, Chip n Dale, Woody and Jessie. As you might have noticed, they’ve also tied it all in nicely to the resort’s marketing campaign for the 15th, with each of the Disney characters holding their giant golden candles as seen in all the promotional art.

And now – the video!

The new morning parade will officially premiere on Saturday, steaming up Main Street four times a day for the entire 15th Anniversary celebration. All aboard!

All photos by Photos Magiques. You can see even more right here!

Toon Town in Paris comes not in the form of a real land but instead in the form of a giant backdrop, most of which was lowered into place and positioned piece-by-piece yesterday on the metal framework we mentioned in the last Toon Studio update.

Matching almost exactly the illustration seen recently on the work-in-progress 2008 map, the backdrop features a series of colourful, exaggerated buildings nestled behind the Toon Studio wall and surrounded by the Toon Town hills. As a worker lowers a section of the purple building into place, the true scale of the backdrop can finally be seen.

Of course, you’ll still be able to walk around in Toon Town, since Toon Studio is technically a movie studio located within the fictional town. With this in mind, more and more Toon touches are now making their way to the land. Whilst the entrance area with its Fantasia styles is a more serious look at the art of animation, Toon studio bears all the quirks and fun of a madcap movie studio run by the animated stars themselves.

Recently installed, seen above, are some bendy and twisted lampposts in blue and yellow, filling the area reserved for character locations and bordered by the wall which has now taken on a classic WDS shade of yellow. The work-in-progress map also showed a yellow and blue security booth in this area, where the (faux) main entrance gate is located.

Elsewhere in Toon Studio, progress can be seen all around. From Flying Carpets Over Agrabah, the queue of Crush’s Coaster is surrounded by palms and planting, though you can probably still spot the new lamps also installed here recently – and perhaps the new backstage gatepost added onto the wall bordering the Genie’s film set.

In front of the film set, the recent three-week refurbishment brought not only a general cleap-up but also new changes to the Agrabah Oasis planters, first unveiled in January. The deep red railings have now been painted silver, whilst the planters have finally been covered in sand for an authentic Arabian feel. The lookout platform next to the attraction, closed for almost a year now, has also been repainted from blue to a light purple, blending well with the blue of Crush and the green railings of Flying Carpets (photo here).

The biggest news from the reopening of Flying Carpets, though, is that guests now have the exciting opportunity to walk on the brand new flooring of Animation Courtyard. Whilst not currently what many might have expected for the land, particularly its colour, the different levels of shading from the granite tiles and asphalt mixed with the lines and strong geometric shapes do hint quite nicely back to the art of animation itself. Was this intentional? Who knows!

The Photos Magiques camera also captured a group of Imagineers with some of the construction crew inspecting the new floor, which does certainly succeed in breaking up the vast mid-section of the land and lending the area a more “courtyard” feel – ironically enough when the “Courtyard” name is about to be dropped.

And we’re not done yet… what about Animagique? Covered in scaffolding for a repaint earlier this month, the entire front wall of the building now sports the trademark shade of Toon Studio blue, whilst the large number 3 has been repainted to the same style as the new Studio 5 (Crush’s Coaster)… but not replaced. Studio 5 uses “Walt Disney Script” for its number, whilst Studio 3 will, for now, remain in its original “Impact”-style typeface. No changes have yet been made to the rest of the attraction building.

Finally, we end with an excellent overview of the entire placemaking project from Flying Carpets Over Agrabah, clearly showing the current position of all the construction fences. Yellow “Hollywood Studio” fences have captured the entrance and Sorcerer Hat of Art of Disney Animation this week, as the new flooring expands and more placemaking work begins. For a very short time, guests must enter the attraction by walking towards Studio Tram Tour and then doubling back through the attraction’s outside queue area, behind the current Hollywood Boulevard works.

So there we have it – Toon Town has arrived, a whole new floor is laid and endless new tweaks and enhancements continue to appear. Those Toons sure know how to get their way…

All photos by Photos Magiques. You can see the whole lot here.

One of the most unmissable new sights from Animation Courtyard for many weeks now has been the bright, turquoise gas station canopy of Flo’s V8 Café. Now with a full roof and a clean, modern finish, the canopy has, since our last update, also received some new decor on top, matching exactly that of both the film and the concept art. The spark plugs are mounted on enlarged bolts since, like the film, certain elements of the sets are based on the parts of a car.

The bolts have been given a weathered paint job transitioning from steel grey to a dirty brown, whilst wires can be seen in place all over the spark plugs. Just like the CGI film, neon lights will zig-zag up each spark plug before forming a zig-zag star burst around the top of the plug.

Next door, the part of the building where guests will enter the queue, roughly based on Ramone’s House of Body Art (which is itself based on the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas), has now taken its final colour and a similar amount of the Imagineer’s trademark weathing treatment. An incredible reproduction, at least from the angle visible so far, of both the location in the film and the real-life inspiration, the accuracy will no doubt help greatly to make sure guests feel as if they’re on a real movie set for the CGI film.

But what do all good movie sets need? A backdrop! Be it a sandy Agrabah or a colourful Toon Town, the Imagineers of Toon Studio already realise how a good backdrop can create an enveloping themed area in a relatively tiny space. Next on the list – Cars Race Rally! Already to be seen rising in the first photo above is the impressive steel frame for this huge new backdrop, due to rise far higher than the buildings themselves to truly reinforce both the grand feeling of Route 66’s scenery and the canyon theme of the ride platform area.

Hiding in the background of various pieces of concept art since the ride’s announcement, the backdrop will be inspired by the film’s Cadillac Range, a series of jagged rocks atop a canyon wall.

Here’s a fun fact – did you know, this is also based on a real-life Route 66 location? No, not an impressive canyon, but instead a piece of public art called Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, where passers-by can see a series of cadillacs cut in half, jutting out of the arid desert landscape. The owners even invite visitors to graffiti the vehicles, meaning their appearance has changed quite a few times in their life. Hopefully guests at Walt Disney Studios won’t be invited to do the same…

From reality, to CGI, to reality – only Disney-Pixar do it this way!

Photos 1-3 by Photos Magiques. You can see even more here.
Photo 4 from Route 66 News blog.