Thursday, 22nd February 2007

Selling the Celebration: TV Spot

The television commercial was featured on a loop of several different languages, each practically identical and each featuring some stunning new footage and post-production CGI.

The theme as we already know is the “Red Carpet”, and so after a brief glimpse at the illuminated Castle, the teaser begins with Mickey and countless other characters rolling out a huge red carpet down Main Street USA. In an instant, it shoots into the sky and travels across Europe, through forests, along roads and into the city and suburbs. Two children, a brother and sister, run to the window to watch it pass (you can even see it in a reflection in the window!), before it knocks on their door. When the girl answers, it transforms her immediately into a dazzling Princess dress.

Next, we’re treated to a shot of a huge red carpet stretching off into the distance, towards the Castle, lined with Disney characters. At one end, the girl dances in joy at meeting her favourite Disney friends, before she follows their beckoning along the carpet, past the new events unveiled for the year.

We see a shot of the Alice in Wonderland float of Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams in California to substitute for Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, and the girl waves to the Mad Hatter next to her brother. The brother is then shown in a computer-redesigned Animation Courtyard to preview Cars Race Rally, waving the checkered flag for Mater and Lightning McQueen. Sets from Moteurs… Action! have been added in on one side to give a bit more life to the unfinished area. Another interesting attraction preview comes next, with a family stood against a railing with the EAC flying around them, to give an idea the sensations Crush’s Coaster might give come June 2007.

With the new attractions unveiled, the trailer announces the “Kids Under 7 Stay & Play Free” offer on a red carpet background, before we return to see the little girl and her brother reach the end of the red carpet to find Mickey Mouse himself waiting at the end. A closer look here reveals the Main Street of Disneyland in California was used for filming, although effort was certainly made to convince the public otherwise – even the upcoming Lumiere banners have been added to the lampposts!

The girl looks beyond Mickey to the Castle, and, as the final shot, the whole family turn around to watch the stunning transformation of the Character Castle Makeover. The spot then ends with the now-familiar Disney Parks cloud visual, with the Disneyland Resort Paris 15 logo, a phone number and a link to disneylandparis.com.

The music used is the same as the recent “Disney Parks” and “Year of a Million Dreams” commercials – namely track 2, “Flying”, from the James Newton Howard-composed soundtrack of Universal’s live-action Peter Pan movie, the movie Disney pulled out of mid-production.

The stunning TV Spot will begin showing across Europe from early March, and with the hard work and quality on show here, it will hopefully be a huge success. Once this trailer is rolled out, people won’t even need a red carpet knocking on our door to remind them of the Anniversary. They’ll be there!

Video and stills © Disney. TV spot stills taken from video by Kyoto, of DisneyMagicInteractive.com.

Tuesday, 20th February 2007

Backstage in Bruce’s submarine

Before that, though, there’s another treat – footage of one of the spinning turtle shells in action, swooping from one side of the giant showbuilding to the other. The footage was likely captured at the same time as the preview photo seen a few weeks ago, since it features Imagineer Beth Clapperton and the walls of the showbuilding are clearly incomplete, meaning the ride system has been in testing for far longer than most would have suspected!

After one of the turtle shells completes a gliding drop and turn, Beth can be seen testing the spinning mechanism of one of the vehicles, giving us another look at this custom design Maurer Söhne vehicle in action. Then, the true amazement can begin – the very first look at one of the hotly discussed dark ride scenes, the left turn into the lift hill, disguised with the rusty body of Bruce’s sunken submarine.

The size, colouring and detail are certainly imposing – this truly looks like the real deal, a proper piece of Disney dark ride themeing with a rustic sea style strangely reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean. The attraction already appears to have a stronger theme than cousins Space Mountain: Mission 2 and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, though we’ll have to wait until June to decide if it can join them as a classic and popular Disney attraction.

Right now, let us rejoice that Walt Disney Studios Park will no longer be the only Disney Park “sans” dark ride (even if it is part of a roller coaster), and imagine seeing the same scene for real in just over three months, with music, lighting, and all that extra Imagineering magic still to be added…

Tuesday, 20th February 2007

Backstage at the Race Rally

After some footage from the scene in the Pixar film itself which inspired the attraction, the video quickly switches to a shot of a four-angle elevation for a yellow car, which surely must be the life-size Luigi we saw a few weeks ago.

The camera then pans upwards to show a 3D sculpt of the new ride vehicles, certainly in the style of the cars from Cars, but not without their own unique charm. The tall rear spoiler in particular is a very stylised addition that will make these vehicles stand out from the others in their very realistic landscape, and certainly give the attraction a much more “Toony” style.

Next we see work on a larger scale model of one of the vehicles, which will total 12 and have infact just been installed on-site this week.

Finally, an interesting view over the Toon Studio area from above the loading area of Cars Race Rally, before the video presents several pieces of concept art, of which only the piece shown above has never been seen before. It shows a neon sign with the “V8” logo, as well as the storefronts to the right of the attraction entrance. A backdrop to the attraction is provided by one of the film’s iconic rock formations, but it remains to be seen how much of this will make it off the drawing board.

Whilst some may fear the trouble Disneyland Resort Paris might be causing itself by marketing a “simple” tea-cups-style attraction so heavily, there still seems no doubting the excellent care and attention this relatively minor addition is thankfully receiving.

Stills taken from video on Disneyland15.com

Tuesday, 20th February 2007

Backstage Imagination and Wonderland

If you’d like to see the video in motion, simply click onto www.disneyland15.com and follow the link from “15th Anniversary” on the drop-down menu. Many of these shots are shown for less than a second, though, so unless you’re living in slow motion it might take a few viewings to take it all in!

The video is hosted by four very influential backstage Cast Members of Disneyland Resort Paris, each seen spinning around in one of Disneyland Park’s lands whilst they describe the events and the power of dreams. Kat de Blois, Creative and Artistic Director, begins the commentary, followed by Roland Kleve, Director of Operations Integration (most importantly the introduction of the new attractions). Next is François Leroux, Vice President of Entertainment, before WDI-Paris chief and head of Show Quality Standard Peter McGrath joins to describe the new attractions.

In just a few seconds, we’re treated to quick shots and close-ups of two elements from Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade – the moon from the first float, “Imagination”, and a giant Alice in Wonderland stuck inside a house, just part of float two, “Dream of Fun & Laughter”. The very first shot quickly shows a concept model for the first float, before the camera pans upwards to show the fully realised moon from the original design.

Whilst the moon appears to already be on its final base (a giant, open storybook), the house from Alice in Wonderland (with her legs sticking out) will form just half of the final float, with a second section starring Pinocchio (and several bungee artists similar to the Pinnochio float in California’s Parade of Dreams) to be slotted in behind on the final base.

Before now, we’ve only seen small silhouttes of the parade line-up and full concepts for just two of the floats, so to finally see such large elements becoming a reality certainly helps make this “Once Upon a Dream” seem far more real.

Tuesday, 20th February 2007

Disneyland15.com rolls out its Red Carpet!

After a day of brief tests and false starts caused anticipation to build further across fan discussion forums, the website officially went live earlier this evening, at around 20h00 CET. Available for nine different countries (with a further two to follow), the website is without doubt one of the resort’s most ambitious online projects to date, and in today’s world forms a key part of the 15th Anniversary advertising campaign, scheduled to be one of (if not the) biggest in the history of Disneyland Resort Paris.

Upon selecting your country or language, you’re treated to a “3D” flash teaser showcasing all of the key events, the same teaser previewed via an email newsletter late last week.

Welcome Page & Host

After the teaser, the Flash website opens to the music of Disney’s “Where Dreams Come True” campaign (itself music from Universal’s Peter Pan movie, believe it or not), with a scrolling view giving visitors the feeling of actually being inside the park itself during the Anniversary. This is where a concept from a previous campaign website begins to appear – the introductions and videos of real people and real characters interacting with the Flash environment.

Originally used for the Space Mountain: Mission 2 website in 2005, they have been brought back here to allow a red-suited host and his Red Carpet friend to introduce each of the main pages.

Visitors have the option of scrolling through several animated screens (seen below), or, for quicker navigation, the drop-down menu at the top links directly to the pages and games currently available.

More Dreams

Each of the colourful pages link into the categories of events seen the teaser videos, with the first – “More Dreams” – presenting Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade. No information is currently given about the parade, but an animation of the first parade float making its way around a stylised Main Street USA does give us an idea what to expect come late March. Make sure you have a listen to the music featured on this page, too, since this is almost certainly an instrumental excerpt from the anniversary’s new “Just Like We Dreamed It” song.

More Wow

The next page is for Crush’s Coaster, and so uses an undersea theme and bubbles to link to the extra pages – both of which currently unavailable.

Even More Wow

“Even More Wow” can be found with Cars Race Rally, where Lightning McQueen and Mater sit outside Walt Disney Studios Park, important since nowhere else is it mentioned that all of the new attractions are infact in the resort’s second park rather than its first.

More Scoops

Up next with an Alice’s Curious Labyrinth theme and an appearance from The Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony stage is “More Scoops”, which links to a clever new idea to help build excitement about the 15th Anniversary – a blog. We’ll have more on this in a separate article soon!

More Wishes Come True

The features on this Discoveryland-themed page have yet to be added, but we’re promised the chance to share photos of Disneyland holidays with families and friends, or send our own dreams and wishes in, to create a complete wishlist for all guests.

More Fun

With an Adventureland Bazaar theme, this page presents games and activities such as the “Dream Invitation” competition (see below).

Dream Invitation Competition

These pages allow users to create their own invitations using graphics available on the website or by uploading their own images. These can then be sent to friends or entered into the competition to pick the best invite.

More Affordable

Showing Fantasyland’s Sword in the Stone (perhaps a hint the streetmosphere show will return for the celebration?) the final themed page presents the three key special offers for the year – Kids Under 7 Free, Free Days & Nights and a “Deal of the Day”.

Downloads

Downloads are always a popular website feature, and it’s good to see Disneyland Resort Paris hasn’t forgotten to let visitors take a bit of the magic for themselves. The full official key visuals for the various attractions are available to download in full (without a single (C) Disney stamp or legal text), along with a well-designed screensaver and several e-cards. The most interesting wallpaper right now is shown above – a previously unseen key visual for Disneyland Park’s Extra Magic Hours, with a giant hourglass over the park!

Anniversary Programme & Preview Videos

Finally the two areas which will undoubtedly receive the most clicks. First, the full schedule of all the Anniversary events. Secondly, and best of all, a selection of official videos previewing the year. In addition to the teaser which opens the website, you can see a good quality English version of the early trailer we saw in French back in October and most exciting a new Behind-the-Scenes video featuring several important backstage Cast Members talking about their excitement for the event – with clips of Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally slotted in! Strangely, since the resort previously wanted to keep this silenced to ensure guests didn’t postpone visits, the Tower of Terror is featured in both of the latter videos. We’ll have a full report on this up next.

And there we have it – Disneyland15.com is now live for the world to see. Will it help sell the celebration to the masses? We’ll have to wait and see. With so many pages still yet to be revealed this probably won’t be the last time it appears here, and with the celebration spanning a full year and set to include features such as Tower of Terror and Stitch Encounter (which won’t be announced until this Summer), hopefully the site will be cared for and built upon for the entire 12 months ahead of us.

Look out for separate articles on DLRP Today covering the new Official Blog and interesting Behind-the-Scenes Video shortly.

Sunday, 18th February 2007

Birthday bash means no more 9am

Park Hours have now been announced up until the end of May 2007, with the first two months of the 15th Anniversary year standing out with not a single 9h00 opening of either Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Studios Park, the usual standard opening time for peak days. In return for this sacrafice, though, we do get some of the first 10pm Disneyland Park closures over Easter in memory – for a whole week infact. Though again this appears to come at a price – 10am to 7pm openings for most of the month of May 2007.

The reason for this sudden change is not only the Anniversary events and the resort’s new “demand-based opening hours”, but the new Extra Magic Hours concept, available to all Disney Hotel guests for the entire year. Giving an extra two hours in Disneyland Park on specific days, the system therefore sometimes requires the general park hours to be shortened slightly, whilst on high peak days (such as those in mid August), the extra hours are consistently scheduled in the morning so as not to clash with the general 11pm closure.

For guests not staying at Disney Hotel this year, it therefore looks like an extra hour in bed will be your anniversary gift, unless you wish to invest in a Passeport Annuel Dream and enjoy the 1-hour early entry this pass affords its holders.

Finally, perhaps the true winner from the latest Park Hours shakeup – Walt Disney Studios Park. After almost five years of nothing but 6pm closures, the park hits its fifth birthday and suddenly gets an extra hour before bedtime to enjoy the anniversary – likely in preparation for the extra guests hopefully arriving in June 2007 for Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally. The park will now remain open up to 7pm on most weekends and holidays, yet another reason to celebrate in 2007!

What are your views on the new Park Hours? Is the 1-hour cut fair for normal guests?

Thursday, 15th February 2007

More Dreams, More Wow – 15th Teaser

The trailer follows the same format as the teaser which was released to the press back in October 2006 (and is currently featured on the resort TV channel), with preview footage of the new additions and features split into several categories. From “More Dreams” through “More Wow” to “More Hugs” and, finally, “More Affordable”, the events of the first six months of celebrations are shown in a spectacular, exciting teaser, with the red carpet interacting with the footage and the website itself…

The overall theme of the first wave of publicity will be of rolling out the red carpet, and the teaser therefore features the carpet bursting onto the screen in a cloud of confetti and stars, proclaiming “The Party is NOW!”. The final shot of the teaser doesn’t disappoint either, showing the red carpet now rolling all the way down a nighttime Main Street towards the Castle past the series of characters holding candles, where Tinkerbell guides us into the air to reveal the final logo.

Once the teaser has finished, the screen displays a link to the online booking facility, along with several links along the sleek interface at the bottom of the video, one of which links to a separate page detailing the events more fully and featuring a brand new visual showing all the Disney characters (and a strong presence from Pixar) lined up along the carpet with a huge burst of multicoloured confetti in the air.


Email Newsletter / Preview Page

Whilst this separate preview page basically runs through everything already featured in the Official 15th Anniversary Brochure, the final image should be particularly exciting for fans – this is the first still image of the forthcoming television advertising campaign, which features a girl running up the red carpet along Main Street towards Mickey Mouse himself at the end.

A launch date for the full anniversary website has yet to be announced, but with the wider campaign due to begin in the first weeks of March, the site should follow or lead nearby, therefore giving this teaser half a month to spread the word about “More Dreams”, with certainly “More WOW” than we’ve ever seen before…

You can see the website and the teaser trailer for yourself here: http://www.disneyland15.com/ebrochure/emailing.php?lg=uk

Thursday, 15th February 2007

Lost in CyberSpace

CyberSpace Mountain and its Disney Channel Cyberspace environment opened in late 2002 as a new post-show for the poorly performing Television Production Tour itself. The area was previously an additional soundstage for the Disney Channel Studios, but was given up in an attempt to improve the attraction. Props and decorations were added along with countless arcade games and activities relating to Disney Channel shows, with the key draw being CyberSpace Mountain, imported from the defunct Disney Quest in Chicago.

After designing their own virtual roller coaster using a special booth, guests could board one of four two-person simulators to experience the loops, twists and dives for real, with their reactions relayed live via plasma screens to guests watching in the CyberSpace area.

The post-show feature was often given a special mention in the Park Guide and, when the new official website launched in late 2006, it was given a prominment place throughout. Given its own page, listed amongst the “Big Thrills” attractions and highlighted as a must-see, the sudden disappearance of these mentions is therefore even more noticable. The page itself is still there, but all links to it within the rest of the website are gone.

Reasons for its closure are numerous, spanning from poor accessibility for disabled guests and a horribly low throughput to a large floorspace and, crucially, very high maintenance costs. For guests, queueing three times (for the TV Tour, for the build-a-coaster monitors and then for the simulators) almost guaranteed a low satisfaction at the end of the ride. The final nail in the coffin is reported, by member La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum, to have been some guests becoming stuck in one of the simulators, leading to the temporary closure which has now become permanent. (Obviously the guests in question aren’t still stuck in there, don’t worry!)

With Crush’s Coaster soon to fill the gap for family-friendly thrills, and Tower of Terror being prepared to provide the park’s second Big Thrill attraction, the need for CyberSpace Mountain to fill these roles is no longer there.

Right now, the CyberSpace post-show area itself is currently fully closed to guests, as the photos above from Mateo on Disney Central Plaza forum show. Even the signs pointing to the area have been removed, as work is starting on the removal of the CyberSpace Mountain simulators and a rethink of the area inside.

Of course, there is a light at the end of the tunnel here, and a very bright one at that. The soundstage next to Disney Channel CyberSpace, currently housing Art Attack exhibits and activities will become the home of a second version of Hong Kong Disneyland‘s Stitch Encounter in “early 2008”, finally giving Walt Disney Television Studios a reason to exist, some might argue. Currently, guests enter and leave these two post-show soundstages through individual, single doors. It has been reported, however, that automatic doors (like those at Art of Disney Animation) will lead from the new Stitch Encounter video theatre space directly into Disney Channel CyberSpace, and so the removal of the bulky simulators would help this – and improve guest glow and capacity – no end.

Walt Disney Studios might have one of the most interesting and dramatic first five years of any Disney Park, but the Television Studios alone will already need a whole history timeline just to itself!

Tuesday, 13th February 2007

From 1992 to 2007 – with a hint of Terror

The new 2007/2008 Resort Map comes from this special page on the official Val d’Europe website, which looks at the economic and social impact of Disneyland Resort Paris on its surrounding area after fifteen years of development. Perfectly illustrating the impact, and giving a truly unique gift to fans, is the presentation of two maps showing the resort firstly at its initial state upon opening in 1992, and secondly after fifteen years of development, in mid/late-2007. Even locations such as the Gaumont Cinema and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril have been removed to give an accurate look back at the resort in 1992.

The maps therefore take a different angle on the resort to the usual style, with Davy Crockett Ranch and Golf Disneyland no longer pinned on at the edge but fully mapped out with all their surroundings. Val d’Europe has been updated with far more detail than before, including the bar opposite the RER station and the circular Place de la Toscane, inaugurated just last year, whilst even small business parks and local communes have been added to the plan.

Fans of the Disney side of the resort aren’t left out either – if the sight of the hallowed Tower of Terror on a Disneyland Resort Paris map wasn’t big enough to turn this into an annual holiday, the entire esplanade hub area and Disney Hotels district has been re-mapped to be far more detailed and true-to-life.Compare these maps with the current 2007 version for a look at the improvements, which will hopefully be carried over to the true 2008 Resort Map later this year.

The Tower itself is seen from behind, with a bright red chosen for the roof of its lobby (likely just to add colour to the map) and “The Hollywood Tower Hotel” sign moved to compensate for the angle. The Disney Village parking garage has finally been added, but Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is now absent once again from the map whilst the left wing of Disneyland Hotel has been cut off by Toon Studio.

The page at the Val d’Europe website also features a press release about the developments of the past fifteen years along with several quite spectacular images, perfectly timed, too, for today’s earlier announcement that the Pierre & Vacances-partnered Nature Villages project is still on course.

As Disneyland Resort Paris prepares to face its most important year yet, it’s good to look back on how much has already been achieved…

You can download the maps in large PDF format here.

All maps and photos © Disney. Thanks to Japper on magicforum for the link!

Tuesday, 13th February 2007

Nature Villages project takes a step forward

The development, covering land and forests surrounding the current site of Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch, is described as “a first-of-its-kind resort based on sustainable development”, developed in collaboration with continental Center Parcs owner Pierre & Vacances.

Covering an area of 520 hectares, the Center Parcs-style nature resort could eventually be home to over 5,000 tourism apartments and homes with 130,000 sq.m of leisure facilities, split into several zones based on the themes of water (a Center Parcs-style water park), sport & health (spas and sports activities), earth (farming, rural life) and forest (Davy Crockett Ranch).

The project could eventually create up to 9,000 jobs in addition to the 12,300 currently at the resort. The first development could be launched as early as 2010 with up to 2,300 apartments and homes, with plans also allowing the possibility of Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch to be expanded and absorbed into the resort. Currently, the resort features 8,000 hotel rooms across its Disney, Val de France and Val d’Europe Hotels, meaning the full build-out of the “Villages Nature” project would almost double the resort’s capacity.

Although it has been reported a separate company would be established by the two groups to run the proposed resort, it has so far not been confirmed how the collaboration would work from either a business or marketing point of view – would the Disney brand be utilised? How much does Euro Disney SCA stand to gain from saturating its market with almost double the current accommodation capacity?

The next steps, however, make clear that this project will not be born overnight, listing countless areas of consideration and feasibility still to be investigated before a general agreement can be signed and the project will truly begin development.

Pierre & Vacances already has a presence at the resort with its Val d’Europe City ApartHotel complex, but a development on such a vast scale as this could effectively take the resort segment of Disneyland Resort Paris one of two ways – help it soar to new heights, or strangle it before it even gets standing.

The press release in full:

The Villages Nature project has reached a new milestone with the signing of a non-binding letter of intent by the French State, Euro Disney and Pierre & Vacances.

Paris, February 13, 2007 … The non-binding letter of intent signed today by the public parties, Euro Disney Associés S.C.A., and Pierre & Vacances, confirms the French State’s and local public parties’ interest and support for this project, which could potentially generate up to 9,000 direct and indirect jobs. This non-binding letter of intent allows the project to move forward with a new study phase where parties will work together to define the conditions for development and implementation of this project that could lead to a ‘general agreement’ (Accord Cadre).

The project would create, 6 kilometres from the Disney Theme Parks, a ‘˜first-of-its-kind’ resort based on sustainable development, which would be complementary to the existing European tourist destination Disneyland Resort Paris.

Exploratory phase by private and public parties (2003-2006)

Collaboration between public and private parties started in 2003 with several conceptual and feasibility studies that focused on the social and economic environment, sustainable development impacts, local development, and market studies.

Market studies indicated the high potential of the concept for families with young children as well as adults from France and throughout Europe.

A unique and innovative concept

Villages Nature is a pioneering ecotourism concept that is European in scope and based on harmony between man and nature. The main themes are water, earth, forest, and the recreational and leisure activities tied to these themes.

During the exploratory phase, world-renowned experts were involved to structure this innovative approach to sustainable development. The WWF/BioRegional ‘One Planet Living’ (OPL) methodology was used and resulted in a ‘Sustainable Action Plan’. This methodology would apply transversally to development, construction, and operation of the project, which constitutes a first for a tourism project.

If approved, the project would provide a low construction density (under 10%) on 520 hectares, and several phases with a total of up to 5,000 apartments and homes in tourism residences and around 130,000 sq.m. of recreational and leisure space, developed on 520 hectares.

Villages Nature aims at helping structure regional development.

The first phase of development would concern an area of 183 hectares (including possibly Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch) with up to 2,300 apartments and homes in tourism residences and recreational and leisure facilities developed in several lots. This first phase could be launched in 2010.
Next Steps

Over the next two years, a steering committee made up of public- and private-sector parties involved in the project will meet on a regular basis to define the conditions for development and implementation of this project into a ‘general agreement’ (Accord Cadre).

Several studies and processes will be conducted before final approval of the project can be given:

– Feasibility of land acquisition process and legal framework of land use,
– Land development conditions,
– Definition of primary infrastructures,
– Public transportation access,
– Financing of sustainable development investments,
– Marketing, financing, and economic studies,
– Real estate, tourism, and economic environments.

Upon completion of these additional steps, the parties will decide upon final feasibility and opportunity of the project and, if so, set a timeline and terms of a ‘general agreement’ (Accord Cadre).

Also available as a PDF here: http://www.eurodisney.com/data/308.pdf

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