2007

Member Poppy the Monkey on magicforum confirms the lineup currently being rehearsed, which will follow directly after the new parade as an 8th additional “dream” (or 9th float). As with Disney’s Halloween Festival, the parade directors are allowing guests to see the production as it was originally intended throughout the entire 15th Anniversary celebrations.

As rumoured previously, the 9th float of the parade will be Father Christmas’ Sleigh, the popular float which has been returning to the park every Christmas since 1992.

The float will be joined by a large amount of extra dancers and performers when compared to other Dreams. Now confirmed to be appearing are Victorian dancers, Poinsettia flowers (those usually featured in Dreams of Romance), the classic Toy Soldiers and Reindeer.

As the parade uses individual music for each float, a new soundtrack for the ‘Dreams of Christmas’ float has also been created. This will apparently use a short version of ‘Chante, C’est Noël !’ with “two other Christmas songs”. All other float music will remain faithful to the original parade, the show stop music also remaining as ‘Just Like We Dreamed It’, the anniversary theme.

With today the final day of Disney’s Halloween Festival, preparations for the next major season are well underway both backstage and on-stage. The most notable progress is the installation of the 26 LED Disney Princess crowns atop Main Street’s banner poles, to be used combined with the Lumière banners which took their place back in March.

Disney’s Christmas Season will also see a small Christmas overlay of the popular Disney Characters’ Express, plus the highly anticipated Enchanted Candleabration, combining the former Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony with the 15th Anniversary “wow!” of Candleabration‘s candles, banners and pixie dust.

— Look out for the launch of a brand new chapter dedicated to this year’s Christmas Season on the new DLRP Magic! Guidebook later this week!

Beginning 22nd October, the Tower opened its doors to the very first Hollywood Tower Hotel “guests” in Paris — the cast members of Disneyland Resort Paris. This marks the start of Disney’s regular 60-day attraction testing period, leading right up to the 22nd December public opening, and the start of what will no doubt be an influx of comments, reviews and descriptions of the ride experience in Paris.

Photos or videos are strictly forbidden, but two insightful reviews have already been posted on our partner website magicforum. The biggest news so far is that of the attraction’s languages, finally putting an end to years of discussion and speculation about how the Imagineers — and the resort — might choose to present the hotel’s engrossing story to an international audience.

No separate queues, no one-language-per-library — Tower of Terror’s two library pre-show rooms feature videos dubbed into French with old-fashioned English subtitles. On the ride itself, Rod Serling’s famous lines are spoken entirely in French. Oui, cette tour est vraiment français! However, the option for an English narration will, apparently, be included for bellhops operating the elevators, allowing them the choice of which version to play for each elevator departing for The Twilight Zone.

The Imagineers have therefore found a suitable “voice double” for the original French dubbing of Rod Serling when The Twilight Zone series was broadcast in France. It took years for Mark Silverman to be named as the English voice of Rod Serling, so there’s no telling how long until the French artist is unmasked!

First review, by Poppy the Monkey…

I did Tower of Terror 7 times yesterday during the cast member previews. It is the best ride I’ve ever been on at DLRP, not done the american versions, but the theming, drop, and ride in general is incredible.

The library is in French with English subtitles, and the elevator itself is also all in French.

Great too that there was no queue all day, it was amazing.

All the ride itself is finished, just the shop and gardens and outside queue needs to be completed.

I’m still on a high!!

Second review, by experiment627…

Now, about two weeks ago, I had the wonderful chance to test ride “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror” at the Walt Disney Studios – and I wanted to share a few thoughts that I have about this attraction… (Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep it spoiler-free.)

The work inside was about 99,5% done, while they still added the finishing touches to the entrance area of the “Hollywood Tower Hotel”.
The attention to detail of the whole experience is amazing: the hotel lobby looks beautifully (but then again, they still hadn’t added the dust to the props), the artifacts inside of the two libraries are amazing pieces and there’s enough eye-candy in these rooms alone. Same goes for the boiler-room, which has kind of a hellish-quality to it due to being two stories high. (Also, the detail in here is amazing…) The effects inside of the elevator shafts were all running and pretty impressive. And then: the view! Just breathtaking… One can see pretty much all of the Studios as well as everything at Disneyland from Big Thunder Mountain to Space Mountain.

I’d call the drop-program “Disney-thrilling”, as in: true thrill-seekers might be a bit disappointed, but just as thrilling as, lets say, “Rock’n’Rollercoaster”. But then again, it’s not about the thrill but about the whole experience…

And in this case… well, let’s put it this way: the “Tower of Terror” managed to transport me into another world. To a Hollywood that never was. To a place, that just existed in my imagination… It’s the very first attraction at the Walt Disney Studios to do so. And in my book, it reminds me of the very best Disney-storytelling (and story-setting) like DLP’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Phantom Manor”.

All in all – even if one should prefer the versions of the ride in California, Florida or Japan -, I view “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror” as the best, most “Disney”-ride ever since the opening of Disneyland Parks 15 years ago…

I hope I wet your appetite.

Also revealed — or so we believed — during the Cast Member previews were the costumes for our Parisian Tower of Terror bellhops, identical to those of the cinema ushers at CinéMagique.

Luckily, several sources have since confirmed that the famous deep-red bellhop costumes with ‘HTH’ embroidery are in production for the attraction but simply not ready to be worn at this time.

Now, back to learning French for our journey into la Quatrième Dimension…

See what we (almost) did there, fit all the pins into a single introduction? Try again next month…

The long list of November 2007 pin releases appear to cover all corners of the Disney universe, including the release of Enchanted and the success of Hannah Montana, and you know what? For perhaps the first time in several years, there’s no mention of another Stitch pin anywhere on this list!

Make particular note of the pin named “2 Parcs Chateaux”. Strangely, this is almost identical to one of the original October 2001 pins, but now with a slightly updated graphic.

Saturday November 3rd 2007

Pins Christmas 2007 (Boxed set of 4 small pins)
Reference number 209401007161
Price 18.00 Euros

Pin Christmas 2007
Reference number 209401007162
Price 6.00 Euros

Pins 2 parcs chateaux
Reference number 209401007164
Price 6.00 Euros

Pins MK Aviator
Reference number 209401007125
Price 6.00 Euros

Pins MK Sorcerer 2008
Reference number 209401007163
Price 6.00 Euros

Saturday October 20th 2007

Pin Enchanted
Reference number 209401008002
Price 6.00 Euros .

Pin Giselle
Reference number 209401008003
Price 6.00 Euros

Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade: Dreams of Romance – Finale LE
Reference number 209501007018
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Saturday November 24th 2007

Retrospective 2001: Toon Circus LE Pin
Reference number 209501007052
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Retrospective 2002: WDS LE Pin
Reference number 209501007053
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Hannah Montana Pin
Reference number 209501008013
Price 6.00 Euros

DLRP Street sign pin
Reference number 209401008007
Price 6.00 Euros

Set 4 pins Buzz
Reference number 209401007113
Price 18.00 Euros

The next Pin Trading Night will be on Friday 23rd November 2007 at Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe, from 6.00pm onwards. Following this, the December Pin Trading Night will be on Friday 21st December 2007 at Disney’s Sequoia Lodge, also from 6.00pm.

And don’t forget, the Dro’Pin Event for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror on 22nd December 2007! Full information here.

For weeks already, dates have been thrown around, rumoured and even “confirmed”. Running a news service dedicated to Disneyland Resort Paris becomes a bit of a challenge during times like this — to report the date, or not? But now, we give in. The rumours have become deafening, the rumoured dates narrowed down to one single day, the confirmations coming from all angles (such as here on our own magicforum).

It’s Saturday, 22nd December 2007. Yes, 22nd December 2007. Say it again — maybe a few more times — because, in years to come, this date will be just as special as 12th April 1992 and 16th March 2002.

Have Disneyland Resort Paris confirmed the date? Well, not exactly. But when was the last time they did something as helpful as that? It’s far more fun to keep the fans guessing! The most obvious semi-confirmation comes from the Pin Trading department, who — just a few weeks ago — published an announcement (below) for a Pin Event in December on the worldwide Pin Trading website.

Not just any Pin Event though — oh no. Even if you’re one of those Disney park fans who loaths everything about Pin Trading, you really might want to give this a look. Scheduled for the night of 22nd December 2007 (there’s the clue!), the event at Walt Disney Studios Park is set to include exclusive pins and pre-releases, entertainments and competitions, a buffet in Disney Studio 1 and… wait for it… privatised access to the attraction.

The reservations hotline opened on 19th October: +33 825 30 60 30. Prices are €33 for Adults, €30 for Children, or just €29 if you’re a shareholder or Fantasy/Dream passholder.

So, with lucky Pin Traders (and no doubt a few Pin Haters) getting the chance to ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror on the night of 22nd December 2007, we can be pretty sure it’ll be ready and open for the public by this date. The completion date of Hollywood Boulevard area is still undetermined, with work possibly continuing beyond the 22nd December unless this next month-and-a-half sees a continued push for the finish.

The press events for the attraction will take place in the first week of April 2008, allowing the resort to extend the lifetime of the initial 15th Anniversary offerings and make a maximum impact with their most important attraction launch for over ten years. This will also coincide with the opening of Stitch Live and the return of High School Musical On Tour.

As confirmed previously, the Tower has been testing on a daily basis for some time. However, a period of Soft Openings (tests with guests in the park invited to try the ride) will still likely take place before the 22nd December 2007, not least because this represents the start of the full high-season and an incredible influx of visitors to the two parks. Straying back into pure “rumour” territory now, we can suggest the weekend of 8th December 2007 is now looking most likely to begin these, running for brief periods across for two weeks as with the Toon Studio rides. The first weekend could also serve as the Shareholder and Annual Passport previews. As yet, however, this should be taken as speculation only.

The opening date of “January 2008” is still to be used in all official public publications, but this now simply means anybody already visiting over the key Christmas season will have a rather nice (or rather nasty) surprise waiting for them in the Studios… depending on their thrill level!

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!

Part 2 of our Corbin Bleu visit coverage; You can see Part 1 here, with Corbin starring in the final performance of High School Musical On Tour.

The thrills began at 10am sharp, with Corbin entering Walt Disney Studios Park via the backstage gate in Backlot to be confronted right away with a favourite from his visits to Walt Disney World — Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith.

A theme runs throughout the entire collection of press photos from Corbin’s visit — yes, all the in-park shots are exclusively from Walt Disney Studios Park.

In the past, VIP guests have invariably posed in the usual spot beside Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, and certainly always within Disneyland Park. However, Disneyland Resort Paris has apparently just remembered it has a second gate, and is only too happy to flaunt the newly-improved experience within.

After the non-celebrities who attended the Toon Studio launch and the original ‘VIPs’ of the 15th Anniversary launch (Andie MacDowell, anyone?), Corbin’s visit was quite a major event for the resort.

His debut album has been somewhat less succesful in the US than expected, but, adored by mostly female fans of a younger age (and no doubt their mothers), the premiere showings of his three “Disney Channel Original Movies” were seen by a total of 33.4 million viewers in their native country. The recent UK premiere of High School Musical 2 drew an impressive 1.3 million viewers on its own, one of the highest audiences in recent years for a digital subscription channel.

Be it from a love of the parks or simply to keep the mouse that made him famous happy, it’s nothing but refreshing to see a VIP guest who has no problem lending his smile to so many moments of great publicity for the Studios…

…or, in some cases, something nearer to a scream.

Next, Corbin headed across the park to Toon Studio and one attraction he certainly won’t have seen in the States: Crush’s Coaster. With his father David Reivers, most well-known, strangely, for his role in Corbin’s own Disney Channel hit “Jump In!”, Corbin made himself one of the first true celebrities to take on the resort’s newest roller coaster.

In interviews taken later, the star apparently had nothing but praise for the latest thrill, enjoying its spinning movement and comparing in detail the different experiences given from riding the initial part of the attraction forwards or backwards.

Speaking of Disneyland Park, he said the Castle was “beaaautiful!” and enjoyed how the original attractions were “the same, but also brand new”, comparing the story of Phantom Manor with its Haunted Mansion cousin. A good soundbite for the 15th Anniversary Celebration saw Corbin suggest how young the resort was and how much there will still be to come, “considering, in California, we just celebrated our 50th.”

Either this guy had a press release fed to him, or he really knows his Disney parks. Regardless, the resort now has a valuable collection of publicity from one of Disney’s biggest modern-day stars…

And he even said a quick “thank you” to Mickey Mouse himself.

All photos © Disney.

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.