Thursday, 26th February 2009

Château-styled plaza stage given Mickey’s stamp

Those key visuals released several months ago for It’s Party Time… with Mickey and Friends were certainly a little loose with the truth, but, as the new Central Plaza continues to take shape, the final result might just look better than the artwork. More in-keeping with its surroundings, at least. Let’s see…

Posted by thunder1000, the latest construction photos from Disneyland Park show the bare metal of the stage beginning to receive its final overlay. On top, a non-slip carpet in shades of yellow and grey — with a Mickey Mouse shape on each satellite stage!

Central Plaza Stage

And, wrapping itself around the satellite nearest Discoveryland, the first pieces of the stage’s walls and sides. Not golden as the marketing visuals depict, but in shades of grey stone matching that little landmark just nearby — Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, of course. The walls are even being given little inlets and openings to match the Castle’s style and break up the sides of the stage.

Central Plaza Stage

Right the way around the stage and its satellites, a white edging — again inspired by Sleeping Beauty Castle — is a finishing touch to hold in the carpeted top, whilst four sets of stairs wind their way up to the top. From these photos at least, the stairs don’t look much wider than the tricky steps up to the old stage…

Central Plaza Stage

With the stage now well on its way to completion, another major difference can be spotted — one which has been confirmed earlier, but can now be seen for real: the four satellite stages don’t extend diagonally into the grass planters of Central Plaza, but vertically and horizontally — onto the flat concrete sections which used to provide access to the hub.

Central Plaza Stage

This means the final stage will have the footprint shown above, with all of the inlets into the plaza hub taken over by the satellite stages and two sets of stairs up to the stage from either side. There won’t be any stairs at the front. In the centre, that special surprise we mentioned previously.

It remains to be seen just how close guests will be able to get to the stage — whether children will truly be “partying” alongside the characters, standing around each of the satellite stages, or if we’ll be kept at a slight distance, with the entire central area cordoned off.

Photos: Thunder1000, Disney Central Plaza; Plan: Google Earth/DLRP Today.

Wednesday, 25th February 2009

Tarzan: le Retour! Now returning for July, August

The announcement wasn’t popular. When rumour turned to confirmation that Disneyland Resort Paris had cancelled plans to bring the popular Tarzan: Le Rencontre (The Tarzan Encounter) acrobatic stage show back to The Chaparral Theater in Frontierland for its tenth season, fans near enough shouted outrage.

Even more so when it emerged the main reasoning behind that decision — to ensure the Mickey’s Magical Party street shows could run seven days a week for the entire season.

The Tarzan Encounter

Well, sellotape back together your Passeport Annuel…

The Tarzan Encounter WILL return!

Entertainment has now decided once and for all that Tarzan will swing back into the Chaparral — but only from 4th July to 30th August 2009, the Summer high season.

This is much shorter than his usual schedule from early April to late September, but will still come as a pleasant surprise for the show’s many fans after their earlier disappointment.

Prepare for the new season with our show guide here.

Source: magicforum; Photo: © DLRP Magic!

Wednesday, 25th February 2009

Mickey’s Magical Party TV spot premieres!

It seems like this final week in February has become an annual time to see the latest marketing campaigns and TV commercials of Disneyland Resort Paris being premiered. Exactly one year ago today, we saw The Celebration Continues… Big Time! unwrapped on our TV screens, whilst two years ago, the ever-beautiful advertisements for the 15th Anniversary itself unravelled.

This year, the TV spot is… floating onto our screens, naturally filled with hundreds upon hundreds of colourful balloons to advertise Mickey’s Magical Party.

The lively spot begins with a stunning shot of balloons flying above the clouds, mountains in the background, with a strong yellow tint. As the second shot appears, of balloons flying around the side of a bushy, clearly sun-drenched hill toward a noticeably distant city from most of North West Europe, it looks like those balloons have reached further than any of us could have predicted…

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

Indeed, to film this new commercial, production was taken all the way to… South Africa! According to admin Kristof on magicforum, even the It’s Dance Time DJ podium and a replica of one corner of the new Central Plaza stage were taken, along with all the characters and costumes you see, to then only be filmed in front of green-screen with the real Disneyland Resort Paris backdrops inserted later!

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

This practice isn’t uncommon though, as member experiment627 adds, “a lot of commercials are being shot in South Africa, for there are landscapes that resemble Europe quite a bit and you pretty much got sun and blue skies most of the year.”

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

As the balloons reach the city streets, one bumps right into a young boy running home from school.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

He grabs hold of it, pulls the invitation from its string…

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

And opens up the envelope to reveal a Mickey shape and the Mickey’s Magical Party logo.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

Miraculously, he’s then transported immediately to Disneyland Resort Paris!

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

The voiceover of the TV spot is different again to previous years, with a clearer and more placid voice beginning “This year, it’s Mickey’s Magical Party, and Disneyland is expecting an extraordinary hero… you!”.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

“Discover DJ Stitch’s first fantastic show,” he continues, as shots of the new Dance Time podium and its blue and pink-dressed cast in front of Space Mountain play, with several other guests dancing on the multi-coloured dance mats.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

“…The new attraction, Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage!,” continues the announcer, with shots of the Playhouse Disney puppets…

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

…the young boy laughing along, and a full depication of the stage (though likely not the real thing), as if set up for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse scene…

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

The advert reaches its conclusion as another balloon sweeps across the screen to reveal a lively Mickey Mouse running across the new Central Plaza stage — another green-screen creation.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

The voiceover adds “…and Mickey and friends’ exciting new show, and many more surprises”.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

Here we see Mickey and Goofy dancing on a recreation of the stage, with brightly-dressed dancers behind, mostly in white and red colours, with the men wearing orange shirts.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

Notice also that the Castle has been touched-up with its recently-revealed overlay of new decorations. Here, though, the “Mickey & Friends” plaque covering the main window appears to match its oval shape, rather than the uncomfortable circle seen in the concept.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

Mickey shows us some moves, then we suddenly cut to the generic Disney Parks endboard…

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

As with the commercials of the previous two years, it seems Disneyland Resort Paris are required to use this generic branding to end their TV advertisements, featuring a bizarre mélange of all the Disney castles but now with added ballons.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

The endboard is clear and the colours do work well with the red of Mickey’s Magical Party, but the overall effect is probably slightly jarring to the viewer, being so different to the footage just seen — and featuring a Castle that, as anyone knows, doesn’t exist anywhere — especially not Disneyland Resort Paris.

Mickey's Magical Party TV advert commercial

Please, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, can’t we have the real Castle for each resort?

Click here to watch the full advert.

It’s a lively, colourful, sunny and very well-produced TV spot, though, and it’s certainly brilliant to see real Disneyland Resort Paris locations used for once, if only via green-screen. You’ll probably notice two large elements of the party are entirely absent, however. Well, one major element and one not-so-major: Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars and Minnie’s Party Train.

To skip the Party Train is obviously no surprise, but many fans would agree they’d have expected to see something of the Studios’ large new parade event in the TV spot. Looks like the resort’s old fear, of mentioning the existance of Walt Disney Studios Park in a TV commercial, lives on…!

The TV spot is playing now in the UK, international versions will appear from next month.

Screencaps © Disney.

Wednesday, 25th February 2009

Stitch’s DJ podium revealed, but where will it roll out?

What’s more surprising — that, for once, a Disneyland Resort Paris television commercial features the actual locations and landmarks of the Parisian park, not Florida or California’s, or that, to achieve such a visual, the production crew apparently headed all the way to South Africa, taking those kitsch costumes and Stitch’s brand new DJ podium with them?

It's Dance Time... in Discoveryland

Still, with a spot of green-screen special effects, you’d never know, and the sun is almost guaranteed… unlike Paris. And so, here it is — the large, colourful, apparently jet-powered podium which will roll into Discoveryland for the new show It’s Dance Time… in Discoveryland, Stitch standing atop scratching up the dance tracks on a set of mixing decks.

It's Dance Time... in Discoveryland

The podium is like a small parade float in its construction, expected not to remain in Discoveryland all day long but to only roll into the land specifically for each show time, similar to the High School Musical shows at Walt Disney Studios Park.

You’ll notice those circular shapes with different coloured quarters all over it, too — as mentioned in several previous articles, guests will be invited to step onto the circular dance mats shown above and follow the colour-coded dance steps. Quite how these will be announced to a multi-lingual audience remains to be seen, but the bright primary colours certainly won’t be easily missed amongst the bronze and turquoise tones of Discoveryland.

So, has the new advert revealed the location of the show, too? Almost certainly not — well, not unless the Entertainment department are planning to bring complete chaos to the land by blocking a main thoroughfare and the entrance to Space Mountain: Mission 2. It’s likely this location was simply chosen because it looks so good on camera.

Will it go over by Star Tours as rumoured then? Don’t be too sure of that either — the fences were taken down just this weekend to reveal…

It's Dance Time... in Discoveryland

…a relayed floor. Brighter, no longer full of holes — yes. But no clues whatsoever that this is where the show will be presented. Keep watching this space (and preparing your dance moves), Stitch fans…

Screencaps © Disney; Photo © Disneytheque.com.

Tuesday, 24th February 2009

Zoom-in on new Playhouse entrance area

The new antenna and entrance signage for Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! finally arrived at Walt Disney Studios Park just a couple of weeks ago. As things continue to progress, time for a closer look at the park’s fifth new attraction…

Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage!

As can be seen, both the main logo and the four smaller signs all have depth to them, likely to be lit from inside similar to the Stitch Live! signage. The “Live on Stage!” portion of the logo sits on top of the Playhouse Disney Mickey Mouse ears.

Since the attraction will be known simply as “Playhouse Disney – Live!” to most non-English speaking markets, it’s interesting the Imagineers insisted on the full title for the entrance signage, probably to differentiate this stage-based puppet show from the video screen-based living character show next door.

The zoom-ins, courtesy of DisneyGazette.fr, continue with a view from the parking structure of Disney Village, which lies just behind the empty expansion slot in Production Courtyard. From here, it’s now possible to see the completed waiting area barriers, turnstiles and ticket booth-style Cast Member shelter, all similar to Stitch Live! next door.

Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage!

There are four turnstiles, as for Stitch, but here they all lead into a single waiting area. As mentioned in a previous update, it is expected the show will be performed around five times a day, similar to Animagique, and likely with separate performances for French and English.

Whilst those electronic displays built into the roof canopy above will display the remaining seats for the next show, the full show schedule, it seems, will also be posted outside the attraction — on the grey noticeboard which Photos Magiques recently reported had been removed from outside Stitch Live!.

Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage!

As NewsDLRP spots, the board has now reappeared outside Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage!, likely because Stitch’s 15-minute show schedules didn’t really require a full guide to be posted outside.

Photos as credited.

Sunday, 22nd February 2009

Disney Cruise Line to return to Europe in 2010

Ever wished you could see a Disney Cruise ship drop anchor in the UK, in France or in Germany? Stop dreaming — start saving. Disney Cruise Line is returning to Europe, and this time it’s coming even closer to home for many Disneyland Resort Paris fans.

For five months, from April to September 2010, the majestic Disney Magic will once again be sailing in European waters, taking guests on brand new family-friendly cruises to the places where the magic of Disney truly began. The ship’s first visit to Europe came during the first year of the 15th Anniversary in 2007, when it ran European cruises out of Barcelona, Spain.

Disney Cruise Line Disney Cruise Line

This time, Disney’s hugely successful seaborne venture will also be offering a brand new Northern European Capitals Cruise. What’s more, you can even book a cruise to enjoy the unique legs of the ship’s journey as it travels to and from these main departure ports — transatlantic from Port Canaveral, Florida to Barcelona and — believe this: Barcelona to Dover, UK!

Disney Cruise Line’s outgoing president, Tom McAlpin, announced the new routes online:

The new 12-night Northern European Capitals cruises sailing out of Dover include stops at Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Warnemünde (for Berlin), Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; and Stockholm, Sweden; whilst the returning 11-night Mediterranean cruises from Barcelona include Malta, Italy, Tunisia, Corsica and Villefranche, France.

Disney Cruise Line
Northern European Capitals Cruise

Or, enjoy a shorter spell on the Disney Magic by tagging along for 8/9-night Barcelona/Dover cruises, which stop at Gibraltar, UK; Cadiz, Spain; and Lisbon, Portugal outward as well as Cherbourg, France and Vigo, Spain on the return.

Disney Cruise Line
Mediterranean Cruise

You can find all the itineraries and details at the special website here. Better start saving now, though — these cruises will set you back anything from $999 per person to well over $2,139 per person (prices for the longer cruises aren’t even listed).

Interestingly, Tom McAlpin was just recently replaced at the helm of Disney Cruise Line by “our own” Karl Holz, former CEO of Euro Disney SCA, operating group of Disneyland Resort Paris, when his New Vacation Opportunites department was merged with the Cruise Line.

Whether Holz will seek to cross-promote the cruises with his Disneyland Resort Paris successor Philippe Gas, the way Walt Disney World does with the Port Canaveral/Castaway Cay cruises, remains to be seen. When the Cruise Line’s two huge new ships come into service in 2011 and 2012, there is a strong likelihood the venture will have a more regular presence in European waters, just in time for Disneyland Resort Paris’ 20th Anniversary.

However, the business does still seem mostly US-focused. Because, whilst we wouldn’t see Europeans taking a Disney Cruise combined with a trip to Disneyland Resort Paris, for Americans already travelling a long distance, a combined parks/cruise package could be a good venture for the resort. Already, the original 2007 cruises were actually highlighted in Paris’ 15th Anniversary press releases, and the loading dock in Barcelona did feature a large advertisement for Disneyland Resort Paris.

So, in 2010 at least, the Disney Magic will be much closer than you think… sailing the English Channel, for example!

• Find the Disney Cruise Line’s European cruise website here.

Sunday, 22nd February 2009

Stitch meets kitsch in Discoveryland film shoot

Is this an advance preview of what we can expect when It’s Dance Time… in Discoveryland premieres on 4th April 2009? This week, several fans spotted a film shoot taking place just outside Videopolis in the land, looking very likely to be a TV spot or trailer for Mickey’s Magical Party.

Featuring Stitch, two children and a group of dancers, the filming last Tuesday, 17th February saw the group dancing to the cameras as a crowd of regular park guests watched, caught on camera by DisneyGazette:

Stitch film shoot

Stitch film shoot

Stitch wore an orange baseball cap, whilst the dancers appeared in some wonderfully kitsch new pink and blue costumes we’ve not yet seen before — the final costumes for ‘It’s Dance Time’, perhaps? Well, space-age chic is certainly more fitting for the location than the hip-hop street style we might have expected…

Stitch film shoot

Stitch film shoot

That this filming in Paris will become the final TV advertisement can’t be guaranteed yet, however — the two commercials for the 15th Anniversary and The Celebration Continues were both filmed in the USA and produced by the same team as Walt Disney World’s TV spots. Filming did take place in Paris just over a year ago, but only became the rather poor “Happy Day” trailer we saw on a few Disney DVDs.

Even more interesting, though, is the review of events on the Mousekingdom Blog, which actually does link in well with this being a TV spot for the new celebration — and its theme of invitations arriving by balloon.

Stitch film shoot
Photo: Mousekingdom Blog

“In a first scene one can see the children, a young girl and boy, attached with ropes on a metal pole,” Mousekingdom writes. “Two crew members would lift the pole up, leaving the two children hoovering above the street. Once the word “action” came from the director the crew moves forward putting the children down, back on their feet.”

So, can we expect that, rather than the animated red carpet knocking on children’s doors to invite them to Disneyland, the children will this year be flying directly into the park using those colourful balloons we’ve seen everywhere, landing perfectly at each of the new events?

Well, that’s one way to enjoy “Kids Go Free”.

Photos as credited.

Sunday, 22nd February 2009

Official website (almost) ready for new celebration

Though the special mini-site for Mickey’s Magical Party launched just at the start of last week (see a full tour here), they’ve wasted no time in promoting it via the splash page as you arrive at disneylandparis.com:

Official website

Visitors now have the choice between going to the special celebration website or through to the actual disneylandparis.com. Choose to stay on the website, and the homepage opens up to reveal an updated design featuring the main Mickey’s Magical Party visual — itself updated slightly…

Official website

As we’ve noticed elsewhere, the resort’s marketing seems to have back-tracked on the original balloons seen in all the visuals to go with darker, shinier foil balloons rather than the lighter pastel colours of the originals.

Two more images are also included on the homepage; Minnie’s Party Train and Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars:

Official website Official website

But wait a minute — we’ve got two celebrations at once! Though 2009’s Mickey’s Magical Party might fill the main image space of the homepage, the resort logo at the top is still in its (rather hard to read) “Disneyland15” incarnation. Two years and still the 15th Anniversary clings on — we’ll have to wait and see if it’s finally gone before 7th March, the official end date…

Website screencaps © Disney.

Thursday, 19th February 2009

New Sleeping Beauty Castle decorations revealed!

Amongst the resort’s marketing of the five key events of Mickey’s Magical Party, one aspect that comes packaged along with this kind of year-long celebration has been all but overlooked: the decorations.

We’ve already spied the lampposts backstage. Now for another overlay — the new decorations for Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant — which you might have already spotted in a grainy image in the background of the event’s website.

Luckily, magicforum exclusively revealed the full concept image earlier today!

Over the past months we’ve heard every angle that the Entertainment department could approach this with — from keeping the entire 15th Anniversary overlay (minus the “15”), to covering the towers and turrets with multicoloured streamers like those on the new Main Street, U.S.A. lampposts. Now, finally, the decision has been made — and here it is…

Mickey's Magical Party Castle decorations
Click image to enlarge

Give Sleeping Beauty Castle a quick glance from afar this year and you might not even notice any difference. Though the characters and their fifteen candles are almost all gone — only Tinkerbell, her sparkling wand and special confetti spray remain — in their place, subtle rings and hoops made up of golden “streamers” form the iconic three circles of Mickey Mouse on top of each turret.

In the middle, where the “15” emblem has stood for two years, a new centrepiece forms another Mickey Mouse shape out of two golden ears and a sparkling blue circle from which Donald, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto peer out. This design appears to be the same as already seen on the lampposts and in the larger versions of the Magical Party logo.

Compared against the current 15th Anniversary overlay, it’s certainly not the revolution some fans may have feared (and was actually originally proposed) but a far more respectful evolution of the same “hand-crafted” style the designers sought to achieve back in 2007.

15th Anniversary Castle decorations
Current 15th Anniversary overlay

However, while the oval “15” emblem was very sympathetic to the Imagineering creation behind it, the design and placement of the circular Mickey & Friends centrepiece placed in front of the oval/elliptical main window of the Castle for this new design has already been met with negativity from fans just in the brief time this concept has been online.

…As, in fact, has the whole idea of a Castle overlay for Mickey’s Magical Party itself. The feeling is summed up well by Kristof on magicforum, who concludes “Castle decorations should only be used in my opinion for truly remarkable occasions, like (and perhaps only) for the park’s anniversary.”

What’s your opinion of the new Mickey’s Magical Party overlay?

Visual © Disney, photo © DLRP Magic!.

Thursday, 19th February 2009

Mickey’s Magical Party website goes live: full tour!

It’s a Disneyland Resort Paris tradition to accompany their newest attractions and events with a flashy, flash-based “mini site” separate from their main website, from the opening of Walt Disney Studios Park right through countless seasons and carnivals to the 15th Anniversary. In fact, they’re really the only Disney Resort which spends such money and effort on these kind of sites.

For Mickey’s Magical Party, we’ve got yet another to explore. Officially launched on Monday, you could arrive at the landing page to find only a few languages available — and not the ones you might expect, either. Denmark, Switzerland and Austria were the first countries officially launched, but with a bit of guesswork you can easily find the actual English-language site for the UK at www.mickeymagicalyear.com/uk/uk.

Currently, the landing page now also features Ireland and Italy, as well as the general “Other Countries” international option.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Though mickeymagicalparty.com redirects here, they apparently weren’t interested in mickeysmagicalparty.com when these domain names were registered last year. In fact, on the UK version of the new website there seems to be a little confusion about the celebration’s name — getting us off to a bad start, the title in your browser will instead read “Mickey’s Magical Year“.

Let’s begin our full commentary and tour here…

Mickey's Magical Party website

Pick your language and a pink balloon flies into view from the bottom of the screen, carrying an envelope. These carrier balloons are also being used extensively in the marketing campaigns for the US parks this year, although the balloons, for some reason, have a completely different design.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Gradually, more balloons float up into view on the screen. Immediately you’ll notice something different about this website compared to those of the past — it fills the entire screen, and resizes itself accordingly.

Mickey's Magical Party website

All the resort’s previous flash mini-sites have been a static size within the middle of a regular page, whereas this new style offers a more involving experience. The introduction continues with the tagline “Celebrate the greatest part of the year” and the Disneyland Resort Paris logo — which curiously has a little miniature balloon graphic floating above it… see it? That probably shouldn’t be there.

Mickey's Magical Party website

The introduction ends with five much larger balloons floating into the sky decorated with images of the five key new events of the celebration. You’ll notice throughout that the website doesn’t use the “daytime”, blue skies style we’ve seen in earlier marketing images or even on the Central Plaza fences. The entire design style appears to have suddenly been changed to a purple twilight sky with foil rather than rubber balloons.

Mickey's Magical Party website

The homepage features an animated backdrop of locations from around the resort, with simply the celebration logo inviting you to “enter”. The style here is obviously meant to be busy and informal, with some of the graphics cut out of photos and others properly drawn. The animated characters of Stitch, Minnie and Mickey seem to clash with the neater style of Tinkerbell and Dumbo floating in the sky — especially the thick-outlined, puppet-like Mickey. In previous websites, we’ve come to expect live-action characters to be superimposed into the flash animation.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Click “enter” and you’re actually taken across to the “Toonificator”, but we’ll head there later. Instead, we’ve clicked “Calender” (yes, rather than the correct spelling of “Calendar”) to find not so much a list of dates but five simple, floating balloons displaying the five new events.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Click an event and you’re given a very (very!) brief description lifted straight from that slightly baffling marketing text, along with the event’s poster artwork.

Mickey's Magical Party website

The next option along displays the three key special offers they’re running to launch Mickey’s Magical Party — the seemingly eternal Kids Under 7 Stay, Play & Travel FREE, a continuation of the 15% discount on tickets booked in advance, and another extension of that huge package discount that has been running since late last year. With both the economic problems of the moment and the awful GBP/Euro exchange rate, British guests are now being enticed with a huge 40% off their package booking, with the offer now extended to arrival dates right up to September!

Mickey's Magical Party website

And now, we reach the main section of the website — Disney’s Toonificator. This seems to be inspired both by the cartoon-style images offered by instant messaging providers such as Yahoo and Windows Live and, probably more so, by a feature on The Simpsons Movie website which swept the internet a couple of years ago, allowing users to create themselves as a Simpson character.

Mickey's Magical Party website

For this Disney version, you’ve got a seemingly endless range of hairstyles, face types and colours to Toonify yourself with, along with several special Disney costumes and accessories. Such a range, in fact, that you can create some rather bizarre Toons indeed (see above). You can also upload a photo and have it “Toonify” yourself automatically.

Mickey's Magical Party website

We settled for something a little more ordinary, and we’re now in the “virtual” Mickey’s Magical Party, a globe-type horizon filled with more cut-out landmarks and locations, which you explore by using the left and right arrow keys.

Mickey's Magical Party website

You’ll immediately notice that it’s not only the Mickey’s Magical Party events featured here — you’ll wander across landscapes representing both parks, with most of the resort’s recent attractions featured, such as Crush’s Coaster.

Mickey's Magical Party website

It’s good to see Disneyland Resort Paris realising many people might not yet have experienced these brand new attractions for themselves, with pop-up boxes providing brief descriptions and photos.

Mickey's Magical Party website

For the actual Magical Party events, however, you’ll find something a little more — a special game for each one. Here, we’ve arrived at Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage!.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Luckily for us, all the games are incredibly simple and easy to complete. For Playhouse Disney, you need to simply remember a very short series of colours. This, perhaps, confirms the far younger age group Disneyland Resort Paris appears to be marketing itself towards lately…

Mickey's Magical Party website

We pass by a bizarre landscape of Toon Studio lampposts, Stitch Live! and… giant mushrooms?

Mickey's Magical Party website

Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, some large fireworks and a strange machine decorated with shapes.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars finally rolls around.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Here you’re shown a lineup of five of the cars and have to click on the one which is illuminated for it to beep its horn, as simple as that.

Mickey's Magical Party website

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, CinéMagique, and the Studio Tram Tour billboard entrance we’ve not seen for over 18 months.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Discoveryland is represented fairly well, with airships and plently of ironwork…

Mickey's Magical Party website

…Only disturbed by the Dance Time going on at its centre. This game actually gives a very accurate preview of the real event, with visitors having to use arrow keys to step their feet on the segments of the coloured floor mat in sync with the counter at the bottom of the screen.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Disneyland Park seems a little barren from here, though Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade does make a welcome appearance.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Several of the background graphics also animate when you click on them. Here, Mickey Mouse pops out of a giant cuckoo clock as fireworks explore behind. Because, that makes you want to visit the resort, right?

Mickey's Magical Party website

Minnie’s Party Train steams into view…

Mickey's Magical Party website

…with an interesting party game which seems to invite you to connect up a webcam and then move around to guide the train into position. Or, you can just use your mouse to trace the figure-of-eight path.

Mickey's Magical Party website

Finally, we arrive in front of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant where It’s Party Time… with Mickey and Friends is happening. Take a close look at the Castle — see anything different?

Mickey's Magical Party website

For the new Central Plaza show, you’ve simply got to stop balloons floating into the air.

And there we have it, a little journey across the resort’s newest attractions with a few ultra-simlistic “party games” thrown in. The audience here is obviously intended to be very young, whilst the overall design style leaves a little to be desired — especially since just last year we were wowing over that spectacular and spectacularly well-built Tower of Terror website.

The Toonifyer game has obviously been given the majority of the effort put into this website, but the result is made slightly pointless since your created character only serves to walk left and right through the virtual world. You can enter an email address and save the character, but there seems to be no option to save an image of the character to use as a forum or instant messenger icon/avatar, for example.

Ultimately, this website also includes little to no real information about the new events of Mickey’s Magical Party — some of which, especially those at Walt Disney Studios Park, are actually probably well worth visiting for.

In fact, upon arriving at the website, visitors will surely be confused as to the overal purpose or theme of the event, since it jumps straight to the point of the Toonifyer game and the events, without a real introduction. A 15th Anniversary speaks for itself, but what’s the point of this celebration? What’s the reason for visiting? We fear guests won’t find the answers here…

• Take a look for yourself here and leave your own comments below!

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