2010

Back in December 2009 there were reports that guests were being surveyed in Videopolis / Hyperion Café about changes to the offering over at Buzz Lightyear’s Pizza Planet, the popular land’s only other restaurant. Currently a counter service location serving pizzas and other American fast food, the questions apparently only suggested an “all you can drink” option for meals costing €15.

Now, sources are stating that the restaurant will become a full “all you can eat” restaurant from July this year. Our friends at Photos Magiques posted the information via Twitter.

To accommodate the changeover, the restaurant will close from 1st April to 30th June 2010, though no further information about the exact changes due to be made is available yet.

Those changes are important to know, because otherwise we’re left wondering…

An all-you-can-eat restaurant, here… ?

There were suggestions with the original rumours that the décor could also be changed or updated in the process, and you’ve got to hope that’s the case. Disneyland Paris gets a bad enough reputation for its high food prices and low quality counter service without suddenly charging a top-up to eat in this tired space.

Whilst the Pizza Planet in the original film is a wondrous, technological space filled with features like those giant drink dispensers and automated pizza-based announcements (yes, they’re a thing…), the Discoveryland equivalent is a black tent with fluorescent strip lights. We attempted to explain why the restaurant is located in a tent out the back of Discoveryland in our earlier article. It was used for a ‘Space Festival’ exhibition during the opening year of Space Mountain and then seized upon for a quick tie-in to the Toy Story films …and here we are more than a decade later.

The date this new format is set to be introduced will of course come as a huge coincidence what with the opening of Toy Story Playland (sometime in “Summer”, still no date) and the première of Toy Story 3, the long-awaited new addition to the series.

Though Toy Story 3 will be big news all over, Toy Story Playland will surely become the real “centre” of all things Woody and Buzz at Disneyland Paris when it opens. Keeping a lacklustre restaurant dedicated to the film hidden away over here in a whole different park, especially when Walt Disney Studios Park will be so lacking dining on its Toon Studio side, is a silly situation for the resort to find itself in.

Toy Story Playland won’t have a single dining location, leaving Toon Studio’s grand total at zero.

Discoveryland restaurant that never was, or has yet to be?

And, though Discoveryland still needs more dining capacity to take the strain off Hyperion Café, is this place hidden away behind the forgotten Honey, I Shrunk the Audience the best place to achieve that? Will we really never see that planned restaurant right at the entrance to the land, opposite Constellations boutique? Surely a much more tempting prospect.

Perhaps Tour Guide Barbie will drive by and explain the short-sightedness involved on both sides.

Picture by DLRP Today; Concept © Disney.

Yes, it’s finally goodbye to this…

And hello to this…

The change is radical in some places — not only are pages finally allowed to “breathe” with a wider format, but the Disneyland Paris resort logo has finally thrown off that curvy corner enclosure it’s been stuck inside-of in so much print and advertising since as far back as 2002. Unfortunately, it retains three unnecessary balloons from the outgoing Mickey’s Magical Party design theme.

Because yes, in other areas it’s not too different — the menu options remain essentially the same, simply listed all on one line and presented using basic HTML rather than animated Flash as before, a big “no no” for accessibility these days. This replacement, though, currently looks somewhat unfinished, with the two-line options not quite fitting in the boxes and the grey text colour being noted by many people as too light.

And that old dependence on Flash-heavy pages? Still there. The entire home page, including the “book” buttons on the left (which aren’t even animated) are rendered using this animation format, including a musical intro which doesn’t remember your “mute” preference. Perhaps just temporary?

The website pages themselves are exactly the same as before, only having a new background added and the top menu replaced (which has also unfortunately taken away the option to mute some animations):

So far, so disappointing. But there’s hope for the future — thankfully, we’ve heard that new pages are being developed. Perhaps that main box on the new homepage, stating the New Generation Festival is “landing on this website from February 23rd 2010” gives a clue as to when they’ll launch? Only a week left to wait and see.

Hopefully they’ve been inspired by another website in the resort’s portfolio — the rather nice Casting website which opened exactly one year ago. Featuring wide pages, clear information and good use of colours, it’s a real pleasure to browse in comparison to the current visitor site:

This site also crucially handles things like navigation and page URLs (addresses) so much better. When the official Disneyland Paris website relaunched in 2006, it introduced a mind-bending array of different domains and sub-domains as you navigate through the site, so that all the UK pages are on a “.co.uk” website separate to the “.fr” site. Within this, pages such as What’s New are located at “news.disneylandparis.co.uk” whilst park information is at “parks.disneylandparis.co.uk”, adding up to a completely confusing way of setting out the website to the end user.

Though this new menu on Disneyland Paris.com has retained the same sections as before, including “Choose your experience” (Experiences?), “Find your ideal offer” (Booking?) and “Prepare your visit” (Plan?), can we expect more than just just a re-dressing of the old pages, and see things be simplified yet further for the user?

The gold standard for this is the US website for Walt Disney World, which has a wonderfully boiled-down top menu of simply “Discover”, “Plan” and “Book”, not to mention something we’ve never had on the current Disneyland Paris site — a search function.

But, all criticism aside, a quick surf around the other Disney resort websites — particularly California and Tokyo, or the abysmal UK version of the Walt Disney World site — reveals we’re actually not doing too badly. Hong Kong relaunched its website last year with a lovely initial design, but within a few pages you find yourself in the same situation as the current Paris website, with the new menu at the top and an older page sitting uncomfortably below.

Hopefully Disneyland Paris won’t spend quite so long in this web design limbo…

Images © Disney.

STOP PRESS! The mystery has been solved — click here.

When was the last time you got excited about a steel cage sitting in a warehouse? Well that’s exactly what we’re all doing, folks. Found on this vague website about drywall construction based in Burbank, California, the image sits inconspicuously in the sidebar, labelled “Disney Radius Dome Construction” and then… “Ratatouille Ride Element”.

Follow a few links around that website, and you can stumble upon a photo of drywall construction for a “Disney Sound Booth”. Both short-lived blogs were last updated in December 2009, though it’s impossible to tell exactly when the photo was posted.

But what is it? A cage? A giant colander?

Maybe we shouldn’t think about it sitting there on the ground. Imagine it higher up, and suddenly…

…it seems…

…very…

…very…

…familiar…

…indeed.

Those domes on Tower of Terror arrived pretty much complete at the resort and were only lifted into place a year before it opened. If they were already preparing this “element” as early as November or December 2009, that’s some head-start they’ve got. Not to mention a little presumptuous since, as far as we know, the ride hasn’t been fully green-lit just yet.

But could Rémy really be bringing another dome to the Walt Disney Studios collection, as part of his Parisian attraction façade? Well, there are plenty to inspire in the city itself…

Tip of the (chef’s) hat to fcoyote on Disney Central Plaza, RnRCj on magicforum
Images: Davidmackeydrywall.com, DLRP Today.com

And so, another attraction finds its way into Euro Souvenirland…

The news came via trusty magicforum host Kristof, that Hurricanes Discotheque at the end of Disney Village will close permanently on 31st March 2010. The night club has apparently been scheduled to end its days for several years already, with nothing eventually coming of any of the earlier dates. Will the Cyclone Special cocktail be gone for good this time? Certainly sounds like it.

As improvements and additions have spread through the Village in recent years, Hurricanes has slowly become a final champion for that original Festival Disney spirit, sitting up there above Rainforest Cafe like Carl Fredrickson surrounded by skyscrapers. It’s a remnant of the early ’90s idea that the entertainment district should be a “hip”, “happening”, buzzing nighttime spot, the streets filled with party-goers until the early hours. An idea that never really happened.

The official 1992 Euro Disney Guidebook enthuses:

Hurricanes — Festival Disney’s disco nightclub is just above the Key West Seafood restaurant. Having climbed the spiral staircase, you’ll be swept up into the whirlwind of nightlife. Hurricanes boasts four different bars, including one in the indoor terrace, plus twenty video screens, cosy corners for talking and a dance floor that’s open until 3 am. Don’t be surprised if you catch yourself standing there sipping on a Caribbean or Cyclone Special cocktail, dreaming of Key Largo.

Hurricanes was originally part of a small Key West district in Festival Disney, comprising Key West Seafood below (closed 1998), the Surf Shop opposite (now World of Toys) and the then-rainforest-animal-free lagoon behind. In what must be one of the kitchiest ideas in history, the dance floor was originally covered in sand. Which must have been fun in heels.

Why close a fun venue like this? The official reason: “repositioning” of Disney Village. What kind of repositioning hasn’t been clarified by Disney, but it’s not hard to work out. Just as the nightclubs and comedy clubs of Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World in Florida have been swallowed up by the wider Downtown Disney, to be replaced with new shops and restaurants, it seems a venue like Hurricanes simply doesn’t fit in their current focus on either side of the Atlantic.

Indeed, with its foam parties and “ladies nights” where women get in free, it’s not a surprise that Disneyland Paris have been thinking about dropping the venue for a while. And did you notice it’s a little dated? Would the cost of improving the nightclub, updating the staircase entrance (which has become rather tacky with subsequent additions, long after Frank Gehry left), really be worthwhile? Probably not, which brings the second element of the “repositioning”…

Stating the obvious, a nightclub like Hurricanes is useless during the day. Here we have a substantial, prime space right in the middle of Disney Village just lying empty for most of the day up until 8pm, when a café or restaurant could have tills ringing (for much greater amounts) right through from morning. Though we still mourn Buffalo Trading Co, just look how much better utilised that space is as a Starbucks café.

Whilst those plans for the Convention Centre and Disney Village extension are still many years from coming to anything, it’s bad business sense to leave this space as a faded nightclub.

What could be pushing Hurricanes out? No replacement has been announced…

However, the first floor location naturally points to a bar, café or restaurant, something which unlike a shop doesn’t rely on heavy footfall. Recent rumours that Groupe Flo, the group which operates almost all of the Disney Village restaurants, is interested in another venue could well ring true. The resort has experimented with promoting an Italian menu at Hotel New York’s Manhattan Restaurant in recent years, so could this space go from the Caribbean to Italy to permanently offer this much-requested cuisine in the Village itself?

Then there’s that possibility we picked up less than a year ago — the Jules Verne-themed pub/restaurant. Check it out — the hot air balloons in the roofspace, the blue sky walls and vintage lanterns. It’d seem right at home in the elevated position of Hurricanes, with its circular observation room. If they opened up some of the nightclub’s boxy walls with large windows, you’d have a superb view out to the “real” PanoraMagique balloon and the lake.

Intriguingly, the original article (which was a brief interview with the owner of the original pub in Nantes) mentioned that they’d been offered a floorspace of 500m2. Do some flimsy measuring in Google Earth, and that’s exactly what Hurricanes has to offer.

It’s not just the spirit and idea of Hurricanes which seems out of sync with the rest of the Village: The blank white exterior is one of the few remaining Frank Gehry boxes, which worked with the 1992 “party district” ideas but were ultimately diluted with later add-ons, certainly never looking all that pleasant on any but the sunniest of days. We mentioned with the Earl of Sandwich concepts that that new restaurant offered the opportunity to hide this exterior behind it, but even so this big white box will still be clearly visible. A change of tenant would surely fix this final piece.

As Disney Village has come blinking into the daytime, gaining its eco-clad Starbucks, planters and trees, time has finally caught up with Hurricanes. Finish up your Caribbean cocktail, put those Key Largo dreams to sleep. The storm is almost over.

Images: Photos Magiques; DLRP Today.

Disney’s World of Color might be coming to Walt Disney Studios Park.

Do you need a minute to check the date? Ok, see — it’s not April 1st.

The gigantic, multi-mullion dollar nighttime lagoon show is currently on course to première this year in Paradise Bay at Disney’s California Adventure (DCA), the second park at Disneyland Resort in California, as part of its much-heralded rebirth. If you don’t know the full story, this park opened just a year before Walt Disney Studios, in 2001, and suffered from the similar lack of funding and lack of Disney finesse.

But, unlike our dear Studios, Disney have long given up on a piecemeal approach to fixing the disastrous second gate and have thrown themselves (with perhaps more than a little pushing from John Lasseter and co) head first into a billion-dollar expansion and improvement programme. Check out the website here, if you’d like to be jealous.

Now back to Paris.

Though it appears DCA is getting all the luck with its $1bn investment, that doesn’t mean Walt Disney Imagineering haven’t also been planning the future of our second gate. Drawing up plans, throwing around ideas. Thinking about the future way, way ahead of Toy Story Playland and the Ratatouille dark ride; to a time where the Studio Tram Tour route would finally be thrown aside and the park allowed to expand outwards, along an extended Hollywood Boulevard.

And what would be at the end of the new boulevard, according the latest proposals from a few years ago? A lake. Yes, water! In Walt Disney Studios Park! It’s a fan’s dream come true, finally a body of water in the parched concrete kingdom of the Studios.

But this wouldn’t just be any body of water. Though the talk of a lake or large area of water in the park has recently, and very quietly, turned from the dream of fans to something actually on the drawing board, no-one guessed what the Imagineers might use such an asset for.

Well, who’d have put World of Color together with Walt Disney Studios? But according to a recent blog post by Alain Littaye, that’s exactly what WDI and Euro Disney SCA are pondering for the future. At the end of this grand, extended Hollywood Boulevard, leading right up past the current service road, the body of water wouldn’t just sit there being all watery, it would become a giant nighttime spectacular — the first of its kind at Disneyland Paris.

Don’t head to the park this year — or perhaps even most of this decade — looking for something like that, though. This is a truly long-term project, major long-term. Alain says “don’t expect it before 2015”, but even that seems incredibly generous unless the proposals have since been rejigged to put the lagoon closer to the heart of the park.

Because, to get to the point where even just this lagoon, bay and stadium — yes, unlike DCA there’d be proper seating — are ready to be built, the park would have to expand right the way back, along the full length of the forest. That’s a major expansion and investment programme even before you get to the frightening cost of the lagoon itself.

There’s a chance that by the time Walt Disney Studios Park is ready for this, World of Color might not seem so exciting. Plus as Alain points out, the people involved in these decisions at Disneyland Paris will also need to look in-depth at how it actually turns out. With the show still under preparation, they’ll want to know the full cost of daily performances, maintenance and of course, guest reaction, before it gets anywhere near Paris.

Although it seems like the odds are stacked against Paris for this one as we currently stand, a “nighttime spectacular” is certainly a very real aspiration for the resort. Not only would it extend guests’ visit to either park, prompting more nights in Disney Hotels, it would finally give the resort, well, exactly that — a real nighttime spectacular.

Being so constrained with firework shows due to nearby villages, a show involving comparably quiet fountains and pyrotechnic effects is the perfect solution. The parks would have a draw and a reason to open later for more of the year. And, if you’ve ever visited Versailles or Futuroscope, you’ll know that the locals are already very familiar with the format. They have expectations just waiting to be blown away.

…If they can wait 5, 10 or 15 years.

Images © Disney/Google Earth.

Last Chance Café, sandwiched between The Lucky Nugget Saloon and Silver Spur Steakhouse, is undoubtedly one of the less reputable establishments of Thunder Mesa town. The last place were hardy cowboys would stop before setting out on cattle trails, its walls plastered with “Wanted” posters rather than wallpaper, a remnant of the wilder West which is slowly being outlawed as we arrive in Frontierland.

But, when it decided to open up a new terrace in the second half of 2009, fans were initially pleased and then suddenly… disappointed. Whilst the idea makes a lot of sense (providing sheltered seating so it can open for more of the year) and the execution is even surprisingly thorough (countless Western props hanging in the roof space), the wider picture doesn’t quite fit.

The least successful view of the extension is what you see below. Though the new entrance has now been “plussed” further with some very in-keeping lamps, the flat frontage simply looks wrong compared to its neighbours — and what was there before. Compare the detail and “weight” of the original façade, at the back, with the very “flatpack”, cheaper look of the extension. The maroon edges lack the fine detail and the wood panelling appears thin and unweathered.

The original 1992 take-away counter area remains unchanged.

The new terrace in a cold and wet Wild West

New Western props

Even Alain Littaye offered a critique, which hit the problem spot on:

“But if you look well at this new terrace – and although they put props inside – it doesn’t look like a building which would have grown “organically” out of the buildings right behind it. There is a story with each Thunder Mesa building whether it’s an attraction or a restaurant or a shop. Thunder Mesa is supposed to be a real town and although most of the guests don’t know the stories (unfortunately) they can feel the “logic behind”.”

Alain went on to criticise the props and decoration of the terrace, which yes, whilst all well within the Western style, were lacking in personality. Saddles, ponchos, guns, bottles… all in-keeping with the theme but not exactly pushing it forward, developing the story.

But then, a week or so ago, something — or perhaps, someone — rolled into town to remedy our concerns, a classic bit of Disney plussing and storytelling in action:

“Doc Wassell’s Travelling Apothecary — Miracle Cures for All Ailments” reads this freshly-painted wagon, positioned between Last Chance Café and Silver Spur.

Insider RiverRogue on magicforum confirmed that the wagon is part of the extension of the café, not just a fun addition. Having been moved around on-stage and backstage for several years, it has been painted up with some brilliant designs to finally find a home.

So, is Doc Wassell’s little bit of Imagineering gold dust a “miracle cure” for the underwhelming extension itself? That’s up to you. But what we can’t ignore is the changing attitude to ‘Counter Service’ restaurants in the parks recently.

Over at Cowboy Cookout Barbeque, for example, a new menu has been in place for a year now which aims to offer a higher quality and variety of dishes — for an increased price. Where elsewhere the standard charge for a Counter Service main, side, dessert and drink is — gulp — €12.95, here they’re now pushing prices to €15+ for the “improved” Sheriff menu, attempting something closer to a pub restaurant or Nando’s format than fast food burgers.

Having Last Chance Café open for more of the year is a great thing, but during rainy, cold times like these, it’s much better to be inside, in the warm, well-Imagineered cafés like Fuente del Oro or Pizzeria Bella Notte. Locations that don’t starve you of an enclosed interior and beautiful themeing just because you’re paying for counter service.

Recent answers to fast food expansion like the new Coca-Cola kiosks L’Arbre Enchanté and Cool Station — or any of the trailers at Walt Disney Studios Park, especially La Terrasse Perrier — all have one thing in common, and there’s a danger that by adding a roof, Disneyland Paris will now begin to think of Last Chance as more than just a high season take-away kiosk. That it’s “good enough” to be considered the antidote for what might be need for a new, indoor counter service location as attendance continues to climb and Cowboy Cookout prices people out.

Although at least here, unlike the Studios, the Budgeteers shelled out for the themeing.

Photos by Dlrpteam for DLRP Today.

First, a scheduled refurbishment for Peter Pan’s Flight, which began on Monday.

With major modifications in recent years such as the “air gates” in the loading area, the work this year is focusing on pure refurbishment. On the outside, general repainting and restoring details in the queue area.

The attraction reopens, all freshened up next Saturday, 6th February.

Retracing our steps through Fantasyland, we stumble upon the big one: the Castle Bridge. A couple of weeks ago we reported the sudden, unannounced closure of the bridge, which was swiftly wrapped in scaffolding and tarpaulin covers on all sides.

While the front of the bridge has a pleasing Sleeping Beauty theme, the sides are as wrapped up as could possibly be — we’ll likely see no sign of changes or improvements at all until they come down.

And when will that be? Still no date, sorry. But we do have a few new details since the last report. Though not being completely replaced as some rumours suggested, the bridge will see indeed a part of its structure replaced, along with extensive works to rewire and upgrade its lighting.

So, it could well be another month or more. And when the scaffolding comes down, it’ll look fresh and new but not any different — the original plans are being strictly stuck to.

Until then, as mentioned previously, there are still many places for that classic photo in front of the Castle, such as the Adventureland and Royal Castle Stage areas. Or stand a little further back up Main Street, U.S.A. and you won’t see it at all (although you might need to use someone’s head to block out the persistent Mickey’s Magical Party decorations).

Photos by Dlrpteam for DLRP Today.

For many of us, in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, this is the week. In just a few short days, we get to see a brand new, traditionally-animated Disney musical on the big screen. At one time, that would have been unthinkable. It’s almost too much to bear.

And, for those lucky enough to follow that up with a trip to Disneyland Paris from April onwards, they’ll also get to see the film’s modern-thinking heroine in person. To tease us for that event, another new photo has been released of the star peering from the Castle balcony, just as she does in the film…

This follows the first photo, featuring Prince Naveen, released a couple of weeks ago.

To get yourself even more hyped up for the film, what better way than hopping over to DLRP Magic.com, where our interviews host Jérémie Noyer has taken a diversion from Disneyland Paris to the Walt Disney Animation Studios in California, to talk with Mark Henn, supervising animator of Princess Tiana herself!

In this fascinating insight — which, don’t worry, is spoiler-free — Mark talks about the challenge of animating Disney’s first princess to progress on-screen from a little girl to a grown up adult… not to mention a small green frog. He also discusses the very modern personality flaws of both Tiana and Naveen, how Lady and Tramp served as inspiration for the film’s “look” and what role he’s already preparing to take for Disney’s next traditionally-animated feature, Winnie the Pooh.

This is the perfect lead-in for the film — Enjoy! ›

Image © Disney.