Parks & Resort

If you’re a Shareholder or an Annual Passholder, no doubt you’ve been going “Totalement Toquée” for a few weeks now, waiting to hear exactly when you’ll get your first chance to experience Ratatouille: The Adventure.

Putting an end to what, unsurprisingly, sounds like an onslaught of requests for information, Disneyland Paris has confirmed today the all-important dates.

In a brief notice, Annual Passport previews for 26th – 29th June 2014 are confirmed:

Due to a lot of requests, please note that there will indeed be Ratatouille previews for Annual Passholders (Dream, Fantasy, Francilien) from June 26 to 29.

More information about the registration process will be sent soon by the teams in charge.

Meanwhile, members of the Shareholders Club for Euro Disney S.C.A. were sent their full registration details this morning, with the “Actionnaires” event taking place on 28th June.

If you’re a member of the club, you should have received an email with the full details, though these are also available on the club’s official website under “Your Personal Space”.

Online registration for this event is mandatory, on a first-come-first-served basis, and must be completed no later than Monday, 23rd June 2014.

On the date, Saturday, 28th June, attendees will be able to check in from 9.30am at the entrance of Walt Disney Studios Park, with both the attraction and Bistrot Chez Rémy reserved for shareholders between 10am and 2.30pm (thanks to @Jorienvh_ for these details).

So, let’s recap all the Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy dates in full:

• 17th June 2014 onwards — Cast Member previews
• 21st – 22nd June 2014 — Grand Opening / Press Event weekend
• 26th – 29th June 2014 — Annual Passholder previews
• 28th June 2014 — Shareholders Club preview
• 10th July 2014 — Official Public Opening Date

All of which leaves a mighty space to fill of almost a fortnight between the last preview on 29th June and the official 10th July opening, during which we can surely expect some wider public “soft openings” — when regular park guests are invited to unofficially ride the attraction, allowing a final test and adjust phase before opening.

It can’t be stated so confidently that Bistrot Chez Rémy would be included in this, although you’d think Disneyland Paris would want to continue trialling that too — it’s spectacularly important that they get this restaurant right, first time, and the general public can often behave and react to concepts very differently than invited guests and Disney fans.

Regarding the release of preview dates, hopefully the teams involved at Disneyland Paris have learnt a lesson that guests prefer this information sooner, rather than later — say, a month in advance at the very least — especially when complicated travel plans and accommodation bookings from outside France have to be made.

So there we go, folks — now tell us below, when will your first “Ratmobile” ride be?

This month’s Disneyland Paris Pin Trading releases have an infestation of — you guessed it — rats. Beginning on 21st June with an “In 1 Month” pin, the tie-ins for Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy continue with three more open edition pins, a booster set and a lanyard on 28th June ahead of the 10th July opening.

There’s also the traditional Summer pin featuring The Little Mermaid, another new Disney Dreams! open edition, a limited Lady and the Tramp “Paris” dangler and a new entry in the now brilliantly huge “Attractions” series for Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains.

Since last month’s releases were missed, see below for a May 2014 catch-up! Read More…

C’est dans la boîte? Not until 9pm with the upcoming new extended hours for Walt Disney Studios Park, as the studios extends its production schedule for the first time in years. Read More…

Beyond the all-important date (10th July if you haven’t managed to catch it yet), Disneyland Paris more than exceeded anticipation for yesterday’s rumoured Ratatouille: The Adventure announcement by including a little video teaser alongside. Well, perhaps “little” isn’t the word.

Because despite running to just 1 minute 3 seconds, for the first time ever the video reveals a number of glimpses inside the huge new Ratatouille showbuilding, allowing a look at the attraction’s physical scenery, giant props and even trackless ride vehicles. The emphasis being on giant: everything is giant.

Tom Fitzgerald, Creative Executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, and Roger Gould, Creative Director Theme Parks at Pixar Animation Studios, lead the commentary to enthuse about Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, as Tom names it, with a smile.

After seeing the huge Gusteau’s restaurant sign being lifted into place atop the building, we get a series of blink-and-you’ll-miss-em peeks inside the ride’s actual show scenes. There’s the rooftops of Paris load unload area with giant chimney pots, the cold storage with a giant fish, and the dining room with giant trolly wheels.

Towards the end, we even see a real, finished “Ratmobile” ride vehicle for the first time ever. And just to add extra intrigue, perhaps, it’s brown, not grey/blue.

There’s spoilers aplenty, of course — but don’t forget that the physical scenery and props we see here are just the “base layer” of this trackless, 3D projection-filled dark ride. It won’t look like this when you’re riding through it, with 3D glasses plus finished lighting and animation, so there’s a lot left unseen and a lot that will only ever be possible to see in person.

Watch the video now, then scroll down for 23 screencaps and extra commentary… Read More…

Welcome to turn of the 20th Century America! At least, that’s what Main Street Station was designed to say. In practice, it has suffered an innumerable series of seasonal overlays over the years that often do little to embellish its period style. The latest, for Swing into Spring, was completed this week ahead of the new season’s launch on 5th April.

Production quality looks surprisingly good for a fledgling season — the main “Swing into Spring” marquee is big but thankfully well-designed, compared to previous efforts. The way the typeface springs out of the oversized daisy is quite classy, the character illustrations are a welcome “Disney” touch, the flowers (albeit fake) give a feeling of life. From a distance it looks like a fantastic, bright, fresh welcome into Disneyland Park for Spring. Great job!

It’s just a shame it’s all over Main Street Station. After the 20th Anniversary overlay, Halloween, Christmas, and many more in the years before, you almost need to remind yourself what this landmark is supposed to look like. So here we go:

Now where do you begin? Let’s start with the windows. The four stained glass windows of the original station are beautiful and should simply never, ever be covered over. Definitely not with flat yellow backgrounds for 2D cut-out Disney characters.

Then there are the 20th Anniversary leftovers. The two plasticy gold garlands along the top of the façade, the three golden arches above the walkways and the four circular castle motifs are all still in place two years later. The thinking could be they’re yellow (ish) and vaguely fit the colour scheme, the reality is that they cheapen a building which, along with the stunning Disneyland Hotel, was designed to instantly tell guests they’re not in any old tacky theme park.

Also part of that overlay was the black “Disneyland Paris” sign. It seemed fitting for the 20th Anniversary, but isn’t it about time the old “Main Street Station”, with its higher quality embossed gold letters and warm red background returned?

After all that, the flowers and even the logo are rather inoffensive. Indeed, imagine how good the station could have looked if it was simply “plussed” with a colourful floral overlay, not just treated like a blank canvas — as if there’s nothing of quality there to actually work with and the only option was for the designer to cover it with their own, bright yellow, canvas.

It’s been easy to shrug off the Halloween and Christmas overlays in the past because, besides the fact they’re well-established holidays, they’re only there for one and two months respectively, giving us nine more months to see the park entrance as it should be seen.

Swing into Spring will last for a record three months. If it returns with the same decorations next year (spending on these seems to suggest it will), that means only six months to see the station untouched: January to March and July to September. That’s provided they ever take the 20th Anniversary elements down. The situation is similar to the oversized Tinkerbell of the 15th Anniversary castle overlay, which outstayed its welcome (and spoilt the forced perspective of the castle) for several years after the anniversary ended.

At least, these days, it’s not the castle. That’s what we need to remember.

• Discover more Disneyland Railroad Main Street Station photos on the Guidebook

LEAD PHOTO @DisneylandBerry (Twitter)

April’s Pin Trading releases at Disneyland Paris are perfectly fitting for the season, beginning with a new attraction pin for Alice’s Curious Labyrinth this weekend.

Part of the surprisingly good new ongoing attractions series, which has no doubt rekindled many fans’ interest in the sport of pin collecting, the pin is then followed by a Disney Dreams! pin also featuring Alice in Wonderland — despite the characters only appearing for a split-second in the actual show’s finale.

Elsewhere on the schedule, there are more Eiffel Tower designs, the traditional Spring “Joyeuses Pâques” pin, a fun “Grape Soda” Up pin and just 800 limited “it’s a small world” 50th Anniversary pins, the proceeds of which will go to Unicef.

There are also two Pin Trading events this month — a privatised “Witches and Wizards” event at Disney’s Hotel New York on 26th April, and a public Pin Trading Day in Disneyland Park on the park’s 22nd anniversary, 12th April.

Will you be there for either event, and which pins will you add to your collection?

ORIGINAL PDF Disneyland Paris Pin Trading April 2014

Less than three days to go before the first ‘Swing into Spring’ season begins at Disneyland Paris, the new decorations on Main Street, U.S.A. and Central Plaza are already taking root to add a burst of fresh colour to Disneyland Park.

Just days after they were officially revealed in final concept art, the first arrivals were the colourful Central Plaza “topiary” displays of favourite Disney animals, interacting with musical notes and instruments. Each one takes the centrepiece of one of the four Central Plaza flower beds, surrounded by a fresh display of much less synthetic blooms.

Bambi, Flower and Thumper, The Aristocats Marie, Berlioz and Toulouse, and The Lion King Simba and Nala are pictured here by @DisneylandBerry, who has been sharing these updates of the growing Spring decorations each morning. Three of the 101 dalmatian puppies are in place, too, completing one of the best Central Plaza overlays in many years.

Meanwhile, down in Town Square the theme is more Mary Poppins. The 1964 film celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and is of course a natural fit for a springtime “Jolly Holiday”.

As the concept art depicted, the two flower beds either side of Main Street’s gazebo have become home to full-size floral topiary figures of Mary, Bert, Jane and Michael.

The Town Square Gazebo itself soon followed, being decorated with colourful garlands of synthetic flowers, musical notes and a large butterfly for its “Balade Printanière”.

Perhaps a simple floral overlay would have been enough and more in-keeping with the time period of Main Street, but at least, thank heavens, the psychedelic multi-coloured music staff of the concept art was changed to a more subdued green.

Penguin waiters are even less in-keeping with Main Street, of course, but they add some fun to the scene and are by far one of the least offensive things ever done to the poor gazebo. And they’re penguin waiters, so it’s impossible to dislike them.

Main Street, U.S.A. is home to almost all the Swing into Spring decorations, the furthest they spread into the park being only Le Théatre du Château. Here, the successful Halloween overlay of recent years has been echoed for Spring with daisies wrapped around the columns and a new green podium stage, ready for the main Disney’s Spring Promenade event which will take place both here and around Central Plaza.

It’s simple and tasteful enough, and again good to see the stage finding a new lease of life after some years of dilapidation and uncertainty. Now to see how it will be used…

PHOTOS @DisneylandBerry (Twitter)

You’ve less than four days to get to Disneyland Paris for the opening of ‘Swing into Spring’, the almost mythical Spring Festival which now at last has been given its official English title, dates and some welcome publicity by the resort.

Released today is a new video featuring Show Director Christophe Leclercq, introducing the season of springtime decorations and entertainment. If not revealing any new details of the much-speculated festival, Christophe confirms again some important details, such as the main event featuring no less than 90 dancers, 22 musicians and a quite startling 33 characters, taking place “in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle”.

The video includes an additional piece of concept art for the Central Plaza “topiary” displays (above) which feature characters from Bambi, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Aristocats and The Lion King interacting with musical notes and instruments.

This is also the first time (besides a lone Belgian press release) that Disneyland Paris has confirmed the season will run from 5th April to 22nd June 2014.

In French, the season will be known as La Balade Printanière, or “Springtime Stroll”.

An earlier version of the video mistakenly subtitled Town Square as Times Square.

VIA Disneyland Paris (YouTube)