News Disneyland Paris Updates & Features

Yes, “more of the same” quite literally, in fact. Posted on the brochure ordering system of the UK Disneyland Resort Paris website, this latest brochure cover is for the upcoming Spring/Summer 2008 edition, the third holiday guide for the 15th Anniversary following the original Spring/Summer 2007 edition and second Autumn/Winter 2007/08 publication.

The cover uses what is expected to be the “key visual” of the extended 15th Anniversary “The Party Continues“ season — more specifically, one of the original anniversary visuals we first revealed ourselves back in July 2006, now simply re-dressed with Tinkerbell, Mickey Mouse and a fluttering red ribbon or carpet.

And that’s it — “The party continues”. So, are Stitch Live and that little Tower they’ve been building for the past two and half years no longer opening during this season?

Casually perusing brochures in their local travel agent, the average customer has no idea whatsoever that this Spring/Summer 2008 season will, in fact, mark the official launch of — you guessed it — The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Which, as we must echo once again, is without doubt the biggest single addition to the resort for over 10 years, since Space Mountain: De La Terre a  la Lune, infact.

Now would be a good time to dig up a little treasure from the past, then, courtesy of DLRP Magic!’s ‘Classic Brochures’ page. Long-time fans will remember the 1995 launch campaign of Space Mountain well, and the holiday brochure released in July of that year certainly didn’t disappoint — a dark and moody portrait of a rocket train being fired toward the moon, the mountain only vaguely visible as an ominous blue glow.

The holiday brochure isn’t the entirity of the campaign, of course, but it’s a good indication of where the resort’s marketing priorities will lie. The 2007 brochure covers made no mention of Crush’s Coaster or Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, two additions which would later be incredibly well-received by the public, and — would you believe it — practically no country other than France saw any promotion whatsoever for these two fairly major additions to Walt Disney Studios Park.

So, whilst The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror will be given advertising at some point (in fact, it already is in some French locations), don’t immediately expect it to be the focus of next year’s campaigns. The best idea, it seems, is to stick with what works — regardless of any €160m attractions you might be opening.

What do you think? Should they be saying “The Party Continues” or “Drop In… if you Dare!” for 2008?

— Our UK guests can order the brochure here; Everyone else, look out for our usual preview soon!

Without further delay, here are main points:

‘¢ Revenues increased 12% to € 1,220 million, reflecting volume growth in theme parks
attendance and hotel occupancy
‘¢ Operating margin at € 51 million, against a prior year loss of € 2 million
‘¢ Net loss reduced by over 50% to € 42 million
‘¢ Attendance increased 13.3% to 14.5 million, against a prior year figure of 12.8 million
‘¢ Hotel occupancy increased 5.8ppt to 89.3%

So, as widely expected, they didn’t hit a profit just yet, but future is certainly looking bright. With overall revenues increasing by a massive 12%, reflecting the growth in park attendance and hotel occupancy, the group can claim individual revenue increases of 14% for the theme parks division and no less than 17% for hotels.

Bringing the total revenues to € 1,220.3 million, this leaves a nice operating margin of €51 million between revenues and costs & expenses, swallowed, unfortunately, by the € 92.2 million of financial charges. Before depreciation and amortization (what we can basically read as “dealings to do with that whole load of debt they’ve got”), this operating margin was in fact even higher at € 205.7 million.

Operating Statistics

Always the most interesting section for fans of the resort, this year the stats give real reason to celebrate. The resort’s previous attendance record for its two parks stood at 13.1 million guests, for the opening year of Walt Disney Studios Park in 2002. Last year they reached a second-place high of 12.8 million.

Between November 2006 and October 2007? 14.5 million guests. Read it again, 14.5 million! That’s an increase of 1.7 million over the previous year and 1.4 million higher than the Studios’ opening year.

Driven mainly be an increase in guests from Spain (as we’re sure you noticed…), France and Italy, numbers like these are fantastic news on their own. When we now consider the resort has yet to open the big-hitter E-Ticket that is The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (and its exceptional advertising campaign), unveil the full Hollywood placemaking transformation at the park and introduce the massively popular “Living Character” concept to Europe with Stitch Live… next year’s results might be an even bigger surprise.

Over at the hotels, things are just as good — if not better. Following a slump in occupancy from 2001 onwards, the hotels grew their room-filling figures from 83.5% to a touching-on-spectacular 89.3%, equivalent to 123,000 extra room nights across the year.

The Problems

Disneyland Resort Paris isn’t completely in the clear, though. Guest spending in the parks continues to be rather stagnant, from the looks of the figures driven only by the regular annual ticket price increases. At the hotels, spending per room increased 10% mainly thanks to price increases at certain hotels.

Of course, you can’t deny the fact that still having a € 40 million loss with guest numbers reaching 14.5 million is worrying. Regarding some of the exceptional costs relating to the 15th Anniversary celebration, however, it could be a loss worth… losing. The quality of the “Disney experience” here has never been higher, giving guests more reason to return, and special offers such as “Kids Under 7 Stay & Play Free” have clearly been a huge success in attracting new visitors.

Clearly, with a € 50 million operating margin, the resort is — or rather, could be — a profitable enterprise. The burden of its immense debt, however, continues to drain…

However, if there’s one person determined to squeeze a real profit from the resort, it’s Karl Holz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Euro Disney S.A.S.. It’s remarkable that this CEO hasn’t gained the cult following of say, Disneyland Resort (California)’s Matt Ouimet, considering the vast changes the resort has seen since his arrival as Chief Operating Officer, and subsequently CEO.

His message for the report reads as follows, again thanking the cast members themselves and speaking of the “experiences with only Disney can provide”, a favourite expression:

“This year’s results, marked by a positive operating margin, were driven by volume growth in parks attendance and hotel occupancy and an increase in average spending per room. In 2007, we kicked off the 15th anniversary celebration by introducing a fantastic new parade and compelling new attractions.

This year’s solid performance was made possible through the continued dedication and commitment of all our cast members, many of which celebrated their personal 15th anniversary with the Company this year.

We look forward to continuing the celebration in fiscal year 2008 with the introduction of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction and Stitch Live; new experiences which only Disney can provide.

In 2008, we will continue to execute our growth strategy and remain focused on driving this business toward profitability.”

Mr Holz, we’re behind you every step of the way.

— You can read the Annual Report in full here (PDF, new window).

The Disney Filmparade has brought us some truly brilliant looks into the world of Disneyland Resort Paris in the past — such as the creation of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade or the Imagineering of Crush’s Coaster. Whilst basically a television promotion for the resort in the competitive German theme park market, nothing compares to the gems this show regularly throws up.

In their second special edition for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (following one many months ago), then, is there anything close to a “gem” worth looking out for? Well, the 58 screen caps which follow the video might answer that one.

It’s all in German, but, whatever your language, “enjoy!”…

Now, if it’s the first time you’ve seen the video, pick your jaw up off the floor. Let’s start again from the very beginning, the images in this TV special are going to take a while to sink in…

1. Tower of Terror street-level view, some months ago.

2. Pre-show video inside one of the two Library rooms.

3. Test riders (in costume!) superimposed on the screen.

1. View from halfway, early 2006.

2. View downwards, early 2007.

3. Tower going vertical timelapse.

1. Tower reaches full height at sunset.

2. Inside the hotel lobby, bare concrete, no ceiling.

3. (Almost) Completed ceiling with intricate paintwork and wooden carving.

1. Lobby with details on arches and progressing floor – note the beautiful floor tiles.

2. Some of the artifacts and forgotten ornaments to be dotted through the hotel.

3. Read our article about the Tower’s accessories for more on these.

1. Some of the real books to fill the bookshelves in each library, many by famous French authors.

2. Inside one of the libraries – note the wood panel ceiling, bookcases and countless accessories.

3. One of the boiler rooms (loading areas) during heavy construction.

1. Inside the completed boiler rooms – see the stairs to upper boiler room (2nd loading floor).

2. Panning along the incredible detail of the boiler rooms, acclaimed in DCA (and no doubt soon in WDS) for their spectacular show lighting.

3. One of the infamous service elevator entrances.

Continued with MUCH more on Page 2…

Less than 11 months after the closing of ‘Television Production Tour at Walt Disney Television Studios’, Stitch Live will “go live” in late March and be officially launched alongside The Twilight Zone Tower in early April 2008, marking the start of the resort’s “15th Anniversary Continues” year. The opening schedule was made available to cast members last Wednesday and shared by member Devil on Disney Central Plaza forum.

‘Stitch Encounter’ at Hong Kong Disneyland

So, for the cast members presenting the show and providing the voice and movements of Stitch…

From mid-January to March 2008 (6 weeks) — training and rehearsals for performers.

In March 2008 (or end February) — 2 days of training for regular operational cast members

Then, where it gets very exciting for us…

SOFT OPENING (2 weeks) — 8th to 21st March 2008

OFFICIAL OPENING — 22nd March 2008

Opened, on-air and entertaining guests, the attraction will be officially inaugurated with the press and VIPs during the launch events of Tower of Terror, currently scheduled for the weekend of 4th to 6th April 2008. Of course, all these dates are only as currently scheduled and may be subject to change between now and March. End disclaimer.

‘Stitch Encounter’ at Hong Kong Disneyland

If a bunch of opening schedule dates “live” from Paris aren’t exciting enough, take a look at this link originally posted by moderator Scrooge of Disney Magic Interactive forum, providing an extended look inside the Hong Kong version of the attraction and the magic of this truly unique show.

In just over 4 months’ time, Stitch’s exclusive debut of “living character” in Europe will no doubt be a sensation with audiences.

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…

Not content with Crush’s Coaster, Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, High School Musical On Tour, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Stitch Live, officials and Imagineers at Walt Disney Studios Park are said to already be lining up their next new attraction.

Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage!, the puppet and character show from Disney-MGM Studios and Disney’s California Adventure, is now strongly rumoured to set up home in another of the empty television stages within Walt Disney Television Studios — the same building where, come March 2008, we’ll be able to see Stitch Live, forming a double act of live, interactive shows.

The trustworthy source La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum claims the show is now a confirmed future plan for the Studios, likely to launch for the 2009 season.

In both Florida and California, the show is presented in a soundstage-style building with guests young and old sitting on the floor, a series of “hanging” sets interchanging automatically on stage to present the worlds of Bear in the Big Blue House, JoJo’s Circus and Book of Pooh, amongst others. A live presenter carries the show, which features both puppetry and regular stand-up characters, encouraging young children to dance and clap along to their favourite television stars.

The show seems a perfect match for the park’s real Disney Channel studios, which originally hosted the actual Playhouse Disney continuity set for some time, on the stage where Stitch Live is now under preparation. With guests seated on the floor, costs would be minimal and the attraction would finally answer the calls of many parents visiting the resort whose children want to meet these stars. Disney has been putting a great deal of effort into its ‘Playhouse’ brand in recent years, including using it to introduce young children to Mickey Mouse for the first time with “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse”.

Where could this rumoured Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage attraction go? Well, the television building is far larger than many might realise. Since its inauguration in late 2001, Disney Channel France have gradually used less and less of the television production facilities built exclusively for them, handing them over instead to park operations and using the building instead as their main office headquarters and the channel’s “playout” centre.

Take a look at our exclusive map…

Beyond the stage most likely to be used for Stitch Live, a third stage of the same enormous size, perhaps larger, lies towards the back of the building. Its elongated shape would suit the live show format well, and with some realignment of doors the stage could certainly link directly through to use Disney Channel CyberSpace as its post-show, as has also been rumoured. Earlier rumours suggested new automatic doors will lead from the Stitch Live auditorium into the post-show area.

La Rouquine claims the show’s entrance would be located right next to that of Stitch Live. Noting the backstage corridors between the soundstages shown above and breaking into some pure speculation, it would be perfectly possible for Stitch to use the area marked “Pre-Show Area” for its pre-show, whilst Playhouse Disney guests could be ushered through the former “Channel Playout” backstage viewing area towards the third stage.

Now of course, we can’t forget those rumours — which are still surprisingly quiet — of the Stars and Motor Cars Parade coming to the park from Florida, either. Whilst many suggested that the vehicles in this parade hosting Playhouse Disney characters would be cut immediately, the addition of an attraction dedicated to the channel’s characters would say otherwise — and add more credibility to rumours of the parade itself one day arriving.

Speaking of Florida, their plans to rename Disney MGM Studios to Disney’s Hollywood Studios include an update of their own Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! attraction in February 2008. The current round of characters will be replaced with even fresher faces from shows such as “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse”, “Little Einsteins” and “Handy Manny”. When — or should we still say, “if” — the show arrives at Walt Disney Studios Park, it will be this newer version of the show.

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.