News Disneyland Paris Updates & Features

The trailer has been published online by Parisian post-production company nightshift, labelled ‘Disney Big Time’ and running for around 2 minutes, it comprises a series of footage and graphics introducing the extended celebration and its main attractions, set largely to the gospel choir song “Oh Happy Day”.

You can watch the trailer in Flash format here, before we take a shot-by-shot look at what they’ve created…

“The 15th anniversary celebrations… Extended by popular demand” reads the first graphics sequence, against a deep red background of ’15’ logos and the words ‘Big Time’, which is used throughout the trailer.

The the familiar 15th Anniversary anthem music of “Flying”, we’re reminded of the launch campaign for the 15th and its events so far through footage and, later, still images cut together at split-second overlaps, building to the grand finale…

…of the original television campaign, where a family watched the illumination of the Castle’s decorations. The music here suddenly dips, the footage seeming entirely separate to the new publicity campaign which follows.

A round of slow clapping, illuminating more stars againt the red background each time, eventually builds to a full applause and the full, sparkling ’15’ symbol seen on Disneyland Park’s LED banners.

As pre-recorded applause continues, the words “The party continues… big time” and “Ready for even more… Happy Days?” appear on screen.

As the title song fades in, the screen dissolves to black…

…And we’re introduced to a young girl, squinting in the sunlight on the Central Plaza stage, swaying her head from side to side and tightening her face as she reaches for the first notes of the song. Mickey clicks his fingers next to her…

…Before a man appears on screen to sing the opening “Oh Happy Day!”, shaking pixie dust from his fingers.

The same man then appears in a rather barren shot stood before The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, still shaking his fingers, with the first of three large letter effects used to introduce this “New Attraction”. The construction walls are painted over digitally with a plain yellow wall, whilst a neat effect of thunder and lightning fills the sky above The Hollywood Tower Hotel.

The shot is soon filled with the other members of the “family” who appear from behind him, as a “bellhop” leans in to give a menacing stare to the camera. The costume used here is actually that seen in the video introductions of Disneyland15.com — the actual bellhops have much darker outfits with plentiful ‘HTH’ branding.

The logo for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror appears on-screen with a starry black background.

Then, still to the words of “Oh Happy Days”, we’re shown a selection of footage from the terrifying, faster-than-gravity freefall of the Tower of Terror…

Continued on Page 2.

Bursting onto the screen with a “swoosh” amid an array of stars, the logo for Stitch Live is a surprising departure from the sail of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean‘, the plaque of ‘Phantom Manor‘ or the storybook of ‘Le Pays des Contes de Fées‘. It animates with the blue trail spiralling onto the screen, uses the modern (and widely available) Cooper Black font for the word ‘Live’ and shines with a white glow moving left-to-right across the word ‘Stitch’.

Whilst the logo used for the ‘Stitch Encounter’ original at Hong Kong Disneyland is thoroughly “Tomorrowland” and even the logo seen on the first Paris concept art was more along the lines of Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, the inspiration for this final logo is clearly taken straight from the title cards of television talk shows and light entertainment programmes.

It’s cheap, it’s slightly cheesy — it’s everything we wouldn’t want an attraction logo to be, under normal circumstances.

But this is Stitch Live, where the “living character” concept has finally found a more natural environment in the guise of a faux chat show. Pre-opening texts from Disneyland Resort Paris already show that Walt Disney Imagineering are keeping the television studio theme of the previous walk-through attraction — even expanding it, since now guests will get to take part and interview Stitch, rather than gazing from a distance into the real, tedious world of television.

The logo comes from a trailer posted in the portfolio of post-production company nightshift, which has been comissioned to create advertisements and footage to promote the extended 15th Anniversary. The trailer also features Stitch running through Front Lot, with some brief footage from inside the Hong Kong attraction following.

Whilst the attraction was previously hardly mentioned by the resort, it has recently taken a much more prominent placement in advertising, promoted as a “New Experience” and even a “world-first”. Not quite, but “European-first” is still impressive.

The confirmation comes not from Disneyland Resort Paris themselves but a third-party travel company, Thomas Cook. Their latest UK brochure, released just last week, continues to put the 15th Anniversary logos and promotions at the heart of its pages, despite the edition serving trip planning as far in advance as December 2008.

Brochures such as these primarily use images, logos and texts provided by Disneyland Resort Paris themselves, and so the official texts and taglines of the extended 15th Anniversary are also revealed already. With a double page dedicated to the events, the introduction reads:

15th Anniversary… Celebration Continues

Party on… the anniversary celebrations continue… Big time!

Disneyland Resort Paris is celebrating its 15th anniversary with the biggest party ever and you’re invited! It’s a celebration work celebrating even longer so they have extended it for 2008!

For French promotions the tagline is expected to use the words “En Grande!”, whilst English promotions have to settle for the rather less “grand” wording of — “The 15th Anniversary Celebration continues… big time!” The words “big time!” are to be featured throughout the texts and promotions.

The second page features a large visual for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, with the tagline “Drop In If You Dare” included above the Tower. As previously reported, confirmation of the ‘Stitch Live‘ name is given with a brief description of the experience, whilst High School Musical On Tour is now given a prominent placement at the request of Disneyland Resort Paris, following its exceptional guest satisfaction and feedback in the parks.

Elsewhere in the new brochure, official images show Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, Disney Characters’ Express and Toon Studio in their final, realised forms for the first time.

Also of note is the small amount of information given for Summer 2008 — with a photo of the spectacular 15th Anniversary launch fireworks, the text reads simply “…and for our grand finale, fireworks that’ll make a great day even more magical. It’s a summer worth celebrating… big time!”. With no mention of the ‘Wishes‘ name or even photography of the show, a return for 2008 looks very unlikely. In addition to this probable change of ‘feux d’artifice’, the Summer season is slated to run longer than it has for many years, dates confirmed as 5th July to 31st August!

The official brochure for the next Spring/Summer season is due to be released as usual in around December of this year, whilst additional advertisements and promos will announce the extention online and through media such as Disney DVDs.

An official closing date of the 15th Anniversary is now no longer confirmed — it could well be that the resort will be fast approaching its 17th year when the final pieces of the 15th are removed! It looks like Disneyland Resort Paris really hit the… “big time!” with this idea.

Brochure images © Thomas Cook/Disney; Scanned by DLRP Today.

Saturday 6th October 2007

Starter Kit Christmas 2007
Reference number 209411008000
Price 19.90 Euros

Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade – Dreams of Romance LE Pin
Reference number 209401007017
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Pin Trading Night

Please note that the next Pin Trading Night will be in the Disney’s Sequoia Lodge Hotel from 6.00pm on Friday 19th October.

Saturday 20th October 2007

Baby Marie Pin
Reference number 209401007138
Price 6.00 Euros

Baby Lady (Lady & the Tramp) Pin
Reference number 209401007139
Price 6.00 Euros

Mickey Halloween LE Pin
Reference number 209501008000
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.50 Euros

Tinkerbell Halloween LE Pin
Reference number 209501008001
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.50 Euros

Saturday 27th October 2007

Retrospective 1999 LE Pin
Reference number 209501007045
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Retrospective 2000 LE Pin
Reference number 209501007051
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Maleficent Halloween Limited Edition Plus Pin
Reference number 209501008002
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 11.90 Euros

The online poll, which ran for several weeks in the middle of June this year, asked visitors to the official Disneyland Resort Paris website to decide on a final name for Stitch Encounter, a “living character” attraction already open at Hong Kong Disneyland. The original name of Stitch Encounter was never an option, however, no doubt cast aside due to language understanding and similaries to Stitch’s Great Escape at Walt Disney World (which, confusingly for some, replaced the attraction Alien Encounter).

The three nominees in its place were, in no particular order — ‘Stitch’, ‘Stitch Live’ or ‘Stitch Interactive’.

And we can reveal the winner is…. ‘Stitch Live‘!

Visual from Hong Kong to be used for Paris promotions.

The announcement comes from the latest Thomas Cook UK holiday brochure for Disneyland Resort Paris, covering the Spring 2008 season, with thanks to The Butlin Boy on magicforum for confirmation. The name is written here simply as “Stitch Live”, with no extra punctuation such as “Stitch: Live” or “Stitch Live!”.

The attraction replaces the TV Production Tour at Walt Disney Television Studios, using the same queue and pre-show room with the actual performance theatre and giant screen housed in the central production stage, formerly featuring an ‘Art Attack’ theme. The interactive post-show of Disney Channel-themed games is expected to return. Hinted in the official 2008 holiday brochure, it is now confirmed that the “story” of the attraction will indeed see guests enter Disney Channel Studios to interview Stitch via a live satellite link-up with outer space.

Whilst the original ‘Early 2008’ opening date was changed to ‘January 2008’ in June this year, newer park maps and marketing materials have since returned the attraction to an unspecific ‘Early 2008’.

This latest Thomas Cook brochure, which uses information provided directly by Disney, confirms an official opening date of March 2008. However, as with other “living character” attractions, a long “soft opening” period before an official inauguration takes place is likely, allowing the Cast Members and Stitch voice artists to refine their important roles.

Our recent ‘Take a tour of Hollywood Boulevard‘ article began with the following photo, the view which has become familiar to guests exiting Disney Studio 1 during the construction of Hollywood Boulevard.

These themed movie sets in all shapes and sizes lay hidden beyond a screen of trees surrounding the Partners Statue of Disney Bros Plaza, no doubt giving the area an extra sense of exploration, but not quite right for the panoramic view a classic boulevard requires…

Disney Bros. Plaza in late August

And so, Walt Disney Studios Park proudly presents… an unobstructed boulevard.

Photo: Grandmath, Disney Central Plaza forum

Just three trees have been removed from the plaza, two either side of the statue and one to the left of the hub, but in doing so the Imagineers have opened up a full panorama beyond the movie can-styled planter to show the full length of Hollywood Boulevard and its forced perspective horizon.

Whilst the newly-opened view is an impressive, more detailed sequal to that seen inside Disney Studio 1, several remnants from the original 2002 infrastructure remain oddly in-focus to possibly detract from the progress — most notably the two large blue lamposts and the silver “lighting rig” parade route pole. Seeing the lamposts and parade route accessories planned out on the latest concept art for the project, there’s no doubt Disney Bros Plaza would benefit greatly from an extension of these.

Photo: Grandmath, Disney Central Plaza forum

Replacing the three trees temporarily are a series of medium-sized shrubs, likely taken from the resort hub, sitting on wooden panels to cover the metal grilles where the trees were rooted. More permanent planting of some kind should take their place before the boulevard’s completion.

Beyond Disney Bros Plaza it’s the right-hand side of the street which has seen the most advances in recent days, with the department store/apartment block’s backdrop set climbing to completion in a matter of days. Despite being modelled on an almost entirely two-dimensional steel frame, the Imagineers’ famed forced perspective has worked its magic for a quite believable effect.

Photo: DisneyActu blog

Captured perfectly by the French DisneyActu blog, above, the boulevard is really beginning to provide an impressive panorama to guests entering the park now, adding an important feel of a closed environment in a way the smaller Studio Tram Tour billboard failed. With the white steel framework where the billboard once stood now built to its new height, the next major step should see the Hollywood Hills towering, distantly, between the El Capitan and Broadway Building at the end.

Photo: Disneytheque.com

Like the First National Bank and El Capitan, the Broadway Building (from the juntion of Hollywood & Vine in the real Hollywood) can also boast more of a “2.5-D” façade, completed with separate windows to the flat backdrop itself and an overhanging roofline with extra support details underneath.

Just in front, the Gone Hollywood storefront has been covered in scaffolding as work continues with drywall and preparations for the art deco details and neon lights still to come.

Disneyland Resort Paris always announces its new developments in the most understated of ways. Whether its a paragraph at the end of a financial report or a nondescript mention on a webpage, the resort certainly knows how to keep its fans on their toes.

Today, official confirmation for the ‘Father Christmas Village‘ finally comes from an online newsletter sent out to all UK guests introducing both the Halloween and Christmas seasons, together. Once the email has arrived in their inbox, subscribers can click a link to visit a special webpage on disneylandparis.co.uk providing a preview of the upcoming season under the tagline “This year, Christmas will be 15 times more MARVELLOUS!”

One sentence, hidden toward the end of the text, reads as follows:

“…And take advantage of this exceptional day to visit the new Father Christmas Village.”

There it is, the first phase of Woody’s Roundup Village is finally official and public!

The email newsletter itself mentions guests being able to “spend some magical moments with the Disney Characters who await you in their special Christmas finery beside Father Christmas in person”, suggesting the village will mix well with the perpetually popular Mickey’s Winter Wonderland within the ranch area, providing a ‘Disney Character’ alternative to the ‘Disney Princess’ theme of Belle’s Christmas Village, returning to Fantasyland from 17th November 2007.

Woody’s Roundup Village itself will then likely take over the ranch in the new year, providing Disneyland Resort Paris with its only attraction to be “made-over” annually for seasonal events.

The newsletter also confirms the English name of Candleabration‘s festive guise – Enchanted Candleabration.

The red carpet of the 15th Anniversary was first rolled out to the public way back in February 2007, bursting onto the screen with that exciting website teaser and eventually the full Disneyland15.com itself, before making it onto the screens of millions across Europe with the resort’s largest television advertising campaign yet back in March.

For the grand launch events of the anniversary, we saw it rolled out in real life for Miley Cyrus and various VIP guests, whilst stunning print advertisements filled magazine pages, billboards and even tour buses. The whole idea was a huge success, a far cry from the poorly conceived campaigns of Walt Disney Studios Park and The Legend Of The Lion King in years gone by.

Since the launch, the red carpet has continued to roll through each and every 15th Anniversary campaign, big and small, giving the treat of some cleverly themed carpets for Cars, Crush’s Coaster and more recently, Halloween.

Where will it end? The elevator doors of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror might be a natural fit…

However, we shoudn’t get ahead of ourselves. As announced last week, Disney’s Christmas Season is most certainly back for a fifteenth season this November, joining together the best of Christmas past and the best of the anniversary, plus some extra presents (eg. the Roundup) thrown in.

Despite Christmas seasons rarely being given the gift of expensive advertisements or clever promotions in the past (case in point: last year’s ‘key visual’), this newfound confidence in the power of the 15th campaigns thus far brings an exciting new textile-floor-covering-based chapter for us to stare wondrously upon…

Click to enlarge (724×1024).

Without gushing too much, it’s certainly another great addition to the collection, don’t you think?

The two new promotional posters, a portrait and landscape version of the same design, see the red carpet stretching upwards into Sleeping Beauty Castle decorated both with its glittering ice palace Christmas lights and the character candles of the 15th Anniversary. The characters peering out from Christmas trees along the carpet could be the most interesting detail here, however…

Click to enlarge (1024×768).

Beyond Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale in their Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony (now ‘Bougillumination Enchantée‘) costumes, aside from the classic Toy Soldiers making an unusual advertising appearance and ignoring Goofy in his popular Goofy Claus outfit… do you see them?

The two visuals feature a couple of Disney-ised reindeer, standing on their “rear” legs and looking ready to meet and greet their festive park guests. What should we expect of them, new guests for the ‘Dreams of Christmas’ float? Extra characters for Frontierland‘s new Christmas Village? Or perhaps, simply stand-in extras for this promotion, drafted in from the North Pole?

So, if you’re planning on actually visiting the resort this Christmas rather than drooling over the standout effort from the resort’s marketing department above… don’t forget a carrot or two, just in case.

All promotional images © Disney.