News Disneyland Paris Updates & Features

Ok, ok, in France they’re probably well-known, but this happens with every single press event at Disneyland Resort Paris. A new show premieres, a new season begins, a new attraction opens… and we’re treated to a huge gallery of publicity photos featuring countless vague ‘celebrities’ from across l’hexagone. Whether we know who they are or not, though, the photos from the Toon Studio Press Event of 16th June are actually some of the better VIP shots of recent years, especially compared to the dark and unexciting red carpet photoshoot of the 15th Anniversary launch.

‘Unknown’ VIP guests enter Toon Studio

With a great backdrop of the temporary entrance gate, the Sorcerer Mickey marquee, a newly repainted Animagique and many smiling Cast Members, the stars entered Toon Studio via the long red carpet, which first led across a closer podium before that underneath the gate, giving a good depth to the shots. And although ‘unknown’ outside of France, the guests all appear to be well into the Disney spirit.

More ‘unknown’ VIP guests enter Toon Studio

There are many more photos than those featured here, but all in the same style with the same backdrops and locations. Several photos made available to the press feature some VIP guests you might actually recognise the names of…

Zinedine Zidane at Crush / with wife at Cars Race Rally

Surely everyone in Europe knows Zinedine Zidane, the famous footballer, now retired?

Stade Français Rugby Team / Ricky Martin

You might even remember singer Ricky Martin… Or be familiar with the Stade Français rugby team, seen here lined up outside Crush’s Coaster with a trophy shield (hopefully this won’t become a popular accessory for DLRP visitors). These photos in particular, as you might notice, aren’t from the Press Event night at all – they were taken over the three weeks leading up to the event itself, and now bundled together with all the others for the launch.

In the end, we all know who the real stars are. Walt Disney is always quoted as saying they’re the “greatest asset we have” and to just “get them out there!”, and that’s exactly what they did during the entire evening of events at Toon Studio. Afterall, seeing a footballer or talent show star at Disneyland won’t make guests want to visit as much as the chance to meet one of these real, timeless famous faces will…

Mary Poppins / real-life Mike Wazowski

The entertainment department catered for all tastes on the evening, from the not-strictly-Toon Mary Poppins (with Bert and ok-this-one’s-a-toon Penguin waiter) to a full-size, walking, real-life Mike Wazowski! Not since the release of Monsters Inc. around the opening of the park in 2002 has Mike been seen wandering the studio lots, but he made a special return for this event. Notice also that his life-size figure usually found at the Monsters Inc Scream Scene location was removed in preparation.

From movie director to chef – Mickey Mouse can do it all!

Catering for all tastes, did we say? Well, if you didn’t like the Director Mickey of the inauguration ceremony, you could wait around a little and see him re-appear later as Chef Mickey! Director Mickey is also a very rare sight at the Studios. Despite being seen on many publicity photos for the park around 2002, Mickey usually decides to wear his more casual and brightly coloured movie star gear for photoshoots. Chef Mickey, on the other hand, is a recent introduction to character meet ‘n’ greets at Café Mickey in Disney Village.

Chef Minnie / Chef Chip n Dale

Each of the Fab 5 received special chefs outfits for their appearances at the character dining restaurant, and with the launch of Ratatouille tying into the Toon Studio event, this was their way of welcoming the gourmet rats to the character family.

Buzz Lightyear / Jafar

Aladdin, Jasmine and Jafar provided atmosphere around the new Flying Carpets oasis area, which now has its colourful lanterns illuminated each day after months of darkness. Events themed to the attractions on offer were particularly well thought-out at this event. With such a mix of themes and styles in one small area, it must have produced one hell of a brainstorm ideas session for the planning teams…

The Radiator Springs Band

For Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, guests could enjoy the music of an authentic American country rock band, performing a variety of road hits and songs from the film itself as ‘The Radiator Springs Band’ in front of Willy’s Butte and Flo’s V8 Café. Notice also the attention to detail around the stage, including several extra props relating to the film and Route 66.

Australian characters / Clownfish carpet

Crush’s Coaster was equally well served with themed entertainment and ideas. The EPC (entertainment department) created a couple of brand new “Australian” characters for the event, an outback explorer complete with cork hat and a beach surfer dude, complete with sunglasses and flip-flops. What’s that they’re standing on? It’s a Clownfish Carpet of course, a unique Nemo-themed spin on the classic red carpet, leading into the attraction!

The themed ideas continued on to the food, whilst the VIPs were treated to a special meal inside Studio 1’s Liki Tiki area, Animagique became a covered seating and buffet area for a more fun and informal double food option. For Cars, an authentic Texas barbeque along Route 66. For Crush’s Coaster… you’ve guessed it, a seafood barbecue. Didn’t they hear fish are friends, not food?

Photos both by Photos Magiques and © Disney.

As with all attraction openings, there are two press events. The smaller, low-key public opening ceremony (already featured here) and the far grander, more show-y official inauguration ceremony reserved for press and invited guests. The last ceremony we saw like this at Walt Disney Studios, though, was…. well, 2002 perhaps?

The tendancy of the past five years to push Walt Disney Studios aside in favour of Disneyland Park has well and truly ended. There’s a lot of proud people within those Studio gates these days…

Guests enter via the open studio gates, a very rare sight!

Entering the second gate through its unique grand arch, guests were welcomed by the Ciné Classics band, as seen on regular occasions inside Disney Studio 1 and more recently even as a pre-show for CinéMagique. Notice that the 15th Anniversary banners from Disneyland Park’s entrance have now made their way to the Studios, as it finally joins the celebrations.

Ciné Classics band entertain on Front Lot before High School Musical begins.

Following this musical welcome, a special performance of High School Musical On Tour was presented just outside the entrance of Disney Studio 1 (more on this here), as this new summer show was a key additional feature in all of the resort’s communication and press material for the event, along with Ratatouille.

Red carpet leads through Disney Studio 1.

The red carpet began in Disney Studio 1, leading right up toward the exit doors and to the entrance of Toon Studio, where Disney fans amongst the invited guests were met with an exciting photo opportunity…

5 Years on, Director Mickey finally gets behind a camera.

To the side of the temporary Toon Studio gate installed several days ago, Mickey Mouse sat high on a crane camera with a live director, and even moved from side to side as he “filmed” the action of the grand opening event for his new animation studio. The image of Mickey atop this camera crane might be familiar to anyone who followed the Studios’ grand opening, since a similar photo from Disney-MGM Studios Florida was frequently used as one of those deceptive preview shots – it only took five years for the real moment to arrive!

Ciné Folies stars help to prepare the set.

If you take a look at the video featured later in this article, you’ll probably notice something a little different about Mickey’s voice. No, not that he’s speaking French (the first time in a while – all the 15th events unveiled in April feature an All-American Mickey), but that his voice was apparently performed live! Since he called the make-up artist, special effects crew to the stage and joined the ceremony at various other points from his elevated spot, letting Mickey pre-record his track and sync this with live events might have been a bit risky.

With Mickey behind the camera, we need someone else to step in and fill the role of glamorous host – who better than Minnie Mouse? She donned her glamorous white dress from the 2002 grand opening and waited on-stage for her cue as directors, technicians and make-up crew bustled around the “set”. You might recognise the actors in question from the daily Ciné Folies shows in Disney Studio 1 – some have been with the park for almost its entire five years, so it’s nice to see these talented performers rewarded with a cameo here.

Pixar stars and a huge gathering of Cast Members pour out of the land.

As it is for these “performers” too! Usually Cast Members are relegated to regular operations during a grand opening event – keeping guests to one side, making sure the attraction is ready to open – but here the entire cast of Toon Studio was invited to join the precedings and clap their clapperboards for applause. The arrival of the several hundred Cast and countless famous Disney characters to the “Dreams” Peter Pan theme music was perhaps a little reminiscent of the Disneyland 50th Anniversary launch, starting out with only a few stars on stage before a huge crowd poured out of the land’s attractions.

It’s Disney legends on one side…

You might notice something funny about the way those characters lined up either side of the red carpet… classic Disney stars on one side and new Pixar pals on the other, like a great face-off between the two animation teams! This was also the very first appearance of the Ratatouille main characters Rémy (grey) and Emile (brown) in Paris, arriving just days after their premiere at the US parks.

Notice also the stars on the temporary gate, with ‘Toon Studio’ written inside, which are very similar to the first ‘Toon Studios’ logo we saw way back in September 2005 at the special Videopolis fan event.

…Pixar pals on the other!

Press photographers were situated on the tiered viewing platform for the ceremony, whilst the invited guests filled Disney Bros. Plaza and could watch the action on the large video screen installed the day earlier. With the smaller spaces of Walt Disney Studios and the Hollywood Boulevard construction taking up much of this area, they still managed to devise a layout that would ensure a picture-perfect view of the action. After all, these events are entirely for the cameras – not least when they’re at a film Studio!

The ceremonies are about to begin…

The first “buzz” of anticipation comes at the Place des Freres Lumieres on Front Lot, with the park’s attraction posters on either side of Disney Studio 1 now replaced complete by giant posters advertising this year’s original comedy from Pixar Animation Studios, Ratatouille. Following the Chicken Little and Cars “billboards” which have adorned the front wall of Disney Studio 1 upon their films’ release, this marks the third time Buena Vista International (Disney’s film distribution) have taken over Disney Studio 1 with advertising for an upcoming film.

Rémy and Emile star in the posters for Pixar’s Ratatouille.

The Cars billboard in question is still very much in place, now likely seen by guests as a huge advertisement for Cars Race Rally rather than the year-old film itself. Not content with only space for two modest rotating posters, then, Buena Vista have now taken to the back wall of the soundstage, slotting a slightly more pleasant banner than the Cars billboard into the area above its entrance doors. Posters on the Toon Studio wall of Disney Studio 1, previously featuring The Lion King and The Little Mermaid, have now also been changed to Ratatouille, completing the wrap-around.

Advertising now takes over the rear wall.

The film isn’t due for release in France until 1st August 2007, and as for the new faces of Rémy and Emile themselves, they didn’t appear until the press event itself began, after park closure. As guests enjoyed the park one week on from the opening of its first new attractions, preparations for the evening’s grand opening events couldn’t be missed:

A huge temporary entrance gate for Toon Studio was constructed several days earlier beside the Sorcerer Mickey marquee, with a blue viewing platform directly opposite beside the Hollywood Boulevard construction walls, providing a picture-perfect view through the archway to Sorcerer Mickey and the land beyond. To the left of this platform – considerably smaller than that used for the 15th Anniversary launch – a large video screen was prepared for the event, showing 15th Anniversary and Tower of Terror trailers during the normal park hours.

Next to the canyon of Cars Race Rally, lighting rigs and signage was in place ready for one of the evening’s star entertainment attractions – The Radiator Springs Band, an authentic American rock band who would later perform road classics and motoring hits from the film itself. Over at the attraction, filming equipment was fitted to the front of one red vehicle, allowing the resort’s own Audio-Visual teams to capture photos and video of guests and VIPs enjoying the attraction later.

Toon Studio itself closed at 4pm to allow final preparations for the event to get well underway. This closure was announced every half hour across the park, whilst the closure of Disney Studio 1 at 5pm was noted on special signs at its entrance.

With “only” 700 invited press and VIPs for the Toon Studio Press Event, it was classed by Disneyland Resort Paris as only a “minor” launch, especially compared to the huge 1700-strong crowd invited to the main 15th Anniversary launch back at the end of March. With such a commitment to the event, however, and some truly fun and entertaining ideas (as we’ll see in following articles), this “minor” event gives great hope for what we might expect of a “major” attraction launch, such as a certain Tower in just over six months…

All photos by Photos Magiques.

For some of the guests at the official opening, there might have been a sense of déjà vu about the whole event – just one week earlier, they’d rushed into the park to be amongst the first to preview Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally as Annual Passholders. The events were a big success, as shown by the long queues to enter the area (below), despite a Fastpass-style timeslot system being implimented to give each passholder a 2-hour slot in which to preview the rides.

Despite the queues, some technical problems at Crush late in the day and general overcrowding for refreshments at Salon Mickey and the mezzanine of Disney Studio 1, the Toon Studio Preview Event was a big success for all.

(2nd June) Long queues for Annual Passholder previews.

(2nd June) Imagineer Beth Clapperton interviewed for Disneyland15.com blog.

The same weekend also saw the first low-key invasion of the press, albeit Disney’s own. The Photos Magiques camera spotted Beth Clapperton, Imagineer for Crush’s Coaster and already seen in many behind-the-scenes glimpses at the attraction, giving an interview in front of the attraction itself. Look out for this on the official Disneyland15.com blog at some point.

One week later, with previews complete and everything finally neat and pretty, it was time for the grand opening. The general smaller scale of Walt Disney Studios might have given a slightly quieter impression than the anniversary launch events of April, just two months ago, but the crowds were just as eager. To a mix of music ranging from Disney’s animated movie scores to the Peter Pan “flying” theme and “Just Like We Dreamed It”, the ceremony commenced as Arnauld Gayet, one of the two 2007 Disneyland Resort Paris Ambassadors, climed onto a small podium next to the Sorcerer Mickey marquee.

(9th June) Toon Studio grand opening ceremony.

With an impressive mix of French and English, Arnaud welcomed guests and introduced the special event, as the first Toon characters began to arrive behind him via the cadillacs of Good Morning Walt Disney Studios. Wendy Courquet, the second 2007 Ambassador, soon joined Arnaud from the empty Toon Studio behind, raving and exclaiming about each of the five attractions in the “new” land as Arnauld introduced them. Interestingly, despite the massive campaign on the esplanade, the ceremony served to inaugurate Toon Studio as en entire land, rather than to give special attention to its two brand new attractions.

With the introductions complete, several more characters welcomed (including The Incredibles) and the crowd appearing a little impatient, the guest of honour arrived to open his brand new studio – Mickey Mouse! It’s lucky that Hollywood glamour appears to never go out of style, since the dazzling white outfits worn by Mickey and Minnie might be recognised from the grand opening of the park itself, back in 2002. Mickey joined Wendy to cut the double ribbon of blue and gold, as Arnauld officially declared the new Toon Studio… “open!” with guests rushing to their chosen attraction.

The opening hasn’t been covered quite as heavily online as the huge 15th Anniversary opening events, but fans can always be relied on for capturing the magic as it happens. The following video is by Concombre2k7 on Dailymotion – ignore the apology for “poor quality”, this is just like being there:

Wait times for Crush and Cars remained impressive the entire day, with Cars Quatre Roues Rallye resting at around 50 minutes and Crush’s Coaster enjoying an everage queue of 1 hour 30 minutes, despite Cast Members warning guests the wait would be 3 hours from its entrance.

Across the park, attractions such as Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Studio Tram Tour apparently rarely had wait times above 15 minutes. Kinoo on our partner website magicforum reported that total attendance at the Studios was 14,000 for the day, with around 5,000 guests heading straight towards the new attractions upon opening.

With a simple “tea cups” like Cars (albeit a brand new one) gaining a 50 minute wait that guests were reportedly quite happy to endure, the fall-out from Toon Studio will, it appears, be to now try and coax guests out of this immediately popular area and to the rest of the park.

Photos by Photos Magiques (2/06/2007) and Aaronline.nl (9/06/2007); Video by Concombre2k7.
With thanks to the opening reports from members on Disney Central Plaza and magicforum.

Wednesday, 6th June 2007. With just 3 days to go before the official opening of Toon Studio, construction walls finally disappear in the crossover between the “old” and “new” areas, forming one single, complete Toon Studio for the first time. Not only that, but crews had been busy overnight bringing in a brand new set of posters for the lighting rigs. We saw the first Snow White poster several weeks ago, and now Toon Studio is sporting a larger collection of the posters, their designs actually imported from Hong Kong Disneyland’s esplanade banners.

With construction walls gone, Willy’s Butte (the rock formation of Cars Race Rally) can now clearly be seen from the original Animation Courtyard area, forming a barrier between the courtyard and the Radiator Springs canyon beyond. The fences here, originally a clean blue behind the fences, have been weathered and rusted up for an authentic Route 66 desert feeling, especially when complemented by the wealth of planting (including many cacti) amonst the sandy soil.

The repaint of Animagique is finally completed, just in time, and we can now see the full extent of its makeover. Whilst Art of Disney Animation features blue with pink and Crush’s Coaster uses blue with blue, Animagique is set apart with its look of blue and purple. With construction fences around the Flying Carpets‘ oasis gone, we can finally enjoy this unique area in the Studios to the full – an Adventureland-style area to hide from the “Action!” elsewhere.

A final detail added to the land is the rename of the Studio Catering Co. locations. The two trailers now positioned in the land (one next to Art of Disney Animation, one beside the Toon Town gate) both feature a matching red and white colour scheme, and have been rechristened ‘Toon Studio Catering Co.’ with a slightly more prominent sponsorship by Coca-Cola. It seems that whilst Disneyland Park can have themeing delights like Cool Station and L’Arbre Enchanté, Walt Disney Studios Park must stick with a 2D sign.

Still, the new name at least separates Toon Studio even more from the rest of the park. But “the rest of the park” hasn’t been completely forgotten lately – lighting rig posters have now returned in almost all places, following their gradual demise and ultimate wipe-out through 2006.

Finally, a look at all the brand new Toon Studio character posters so far, compiled by our partner WDS Fans. The characters featured are: Snow White, Jiminy Cricket, Tinkerbell, Goofy, Cinderella, Buzz Lightyear, Ariel, Woody, Pluto, Winnie the Pooh and of course, Mickey Mouse. Who’d have thought it – decorative banners without Lumière?!

So that’s it, Toon Studio appears to be complete – finished, polished, rehearsed and ready to open…

Photos by WDS Fans and Scrooge on DMI, 5-7/06/2007.

The return was first confirmed by La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum just last Wednesday, and before fans of Keelboats even had time to pick their jaws up off of the floor, the Keelboats were sighted plying the rivers of Frontierland in preparation for the grand re-opening:

A full refurbishment of the two boats, the Coyote and the Raccoon, and their well-themed loading dock was actually completed over one year ago, with Karl Holz and the operations teams hoping the boats would return for Summer 2006… but they never did. According to La Rouquine, it wasn’t a budget issue as many would have guessed, but infact an issue with training Cast Members to French boating standards in time for the Summer season.

Since the Cast Members running the boats entirely control their route, they must now have a full boating licence, which would have meant training off-site for a considerable time. La Rouquine reports that for the first time the go-ahead has now been given for the Cast Members to train on-site, but with an experienced, external instructor.

The boats originally ceased general service at the end of the 90s, with several brief days of opening in 2000 and 2001 before a full closure from the start of 2002. With only two boats in operation and a large team of Cast Members required, the boats don’t offer the kind of guest-munching, low-cost service operations teams usually enjoy, but in terms of giving life back to the Rivers of the Far West, their effect is unparalled.

Around fifteen Cast Members will join the attraction’s operations team, with an opening currently aimed at late June or early July. It seems likely the operations schedules currently call for a Summer season operation only, but should the return be a success, who knows what this fan-pleasing operations team will decide for the future…

Photos by Photos Magiques, 16/06/2007.

The new brochure appears to break from the tradition of the past three, which since Spring/Summer 2006 have featured simple, bright covers with a single image at the centre. Perhaps as a final kick to the 15th Anniversary Celebration, this new Autumn/Winter brochure for the second half of the Anniversary features a crowded cover of Disney characters surrounding a re-designed version of the Anniversary Castle visual. It’s an image that has become familiar from the resort’s impressive advertising campaign, however, so should work well as a recognisable Disneyland Paris image for prospective guests.

At the foot of the red carpet, you can read “There’s still time to join the party!”, with an inside page proclaiming “The time is now, the magic is here!”. If the original 15th Anniversary brochure was all about pouring out their long list of new features, this second brochure is all about trying to capture as many people as possible before the celebration concludes.

What can we expect inside the brochure? Along with the usual information about Halloween and Christmas, there should be fairly big push for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, likely using that key visual we presented a couple of weeks ago. If you’re outside the UK and have to wait a little longer for the next official brochure to arrive across your borders, don’t worry – as soon as it arrives at DLRP Today we’ll be giving you a good look inside at all the best bits!

» Click Here to order your Autumn/Winter brochure today! (UK)

When they said ‘Early 2008’ they really did mean early 2008. Not mid or late March as we might have guessed, but – as confirmed by the latest Walt Disney Studios Park guide map – January 2008. Following this month’s double attraction opening, January 2008 looks as if it will also welcome two brand new attractions to Walt Disney Studios. Typical, isn’t it, we wait five years for new attractions and then two come in the same month, twice!

Anyone who follows other Disney resorts around the world will know the immense rehearsal schedule these “Living Character” shows go through before their official premiere, so if January 2008 is the official opening, the first guests through the turnstiles could potentially come much sooner – especially when we remember the contract for Stitch’s voice performers begins as early as October.

We can also garner a little more information about the attraction from this latest park map update. The attraction is still listed in bold as ‘Walt Disney Television Studios‘ – the name of the building and its former attraction, with “Stitch interactive attraction” below. Both the April press release and recent Shareholders newsletter also named the attraction with this vague statement, suggesting the Imagineers and operations haven’t agreed on the final moniker yet.

Since ‘Walt Disney Television Studios’ is still used here, could we see the latest in Disney’s new craze of double attraction names (see Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island), with a name along the lines of ‘Stitch Encounter at Walt Disney Television Studios’? In reality, this wouldn’t be too different to the former attraction, which opened as ‘Television Production Tour at Walt Disney Television Studios’ before later being shortened.

But this is just a name – for the attraction itself, this sign of clinging on to the ‘Walt Disney Television Studios’ name suggests that the show may well be presented slightly differently to its Hong Kong Disneyland Tomorrowland original, perhaps with a more studio-based edge.

At least with this early early 2008 opening, we don’t have long to “wait and see”…

Park map scan provided by WDSFans.com.