News Disneyland Paris Updates & Features

After a day of brief tests and false starts caused anticipation to build further across fan discussion forums, the website officially went live earlier this evening, at around 20h00 CET. Available for nine different countries (with a further two to follow), the website is without doubt one of the resort’s most ambitious online projects to date, and in today’s world forms a key part of the 15th Anniversary advertising campaign, scheduled to be one of (if not the) biggest in the history of Disneyland Resort Paris.

Upon selecting your country or language, you’re treated to a “3D” flash teaser showcasing all of the key events, the same teaser previewed via an email newsletter late last week.

Welcome Page & Host

After the teaser, the Flash website opens to the music of Disney’s “Where Dreams Come True” campaign (itself music from Universal’s Peter Pan movie, believe it or not), with a scrolling view giving visitors the feeling of actually being inside the park itself during the Anniversary. This is where a concept from a previous campaign website begins to appear – the introductions and videos of real people and real characters interacting with the Flash environment.

Originally used for the Space Mountain: Mission 2 website in 2005, they have been brought back here to allow a red-suited host and his Red Carpet friend to introduce each of the main pages.

Visitors have the option of scrolling through several animated screens (seen below), or, for quicker navigation, the drop-down menu at the top links directly to the pages and games currently available.

More Dreams

Each of the colourful pages link into the categories of events seen the teaser videos, with the first – “More Dreams” – presenting Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade. No information is currently given about the parade, but an animation of the first parade float making its way around a stylised Main Street USA does give us an idea what to expect come late March. Make sure you have a listen to the music featured on this page, too, since this is almost certainly an instrumental excerpt from the anniversary’s new “Just Like We Dreamed It” song.

More Wow

The next page is for Crush’s Coaster, and so uses an undersea theme and bubbles to link to the extra pages – both of which currently unavailable.

Even More Wow

“Even More Wow” can be found with Cars Race Rally, where Lightning McQueen and Mater sit outside Walt Disney Studios Park, important since nowhere else is it mentioned that all of the new attractions are infact in the resort’s second park rather than its first.

More Scoops

Up next with an Alice’s Curious Labyrinth theme and an appearance from The Enchanted Fairytale Ceremony stage is “More Scoops”, which links to a clever new idea to help build excitement about the 15th Anniversary – a blog. We’ll have more on this in a separate article soon!

More Wishes Come True

The features on this Discoveryland-themed page have yet to be added, but we’re promised the chance to share photos of Disneyland holidays with families and friends, or send our own dreams and wishes in, to create a complete wishlist for all guests.

More Fun

With an Adventureland Bazaar theme, this page presents games and activities such as the “Dream Invitation” competition (see below).

Dream Invitation Competition

These pages allow users to create their own invitations using graphics available on the website or by uploading their own images. These can then be sent to friends or entered into the competition to pick the best invite.

More Affordable

Showing Fantasyland’s Sword in the Stone (perhaps a hint the streetmosphere show will return for the celebration?) the final themed page presents the three key special offers for the year – Kids Under 7 Free, Free Days & Nights and a “Deal of the Day”.

Downloads

Downloads are always a popular website feature, and it’s good to see Disneyland Resort Paris hasn’t forgotten to let visitors take a bit of the magic for themselves. The full official key visuals for the various attractions are available to download in full (without a single (C) Disney stamp or legal text), along with a well-designed screensaver and several e-cards. The most interesting wallpaper right now is shown above – a previously unseen key visual for Disneyland Park’s Extra Magic Hours, with a giant hourglass over the park!

Anniversary Programme & Preview Videos

Finally the two areas which will undoubtedly receive the most clicks. First, the full schedule of all the Anniversary events. Secondly, and best of all, a selection of official videos previewing the year. In addition to the teaser which opens the website, you can see a good quality English version of the early trailer we saw in French back in October and most exciting a new Behind-the-Scenes video featuring several important backstage Cast Members talking about their excitement for the event – with clips of Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally slotted in! Strangely, since the resort previously wanted to keep this silenced to ensure guests didn’t postpone visits, the Tower of Terror is featured in both of the latter videos. We’ll have a full report on this up next.

And there we have it – Disneyland15.com is now live for the world to see. Will it help sell the celebration to the masses? We’ll have to wait and see. With so many pages still yet to be revealed this probably won’t be the last time it appears here, and with the celebration spanning a full year and set to include features such as Tower of Terror and Stitch Encounter (which won’t be announced until this Summer), hopefully the site will be cared for and built upon for the entire 12 months ahead of us.

Look out for separate articles on DLRP Today covering the new Official Blog and interesting Behind-the-Scenes Video shortly.

Park Hours have now been announced up until the end of May 2007, with the first two months of the 15th Anniversary year standing out with not a single 9h00 opening of either Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Studios Park, the usual standard opening time for peak days. In return for this sacrafice, though, we do get some of the first 10pm Disneyland Park closures over Easter in memory – for a whole week infact. Though again this appears to come at a price – 10am to 7pm openings for most of the month of May 2007.

The reason for this sudden change is not only the Anniversary events and the resort’s new “demand-based opening hours”, but the new Extra Magic Hours concept, available to all Disney Hotel guests for the entire year. Giving an extra two hours in Disneyland Park on specific days, the system therefore sometimes requires the general park hours to be shortened slightly, whilst on high peak days (such as those in mid August), the extra hours are consistently scheduled in the morning so as not to clash with the general 11pm closure.

For guests not staying at Disney Hotel this year, it therefore looks like an extra hour in bed will be your anniversary gift, unless you wish to invest in a Passeport Annuel Dream and enjoy the 1-hour early entry this pass affords its holders.

Finally, perhaps the true winner from the latest Park Hours shakeup – Walt Disney Studios Park. After almost five years of nothing but 6pm closures, the park hits its fifth birthday and suddenly gets an extra hour before bedtime to enjoy the anniversary – likely in preparation for the extra guests hopefully arriving in June 2007 for Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally. The park will now remain open up to 7pm on most weekends and holidays, yet another reason to celebrate in 2007!

What are your views on the new Park Hours? Is the 1-hour cut fair for normal guests?

CyberSpace Mountain and its Disney Channel Cyberspace environment opened in late 2002 as a new post-show for the poorly performing Television Production Tour itself. The area was previously an additional soundstage for the Disney Channel Studios, but was given up in an attempt to improve the attraction. Props and decorations were added along with countless arcade games and activities relating to Disney Channel shows, with the key draw being CyberSpace Mountain, imported from the defunct Disney Quest in Chicago.

After designing their own virtual roller coaster using a special booth, guests could board one of four two-person simulators to experience the loops, twists and dives for real, with their reactions relayed live via plasma screens to guests watching in the CyberSpace area.

The post-show feature was often given a special mention in the Park Guide and, when the new official website launched in late 2006, it was given a prominment place throughout. Given its own page, listed amongst the “Big Thrills” attractions and highlighted as a must-see, the sudden disappearance of these mentions is therefore even more noticable. The page itself is still there, but all links to it within the rest of the website are gone.

Reasons for its closure are numerous, spanning from poor accessibility for disabled guests and a horribly low throughput to a large floorspace and, crucially, very high maintenance costs. For guests, queueing three times (for the TV Tour, for the build-a-coaster monitors and then for the simulators) almost guaranteed a low satisfaction at the end of the ride. The final nail in the coffin is reported, by member La Rouquine on Disney Central Plaza forum, to have been some guests becoming stuck in one of the simulators, leading to the temporary closure which has now become permanent. (Obviously the guests in question aren’t still stuck in there, don’t worry!)

With Crush’s Coaster soon to fill the gap for family-friendly thrills, and Tower of Terror being prepared to provide the park’s second Big Thrill attraction, the need for CyberSpace Mountain to fill these roles is no longer there.

Right now, the CyberSpace post-show area itself is currently fully closed to guests, as the photos above from Mateo on Disney Central Plaza forum show. Even the signs pointing to the area have been removed, as work is starting on the removal of the CyberSpace Mountain simulators and a rethink of the area inside.

Of course, there is a light at the end of the tunnel here, and a very bright one at that. The soundstage next to Disney Channel CyberSpace, currently housing Art Attack exhibits and activities will become the home of a second version of Hong Kong Disneyland‘s Stitch Encounter in “early 2008”, finally giving Walt Disney Television Studios a reason to exist, some might argue. Currently, guests enter and leave these two post-show soundstages through individual, single doors. It has been reported, however, that automatic doors (like those at Art of Disney Animation) will lead from the new Stitch Encounter video theatre space directly into Disney Channel CyberSpace, and so the removal of the bulky simulators would help this – and improve guest glow and capacity – no end.

Walt Disney Studios might have one of the most interesting and dramatic first five years of any Disney Park, but the Television Studios alone will already need a whole history timeline just to itself!

The new 2007/2008 Resort Map comes from this special page on the official Val d’Europe website, which looks at the economic and social impact of Disneyland Resort Paris on its surrounding area after fifteen years of development. Perfectly illustrating the impact, and giving a truly unique gift to fans, is the presentation of two maps showing the resort firstly at its initial state upon opening in 1992, and secondly after fifteen years of development, in mid/late-2007. Even locations such as the Gaumont Cinema and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril have been removed to give an accurate look back at the resort in 1992.

The maps therefore take a different angle on the resort to the usual style, with Davy Crockett Ranch and Golf Disneyland no longer pinned on at the edge but fully mapped out with all their surroundings. Val d’Europe has been updated with far more detail than before, including the bar opposite the RER station and the circular Place de la Toscane, inaugurated just last year, whilst even small business parks and local communes have been added to the plan.

Fans of the Disney side of the resort aren’t left out either – if the sight of the hallowed Tower of Terror on a Disneyland Resort Paris map wasn’t big enough to turn this into an annual holiday, the entire esplanade hub area and Disney Hotels district has been re-mapped to be far more detailed and true-to-life.Compare these maps with the current 2007 version for a look at the improvements, which will hopefully be carried over to the true 2008 Resort Map later this year.

The Tower itself is seen from behind, with a bright red chosen for the roof of its lobby (likely just to add colour to the map) and “The Hollywood Tower Hotel” sign moved to compensate for the angle. The Disney Village parking garage has finally been added, but Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is now absent once again from the map whilst the left wing of Disneyland Hotel has been cut off by Toon Studio.

The page at the Val d’Europe website also features a press release about the developments of the past fifteen years along with several quite spectacular images, perfectly timed, too, for today’s earlier announcement that the Pierre & Vacances-partnered Nature Villages project is still on course.

As Disneyland Resort Paris prepares to face its most important year yet, it’s good to look back on how much has already been achieved…

You can download the maps in large PDF format here.

All maps and photos © Disney. Thanks to Japper on magicforum for the link!

After a Winter break so long that all confidence in the project was beginning to be lost, this beautiful new concept without doubt restores all hope in Toon Studio, the park, the resort, the world of Disney and maybe even the universe!! Apparently it shouldn’t have been released so soon, if at all, but now that the artwork is out in the real world, this is surely nothing but superb publicity for the resort and its 15th Anniversary. Take a deep breath before you look – the transformation is astonishing. From drab asphalt and uncomfortable yellow buildings to a unique, memorable and magical Disney land – and best of all, this looks like the closest concept art to reality we’ve seen yet.

Not only are the colours and design of Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally at the back of the artwork spot on, but the new blue and pink colour scheme of Art of Disney Animation is also finally shown in true-to-life form, suggesting, perhaps, that the rest of the artwork may also make it all the way from sketch the reality!

Toon Studio Revealed

If a picture speaks a thousand words, a piece of concept art says a million and one – so let’s take a point-by-point look through this revealing new concept and see things we know, things we don’t and things we never would have dreamed of, a few months ago…

1 – The lines, stars and moon of the Sorcerer Hat all painted gold, as rumoured earlier and confirmed on the 2007 Resort Map. They have also been joined by extra gold lines, spiralling out of the hat to give a 3D effect to its design.

2 – Peter Pan characters (Tinkerbell, Peter and Wendy) circling the Hat from Walt Disney World’s Cinderella Castle.

3 – Extra characters we’ve never heard about before! Ariel and Flounder from The Little Mermaid above the canopy around Art of Disney Animation, and Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh on the Hat itself.

4 – The repaint of Art of Disney Animation continued around the entire building.

5 – The pistachio-coloured canopy of Flo’s V8 Café at Cars Race Rally, with a relocated Studio Catering Co. van in front.

6 – Crush’s Coaster

7 – Sorcerer Mickey statue. The bolt of magic coming from his wand can finally be seen, sparking out of the wand and then reappearing on the opposite side of the entrance to fall to the ground in the new planter. Strangely, the statue is entirely gold, whilst all other concepts have shown a full-colour red and blue statue.

8 – The recognisable lines and stars of the classic Sorcerer Hat have been translated to the blue base of the statue, and also appear on new decorations across the metal lighting rigs along the parade route, giving quite a stunning and consistent theme effect.

9 – Finally, the “Toon Studio” name itself!

The majority of these changes and additions are scheduled to take place from next month, though it remains to be seen how many of the new details will make it to the final design. The entire project will be completed with the June opening of the renamed land’s two new attractions. From the looks of it, picking up Yensid’s wand was the best decision Mickey ever made. It may be sorcery, but soon – the magic will be real.

Concept art (C) Disney.

The statue is shown being sculpted by an Imagineer in a full-page image, with a coloured concept art opposite giving an impression of the finished product. The statue is large, very rounded and depicts Mickey pointing his wand into the air – which rumours persist will be followed by a trail of gold stars leading across the parade route and into the planter outside Art of Disney Animation.

The preview for the article reads: “Tooning Up: A sneak peek at the new Toon Studios that will debut in June at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris with the executive producer Corey Sewelson;”

This marks the fourth statue of Mickey to be featured in the park, after his appearances at the Front Lot “Fantasia Fountain”, Disney Bros Plaza “Partners Statue” and miniature Art of Disney Animation Character statue. It will be installed at the park sometime in March, serving as a grand entrance for Toon Studio, with the name itself featured on the blue stone base below Mickey.

The first page of the article also features a previously unseen piece of concept art for Toon Studio, focusing on the Animation Courtyard side of the area. It shows not only the entrance statue, but the Peter Pan figures flying around the Sorcerer Hat, extra planters, beautified flooring and even a fountain in front of Animagique!

Look out for larger versions of the images featured in the article here and on www.wdsfans.com within the next few weeks.

“Who celebrates a 15th?” they may cry. But, if there were ever fears this anniversary would be a non event, these can truly be cast aside. Worries that guests won’t know what’s going on, a la the US “Year of a Million Dreams”? Not needed. Every document, every cup, every nametag, every park ticket, every park map, every lamppost… the Anniversary will seep into every single corner of the parks and resort.

To begin, the 15th Anniversary Celebration souvenirs that will cost absolutely nothing! (Well, perhaps in the case of the cup it’ll cost the price of a cup of coffee.) With two months to go until the official launch, the anniversary branding has already popped up on paper drinks cups and napkins at the resort’s restaurants, with candle-holding characters on the cups and a nice two-colour design for the napkins. Yes, you know a Disneyland obsession is bad when you get excited by these.

For Annual Passholders, aside from the 15th Anniversary-edition passes already available for newcomers, stationary and promotion has also adopted the 15th Anniversary colours, design and characters.

Whilst the first souvenirs are already available – albeit in scarce limited edition – in the form of the Anniversary Countdown series of pins. 100 days came in January, followed by 50 Days this month and due to be completed with countdowns 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 days before the big day itself.

And if all this wasn’t enough, how about 12,000 walking advertisements for the anniversary? Yes, the Cast Members! Their new 15th Anniversary nametags were presented with much fanfare recently, and many have already swapped their previous 50th Anniversary “Happiest Celebration On Earth” badges for the new design – from 50 years to 15 overnight!

Unfortunately, I’ve received word from a Cast Member in Paris that the badges have been recalled and will soon be replaced again. It seems the “Where dreams come true” tagline used on the nametags is already in use by another company, and so a quick redesign may apparently be required to avoid any unwanted legal action. The ongoing use of the slogan on the Disney Parks website and elsewhere may suggest an agreement has since been made between the two parties, although it should be noted that all mention of “Where dreams come true” has now been totally removed from Paris’ 15th Anniversary logos and copy. Never a dull day at DLRP, eh?

So, now we have 12,000 walking mentions of the 15th Anniversary added to those tickets, maps, decorations, souvenirs and all-important napkins on the ground. But it doesn’t end there – the Anniversary will even take flight, 100 metres into the air above the resort, to be exact! The unmissable PanoraMagique balloon at Disney Village will be joining the celebration with a special overlay adding a new design around its middle, featuring several large “15” emblems joined together by a stylish red fabric (-styled) band.

We were promised a celebration as big as the historic 5th Anniversary – but as time passes and plans build, this is looking as big as – or perhaps even bigger – than the celebration Disneyland waited 50 years for. Luckily for us, we now only have to wait 50 days!

Cup photo by DJinspace on Disney Central Plaza forum, name badge and napkin photos by Photos Magiques.

Beginning with a walk right down the middle of Main Street, U.S.A., the Tilyou Building and Boardwalk Candy Palace are fenced off for a major refurbishment similar in scope to that at The Emporium last year. The bright pistachio and pink façades were repainted before Christmas, and in early January the store closed to allow for a major refurbishment and remodelling. The displays and props of sweets inside had been looking a little less than tasty for a few years, so hopefully this will return a bit of the sparkle and sugary sweetness to the Atlantic City-themed boutique.

On Town Square, the Riverboat Excursions advertisement mural outside the Southern entrance to Liberty Arcade is being given a touch-up, following the completion of work on the buildings at its Northern end – see photo here.

Plaza Gardens has been looking a little worse for wear over recent months (and years), but whilst the rest of Main Street has seen copious amounts of new paint and rehabs the country park restaurant has been left overlooked. Now, the rehab crews have finally reached the end of Main Street and the restaurant is at last getting a well-deserved spot of TLC. The main building has been wrapped in scaffolding and tarps ready for work to begin.

Over on Central Plaza itself, it looks like a familiar Christmas gift will be here to stay. Whilst the flower beds and planters surrounding the hub were returned to their normal, non-elevated and non-snow-covered normality, the removal of fences around the plaza reveals the stage is now ready and waiting for the April launch of the new Candlabration show. The Christmas props have been entirely removed, and a hint of blue colouring even seems to have made its way onto the sides of the cleaned-up stage. The “Once Upon a Time” motif may sit rather oddly with the non-Princess-themed ceremony, but within a few months it could be that we won’t be able to remember Central Plaza without the addition, due to stay now until March 2008.

Now, with themeing, restaurants and boutiques all covered by refurbishments, shouldn’t the attractions get a polish-up too? Scheduled to finish tomorrow are the clean-ups of Le Carrousel de Lancelot and Les Mystères du Nautilus, whilst Casey Jr. – Le Petit Train du Cirque and Le Pays des Contes de Fées are also due to return for the new year.

With all this Disneyland Park-centred refurbishment beginning to rival the construction wall record of Walt Disney Studios Park, could the second gate be getting worried? It need not fear – the major resurfacing works in front of – and around – its grand entrance arch more than outdo the competition! All of the old searchlight and stars floor decoration has been scraped away, leaving a bare concrete base for new – and hopefully more resilient – flooring to come, ready for the park’s first ever new attraction openings in mid-June.

All photos by Photos Magiques. You can see much more here.