News Disneyland Paris Updates & Features

The front cover of the new plan matches exactly with that of Disneyland Park’s, featuring Jiminy Crickett sitting on the full park logo with tickboxes and the dates below. The colour is much lighter and fresher than the old map, and the cleaner feel is continued inside the guide.

Not only the layout and design has been copied from Disneyland Park’s new plan, however, since most of the tips and advice match exactly between the two guides with (in all but one case) City Hall simply swapped out for Studio Services. Thankfully, the numbering of the attractions has returned to its original form, with all attractions (such as Studio 7’s Armageddon and Studio 2’s CinéMagique) now featuring their correct studio number rather than the random numbering of the previous map.

One strange detail, however, is the lack of attraction number 8. The previous map featured numbering up to 10 attractions, whilst this features 11 with no number 8. A sneaky way to beef up the park’s attraction roster, or just a mistake? I’ll let you decide…

Again like the new Disneyland Park plan, this one features a separate Entertainment Programme. Originally light blue, Disneyland Park’s programme switched to pink during Halloween, perhaps suggesting the colours would match those of the Park Guide. Alas, as November arrived, Disneyland Park’s programmes returned to blue and Walt Disney Studios first ever Entertainment Programme is… purple.

The evening began at 8.30pm, with guests asked to enter via Walt Disney Studios’ gate before filing around to Disneyland Park, avoiding the guests still leaving from the park. Once through the gates, the Pink Witches pounced immediately, chanting their spells and shouting their words of witchcraft to the passing guests on Town Square, holding signs proclaiming “Pink Witches – Choose your side!”

In addition to the park’s main attractions being open for guests, the usual series of special entertainment kicked off in Halloweenland (Frontierland) at the FantaStitch Stage. The Halloween Festival show “Goofy and the Magic Pot” was joined by musical performances from “Hot Couture”, the female lead singer of which gave a rousing performance trademarked by more jiggling dance moves than ever seen before inside Disneyland.

Exploring deeper into the beautifully lit park, Adventureland was the place to meet and greet characters of every kind. Whilst Jafar, Ratcliffe, Shan-Yu and more gathered by Restaurant Hakuna Matata, a massive band of Pirates (including Jack Sparrow himself) was on the rampage opposite Captain Hook’s Galley, taunting guests and jumping over and around the beach scenery. If these characters were a little too menacing, a hop over onto Adventure Isle found classic characters such as Peter Pan, Wendy and Mr. Smee, whilst the Galley featured a pirate playing bagpipes and outside Pirates of Caribbean itself a live Pirate band performed throughout the evening.

At select times during the evening, a firey cavalcade made its way through Adventureland’s Bazaar and across the Adventure Isle bridge to Pirates’ Beach, where a haunting ceremony of flames and chanting took place, culminating in a giant blast of fire into the air above the water. Despite their best attempts, Adventureland appeared intact the following morning. Back in Frontierland, more villains such as Gaston and Cruella De Vil were waiting with the Pink Witches, and all manner of strange and mysterious fantasy creatures roamed the park.

At 11.30pm, The Ghost Ship Cavalcade made its way onto the parade route at Town Square. Presented entirely by an outside performance group, the show featured Adventureland’s fire artists and pirates joined by performers in flowing white costumes (surprisingly none of which caught fire). At the end of the cavalcade, the Ghost Ship itself arrived, with acrobats hanging from the masts. The music was unique to the performance, which featured three long stops just on Main Street itself, and was perhaps reminiscent of artistic circus performances such as Cirque du Soleil. Overall, however, the crowds appeared hugely unimpressed with what most agreed was a slow and misplaced performance.

You can see the Photos Magiques video of The Ghost Ship Cavalcade here.

Similarly disappointing, perhaps, were the fireworks. 2005 saw the creation of an impressive “Sound & Light Spectacular” featuring video projections depicting the story of the Pumpkinmen and Pink Witches. This year, the theme of pirates was used to create The Black Pearl Fireworks, a simple and fairly unoriginal performance of fireworks to music from both Pirates of the Caribbean films. An exciting finale for fans of the film, but otherwise an unimpressive end to a Halloween Party that, in terms of its unique live entertainment at least, never really entertained.

You can see the Photos Magiques video of The Black Pearl Fireworks here, and more photos from throughout the evening here.

In the mean time, more work continues on the revamped Animation Courtyard. Arabian light posts have been installed in the new Aladdin oasis planters and the Art of Disney Animation continues receiving new paint as the brickwall to the left of the entrance has been painted pink.

Leger have specialised in coach visits to Disneyland Resort Paris for over 14 years, but also sell Eurostar, air and self-drive packages. They waste no time in mentioning their many awards, including Best Group Operator 2006 from Disneyland Resort Paris itself.

As for the brochure, it all begins, as usual, with the front cover. They’ve chosen the nighttime Dumbo visual, an image with beautiful colours and a nice composition. Perhaps it’s strange the 15th Anniversary logo has been replaced by a generic Disneyland Resort Paris one, but the cover is still eye-catching and pretty.

Front Cover

Unfortunately, the removal of that 15th logo was a sign of things to come. Open up the brochure, and… it’s a normal Disneyland brochure. Turn the page, another page, more pages, further and further… where is the 15th Anniversary? Not a single mention, anywhere.

They’re selling packages for 2007 alright – right up to Halloween 2007, infact. A double check of the cover reveals this is indeed their November 2006 to December 2007 edition. But after searching the entire brochure again and again, I have still yet to find a single mention of the new parade, two new attractions, or anything to do with the resort’s biggest event (and biggest selling point) since Walt Disney Studios opened.

Disneyland Park page

There could be a logical reason behind the non-inclusion of the anniversary, but as it stands, this is a brochure selling packages right up to October 2007 without a single mention of the reason everyone will be going to the Paris resort next year. Leger obviously have access to the marketing material, since it’s displayed right across the cover. Where is the rest of the celebration, then? Stuck on a Leger coach on the M1?

Hopefully Leger will put this right with a second edition of the brochure (which is actually rather colourful and pretty) before the end of 2006. Until then, they won’t be gaining any celebration sales for themselves or the resort.

Celebration Score: 1/10

If you’re in the UK, you can order the brochure for yourself here.

Let’s begin our adventure beyond the berms 33km East of Paris, sometime between 12th April 1992 and 5th September 2004. Once inside the gates of Euro Disneyland, Disneyland Paris or Disneyland Park, we’re rushing straight for Discoveryland. At the entrance, the a circling, futuristic sundial and the impressive Reinstella draw us into Le Visionarium, the attraction proclaimed by Michael Eisner himself as his “favourite” in the entire park. When the magic begins, we’re treated to a journey through time and space, taking in great landmarks of Europe and great discoveries of the past, present and future.

The key location in the film “From Time To Time” is the towering pavillion of the 1900 Paris Expo, the “Conference sur le Future”. It was here that 9-Eye met Mr. Verne and H.G. Wells, where Verne clung onto 9-Eye to follow her through time and space, and where 9-Eye bashfully accepts a flower from the visionary master, with the location seen both in its 1900 heydey and 1990s pop-culture present.

Whilst the film and the attraction may have now been erased around the world, fans of the Timekeeper’s legendary voyage suffering from over 2 years of withdrawal should set their sights on only one place: Vienna. Here, just outside the city centre, Schloß Schönbrunn is home not only to its historic palace and zoo, but to a creation like something out of Disneyland itself. It may be a palm house, but this has now become a true piece of Disney history…

Jumping off the number 58 tram, you head into the gardens of Schönbrunn palace with an air of anticipation. Like a visit to Disneyland itself, you’re about to see something from a fictional legend come to life before your eyes, and, just as you see Space Mountain from the Eurostar or the Earful Tower from the autoroute, the Palmenhaus suddenly appears above the bushes and flowers.

Whilst the exterior of the Palmenhaus has become familiar with countless viewings of Le Visionarium, to then step inside the “Paris Expo” building is quite unique.

From the official website:

The Palm House is located on the site of the former Dutch Garden and was erected in 1881/2 to designs by Franz Xaver Segenschmid. One hundred and thirteen metres long, the Palm House consists of a 28-metre high central pavilion and two lateral pavilions which are three metres lower. Linked by tunnel-like passages, the pavilions contain different climatic zones: a ‘cold’ house to the north, a temperate zone in the central pavilion and a tropical climate in the south pavilion. The necessary temperatures are achieved by means of a steam heating system which means that rare specimens from all over the world can be grown here.

Besides the numerous stars and extras seen in the film, it’s clear that a large amount of set dressing was done to prepare the building, such as the addition of a raised entrance, clocks, banners… and French flags, of course.

This impressive iron construction used the most modern technology of its time, with the materials determining its form. The proportions of the convex and concave lines of the central and lateral pavilions are perfectly balanced and endow the iron structure with a perceptible lightness despite its massive dimensions. Inserted into the framework of the external iron construction, the glazing clings to the curved iron girders like a skin. The Schönbrunn Palm House was the last of its type to be constructed in continental Europe.

The beauty of the building speaks for itself and seeing it for real is something truly special. Bringing back memories of Le Visionarium and reminders of Discovery Arcade in Main Street, it’s always a wonderful feeling to find a little piece of magic so far from the magic kingdom itself. Almost as if they expect crazed Disneyland Resort Paris fans to visit, even the modern tickets have been produced with a design right out of the late 19th Century.

So if you’re looking for a holiday besides a visit to Disneyland itself, or need a little dose of Le Visionarium memories after 2 years of absence, why not consider Vienna. Not for museums, Mozart or the beautiful architecture, but for a special piece of magic from the history of Euro Disney.

Click here for a quick reminder of Le Visionarium.

Four years later, and their “Main Street: Orange County” decorations weren’t even meant to appear, until a last-minute decision just days before the festival began.

Never before have seasonal decorations caused such a stir as when the Pumpkinmen made their debut in 2003. They formed the central part of a revamped Halloween festival, which also saw the introduction of the Disney Villain Parade and the launch of a new theme song, It’s Halloween-Lo-Ween.

Only during Halloween could an Imagineering creation like Main Street USA, such a key part of Disneyland’s history, be plastered with orange paint splashes and overrun by plastic Pumpkinmen figures “frozen in time” by a Witch crashing into the Gazebo. Whilst the fans revolted, the public seemed to embrace the new characters, making the most of the new photo oppertunities and enjoying the live streetmosphere, which – horror of horrors – included Pumpkinmen painting over Main Street’s shop windows with real orange paint!

Included in the nearly one hundred Pumpkin touches around the land, we’ve got Pumpkinmen sat on false, paint-splattered benches, Pumpkinmen hanging from buildings in giant paint pots and odd Pumpkin signposts – all of which surely receiving thousands of “What the?!” remarks from guests every day. The most noticable change for 2006 is likely the addition of Stitch the Main Street Station sign, which has been rather ruthlessly cut into to show a black silhouette of Stitch. A nice effect here, though, is that smoke slowly floats out of the sign, as if Stitch has only just jumped through it.

Originally, the “frozen” Pumpkinmen figures were also designed to help blend the old Lights of Winter into the festival. Installed early to save time and money, the towering, snow flake-styled light arches were given several small orange stickers and a few Pumpkinmen to help hide the fact they were installed a month early.

Even in 2006, signs of Christmas have made their way into Halloween again, with half of the Enchanted Fairytale Illumination chandeliers installed at the Central Plaza end of Main Street: Orange County.

The illustrations here were drawn by Jérome Picoche for the 2003/04 seasons, showing the original vision for the Pumpkinmen invasion and the crash landing of Gruzella. In 2005, Gruzella was redesigned as the leader of the Pink Witches, who also now frequent Main Street at various times of the day to cause trouble with their fight against the Pumpkinmen.

Below, you can see just a small selection of the concept sketches created when Disneyland Resort Paris Creative Entertainment introduced the Pumpkinmen. The team, led by entertainment head Kat de Blois, designed each scene from scratch to suit various locations all around Main Street. Love them or loath them, it can’t be said that Pumpkinmen invasion wasn’t crafted with a lot of attention to detail.

When Main Street moves to Orange County, it might do it in a surprisingly un-mouse-house style, but it certainly does it with all the extravagance and detail we know and love as Disney, don’t you think?

You can see more photos of this Halloween on Main Street at Photos Magiques.

Despite the size and importance of this project, Euro Disney SCA remains silent – no hype, no press releases. So whilst at the moment we can happily see the Tower progress day-by-day with more details, more concrete primer and more false windows, the resort is preferring to keep quiet, likely for fear that the attraction will steal the spotlight from the Toon Studio attractions and new parade premiering before it. The small billboard in front of the construction site doesn’t even mention the name of the attraction.

Recently, however, a special flyer was handed out backstage to Cast Members giving a preview of the new attraction, including a run-through of its legendary story and some precise details about the design. According to the flyer, the height of the tower from its base to the top of the highest dome will be 55.17 metres, or 181 feet. The maximum vertical speed of the elevator shaft cars is an astonishing 31.6 metres per second, with ride cycles lasting around 4 minutes. If this wasn’t enough of a preview, a never-before-seen (at least in this detail) concept plan of the entire building was featured, now uploaded by WDSFans.com to its growing Walt Disney Studios Concept Art database:

The biggest mystery of all about the project, and one that still hasn’t been solved, is the opening date of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Announced in January 2005 for an unspecific “2008” opening, rumours later spread that an earlier opening of October 2007 could be on the cards, pushed by Euro Disney SCA’s commenting that the attraction will open in “Financial Year” 2008 – ie. anytime from late October 2007 onwards.

This month rumours have changed again, this time pointing back towards 2008 and a more specific January opening, allowing the opening to be separated from the popular Christmas and Halloween seasons. Is there any proof of this? Well, it seems there could be – the 15th Anniversary preview trailer released a few days ago features an interesting disclaimer when Tower of Terror appears on-screen: “Ouverture début 2008” – Opening Early 2008. But now a new mystery – is that the year 2008, as in January, or the financial year 2008? Considering the video is destined for travel agents, cast member previews and other non-business or financial areas of the resort’s workings, it looks like this could be the first step to finally mapping out an official date for The Twilight Zone’s arrival.

You can see a large scan of the building plan at WDSFans.com »

These two new visuals were likely intended to make their debut with the official 15th Anniversary brochure, but, as Disneyland Resort Paris have learnt all too much recently, no secrets are safe with the internet.

The two visuals focus on two different floats in the new parade. The first, which looks to be part of a larger advertisement design, features the parade’s first float: Dream of Imagination. We released a profile-angle concept art of this float back in July, but now we can get an even better glimpse at how the float will look as it makes its way down the Parade Route in 2007. The sun-shaped hot air balloon is now revealed to have a beaming face at the front, whilst the balloon features a “15” plaque and the heavily stylized moon brings memories of the slightly abstract designs of Disney Cinema Parade.

The second visual is much larger and features a view of float 4, Dream of Fantasy, as if you’re watching it approach from the curb with Pluto. The float features Captain Hook’s pirate ship at the front, followed by Wendy’s house (with Peter Pan on the roof), Big Ben and the London skyline, and finally Mary Poppins’ carousel at the rear. Mr Smee and the pirates follow the float along, whilst silhouettes of float 6, Dream of Adventure, and float 8, Dream of Romance, can be seen the background.

Antoine, who published the DLRP.fr article featuring the visuals, also gives some extra details about the parade. Float 2 – Dream of Fun and Laughter, features a giant Alice stuck in a Wonderland house, and it appears her head will measure no less than 2.5 metres high, giving some sense of the grand scale of this parade. Several puppets will indeed be featured throughout the parade, controlled by artists inside the floats, whilst an odd new rumour is that each float will be joined by special aromas and scents as it passes along the Parade Route, a first for a Disney parade.

Are we dreaming here, or is this really happening?