News Disneyland Paris Updates & Features

Last Chance Café has long been on the list of Disneyland Parks see-sawing open/closed restaurants, sometimes open for weeks, sometimes completely shuttered. Considering its incredibly prominent location right opposite Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing and en route to Phantom Manor, it has long been a wasted dining opportunity.

Well yeeha! It took 17 years, but we’re in luck! The location is now finally getting a proper outdoor terrance, a full wooden extension in the Western style, with its signage being moved outwards to the edge of the new construction.

The fences were put in place a couple of weeks ago, with the work expected to just be a general refurbishment. But as you can see, it has become much more than that…

For a better view, let’s climb aboard the Mark Twain…

The “restaurant” itself is really nothing more than a small indoor counter service queue area, so, despite its excellent placing right on the beaten track, Last Chance Café has frequently offered guests no chance at all for a drink or snack. Aside from the small hot dog stand nearby, they’d have to jump on their horse and ride off all the way to Main Street or Fuente del Oro Restaurante for a meal.

With this large new structure in place we can hopefully expect the location, sandwiched between the table service Silver Spur Steakhouse and the buffet service Lucky Nugget Saloon, to be giving us much more chance for a bite to eat, on the dusty road to Boot Hill.

Pictures: DLRP Today.com

In reality, the former Backlot Express has been open for all but a couple of weeks as it has been re-dressed to become Disney Blockbuster Café these past months, with only the Pirates section closed for its more major changeover.

The result gives a mostly bare, mostly bland restaurant filled with High School Musical banners and posters… with a surprisingly ambitious Pirates of the Caribbean room tacked onto one side.

Early reviews are in, and they’re calling it’s the “coolest” place to eat:

Well, at least the correction printed in the current Programme for the Park Guide (which still lists Backlot Express until November) says so.

And, with the first guests seated in the new area, Kayshaman for DLRP Times provides the first photos:

There’s the tilted mast — the large platform and sail above it helping to give this area a much more intimate feel from the bare warehouse before. The lights have also been changed, to a flickering candle effect, and the props appear to include — hold onto your seat — something related to the films themselves: the circular map from At World’s End, the third film?

The idea behind the restaurant appears to be similar to Planet Hollywood, dining amongst movie memorabilia and themes, yet with only look-a-like items and reprinted High School Musical posters for the memorabilia. At least, we have to assume so — if any of these items are real props, they’ve made the same mistake as before: not labelling them.

In case you’re not familiar with the building, here’s a plan to show the new layout:

As you can see, there’s a whole lot of High School Musical in there. That’s not surprising, considering it’s been so easy to give a feel of that film’s perfect, whitewashed school in this empty warehouse, but could turn out more than a little disappointing if the rumoured continual updates of new films and themes don’t materialise.

According to the original rumours, after all, the restaurant would see changing themes every year or so, allowing a place for the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures arm of Disney to promote their latest films without covering Disney Studio 1 with, say, a giant billboard.

There’s your preview. Look out for our full, scurrilous review with both pictures and video in a couple of weeks. Until then, give your verdict (from 1 to 5 stars) in our Question of the Week to the right of this article.

Pictures: Kayshaman for DLRP Times.

Trust a Disney fan — particularly a Disneyland Paris fan — to spot a throwaway reference to our resort hidden amid a run-of-the-mill write-up of a Nantes restaurant. But, that’s exactly what tinkerbell7 did here, and it certainly makes for an unexpected new possibility.

Read French? Read on…

Vu de l’extérieur, c’est un petit bâtiment cubique entouré de quelques palmiers. Rien n’indique que le French Pub, implanté zone des Gripôts, abrite un décor grandiose, à la hauteur de l’oeuvre de Jules Verne. «C’est voulu assure Ludovic Quefellec, le patron de l’établissement. Nous souhaitons surprendre le client».

Disney Village serait intéressé pour reprendre l’idée d’un pub consacré à l’univers de Jules Verne «Nous sommes encore en pourparlers confie le patron. Disney nous propose une surface de 500m2».

Find the full article here.

Alors… quoi? This is a place simply named “French Pub”, near the city of Nantes, which has been decorated inside to what looks like a quite lovely Jules Verne theme. They’re apparently having huge success, and the owner happens to mention — “Disney Village are interested in taking up the idea of a pub dedicated to the universe of Jules Verne. ‘We’re still in discussions’ entrusts the owner, ‘Disney have proposed an area of 500m2 to us’.”

So, where is this 500 metres-squared? A replacement for the Sports Bar and New York Style Sandwiches? Perhaps even for Disney Store, when World of Disney eventually arrives? Or even a brand new building, sometime in the future?

Whether anything comes of these discussions of course remains to be seen, but it’s interesting to hear that they’ve been looking beyond the everyday Starbucks and franchised Earl of Sandwich to expand Disney Village. Should the Village ever finally expand into a full second street of restaurants and shops, they’ll certainly need a lot of tenants to fill the space.

And, between the German experience of King Ludwig’s Castle and the very likely upcoming British experience of Earl of Sandwich, it would be a shame not to have this new, international, Village anchored by something much more closer to home.

In the words of Jules Verne himself — “Nothing is impossible… only improbable.”

Picture: PresseOcean.fr

Popping up out of nowhere, and only so far on the German press website, these few images are a rare delight worth sharing. Apparently someone, somewhere, realised that there’s a luscious, extraordinary Disney park behind whatever theme year is currently being peddled.

Looking through the latest official brochure (PDF), you could be forgiven for thinking the park was yet to open its gates with the airbrushed, photoshopped and hazy imagery filling page after page. Between the huge, fake images of the Mickey’s Magical Party events being previewed, guests are given little to no real glimpse at the parks themselves.

Well, flying cowboys! Is this really Disneyland Paris?

Of course, there is reason for this — since the start of the 15th Anniversary, the resort has been on a new drive to promote limited-timed offers and calls to action.

People were found to wait until their children were older before visiting, whilst Disneyland wanted their custom now. But how are these potential guests to know that this place really is so beautiful, so much better than any other theme park on the continent, and worth the high prices listed on later pages?

Images like these might help…

Several of the photos focus on Frontierland, with an eerie mist rolling around Phantom Manor and the Molly Brown standing proudly in the dock.

Even classic E-Tickets, like Phantom Manor itself, rarely seem to be given much attention these days. The opening of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was criminally glossed-over in favour of the extended 15th, the consensus simply being that this €180-million attraction wouldn’t be enough for the bookings to roll in — people would conclude that, unlike the anniversary events, “it’ll still be there in a few years” and postpone their trip.

As recently as 2001 and 2002, however, each land would be given its own lavish, themed page in the brochures, filled with photos of the environments, attractions and entertainment. After all, it’s these legendary attractions and the landscape of the park — the things designed and built by the Imagineers — that we visit time and time again for… isn’t it?

Say, the Disneyland Railroad majestically skirting its way around the greenery of the berm…

Or the spires, towers, walls, windows, tapestries and pure beauty of the Castle…

No wonder some people think we’re mad to be in love with Disneyland at our age, considering the “kids’ crèche” style of recent advertising, completely shunning any images like this gorgeous new view past the Walt’s restaurant sign…

Or this stunning, elevated view right down Main Street, U.S.A...

You can click any of these new official images above for a large 1600px version. We’ll probably never see them make the brochures or advertising, so go on — stick them on your desktop and show people what Disneyland Paris is really like.

Pictures © Disney.

It’s the kind of thing that makes the blood of long-time Disney fans boil. When any classic, nostalgic Walt Disney-spirited corner of a park is given over to new merchandise, franchises and especially… Princesses. And now, they’ve just been handed their prime example on a plate.

Remember how Walt Disney Studios Store looked when it opened?

Now, in August 2009, not only has the merchandise changed — the decorations have, too:

The largest picture of Walt Disney, hands-on with a movie camera, has been unceremoniously covered over by a modern Disney Princess mural, to help along sales of the associated merchandise which has now filled the entire middle of this newly “opened-up” boutique. Walt Disney, we presume, just wasn’t making the tills ring loud enough.

Of course, it’s not the first time the Princesses have found an unlikely home in what should be a studio administration building. Just last year, the red carpet canopy outside was redecorated with 2D designs of royal curtains and a small placard of the damsels themselves…

The shop has suffered a bit of an identity crisis right since the opening of the park — the original plan of having two large, Emporium-style stores at the entrance to the Studios, selling almost exactly the same items, seemingly wasn’t thought through. Next to the very well-themed Legends of Hollywood inside Disney Studio 1, this rather bland store was always going to see guests simply walking past.

But consider Main Street… There’s a reason why we love browsing and shopping there: variety. If this store were on that street, it would comprise at least three different units — Boardwalk Candy Palace, Disney Clothiers and Harrington’s, for example. Giving this building the same — just three clear sections with three different names outside — would generate more footfall and more sales than yet another Princess display, wouldn’t it?

Pictures: © Disney, Photos Magiques, DLRP Today.

The project has been in planning and kept top secret for months. But now, as the deadlines for advertising visuals and creatives for the next round of brochures nears, the entire list of new events has been leaked online.

Working title: Disney’s New Generation Festival, this next theme year will put the newest animated characters firmly in the spotlight. That means, though Toy Story Playland will certainly be the key new attraction of the year, we aren’t looking ahead a whole of solely Toy Story themes. No, instead we’ll be seeing Disney’s upcoming The Princess and the Frog plus a whole lot of Pixar — they are, after all, the closest to “Disney” the past decade has offered.

Avert your eyes now — the most spoiler-filled post of 2009 awaits! Here, are the events of 2010:

• Toy Story Playland
  You know this one already: Three brand new attractions set within a highly-themed giant garden to extend Toon Studio at Walt Disney Studios Park. However, with groundwork barely begun, there’s no way this new Walt Disney Imagineering area can open before at least June next year — meaning a surrounding festival of events to begin in April 2010 is necessary…
• Princess Tiana joins Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade
  The newest Disney Princess hasn’t even hit the big screen in The Princess and the Frog yet and already she’s being prepared to join the Disneyland Park parade. Not on a new float, unfortunately, but just stepping up onto the final Dreams of Romance: Finale float with Prince Naveen, giving this unit an overwhelming cast of five Princes and Princesses.
• ‘Enhanced’ Monsters, Inc. meet ‘n’ greet
  A little patch of Monsters, Inc. has been in the Studios since 2006, but for some reason it’s now being included in next year’s new events. The leaked details here say it’ll be “enhanced”, but there isn’t any further information yet.
• Ratatouille joins Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars
  The Studios’ new evening finale will definitely continue into 2010, with the advertised novelty being a brand new car themed to Ratatouille, featuring Rémy and Emile. We can reveal it’ll be the old Star Wars car to undergo this transformation.
• Minnie’s Party Train becomes a New Generation Express
  Yes, the old Casey Jr. float will be given its fourth colour scheme and feature mostly — if not entirely — Pixar characters next year.
• It’s Party Time… with Mickey and Friends reworked
  We confirmed this just yesterday — this year’s Central Plaza show will be pretty much staying, though is to be reworked to a single-performance finale to the day, and — just a guess — given some more modern characters to join Mickey.
• NO Castle decorations whatsoever!
  That’s an event in itself, right?!

And finally… in 2007 we had the red carpet, in 2008 the wrapping paper and in 2009 the very successful balloons motif. Next year, it’s all-change again on the advertising ideas front — and the new theme? Taken straight from the most imposing attraction of Toy Story Playland, we’ll be seeing… parachutes! No, seriously.

The New Generation begins here… your thoughts?

Details broken by mclarkson, magicforum.

Fear not, this won’t be “Mickey’s Magical Party Continues… Big Time!”, but an extended run for the centrepiece show itself — It’s Party Time… with Mickey and Friends.

Of course, we could guess from the start that the vast new Central Plaza Stage wouldn’t be ripped out come the previously scheduled end date of 7th March 2009, but we may not have guessed the follow-up show would be… exactly the same. In name, at least.

The casting call above (PDF) was posted on the Entertainment section of the resort’s dedicated Casting site, requesting dancers for the show with full time contracts beginning end of October 2009. The surprise, however, is the end date: end of August 2010!

And, it’s absolutely correct. Current work-in-progress plans do have next year’s Central Plaza Stage show bearing the same name, but the content is still to be finalised. The crucial detail, in fact, is that current plans have the show only as a single performance — a finale to the day — in the 2010 season, rather than the four afternoon performances seen this year.

It makes sense — the several performances of “It’s Party Time” have brought nowhere near the anticipation or audience retention of Candleabration in previous years. The daytime timeslot means guests are often just passing by to another land, heading to Main Street for lunch. Many miss the start or end of the show, or don’t bother staying to see the middle. Unlike true theatre shows, which visitors must choose to watch, queue for, and take a seat for, there doesn’t appear to be much affinity to this seemingly continuous daytime event on the hub.

However, if It’s Party Time… with Mickey and Friends is to move to the end of the day, as a big finale to whatever next year’s “theme year” may be, will games like the Tigger bounce and Baloo scratch really be adequate? Perhaps it will be the same show only in name and staging after all — the “Mickey and Friends” tag is certainly open enough for a new middle section to be easily slotted in where the party games currently sit.

Don’t stop practising your “Mickey Dance” just yet, then. Plus, with Minnie’s Party Train set to return in yet another new guise and Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars surely not going anywhere soon, the party may be ending March 2009 but its legacy — such as it is — will certainly live on.

Picture: Photos Magiques; Casting call spot thanks to DLP.info.

The modern, silver Ford Focus parked outside, its windows covered in High School Musical 3 stickers, has miraculously disappeared from beside the yellow taxi.

Though vehicles are a feature elsewhere in Backlot, this car looked entirely out of place. So, with a removal, Disney Blockbuster Café actually scores new points.

And inside, those points have begun to mount up considerably when you take a look at the progressing theme in the Pirates of the Caribbean room. The sails, wooden banisters, wheel, yellow stained windows and ship’s stern have been joined by at least two huge ships’ masts jutting up from the floor at angles.

One has a torn piece of wood angled across it halfway up, whilst the other, seen in the picture above, appears to have a crow’s nest. Notice also that the large garage windows have been given a blue-tinted covering, perhaps to simulate moonlight!

Walking back around looking at the reverse of this area, through the door next to Restaurant des Stars, we can see that the storage cage next to the serving area has been dressed up with a full set of nautical accessories and props, from chests and barrels to bottles, nets and a wheel.

All looking very good — atmospheric, well-dressed. The only problem still? A distinct lack of Disney’s pirates. However, perhaps that’s where those display cases will come into play. A couple more, in fact, have popped up in the room on the far side of the restaurant.

This additional room was actually originally just a raised outdoor terrace, but was soon enclosed for the park’s first Winter. It remains very cold, however, heated only by electric coil heaters, and the basic High School Musical posters installed to replace the torn-out props don’t help.

Here we can see the other half of the game — whilst the Pirates area is very well-themed but lacking in relationship to the Disney franchise, the ‘HSM’ area is, honestly, largely unthemed but playing very, very close to the franchise — almost like a walk through the film’s publicity department, in fact.

Pictures: Photos Magiques (see more in the latest update here!)