News Disneyland Paris Updates & Features

Some called “Hurrah”, others called “Horror”. For Disneyland Resort Paris, this is just about the debate of the last twelve months — should Crush’s Coaster offer FASTPASS?

First, the arguments. If you’re a pro-FASTPASS visitor, you might be shocked at just how strongly some people feel against the system. Here is a way to let people spend the time they would be standing in a line enjoying themselves elsewhere in the park. You get your ticket, return at the time, and are guaranteed a shorter wait. Sounds pretty great all-round.

Capacity issues

The big issue, that anyone against the system will tell you, is this: FASTPASS does not add capacity. It sounds obvious, but many — particularly those “everyday” guests in the parks — assume that if an attraction has FASTPASS it can, somehow, automatically accept a much greater number of people through its turnstiles every hour. Of course, not true.

What happens is that, whilst the flow of people through the FASTPASS queue is regulated and steady in accordance with the attraction’s actual capacity per hour (or throughput) thanks to the timeslots, the people deciding to join the regular queue can end up waiting longer.

“But it’s not our problem, they could have got a ticket too” you could say. True, they could — but not everyone can. Usually it’s only between 40 and 50% of all the guests going through an attraction each day. There will, always, be a vast majority who have to grin and bear the queue if they’re to get on-board.

“Well then, why not make the attraction FASTPASS-only, so that everyone needs a ticket?”. Sure, that would guarantee you a ride with a guaranteed shorter wait, but here you threaten to destroy completely the logistics and operation of an entire Disney theme park.

Disneyland in California learnt this to its peril in the early 2000s, when the much-maligned old management seemingly added it to everything in sight, answering the call of unknowing guests and hoping for significant increases in food and merchandise sales as people waited.

How much is too much?

In fact, those increases failed to materialise, because when you get a FASTPASS ticket you rarely think “right, now let’s go spend some money whilst waiting” — usually, you still want to actually ride an attraction.

Case in point — during the tests at Crush’s Coaster, the normally-sedate Flying Carpets Over Agrabah suddenly began to accumulate queues of between 75 and 90 minutes every day (equalling the Coaster itself), as guests grabbed a ticket and then went straight to the first nearby attraction.

With FASTPASS tickets in everyone’s hands, the walkways become crowded to the extent where the park capacity actually decreases, things become worn before time and complaints actually rise.

Surprisingly, it seems it is in Disney’s interest to keep you IN the queues, so that more people can get into the park and more people have a good time. In the end, the new management in California removed FASTPASS from “it’s a small world”, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh — and it still remains at no less than 8 attractions there.

It’s not all bad — the system can work great on attractions that are designed with it in mind, or built with a big enough capacity that they can easily cope with both ticket holders and regular queuers. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, with its two huge loading floors, is a good example. Similarly, Space Mountain: Mission 2‘s two platforms mean that trains can be “prepared” in advance so that the throughput of trains stays steady and right up to the maximum capacity.

And now we arrive here — Crush’s Coaster. The E-Ticket that isn’t.

Joining the Crush

For all intents and purposes, this attraction IS considered by guests to be as important as Big Thunder Mountain or The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It’s a classic Disney “weenie” as you step toward Toon Studio, it’s a roller coaster, it’s based on the most successful animated movie ever made and it’s a LOT of fun. But it also has a capacity of just 960 people per hour, and that’s with turtle shells filled right up with 4 people departing regular as clockwork every 15 seconds.

Crush’s Coaster was never meant to be such an important attraction in the fabric of the park. But, whilst Toon Studio waits for its real high-capacity E-Ticket, it is always going to be. On this one, Imagineering simply struck gold with an idea and didn’t realise before it was too late.

The comparisons to Peter Pan’s Flight across the way are spot on — a popular film, a great concept, with a low capacity and ‘E-Ticket’ status that wasn’t intended. Part of this, interestingly, seems to come from the conclusion of guests that FASTPASS equals a must-see attraction.

The only way to truly solve the Crush at Crush would be to build a second track for the coaster — which won’t happen. Or perhaps to build a second loading platform inside, to make sure its’ throughput stays steady — which won’t happen. Short of demolishing it (which again, won’t happen), FASTPASS begins to look like a good option. And that’s what the regular park guests think, too.

Questions and answers

If you’re reading this between the hours of 10am and 7pm, we can guarantee unquestionably that right now, in Walt Disney Studios Park, a Cast Member will be being asked “does Crush’s Coaster have FASTPASS?” or “why doesn’t Crush’s Coaster have FASTPASS?”. Maybe someone will even be making a complaint at Studio Services.

So now we find the real reason for these tests — they’re never going to make 100% of people happy with the situation at Crush’s Coaster, but if they can make 40% of people happy — and then tell the rest that “yes, we do offer FASTPASS, but they’ve all gone, it’s very popular, sorry”, then that seems to show, to these people, that Disneyland Resort Paris are trying to handle the situation.

In that sense, it almost seems inevitable. Hand out around 3,000 FASTPASS tickets each morning, and that’s 3,000 happy guests that otherwise would have faced a grumpy 90-minute wait. Cast Members finally have the ability to say the system IS offered, but all gone for the day.

It seems like a good solution, but there’s bound to be a negative somewhere… The 5,500 other guests who can ride the attraction each day, perhaps? Not only are they now waiting for slightly longer than before (since people pick up a FASTPASS who might not have otherwised bothered to ride at all), but they’re in a queue with fewer people and having to watch 30-or-so giddy FASTPASS riders walk right by every few minutes. So, for the “other 60%”, it begins to look less appetising.

And of course, we shouldn’t forget that for the recent tests Crush’s Coaster effectively commandeered the FASTPASS machines of its neighbour, Flying Carpets Over Agrabah. Not only does this throw off a little the themed environments Disney usually promotes, now the Cast Members at the actual entrance have to just replace their “there’s no FASTPASS, sorry” with “yes, FASTPASS is right over there”.

Workable or manageable

If the system is ever offered permanetly at the attraction, surely a more workable solution for the tickets would be needed? Unfortunately, the area around the attraction has been limited terribly by the original design. The entrance is often a bottleneck that could give even the area in front of Big Thunder Mountain a run for its money.

The area is so cramped, that the regular queue line practically never fits within its original boundary, running away around the palm trees in front of Flying Carpets, or even extending across Toon Studio in the mornings. The queue line itself isn’t anywhere near big enough, with the look and appeal of a sandy cattlepen. Many would agree it could do with having a touch more in common with the colourful, interesting, palm-filled entrance of the attraction.

Perhaps, rather than making guests’ wait for the attraction more enjoyable by giving them a return FASTPASS ticket, the answer could be to make their wait more enjoyable in the actual queue line?

[Pictures: DLRP Today.com]

Note: Several pictures were taken on a day in August 2007 when it was announced in advance that the attraction would be closed for maintenance, used here since the lack of guests gives a better look at the true amount of space around the attraction.

It’s the morning after Bastille Day, the date: 15th July 2008. As guests made their way into Walt Disney Studios Park, rushing off toward Crush’s Coaster as quickly as possible, they were met with a sudden, unexpected dilemma — queue up, as normal… or get a FASTPASS ticket.

Overnight, the overwhelmingly popular spinning roller coaster in Toon Studio became the proud owner of its very own FASTPASS system — courtesy of Flying Carpets Over Agrabah.

Had over a year of complaints and requests from guests, not to mention the short-lived tests earlier this year, finally caused operations to cave in and add the advance timeslot system to the low-capacity attraction? Not quite.

From the outset, these tests had a specific start and end date — 15th to 21st July, one week only. For the set-up, new, flat signage was placed above the Flying Carpets Over Agrabah FASTPASS return times, reading “Crush’s Coaster Fastpass Tickets Distribution” in the colours and style of the attraction. To the left, the Flying Carpets Over Agrabah logo itself was covered over by an arrow pointing specifically to this attraction’s slightly displaced entrance.

Original sign (15th July) / Altered sign (16th July onwards)

Join the queue, and you’d discover the machines looked exactly the same as always. Look upwards, and the changes begin. No longer were the times ticking very slowly by as they would with the old Flying Carpets tickets — now, you’d see the timeslots cycling through up to every 30 SECONDS, right before your eyes.

The morning “crush” at Crush’s Coaster was effectively split in two for the week, with guests rushing out of Disney Studio 1 to join either the regular line or the FASTPASS distribution. Eventually, the two rather awkwardly met right in the middle of Toon Studio, and trailed back further, side-by-side!

We’ve got a videoclip of the two queues meeting, which we’ve set to some music from Finding Nemo itself for some added amusement… is there a FASTPASS for the FASTPASS distribution yet??

Finally get to the front, and you’ll become the proud owner of the closest thing to Disney gold-dust — a real, printed Crush’s Coaster fastpass ticket!

Unlike the tests earlier this year, this week-long trial attempted to test the system as fully as possible, so the tickets were authentic and customised to the attraction.

And when you returned to the attraction at your set time, how was that experience?

The entrance, fresh from other recent changes, was roped off into two distinct lines — one headed by a Cast Member checking FASTPASS tickets and allowing guests through (though only every few minutes, not constantly), the other, as usual, stretching off to the right right around the palm tree ‘Oasis’ area.

The themed sign seen earlier this year, pointing out the two lines, had returned for the occasion.

Pass the Cast Member, and you’d be walking down the first part of the line, divided in two, until you reach the turnstiles and beach hut. Here, your FASTPASS would be taken by a second Cast Member and you’d turn immediately left to join the queue at the entrance to Studio 5 — as the hoard of waiting guests in the regular queue area stared intently. Rather than being mixed naturally, their queue was completely halted as a new group of FASTPASS guests were allowed entry every few minutes.

Photo: Chris500, Disney Central Plaza forum

From here, you’d have a wait of around 15-20 minutes before you’re on-board a turtle shell and speeding around the EAC.

Back outside, and would you be thinking of getting another ticket? You’d have had to think again — all tickets were completely gone on every day of the test before even 12:30pm, such the demand and limited number made available. With a poor hourly capacity of around 900 to 1,000 guests, 40% of this was reportedly made available as FASTPASS tickets — that’s just 30 tickets per each specific timeslot.

Maybe you’d have wanted to queue up in the regular line to enjoy the attraction again? Would the wait really be as horrific as you’d expect when 40% of the capacity is eaten up by the FASTPASS system? Not quite — the queue time indicator appeared to stay relatively steady at 75 to 90 minutes throughout the week. With the ticketing system in place, you were basically waiting the same length of time with fewer people in the queue.

Several members on the French forum Disney Central Plaza have also reported that the operations team intended to test several changes to the system throughout the week, such as increasing or decreasing the amount of tickets given out or even staggering their distribution throughout the day — an initial load at 10am and another at 2pm, for example.

Now that the tests are over, the signage put back to normal and the extra queue line gone, however, there is no word about when or even if the system will return. Was this a test that ran its course and gave the operations and Imagineers the research they needed, or is it something that could be rolled out whenever park capacity reaches a peak?

As always… watch this space.

Or, if you’d like to be a little more involved, vote in our Question of the Week — simply asking “Should FASTPASS return permanently to Crush’s Coaster?”. If you can’t make your mind up, don’t worry — remain seated with your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the website, because we’ve got a full analysis of all the pros and cons of FASTPASS at Crush coming right up…

Update: You can now read the follow-up analysis to this article here.

[Pictures & Video: DLRP Today.com]

On a sunny day in the height of Summer, crowds bustling around the walkways, a calm breeze in the air, there’s no better place to be at Disneyland Resort Paris than aboard one of the riverboats.

However, fans will know all too well that the stories surrounding one of these two majestic ships could compete even with those of her namesake — Molly Brown. We learnt in March 2005 that this unsinkable grand dame was not immune to an engine overheating, and, as she sat paralysed in the middle of the river for well over six months, we learnt she was also at the mercy of the legendary Marne-la-Vallée weather.

Jump forward to June 2007, however, and we were heralding her return with a triumphant comeback article speaking of the lengthy refurbishment and bright new coat of paint all over. Now, in Summer 2008, how is she looking?

Generally, quite good. But look closer, and you see the cracks beginning to show again — or rather, things growing in them.

Because, whilst Molly Brown still looks bright and clean enough from her refurbishment in 2007, a steady collection of weeds growing out of her inner side could suggest it’s time for another quick refresh.

Whilst paint needs repainting, weeds just need pulling. The majority of them grow from the cover around her side-wheel paddle, but also from the edge of her lower deck, on the side which faces toward Big Thunder Mountain, away from Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing — but too far for a maintenance crew to reach? Apparently so.

Unfortunately, they aren’t even unique to the side of this riverboat which faces away from the mainland. Look at the photo below left, and the first plant life on her other side is also beginning to grow.

Climb aboard Molly Brown and you’ll probably never notice, we know, we know. Although it does seem even her on-board commentary now needs a little refresh too — Old Joe’s dog disappeared from his fishing pier many months ago, and now it seems Old Joe is missing too, though his fishing line remains!

It’s just a shame for riverboat fans that, in this case, that old “if it’s broken: don’t fix it, remove it” motto that plagued the resort in the early part of this decade doesn’t apply to simply pulling a few weeds. Don’t miss the boat again, Disney — nip it in the bud.

[Photos: DLRP Today.com]

Rendez-Vous des Stars Restaurant may well still be the highest class restaurant at Walt Disney Studios Park, and only a buffet restaurant at that, but this Summer it gained one significant selling-point that is sure to win over even the most stubborn critic — a new chef.

The Stitch Phone, Lucky the Dinosaur, Turtle Talk with Crush, Muppet Mobile Lab, Stitch Encounter and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor… It’s funny to think that Walt Disney Imagineer’s latest creation has arrived exclusively at this humble Production Courtyard eatery, just a few metres from their last installation — Stitch Live!.

Now, since the Imagineers have stayed true to the film, Chef Rémy doesn’t talk directly to you — he merely squeaks. But, as this cute little Audio-Animatronic sways from side-to-side to the tune of “La Vie en Rose” (also note the Pixar connection to WALL-E) or even jabs his pointed nose left and right to a modern disco song, your heart will melt…

Rémy is not only the exact, perfect size he should be, the Imagineers have clearly used the actual computer models from Pixar incredibly well.

Look closely at his face, the drawn-out body and particularly his eyes, and this is almost as good as stepping inside their computers alongside the real thing.

Only Disney and Pixar could create a turn of events that has them pushing a rat on a trolley around the tables in a restaurant, to smiles of delight from guests…

Could it be a test for the rumoured future Ratatouille attraction in Toon Studio? Perhaps. What it does prove is that Walt Disney Imagineering can create incredibly small, life-like animatronics that hold up remarkably well to close viewing.

We aren’t zooming by this one on a mad-dash dark ride or splashing by on a boat with plenty else to distract us. Chef Rémy is there, on the platter in front of us, with kids getting as close as possible, right up to his face, and he still seems real.

Real and incredibly cute.

[Pictures & Video: DLRP Today.com]

— The video above is also available to download via the DLRP Magic! Video Podcast.

It’s safe to say that Crush’s Coaster is now the Peter Pan’s Flight of the Studios. The universally-popular attraction with the low capacity that everyone knows they have to ride. Only… for Crush’s Coaster, there’s a different element in there — the element of thrill.

Anyone who followed the project from its conception in 2005 will know that, for a very long time, the attraction was officially known as Crush’s Turtle Twister. A name that, whilst keeping some of the mystery about exactly what type of ride this is, spelled out the rather thrilling twisting — spinning — nature very clear.

With this later changed to the easier-to-pronounce and more understandable Crush’s Coaster, plus the Imagineer’s decision to keep the turtle shells from spinning until they reach the real coaster section inside, rather than during the outside drop, and some guests might be a little surprised. Only the most cautious English and French speaking guests who read the warning signs in full would know about the real free-spinning nature of the turtle shells.

Just last month, then, Crush’s Coaster saw its first “major” (though still relatively minor) changes since opening one year ago. Outside the entrance, where previously on the right you’d find two warning signs and the queue time indicator pointing toward Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, you now find that the waiting time sits on a single wooden pier stump and points more toward Animagique and the Flying Carpets — the direction in which the queue extends into on most days.

In addition, the queue time displayed on the counter is now accurate — previously, it would cap at about 45 minutes and the Cast Members would need to put a temporary board at the entrance to the extended queue, since it usually extends way beyond the area the Imagineers built.

Before / After

Next to this is a brand new feature — a scale model of one of the turtle shells themselves, filled with four miniature guests, that constantly spins and turns on an axis to shout loud and clear — “It spins, dude!”. The shell is rather larger in real life than it appears in pictures, and actually serves to add a nice bit of kinetics to the otherwise static entrance.

You can see a brief videoclip of the shell in action here.

On the other, left, side of the entrance path, the original Crush figure and main entrance sign remains the same, though a second new warnings board has been installed toward the so-called Flying Carpets “Oasis” — now permanently a queue space for Crush’s Coaster.

Will the spinning shell put a few people off from riding who might not enjoy the experience? If it doesn’t, the Imagineers have also come up with another new addition just as you step inside Studio 5.

Watch it for yourself:

The video works in the same way as that at Space Mountain: Mission 2, playing on a loop in French and then English with clips cleverly cut from the film to not only introduce the very thrilling nature of the ride but also what it is meant to simulate, for anyone who has forgotten the film.

The female voice in English actually appears to be the familiar sound of one of the resort’s main parade announcers, albeit with a good attempt at a faux Australian accent to fit the theme.

[Pictures: DLRP Today.com/Photos Magiques; Video: DLRP Today.com]

Great choreography, great music, great colours, great projections… and a lot of loud, impressive fireworks. Is there anything at all to complain about with Disneyland Park’s new nighttime spectacular? It seems to have the perfect recipe for the end to a Disneyland day.

Going completely against the usual tide of events — particularly in this touchy subject of fireworks at the restricted Paris resort — The Enchanted Fireworks seem to be pretty much loved all over. Beyond the online fan forums, wait around in the park after the show has ended and you’ll hear comments like “…what a great finale…”, “…that was perfect…” and “…really amazing…” from just regular guests.

It’s an all-round success story for the park.

Now, take a closer look at the love story in a brand new video:

Our friends at Photos Magiques have also captured some spectacular photos from the show:

The show certainly appears much bigger than fireworks of recent years, so are you wondering how much it costs to put on? Well, we can tell you: €400,000 for the entire run. That would work out at roughly €7,143 per night over the 56 nights.

This figure comes from the French television programme ‘Combien ça coute?’ which goes around the country discovering, well, exactly that… how much stuff costs. They previously featured the entire resort a couple of years ago in a theme park special, and have just returned to the park to film a few shots of the fireworks preparations and tests. You can see the interesting video clip below:

The size of this show can also be seen by the park’s routine of closures prior to 10pm each night. Whilst previous displays called for only Fantasyland to close at 10pm, since the roofs of the restaurants and dark rides here are used to launch the shells, the new display is also requiring the closure of much of Adventureland at 10pm.

But you can’t complain — there have to be a few sacrifices in any love story.

[Pictures: Photos Magiques (more); Video: DLRP Today.com/DLRP Magic! Video;]

The financial year of 2008 thus far has been nothing short of a fairytale success. For the nine months ended 30th June 2008, overall revenues increased an impressive 12% on the same period last year.

Revenues for the Third Quarter itself rose only 3%, however, which, despite the displacement of the important Easter Holiday compared to the 2007 results, could suggest that the resort is having to work hard this Summer to pushing itself beyond the record achievements made last year.

Here are the main points of this announcement, which does not include exact numbers for statistics such as park attendance, accumulating all the figures so far for the past nine months:

‘¢ Overall revenues for the nine months ended June 30, 2008 increased 12% to € 937.4 million from € 834.3 million in the prior-year period.

‘¢ Theme parks revenues increased 13% to € 498.4 million from € 443.0 million in the prior-year period, driven by increases in attendance and average spending per guest.

‘¢ Hotels and Disney Village revenues increased 10% to € 371.4 million from € 338.0 million in the prior-year period, primarily driven by increases in average spending per room and hotel occupancy.

‘¢ Real estate revenues increased € 16.8 million from the prior-year period to € 25.6 million, principally resulting from € 12.5 million of revenue related to the first quarter 2008 sale of a property in Val d’Europe which had been subject to a long term ground lease.

‘¢ Revenues for the Third Quarter increased 3% to € 331.9 million despite the shift of the Easter Holiday in some of our key markets from April in the prior-year period to March in the current-year period.

Commenting on the results, Karl L. Holz, Chief Executive Officer of Euro Disney S.A.S, said:

“We are pleased with our continued solid results through the Third Quarter, as we move into the peak summer season. The Celebration Continues… Big Time!, particularly as our guests respond positively to our new offerings in the Walt Disney Studios Park. Our guests are enjoying the thrills of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the magic of an interactive experience with a favorite Disney character in Stitch Live!. High School Musical 2 is also creating emotional connections through high energy performances and sing-along dance routines.

Our teams are fully mobilized to provide a high-quality guest experience through a combination of new services, iconic attractions and immersive entertainment that only Disney can create.”

So, how are things looking? Overall, very good indeed. There are no horror stories here or any reports which might make a shareholder nervous for the full Annual Report in November. The waters are calm, the course steady. Euro Disney SCA’s position is getting ever stronger.

With the displacement of the Easter Holiday this year to the second quarter, however, it is hard to gauge exactly how well the resort is still growing. An overall gain of just 3% in revenues compared to the same period last year does on first glance seem rather worrying considering the vast expenditure just made to build and promote an attraction as large as The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, especially when you consider park attendance itself increased just 1% in the three months.

Worrying on one hand, yes, but on the other, it is still a gain — and a gain compared to the record 14.5 million visitors of last year at that. The resort is well on course to post a brand new (if only very modestly higher) visitor record in its Annual Report for 2008. Compared to the launch of Walt Disney Studios Park in 2002, which brought only a tiny attendance growth and a severe drop-off the next year, this at least proves that the incremental series of investments and relaunch of the destination for its 15th Anniversary was well-formulated and has good staying power.

The record achievements of last year will be hard to build upon in a big way so quickly, true, but they weren’t a flash in the pan — that’s the most important thing.

— You can see the full report as a PDF download here.

— Find our previous report on the First Half 2008 results here.

Sometimes these days, you really think you’re seeing things at Walt Disney Studios Park. You have to look twice. A 75-minute wait for Flying Carpets Over Agrabah? The billboard finally removed from Disney Studio 1?

Over in Production Courtyard, however, Nescafé’s new signage for its ‘Café Cafés‘ …err… café really will make you do a double-take. Installed just last week, it arrived just days after fans were wondering whether the old signage above the location, reading ‘Rendez-Vous des Stars Restaurant’ would confuse guests into thinking that this small new coffee stand is infact that restaurant.

Problem solved — replaced by Café Cafés!

Though the name itself is perhaps somewhat strange for a location that borders so closely on the park’s “Hollywood” area — and indeed may become part of it in the future, the signage has clearly been designed with a few quirks of the building’s art deco style in mind. The rounded letters, stylised drawings and old-fashioned white supports all lend it a good overall style.

Now, fans may suggest, the ‘Chef Rémy’ sign for the restaurant next door should be moved or removed to avoid clashing with the new signage below.

Inside the semi-circular area still surrounded by construction fences, countless wires hang from the ceiling and work continues throughout the week. It is as yet unknown whether guests will be able to walk inside this area to order, or what kind of seating — if any — will be provided.

The new refreshments stand is due to open in August, as listed on the latest park guide. The guide also gives an interesting clue about its products. We’re used only to small paper cups of Nescafé, perhaps with a squirt of cream on top, around the parks. If this listing is anything to go by, however, Café Cafés will be the first location to sell flavoured coffees.

[Pictures: DLRP Today, Photos Magiques]