Buying your Disney park tickets from the new official Disneyland Paris website? Get ready for new names and seasonal prices for 1 Day tickets: applying only to 1 Day tickets purchased online in advance, you can now choose from Mini, Magic or Super Magic ticket types depending on the date you’re visiting. Read More…
If you’ve visited Disneyland Paris (and you probably have, right?), then the queue for Crush’s Coaster won’t need any introduction. Not just its perpetual length and duration at any hour of the day and on any day of the year, but it’s slightly soul-crushing lack of Disney magic or ingenuity in dealing with the low capacity of this popular roller coaster. Read More…
The oft-criticised official Disneyland Paris website has seen a complete relaunch of its UK edition today, bringing it in line with the websites for its American cousins in perhaps the biggest update yet both visually and technically. Read More…
Disneyland Paris has been named a three-star tourist attraction by the famous Michelin Green Guides, the highest distinction from the travel publisher. The accolade was accepted by ambassadors Jonathan and Antonella, dedicating it to the Cast Members who “offer daily hospitality and quality service to our visitors”.
Listed separately as Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios, the two Disney parks are now both marked as “Highly Recommended” three-star attractions on Michelin’s Paris travel guide. Looking at the competition, Parc Astérix to the north of Paris has only a two-star “Recommended” rating, though the mouse shouldn’t be too complacent — Disney Village is marked out by only a single star.
Many will of course remember the excellent series of classic Green Guides or “Guides Vert” and fold-out maps produced by Michelin in the early years of the resort. Providing concise and clear overviews of the resort — and now, a fascinating glimpse into its history — they’re well worth hunting down on places like Amazon Marketplace.
Disney PhotoPass has made its way fully across the Atlantic! The popular, longstanding online photo service offered by Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida launches this weekend at Disneyland Paris, bringing the latest features of PhotoPass+ and an all-new, exclusive mobile app.
In brief, PhotoPass allows you to link all your official souvenir photos taken by photographers in the parks onto one card, and then access them online when you return home. You can then purchase high quality downloadable versions, or order prints or an array of souvenir applications from mugs to photobooks.
Disneyland Paris already offered this service to a point, but it lacked the online element — you had to go to one of the park’s boutiques to inspect your photos and purchase souvenir prints there and then. It wasn’t ideal.
Now, visitors can go to www.disneyphotopass.eu to register their card and see the memories from the comfort of their own home. Prices for prints and souvenirs supplied by Fujifilm are surprisingly reasonable, although shipping charges are likely to sting.
And there’s more: a brand new mobile app, Disneyland Paris PhotoPass (iOS) (also on Android), will let you see your PhotoPass account on your phone and — here’s the coolest feature — add an on-ride attraction photo by scanning a new QR code now displayed on the photo screens at the exit of rides, or by entering the photo ID. This means for the first time you can save your photo for later, to download or buy prints later.
Like the American resorts, Paris will too offer a special upfront Disney PhotoPass+ package, retailing at €49.99, which lets you view, download and share without limit all the photos you want to collect during your time in the parks (up to 10 days). It includes a special PhotoPass lanyard card plus two extra mini cards, which you show to photographers at character locations. You can also hand them over at attraction photo sales locations to link on-ride photos to your account, if you don’t have access to the QR-scanning app.
Unlike the American packages, however, you won’t get a CD-Rom containing your photos, but aren’t downloads better these days anyway?
Our friends at Mickey Land blog were first to share this press release:
New photo services pack for unforgettable souvenirs.
Disney PhotoPass+: photos taken in the Disney Parks available in HD from this summer!
From 21 June this year, Disneyland® Paris presents Disney PhotoPass+, a new service for accessing photo-souvenir taken in the Parks in HD. Guests will have access to a photo services pack to view, download and share all photos taken with Disney characters or on rides that take ride photos.
From July 2014, Disney PhotoPass+ will allow guests to access all their photo-souvenirs taken on rides or with Disney characters by Park photographers at photo locations in high definition. Guests will be able to access a dedicated website or a mobile app to view, download and share their photos on social networks or to purchase personalized photo products (mugs, calendars, etc.).
The Disney PhotoPass+ service will be on offer at the price of €49.99. Guests will receive a box containing an exclusive lanyard card holder, a main card and two mini cards to use throughout their visit to the Disneyland Paris Parks to link their photos to the service.
From the first activation of the pack, guests could associate unlimited photo souvenirs to the service PhotoPass+ by presenting their card to photographers of Disney PhotoPass, or to the photo desk in the attractions equipped with an image capture system or by flashing the QR code directly from the monitors located at the exit of the attractions.
The photos will be available in high definition at www.disneyphotopass.eu or on the new mobile app. The “Disneyland Paris PhotoPass” app, a first for Disney Parks, is available to download on Apple and Android platforms.
The introduction of the full PhotoPass system is the latest in a series of positive developments for Disneyland Paris, continuing to bring it more closely in line with the American resorts.
Clearly, there is still much to discover about how the system will work at Disneyland Paris and many questions left to answer. Luckily, DLP Today and other fan reporters invited to this weekend’s Ratatouille: The Adventure event will be getting a special preview PhotoPass+ package to test out for ourselves in the parks — so join us soon for a full review to read much more about the service and follow us LIVE to see it in action this weekend!
Disney PhotoPass has made its way fully across the Atlantic! The popular, longstanding online photo service offered by Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida launches this weekend at Disneyland Paris, bringing the latest features of PhotoPass+ and an all-new, exclusive mobile app.
In brief, PhotoPass allows you to link all your official souvenir photos taken by photographers in the parks onto one card, and then access them online when you return home. You can then purchase high quality downloadable versions, or order prints or an array of souvenir applications from mugs to photobooks.
Disneyland Paris already offered this service to a point, but it lacked the online element — you had to go to one of the park’s boutiques to inspect your photos and purchase souvenir prints there and then. It wasn’t ideal.
Now, visitors can go to www.disneyphotopass.eu to register their card and see the memories from the comfort of their own home. Prices for prints and souvenirs supplied by Fujifilm are surprisingly reasonable, although shipping charges are likely to sting.
And there’s more: a brand new mobile app, Disneyland Paris PhotoPass (iOS) (also on Android), will let you see your PhotoPass account on your phone and — here’s the coolest feature — add an on-ride attraction photo by scanning a new QR code now displayed on the photo screens at the exit of rides, or by entering the photo ID. This means for the first time you can save your photo for later, to download or buy prints later.
Like the American resorts, Paris will too offer a special upfront Disney PhotoPass+ package, retailing at €49.99, which lets you view, download and share without limit all the photos you want to collect during your time in the parks (up to 10 days). It includes a special PhotoPass lanyard card plus two extra mini cards, which you show to photographers at character locations. You can also hand them over at attraction photo sales locations to link on-ride photos to your account, if you don’t have access to the QR-scanning app.
Unlike the American packages, however, you won’t get a CD-Rom containing your photos, but aren’t downloads better these days anyway?
Our friends at Mickey Land blog were first to share this press release:
New photo services pack for unforgettable souvenirs.
Disney PhotoPass+: photos taken in the Disney Parks available in HD from this summer!
From 21 June this year, Disneyland® Paris presents Disney PhotoPass+, a new service for accessing photo-souvenir taken in the Parks in HD. Guests will have access to a photo services pack to view, download and share all photos taken with Disney characters or on rides that take ride photos.
From July 2014, Disney PhotoPass+ will allow guests to access all their photo-souvenirs taken on rides or with Disney characters by Park photographers at photo locations in high definition. Guests will be able to access a dedicated website or a mobile app to view, download and share their photos on social networks or to purchase personalized photo products (mugs, calendars, etc.).
The Disney PhotoPass+ service will be on offer at the price of €49.99. Guests will receive a box containing an exclusive lanyard card holder, a main card and two mini cards to use throughout their visit to the Disneyland Paris Parks to link their photos to the service.
From the first activation of the pack, guests could associate unlimited photo souvenirs to the service PhotoPass+ by presenting their card to photographers of Disney PhotoPass, or to the photo desk in the attractions equipped with an image capture system or by flashing the QR code directly from the monitors located at the exit of the attractions.
The photos will be available in high definition at www.disneyphotopass.eu or on the new mobile app. The “Disneyland Paris PhotoPass” app, a first for Disney Parks, is available to download on Apple and Android platforms.
The introduction of the full PhotoPass system is the latest in a series of positive developments for Disneyland Paris, continuing to bring it more closely in line with the American resorts.
Clearly, there is still much to discover about how the system will work at Disneyland Paris and many questions left to answer. Luckily, DLP Today and other fan reporters invited to this weekend’s Ratatouille: The Adventure event will be getting a special preview PhotoPass+ package to test out for ourselves in the parks — so join us soon for a full review to read much more about the service and follow us LIVE to see it in action this weekend!
Reservations are now open for Bistrot Chez Rémy, the new fully-themed Ratatouille restaurant at Disneyland Paris, and yes — there’s ratatouille on the menu!
Pricing details have also been revealed, with a standard set menu starting at €29.90 for a starter and main course, or €39.90 for a starter, main, dessert and drink too. A children’s menu is said to cost roughly 17 euros.
And the menu itself? Mais, bien sûr…
Starter
Mixed leaf salad with cheese and an olive oil, balsamic and sesame vinaigrette
Main Course
Cut of grilled beef, homemade ratatouille, French fries and the chef’s sauce
Roast cod, homemade ratatouille, crushed potatoes and a beurre blanc sauce
Vegetable, tofu and white bean casserole
Dessert
Rum baba
Chocolate mousse
Fruit salad
Apple tart
Tiramisu
Chocolate cake with crème anglaise
Brie de Meaux from Trente Arpents Farm (Rothschild Estate) with fruit bread and vine peach jelly
A vegetable soup could replace the salad starter in winter.
Located next door to and within the same building as the attraction Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, with views through to the ride unload area, the “upscale but light-hearted” new dining location takes the theme not of Gusteau’s or Le Ratatouille but Rémy’s more fun bistrot up in the rafters, as seen at the end of the film itself.
Despite that backstory, this won’t be a character dining location — no appearances by Rémy and Emile are planned. Part of the reason for that will be the quick turnover of tables — as little as 45 minutes is the aspiration. That’s naturally a good thing for Disney, freeing up space for fresh punters in what’s expected to be a hugely popular venue, but also more in line with what most guests actually want: a quick, but “proper” meal, and no hanging around for “l’addition” — the bill — when you want to be getting back to the park.
Bistrot Chez Rémy is the first Table Service restaurant in the whole of Walt Disney Studios Park and — perhaps even more startlingly — the first restaurant of any sort within its biggest land, Toon Studio. A previous Ratatouille “living character” experience at Restaurant des Stars in Production Courtyard, where a miniature animated Rémy figure was presented to tables, has now ended. It remains to be seen what raison d’être that otherwise largely nondescript buffet location may now find for itself.
Over the years we’ve seen countless Disneyland Paris trailers cut from the vast archive of footage covering the resort’s attractions, but this one might just be the best.
Simply titled “Disneyland Paris – Faire vivre la magie pour nos visiteurs”, the video appeared without fanfare on the resort’s YouTube channel on Tuesday 3rd June. Running at just 2 minutes 14 seconds, it probably does a better job of selling the destination than any single one of the account’s other 581 videos.
Much of, if not all, the footage is recycled and not filmed especially for the trailer, some of it dating back decades and some of it — such as the swooping fly-over of Disney Magic on Parade! — relatively new.
Footage of the resort’s Cast Members and artisans putting finishing touches to the “magic” begins the video, before it’s all shown in action. It ends, of course, with the official footage from Disney Dreams!, which never fails to impress.
Place a Disneyland Paris logo and a call to action at the end and it’d make a perfect trailer for wider release — especially in cinemas, as @CafeFantasia suggested.
It’s certainly a world apart from the Disneyland Paris commercial currently gracing TV screens.
Named “Magical Answers”, this 30-second spot (below) follows three children discovering they can, amazingly, actually have fun at Disneyland; with an odd and almost disturbing tone of cynicism about the world around them, given their ages.
Normally, the narrative in commercials and newspaper articles is of a cynical adult realising they too can enjoy a Disney theme park; this advert however shows us a mournful young boy sitting alone in a plush mansion, looking skeptically into the eyes of a Buzz Lightyear action figure, before saluting the real thing — still bizarrely on his own.
Continuing the trend of advertising only to this specific bracket of families with very young children, it all feels oddly sombre and pessimistic, and features precisely three seconds of footage of an actual attraction. Filmed at Disneyland in California, the French Sleeping Beauty Castle was simply spliced into the shots.
It’s enough to put a vast swathe of the audience off wanting to visit Disneyland Paris altogether. Let’s hope those potential visitors at least make it as far as the resort’s YouTube, and watch the fantastic new trailer above instead.
La Place de Rémy has officially joined the Walt Disney Studios Park map. Pre-empting the expected guide map changeover on 3rd April, Disneyland Paris has released an early peek at the new, updated map for its second gate featuring the brand new mini-land.
The map’s designers have chosen to end the façades immediately behind their rooftops, similar to several attractions such as Pirates of Caribbean on the Disneyland Park map, and not depict the massive showbuilding in any way. This makes the attraction the first to have a “hidden” or backstage showbuilding on the Walt Disney Studios Park map (even if in reality there’s no hiding it from within the park).
While Catastrophe Canyon and the Dinotopia set of Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic have been moved to the right in order to fit the latest expansion on, the rest of the park map remains completely unchanged:
In fact, so much so that the version sent out today still features the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage! logo — the attraction has been rebranded to Disney Junior. The full map also inexplicably features Disney Village in the bottom-left corner, seen from the same viewpoint.
Besides the park, Ratatouille will also be featured on the general Disneyland Paris resort map, with a few of its façades pictured above Buzz Lightyear:
Looking back through the park’s previous maps, it is now relatively impressive to see the changes and expansions since opening day — though they have certainly been somewhat lop-sided, with Toon Studio getting much of the attention.
In 2001, perhaps the barest Disney Park map in history was released for pre-opening brochures:
This was thankfully soon updated with more of the park’s finer details (if not any of the numerous expansion rumours of the time, which would take five years to materialise):
As with 2007, the early addition of Ratatouille will give the ride some much-needed advance publicity for guests visiting in the months before its opening.
While teasers have been shared online, the expansion must be one of the first in Disneyland Paris history not to see its construction walls decorated with even a modest teaser of what is being built within. With so many missed promotional opportunities already, it’s a relief to see this one seized, if only thanks to the traditional bi-annual guide map changeover…