Archive for May, 2011
Monday, May 30th, 2011
On April 27, 2011, we reported that the large parachute from the photo set in front of the Toy Soldiers’ Parachute Drop in the Toy Story Playland (at the Walt Disney Studios) had been removed. It now turns out this was only the first step in a complete overhaul of the location which has now been finished.
As can be seen in the photo above by InsideDLParis the backdrop has been completely redone. Instead of the backdrop having a fully ”hand painted” look now a new CGI look has been put in place at least for parts of the backdrop (in particular the largest toy soldier to the left of the parachute for the guests). The new design with the border around the backdrop  is set to recreate the design of a toy packaging from which Andy could have cut out the backdrop. The large three dimensional parachute certainly is back as well – and also received some plussing: some extra lighting stripes were added under it to illuminate guests posing under the parachute.
The upgrade of the photo set are not the only changes to the Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop area. In addition the floor under the actual ride has been redone. The park had to learn during the past winter season that the chosen paint resulted in the floor turning extremly slippery when wet. Therefore black plastic mats had to be placed over it as a temporary solution during the winter season to allow for continued operation. According to InsideDLParis the floor was now redone (as seen in the photo on the left) and is supposed to be no longer as dangerously slippery when wet as in the past, so that the black mats could be taken out for good.
Photos by InsideDLParis
Tags: Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, Toy Story Playland, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Studios Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park
Posted in Disneyland Resort Paris, Walt Disney Studios | No Comments »
Monday, May 30th, 2011
Another rehab has come to its conclusion on the Main Street – Disney & Co. the shop specializing in toys and plush has reopened after its extensive refurbishment. Not only was the flooring redone and the whole interior of the shop with its detail rich design repainted so that it shines in bright colors once again – in addition the shop’s main room recieved a major change to its layout. As reported before the rehab the (working !) organ as the room’s centerpiece (around wish the cashiers were located) has been removed opening up more space for guests and merchandise as the cashiers were moved to the far ends of the shop. While the loss of the organ (that has been rumored to be on the move to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom) is to be mourned the new layout has helped ease the nearly eternal congestion inside the popular shop. With Disney & Co. being back to full regular operations Lilly’s Boutique next door has returned to showcase its “regular” merchandise as well after offering shelter to some toys and plush during the rehab of the shop next doors.
There is also news to report from the rehab across the street of the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour – here the scaffolding was covered with a printed tarp during the past week to reduce the impact on guest experience.
Photos by InsideDLParis
Tags: Disney & Co., Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Park, Gibson Girl, Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour, Main Street, Main Street U.S.A., Main Street USA, refurbishment, rehab
Posted in Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort Paris | No Comments »
Friday, May 27th, 2011
Disneyland Resort Paris and the Belgian town Blankenberge are working together to bring the Disneyland Paris theme park to the seaside. How? By building a replica of the park and both the Disney and Pixar characters on the beach by using sand during the “sand sculpture festival”.
For more information on the event, the theme and what to expect, follow our sister blog Mousekingdom. We will be there to see the result and will bring full coverage of the festival on the mousekingdom blog too.
Tags: Beach, Big Thunder Mountain, Disneyland, Fantasyland, Festival, Magical, Mickey, Moments, Mouse, Paris, Peter Pan, Pixar, Resort, Sand, Sculpture, Studios, Walt
Posted in Disneyland Resort Paris | No Comments »
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011
In the Disney Village the construction for the first Earl of Sandwich restaurant in continental Europe continues to race toward the scheduled opening on June 1st. In the meantime another light-up signage has been added on the facade facing toward the main street of the Disney Village. Also further decorative elements have been added to the facade, even so it is not yet complete. Also the final railing has replaced the tempo rare construction railing on the roof. In front of the facade facing toward the main body of Lake Disney the steel structure for the outdoor staircase leading up the the restaurant’s terrace was added and the actual steps are now put in. While not visible in the photo it can be expected that the workers inside are just as busy…
Across the Lake Disney up the river a new refurbishment project has begun in the area of e Disney Hotels. The larger pedestrian bridge connecting Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne and Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe has disappeared behind scaffolding.
Photos by InsideDLParis
Tags: construction, Disney Village, Disney's Hotel Cheyenne, Disney's Hotel Santa Fe, Earl of Sandwich, Earl of Sandwich Restaurant, Hotel Cheyenne, Hotel Santa Fe, Restaurant
Posted in Disney Village, Disneyland Resort Paris, Hotels, Restaurants | 1 Comment »
Saturday, May 21st, 2011
As InsideDLParis lets us know the new “musical character experience” titled “Meet the Disney Stars” premiered today in the Backlot area of the Walt Disney Studios. While not formally announced as part of the Disney Magical Moments Festival it does fit into this year’s theme and helps bolster the entertainment offerings in the Studios which did not receive any other new show for the festival (different from the Disneyland Park next door). In fact the studios are even to loose a show as according to current reports the Stars’n'Cars is to be transformed into a “regular” Disney parade experience while the show on the Production Courtyard Stage (which was part of the streetacular so far) will be cut as the area could not provide enough good viewing spots for the ever growing number of guests that have arrived with the expansion of the park in the past years.
But back to the new addition on Backlot – “Meet the Disney Stars”. This interactive musical character experience features a number of selected characters, including Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Stitch, as well as the stars of Toy Story, Ratatouille and The Incredibles according to a first report from the premiere by Characters Photos Blog on facebook. They are driven out onto the backlot by car several times daily to meet with guests, sign autographs and pose for photos. As InsideDLParis reports currently the experience is scheduled for 10.45, 12.15, 13.15, 15.30, and 16.45.
As can be seen in the photos posted by Characters Photos Blog on facebook the car used to bring the characters in is the same one that has been used in the past as pre-parade car for Donald during the original Wonderful World of Disney Parade in the Disneyland Park as well as as the first float of the Cinema Parade in the Studios holding the most recent characters featured in the park. For its new use the car got once again redecorated complete with a new logo for the experience – but fans will recognize it for sure…
Tags: Characters, Disney Magical Moments, Entertainment, Magical Moments, Magical Moments Festival, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Studios Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park
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Saturday, May 21st, 2011
The refurbishment of Sleeping Beauty Castle at the heart of the Isneyland Park is making huge progress over the last few days. As can be seen in the photos all scaffold on the front facade of the castle has disappeared in the meantime – including the scaffolding in front of the arcades to the right of the castle. However, as a close up shows there is still some work to be done to some parts of the latter. Note how fresh and pristine the refurbished part looks and how worn down in comparison the columns of the arcade closer to the camera.
However, this should require only a rather fast touchup job. Just take a look at the impressive effect of the new coating on the detailed stone work on the back side of the castle facing toward the Snow White area.
With the scaffolding completely down on the front the waterfall to the left of the castle has been turned back on again as well. However, work is not fully finished and painters can be seen working on e castle from a crane at times.also not all turrets are finished yet, even so another white (i.e. primed) roof top has received is final blue color in the meantime. Those turrets still missing are supposed to receive a golden roof top.
Meanwhile the work on the back facade facing into Fantasyland is making visible progress as well – the first scaffolding is already coming down again here!
Photos by InsideDLParis
Tags: Castle, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Park, Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, refurbishment, rehab, Sleeping Beauty Castle
Posted in Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort Paris | 1 Comment »
Saturday, May 21st, 2011
As was announced yesterday via the official Twitter account of the resort the park’s original coaster, Big Thunder Mountain, is reopening to guests today.
The coaster had been closed after an accident on Easter Monday (April 25) to allow for the investigation b the authorities involving part of the scenery on the final lift hill of the ride (the Earthquake scene) falling onto the train and in the later course of the ride injuring 5 guests).
However, it seems that the resort also used the imposed downtime to start early with the rehab scheduled from the beginning of May till the coming weekend during which the mountain was to be cleaned and spruced up wit fresh paint. So the coaster can now return to regular operation a week earlier than originally scheduled.
Tags: Big Thunder Mountain, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Park, Frontierland
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Thursday, May 19th, 2011
As mentioned a couple of days ago the Orbitron at Discoveryland is undergoing a big rehab that includes a complete dismantling of the attractions main center piece. Now we can show you a new update where the whole ride system is taken down leaving a bare space at Discoveryland. There are only the decorative globes still standing behind the green fences. It will be a while before guests will see the Orbitron go back up. While it didn’t take Disney to long to remove the attraction, they will take the time to make sure the ride is looking at its best when it returns somewhere at the end of June.
Photo by InsideDLParis
Tags: Discoveryland, Disney, Disneyland, Orbitron, Paris, Park, rehab, Theme
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Thursday, May 19th, 2011
Disney has released artwork related for the newest Dark Ride with the Ratatouille theme planned for the Walt Disney Studios in Paris. The plan to add a Ratatouille Dark ride was not a big secret, especially when Toy Story Playland opened and showed some early integrated Ratatouille decorations showing a sculpture of Gusteau, the chef in the Ratatouille movie. This sculpture has been hidden by Disney shortly after, but you can still see Remy on the Benches in front of the gateway where the sculpture is.
The artwork and plans where found by Disney Central Plaza when visiting Chessy City Hall where construction permits can be viewed by the general public. One of the pictures shows a colorful facade that will be used to hide the big attraction building. The facade looks like typical buildings found in Paris with a cafe/restaurant facade that could be the entrance of the new restaurant for this area. The Ratatouille entrance can be seen on the right hand side of the artwork. A nice water feature is set for the middle of the area.
The two other pictures are blueprints. The first one showing the location of the new dark ride building very well. You can see the big footprint of the building behind Toy Story Playland and right next to the costuming building.
The second blueprint shows some interesting things. First of all you can see the big facade, including some covered pathways that are expected to be covered queue area’s for the new Ratatouille dark ride attraction. You can clearly see that the building used as facades will have 4 floors and although Disney might be using there forced perspective to make the buildings appear taller it will still be a big facade. Looking at the building behind that facade we can see it even go higher up. Could this be an indication that the dark ride will not only be big, but could cover multiple levels inside the building? What other reason could there be to have such a high building?
Plans have been approved to build the premises but Disney is still waiting for one important thing before they can start to build and set an targeted opening date. Disney need to get the agreement from the banks for the money needed to build this new attraction. If this gets green lighted we might see an opening set for 2013.
Pictures from Disney Central Plaza. You can also see the pictures on our partner site forum.
Tags: Art, Artwork, attraction, Bleuprints, Blueprint, Dark Ride, Disney, Disneyland, Imagineer, Imagineers, Paris, Ratatouille, Remy, Studios, Walt
Posted in Walt Disney Studios | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 16th, 2011
It’s Monday morning … and to start off the week we got an update of various refurbishment projects inside Disneyland Park courtesy of InsideDLParis for you. Let’s start off deep in Fantasyland … where the scaffolding around the Old Mill has gone up another few meters and is now hjiding the full height of the building – only the weather vane is still peaking over it.
Just a few steps further along the pathway leading away from it’s a small world (where the former post-show pavilion is still closed for it’s transformation into a Princess Meet’n'Greet / photo location) another rehab has come to a fast end and the Unbirthday tea party table has returned to the photo location in front of Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. The table and the decorations, cups and more all look shiny and new again. A closer Look will reveal one important change, though: the cups, in which rain water collected when the table was installed in April are now featuring little holes for the water to drain.
The refurbishment of the castle continues, with the front of the main strucutre now free off all scaffolding, but the scaffolding still reaching into the sky on it’s back.
On to the final stop of today’s rehab update program: Orbitron in Discoveryland. As reported the various decorational elements turning when the ride is in motion as well as the arms with all rockets have been dismantled, leaving only the bare center element standing with it’s mechanical interior revealed to see (over the green cosntruction fence) – as can be seen in the photo above taken from the entrance into Discoveryland.
Photos by InsideDLParis
Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Alice's Curious Labyrinth, Discoveryland, Disney Magical Moments, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Park, Fantasyland, Magical Moments, Magical Moments Festival, Old Mill, Orbitron, refurbishment, rehab
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The upgrade of the photo set are not the only changes to the Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop area. In addition the floor under the actual ride has been redone. The park had to learn during the past winter season that the chosen paint resulted in the floor turning extremly slippery when wet. Therefore black plastic mats had to be placed over it as a temporary solution during the winter season to allow for continued operation. According to InsideDLParis the floor was now redone (as seen in the photo on the left) and is supposed to be no longer as dangerously slippery when wet as in the past, so that the black mats could be taken out for good.
