Late last week we were informed about a change to the current test of the PREMIUM FastPass concept of the Disneyland Resort Paris - an additional sales location! BHaving limited the number of PREMIUM FastPasses to be sold per day to just 160 the resort management had limited itself to just one sales location: the guest service / concierge counter inside the Disneyland Hotel. The assumption was that first of all guests of the most luxurious (and most expensive) hotel of the Disneyland Paris would be interested in buying the add-on to skip lines at all FastPass equipped attractions as often as they want per day (at the price of EUR 80.00 per person). However, as of last week (for the last days of the original planned test period till August 4) the PREMIUM FastPass was also on sale at the guest service / concierge desk in Disney’s Newport Bay Club! This could be interpreted in a way that they may have been unable to sell enough PREMIUM FastPass in the Disneyland Hotel (where guests of the suites and the Castle Club already receive various types of extra FastPass privileges included in their package) and are now trying to see whether there is interested from guests staying in the other Disney Hotels. However, it could also have been planned to add additional sales locations later in the test…
Archive for the ‘Disneyland Park’ Category
Popularity of the PREMIUM FastPass
Monday, August 3rd, 2009Construction FINISHED
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009Three of the resort’s ongoing construction / rehab projects have finally been finished nearly half-way through the summer season in the past days. In the Disneyland Park the scaffolding has come down around the Plaza Gardens Restaurant, giving guests of the buffet restaurant once again the opportunity to look out on the gardens during the meal while guests walking around Central Plaza can see the sun reflecting in the shiny shingles of the once again all pretty facade. Also finished is the rehab of the columns along the facade of the Annual Passport office just a few meters further up at the border between Discoveryland and Fantasyland.
The third finished project can be found in the Walt Disney Studios Park, where the small structure added in front of the Disney Channel building has been revealed as another merchandise kiosk offeriing a small assortment of products, including High School Musical themed items, such as Mickey and Minnie plush in East High basketball respectively cheerleader outfits. The new kiosk seems to reflect the new color scheme that the current rehab is adding to the Disney Channel building. The yellowish color is still the main color, but in addition to the blue / green accents (in the cas eof th kiosk in the form of neon lights) also red art deco accents have been added.
Did you hear about Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show?
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Did you? It is now featuring Mickey and Friends! If you visited the Disneyland Resort Paris sometime since this spring you should have noticed as the resort is pushing the dinner show with posters, flyers and announcements (e.g. on the resort tv as well as the screens in the lobby of the hotels) heavily. In addition the huge screens of Cinema Mickey in the Videopolis are now also used to show an extensive ad for the dinner show once per hour, shortly before a new cycle of the classic Mickey shorts starts (which is always on the hour). (more…)
Small Improvements
Monday, July 27th, 2009
One of the most congested areas in all of Disneyland Paris on most days is the walkway right in front of the entrance to Big Thunder Mountain in Frontierland. With the addition of the FastPass machines next to it this congestion in the past years became even worse, as guests debatting whether to enter the regular stand-by line for the attraction were joined by the crowds forming around the entrance to the FastPass machines to obtain their FastPass tickets to bypass the long lines for the ride on run-away-mine-train. But a small change realized at the beginning of this year’s summer season has allevated the situation considerably. With a rope the entrance to the FastPass distributing machines has been re-routed, resulting in the queue for the machines not to extent toward the attractions regular entrance but into the opposite direction. (more…)
Is it Christmas already?
Sunday, July 26th, 2009
That is the question some guests may ask themselves when browsing through the Disney Gallery in the Disney Village, where right next to the items of the current sale the first displays of new merchandise for the Christmas Season 2009 have been added. However, then most guests will only visit the resort and its shops only once in a couple of years so offering the popular christmas merchandise year round has always been a concept – even so usually the christmas merchandise used to be limited to the year round christmas shop inside Sleeping Beauty Castle until shortly before the actual Christmas Season begins in early November. (more…)
Yellow no more & more new merchandise
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
For decades Disney parks around the world were swarmed by guests in bright yellow ponchos on rainy days looking from the air as if swarms of giant bees were bussing around the park in the rain. But in the recent years the US-resorts replaced the bright yellow plastic ponchos with clear (see through) plastic ponchos. And now the Disneyland Resort Paris is following this trend.
While for 2007 and 2008 the resort ordered yellow ponchos with large 15th anniversary logos (that are still on sale in some shops in the resort) now the first deliveries of new clear (see through) plastic ponchos have arrived and are on sale e.g. in some shops on the Main Street, U.S.A., on rainy days. The new ponchos also feature a new logo featuring only the name “Disneyland Paris” with the “A” in the two words being formed by a drawing of the Eiffel Tower. (more…)
Contactless Payment tested
Friday, July 24th, 2009When the French financial institute Crédit Mutuel announced that it had become one of the Official Partners of the Disneyland Resort Paris earlier this year it also stated that it would eventually (amongst others) “propose innovative payment alternatives to the resort visitors“. At the time no further information was available but now the resort and Crédit Mutuel have revealed the (maybe only first?) “innovative payment” system to be offered to (selected) guests in the resort: a contactless payment system! (more…)
UP has blown into the Studios & Disneyland
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Disney Pixar’s UP is ready to return to France (after its official premier at this spring’s film festival in Cannes) July 29 when it opens nation-wide in cinemas. By then it is the first European country that opens the movie as in most other countries the movie will only arrive in cinemas in late September, in some even only at the end of October (when France will already be looking forward to the DVD release currently scheduled for November 29, 2009). However, as always the Disneyland Resort Paris is ahead of everyone else and things take flight (literally) already! (more…)
Walt Disney at Phantom Manor
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
As has been covered already on the Mousekingdom Blog The Walt Disney Family Museum will open coming October in San Francisco, California, giving guests a unique look at the man who started it all – Walt Disney. Housed in three historic building specifically redesigned and upgraded to state-of-the-art facilities in the heart of the Presidio (part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area of the National Park Service) the museum will display more than1,600 drawings, works of art and other items telling the story of Walt’s life, from his childhood days in Marceline, Missouri all the way to the top of the world of Hollywood, certainly also covering his contributions that helped revolutionize animation and forever changed the film industry and family entertainment.
Where the museum plans to set itself apart from many exhibitions and works in other media covering Walt Disney is by telling “the story of the man behind the myth in Disney’ own voice and in exhibits that reveal his expansive vision, from early drawings of some of his most popular characters to plans for Disneyland and EPCOT” … and certainly by way of the unique items on display. To increase anticipation of the museum’s opening a weekly press release featuring a unique look into different galleries and exhibits of the museum has been launched. If you are interested check out the Mousekingdom Blog for the first installment (and certainly the following installments). That first sneak peek covers the very first gallery to be encountered in the museum which covers the very early year of Walt’s life from 1901 to 1923.
As interesting as the man and the myth Walt Disney is and as relevant as he certainly is to Disneyland Resort Paris one could wonder why this post here in the DLP.info News & Rumors Blog – just because the resort is paying tribute to Walt Disney itself in “Walt’s – An American Restaurant” and to some degrees inside Lilly’s the boutique next door named for his wife?
No, the reason is actually the photo illustrating this article that was provided by the museum as part of the first sneak peek into the gallery of Walt’s early years. But where is the connection of that photo to the Disneyland Resort Paris? Need a hint? Take a look at the title of the post again - really (more…)
The Mystery of the Invisible Pigeons
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
The crew preparing the Hyperion airship in the hangar in Discoveryland for its next big expedition to the top of the world packed already various expedition gear that guests can see anchored to the outside of the cabin – including boxes with life (audioanimatronic) pigeons, that can ben seen moving their heads in the boxes and can be heared from below the airship as well (as seen in the stock photo).
However, guests venturing in the area right now might be surprised to hear the pigeons calling out (as usually) but not being able to see any pigeons, as these have disappeared… have they flown out? Did a mysterious power make them invisible? Nobody knows – but for the time being they are gone. However, this is not the first time this is happening – similar strange occurances were also reported in 2001.
