Santa Claus Village

November 5th, 2011 by Dirk

It is already a tradition that Woody’s Roundup Village on the Cottonwood Creek Ranch is transformed into a real winter wonderland aka “Santa Claus Village” for the holiday season. By Thursday the area had already been covered in snow and the snowmen had been placed on the hill at the far end of the area adding some holiday spirit visible also from aboard the Disneyland Railroad.


In the past years guests could find Santa Claus’ post office at the village as well as the workshop of his elves and the opportunity to meet Santa Claus in the second building. At the same time the two static photo sets featuring Bullseye (Woody’s horse) respectively Stinky Pete in his box (both from the Disney Pixar Toy Story movies) remained unchanged.
However, as a new surprise for this holiday season both former unchanged photo sets are undergoing a wintery transformation as well adding some extra holiday cheer for guests, in particular also adding the opportunity to take a souvenir photo in a unique setting without waiting in the line for the meet’n'greet with Santa Claus.

What will the two new photo sets look like? As of Thursday both sets were still worked upon and hidden from view by black clothes (as can be seen for the former Stinky Pete set in the photo on the right). In other words: guests will have to wait until the official start of the holiday season to learn more.

As can be seen in the photos as well the closure Woody’s Roundup Village in the recent months allowed not only for some early preparations of the interior of the buildings for the holiday season. In addition the paint crews moved in and repainted some of the buildings in a brighter red share to cheer up the area a bit more as well.

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Best Halloween Decoration 2011

November 4th, 2011 by Steffi

During the Halloween season 2011 many guests of Disneyland Paris were rather surprised by the scope of Halloween decorations in the Disneyland Park – or rather the lack of these decorations. Where in the past the whole main Street, U.S.A. was taken over by the pumpkin men and Frontierland was transformed into Halloweenland the decorations were far and in between this year. In addition to the Halloween set on the Castle Stage, some pumpkins on Town Square and Central Plaza only the entrances to some selected shops as well as the selected displays in these shops featured (limited) decorations. The immediate result: a significant number of complaints were filed about the lack of decorations with the cast members at City Hall.

Unfortunately the majority of guests missed the most impressive Halloween decorations of the seasons, as only the guests of the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show got treated to those. When entering the pre-show area the decorations started rather subtle with some spider’ webs, while around the next corner a complete cemetery had been set up. Guests had to wlak through the spooky atmosphere, right across the cemetery with tombs (including one of a certain „Van Helsing“) while like large spiders sat in the corners and bats hang in the trees. Once guests had found their way through this spooky set complete with mystic fogs and strange lighting guests found a photo set with a witch’s cauldron and a stone throne.

To further improve the Halloween atmosphere selected cast members in the pre-show area as well as some of the indians and rodeo clowns in the show featured creepy make up. In the show itself the Headless Horseman featured as a special guests in one scene.

 

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Another Strike … at the Vienna International Magic Circus Hotel

November 4th, 2011 by Dirk

From Saturday, October 29, until Wednesday, November 2, the strike of various unions among the cabin crew of Air France got the attention of the international press and quite a few Disney fans trying to travel to Disneyland Paris for the Halloween festivities. Those not staying at one of the 7 Disney Hotels but the Vienna International Magic Circus Hotel at Val de France (the former Holiday Inn) got the special experience of being treated to yet another strike once they arrived at their hotel.

At least on Sunday and Monday striking employees supported by their union cgt positioned themselves in front of the hotel. While the impact on service was minimal or non-existent for guests, those with rooms facing toward the front of the hotel couldn’t miss the strike. The employees made their presence recognized with drums, horns and other noisemakers. However, the strike apparently ended by Tuesday.

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Big Thunder Mountain Re-Opens

November 1st, 2011 by Andy de Maertelaere

It might come as a little surprise, but it’s one that will have made many fans and Disneyland guests happy; Big Thunder Mountain opened again on Halloween day.

The re-opening happened less then a week after the accident where one of the carts was derailed. It was expected that an internal investigation, to see what had happened and to find solutions to avoid this from happening again, would take longer before guests could enter the mines again.

Once the attraction opened on October 31st it didn’t take long for the it to fill up as queues formed immediately. The attraction’s queue quickly stretched over the one hour mark within 5 minutes after it opened and FastPass was gone only a couple of hours later. Everything on the attraction was working fine (except for the moving rock) and guest can again enjoy this popular attraction.

Job well done by Disney for making the attraction ready and accessible again after such a short down time.

For those going to Disneyland Paris soon; Enjoy your journey on the “Wildest ride in the wilderness”.

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Big Thunder Mountain Derailed (Update)

October 30th, 2011 by Andy de Maertelaere

On Thursday 27th of October Big Thunder Mountain derailed (See previous news). Here are a couple of updates on the accident we got from people inside the park. The train derailed just before the second lift hill. It was one of the middle cars that went of the track forcing some of the other cars to bash into each other in an harmonica way. There where two minor injuries during the accident. The first one was a man who had some back problems after the incident (as mentioned in the first report) and the second was a girl who hurt her knee.

Big Thunder Mountain will remain closed for further investigation. This results in an deserted area as with the closure of the attraction people don’t go to the back of Frontierland anymore.

Visit our facebook page to see some pictures on the Big Thunder Mountain area

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Big Thunder Mountain Derailed

October 28th, 2011 by Andy de Maertelaere

In an unfortunate event the Roller coaster Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland Paris has derailed on the evening of Thursday 27th October. The incident happened around 19:40 when the last car of a train derailed. The accident happened on a straight piece of track at low speed and therefore luckily nobody was seriously injured. However, according to some news sites, one young boy was taken away in shock, while one other rider had some back complaints.

The attraction will remain close for inspection until further notice. While this might be a minor incident, most probably because of a malfunction on the undercarriage and wheels, it is important to determent the cause before the ride will re-open.

Unfortunately this is the second accident within 6 months. The last accident dates back April 25th where an unrelated incident injured several riders. With a second incident so close together we expect Disney to take some time to have a serious look at the attraction before re-opening. We will try to follow up on the news, investigation and re-opening dates.

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Sand Everywhere

September 1st, 2011 by Andy de Maertelaere

We talked about it on the DLP news blog (Sand Sculptures Festival opens), showed it on the Mousekingdom Blog (opening Night, More Sand) and even gave away some prizes for it; the Sand Sculpture festival from Blankenberge in Belgium themed after Disneyland Paris. The Belgium edition is coming to a close this month but it has been a success story for the artists as well as for Disney. Disney is so impressed that they are thinking about bringing it to Disneyland Paris next year during the 20th celebration of the park, a perfect time to add this special event. The success in Belgium was gigantic with well over 200.000 visitors breaking every record from previous years. Taking this event to Paris would be an instant success for the park and Disney. The team of the Belgium event, Francis Vandendorpe and Alexander Deman, have been talking to Angela Bliss and Yves Boulanger from Disneyland Paris. The Talks are going very well and it looks like a green light for the project isn’t far away.

But that’s not all they have been talking about. Belgium had another Disney visitor, Craig Dezern, from the Florida parks, Walt Disney World. They are also interested in the event. More about this event on Mousekingdom Blog.

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Will Sales Tax Hurt Disney Ticket Prices?

September 1st, 2011 by Andy de Maertelaere

Going to Disneyland Paris isn’t cheap with a 2 days/2 parks ticket already surpassing the 100 Euro mark but prices could skyrocket even higher once the sales tax in the industry will change from 5,5% to a 19,6% high. This sales taxes increase was announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy last week as part of measures to reduce the country’s deficit and to help retaining the country’s AAA credit rating. While Disneyland Paris seems busier than ever before with record attendance numbers, this increase could hurt the resort as an increase of this measure will not go unnoticed. 

 His announcement comes at a crucial time for operator Euro Disney, as it is hoping to attract bumper crowds next year for the 20th anniversary of its Paris theme park. (source This is Money UK)

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Deetailor’s Mission 11|04: Rectangular Sunset

August 10th, 2011 by Stefan

See all of Deetailor’s missions: Click here.

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Rolling, Rolling, Rolling…

August 5th, 2011 by Andy de Maertelaere

It wasn’t long ago that the “ice rink” at the back entrance of the New York hotel was in fact an… ice rink. But there have been some changes at the ice ring.

Since the 1st of July (yes, we are a little late with the news) Disney has started with a new attraction where guests can step into a rolling “bulles” and run around the ring. They advertise it with “Come and try new sensations on Rockefeller Plaza’s Rink”.

Guest will have 10 minutes the time to enjoy the run inside the big blow up ball for 10 Euro.

This attraction is open for guests as from 3 years old. The attraction is open from 6pm to 11:30pm and will run until September 30. Disney did put a warning on the poster that the attraction may be suspended without prior notice, notably in case of inclement weather conditions.

 

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