Exactly one year ago this week, DLRP Today rounded up all the rumours surrounding the move of Disney Stars & Motor Cars Parade from Disney-MGM Studios in Florida to our very own Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris. But in fact, those rumours stretched all the way back to January 2006.

Today, with the Florida park now going by the name of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Walt Disney World fan podcast WDW Today has scored an exciting exclusive not just for their own fans, but for Disneyland Resort Paris too.

In an interview with Walt Disney World’s producer for special events and projects, Thomas Tryon — the man charged with bringing Block Party Bash over from California, we can finally hear the first ever official confirmation to the public that Disney Stars & Motor Cars Parade is heading to Paris.

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You can listen to the podcast below (or download the mp3 here). The interview fills the entire broadcast and Thomas’ confirmation and information about Walt Disney Studios Park’s future parade comes around 8 minutes in:

On how they chose California’s Block Party Bash as the parade to be moved:

“It’s a part of a new strategy that we’ve been looking at for Disney parks in general, to allow us, when we have such a great product, to say — let’s extend the life of that particular show or product by moving it to another location and getting more use out of it. So this is a part of an overall strategy, really focusing on parades, to say — how can we transfer those assets and use them in multiple places, since we know they’re successful creatively, we know they’re successful with the guests — let’s get as much out of that as we can, so that more guests get to experience it than those that might just see it in one park in California.

“So that was also a part of the process of decision-making — what kind of strategy do we use to move parades, what are the parks that get connected together, and how is that designed to function? In this case, Disney’s California Adventure was most comparable to the Studio here in Florida, and in the same way Walt Disney Studios in Paris is also comparable.

“So those three parks are working together now. We moved the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade to Paris, and it will be a new parade for them next season …”

Interesting to note beyond this confirmation is the past tense used in Thomas Tryon’s wording here, suggesting the parade has already been moved to Paris — or is at least well on its way.

The confirmation ends months — or years even — of speculation about the Studios’ second parade, because now, it’s no longer speculation — Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade will premiere next season, Spring 2009.

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Keep listening, though. Do you hear what this important Walt Disney World show producer has to say further in? Still about Walt Disney Studios Park, but looking even further ahead than 2009…

“I started working on Pixar Play [Parade], which ultimately ended up working better for California. When we started the discussion, the new parade was going to open here [in Florida] and then move, but because of the changes that were proposed for Disney’s California Adventure they decided it was the right time to put a new parade there and in turn move Block Party here. So we went through a couple different versions of how that could ultimately happen.

“And now Pixar Play [Parade] the intent is that it would be able to move to Paris after it has finished its run in California.”

There we have it — in one quick interview with a Walt Disney World official, it seems the next two new parades for Walt Disney Studios Park have been confirmed.

Next year we will definitely be welcoming Disney Stars & Motor Cars Parade, and then, at some point further into the future (at least two or three years, we would imagine), California’s brand new Pixar Play Parade is hoping to head across the Atlantic to Paris as its replacement.

Now, let’s just hope no-one has their eyes on Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade…!

[Podcast from WDWToday.comclick here to subscribe or listen.]

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