Tuesday, 16th October 2007

Hooray for the Hollywood hills! (and more…)

It can be said a thousand times more — stepping out of Disney Studio 1 to see the Hollywood placemaking couldn’t be a more different view to the lone Studio Tram Tour billboard if they tried…

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Last October, fans were well prepared for a Tower of Terror sans area development, standing alone at the heart of the park. Luckily, someone stood up and dared to suggest — “shouldn’t we try to squeeze a little more budget?”, and as if by magic, less than one year later, the Hollywood hills have arrived…

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The first piece of the boulevard’s “backdrop” stands on the exact location of the old Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic entrance, using a design identical to the ‘Cadillac Range’ backdrop at Cars Quatre Roues Rallye to hold its vision of lush green vegetation, two palm trees standing either side of the tunnel below.

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The tunnel, even, has turned out to be rather a surprise. Not at all in the two-dimensional style expected by most, it’s a fully-sculpted 3D entrance with details at its centre matching those of the new Hollywood buildings enclosing La Terrasse.

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The more two-dimensional developments also have their details, above the three separate signs placed on what can now be considered a hotel, department store and apartments building. As mentioned previously, Los Feliz was the location of the very first Disney Bros Studio, whilst Larchmont and Ivar have no clear connection to Disney but are certainly well-known Hollywood names.

The above photos from 6th October 2007, jump forward to this weekend just passed — Sunday 14th October to be precise — and the Hollywood hills are looking very much complete:

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Photo: Kyoto, Disneymagicinteractive.com

The hills appear very true to their real-life form, relatively flat on top with a small collection of trees to the left of the Hollywood sign. The hills, combined with the forced perspective of the buildings, certainly have a distant, towering effect on the development, bridging the gap between both sides of the street and closing off the rear of the park. From its hub, the park now immediately feels far more enclosed.

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Photo: Kyoto, Disneymagicinteractive.com

Looking closer at the hills, your eyes may take some time to decide whether the four/five elements here are indeed flat backdrops or actually real. Without the fake blue skies of the backdrops seen at Disney’s California Adventure, or the hand-painted style of many Disney-MGM Studios backdrops, the Hollywood hills appear more photo-realistic, again matching the qualities of the Cars background.

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Photo: EricLovesTZTOT, Disneycentralplaza.com

Stepping to the far side of the street starts to break the illusion the series of elaborate sets gives. The photo above is the first to show the hills together with the tunnel entrance, this portion of the boulevard appearing to thankfully have just the right balance between three dimensions and two. Notice also the forced-perspective awning of the Los Feliz Hotel, which extends into the street a little.

Now, what’s going on elsewhere on the boulevard?

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Well, Paris’ version of DCA’s “Off the Page” store entrance has a completed facade and work now starting on its inner archway. The completely redesigned new version of MGM’s “Sweet Success” facade appears the same as our previous update (at least above the fences), with no signage yet. Progress can, however, be seen at that old favourite — La Terrasse — where, finally, a colour scheme appears to have been settled upon, grey with brighter turqoise/green details.

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Photo: Kyoto, Disneymagicinteractive.com

The facade of “Gone Hollywood” should become a popular new icon and photo location for the park, realised in full 3D and now moving ahead fast with turquoise art deco details and brown window framings. The park’s new version of DCA’s “La Brea Carpets” set is currently covered in scaffolding and tarp, like much of “Gone Hollywood”, making progress checks a little hard at this point.

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Finally, an important new detail which sprang up relatively unnoticed — the new home of the park’s tips board! It’s due to be a wooden/concrete canopy with tiled roof almost identical to the tips board shelter at Disney-MGM Studios. The basic framework and roof is already in place, as seen above. The park’s recently-updated art deco tips board will simply be moved across to sit underneath this new Californian-styled structure.

Photos with great thanks to Kyoto, EricLovesTZTOT and Photos Magiques.

Saturday, 13th October 2007

Corbin Bleu to visit Walt Disney Studios this Monday

In what seems like a rather dangerous publicity stunt, Disneyland Resort Paris have taken the initative to announce Corbin’s appearance in advance via their official 15th Anniversary Blog. Seeing the startling commotion from fans young and old when the High School Musical 2 stars appeared at London’s O2 Arena last month, they’d better be preparing for a record day at Walt Disney Studios Park.

Corbin won’t simply be making a single appearance for the cameras this time either, oh no. According to the blog, he was due to spend a few hours at the resort (and no doubt the Disney Channel Television Studios which are located within Walt Disney Studios) on 15th October to publicise the premiere of High School Musical 2 in France. But, that’s just not good enough for a cool guy like Corbin.

Instead, guests at the park will be able to see him stroll the park, star in the parade and even appear in 2007’s final performance of High School Musical On Tour

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The blog announces that from 10am onwards Corbin will be exploring the park and specifically enjoying the two new attractions — Cars Quatre Roues Rallye and Crush’s Coaster — which he “has promised to try out”.

Then, at 1.15pm, when the drum roll begins and the booming announcements introduce Disney Cinema Parade, you’ll be able to see Corbin as a special guest star with the entire cast of High School Musical On Tour!

Finally, the sad moment arrives with the final performance of High School Musical On Tour for 2007. Yes, that’s right — the show won’t end tomorrow on 14th October 2007 as previously announced. One, final “encore” performance will take place at 2.30pm on Monday, featuring none other than Corbin Bleu himself.

No doubt the audio/visual crews of Disneyland Resort Paris will be out in full force to capture this entirely unique day in the 15th Anniversary celebrations, and we’ll try to bring you everything they capture as soon as possible.

If you’re visiting the park on Monday, or have taken the wild decision to skip work, cancel all plans and head over to Disneyland Resort Paris just from this announcement — expect a blockbuster day.

Tuesday, 9th October 2007

Woody’s Roundup right here, today!

In what must be the quickest blue-sky-rumour to open-for-guests attraction turnaround in Disney history, the redevelopment of Frontierland’s old Critter Corral lost its green construction walls and opened for guests this past weekend on 6th October, less than three months from when the walls first arrived.

In that time, we’ve seen two new, wooden buildings constructed to enclose the central square, a sharply-pitched roof joining the two and a third construction creating a raised platform in the middle of the area. On a minimal available budget and in practically no time at all, it seems Disneyland Park is already ready to present a brand new Frontierland attraction, the first since 1996…

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Woody’s Roundup! And isn’t that just the most rootinest, tootinest attraction logo around?

Recreating the logo seen in the film Toy Story 2, for the 1950s children’s television series which Woody discovers he was once the star of, the new signage sits on a support of a horseshoe standing in two cowboy boots — very much the style old-fashioned Wild West humour, as seen elsewhere in Thunder Mesa on posters and notices and other imagery. Woody cowboy hats rest either side, telling us this is where the “rootinest tootinest cowboy around” comes to relax. The letters of “Woody’s” are made in 3D as if styled from rope.

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Yes, here it is, the Pixar cowboy-themed area predicted and promised by magicforum and DLRP Today for several months (or with this construction timescale — weeks), the first areas of Woody’s Roundup are already open!

With the Father Christmas Village the only use for the redeveloped area confirmed by the resort so far, it’s a surprise to see this attraction logo installed so soon and the area already fulfilling its new purpose, albeit with an impressive Halloween theme.

The roofs of the new buildings (now a Halloween workshop to replace that usually in Central Plaza’s Giant Pumpkin) are decorated with small pumpkins at their peaks and corners, whilst the area beyond the roundup, around the small grassy slope at the rear of the Roundup, has been filled with all kinds of Halloween props…

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Amongst Pumpkin Men in various poses and some props from last year’s FantaStitch Stage decoration, there seems to be a resurgence in the number of traditional and/or real pumpkins in this year’s Halloween decorations, in addition to the oversized false ones.

However, after so many years of Disney’s Halloween Festival, it’s hard for us to keep track of what’s actually new in these lavish overlays. Some things, on the other hand, are simply confusing on their own…

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Back over at the Roundup village, the Halloween workshops are presented alongside the main attraction of the redeveloped area… the meet ‘n’ greets.

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New signage displays the times Woody and Jessie, the two main members of the Roundup Gang, will arrive from their Frontier adventures to meet the fans in their real-life home.

The signage again uses the Pixar-designed logo, which thankfully stands very well amongst the rest of Frontierland — a rather sacred ground for the average Disneyland Resort Paris fan. The wooden pole is wrapped with rope for an extra touch of theme.

The idea of the area is very much like Toon Town — or Toon Studio, for that matter — with a Western theme. Whilst we won’t get a true idea of what the Roundup will offer until next year when its Halloween and Christmas uses have passed, guests can already step up onto the new raised platform in the middle of the area to meet the characters against a backdrop of the cowboy village.

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Unfortunately for his many fans, the third member of the Roundup Gang — Bullseye — is not currently scheduled to make appearances.

Whilst you’re in the area, you can’t fail to notice the brand new area loop which has been introduced, the first new loop at Disneyland Park for quite some time. Featuring the classic song “Woody’s Roundup” itself along with many others from The Riders in the Sky‘s album Woody’s Roundup – A Rootin’ Tootin’ Collection of Woody’s Favourite Songs which was released with the film back in 1999.

The buildings all have classic Frontierland-style lanterns hanging from their roofs, as seen across the land, plus a mixture of wooden-tiled and metal roofs. The two new buildings come fitted with windows to keep out Paris’ unfriendly climate. More horseshoes across the wooden (or in some cases, such as roof supports — faux wooden) supports to continue the theme of the entrance signage.

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However, as these latest pictures by Photos Magiques show, the Roundup still has much space left to be used and more final details and developments to be completed. The covered animal stables and enclosures remain empty and the Woodcarver’s Workshop remains closed.

The changeover to the much-advertised Father Christmas Village should no doubt bring more completion to the overall area, likely then giving it a feel similar to the stage set of the Mickey’s Winter Wonderland show across the path. It is not confirmed whether the Woody’s Roundup characters and signage will be removed during this event, but it’s certainly possible Woody could be heading into the sunset — temporarily — just one month after he arrived.

All photos by Photos Magiques; You can see even more from Halloween here »

Sunday, 7th October 2007

Tower landscaped, christened, freed from scaffolding…

Our friends at Photos Magiques bring us the latest photos from The Hollywood Tower Hotel…

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From outside Walt Disney Studios Park, the view we’ve waited over five years to see is finally there. “The Hollywood Tower Hotel” looming on the horizon, partnered with the Earffel Tower.

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The neon signage was installed back in July, before “The Hollywood Tower” was turned to sit in its final position in September. It was only last Thursday, 4th October 2007, that the final word — “Hotel” — was turned and the Tower officially christened.

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This hasn’t been the only signage to be completed on the exterior. Back at ground level, next to the developing Hollywood Boulevard, the Fastpass structure was recently completed with all its art deco details and classicaly-styled “Fastpass Tickets” text. Coinciding well with the refurbishment of all the Fastpass machines at Disneyland Park, the Tower’s are set to be themed as piles of luggage, as in California.

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The entire exterior of the attraction above ground level is now pretty much complete. Scaffolding has been entirely removed since the signage and purple “lightning blast” was completed. As it turns out, the purple paint effect appears just as intense as its Californian sister, despite early appearances suggesting it may be a little less heavy.

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Work now continues around the ground level developments of the faux hotel complex, not to mention on the heavy detailing which is going into the interior — as with parts of the exterior, early word suggests much of the themeing has been completed to a higher standard than the budget-tightened Californian version.

The final balconies have been installed on the front of the hotel, paintwork completed around the entrance and Tower Hotel Gifts boutique, and — most noticable of all — landscaping has begun behind the fences…

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At the heart of the park and with more space and money to work with than at Disney’s California Adventure, the gardens and greenery surrounding the Parisian version of the attraction are already much more developed and expansive. The area to the left of the attraction which was previously an empty grass lawn has been absorbed into the hotel grounds and filled with conifer trees similar to those found throughout the real Hollywood Hills of California.

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Last, but most certainly not least — testing has begun. The sight which Disney fans in Anaheim enjoyed for countless months in early 2004 has finally arrived in Paris — the very first elevator drops, taking place throughout the day. Spend a while in Production Courtyard and you might just notice the doors on the front of the hotel “ping” open and a doomed elevator car plunge into the Twilight Zone.

A french fan, ice0ice, posted the following video on Dailymotion:

Ladies and gentlemen, the Tower of Terror is here.

All photos by Photos Magiques; dated 6th October 2007. Video by ice0ice.

Sunday, 7th October 2007

Oh happy day! First official trailer for ‘The Celebration Continues’

The trailer has been published online by Parisian post-production company nightshift, labelled ‘Disney Big Time’ and running for around 2 minutes, it comprises a series of footage and graphics introducing the extended celebration and its main attractions, set largely to the gospel choir song “Oh Happy Day”.

You can watch the trailer in Flash format here, before we take a shot-by-shot look at what they’ve created…

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“The 15th anniversary celebrations… Extended by popular demand” reads the first graphics sequence, against a deep red background of ’15’ logos and the words ‘Big Time’, which is used throughout the trailer.

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The the familiar 15th Anniversary anthem music of “Flying”, we’re reminded of the launch campaign for the 15th and its events so far through footage and, later, still images cut together at split-second overlaps, building to the grand finale…

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…of the original television campaign, where a family watched the illumination of the Castle’s decorations. The music here suddenly dips, the footage seeming entirely separate to the new publicity campaign which follows.

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A round of slow clapping, illuminating more stars againt the red background each time, eventually builds to a full applause and the full, sparkling ’15’ symbol seen on Disneyland Park’s LED banners.

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As pre-recorded applause continues, the words “The party continues… big time” and “Ready for even more… Happy Days?” appear on screen.

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As the title song fades in, the screen dissolves to black…

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…And we’re introduced to a young girl, squinting in the sunlight on the Central Plaza stage, swaying her head from side to side and tightening her face as she reaches for the first notes of the song. Mickey clicks his fingers next to her…

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…Before a man appears on screen to sing the opening “Oh Happy Day!”, shaking pixie dust from his fingers.

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The same man then appears in a rather barren shot stood before The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, still shaking his fingers, with the first of three large letter effects used to introduce this “New Attraction”. The construction walls are painted over digitally with a plain yellow wall, whilst a neat effect of thunder and lightning fills the sky above The Hollywood Tower Hotel.

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The shot is soon filled with the other members of the “family” who appear from behind him, as a “bellhop” leans in to give a menacing stare to the camera. The costume used here is actually that seen in the video introductions of Disneyland15.com — the actual bellhops have much darker outfits with plentiful ‘HTH’ branding.

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The logo for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror appears on-screen with a starry black background.

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Then, still to the words of “Oh Happy Days”, we’re shown a selection of footage from the terrifying, faster-than-gravity freefall of the Tower of Terror…

Continued on Page 2.

Sunday, 7th October 2007

Stitch Live logo takes on television conventions

Bursting onto the screen with a “swoosh” amid an array of stars, the logo for Stitch Live is a surprising departure from the sail of Pirates of the Caribbean, the plaque of Phantom Manor or the storybook of Le Pays des Contes de Fées. It animates with the blue trail spiralling onto the screen, uses the modern (and widely available) Cooper Black font for the word ‘Live’ and shines with a white glow moving left-to-right across the word ‘Stitch’.

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Whilst the logo used for the ‘Stitch Encounter’ original at Hong Kong Disneyland is thoroughly “Tomorrowland” and even the logo seen on the first Paris concept art was more along the lines of Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, the inspiration for this final logo is clearly taken straight from the title cards of television talk shows and light entertainment programmes.

It’s cheap, it’s slightly cheesy — it’s everything we wouldn’t want an attraction logo to be, under normal circumstances.

But this is Stitch Live, where the “living character” concept has finally found a more natural environment in the guise of a faux chat show. Pre-opening texts from Disneyland Resort Paris already show that Walt Disney Imagineering are keeping the television studio theme of the previous walk-through attraction — even expanding it, since now guests will get to take part and interview Stitch, rather than gazing from a distance into the real, tedious world of television.

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The logo comes from a trailer posted in the portfolio of post-production company nightshift, which has been comissioned to create advertisements and footage to promote the extended 15th Anniversary. The trailer also features Stitch running through Front Lot, with some brief footage from inside the Hong Kong attraction following.

Whilst the attraction was previously hardly mentioned by the resort, it has recently taken a much more prominent placement in advertising, promoted as a “New Experience” and even a “world-first”. Not quite, but “European-first” is still impressive.

Friday, 5th October 2007

England rugby team make headlines for Disneyland

Disneyland Resort Paris has a long and interesting history of sporting star appearances in Disneyland Park. From the several Tour de France events to Michael Schumacher’s unforgettable “test drive” along Main Street in a Formula 1 car. With 2007’s Rugby World Cup hosted by France, the chance has arisen once again for a little more good publicity.

The South Africa team visited Disneyland Park only a few weeks ago, as reported by the official 15th Anniversary blog, with some rather more local sporting giants quick to follow this weekend…

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The players who visited the park with their families posed for photos at an organised shoot in front of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, however the usual welcome from Mickey Mouse apparently wasn’t given — a mouse next to rugby players may not have been the ideal match, afterall. Disney’s best opponent for the team was instead the Beast, Belle by his side. (Just don’t tell the team they’re French.)

The visit couldn’t have come at a better time for Disneyland, providing an interesting story for the newspapers as they reported the previous Friday’s win against Tonga early this week. As if guaranteeing the park’s mention in reports about the team, their ride on Big Thunder Mountain turned out to be a little different to most, as The Sun reported:

Rugby squad left high and try

THE England rugby squad got stuck up a ROLLERCOASTER when they celebrated a victory at Disneyland Paris.

Players went to the theme park after beating Tonga.

But the Thunder Mountain ride ground to a halt for 15 minutes halfway up a climb.Ace Jonny Wilkinson said: ‘I was convinced it was just designed to scare us. We intend that to be the last technical hitch at this World Cup.’

A Disneyland spokesman said: ‘We stopped the ride to let them board. That caused it to go out-of-sync so we had to do safety checks.’

It was The Times this Monday which gave the most amount of coverage to the squad’s Disneyland visit, however, going so far as to fill half of the newspaper’s back page with a photo of players on Big Thunder Mountain.

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Inside, a column written by player Jonny Wilkinson himself gives more details about the visit (with a surprising enthusiasm for the park, from a rugby player) and another large photo. The Big Thunder Mountain technical problems are also explained:

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“That brief lull on Saturday was spent at EuroDisney, which the boys — wives and kids on board — really enjoyed, and the irrepressible Lewis Moody so enjoying himself that we weren’t sure if the rest he took was because of sheer exhaustion or a recurrence of the headache sustained in action against Tonga the night before.

“The most memorable moment, though, was when we had a large number of the England team, plus assorted family members, all sitting on a rollercoaster that got stuck halfway up a climb. I was convinced this was just an element of a typical fairground ride designed to scare us, although, after about 15 minutes of sitting there, I had to concede that mayber there was a more deep-seated problem after all.

“On getting back to the ground, we were amused to learn that this was actually our fault and that we had loaded up too slowly. Suffice to say, we intent that to be the last technical hitch in our side at this World Cup.”

Overall, an excellent week of publicity for the resort in the British press. The only downside to these features in The Times was the use of ‘EuroDisney’ rather than ‘Disneyland Resort Paris’, but then the chances of finding a DLRP fan who’s also a sports journalist are probably close to zero, right?

Photos/pages from The Times and DailyMail.co.uk

Thursday, 4th October 2007

15th Anniversary EXTENDED… “en grande!”

The confirmation comes not from Disneyland Resort Paris themselves but a third-party travel company, Thomas Cook. Their latest UK brochure, released just last week, continues to put the 15th Anniversary logos and promotions at the heart of its pages, despite the edition serving trip planning as far in advance as December 2008.

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Brochures such as these primarily use images, logos and texts provided by Disneyland Resort Paris themselves, and so the official texts and taglines of the extended 15th Anniversary are also revealed already. With a double page dedicated to the events, the introduction reads:

15th Anniversary… Celebration Continues

Party on… the anniversary celebrations continue… Big time!

Disneyland Resort Paris is celebrating its 15th anniversary with the biggest party ever and you’re invited! It’s a celebration work celebrating even longer so they have extended it for 2008!

For French promotions the tagline is expected to use the words “En Grande!”, whilst English promotions have to settle for the rather less “grand” wording of — “The 15th Anniversary Celebration continues… big time!” The words “big time!” are to be featured throughout the texts and promotions.

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The second page features a large visual for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, with the tagline “Drop In If You Dare” included above the Tower. As previously reported, confirmation of the ‘Stitch Live‘ name is given with a brief description of the experience, whilst High School Musical On Tour is now given a prominent placement at the request of Disneyland Resort Paris, following its exceptional guest satisfaction and feedback in the parks.

Elsewhere in the new brochure, official images show Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade, Disney Characters’ Express and Toon Studio in their final, realised forms for the first time.

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Also of note is the small amount of information given for Summer 2008 — with a photo of the spectacular 15th Anniversary launch fireworks, the text reads simply “…and for our grand finale, fireworks that’ll make a great day even more magical. It’s a summer worth celebrating… big time!”. With no mention of the ‘Wishes‘ name or even photography of the show, a return for 2008 looks very unlikely. In addition to this probable change of ‘feux d’artifice’, the Summer season is slated to run longer than it has for many years, dates confirmed as 5th July to 31st August!

The official brochure for the next Spring/Summer season is due to be released as usual in around December of this year, whilst additional advertisements and promos will announce the extention online and through media such as Disney DVDs.

An official closing date of the 15th Anniversary is now no longer confirmed — it could well be that the resort will be fast approaching its 17th year when the final pieces of the 15th are removed! It looks like Disneyland Resort Paris really hit the… “big time!” with this idea.

Brochure images © Thomas Cook/Disney; Scanned by DLRP Today.

Thursday, 4th October 2007

Pin Trading October 2007 releases

Saturday 6th October 2007

Starter Kit Christmas 2007
Reference number 209411008000
Price 19.90 Euros

Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade – Dreams of Romance LE Pin
Reference number 209401007017
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Pin Trading Night

Please note that the next Pin Trading Night will be in the Disney’s Sequoia Lodge Hotel from 6.00pm on Friday 19th October.

Saturday 20th October 2007

Baby Marie Pin
Reference number 209401007138
Price 6.00 Euros

Baby Lady (Lady & the Tramp) Pin
Reference number 209401007139
Price 6.00 Euros

Mickey Halloween LE Pin
Reference number 209501008000
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.50 Euros

Tinkerbell Halloween LE Pin
Reference number 209501008001
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.50 Euros

Saturday 27th October 2007

Retrospective 1999 LE Pin
Reference number 209501007045
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Retrospective 2000 LE Pin
Reference number 209501007051
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 10.90 Euros

Maleficent Halloween Limited Edition Plus Pin
Reference number 209501008002
Limited Edition 900 ex.
Price 11.90 Euros

Tuesday, 25th September 2007

Hollywood Tower accessorised with the art of Paris

The 14th issue of ‘Envie de +’ magazine is now making its way to Annual Passport (AP) holders across Europe, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror a significant feature. Refreshingly, the editors are obviously well aware that Annual Passport holders will already know a great deal about The Hollywood Tower Hotel.

In the age of the internet and with two years of construction passed, the spotlight is given not to a plain introduction of the elevator thrills (though this does have a brief feature) but to the art and accessories of the pre-show areas, many of which will apparently be more local than you might expect.

Those less fanatical AP holders who’ve searched for “La Tour de la Terreur” online might have stumbled upon the remarkably similar Californian predecessor — a version of the attraction which the folks in Paris (both Imagineering and marketing) now seem determined to trump.

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Part of the Tower of Terror feature. Scan: narindra, DisneyCentralPlaza forum.

The feature “Quand l’Accessoire est essentiel” (When accessories are everything) features an interview with Imagineer David Fimbault, head of scenic decoration on the epic project. With the not-at-all-overly-confident introduction of “Attendance about to beat all records?”, the article says “Don’t fear!” because “Here is a waiting line where you won’t waste time — the scenes of the pre-show are as much a part of the attraction as the elevator drop itself.”

The Californian edition of the attraction also had a similar focus on its details and pre-show accessories (in the lobby, library video rooms and boiler rooms) upon opening, many of which were chosen to relate directly to specific episodes of The Twilight Zone television show itself. Here, David describes the hunt for a second set of brand new accessories, described as “a work of precision orchestrated by a true artist.” The Studios won’t know what has hit it…

INTERVIEW

All the artifacts we’ll see, are they from the period?

Absolutely, with the exception of a few Art Deco furnishings which were made to measure. All of these pieces are unique, they served their purpose through the 1930s and 40s and nowadays are the prize of collectors.

Where did you unearth these rare pieces?

Primarily in Paris. From the antique dealers comfortably positioned in the Quartier du Louvre to other, more popular dealers which we found at Puces. [An antiques fair in Saint-Ouen, North of Paris] Hunting for antiques is a grand adventure. I soon discovered my greatest finds would be in the most incongruous of places — an artists’ squat, a British factory about to be closed by its owner…

How did you go about creating a more eerie atmosphere?

It’s the combination of a multitude of details which give the general feeling. The mise en scène [production design], the lighting, a combination… All of it comes together. Of course some artifacts speak for themselves. For example, the bronze animals you’ll find the Library are quite frightening. Just as are the African masks or Asian statues — aquired from specialists in these antiques — which seem to reaffirm that there are secrets, supernatural feelings.

What makes this French Tower distinctive?

Even though the Pueblo Art Deco style is mostly inspired by the Californian attraction, the decoration, the accessories, are very different, because these are all unique pieces. We are lucky enough to have a fabulous art market in France and across Europe. We have found many authentic treasures, without ever falling into kitsch, bad taste. And then, there are also the hidden details — for example, among the books of the Library you’ll find several famous French authors, and along the shelves, the objets d’art sit amongst the books. It’s a kind of creative disorder, typically Mediterreanean.

Do any of the objects have a particularly interesting history?

They all have their history. The tea service in the lobby, the leather-binded books in the library, the antique telephone in the boiler room… I think also of the pairs of shoes from the period bought in a children’s size, to give the impression of perspective in the corridor which opens during the elevator ride. It was such a pleasure to make these discoveries.

Translation by DLRP TODAY; with thanks to narindra of DCP forum for scanning the magazine!

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