2014: A huge year for Disneyland Paris

When looking back at 2013, it almost seems as if it was all build up to this mega year that we have just entered. We know that the big thing on the radar is the Ratatouille attraction in the summer. But that's not all, there is a great sense of optimism for the year that lies ahead. So, what can we look forward to?

LEGO Store
After almost six months since Hollywood Pictures closed in Disney Village, it's almost time for the new store to open in its place. The store suffered a number of setbacks including the incredibly unfortunate roof collapse, but now it's almost ready. In the coming days or weeks the launch will happen to the press, and guests will be discovering a new product range in perhaps the most unique store in Disney Village. Famous Disney scenes will be depicted in LEGO in this, the largest of the European LEGO stores.
It's a small addition, but one that is very welcome in Disney Village and will be immensely popular - Let's look forward to welcoming them to the Disneyland Paris family.

Spring Time
It might come as no surprise that there is no yearly celebration this year something that hasn't happened since the 15th anniversary seven years ago. So, after the usual low season after Christmas, what will be in the parks? Well, according to the current rumours we'll be seeing the return of the Festival des Fleurs from April until July. This festival could see some famous Disney scenes in a flower form, but one thing is certain, the park will look stunning with the flowers. I've always been a great admirer of the work that the Disney gardeners do, I just know we won't be let down by this. Prepare to be amazed.


Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy

Obviously this is the major pull of the upcoming year, this is why you'll be booking trips over there. The latest images from InsideDLParis show an incredible facade being created in La Place de Rémy as it's been called in the French press release (but not in the English release). Aside from this new trackless ride that will be unique in the world, the new land will feature a restaurant Bistrot Chez Rémy and a shop Chez Marianne Souvenirs de Paris. The restaurant should open at the same time as the attraction, whereas the shop will be a little later in the Autumn and will offer a unique style of restaurant (as detailed in this article from Dedicated to DLP). 




Halloween & Christmas
Naturally, as of yet there is no news on these, but if they keep expanding at the rate they have been these last couple of years, I'm expecting big things from them both. Even if Christmas doesn't change much, I'll be very content. These seasons are becoming a staple of the end of year in Disneyland Paris. I cannot wait to see what they come up with this year. 

And so, there we have it.  That's a brief overview of the fantastic things to come to Disneyland Paris this year. Get your seat belts on, it's going to be one heck of a ride. 
Coming up soon: I'll share my wishes for 2014 at Disneyland Paris.

 

Continue

2013: A year of pure Disney magic.

It's over, 2013 has left us and we are now in a brand new year. But wow, what a year it was. It was the year that Disneyland Paris told us that they were building a ride, they even named it. It was a year where exceptional events just happened, and as one event ended, an even more magical one began. There wasn't even time to ponder what would happen next.
So, let's take a look back at those past 12 months.

The year began in a reasonably quiet way, February saw the introduction of the Aristocats to the Disneyland Paris character line up with a spectacular unveiling on February 14th in a special cavalcade that ran twice in the day (Rain cancelled one of the scheduled three showings). This was followed by a weekend of character couples in Disneyland Park - but that was not all. That weekend also saw the inaugural LNB (Ligue national du basket) Leaders Cup take place in the Disney Events Arena in Disney Village, the contest which involved a number of the top French basketball teams competing in a series of knock out matches involved a few Disney touches, each match was covered live on French Sport channel Sport+ which was also shown in the Sports Bar, and saw a special celebration seeing Disney Village open until 2am in the morning. This event was hugely popular and 2014 sees a new round of matches taking place.

The end of March 2013 saw the launch of the 20th Anniversary extended celebrations, this involved a fashion show, Light'Ear launch and two new scenes added to Disney Dreams! (The Lion King and Brave replacing The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins). The ears looked beautiful when every member of the audience was wearing them, but the public would need to wait until June in order to try them out for themselves.

Then came along April which was another quiet month. May saw the Disney Dreamers Everywhere event, a series of private meet and greets were held for a special group of guests in all the Disney parks across the world - a special event indeed.  Despite the main attractions being invite only, regular day guests could meet the rare characters during the day at their special photo location. Characters in Disneyland Paris included Clara Cluck, Darkwing Duck and more.

Not too much happened in June other than the Toad Hall restaurant re-opening after a period of refurbishment, the restaurant was immensely improved. The end of the month saw the closure of Hollywood pictures in order to make way for the LEGO store. 

July saw Parcorama publish a blog about the deteriorating state of Disneyland Paris and launched a petition to Bob Iger to improve the state of things at our beloved Parisian resort. The petition reached the required number of signatures and was sent to the Walt Disney Company in Burbank amongst a high level of media attention across Europe. We also began to learn more about the Halloween festival and Christmas.

In August we learnt that the special Disney Dreams of Christmas would be a show in its own right, and would take elements from the new Disney Animation Studios film Frozen. We learnt that we'd be getting a new Christmas tree, and a new lighting ceremony that wouldn't involve characters.

September was perhaps the biggest month of the year for Disneyland Paris in 2013. The 20th Anniversary reached its conclusion, and Disneyland Paris held a What's New, What's Next event in which hotel refurbishments and new merchandising was introduced to a assembled mix of the Disneyland Paris fan websites and blogs. Ratatouille: L'Avenure Totalement Toquée de Rémy was unveiled as the Ratatouille attraction name, as well as a piece of artwork unveiled.

In October, the Halloween season was launched in Disneyland Paris which involved a new cavalcade, some new decorations and new character opportunities, this was widely regarded as a huge success for the resort. The new Disneyland Paris website was launched, which offered a cleaner design, new features and a mobile version of the site.

November was the launch of the most extensive Christmas celebrations to date, decorations from the previous year were extended and new decorations added. A beautiful new Christmas tree was unveiled with a fantastic lighting ceremony which could be viewed as a 360 degree spectacle. The big finish was a new version of Disney Dreams! named Disney Dreams of Christmas featuring Olaf, Frozen, Toy Story and many classic tales.

And that's it for Disneyland Paris 2013, it was a wonderful year, more news than action but this coming year will see many new features heading to our resort - and I for one can't wait.

Continue

Happy New Year to all our readers!

2013 has been a fascinating year for both Disneyland Paris (a review of the year article is to come very soon!) and DLP Town Square. One of the things that is so good about entering a new year is that it gives us a chance to reflect on the year that has just passed and to give thanks for it.
And so, to everyone who has supported DLP Town Square since July 4th 2013, a massive Thank You. When I signed up for the twitter account, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now, I have over 600 followers on Twitter, thousands of website views and a great deal of new friends. You've taken this ride with me, and I thank you for that.

So what's next with DLP Town Square? Well, since July I've been working on a new website for the blog. In a few days the migration will begin in earnest and I'll be entering a private test phase. Hopefully, by the middle of the month the new site will be online. Until then, it's business as usual.


So once again, I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year. - Thanks for all your support, it means a lot to me.

DLP Town Square

www.dlptownsquare.com
@dlptownsquare

Continue

L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy Press Release

It's January 1st, and so we are officially in the year that Ratatouille opens! And so, Disneyland Paris have released this press release (that is currently on every Disneyland Paris fansite out there).
-------------------------------------
The world of Ratatouille comes to Disneyland Paris in 2014
Next summer, Disneyland Paris will unveil a major new attraction and mini-land inspired by the Oscar-winning Disney•Pixar film Ratatouille. The film, directed by Brad Bird, tells the tale of Rémy, a young rat who has amazing talents in the kitchen and dreams of one day becoming a great chef. This leads to a fun but perilous journey that eventually lands him as the head chef of one of the most famous restaurants in Paris. Now Rémy has arrived at Walt Disney Studios Park to share his culinary delights and crazy adventures with the entire family. 
On the attraction Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy*, guests will shrink down to the size of a rat and join Rémy and his friends as they scurry through the kitchen, dining room, and walls of Gusteau’s famous Parisian restaurant, all the while trying to avoid the nemesis from the film, Chef Skinner. This first of its kind Disney attraction will immerse guests into an animated world like never before as they experience what it’s like to be a rat in a human sized world.
The attraction is located in a new corner of Toon Studio that’s been transformed into a Ratatouille-inspired version of the City of Light. In addition to the attraction, this mini-land also features a shop, Chez Marianne Souvenirs de Paris**, and a rat-scale themed table service restaurant, Bistrot Chez Rémy*. The restaurant, which is the only one of its kind across Disney Parks worldwide, is directly adjacent to the attraction and serves the “little chef’s” famous dish, ratatouille. 
After Crush’s Coaster, Cars Race Rally and Toy Story Playland, Ratatouille will be the fourth attraction at the Walt Disney Studios Park inspired by a Disney•Pixar film. Disneyland Paris will once again combine its narration skills with state-of-the-art technology to offer the best possible experience. 
Next summer, join us for Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, only at Walt Disney Studios Park, Disneyland Paris.
 
-------------------------------------

This year, you can experience the ride and restaurant THIS SUMMER and the shop, a little later THIS AUTUMN. And there is even more to look forward to that will continue to be unveiled over time. So this summer, you'll be able to stroll a Parisian street just metres away from being shrunk to the size of a toy, and a few more metres away from riding the East Australian Current. Not bad huh?

All that remains to say in this, the first post of 2014, is a huge Happy New Year!

Continue

Pins heading your way in 2014. (Picutres included)

A couple of weeks ago, Disneyland Paris hosted their end of year pin trading event, as usual it was a chance to preview some of the fantastic new pins on the way in 2014. (Unlike at the Summer event, where the art work said 2014, but they were mostly released in the Autumn). Thanks to Disneyland Paris pin trading facebook pin trading pages, we can show you a few of these pins. Overall, the pins this coming year are very promising, and have two very clear themes: Dreams! and Paris. Paris is going to be everywhere in Disneyland Paris this year, and why not? Not every Disney Park can celebrate being that close to one of the world's most beautiful cities.

 Let's begin with what is, for me, the stars of the show. The wonderful attractions pins from 2013 return and get even better. We've already seen the release of the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster pin in December, January sees the release of the Pirates of the Caribbean, Tower of Terror and Crush's Coaster pin. Coming up are some even more amazing pins, Big Thunder Mountain, Alice's Curious Labyrinth, Blanche Neige et les sept nains and Flying Carpets over Agrabah. All of these are essential to my collection, what about yours? I know these have gone down very well with Disneyland Paris fans, which means we are perhaps likely to see even more after this.

 

Next up, are the Cast Member refresh pins, these are pins given to Cast Members wearing a lanyard with the aim of giving them to guests through pin trades. A good set this year, I really like the Sheriff Woody badge and the Flynn Rider pin. 

The next set of pins are of a Minnie Mouse dots theme, these are super stylish and could even be described as 'Parisian chic' beginning a bit of a Parisian year for Disneyland Paris.

So, this is the first set of true Parisian pins which are in the style of the Paris metro, they look fantastic and keep very much in the traditional Parisian style. Characters are featured from films including Aristocats, Hunchback of Notre Dame and 101 Dalmatians.

More Parisian pins here, this time in the form of Eiffel Towers, these are Eiffel towers with a very subtle Disney twist, the tip of the tower is made out of a Mickey head. Very nice design, a wide variety of Patterns, I'm sure most people will see at least one that they like. (I'm rather fond of the Cheshire Cat and Mickey ones).

From Paris to America now (with a little Union Flag to keep the British happy?). These pins look 'ok'. The idea is nice, the execution is ok. I really don't like the big rectangle shape one featuring Mickey and the three flags. On the other hand, the Main Street USA circular pin really catches my eye.

And Disneyland Paris come out with a new set which I really must own. These look very similar in style to the Dreams pin that came out last May, so I imagine these will be ever so slightly 3D. I really like them, that Rapunzel is going to be hard to find though!

And the Disney Store set continues here with two pins that are going to be park exclusives. The crazy nature of the Disney Store sales means that I won't be buying these - but good luck to those who do.

Finally, the Valentines Day pin for this year which features the Queen of Hearts (get it? It's funny.) I really like it, it's a pin on pin. It's going to look fantastic in real life.

So, what are your opinions on the 2014 releases that we've seen? Obviously this isn't all of them, but from what we can see, 2014 is a bright year in pin trading. All of the pins have artistic merit.  I can't wait to see more and add some of these to my collection.

Continue

Pin Releases - January 2014

We're heading towards the final week of the year, and so it's time for another new pin trading poster. And it's good news all round, this month sees some absolutely fantastic pins!

Saturday 4th January really is a bumper pin day in Disneyland Paris with no less than 7 pins released.
The first of which is a Paris limited edition piece featuring Quasimodo in front of Notre Dame, this is a nice looking pin, but is perhaps a slight bit underwhelming compared to the rest of the weeks releases. Another Hunchback pin will be released on the same day as the Disney Store's website collection continues over in Disneyland Paris (making completing the set for the majority of Europeans a much more difficult task - and a move I'm really not fond of). The pin itself is rather nice and features perhaps one of the most beautiful scenes of the Dreams! show. This will be very highly sought after. The final limited edition pin of the month is actually last month's Happy New Year pin, which will actually be released in the New Year - a move which makes a lot of sense.
The attractions collection continues for a second month with three stunning pins depicting Pirates of the Caribbean, Crush's Coaster and the Tower of Terror. Collectors will be pleased to see this beautiful collection continue to evolve. The final pin to be released on the 4th January is the traditional yearly sorcerer Mickey pin. One I'm sure many of you will be adding to your collection.

Saturday 11th January sees a Mickey and Minnie chef pin being released, excellently timed for the Ratatouille themed ride later in the year.

Finally Saturday 25th January sees the continuation of the Good Luck/Bad Luck series that we have seen been released over the last six months or so. These pins have not proven to be the most popular despite their rather nice design.

Overall, a fantastic month for pins, and I can honestly say that it is a month in which I would buy all the pins given the opportunity. 2014 seems set to be a fantastic year for pins. See our preview of what's to come later in the week.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Continue

Save Town Square Photography!

One of the things that was confirmed during the What's New, What's Next event that took place in Disneyland Paris in September 2013 was that Main Street USA was to get a complete refurbishment. Disneyland Paris fans rejoiced at those words; the down side of that announcement was that Town Square Photography was to be completely ripped out and would start life again as a brand new store.  The new store Flora's Boutique will be designed as a Parisian boutique selling the resorts range of Paris merchandise.

So goodbye Eddie Sotto's Town Square Photography that has delighted Disneyland Paris, and photography fans for over twenty years, and hello a new boutique. A French group named ED92 - Pour un retour aux standards et aux valeurs de 1992 à DLP (ED92 - For a return of the standards of values of 1992 at Disneyland Paris) have started a campaign to save this store  - A campaign that I wholeheartedly endorse. Has photography evolved within the past twenty-one years? Beyond recognition. Walt Disney himself once stated that Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world. However, one could argue that Main Street is almost a museum, it is a memory of the past and whilst yes, it can evolve. Should that be at the price of one of the best pieces of imagineering in existence? In the past that Main Street seeks to represent, these types of photography stores will have existed, and thrived. Town Square photography contains phones in which you may listen to conversations, old photography devices, and Eddie Sotto's office. 

I'm not arguing that the store needs to change it's product line, I'm arguing that it should not be at the expense of beautiful themeing. Take Main Street Motors, it's a beautiful shop - but does not sell cars. There is a real risk that we are about to lose something quite beautiful. Disneyland Paris is not a museum, but it does (to some extent) represent the past, and can educate youth as to what a turn of the century town will have looked like.  Let's not lose that. 

How can you support this action? - By joining the facebook event

As a rule, I tend to avoid posting about these sorts of petitions. I believe that this store represents the best of Disneyland Park, and would not like that to change. 

Continue