Rewind: 15th Anniversary

You're invited. As simple as that, one of Disneyland Paris's biggest ever advertising campaigns had begun promising a year of celebration like no other. The fifth anniversary was celebrated by a 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' style celebration, the 10th was marked by a whole new Disney park opening. But none of these really made a big point about 'celebration'. For the 15th anniversary this was all to change, not only would we celebrate like never before, we'd enjoy no less than four new attractions, a new parade, new character experiences and new shows. The red carpet was rolled out, the castle decorated. The party was set to begin, and how best to announce the start of a party? With a evening extravaganza filled of wonder, music and Disney friends. (Video: DLRP magic)

 The launch was one of Disneyland Paris's most star-studded to date featuring performances from Daniel Powter before the opening of the celebrations to guests the next day by Miley Cyrus from the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.

2007 was a bumper year for new entertainment in Disneyland Resort Paris starting with a brand new parade, Disney's Once upon a dream parade, running from 2007 until 2012. Each all-new float was given a name relating to the themes it represented such as 'Dreams of Power', which featured the Disney villains. Whilst the theme song for the anniversary was 'Just like we dreamed it', each float of the parade featured its own soundtrack, a soundtrack that can still currently be purchased within the resort on the 'Les parades en musique' CD. (Video: DLRP Magic!)

In addition to the traditional daily parade, Disney characters could also be seen, for the first time, on the Disney Characters Express train, which took place on the Casey Jr. float from The Wonderful World of Disney parade. The soundtrack to this mini-parade, Tous en Train, was entirely new to Disneyland Paris having previously been performed at Tokyo Disneyland. For 6 years this parade has allowed guests to meet their favourite Disney characters, some incarnations the characters have been randomly selected (such as the 15th Anniversary version), others will see the same characters each day (Disney's 20th Anniversary Celebration train), for those 6 years, this has been one of the most popular daily entertainments in Disneyland Paris. (Video: DLRP Magic!)

Perhaps one of the more strange parades seen in Disneyland Paris during its history is 'Alphabet you are!', which, according to this DLRP Today! post towards the end of its run in 2007, often scored high of guest satisfaction. The premise of this mini-parade was simple, every morning letters would dance down Main Street USA spelling out 'Disneyland', each letter had a unique Disney character spin on them. (Video: DLRP Magic!)

On top of all the new entertainment, the Tarzan and Lion King stage shows were almost performed multiple times daily (as well as the Walt Disney Studios stage shows).

The big selling point of these celebrations were, of course, the 'new land' featuring two new attractions. Toon Studio opened on 9th June 2007, both Crush's Coaster and Cars: Quatre roues rallye opened at this time.

The Crush's Coaster has become synonymous of long queues and guests, young and old, wait to be part of this rush through the East Australian Current (EAC). This attraction has stroke a perfect balance between the thrills and storyline, as we board a shell and go through the reef where guests find Nemo and Squirt, suddenly guests meet our Shark 'friends' and glide through the EAC whilst spinning 360 degrees, such an attraction is unique to Disneyland Paris.

Cars Quatre Roues Rallye is a more simple attraction based on the world of Radiator Springs, but that certainly doesn't make it any less enjoyable. Guests queue through Flo's admiring the wall displays (which are often humorous) before boarding a car in an experience that is quite similar to the Mad Hatters Tea Cups in Disneyland Park, but perhaps slightly more thrilling.

Main Street USA received decorations in the form of giant banners up the street which lit up at night featuring the 15th Anniversary emblem and one of the 'mascots' of the celebration Lumiere. The biggest change was the classy castle decoration. The lower window being covered over by the 15th emblem and each turret receiving a Disney character holding a candle.

Each night, as Disneyland Park prepared to close it's doors to guests, a special celebration took place in which these candles would magically come to life with a bit of help from Mickey Mouse in a ceremony featuring dancing and characters 'Candellebration'.

In fact, Disneyland Paris extended it's 15th anniversary for an extra 12 months with even more new attractions and shows, it was even marketed as being bigger than the first year with the tagline 'The celebration continues BIG TIME!'. Urgency was added into the marketing from the outset of this extended celebration as the white rabbit holding a pocket watch appeared in the promotional material ensuring we visit the resort before we're 'out of time'.
This second year saw the launch of 'The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror' and Stitch Live! On April 5th 2008, Disneyland Paris inaugurated the Tower of Terror in front of the worlds press in perhaps one of the resorts most impressive attraction openings since Space Mountain. The opening featured a mix of actors and video mapping onto the attraction. (Video by DLRP Magic!)

Despite the April inauguration, this attraction actually opened in December 2007, Stitch Live! however, did open closer to the press event. Stitch Live! allows guests in Disneyland Paris to watch, and become part of, a transmission to outer space; not only that, but guests could actually talk to Stitch. . This attraction is offered in multiple languages and replaced the former Disney Channel Studio Tour, Cast Members working here still wear costumes featuring the Disney Channel logo.
This extended year also saw us wave goodbye to the Disney Cinema parade, but we'd have to wait until March 2009 for Disney's Stars 'n' Cars parade. Disney welcomed in the Enchanted Fireworks which ran from 2008 until 2011 before making room for Disney Dreams!

Overall, Disneyland Paris marked this year impeccably, including to Disneyland Paris fans by launching their blog which featured fantastic inside information. Whilst this blog is unfortunately now offline, fans can still watch the videos on Daily Motion.
The 15th anniversary of Disneyland Paris felt like the party of the decade, and provided the 20th anniversary with a tough act to follow. We hope the party atmosphere returns to Disneyland Paris in four years time for the 25th anniversary!

DLRP Rewind is a feature celebrating Disneyland Paris's past. Thanks for this article go to DLRP Magic! - The Number 1 Disneyland Paris guide website and their impeccable coverage of the 15th anniversary. 

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Top 5 things I've never done

Disneyland Paris fans, we've done the entire resort multiple times right? Wrong. It's quite possible that a few things are missing off on our checklist. Perhaps it is important to have these gaping holes? It gives us reason to return, it gives us 'targets' to work towards beyond the hypothetical 'Wouldn't it be cool if...'. We each have our own personal lists, here is mine.

5: Character Dining
We start off with character dining, and a confession. I have done this before. But I was very young, and to be quite honest I do not remember it. Therefore I'm including it on the list; I am a fan of characters and meet and greets but the (relative) high cost of a character meal and often a long wait to get into them just hasn't managed to grab me at this moment. But perhaps another time, I really like the Café Mickey menu and that of Inventions. Regrettably it won't be happening on this trip, however maybe next time?

4: Walt's: An American Restaurant
Often cited by Disneyland Paris fans as Disneyland Paris's flagship and most beautiful restaurant, Walt's features rooms based on each land featured in Disneyland Park with beautiful artwork, and aerial views of Main Street U.S.A.. I once tried to go to this restaurant, but, unfortunately, it was booked weeks in advance and so I missed out. It has a menu that just sounds wonderful mixing the best of French and American cuisine. I really hope eventually I get into this fantastic restaurant.

3: PanoraMagique
This one is a totally unique experience in Disneyland Paris, the ability to fly above the resort and experience a new dimension to Disneyland Paris. Being outside the parks and at the back end of the Village means this attraction can be easily missed. The walk from the park on day trips (which is what I often do) is just too far for me to justify. However, the current Annual Passport discount means there is a very high chance I finally take flight very soon!

  2: Disneyland Hotel
I imagine that this appears on a the list of more than just me. I, like many, have roamed through the corridors of this hotel, enjoyed the 'Descente sur les marches' and sipped a cocktail in Café Fantasia, but being that close to Disneyland Park, in that magical atmosphere in beautiful rooms. That really is a dream. I'd love to enjoy a night in the Castle Club, but any room here would be one of my Disney dreams come true. 

  1: Space Mountain, Rock 'n' Rollercoaster & Indiana Jones et le temple du péril
What do these three attractions have in common? Loops. I'm quite simply petrified of them and despite the fact that they are seen as the major attractions in the parks, I've still never wanted to ride them. It took me until November 2012 to ride the Tower of Terror (an attraction which I now love). I still remember when riding Pirates of the Caribbean scared the life out of me as we went up that lift (but I obviously overcame that fear as now, this is my ultimate favourite attraction which I will ride multiple times a day). What makes this even more confusing is that my favourite film series is Indiana Jones and the idea of riding a mine cart fills me with all sorts of excitement, much like my Star Wars fan side loves the idea of going to Endor. One day I'll conquer this fear, just like the fear of the Tower of Terror. Until then, there will always be attractions on my list in the two Disney parks I'll never be able to tick off.

What about you? Do you have things you have never done at Disneyland Paris? Perhaps you are local to another Disney Parks resort and haven't done things in your local park(s)? Whatever it is, I'd love to hear from you either as a comment below, or on twitter @dlptownsquare

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2014 Pins revealed! (UPDATED!)

UPDATE 01/01/2014): Despite the  2014 dates, these pins have now mostly been released, for an updated 2014 pin release preview: Click Here
Here at DLP Town Square we are huge pin collectors, and knowing that a large portion of Disney Park fans are pin collectors, we felt we needed to share these new pins! At the Indiana Jones pin trading event yesterday, a few pin sneak peaks were given. Here is what to expect for the rest of 2013 and in 2014. Amongst the big news is that the hugely successful attraction pin series will continue and even extend into lanyards, as well as the 2014 Disney Parks imagery pins.

We start with this good luck / bad luck series, 4 pins will be available in this set which started in July 2013 with the Cinderella pin, it seems that this set could continue until October 2013 with one pin per month. The set is a double sided spinner set with one side depicting an element of good luck in a Disney film (such as Cinderella with the fairy godmother) and another side featuring bad luck (such as Aladdin with Jafar). My personal favourite in this set is the Aladdin pin. This really is a classy set that we love!

Next up is the big news of the event is that the wonderfully designed attraction pins are set to continue into 2014, with the addition (finally!) of an Adventureland pin in the form of Pirates of the Caribbean. We really like this pin, the imagery on these are reasonably 'grown up' and up to present there are not any especially 'adult' pins with a pirates imagery. We then move into the Walt Disney Studios park with another fantastically designed Crush's Coaster pin, the Rock'n'Roller coaster pin looks very much like the one currently on sale. Despite the fact Disneyland Paris has a lot of Tower of Terror pins currently on sale (and most of them very well designed), they have seen fit to release another pin. We are once again fans of this set and cannot wait to add these to our collection!

More princesses! If you like princesses these carriage style pins are beautiful and features the more rarer princesses of Pocahontas and Mulan. It also features the princess branding with Merida, in what is a Disneyland Paris first!

If you are enjoying the current wave of Phantom Manor merchandise, here is yet another to add to your collection. Fans of this classic Disneyland Paris attraction will be wanting to display that Ravenswood Manor wallpaper round their neck with the spooktastic pin collection!

Isn't it crazy that we are already thinking about 2014? Disney Parks across the world usually release various pieces of merchandise with the year visual, Disneyland Paris is no different. I really like the booster set here featuring the year with the various land landmarks, such as the Earful Tower, the Castle, Phantom Manor and Space Mountain. The usual lanyard, Duffy and spinner pins will be released as well. Fans of year merchandise will snap these up. I really like the 2014 visual, however the 2013 visual tops it a little bit in my opinion.

It's 20 years since that familiar 'This is Halloween' song played in our cinemas. This will be celebrated by two rather average open edition pins, however it's that limited edition 20 years pin that has really caught our attention. We love the 20 years visual on the tombstone with Jack peering round the back. Somehow we'll find a way to get this one.

The next two are a slightly lower quality, but still the visual can be seen. Frozen will be given some open edition releases to tie in with the new film.

 No prizes for guessing when this lone ranger pin will be released. Expect this on the August poster.

Overall, the Disneyland Paris pin trading team continues its form of exceptionally strong pin releases that make for great traders in the parks across the world. Tell us what you think by tweeting us @dlptownsquare or commenting below!

We found these on the Disney Central Plaza forum, and were credited to a facebook user, despite our best efforts, we could not find the images of facebook and so cannot credit the images! Please contact me (info@dlptownsquare.com) if these are your images as we would really like to credit you!

UPDATE 22/07/2013, Even more pin news! Pascal Poullain at the Disneyland Paris Pin Trading and Sales facebook group has uploaded even more future pin releases

Let's carry on with these Chef images, these seem quite a random choice for pin releases, but I actually really like them.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Christmas in Disneyland Paris, and this years visuals look stunning. The open edition pins are Chip and Dale, which looks very nice and a Mickey and Minnie in front of a Christmas tree (not too dissimilar to last years offering). We get our usual lanyard which is a bit busier than last year, but looks nice enough. A Duffy open edition pin, and a Tinkerbell limited edition pin continue the celebration, and our usual booster pack with various characters rounds off this christmas pack.

A small summary of the Duffy pins so far, nothing we've not seen previously here, except the Halloween Duffy which I really do like.

The Disney marketing machine really is in overdrive. We've already seen Frozen and Lone Ranger pins, here is a planes pin....

...and here's a Violetta pin (a new addition to the Disney Channel family according to @plazagardens).

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Debate: Celebrating national holidays at Disneyland Paris

Version en Français en bas.
For some years now, Disneyland Paris has put on extravagant celebrations for the national holidays of St. Davids and St. Patricks day, as well as for the annual bonfire night celebration. Compared to these holidays, the national holiday of France is the least well observed, passing with a simple five minute firework display.
St. Patricks day was marked by Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale in a Irish dress as well as short shows featuring traditional Irish dancing and music (despite the pipe band being from Scotland!). Disney Magic on Parade was extended with a pre-parade and the day ended with a spectacular firework show using Disney Dreams! projection technology and Disney music with a Irish touch. Disney Village also featured a few Irish themed shows in Billy Bobs.
St. Davids Day was marked by a Welsh market in Disney Village, whilst Disneyland Park featured similar events to its Irish cousin, such as the characters in Welsh dress, a pre-parade and fireworks.
We were particularly impressed by Bonfire Night in Disney Village, which was an impressive twenty minute firework display around Lake Disney directly following Disney Dreams! There is no doubt that Disneyland Paris celebrates these nationals holidays very well, most likely to attract these guests to the resort.

However, Bastille Day (14th July) is not particularly celebrated in Disneyland Paris. Bastille Day is essentially the French national holiday in celebration of the storming of the Bastille prison. For the last few years the only sign of it being celebrated in the park is the five minute firework display, without Dreams! projections set to traditional French music (Such as Boum! by Charles Trenet). In the United States, Disney World and Disneyland celebrate their national holiday with limited edition merchandise, a pre-parade, street decorations and an extraordinary firework spectacular! Would these Disney Parks get away with not celebrating Independence Day? American guests would not accept such an oversight by Disney parks management.

 

Video: Disney Central Plaza

So why was the 14th July not celebrated? Perhaps due to the parks already hitting capacity every year on the holiday and so Disney management has decided not to add more so as not to attract even more guests. Perhaps as Disneyland Paris is close to the major celebrations in Paris and the celebrations taking place in every town and village across the country (including those just 10km from the parks), management decided that putting on 'traditionally French' events was not worth the expense. What is certain is that a 14th July celebration could be done reasonably cheaply by involving the Disney Music Days program with local schools to perform on stages across the park. The local community would make the day feel more special, and Disneyland Paris betters its community relations. This scenario really is a win-win.

What is your opinions on national holidays in the Disneyland Paris parks? Perhaps you are reading from a country where you would like your national day celebrated? Tweet @dlptownsquare or comment below.

Thanks to @CafeFantasia @parcorama and @dedicatedtodlp who started this debate on twitter and inspired me to write this article. Go follow them, they tweet fantastic Disneyland Paris content each day!

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Français

Depuis plusieurs années, Disneyland Paris a observé des fêtes nationales de la Saint David, Saint Patrick, mais aussi Bonfire Night. Par rapport aux fêtes anglo-saxonnes, la fête nationale de la France est la moins observée, marqué par un feu d'artifice d'une duration de cinq minutes. La fête de la Saint Patrick était marqué par Mickey, Minnie, Tic et Tac avec ses déguisement Irlandais, les spectacles Irlandais comme la danse traditionnelle et musique traditionnelle (malgré les musiciens écossais). La magie Disney en Parade était prolongé avec une pre-parade Irlandais et la fin de cette journée magique était des feux extraordinaires avec la téchnologie de Disney Dream! et la musique Disney avec le 'Irish touch'. En plus Disney Village avait des animations Irelandais, nottament en Billy Bobs Country Western Saloon.

La fête de la Saint David était marqué par un marché gallois en Disney Village. Disneyland Park était similaire à sa cousine Irlandaise. Les personnages Disney était dans ses déguisement gallois, une pre-parade et des feux-artifices.
Nous étions impressionnés par les feux de "Bonfire Night'" en Disney Village après Disney Dream! Sans doute les fêtes nationales anglo-saxonnes sont très bien recu en Disneyland Paris, probablement d'attirer ses guests au resort.

La fête nationale du 14 juillet est célébrée avec très peu de choses. La seule animation de la fête est le feu d'artifice de cinq minutes sans projections de Disney Dream! avec des musiques classiques françaises (comme Boum! de Charles Trenet). Aux États-Unis, Disney World et Disneyland fêtent leur fête nationale avec des marchandises en édition limitée, un pre-parade, une main Street décorée par leur drapeau et des feux d'artifice extraordinaire! Et si les parcs américains ont laissé le 4 juillet sans animations? Les guests n'acceptèrent pas une telle omission par la direction.

Mais quelle est la raison pour la non-celebration du 14 juillet? Peut-être c'est parce que les parcs ont déjà aux capacités chaque année pour la fête nationale et la direction ont décidé de ne pas ajouté les animations pour ne pas attirer bien plus des guests aux parcs. Peut-être c'est parce que Disneyland Paris est pres des grands évenements de Paris et les celebrations qui ont lieu dans chaque ville en France (les villes au moins de 10 km au parc inclus!), la direction ont décidé que les spectacles "traditionnellement français" ne méritent pas la dépense.
Ce qui est certain est que le 14 juillet pourrait être pas si cher que la fête de la Saint Patrick et Saint David, par la participation de Disney Music Days avec les écoles locales en utilisant les scènes au parc. La collectivité locale pourrait bénéficier, et Disneyland Paris pourrait améliorer son rapport avec les collectivités locales. Il n'y a que des gagnants avec ce scénario.

Alors, qu'est que vous pensez? Quelles sont vos opinions des fêtes nationales aux parcs Disney? Peut-être vous voulez votre fête national celebret en Disneyland Paris? Envoyez-nous un tweet @dlptownsquare et lassez-nous un commentaire.

Merci d'avoir lu notre article en Français! Nous espérons qu'il n'y a pas trop des fautes grammaticales! On va faire des articles en français de temps-en-temps, ils seront signifiés sur notre page d'accueil.

Merci à @CafeFantasia @parcorama et @dedicatedtodlp qui ont commencé ce débat au twitter et on m'inspirait d'écrire cet article. Ne hésites pas à abonner à leurs tweets (en Anglais), leurs tweets de Disneyland Paris sont vraiment géniaux!

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Halloween Festival starts to become unveiled.

Over at Disney Central Plaza forum, they've been discussing Halloween festival for a while now, today a press release has been posted that originates from ameworld.net. Here is the exciting news we've been waiting for, some details on Halloween 2013 at Disneyland Paris!

Hewie, Dewey and Louie will be arriving at Disneyland Paris from October 5th to celebrate Halloween, and their Uncle Scrooge will be joining them! The amazing Halloween decorations from last year will return as Main Street is transformed into a place where you can meet those friendly ghosts.

A new three float Halloween cavalcade will be presented by Mickey and Friends called 'Mickey's Halloween Celebration' featuring Disneyland Paris's newest arrivals (Hewie, Dewie, Louie and Uncle Scrooge as well as Clarabelle!).

Goofy will return with his sweet machine on Main Street USA, and we can, for the first time, visit Minnie's studio where she will be creating some Halloween fashion creations.
Other returning features are the villains in the Castle Courtyard and Jack and Sally will return to their photo location outside Phantom Manor.
Characters will be present in Halloween dress (probably making up for the confirmed cancellation of Mickey's Trick or Treat in the Street show)

Disney Dreams returns for the season where we can get 'haunted' by our favourite Disney Villains, Doctor Facilier, Ursula and Captain Hook.

Don't forget Disneyland Park's Halloween Soirée from 20:30 - 01:00 on the 31st October, and tickets are on sale now!

Below is the first visual from the Season, credit goes to Ameworld

Big thanks to Ameworld for posting this exciting press release. We think the 2013 Halloween season will be exciting, and we really cannot wait to see that Halloween cavalcade.

Will any of our readers be visiting the Halloween season? We'd love to know what you think of these proposed plans, comment below or tweet us @dlptownsquare

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DLRP Rewind: When the Tour de France came to visit

This year is the 100th running of the Tour de France and to celebrate, this years Tour de France is taking place 100% in France. But did you know that the race has visited Disneyland Paris twice? We decided to celebrate the final week of this weeks tour by delving into the archives and finding out all we could about the races visits to the resort.

The Tour de France is a sort of badge of honour for a French town, if you have not hosted a stage of the Tour de France, you want to, and you are prepared to spend a lot of money in order to get it. It seemed that for our newly launched Disney park in France, that badge of honour was much wanted, or needed, perhaps to prove that Disney wanted to integrate itself into French culture and not be seen as an invading American force. The Tour is screened worldwide, and more importantly, in many European countries such as the UK, France, Belgium, Spain and so on providing a good method of getting cheap advertising. The Tour and Disneyland Paris have a long history, the park has hosted the race in 1994 and 1997. It has appeared in the races publicity caravane twice and even today the race is screened in the sports bar in Disney Village each day in July. So, let's open that history book and take a look at what we have found.

Tour de France 1994

The final day of the Tour de France traditionally starts in a Parisian suburb within easy reach of the capital city of Paris, where the race would end with a few laps of a Champs-Elysées circuit, this stage would mostly be a procession until the riders hit the circuit. In 1994, Disneyland Paris was chosen as the 'suburb' to start the final stage. Whilst very little information is available about the start of this stage (as is usually the case, the starts are rarely televised), a few frames did make the highlight reels of the pre-race buildup.

 

Part of the reason for hosting the tour will have been to get short clips of the parade to advertise the resort, such as this clip of the Disney Classics Parade

 

The resort would have probably have hoped for a bit more time than 10-15 seconds of footage on the highlight shows, however the Tour is essentially a sporting event.

The previous day, Miguel Indurain (one of the 5 time Tour de France winning legends) will have sealed victory. On this July morning, the money shot for the photographers will have been this, the yellow jersey with Mickey and Minnie mouse. Subtle advertising once again for the new resort.

The stage start was given outside the Town Square photography store on Main Street USA, and very quickly left the park and headed on its way to Paris. And just like that, the Tour had been and gone.

When asked about the decision to bring the race to Disneyland Paris, the race director replied that the race must be modernised, and so a little bit 'Americanized', this was probably also to please the new Disney owned broadcaster of the Tour de France in the United States, ESPN. America was an emerging market in the world of professional cycling, the Tour was the first to crack the big money American television market. The worlds biggest cycling race was soon to become much, much bigger.

Tour de France 1997

This time the Tour's visit is much better documented thanks to the effort of French Disneyland Paris fans on YouTube as well as English speaking Tour de France fans. The Australian and British television coverage featured a small feature on the problem of the parks being an American invasion on French culture, but pointing out that essentially the reason for bringing the Tour to Disneyland is to make the race money, much like the original reason for the creation of the race by L'Auto newspaper. This year, two of the twenty one stages would feature Disneyland Paris. The first of which was Stage 20, an individual time trial from Disneyland Paris to Disneyland Paris. Despite starting and ending in the resort, the stage never actually went into the parks, however it did end on the Avenue Paul Séramy after the main road splits off to become the parking lot.



Below is a video from Australian television station SBS which features a full highlight package of the stage, but perhaps only the first 5 minutes is of real interest to Disneyland Paris fans.



It is Stage 21 of the 1997 Tour de France that really showcased the resort. A stage of the Tour de France

typically starts with a neutralised section, to allow the riders to find ideal positions in the bunch and to allow riders to warm up a little bit before heading into the race.
In the case of this stage, the neutralised section took place in the Disneyland Paris backstage area, luckily for us Disneyland Paris fans, footage still exists from this stage on youtube. The race passes through the parade passageways before entering the park itself through the Autopia backstage entrance (we assume, that is not so well captured) before turning onto Main Street USA and parking up for the official start outside the Town Square Photography store, where Mickey was waiting for the bunch in his cycling gear. The footage also features some fantastic aerial views over Disneyland Paris, it also gives us a glimpse of the 5th anniversary decorations for the 'Carnivale des fous'. Then the race steps out of the park through the backstage entrance next to Discovery Arcade where cast members greet the tour with a cheer, then using the same passageway it used to enter the park, to leave the park, via 'Parking Nord' which is reserved for cast members, before exiting backstage at the roundabout near Coupvray. For those who have wanted to see the roads that the parade leaves the park on, this piece of footage really is a gem.


A huge thanks to ThunderDCP for finding, or recording these videos and uploading them to YouTube for us to enjoy.

 

Backstage at Disneyland Paris

 

The peloton lines up at the bottom of Main Street USA outside Town Square Photography greeted by the Disney Characters

 

View just through the gates in town square

If Disney was still an outside force invading French culture, by hosting this race a second time, perhaps Disneyland Paris showcased the best of both French and American cultures.

Tour de France 2005

Photo: dcpblog.canalblog.com

The Tour may not have come to visit the park since 1997, but Disneyland Resort Paris did not let that hold them back. The race is presented with an accompanying 'Caravane', essentially this is a rolling advertising cavalcade. Better know by fans as the cars that come along giving free gifts (and a break of watching empty roads) to spectators. These cars were decorated with Disney characters riding bikes. The message seemed to be that Disneyland Resort Paris is closer than you think with each character being placed next to a distance stone with various French towns listed on them with their distance to the resort.

Photo: dcpblog.canalblog.com

Whilst the partnership between the Tour de France and Disneyland Paris has come to an end (at least for now), Disneyland Paris still is a keen advocate for sporting events, as shown by hosting the LNB Leaders Cup in 2013 (and that will return for 2014) as well as looking into other sporting events. There certainly aren't any other sporting arenas quite so 'magical'. 

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Les Artisans du Rêve: Review

Behind the world that we, the guests, see lies a world inhabited by over 14,000 cast members. Les Artisans du Rêve invites us into their world for a one hour glimpse into the part of Disneyland Paris that is hidden from most fans. Lets start by saying that this 50 minute look into backstage life is brief and only an
introduction, (We're not saying that's a bad thing, but Disney fans wanting an in depth look at what goes on behind the scenes of a Disney park will need to look elsewhere) but what that means is that during the 50 minutes we get a good look at many different departments over a wide variety of time. One thing we did notice which confused us a slight bit was the opening which featured beautiful tilt-shift shots of the parks, including the Walt Disney Studios park, but this second gate was not mentioned once during the film itself which leads us to believe that this could have, unfortunately, made the cutting room floor.

We really liked how this documentary, whilst seemingly targeted at fans of Disneyland Paris, did not alienate visitors who had never visited by giving introductory piece of aspects of the park, examples of this include cast member costuming how 'each land has it's own look, it's own costume' and during the segment about park refurbishment Main Street USA was described as 'The Champs-Elysées of the park'. The film gave a good insight into 'operational backstage' as we are going to call it, for example we are shown the costuming department solving problems, such as fixing a parade outfit, or creating Mickey's 20th anniversary wizard costume. Our criticism however with this section was 'sugar-coating' aspects of the process, we are treated to Cinderella's presence in the department as she has a problem with her dress, we are then given a 'tour' of the dress and as the filmmaker asks Cinderella a question she looks almost blindly towards the camera in a 'I've been told not to say anything' sort of way, it's a small complaint for a otherwise fantastic insight into the work of Disneyland Paris cast members. The brief nature of each segment of the documentary means we can see a diverse range of roles offered at the resort, perhaps the most well realised section is the day in the life of a parade performer, we learn just how much work these cast members put in before they make it out for that 7pm parade. 

Some information given is not there to shock fans of the parks, it's doubtful that if you are reading this that you'll be sitting mouth open as you are told that Main Street USA is a representation of an American town at the turn of the 20th century and inspired by Walt Disney's birth town, but there are wonderful shots behind those green maintenance fences as we discover the care and attention given to make our parks look as beautiful day in and day out as they do. It's little facts such as where the inspiration for our version of Sleeping Beauty Castle came from and how the colours of it were chosen that is likely to make you want to pick up this film and spend 50 minutes of your day watching it. Fans of ride maintenance won't be disappointed as we are treated to a few minutes of overnight maintenance footage on both Indiana Jones et le temple du péril and Pirates of the Caribbean, again don't be expecting information on the ride system but seeing how much care is put into the rides from both an artistic and technical viewpoint was something to behold. Again we were very impressed with the segment on the care of the audio animatronics both by those tasked with locating the problem animatronics and those tasked with the unenviable job of creating and fixing them. Something that we can't overlook in the park is the excellent work by those who work on the parks horticulture, and whilst perhaps this team is given the briefest section of all the teams featured it is enough to convey for a neutral audience, the love and attention given to each individual plant. A gardener is asked about an individual plant and he could tell us immediately its age and when her birthday was, a real eye opener.

Perhaps the longest section (at over 10 minutes) was reserved for a behind the scenes look at the work put in each day by the team of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. We felt the time reserved for this was perhaps a bit over what we expected compared to other roles in the resort but interesting nonetheless. If behind the scenes of this show interests you (horse training, how the actors prepares and a bit of information on the props) this is an ideal film to watch in itself.

Overall, this is a basic introduction to the world of the backstages of Disneyland Paris, fans of the parks are not going to be shocked or amazed by a wealth of information, however what you will get from this film is a look behind the scenes and interviews with the people that make the magic happen everyday, you will see their passion and determination to do their job to the fullest so that we can enjoy ourselves.
This film is not for those who do not care for seeing underneath the magic, if Disneyland Paris for you is what you see in the park, this film really is not for you, you might not enjoy the sight of a 'naked' pirate or a Fantillusion float in the daytime.

We really enjoyed the film and gave it a 4 star rating, our wish is for it to be a little bit longer and to go more in depth. (But for French speaker we have France 3's 'Disneyland et ses secrets' for that).

This film is presented in French with English subtitles and can be purchased from the French Amazon website.

Finally, a note of thanks from us to all cast members of Disneyland Paris, past, present and future. All fans of the resort really appreciate the work you put in to keep our resort looking fresh and giving us unforgettable days each time we visit. This DVD serves as a tribute to your work and hopefully brings your work to a wider audience. Thank You! ~ I'm sure we'll return to thank cast members in a later post.
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Technical Profile

Les Artisans du Rêve
Studio: The Walt Disney Company (France) - Bonne Pioche Télévision - Disney Channel 2012
Director: Dominique Lenglart
Narrator: Tom Novembre
Running Time: 50 minutes
Language: French
Subtitles: English
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Envie de + 33: Light'Ears to be sold online and more!

At the turn of the season Disneyland Paris annual passholders receive a little package through their door from the park. We get this little magazine (totally in French) called Envie de +, this is essentially a promotional magazine for the parks, giving their passholders reasons to come back and spend some time in the parks (We need a reason?!). The summer edition is of course focused on making the most of the remainder of the 20th anniversary celebrations, and discovering the big new addition of the summer Disney's Light'Ears.

The magazine gives annual passholders hints and tips to make the most of a day in the parks (such as reminding them that they may also partake in the Extra Magic Hours). Most of the information is promotional, but we do occasionally learn something about the goings on in the resort. (The Halloween and Christmas editions are particularly good for this). So, let's get into the little discoveries.

Disney Store website to stock Light'Ears

Disney Light’Ears sont en vente à la boutique Emporium, dans une sélection de boutiques au prix public de 20€ (l'avantage permanent Passeport Annuels’applique) ainsi que sur DisneyStore.fr.

We already know that the Light'Ears are on sale on Main Street for €20, and annual pass reductions apply (10% for Francilien and Fantasy, 20% for Dream). But the big news is one that Disneyland Paris fans had hoped for, that Light'Ears will be made available online! The magazine being French based lists disneystore.fr but seeing as the stock on the European Disney Store websites are identical and are based out of a United Kingdom warehouse, we can assume that the Ears will make their way to Disneystore.co.uk and Disneystore.de ! Great news if you want to buy them in your own currency before you go and save some money for more holiday goodies!

Tasty food!

Whilst not exactly 'news' the magazine has a little bit of text about the 'Snow White Tempation' that we can experience in the California Grill restaurant in the Disneyland Hotel. The treat is an apple mousse with a chocolate centre, but no ordinary chocolate! We won't spoil the surprise for you, but why not give it a try next time you are at the parks?
The magazine also details a little bit about the new 'Hep Cat Corner' in Disney Studio 1 where we can buy delicious VitaminWater drinks. A Hep Cat was the name given to jazz fans in the 1940s and 50s, the new kiosk is named after the Club HepCat

Annual Passholder Offers!

The Disneyland Paris annual pass is THE way to save money in the resort. Since the magazine and all Annual Pass literature is in French, we've translated the summer offers for you.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey and Friends: Between the 1st July and the 8th September, a reduction of 50% is given in category 2 of the 21h30 show for the passholder and 5 guests. (€29.90 per adult instead of €59.90 and €23.40 per child instead of €46.90). Reservation at the ticket office or by telephone 01 60 45 71 00 (Don't forget to add the French calling code, which is +33).

Disney Hotels: -25% for Francilien and Fantasy passes. -35% for Dream passes off a room in a Disney Hotel. Reservations: 01 60 30 60 69 (Again, don't forget the French calling code +33)

Panoramagique: This summer discover Disneyland Paris from the Sky with upto 25% off!
-25% for Dream Annual Passport, so €9 per adult instead of €12 and €4.50 per child instead of €6.
-15% for Francilien, Fantasy, Découverte and Classic Annual Passport. €10.20 per adult instead of €12, and €5.10 for a child instead of €6.
Offer valid for the annual pass holder and up to 5 guests from the 1st July until the 30th July 2013. As usual, Panoramagique's opening is subject to weather conditions.

Boutiques: -10% for Francilien and Fantasy, -20% for Dream in all boutiques in Disneyland Paris.

Restaurants: -€0.50 from the VitaminWater drinks at the HepCat corner kiosk, this offer is valid all summer. €3.19 per bottle instead of €3.69.
-10% in all Disney park, Disney Hotel and a selection of restaurants in Disney Village.

Tickets: Why not bring 5 friends with you to the park? €21 for friends of Dream, Fantasy and Francilien passholders
€25 for friends of Découverte and Classic pass holders.

(5 friends per week, maximum of 20 friends during the offer period, a week is Monday-Sunday. Offer not valid the day of purchase of your annual passport.  Offer does not include the 13th July).

All the offers listed about are subject to terms and conditions which can be found in your copy of Envie de +, this is a English translated guide and does not substitute reading the offer conditions as distributed to all annual passholders and available on the Disneyland Paris website.

The Disneyland Paris summer has begun, all that's missing is you!

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Coup de Cœur #1 - Front Lot

You're standing in the resort hub in the inevitable queue for the security control, and in the distance you hear the Star Trek theme, it's ironic that that is the theme to a film from a rival studio that lets you know that you have arrived at Disneyland Paris.
At Disneyland Paris we are lucky to have two Disney parks with beautiful entrances, the grand Victorian entrance to Disneyland Park is unique in the world and is, in my opinion, the most beautiful theme park entrance in the entire world. The second represents a Hollywood film studio, we are invited in with the words "Welcome behind the scenes" as we delve into the world of film making and tributes to the seventh art form (Cinema). As we walk to the park entrances we are greeted by the lot entrance gates featuring the Studio emblem of Mickey Mouse
operating a camera, as we veer off to the sides we are greeted by Hollywood 'porters', with a polite 'Bonjour' they take our ticket place it in the turnstile and give it back to us. 'Bon Journée'. The sights and sounds of the Studio surround us, in front of us the impressive Studio 1 building, the 'gateway' to the park, and for us an opportunity to see a Hollywood sound stage set up with its props and reading for a day of filming. In the centre a fountain with our studio emblem once again returning, Sorcerer Mickey from the 1943 Disney Classic 'Fantasia' representing one of the most iconic pieces of Disney animation ever created, Mickey controlling the brooms filling up with water. This provides us with one of the early photo opportunities of the park as we pose with the broom on the pavement. To our left, the Walt Disney Studios store designed with beautiful studio theming, the walls adorned with photos from the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, all of which featuring the man himself, Walt Disney. The store almost feels like a studio set itself with it's dark ceiling and lighting rigs and a dangling lighting fitting. We truly have entered the wonderful world of the silver screen, this is no functional film studio, this is the glamor of what we have dreamed it to be, this is the showcase section of the Walt Disney Studios Park.

 As we move back into the Place des frères lumières, so named as the Lumière brothers were the french inventors of the art of film making, just across the square is located Studio Services and our studio lot clock tower (Well, we need to know what time we have to be on set!), underneath the clock tower we can visit the Studio Photo store, which essentially is a slightly smaller version of Town Square photography in Disneyland Park, nevertheless the theming is once again that much more magical and links perfectly to the park's theme of the movies with it's old film cameras from an earlier era of cinema, the walls feature film reels and clap boards, and this is when we realise, we've made it on the studio lot! As we turn our backs on the photography store and head towards Disney Studio 1, we enjoy the sight of the 'Earful tower', of course it's not a functional water tower but it's almost a staple of a film studio such as the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, our water tower in this studio has been given a pair of Mickey ears, again to pay homage to the biggest star the studio has produced, who knows? Maybe we might just bump into him today, I've heard he likes to take photos with the extras! We continue towards Studio 1, walking with the excitement of what awaits us. We are living the magic of the studio. What's that? PLACES EVERYONE! That's our cue, to the set!


Coup de Cœur is a regular feature in which we take a look at a particular attraction of Disneyland Paris in detail and enjoy what makes Disney parks so beautiful be it a ride, a walk through experience, a shop, a restaurant or an entire land.

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Summer Time: Let's Glow!

Welcome to Summer! Disneyland Paris' summer season starts today (Saturday 6th July) and runs all the way through until 1st September. Why not take the time to profit from the 11pm closing time giving you a potential 13 hours in the park? You could enjoy the beautiful weather that Marne-la-Vallée receives, or just take advantage of the Billet été. The big attraction this summer, however, is Disney's Light'Ears which will be marketed heavily across the result.


 As the celebration of the 20th Anniversary begins to come towards it's finale, the lights will be glowing
brighter than ever thanks to Disney Light'Ears. The ears have been on sale for a few weeks, but it is tonight in which they officially debut. These ears are widely available resort wide, especially on Main Street where it seems they are on sale in every store!
The ears premiered to the press back in March, take a look at this video from DLRP Magic to see just how they change the show.

Video: Dlrpmagic

Why not also profit from a 2 day ticket instead of a 1 day ticket? Disneyland Paris' Billet été is the answer! For the exact same price as a 1 day/2 Park ticket you can experience a 2 Day/2 Park ticket, this ticket only really works for local residents. Your first visit must be between the 8th June 2013 and the 20th September 2013, and your second must be before the 27th September 2013. You must leave a 7 day gap between the 2 visits. But a fantastic offer if you are in the area for an extended period of time. Below is a promotional poster which appears in various places in French. I think the using the 2 'Monsters' of Sully and Beast is a really good choice here.

If you are going to Disneyland Paris this summer, have a fantastic time and enjoy the end of the 20th Anniversary. Have a wonderful summer holiday!

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Disneyland Paris after dark

Ever wondered what happens once you've left the park? Just how does Disneyland Paris look so beautiful day in, day out. It's all thanks to the night team of over 200 people every day making the parks look beautiful, who, once the friendly 'Au revoirs' end and those park gates are locked closed, come out for a long nights work until opening time the next morning.

Well, last week DLRP Welcome and Disney Central Plaza (French Disneyland Paris communities) went behind the scenes once the park gates closed for an entire night of insight just so that we could find out what goes on overnight so that we can keep coming back and seeing the great looking attractions and scenery that we love. Today, they have released a video featuring all the amazing work that goes on, and some of the strange sights (such as vans driving down Main Street). Interviews are in French with English subtitles. So, sit back, relax and enjoy the work that happens whilst we sleep.

I'd like to say a huge Thank You to these cast members, your work may go unappreciated by the masses, but without you, our park wouldn't look so beautiful each and every day, and if you weren't there, we would all notice.  So THANK YOU!

And if you enjoyed the video, why not go pay the websites that created it? DLRP Welcome and Disney Central Plaza

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