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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DLRP Rewind: Marketing blast off!

These days, advertising for Disneyland Paris is everywhere, on websites, on television and on every single Disney DVD, viewers often see these limited time (1 year) festivals, these are essentially, a way to get you to visit the resort each year for something fresh and new. But how do you advertise something different? A brand new adventure from the land that already allows you to ride with Pirates, take a flight to Endor or be one of those crazy folk queueing up for a runaway mine train? How do you enlist guests to blast off and become astronauts? Today, it is almost impossible to imagine Disneyland Paris without the iconic structure of Discoveryland, in fact it is difficult to imagine any Magic Kingdom style park without this E-Ticket in Tomorrowland (or their equivalent of). Upon opening in 1992, the Discoveryland located in Euro Disneyland consisted of Le Visionarium, Orbitron, Cinémagique, Star Tours and Autopia, leaving a large gap between the back of Autopia and Cinémagique (the film that today is known better as Captain EO in Paris), it is important to point out that Euro Disneyland made no secret of the fact that Space Mountain (or Discovery Mountain as it was going to be called) would fill this gap, with an attraction inspired by the Jules Verne novel 'De la terre à la lune' (From Earth to the Moon), in which three members of the Baltimore Gun Club attempt to launch themselves to the moon using a projectile. For more information on the attraction, its story and design;  we direct you to our friends at Designing Disney
For most Disneyland Paris fans, the story behind the attraction is familiar and repeated countless times each year, but the one thing that is often forgotten is the optimism behind the attraction and how it could 'save' Disneyland Paris from its loss making nightmare. To do this, Disneyland Paris launched what was to be their largest advertising campaign since the resorts launch. We take a look at two campaigns, the original 'De la terre à la lune' campaign, but also how Disneyland Resort Paris marketed the new updated version of the attraction.

De la terre à la lune

Image: Disney Central Plaza

The marketing campaign for the 1995 attraction opening was, what can only be described as massive. If it was Space related, Disney was eager to get involved. Take the above advertisement: 1960: The dog went. 1961: A Russian went. 1962: An American Went. 1995: Now, it's your turn.  Space Mountain was described as 'The biggest adventure in the galaxy'.

Disneyland Paris even advertised their product on Happy Meal boxes, the boxes had several different designs (One for each land), these type of promotions were run quite often between Disneyland Paris and McDonalds until Disney ended their connection with McDonalds in 2006.
Perhaps you were a little bit too old for a Happy Meal? Don't worry, the marketing hit you too. Perhaps you'd be more tempted with a 'Menu Space Mountain'?

 

Even your Disneyland Paris park ticket advertised Disney's most ambitious adventure yet!

Image: dlrpfan.org

Perhaps you were participating in the preview days?

Perhaps the strangest partnership that Disney entered in was that between it and Renault to launch a limited edition 'Renault Espace' car.  (Espace translating as Space). It was impossible to avoid the almost guerrilla marketing tactics that Disneyland Paris were putting into action.

The official Disney advertising campaign that was sent across Europe was perhaps their most inspiring advertisement yet, yet incredibly simple. It involved close up shots of various aspects of the attraction, and a silhouette of the building, with some 'futuristic' sounding music (well, futuristic for the mid 90's). This will probably be in front of your copies of the Lion King, despite it being over 10 years old, as soon as we watched it, we remembered it. This was a highly effective advertising campaign.
 
A French 30 second TV Spot created the buzz about an astronaut being launched into Space.

A British channel BBC Two (which doesn't air advertising due to it being paid for by the British public) effectively aired a 45 minute advertisement for the attraction in the form of a behind the scenes documentary which has become celebrated in Disneyland Paris fan circles.


Beyond traditional advertising, the launch of an attraction can be the most effective form of publicity, if done with enough celebration and media interest. Press events at Disneyland Paris have become known for their extravagant press events, featuring fireworks and world premiers, most recently featuring the Light'Ears for Disney Dreams! for the start of the 20th Anniversary Extended.

The inauguration featured tributes to Frenchmen George Méliès and Jules Verne in an extravagant show, the book '20 years of Dreams' states that 50 performers had pyrotechnic elements on their costumes and three buckets of fireworks were launched around the park, in one of the biggest fireworks shows ever seen at Disneyland Paris. Keeping with the space theme, the guest of honor was a certain Mr. Buzz Aldrin and the rocket man himself Elton John played a concert to 40,000.

This achieved the desired effects by making French news channels.

A little later on in the Year Disneyland Paris launched their 'space festival' where rocks from the moon were able to be touched by guests, as well as explore replicas of the Apollo spacecraft.

Image: http://spatial.forumdediscussions.com/

Mission 2

In January 2005, Disneyland Paris astronauts took their final voyage to the moon before it closed for several months to become 'Space Mountain Mission 2' which launched in April 2005 featuring the same track layout, but an adjusted storyline and all-new music, which lead Disneyland Paris to a tough question. Just how do you market an old attraction as if it was brand new?

The marketing campaign for Mission 2 was, understandably, smaller. That, however, does not mean that it was no less intuitive. In fact one of the most creative advertising strategies ever seen by the resort was put into effect with this, a PC game by Disney Interactive

 

Don't worry, it's not quite as it seems, this game was essentially two existing games rolled into one. Disney's Rollercoaster and Walt Disney World Magical racing tour. Nevertheless, a fantastic advertising strategy to your target audience, who are mostly at the video game playing age. 

 This was the visual used to promote Mission 2 on posters (most notably on the Paris Metro), the modern type face, however, does not quite match the sign on the attraction entrance. The attraction received a VIP opening with a firework display (notably smaller to that of Space Mountain: De la terre à la lune) and on opening morning the usual Disneyland Paris ambassador opening outside the attraction.

Disneyland Paris has always had a prominent role in advertising their new attraction or seasonal celebration, but perhaps nothing will ever beat the hype and optimism of the opening of the voyage to the moon.

Where possible, we always give credit for any images used in our posts. However some are difficult to find, if we have used one of your images, please e-mail info@dlptownsquare.com and we'll happily correct our post. 

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DLRP Rewind: Gare de Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy

Every year millions of people pass through the doors of the Gare SNCF de Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy, the majority end up in the Disneyland Paris parks or hotels, others will just be passing through on their way to other destinations across Europe; this is the life of the number one inter-connection station in France. The station and Disneyland Paris are so intrinsically linked that it is almost difficult to imagine the resort without the station that brings the magic so close that 37 million Europeans are now just one train change away!

When the Walt Disney Company and the French State signed their agreement (La convention pour la création et l'exploitation d'Euro Disneyland en France) on the 24th March 1987, the agreement mentioned the creation of a station for the LGV Interconexion Est which is a high speed line connecting the existing North and South East line, this interconnection opened in May 1994. At the time, the Chief architect of the French Railways described the new station as 'helping tilting the balance of the Ile-de-France back towards the east', from an already wealthy west.  When reading the 1987 agreement, Article 11 named 'Extension R.E.R. - T.G.V.' outlines an extension of the exisiting RER A line (previously terminating at Torcy), and the new terminal station which should be able to handle 10,500 passengers per hour. The exterior of the station was to be designed by the winner of an architecture competition run by the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) with Euro Disney S.C.A. being allowed to take an observer role. If Disneyland Park is known for it's castle with its impressive spires, its clear that some inspiration has come from the castled world to this station with its spired front, or according the the architects Arep (JM Duthileul, E Tricaud and F Bonnefille) 'Our task was to express a real station in an artificial world', the glass walls of the station are designed in order to show the impressive TGV trains to an audience who may not take the train, this is achieved as when we leave the yellow Disney busses from our hotels, we must pass the stations glass wall in which we are able to see all the way down to the platform, in this respect the station is very much like that of Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle and Lille-Europe. What really is interesting about the link between Euro Disney S.C.A. and the construction of this station is the amount of constraints put onto the building, for example the agreement states that the station exit and the entry to Disneyland Park could not be more than 150 meters (the final distance is in fact 125 meters) and that Euro Disney S.C.A. should do their best to ensure a direct access to the park from the station (something that new security checks prohibit). The RER station and TGV station are technically different stations, one half is managed by the RATP (RER) and the TGV half is manged by the SNCF, however the two share the same style of architecture and one can easily traverse between the two stations.

RATP, the quickest way to Disneyland Paris.
Photo: Johansdreamworlds.wordpress.com

The 1987 agreement also set how Euro Disneyland would market this new rail link that had been built in order to service the resort (after all, this new line extension and station will have cost the RATP a lot of money, it is only natural they wanted a return on their investment), Euro Disney S.C.A. were not permitted to include parking charges in their park admission ticket (in order to discourage car usage). They were also forced to encourage guests to take the RER from Central Paris to the resort in their advertising in the form of using the approximate time taken from Nation station to the resort. The new extended RER opened on April 1st 1992, 12 days before the opening of the resort, now guests could easily reach Disneyland Paris, and local residents could take the new rail link and arrive in central Paris much quicker than ever before. It would be a further two years before the high speed rail link would open in 1994.

In 1992, the capital city of Paris became that little bit closer to the magic, on the 29th May 1994 the rest of mainland Europe got a little bit closer with the opening of the new TGV high speed link, which linked Disneyland Paris with major French cities such as Lille, Lyon and Bordeaux. This was celebrated by a paper train containing 500 people stretching from Disney Village to Fantasyland, such was the enormity of this train that when the front of the train was in the park, the rear was still in the esplanade.

Photo: www.disneylandparis-generations.com

In November 1994, a new passenger high speed service linked London Waterloo and Paris Gare du Nord for the first time, in January 1996 the Kent station 'Ashford International' opened, a few short months later a Eurostar train pulled into the station of Marne-la-Vallée Chessy for the first time.

Photo: www.disneylandparis-generations.com

On board this first arrival was Sir Richard Branson, who was met Mr. Philippe Bourguignon (who at the time was president of Euro Disney S.C.A.) at the Gare du Marne-la-Vallée Chessy. To celebrate a float was created representing the classic Eurostar train front with two Mickey ears with a 'platform' on either side of the train acting as a place for the two gentlemen to stand, this was accompaigned by Grenadier guards. Just one year later, the Thalys international high speed link (linking France to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany) arrvied in Marne-la-Vallée. Visiting Disneyland Paris by rail was becoming increasingly easy, with over 70 trains arriving each day and Marne-la-Vallée Chessy becomes the number one station for inter-connections in France.

In fact, getting to Disneyland Paris by rail has never been cheaper as in 2013 the low-cost TGV 'OuiGo' was launched at the Marne-la-Vallée Chessy station linking Marne-la-Vallée to Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier for as low as €15 for a single journey.

The future of this vibrant, busy suburban Paris station looks bright as even more services get added, as even more of us sit back, relax and let the train do the work.

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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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2013 Christmas Season Rumours!

Disneyland Paris promised a bigger Christmas season than ever before and so far that seems to be the case. So, let's just get straight into what we already have heard on the rumour mill. Once again to clarify, these have not been confirmed by Disneyland Paris.

Last year Christmas began it's overhaul, gone was Mickey's Winter Wonderland, gone was Belle's Enchanted Village, and so far we know that the Enchanted Village is not due to return this year. Mickey's Winter Wonderland is unlikely to return, at the shareholders meeting in London Disney Character Central reported that Disney are working on something new. Perhaps we will see that this Christmas?

Last year one of the more finer points in the advertising was a brand new Christmas tree for the 20th Anniversary, and then once the Halloween season ended the old Christmas tree was put up. The reason? The new tree hadn't got through all the approval processes in time. But luckily this year the tree has passed all the tests and we should see it in Town Square this Christmas season! Radio Disney Club have claimed that this tree will be at the 'height of technology'

The garlands arrived on Main Street last year to huge fan approval, and so it seems as if they are here to stay! Radio Disney Club once again have written that new decorations will be used on Main Street USA and in each of the lands.
The Christmas cavalcade also arrived last year to more fan approval, the plan that Disneyland Paris had for this little parade was to increase it by a float or two each year until it became a proper parade that could potentially replace the daily parade during the season. So this year the rumour is that one or two floats will be added and that a new female character will be added to the park (rumours range from Shelly-May, who has already premiered in our parks during Disney Dreamers Everywhere to Mary Christmas), one user on the Disney Central Plaza forum has said that there will be improvements, more performers and new costumes.
Like last year, this cavalcade will be three times per day and will not replace the classic parade.
The future really does look good for this cavalcade, and we are glad of this. It's the showpiece event of the Christmas season.

The Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony will be all new this year with new music and new characters for a more immersive ceremony which will include the garlands on Main Street USA.


Moving onto Disney Dreams! the UK version of the Autumn/Winter 2012/13 brochure advertised the Christmas season using this image. It really does look very likely that Disney Dreams! will be receiving a Christmas makeover. Now this is where we've heard conflicting rumours, we have heard that Disney Dreams! will be running with a little bit extra, but we've also heard that Disney Dreams! will be replaced by this Christmas edition. We think that perhaps it'll play with a little attachment, it's hard to see an entire new 22 minute show being played each night. Either way, we're really excited to see the results!

Father Christmas Village and It's a Small World celebration will continue as last year.

The Walt Disney Studios park will not see any new additions this Christmas season, except perhaps a few new decorations. Time will tell.
Finally, Christmas merchandise seems to be arriving in the resort, featuring a Christmas visual!

These were posted online by Mickey Island on Disney Central Plaza in the image we see the Main Street garlands and Mickey and Minnie in a Christmas costume with Disney Characters dressed in a Christmas outfit including Stitch and Angel. We also see a glimpse of the Christmas tree (is that representative of what we will be seeing in Town Square this November).

The Hotels are getting Christmas rooms for an extra £105 (Disneyland Hotel) and £89 (Hotel New York), included you get Christmas decorations, a christmas tree and a few little gifts. Thanks to Parcorama (Twitter) for pointing that out.

That concludes our look at the latest Christmas rumours. The Christmas season runs from 10th November 2013 until the 6th January 2014 and we are really exciting to hopefully be going over and taking a look at all the new features. We're huge fans of the Christmas season and just how the entire resort has a buzz around it. What are your opinions? We'd love to hear them both below and on twitter @dlptownsquare

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