Happy New Year to all our readers!

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

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


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

DLP Town Square

www.dlptownsquare.com
@dlptownsquare

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What's New, What's Next Day 2 Recap: Merchandising!

The event that has sent fantastic positive energy running through the Disneyland Paris twitter feeds continued today, whilst we recieved slightly less news, what we did read excited many Disneyland Paris fans.

Merchandising
The lucky bloggers and website owners met Régis Alart, a name not unfamiliar to Disneyland Paris fans as he previously worked as a Disneyland Paris ambassador and now works in the merchandising team, more specifically collectables. 

The Phantom Manor attraction merchandise is selling well, and this line will soon be extended. (As we've already seen with lanyards coming next week). 
There are new Vinylmations to come soon, including The Little Mermaid series, Pins have seen a strong 2013 and they seem to be very happy with the way that is going in Disneyland Paris. 

Today's big news was a new 'Art on Demand' service in the Disney Gallery Store in Disney Village. The system is simple enough, walk over to a screen, search through the listings and find a piece you like, select how you want it finished, and it's framing. Take the ticket to the counter and pay. Your art will be at your house in 2-3 weeks.  The beauty of the system is that, whilst over 200 pieces are on the system now, more can be added at any time without having to create more stock. The customer gets the art they want. 

You will be able to buy attraction posters (a long awaited feature from Disneyland Paris fans), and images of Walt and many more Disney related images. 

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
The invitees were then given a tour backstage at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in Disney Village, see Magic Forum soon for a full report on that. 

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is the second most popular show in Disneyland Paris after Disney Dreams! and will see a Halloween version added in October, the show will also soon get some new signage. 

Parks
Some news from yesterday that was reported today was that Tarzan the Encounter will return to Disneyland Paris soon. 
The Disney's Blockbuster Café has changed overnight! The High School Musical themeing has been removed and Iron Man has arrived. 

Again, if you liked this report, make sure you follow the people who reported it @MagicForum and @DesigningDisney - They have worked very hard to report these live tweets, and would probably really appreciate you taking the time to thank them. 

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Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy - REVEALED

At last, the news we've all been waiting for. Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy has been named, and the first artwork revealed. The long awaited news came from Disneyland Paris's official news twitter feed @Disney_ParisEN and @Disney_ParisFR. The artwork features an oversized Rémy, Skinner and Linguini an the kitchen that we will be discovering next year. The attraction vehicle has seemingly been confirmed as a rat car (as leaked documents revealed earlier in the year). The information given by the twitter feed was "This world-first attraction will shrink guests to the size of a small rat and plunge them into the heart of a particularly excited...", well that's where it has been left in the English tweet, however the French tweet details that we're plunged into the world of a particularly animated kitchen.

Personally, I think the name needs looking at, for starters 'Toquée' doesn't really translate into English.A 'Toqué' is a Chefs hat, but can also mean 'nutty, zany'. Such puns don't translate in any language. A rough English translation would be 'Ratatouille: Remy's totally crazy adventure'. Secondly, it's length is not marketable, or memorable, European guests tend to shorten 'Cars: Quatre Roues Rallye' to 'Cars', even Big Thunder Mountain becomes 'Le train de la mine'. The lack of ability to translate the title has already been highlighted, using the example 'Cars Quatre Roues Rallye', anglophone guests can guess the meaning, this is likely to cause confusion. We can't wait to see the sign on top of the attraction.

Photo @CGonier

However, this attraction looks fantastic, the themeing continues to be unveiled day by day and looks authentically Parisian, we got our first look of props inside the attraction this week from Disney Magic Interactive which equally look fantastic.  This attraction shows much promise, I look forward to tracing it even further in the future. 

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