Rapunzel's Christmas Pin Event pins revealed!

One thing we love here at DLP Town Square are pins. Pins, pins and more pins. Every time I go to Disneyland Paris, I always walk away with a bag full of pins. Following this weeks record sell out in the pin event in about 30 minutes, Disneyland Paris published the pictures of the pins that we can expect from the event which takes place on the 14th December 2013 in Disney's Hotel New York.

On first glace, I wasn't too keen on these pins. But upon second glace, I'm starting to love them. Let's talk about them pin by pin.
The first pin is still my least favourite. It's essentially Rapunzel tugging a sack of presents by her hair, with a mini pascal inside the sack. It's a cute one that's certain. It's also the most plain of the lot.
The second pin is a fantastic one, It's Mother Gothel and Rapunzel decorating a Christmas tree with Rapunzel's hair being used as Tinsel. This one is fantastic, and it's so rare to see these two characters on a pin.
The third and fourth pin can be considered almost as a pair, one pin sees Rapunzel and Flinn sharing a sled, whilst the other shows Maximus and Pascal acting as a Reindeer.  You can see that these two link up, effectively making one pin.
The final normal pin of the series is the most beautiful pin I think Disneyland Paris has ever created. It's not particularly festive, but it is that famous gondola floating light scene with two attached at the bottom by a chain. This one is going to be mega collectible. (And if anyone wants to grab one for me, please do e-mail me. I'd be forever grateful!)

We then move into the round pins which are a feature of every pin trading event, day or night. This event sees Rapunzel, Pascal and Flinn in festive attire. (You won't see these in the shops after the event, these will sell out).

The final pin looks to be a very special one. It's a jumbo pin, the word Tour meaning Tower gives it away as being Rapunzel's Tower from the film.  I can't wait to see this pin in real life.

Rapunzel's Christmas will be an extremely popular event, featuring many super-collectible pins. If you see these in the shops in the following days, be sure to buy them up as they will hold great trading value in the future. Not that I'm expecting to see these in the shop, the savy traders will snatch them all up pretty quickly. 

If you're going, have a great time! (And don't forget one of your favourite DLP websites!)

Continue

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. 

Continue

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'. 

Continue

Halloween soirée tickets on sale!

Tickets to one of the most special evenings on every Disney fans calendar, the Halloween Soirée, are now on sale at the Disneyland Park ticket offices at the entrance of the park.

Tickets cost €37 per person with reductions for annual passholders (-20% Fantasy Passeport Annuel, -30% Dream Passeport Annuel). The evening is from 20h30 until 01h00 with park access starting at 17h00 for those with tickets. (Tickets for the rest of the day at standard rate).
As per usual costumes are encouraged, but no covering of the face.

Expect wonderful one off shows and a brilliant atmosphere for one of the best evenings of the Disneyland Paris year!

Image copyright Disney.

Continue