Zoom in on Dumbo the Flying Elephant and its surrounding area. You’ll be surprised to see how many attractions are captured in this one panorama photo!
Continue reading “Panoramagique: Dumbo the Flying Elephant area”
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Many Disneyland Paris regulars and Cast Members will tell you that the resort is at its best during Spring. And they are absolutely right! The hundreds of plants and trees are currently blossoming, creating a wonderful and magical color palette.
Here’s just a handful of the colorful scenery as witnessed by the Photos Magiques camera last week.
9-Eye was an Animatronic character in the popular Circle Vision attraction Le Visionarium. In the attraction story, she is send back in time by the Timekeeper so she can transfer live images from the era she is send back to. Le Visionarium opened in 1992 along with the rest of the Disneyland Park attractions and was later copied to Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland.
In 2004 Le Visionarium in Disneyland Paris closed and was two years later replaced by Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, the popular interactive dark ride.
As an homage to the original attraction, Imagineers hid the 9-Eye animatronic in the very first scene of Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, but unlit, so she was only visible when using a flash.
Now a dim light is lighting her up so that guests who really pay attention will notice a bronze shape in the corner of the first Laser Blast scene.
Can you spot 9-Eye in this photo? (Click to enlarge)
It was recently rumoured that Phantom Manor-dedicated merchandising would soon be available at Disneyland Paris. And it didn’t take long before these wonderful t-shirts inspired by the attraction and its characters popped up at several shops throughout the resort. Hopefully there will be more attraction-inspired merchandising soon!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom is youngest theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida that opened on 22 April 1998. It is the largest Disney theme park in the world, although it doesn’t feature that many attractions. Most of the park is made of themed landscaping and animal enclosures.
One of the most popular attractions in Walt Disney World can be found at Animal Kingdom. Expedition Everest, which opened in 2006, dominates the park’s skyline, along with the park’s icon The Tree of Life. The park is made of 7 areas:
- Oasis: the entrance of the park
- Discovery Island: which houses the Tree of Life
- Camp Minnie-Mickey: with its Disney character meet ‘n’ greet locations
- Africa: where the Kilimanjaro Safaris attraction is located
- Rafiki’s Planet Watch: a zone dedicated to the conservation of animals
- Asia: with its towering Expedition Everest
- DinoLand U.S.A.: one of the least popular areas, due to the poorly themed Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama fun fair.
A new area based on the world of Avatar is currently being developed and will replace Camp Minnie-Mickey. A land based on mythical creatures like dragons was quickly abandoned after the park opened, although some references still exist throughout the park.
Welcome to a kingdom of animals… real, ancient and imagined: a kingdom ruled by lions, dinosaurs and dragons; a kingdom of balance, harmony and survival; a kingdom we enter to share in the wonder, gaze at the beauty, thrill at the drama, and learn. — Michael D. Eisner, April 22, 1998
In honor of Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Anniversary, browse through these photos from the Photos Magiques archives.
Today exactly 5 years ago The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was officially inaugurated in Walt Disney Studios Park.
Although the attraction was already open for guests since December 2007, it wasn’t until 5 April 2008 until it was introduced to the press, all for marketing reasons ánd a good tie-in with the prolongation of the 15th Anniversary celebrations.
The day started with lots of animation all over the resort, tied-in to Tower of Terror. Bellhops could be found at the Disney Hotels and a large crashed elevator could be found in Walt Disney Studios Park. This oversized prop was used in a marketing stunt in the United Kingdom months before the press event.
Later in the afternoon another attraction officially opened: Stitch Live! It was Karl Holz and the Disney Ambassadors Wendy and Arnaud, that inaugurated the replacement of the Television Production Tour. High School Musical 2: School’s Out! was performed for the first time right after that.
In the evening, invitees were welcomed in a large inflatable tent where a walking dinner was presented. This tent was located in the backstage area behind the Studio Tram Tour loading station.
All evening long Disney Studio 1 and Hollywood Boulevard came back to life as if it were that faithful night in 1939. Hollywood residents, cars and music from that era livened up the evening. Highlight of the evening was an enormous light and sound spectacle that used the Hollywood Tower Hotel façade as a giant canvas to retell the story of what happened that faithful night in 1939.
The press evening concluded with a dance party in Disney Studio 1 with unlimited rides on Tower of Terror all night long…
Photos
A few years ago Easter was a big thing at Disneyland Paris. For the 2005 edition of this season, a bunch of decorations were built. Rabbits were placed all over Main Street, U.S.A. and Fantasyland, all pointing to the back of Fantasyland. This is were the Easter Village was located.
Decorations in the Easter Village included the oversized rabbits, goofy looking chickens and the infamous giant egg filled with stuffed Thumpers.
Inside Alice’s Curious Labyrinth, there was an actual easter egg hunt. Kids who found a hidden egg could later exchange it at a nearby desk for a surprise.
Several work shops were located in The Old Mill area where kids could paint eggs or see how chocolate figurines were made.
The Fantasy Festival Stage was performing “Welcome to Wonderland”. This short-lived show re-told the story of Alice in Wonderland using nothing but songs from the movie. The main songs used were I’m Late, All In The Golden Afternoon and the Happy Un-Birthday Song.
See the full photo set with over 60 photos of the Easter season in the Photos Magiques gallery:
Vine is a relative new app by Twitter that allows the recording of short video clips. The beauty of this app lays in the fact it can be used for stop motion videos as well.
I used that feature to capture a 360° tour around Sleeping Beauty Castle, which gave this magical result!
https://vine.co/v/bDTK1rEprXe/embed/simple//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Disney Light’Ears, known as Glow with the Show in Disneyland California, will be introduced to Disneyland Paris during the Summer Season.
These glow-up ears can make an infrared connection with the Mouse-mitters (a Disney transmitter) that are located on Main Street, U.S.A. and around the hub. During Disney Dreams, the ears will light up to the sound and visuals of Disneyland Paris’ highest-rated night time spectacular.
The Light’Ears have three different modes: light-up, sync and show mode. Light-up means the colors will change without involving an infrared connection. The syncing mode can be activated by simply putting one or more Light’Ears nearby. After a while, the ears will gradually show the same colors simultaneously. In show mode, the light will perform during Disney Dreams or World of Color, as the Disneyland Paris ears can be used in the Disneyland California and the other way around.
Good to know: special system will be installed in dark rides that will automatically shut off the glowing so the attraction experience won’t be disturbed.
Guests wishing to purchase these ears will have to put down 20 EUR, compared to $25 in California.
During the 20th Anniversary Extended press event, all journalist were handed a pair of Light’Ears to watch Disney Dreams, which offered an amazing vista that can be seen on the photos below.
It’s time again to have a closer look at the Ratatouille dark-ride construction site. Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop provided once again a perfect viewing spot on the show building and surrounding area.
Use the controls to zoom in on the areas you want to have a closer look at. You’ll notice work has yet to start on the actual theming.
Continue reading “Panoramagique: Ratatouille construction site”
Simba and Merida, the main characters from Disney’s The Lion King and Disney-Pixar’s Brave have now joined one of Disneyland Paris’ highest rated shows ever: Disney Dreams!
Visitors of the official Disneyland Paris Facebook where asked a few months back which their favorite Disney movies were. Both Brave and The Lion King stuck out, which resulted in the replacing of The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins scenes.
The Lion Book scene opens with the rising sun and the classic Circle of Life begin tune, shortly followed by I can’t wait to be king and closed by Hakuna Mata. The waterfall effect first seen in The Jungle Book scene is used here once again.
The Brave scene starts with the Will-o’-the-wisps hovering over Sleeping Beauty Castle, while the Ancient Stones rise up from the ground. Merida is next riding on her horse, Angus. The scene ends with a colorful Scottish hoe-down. The songs used in these scenes are Touch the Sky and Remember to Smile.
Photos of the brand new scenes:
Saturday 23 March 2013 was a hay day for Disneyland Paris Cast Members at the marketing department, as fashion show, entirely in line with what’s presented at the Parisian Fashion Week.
Disneyland Paris asked famous fashion designers all over Europe to re-imagine the dresses from famous Disney characters. Nine designers took up the challenge and send their models down the catwalk in The Pavilion, located behind Star Tours.
The designers and their inspiration were:
- The House of Lanvin had Alber Elbaz designed a true diva dress for Minnie Mouse, who opened show.
- Jean-Paul Knott (Belgium) was clearly inspired by the famous apple in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- SISTER by SIBLING (United Kingdom) took note from Cinderella. It featured a digital clock on the front piece indicating it was almost time to leave the ball.
- MICHALSKY (Germany) took note from Cinderella’s dress as well.
- Alexander Terekhov (Russia) travelled down the Rabbit Hole with Alice in Wonderland in mind.
- Philip Treacy (Ireland) created a Peter Pan-inspired hat in green and red tones.
- Custo Barcelona (Spain) re-imagined Maleficent.
- Luisa Beccaria (Italy) took inspiration from Disney’s Aladdin.
- Olcay Gulsen – SuperTrash (the Netherlands) seems to have been inspired by the starry sky in The Lion King.
Take a look at the dresses as they were presented during the Designers of Dreams show:
Photos Magiques 