The Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity construction is definitely moving forward. Take a closer look at this 16.2mp picture of the construction site, taken from Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop.
Tip: Double click on the area you want to zoom in on, or use the controls on the bottom right of the image. The button on the far right will display the photo in full screen mode.
Continue reading “High resolution: Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity construction site”
Both Terrorific Nights 2012 at Walt Disney Studios Park have come to an end. Time to take a look at our photo recap from both evenings.
Check them out, if you dare!
The Disney Villains Parade was a popular seasonal make-over of the Wonderful World of Disney Parade.
In 2003, when the Halloween season was seriously expanded, the Disney Villains parade was first introduced. The characters on the Wonderful World of Disney Parade floats were replaced by their villain counterparts. Ariel got replaced by Ursula, Sleeping Beauty by Maleficent, Aladdin and Jasmine by Jafar, and so on.
The Pumpkin Men characters also made an appearance in the parade, and a few years later the Pink Witches as well.
Do you remember this parade make-over? Take a trip back in time with these photos from the 2006 version, starring Stitch and the Pink Witches.
What would Halloween be without Disney Characters? The Halloween Season usually has lots of rare characters come out in the park, whether it’s a Disney Villain or a classic character in special Halloween outfits.
We’ve made a selection of character photos from the Halloween Seasons of 2003 to 2011:
Over the past few Halloween seasons, there has been quite a selection of Halloween merchandise released.
We’ve compiled a selection of merchandise from over the years in this slideshow.
Tip: click the first thumbnail and keep clicking the enlarged image to go forward. Captions are provided below each image.
The Phantom Cruise Line was a huge ghostly sculpture that appeared to pull the Mark Twain Riverboat during the Halloween Season of 2003 and 2004. It didn’t return for the 2005 season after several technical issues and even a derailment.
Did you ever have the chance to see the Phantom Cruise Line cross the Rivers of the Far West?
In 2005 the Halloween season was expanded with more Disneyland Paris-unique characters, called the Pink Witches. The story behind it was that Pink Witches arrived in Disneyland Park and set up a convention meeting in Halloweenland, called the Pink Witch Academy. Their sole purpose was to battle the Pumpkin Men and made the guests choose sides.
With the arrival of these new decorations, many Disney fans world wide were shocked by the cheap designs and build. On top of that, a collection of Pink Witches representing European countries were considered by many fans and guests as an insult.
Judge for yourself with these photos from 2005:
The Halloween Season just started at Disneyland Paris and the decorations look better than ever! But this wasn’t always the case. A few years back the Disneyland Paris Entertainment department created their own characters called The Pumpkin Men. They first appeared randomly around 2002 and 2003, but it wasn’t until 2004 when they were introduced in the park with an actual story. This story was posted on Main Street, U.S.A. and retells how the Pumpkin Men are born and how they ended up frozen on Main Street, U.S.A.
Read the official story and browse through our archival pictures of the Halloween Season of 2004.
Once upon a Halloween
Once upon a time, and for every Halloween since, in a mystical “marvelous” and mischievous place called Halloweenland, there grows the magical Pumkinwood Forest.
At this autumnal time of year, when nature turns orange, the great trumpet flowers bloom on the pumpkin vines to herald the season.
The friendly scarecrows nurture the patch, so full to bursting with these very special pumpkin seedlings.
On the night when the full October moon shines bright, Halloween magic calls the wines to arise and entwine: Pumpkin trees flourish out of the garden.
The fruit of these twisted trees are fantastic creatures, half Halloween and half Human. Gloved hands and booted feet pop out of the autumnal plants and onto their buds from brushes and buckets. The bloom in the light of the harvest moon to become… PUMPKIN MEN!
Pumpkin Men are painters with a passion. Their true Halloween trick or treat fun comes from the obsession to paint everything that comes along their path the most splendid color: orange.
Once the last pumpkin man has picked himself from the wine, off they go, with their gear in tow, to fill up their buckets with their bright orange paint.
The paint comes from the Pumpkin Paint Pit of Big Thunder Mountain. The orange mountain glows in the middle of the wicked Waters of the Far West, inviting the Pumpkin Men to come and take possession of the magic orange pigment to fabricate their paint.
However, the river is full of Spooky Specter Slime. Evil Spirit emerge from the water to ambush and capture the Pumpkin Men. But our Halloween heroes have devised very clever solutions for getting to and from their pit without falling into the wicked waters. If the Pumpkin Men fall into the murky slime, they go bad and turn green!
Just prior to the stroke of midnight, this jolly team of Pumpkin Men painters sneak their way out Halloween Land, rolling a humongous pumpkin onto Central Plaza. These Pumpin Men are full of Trick or Treat Magic. They blow orange pigment dust over the pumpkin and it grows before their eyes into an impressively Giant Jack ‘o’ Lantern.
It is easy as Pumpkin Pie for the Pumpkin Men to begin their splashing and splatching of orange paint on Main Street, U.S.A. The electric arches erected on the main thorough fare provide great shoots and ladders for our acrobatic artists, who scale the façades with ease.
The Pumpkin Men are having so much fun that they hardly noticed the screechy screams of Gruzella, the wacky witch who is making her way to Halloween Land for the enchanted evening of incantations.
Gruzella takes her favorite blind corner hairpin turn, and is caught by surprise! Smack in the middle of a cackling giggle, she smashes, crashes, plunges and just plain spatches into the Gazebo in Town Square.
Time stand still.
The unlucky Pumpkin Men are statisfied! Mummytized! Freeze-Fried right in mid-stroke of their orange masterpiece!
Those Pumpkin Men, who were not in the wrong place at the wrong time, continue their trick or treat mischief throughout the Halloween festival season. Whether frozen in an archway in full swing of orange artistic folly, or enchanted and articulately live, the Pumpkin Men have one creed… They come out only once a year during Halloween to do what?
PAINT OF COURSE!!!
Today 30 years ago Epcot Center opened its gates for the first time. Epcot was originally conceived by Walt Disney as a futuristic city in Florida where people would actually live and work. After his death, these plans fell through and Walt Disney Productions at that time moved ahead with Magic Kingdom and a few Disney resorts first. A few years later it was decided that Walt’s experimental prototype community of tomorrow would be build as a theme park, but without Disney characters and stories. Instead, it was designed as a permanent World Fair with different pavilions depicting countries from all over the world. In Future World, the pavilions bare a (retro) futuristic look and highlight modern technology through exhibitions and attractions.
In honor of Epcot’s 30th Anniversary, browse through these photos we took during previous trips to Walt Disney World.
To all who come to this place of joy, hope and friendship — welcome. EPCOT is inspired by Walt Disney’s creative vision. Here, human achievements are celebrated through imagination, wonders of enterprise and concepts of a future that promises new and exciting benefits for all. May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire and above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man’s ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere in the world. — E. Cardon Walker, March 1, 1982
Euro Disney SCA released this press release yesterday evening announcing a 1,3 billion euros deal with the Walt Disney Company that would refinance the current debt of the resort.
To read more and discuss, visit the magicforum topic.
(Marne-la-Vallée, on 18 September 2012) – Euro Disney S.C.A., parent company of Euro Disney Associés S.C.A., operator of Disneyland® Paris, announces the refinancing Euro Disney group’s debt (excluding debt already extended by The Walt Disney Company) with new financing provided by The Walt Disney Company and two of its French subsidiaries, for an overall amount of 1,332 million euros.
The workers’ council has been consulted on the transaction and has rendered a favourable opinion thereon. In addition, the consent of all the creditors, necessary to implement the transaction, has been obtained.
The Supervisory Board of Euro Disney Associés S.C.A. met today and approved the transaction.
With this refinancing, the Group’s average interest rate on its debt decreases meaningfully and the Group benefits from greater operational flexibility by removing the restrictive covenants under existing debt agreements, notably those related to restrictions on capital expenditures. Moreover, the extended maturity of the total debt to 2030 together with a more gradual debt repayment schedule will better position the Group to invest in long-term growth and drive value for all shareholders. The transaction is expected to close on 27 September 2012.
« This refinancing will enable us to reduce our financing costs and give us greater investment and operational flexibility. This is a key step in the development of our Resort that we pursue for the benefit for all of our stakeholders. I strongly believe this will be highly beneficial to the Company, its cast members and shareholders.», declared Philippe Gas, Chief Executive Officer of Euro Disney S.A.S.
Philippe Gas added: « The Walt Disney Company, with this transaction, reaffirms its continued confidence in Disneyland® Paris which has successfully become, over the past 20 years, the number one tourist destination in Europe, a growth driver of French tourism and an important ambassador of the Disney brand across Europe ».
The Olympic Games have come to and end, but here at Photos Magiques the fun continues! On Monday 13 August 2012 at noon we’ll start a fun and exciting marathon that will introduce a brand new photo album to the gallery, and this over a course of 24 hours!
Follow these updates on our Twitter stream, or check this post on Tuesday for the complete list of new albums!
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