Photos Magiques

Happy 57th Birthday, Disneyland!

Disneyland, Walt Disney’s first and original Magic Kingdom, opened exactly 57 years ago. With only a handful of attractions and restaurants, Walt set on an adventure that went way beyond his imagination. Today, Disneyland counts 58 attractions and top of the line entertainment, as well as Disney California Adventure Park, Downtown Disney and two Disney hotels.

~~In honor of its birthday, let’s have a look at a selection of photos from our trip to Disneylandt Resort a few years back…~~

To all who come to this happy place. Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past. And here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America…with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world. – Walt Disney

Disneyland Paris news

New menu concept at The Lucky Nugget Saloon

The Lucky Nugget Saloon, which was once upon a time a dinner show and later a buffet restaurant with Disney characters, closed for a refurbishment of the kitchen.

Since its reopening earlier, flyers are now being distributed at the hotels and City Hall to promote a brand new menu deal called “Menus Lucky”. For 15,99 euros you can choose one main course and dessert and get unlimited soft drink refills.

The options are:
Main course: Angust Cheeseburger or pork spare ribs or fish & chips
Dessert: Vanilla cream with red fruits or Chocolate tart.

It’s not clear whether other items could be ordered, as there is no vegetarian option listed on this flyer!

This is the second restaurant in Disneyland Park that offers unlimited soft drink refills. This concept was tried out earlier at Buzz Lightyear’s Pizza Planet and has proven to be successful.

Disneyland Paris news

Disney Fashion completes its make-over

Disney Fashion was once known as Team Mickey, a store carrying mostly sporting gear. A few years ago however, the sports theme and merchandising was removed and replaced by a more modern take on the theming by using white glossy statues of characters lit up by colorful lights. The assortment moved from sportive to fashion, offering a similar assortment that can by found at Main Street Motors.

Last year however a different take on how the articles where presented was tried out on one side of the shop. No longer ordinary store shelves and hangers, but contemporary wardrobes, chairs and oversized frames had to make sure every product stood out. This formula proved to be successful as the entire store has now received the new theming. Besides clothes, Disney Fashion now offers matching bags, photo frames, stationary and more as well.

Take our photo tour to check out this revamped boutique:

Disney Fashion

As a reminder, below a before and after:

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Disney Fashion

Site updates

Gallery update: Backlot

Queue the explosions and dangerous stunts as we’re pleased to announce that all Backlot photo albums are now featured in the gallery: from Armageddon – Les Effets Speciaux to Café des Cascadeurs to the lost Backlot Express Restaurant and more!

Discover the behind-the-scenes magic here:

Backlot

Disneyland Paris news

World of Disney: panorama shot

World of Disney’s opening is coming really close now and final touches are currently being applied to the exterior of the building. Last week all construction fences on the IMAX Theatre side were removed, revealing the well detailed façade.

Let’s have a closer look with this exclusive panorama shot.

Click the “like” button above if you’re excited for this amazing store!

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Site updates

To all the dad’s out there…

This picture is dedicated to all the dads in the world! Happy Father’s Day!

Photo posts

Photo tour of the exclusive Sleeping Beauty Suite

The Sleeping Beauty Suite is located in the Disneyland Hotel and is the most prestige and elaborate of all the suites in the entire resort. It’s also the largest with its 187m² and features a living room with piano, fire place, a dining room for 10, a bed room with canopy bed and a marble bathroom. The suite has a private elevator which gives direct access to Disneyland Park’s main gate. The large balcony oversees Main Street, U.S.A. and has an unobstructed view of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant.

Many celebrities have stayed here before and a few of them have left their signature under the marble coffee table, including Michael Jackson, who stayed often in the Sleeping Beauty Suite in the early years of Disneyland Paris.

Without further ado, let’s take a photo tour of this top-of-the-range suite in the Disneyland Hotel.

Photo posts, Site updates

Before Cars Land there was Cars Quatre Roues Rallye!

Cars Land, the impressive new area at Disney California Adventure Park with three new attractions, restaurants and shops based on the Cars franchise, is set to open on June 15 and is currently previewing for Cast Members and selected guests.

But many Disneyland Paris fans will now that Cars Quatre Roues Rallye was the first attraction ever to be based Cars. Construction even started long before the movie was released!

Although the Paris version of Radiator Springs is on a much smaller scale than the California version, it’s still full of atmosphere and nice references to John Lasseter’s animated feature.

(Re-) discover it here in our newest photo tour:

Cars Quatre Roues Rallye

Disneyland Paris news

Disneyland Paris offers cheapest annual pass, Tokyo Disney Resort most expensive!

Disneyland Resort in California raised the prices of their annual passes not so long ago. This made us wonder which Disney Resort offered the best value for money. When you check out our comparing table below, you’ll see that Disneyland Paris offers by far the cheapest Annual Pass (Passeport Annuel Dream), as well as some of the best perks.

On the other hand, Tokyo Disney Resort (owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company) offers the most expensive annual pass, with no perks at all. No discounts, no free parking, only access to both parks. Surprisingly, the Annual Passes for Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World cost almost the same, while the Disney World pass has more parks to offer, as well as the water parks, Disney Quests and one of the golf courses.

The Hong Kong Disneyland Magic Pass is slightly more expensive then Disneyland Paris and offers equal discounts and perks, however, the resort is a lot smaller with only one park, less attractions and no Disney Village-like area.

Sources: the websites of the Disney Resorts and @DreamSweetsLove for the Tokyo Disney Resort information

Currency rate of 27 May 2012

Click to enlarge:

Photo posts

Marvelous Disneyland Paris

Is Marvel coming to Disneyland Paris? There have been numerous rumours circling fan message boards and social media ever since Philippe Gas hinted at a possible Super Heroes themed third park. But do we have to wait until 2030 for Iron Man or Spider-Man attractions? Probably not, because there are plenty of possibilities at both parks, but Walt Disney Studios Park is the most likely location for Marvel attractions or even an entire land. Not so long ago a wild rumour was released on the Disney Central Plaza forum hinting about a possible layover of the Backlot area. The current attractions could be rethemed to the most popular comic book characters like The Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor or any other character from the Marvel catalogue.

But again, these are just plain rumours, like so many that have hit the internet the past years (remember the rumours about Jack Sparrow being added to Pirates of the Caribbean or the Phantom Manor make-over), but if you can’t wait to experience Marvel in a theme park, you’ll have to travel to Universal’s Islands of Adventure where the Marvel Superheroes Island is located with several attractions, shops and restaurants based on the comic book franchises. Universal Studios currently holds the right to use Marvel characters in their East Coast theme parks (meaning you won’t see any of them at Walt Disney World any time soon).

That Marvel “land” is an indication how a possible Backlot lay-over could look like. Since Universal doesn’t own the rights to use the live-action movie portrayals of the characters, they have to use the original comic book versions of them. That’s why the land is designed to look like you’ve walked in a comic book, with 2D-like façades, bright colours and large cut out characters on all the buildings.

There are four Marvel-based attractions: The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Doctor Doom’s Fearfall, Storm Force Accelatron and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, which is a 3D movie motion-simulator that can move through sets. On top of that there are meet ‘n’ greets and a daily parade with the characters from the Marvel universe.

We’ve visited Islands of Adventure a few times since 2005. Here’s a selection of photos from our last trip in 2009.

If and when Marvel will hit the resort remains a question, but one that could be answered sooner or later.

Disneyland Paris history, Photo posts

Remember Backlot Express Restaurant?

When you visit Walt Disney Studios Park and you’re in for a snack, there’s Disney Blockbuster Cafe right across Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith. It has two themed rooms: High School Musical and Pirates of the Caribbean, but did you know this wasn’t always like that? Up until June 2009 the place was called Backlot Express Restaurant and was themed to a props storage room!

(Top: Backlot Express Restaurant; Bottom: Disney Blockbuster Café)

Upon entering Backlot Express, you would’ve noticed a large collection of stuff (or junk) you’d find at a flea market, all grouped together. But among that “junk” there were also real movie props from productions as Dinotopia, 102 Dalmations and Armageddon. In the main room where the food counters were located, there were a few bigger props attached to the ceiling. Among them a large generic shark, a Kit Kat glider and an original Imperial Speed Bike from Star Wars Episove IV: Return of the Jedi. There was even a Space Pod from the now closed Horizons attraction from Epcot.

In the room on the left hand side of the main room, more generic “props” could be found. The walls were decorated with clocks of all sizes, as well as photo frames and signs. There were also several storyboards on the walls, including artwork for a Kit Kat commercial.

A shelf suspended from the ceiling hid several props from Armageddon, as well as a scale model of Disney’s California Adventure Park information kiosk and blue prints of a “Special Effects Building” for Disney-MGM Studios.

All of these props disappeared in the Disneyland Paris Imagineering archives and got replaced by the Pirates of the Caribbean and High School Musical props and costumes, none of which are originals…

Though it wasn’t perfect, one has to agree that the theming of the restaurant wasn’t the main issue, the food offering was and still is, as no changes have been made there…

Take the photo tours and judge for yourself:

Disneyland Paris history, Photo posts

The interesting history of Café des Cascadeurs

For many Disneyland Paris fans, Café des Cascadeurs is the only table service restaurant that can be found in the park and sadly, it’s rarely open. But did you know besides the fact it serves burgers & fries, it has an actual history going back to 1950?!

The whole metal diner shell actually originates from New Jersey, New York where it was used as an actual diner called “The Excellent Diner”. It served classic American fast food up until 1995 when it was sold and shipped to Germany. It’s history from there on is unknown, but somehow a group of Walt Disney Imagineers found out about this excellent retro gem and purchased it for the Walt Disney Studios Park.

The interior of the diner was completely rebuild and brand new signs were designed to match the existing design.

Café des Cascadeurs opened a few months after Walt Disney Studios Park had opened on 16 March 2002.

Next time when you have the chance to have lunch here, remember you’re probably sitting in one of the oldest items that can be found in the entire resort!

Take the photo tour:

Café des Cascadeurs

A big thank you goes to Jordan Zakarin who e-mailed me the history of The Excellent Diner a few years ago. ~~Read his blog post, including a picture of the original diner here.~~