Goofy turns 82 today! He first appeared in the animated short “Mickey’s Revue”, released on 25 May 1932.
To celebrate this we dug into our photo archives and looked for some of Goofy’s many different costumes he wears at Disneyland Paris. Here’ s a selection of some of his best:
Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade originally premiered on 31 March 2007 for the 15th Anniversary celebrations. It featured 8 units with Disney and Pixar characters representing 7 different dreams: Imagination, Laughter and Fun, Friendship, Fantasy, Power and Romance. Each float was equipped with a special scent that matched the theme. For example the Villains float smelled like sulphur, while the Pinocchio float smelled like varnish.
The music was different for every float and was made out of short music pieces bridged together by the Once Upon a Dream jingle. A show stop was performed as well and ended each time with a blast of streamers. The prestigious Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London performed the score led by Steve Sidwell.
During its operating years the parade saw a few changes. Puppeteers and stilt walkers disappeared and Maleficent was removed from her float for a brief time after a serious incident in 2010 when the character fell off the float. In 2009 Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen were added to the Dreams of Romance unit. Halloween and Christmas units were also added over the course of time.
Disney’s Once Upon a Dream lasted in its original form until March 2012 when it was converted into Disney Magic on Parade. A few of the original floats where kept, others where changed completely like the Dreams of Romance and Imagination floats.
There are 70+ pictures of Disney’s Once Upon a Dream Parade in our gallery! Check them out here.
Walt Disney Studios Park guests can now visit the main star of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 inside Disney’s Blockbuster Cafe as part of a promotion for the movie. But did you know that a couple of years ago a similar event took place for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe?
Right across Disney Blockbuster Cafe sits a large photo location themed to an ice cavern but without any notion why it’s there. Actually about 9 years ago this was the setting for a meet ‘n’ greet with the villain of the Walden Media and Disney produced movie: the White Witch or the Queen of Narnia as she calls herself.
The character meet ‘n’ greet lasted until the movie was released. All signs referring to The Chronicles of Narnia were removed a couple of years later when Disney decided to drop the franchise.
Did you ever meet the Queen of Narnia?
Over the past years all rooms at Disney’s Sequoia Lodge have been updated with brand new furniture, colours and a Bambi-inspired theming.
Head over to our dedicated Disney’s Sequoia Lodge photo album for a complete tour of the hotel and the brand new rooms.
Every summer the cast of Buffalo Bill parades down the main street of Disney Village. Have you ever experienced this cavalcade?
See more photos here.
When The Legend of the Lion King opened in 2004, statues of wild animals wearing clothes and behaving like people were placed at the entrance of Discoveryland, pointing to Videopolis where the show was playing.
Inside the restaurant part of Videpolis, more statues where placed which depicted animals carrying their meal order or eating it from a table.
The statues remained for more than a year before finally being removed with the exception of the main logo.
Today all Disney Parks world wide celebrated the 50th anniversary of the classic attraction “it’s a small world”, which originates from the Unicef pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1964.
Rediscover this beloved attraction in our photo gallery here.
Go check out our The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror photo album! Over 50 new photos have been uploaded from the exterior of the building to the inside of the elevators!
Drop in if you dare!
Our hotel pages have been updated with brand new photo galleries of ALL official Disneyland Paris partner hotels!
Click to go to that album:
Magic Unlimited was a concept for a “season” of over a month (from early to January to early February) during which guests could ride select attractions over and over again without queuing up again. Restaurants offered all-you-can-eat buffets (common now, but rare 10 years ago) and prices of hotels were lowered.
The season was an effort to attract more guests during the calm months when there were few shows and shorter opening hours. It lasted from 2004 to 2006 but turned out to be too popular in its last year as standby waiting times doubled.
Here’s a list of the 2006 edition with the attractions that offered Magic Unlimited:
Disneyland Park
Pirates of the Caribbean
Indiana Jones™ and the Temple of Peril
Star Tours
Space Mountain: Mission 2
“it’s a small world”
Le Carousel de Lancelot
Mad Hatters Tcups
Walt Disney Studios® Park
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Studio Tram Tour®: Behind the Magic!
Flying Carpets Over Agrabah
All-you-can-eat Restaurants
Unlimited buffet for 20 euros with unlimited soft drinks (mineral water and soda) to be consumed in the restaurant during dining.
Auberge de Cendrillon Restaurant
Rendez Vous des Stars Restaurant (Walt Disney Studios® Park)
La Cantina Restaurant (Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe®)
We’re back with a long overdue photo gallery update! The only Disney hotel that was missing on Photos Magiques was Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe!
You can now take a photo tour of Disneyland Paris’ cheapst hotel: from the exterior to the brand new Cars-themed rooms!
Go to the Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe photo album.
Today will be last operating day of Town Square Photography, a shop that used to be hugely popular in the early years of Disneyland Paris for guests who forgot their photo camera’s or film rolls. Today in the age of digital photography and iPhones, and due to Kodak pulling out of the resort as a partner and sponsor, Town Square Photography’s core business became irrelevant. Pins, plush and green-screen souvenir photos couldn’t stop the shop’s demise.
Although it was certain the shop had to reinvent itself, for many fans it came as a shock that the store would not only be replaced by a new concept, it would be gutted on the inside as well. Although no details have been confirmed, we will likely see all the current turn of the century props and references (partly) ripped out, including the fictitious shop-owner’s office which was installed by Walt Disney Imagineer Eddie Sotto himself.
Town Square Photography is also an important part of the Main Street, U.S.A. story. It is one of the only shops that features a reference to the early ages of electricity, with electric wiring running over the ceiling in plain sight instead of being hidden. This was a common practice by home owners in the early 1900’s to “show off” to visitors that they could afford electricity.
It’s inevitable, a fan favorite shop is closing. The reasons are clear. No sponsor, a core business that’s way out of date and possibly part of a corporate deal? The new shop, Flora’s Boutique, will sell “Paris-inspired souvenirs”, does that ring a bell? Why yes, a similar shop will open soon in Walt Disney Studios Park called “Chez Marianne Souvenirs de Paris”. Coincidence?
Take a final tour of this beautiful, lavish shop. An Imagineering master piece and something that hasn’t been done ever since at Disneyland Paris and probably will never be done again.
Photos Magiques 