Disneyland Paris: General Discussion

[Rowe]

In possible relation to this, Disneyland Paris is having a change of Senior Vice Presidents with their current SVP Joe Schott moving to California with Daniel Delcourt, who has worked in Anaheim in Lodging and Downtown Disney with 17 years of experience, apparently he was also Vice President of the Disneyland Paris hotels at one point.

 

[jon81uk]

So the only ride I enjoy across both parks is to be bastardised into some child friendly super hero tripe. Woop. :

Click here to see how I would improve the park...

Why is adding Spiderman instead of Aerosmith suddenly going to make a coaster with a 1.2m height restriction child friendly? The pre-show and theming on the Paris version of RnR was always inferior to Florida so I think I would rather have an original concept.

If that is also the only attraction you like at Disney then I think you are better going to other parks, Disney will never be the most thrilling with tallest, fastest etc but they will be well themed and generally suitable for all.

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

If that was for any other Disney park, I'd believe it. But DLP? The forgotten runt of the litter? Somehow I can't see anything this interesting happening.

 

[Machin]

I'm sad to see all the hate for RnR! Still one of my favourite coasters to this day, combining my two favourite things, a coaster, and lighting!

I guess it's just one of those marmite rides!

 

[John]

RnRC is far from a great coaster, but I've always rather liked it largely because of the light show. I won't be sorry to see the back of the sweet emotion train though, that always makes the ride feel much slower!

Hopefully both dark coasters will get more reliable on ride audio in the future. RnRC in particular is a far poorer experience without sound.

 

[Scott]

RnR definitely isn't a fantastic coaster but it is a damn enjoyable ride. The theme is a bit bland in my opinion but is done well and is quite entertaining. It's definitely smoother than Space Mountain as well which helps it in my book!

As John has said though, the experience is dull without the sound - which is becoming quite an issue with the ride.

 

[Rob]

I really like the RnR in both Paris and Florida. It's not a great coaster but it's good fun and surprisingly smooth for a Vekoma. I do agree about the onride audio though, when it's not working it really lessens the experience. The audio wasn't exactly reliable when I was there.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Me and Hils had a failed launch on RnR while we were there. The countdown ended and the music was pumping through our headrests, but we went nowhere. Then after about 30 seconds, without any warning, we launched. The audio continued until we got to the top of the first inversion, then it cut out. Without it, the ride is dull.
There was also a noticable lack of smoke in the show building, meaning the lighting was reduced to a selection of flashing things with no beams.

A real shame, as it's usually the only ride I rate in both parks.

 

[Joelio]

To be fair though, ToT is the best ride in both parks and you neglected to ride it.

As with the above announcements though, I'm going to air on the side of caution till atleast one thing from that list has been implemented. As it's not official and the sources seemed lacking I'm inclined to believe it is a pipe dream from a disappointed fan. We shall see though, I'd love to be proven wrong!

Of this list, I only really believe they'll add Star Tours 2: The Adventure Continues and a phase 2 star wars land after the films launch with the Jedi Academy and the Mos Eisely Cantina to replace Pizza Planet. Rumours also pointed towards the glory of classic Space Mountain returning for the 20th but much like the above, I'll believe it after I've ridden it...

 

[Lordy]

The main park still isn't get much though, is it?

And BTM seem to get more refurbs than annual maintenance....

I'd really like to see a proper big new attraction, Splash Mountain style. And Star Tours can die for all I care, I really dont get all the fuss about them attractions. They should get rid of Star Tours, the theatre and Pizza Planet, and built a nice big new e-ticket attraction. Say a Wall-e dark ride? With restaurant etc?

 

[jon81uk]

The main Disneyland Park doesn't need as much work done for new attractions, more just tidying up what is there, plus improvements (such as the new film into Star Tours).

The studios park doesn't quite feel like it gels together properly so needs more work to give it proper identy.

 

[Sam]

Interesting Looopings article, not sure of its veracity.

Finally future for Walt Disney Studios

14-07-2014, 19:23 | Comments (64)


The long-awaited expansion of the Walt Disney Studios in Paris continues. This is clear from leaked future plans for the movie theme. Rumors of a major renovation of the ugly brother of the nearby Disneyland Park doing the rounds for years. Now there seems to have finally hit the thing to come. If the promising plans are correct, we cancoming years expect include an interactive three-dimensional shooting dark ride around the animated films Toy Story. In addition, the flying carpets of Aladdin get a new theme and should blacklight show Animagique make way for something new. The Studio Tram Tour will probably disappear in its entirety. At a later stage, the special effects attraction Armageddon turned into an Iron Man ride and lose Rock 'n' Rollercoaster all references to rock band Aerosmith. Instead, the roller coaster gets a Spider-Man theme. At the same stunt Moteurs ... Action! Would be replaced by a show based on superhero series The Avengers. Before that Disney has even applied for a new license.

More promising than the previously leaked plan, which I don't think mentioned Midway Mania.

 

[Sam]

Another interesting Looopings article.

"Walt Disney would hate haunted Disneyland Paris'

10-08-2014, 23:31 | Comments (42)


As Walt Disney would have been alive today, he would have hated haunted Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris. That told Disney legend Alice Davis (85) yesterday at a meeting with Disney fans. Alice worked in the sixties closely with Grandmaster Walt as a costume designer for attractions such as It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. "Walt Disney would have a panic attack if he saw Phantom Manor" , known Alice. About the condition of the poorly maintained haunted house in, she said:"It is better to close than the visitors to dish a bad experience for the attraction." After her grim statements immediately buzzed with rumors about the future of classical ride.The usually well-informed Twitter account InsideDLParis announced that Phantom Manor after a huge renovation gets a whole different meaning around 2017. French Disney resort includes over 25 years.

She's right - Phantom Manor isn't very good, and a betrayal of the entire point of the original ride ("We'll take care of the outside and let the ghosts take care of the inside"). Hopefully these rumours are true and it'll get a complete re-think to make it actually, err, fun, rather than the A-Level art project that it currently is.

Edit:

From the Dateline Disney Twitter.

Dateline Disneyland ‏@DatelineDisney Aug 9
Alice Davis says she thinks Phantom Manor in Paris would have Walt in "a tizzy" because that attraction is designed to look rundown.

Dateline Disneyland
‏@DatelineDisney
Alice Davis also notes show quality in Paris and that it's "better to have it closed" than to have bad show.

Dateline Disneyland ‏@DatelineDisney Aug 9
Bob Gurr says they need to have Tony Baxter to come "speak freely" about Phantom Manor now that "he doesn't work for the company anymore."

 

[Scott]

I quite enjoy Phantom Manor - though I think the biggest negative I had was that when I last visited, so many of the cars were out of action and simply covered with black sheeting like a bin bag...

 

[Martin]

I don't remember Phantom Manor being bad at all. It wasn't outstanding and there were weaker points but I really enjoyed it.

 

[Lordy]

I thought it was pretty spectacular, defintely the best haunted house style attraction that I have been on (and that includes wdw's Haunted Mansion)

 

[AstroDan]

I also enjoy Phantom Manor. The exterior may not be to Walt's original intention, but inside it's a solid dark ride.

 

[Sam]

Positive DLP updates.

Looopings reports that after lying empty for two years, the park are again going to stage a show in The Chaparral Stage behind BTM.

Pirates is undergoing refurbishment until 12 September (InsideDLParis)

The park have been adding extra theming to Main Street to hide the Disney Dreams! projectors.

(InsideDLParis)

The Earful Tower at Studios is being refurbished with a new park logo (InsideDLParis)

Lastly, the newly refurbished restaurants at Newport Bay have opened. Here's the Yacht Club:

And here is Cape Cod:

All photos from InsideDLParis on Facebook.

Restaurants look perfectly pleasant, but maybe a little bland? It's a shame that Disney seem unable to get that incredible detail from their parks into their resort hotels.

 

[Scott]

So glad Chaparral is being used again - it's such a huge waste of space currently!

 

[CGM]

The Yacht Club looks like a Wetherspoons at a regional airport.