Uniquely Paris Disney

Last week I wrote about some of the attractions that we were looking forward to seeing at Disney World in Florida, and then compared them to some of the attractions found in Disney Paris. Today I'm going to look at some of the attractions that are uniquely Disney Paris, and tell you why I'm really looking forward to them.

Ratatouille The Adventure - This is probably the most "popular" of all the new attractions in Disney Paris amongst the online community.  Some consider it an attempt to improve the faltering and very unpopular Disney Studios portion of the resort.  While I've only seen a few sneak peaks of the ride, I really don't know much about it.  I would say that the only reason Ratatouille is on this list is because of the hype.  It's not that I don't think I'm going to enjoy it, I just don't know that much about it, so I can't fairly say that I'm really looking forward to it.

Alice's Curious Labyrinth - Give me a hedge maze over a roller coaster any day of the week.  It's not just because roller coasters make me ill, it's also because I really love hedge mazes. I have many childhood memories of running around a hedge maze on the Toronto Islands when I was a kid. Alice’s Curious Labyrinth sounds like it may not be too challenging puzzle wise, but it also sounds like it will be aesthetically beautiful.

The Castle Dungeon - This is probably the attraction I wish I knew nothing about before going to the park.  It's considered by many Disney aficionados and the general online community as one of the best attractions to see at Disneyland Paris.  The reason I would have rather learned nothing about this attraction is that it would have been fantastic to just go down the stairs into the dungeon and be surprised by what looks like one of the best animatronic creatures ever built.  I hope Allison is surprised, she doesn't know what to expect.

Adventure Island - This is one of the attractions that not one person has adequately managed to describe on any website I've read so far.  I think that's part of the reason I'm really excited to check it out.  Allison is also related to a real pirate, so I think she'll have a fun time here as well.

Crushes Coaster - This also falls under an attraction that no one seems to have been able to describe very well. It often receives lackluster reviews, and because of that no one really explains it well. I'm not sure what's going to happen on this ride, but it looks like fun, and I like the movie Finding Nemo.

As the time ticks down to our trip, I'm starting to try and stuff all of this Disney knowledge into my head that I can.  I'm finding that instead of collecting this information, it's just jumbling up in my head.  I get the feeling that although I'm writing these lists of things I'm excited to see, and things I'm curious about, by the time I get there it'll just be a wave of euphoria coming over me, and I'll just run and play.

Is Star Wars Land A Reality?

One of the question marks I have about new attractions to Disney World is the possibility of Star Wars Land.  Since George Lucas sold the franchise to Disney, rumours have been flying around about the possibility of Star Wars Land.  Presently there are two Star Wars themed parts to the park, one is an attraction and one an event.

The attraction is fairly old-fashioned in concept in comparison with most modern theme park rides.  It is a motion simulator, called Star Tours, which takes you on an adventure through the Star Wars universe.  One interesting thing about this ride is that it was one of the first simulator rides of its kind, but there's a new feature to this ride.  Recently they've updated the ride to allow each experience on the ride to be different.  So each time you ride the Star Tours experience, you travel to different parts of the Star Wars universe.

The event, which takes place annually at Disney Hollywood studios, is the Star Wars Weekend.  Once a year Star Wars fans, as well as Star Wars celebrities, meet for a weekend dedicated to all things Star Wars.  There are special shows, exhibits, and meet and greets throughout the park.  It has become one of the staple events at Disney World and attracts many fans from all over the world.

At this point I've heard two different stories about what kind of expansion might be coming that involve Star Wars.  Some say that they're going to take out several attractions at Disney Hollywood Studios, and build a land from scratch dedicated to Star Wars.  Others have said that they may refurbish Tomorrow Land at the Magic Kingdom.  At this point I'm sure designs are in the works, and I can only hope that it'll be up and running by the time we go.  Allison has already made up an expression for what might happen if so, she calls herself a “Star Wars widow".

Disney Blogs I'm Reading

Over the last few months I've started to regularly read a few Disney blogs.  These blogs are informative, detailed, and give some great tips on how to enjoy your Disney trip a little better.  Keep in mind that many of these blogs do offer spoilers, but for the most part they're just very helpful.

Disney Tourist Blog

The Disney tourist blog is your opportunity to follow Tom and Sarah, two Disney fanatics from Indiana. They've visited all of the parks all over the world, with Disney World being their favourite. This is a fairly unbiased blog, particularly in the early entries. The great thing about these two is they truly seem to have fun when they explore the parks. Tom will very often get into his photography on this blog, which can be good or bad depending on your interest on the subject. Frankly I find this blog to be one of the most entertaining blogs on the subject of Disney world, and Tom and Sarah are the two bloggers I'd most like to meet in person.

The World According To Jack

Jack is a details man. He examines every nook and cranny of Disney World with the greatest detail possible. Jack has written pages and pages about the various types of cement used in Disney World. Needless to say if you want to know everything about certain details of the parks, this is the blog for you. While Jack has every detail covered, he is a little dry to read. While he attempts to interject a little humour into his blogs, the amount of detail just makes it fairly dry anyways. Not that it's a bad blog; it's just very detailed and can often give you more information than you might need.

Disney Food Blog

As you might imagine the focus of this site is fairly specific. The thing is, on our trip we will have to eat, often I imagine, so this information can be useful. This blog covers food from all of the parks, and it covers them as if the food is as important as the attractions. The only fault I find in this blog is the inconsistency in the writing. Sometimes you read a post that is clear and full of detail, and then you'll read a post that just doesn't tell you anything. After following this blog for a little while I've started to edit what I read based on the subject and the authors.

Disney Parks Blog

Much like its accompanying YouTube channel, the Disney Parks Blog is a great source of accuracy, but doesn't give that much information. First of all you won't be reading anything speculative here at all, since anything released on this blog becomes official. You also don't tend to get any negative feedback from anything at the parks either. The blogs however are generally well written and any photos are high quality.

Disney Shawn

Shawn is a former Disney employee that worked as an Imagineer writing concepts for attractions. In many cases he has the inside scoop on the concepts proposed for attractions, and explains them in detail. He doesn't really focus on “news" as much as the stories depicted on the attractions. His writing is easy to read, and often doesn't give away secrets as much as enhances the story. The only fault I can really complain about this blog is that there isn't more.

Disney movies we plan to watch

The concepts that make up Disney world aren't pulled out of thin air. In fact almost every detail of the parks are inspired from Disney products, culture, or in some cases history. Disney world attaches a story to every aspect of the theme park, all inspired by various areas. To get the most of these references I thought it would be a good idea to catch up on some of our Disney content. To fully appreciate every single detail you probably have to watch every single thing Disney has ever produced, but that's just not realistic at all. Instead Allison and I decided to go through the list of Disney movies and cartoons and pick out which ones might be most relevant.

We're also going to ad a few episodes of the twilight zone to this list to better understand the tower of terror. Fortunately many of the websites I've been reading explain where many of the details of the park originated, so picking what to watch seems simple enough. We're also going to have to start keeping up with current Disney movies as well, since they often ad attractions based on current media.

Here's our list so far, many of these movies and shows we're fairly familiar with, but it doesn't hurt to update our memories. Some of this stuff is brand new to us and should be interesting to see.

Swiss Family Robinson
Lady and the Tramp
Cinderella
Snow White
Brave
Pinochio
Reluctant Dragon
Dumbo
The Three Caballeros
Song of the South
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Treasure Island
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier
Sleeping Beauty
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Absent-Minded Professor
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book
The Aristocats
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Robin Hood
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Rescuers
Pete's Dragon
The Fox and the Hound
The Black Cauldron
The Great Mouse Detective
Oliver & Company
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
The Little Mermaid
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
Beauty and the Beast
The Mighty Ducks
Aladdin
The Adventures of Huck Finn
The Lion King
A Goofy Movie
Pocahontas
Tom and Huck
James and the Giant Peach
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
A Bug's Life
Tarzan
Monsters, Inc.
The Country Bears
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The Haunted Mansion
Home on the Range
The Incredibles
Chicken Little
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Meet the Robinsons
Ratatouille
Bolt
The Princess and the Frog
Toy Story 3
Tangled
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Cars 2
Wreck-It Ralph
Monsters University
The Lone Ranger
Planes

Greatest Or Worst Piece Of Disney Merchandise?

I came across this new addition to Disney's merchandise line.  Just in case you've ever wanted to look like Uncle Walt, you can make sure your facial hair is up to par.  I'm also fairly partial to the Sulley Fu-Man-Chu as well.  I'd like to tell you that this is a joke, or at the very least unofficial, but it's real and it's from Disney.

Youtube Channels of Note - Part 5 - Disney World Documentaries

Various Disney Documentaries – This isn’t really a YouTube channel, it's more of a good search term in order to find videos online.  There are dozens of documentaries on the Internet all about Walt Disney World.  There are high production shows that show you all the ins and outs of some of the attractions, and there are people who set up a camera on a ride and let you experience it at home... sort of.  I'm sure many of the high production documentaries that appear to have at one time been on TV, are not posted with the permission of the creators, so you may see them come and go.

You also have to keep in mind that many of these documentaries may spoil the magic for you.  Before you sit down to a documentary about the park, keep in mind that they're goal may be to give away a few secrets.  You may be getting backstage tours, thus teaching you how "the magic" works, or you may be seeing things from the ride that are meant to surprise you (but now they wont since you know they're coming).

I'm a big fan of knowing how things work, so these documentaries are right up my alley.  I've shown a few of them to Allison (who's not so keen on learning about the magic) but most I probably won't.

Youtube Channels of Note - Part 3 - WDW Radio

WDW Radio - WDW Radio is a YouTube channel where you follow Lou Mongello, an exceptional Disney World fan, on his fact finding missions about the Disney World.  Lou has two themes to his posts on YouTube.  One of themes we see Lou wandering around the parks checking out new attractions or pointing out some tips.  In the other theme he's sitting behind a microphone talking about the latest Disney World news.

WDW Radio is a pretty positive look at the Disney parks, Lou Mongello doesn't often have anything bad to say about the parks, and when he does, he often glides over it with little detail.  The segments where he walks around the parks are by far my favourites, however the news segments are very informative.  The only real fault to this YouTube channel is the constant reminding that he has other websites, books and merchandise available for sale.  Thought I can't fault him considering the amount of free information he provides.

Youtube Channels of Note - Part 2 - Disney Parks

Disney Parks - Disney's official theme park YouTube channel is obviously the least neutral channel, but it's still very informative.  Often this is the place where you learn true information about what's going on at the parks.  There is 0 speculation going on here, because everything you see is official.  You also have to do a bit of sorting since the channel covers all of their parks and not just Disney World.

If you follow other blogs and YouTube channels you'll get more information, however this is the channel to confirm all speculation. This channel is also very well produced, and many of the videos are fairly entertaining.

The only true downfall of this channel is the complete lack of neutrality.  Everything on this channel is about getting you to a Disney park to spend your money.

Youtube Channels of Note - Part 1 - The DIS

All this week I'm going to highlight some of the YouTube channels that I've started to watch on the subject of Walt Disney World. As I've mentioned before, I've decided to open my brain up on the subject and try to take in as much as I possibly can. While I've also been reading a lot (come back later for my list of great blogs on the subject), there's something really great about being able to watch videos on Walt Disney World as well.



The DIS - The DIS is probably one of the driest podcasts on the subject of something so fun.  This recorded podcast (which is then posted on YouTube) is a group of Disney fans that get together and talk about what's new at Disney World that week.  There are a few regulars throughout but there are also some people that rotate in and out.  One thing to note is that the host is part owner of the main sponsor, and many of the sub-hosts work for the sponsor, so you're often subjected to advertising.  It's also worth noting that several of the regulars used to work at Disney World, so their information can be on the inside track.

The great thing about this show is you get many different opinions on the same subject.  They're also on regularly so the news is up to date.  This is a great source of up to the minute Disney World information, but isn’t as exciting as some other YouTube channels.

Disney's Latest Technologies

Since we stated to plan this epic vacation, I've decided to keep abreast of all of the latest news out of Disney about Disney World.  One of the key things that Disney seems to be focusing on is interaction.  Most notably they seem to be attempting to incorporate modern technology towards making planning your trip easier.  While a few of these new ideas sound great, many of them are making me a little worried.

Most notably are the restaurant reservations and fast pass reservations.  As I understand it Disney is looking to make it possible to make reservations online for both restaurants and fast pass rides.  This will allow people to plan out their trip to the minute, before even leaving home.  You might even be able to order your food and pick a table long before you leave for Florida.  How about knowing that at 3:30 pm on the third day of your trip, you'll be able to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror?  While the technology of this is interesting to me, the actual idea of planning my trip that far in advance sounds terrible.

I'm very worried that the Disney technology is going to take all of the spontaneity out of our epic adventure.  It seems like they're designing the parks for those people that come again and again, and not for those of us that only want an occasional visit at most.  It seems like you'll have to be in the know if you want to see something cool.

Imagineering Dream

Ever since I started studying animation, I've always thought about the idea of working for Disney.  I never wanted to be a Disney animator, or any end of the television and film production. Strangely enough that's the one area I have had a little experience.  The area I've always wanted to work would be the Imagineers.  I've even stated to every employer that I've ever had, if the Imagineers wanted to hire me, I'd quite my current job in a second. I've never actually tried to get a job with the Imagineers, but I have thought about applying.

The Imagineers are the people at Disney that design the theme parks.  They're the people that hide all of the treasures, and work on every little detail.  They not only think about the grand scheme of the park, but also the parts that you don't realize you're looking at.  If I was to ever work for the Imagineers, I think I would enjoy working on the little details more than the big picture. These are the elements that I look at when I visit any Disney Park.  Sometimes I even look in the wrong place (like backwards) on a Disney ride just to see if they thought about every detail.  I have on a few occasions seen a dark square or fire exit, but I've also been surprised a few times too.

When I lose myself in the Disney parks, it's not always in the story; sometimes I lose myself in the magic and the magicians as well.

Lineups

One of the biggest worries most people have when they visit Disney parks is the line-ups. For certain rides you can wait several hours, but one of the things Disney is world renowned for is dealing with crowds. They've pioneered ideas and technology that keeps riders entertained, and moving in long lines.

One of the ways they deal with long lines is to extend the rides into the line-ups. I've ridden several Disney rides with long line-ups without even really realizing that I was even waiting. Most common is the line-up that goes through a pre-show. It could be several interactive activities to keep you busy, or sometimes the line-up is the place where you get a pre-show that gives the ride more narrative.

The other way that Disney world deals with long line-ups is something called a Fast Pass. At the entrance to some of the most popular rides there's a time telling you how long the wait time for that ride will be. There is also a fast pass sign with an hour block shown. If the wait time is too much for you, then you can choose to use the Fast Pass instead. You just use your park entrance ticket to collect a Fast Pass ticket from a machine and you can visit other attractions in the park till your fast pass time comes up. When your time comes up you can fast-track to the front of the line.  You can only have one Fast Pass at a time, but with a little planning it can really work in your favour.

While the fact that lines at Disney are entertaining, and using Fast Passes can get you to the front of the line faster, the biggest advantage you have is that Disney works very hard at getting as many people as possible on each ride.  They spend a great deal of time to make sure that as many people as possible can ride each ride, without ruining the experience.  There is a great deal of thought put into how many cars can run at once, and how quickly you can board and unload people.

It can be very busy as Disney World, but rest assured they’re doing everything in their power to get you on as many attractions as possible.

Rides That Come and Go

One of the main concepts behind all of the Disney parks is the concept of constant change.  This has been a driving force at Imagineering since the parks first opened.  This means that you can't really visit a Disney park without some kind of construction going on.  Sometimes they're building a new attraction, other times they're updating an old one.  For the person planning a trip so far in advance (almost 2 years) this can be both exciting and unnerving.

The excitement comes from the fact that there will be many new rides and attractions opening between now and our visit date.  Because of the monstrous budget Disney has to spend on these attractions (compared to most theme parks), you can be sure that whatever they're building will be awesome.  The latest updates to Fantasyland including the new Snow White and the Seven Dwarves mine car ride seem particularly interesting.

The part of all of this constant updating that's unnerving is the unpredictability of knowing what might be open.  Not all updates are additions; some are drastic changes and even eliminations.  The drastic changes can be a little sad because you may have a fond memory of a particular ride that has changed.  For me this comes across most with the change of Mr. toads wild ride into the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  I've always loved Mr. toads wild ride, and I'll miss it, that's not to say that I automatically dislike the new Winnie the Pooh ride.

Sometimes an idea at Disney becomes unpopular or unprofitable and they simply eliminate it entirely.  A good recent example of this is the concept of Pleasure Island.  Pleasure Island used to be a section in the downtown Disney entertainment complex.  It was a section of this complex dedicated to adults and nightclubs.  It included some pretty interesting clubs including the Adventurer's Club and a fun comedy club.  A few years back Disney abandoned the whole concept of Pleasure Island, and promptly closed most of the clubs, now it appears to be just a hole in downtown Disney complex.

While we have a pretty good idea about what new attractions should be open for our visit, we have no idea what might close down, either permanently or temporarily, when we're there.  It's almost guaranteed that some sort of update will be going on, but you never know what.

Seeing Too Much

One problem that comes up with all of this planning is the possibility of ruining any surprises that might come along.  The internet is full of tips and information, but some of this information could be considered spoilers as well.  Allison feels much stronger about not seeing anything from behind the scenes, while I'm a little more interested in seeing how some of the magic is made.

Allison refers to the entire behind the scenes engineering and design as magic, and is built off of smatterings of pixy dust.  While I do enjoy learning about the behind the scenes magic, I worry that over the next two years I may learn too much.  My worry is fairly minimal however because the folks at Disney are experts in making new surprises all the time.  I also try to avoid watching or reading too many unofficial behind the scenes materials since they don’t censor themselves when it comes to giving away too much.

The other reason I'm not too worried about learning too much, is Allison's lack of wanting to learn anything.  Even if I figure out how something works, I'll get to watch everything through Allison's eyes as well.