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[Kristof]

Yesterday a group of DLP fan website owners were invited for a special presentation about the upcoming refurb projects all over the resort.  

Here's a rundown of everything that was said based on my notes and those of Mouetto from Disney Central Plaza.

The presentation started at 9 am in Walt's - An American Restaurant.  It was lead by Peggie Farris from WDI Paris and Thomas Bardenat from Park Content Projects.  

Note: photo and video were forbidden during the presentation.

Peggie Farris
She's the new head of Walt Disney Imagineering Paris for six months and has a long career at the Walt Disney Co., starting as a host at Disneyland's Storybookland in 1965. Her first task within WED Imagineering was during the construction of Epcot, where she worked on the Venetian scene in Spaceship Earth.

Thomas Bardenat
Head of the new Projects for Parks Content department.  They act as a bridge between Walt Disney Imagineering and Disneyland Paris, notably the refurbishment departments. He has a 10 year carreer at Disneyland Paris and started out as a CM at Phantom Manor.

First the smaller refurbishment projects were confirmed and explained:

- Big Thunder Mountain and Rainbow Arch.  Both will be cleaned and repainted, in a more vivid red.
- Orbitron is undergoing some work (not detailed)
- The roofs of March Hare Refreshments, Cool Post and The Old Mill will be redone.
- The façade of Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost will (finally) be refurbished.
- More Fantasyland floors will be redone, notably in front of Fantasy Festival Stage.
- New flooring in front of the Walt Disney Studios Park ticketing windows (no date yet).
- The Newport Bay Club lighthouse will get some well deserved attention from 29 April - 15 June 2011.

Someone asked why paving stones were chosen over concrete. Thomas explained this was done for faster intervention when needed.  Replacing a couple of stones will never result in closing of parts of the parade route.  Peggie mentioned she loves new floors at the resort, clearly indicating this is an issue for WDI Paris.

Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant
We all know the Château is being refurbished, but what we didn't know was the decision to go back to the original colours of the Castle.  
- Nearly all the rooftops will be painted blue, instead of green/blue and will loose their golden gradient.
- The two roofs with the snails on will be painted once again entirely in gold.
- There will be different shades of pink, darker on the bottom part of the Castle, lighter on the upper part.
- Katie Olsen from WDI Glendale used the original Château scale model to test out the new colours.
- Thomas explained there will be lots of painting during the day, because they need sunlight to check of the gradients and layers of paint are done right.  The refurb is scheduled to end late August.
- No work will be done on the interior.

Fantasyland Parade Route
- Will reopen next week, in time for the press event.
- The benches at Royal Castle Stage will not return on demand by the Entertainment Department.  The few benches that are still left will remain though.
- The stage is not going away, though nothing is planned for it according to Peggy.
- The repaving is being done by a German company.

Captain Hook's Pirate Ship
- The current ship will be demolished entirely and replaced by a brand new (similar in shape) ship in new materials that are better weather resident.
- The colours will be more dramatic, much closer to the original colour scheme.
- Someone asked if they were dropping the Peter Pan story, to which Peggie responded they were not.  However, she said there's a story opening for Jack Sparrow (but she didn't confirm a POTC make-over at all).
- Colours will be black and red, with lots of golden touches.
- Work is expected to start early April and will end late September.
- The lake will be drained and a themed scaffolding resembling a run-down sail will enclose the construction site.

Main Street, U.S.A.
- Walt's - An American Restaurant and Gibson Girl will be repainted, in a slightly different colour palette, but no major changes.
- The colours for Gibson Girl are inspired by those of ice cream, notably creamy vanilla.
- Over at Disney & Co. there will be some major changes.  The organ will be history and moved  to the new Storybook Circus area of the new Fantasyland in Florida.  In return, we're getting lots of visuals and posters from the same project that will adorn the new shelves in the Disney & Co. shop.

Molly Brown:
- WDI made the decision to rebuild, recolour and change the ride story.
- The story has been shifted from the Mid-West to the West.
- Three new flags appear on th eship: the 1885 USA flag with 38 stars, the early California flag  (made Peggie proud as a California resident) and the Jack flag.
- The spiel was newly recorded.  The captain remains French, but Molly Brown is now performed by an American actress, casted and recorded by WDI Glendale.

Tollplaza and moving walkways
- Tollplaza (the large "gate" that gives access to the main parking lot) will  be repainted as well.  It will reuse the blues from the Castle and golden accents will be added.
- The concept art shown to us, featured Disney and Pixar characters on the round frames over each toll gate.
- The tarps over the walkways will be painted in similar blue with golden touches.

Ratatouille photo location
- A Ratatouille photo location will be build in front of Restaurant Des Stars.  It will resemble a pile of cheese with a Ratatouille backdrop.

Toy Story Playland
- The old RC  Racer photo location was deemed unsafe after performing numerous tests in a backstage area.
- A new photo location will be build, resembling a giant toy box in which guests can get into and get their picture taken behind a glass window, resembling the plastic covering of the box.  The actual box will be 2m60, tall enough so guests won't be able to climb on it and fall of.
- The single rider lines at RC Racer and Parachute Drop will be become official with permanent signs and  bars.
- A new food cart will be added, designed to look like a big cookie box featuring "Jessie and her animals".
- A hilarious preshow video (which we were shown) will be added to the Parachute Drop queue line. A large PSP-like device will show a safety boarding video, animated by Pixar!!!  The characters were designed pixelated, similar to old Nintendo video games and features most of the Toy Story characters.
- Video will be shown in French, English and English with subtitles.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith
- A new light show will be replace the current one, complete with all new ecological equipment. Peggie didn't know if it will  be LED technology,  but she assumed it will.
- 2 new fog machines with new (ecological) technology which will allow a better fog-filled show building.
- Most updates will be done overnight, there will be a minimal impact during the day.
- Peggie promised some surprises on the trusts that go over the ride tracks.
- The light show was designed thanks to a new 3D software programme.
- She didn't know if the tour bus will return to the attraction, but was going to look into it.

New parade route visit
- After the presentation we headed into the park and had a stop behind the construction fences in Fantasyland where workers were finishing the final details.



Disney Princesses Pavilion
- We then headed to the old "it's a small world" post show where we were allowed to enter the construction site.  Photo and video were once again forbidden.
- The old post show is completely gone and new concrete walls that will make out the queue line were up.
- In the queue line there will be glass windows that each will represent a Disney princess castle.  Between every window  there will be real crystal symbol representing the Disney princesses, like an apple for Snow White and the glass slipper of Cinderella.  Each will be lit up from below with fiberglass.
- Guests will be able to meet one or two princesses (depending on guest attendance).
- The interiour will be themed with bricks and stone, very Fantasyland-like.
- The exterior will look like a small chateau, similar in the way of Auberge de Cendrillon, and will feature a small tower.  It will use a red-colour palette.
- A background loop has been composed just for this attraction.

Molly Brown dedication
- At 11am we were expected at the River Boat Landing for the official re-dedication of Molly Brown.  The DLP Ambassadors, Reggis and Ovaldo, were the MC's of the event and welcomed Mickey, Minnie and Buffalo Bill to the show.
- During lunch, Reggis revealed to me at was him who wrote the script of the ceremony and insisted he wanted to keep it in line with the Frontierland and Molly Brown stories. He choose Buffalo Bill and the Hill Billy Trio to support the Western story.


 
Lunch
During lunch both Anthony and I had the chance to sit next to Peggy.  She told many stories of her Disney career and asked us some questions, like which area we'd like to see "fixed".  We clearly indicated that the Geysers were on our short list and I mentioned the checklist on the magicforum which she really wanted to take a look at.  :thumbs:

Hotel refurbs
After lunch we were taken to Davy Crockett Ranch were the presentation continued in French only by Gilles Nicoulaud.  I didn't get everything that was being said, so I'm looking at the report by Mouetto.

Gilles Nicoulaud is head of all the refurbishment projects.  He started as a landscape architect at Golf Disneyland in 1991.

Disney's Hotel Sequoia Lodge
- 2011: 556 rooms will be redone in 2011
- 2012: 445 remaining rooms.
- The airconditioning and air recycling system will be revised to make it more ecological.
- Interior materials and furniture originate from Portugal, France, Belgium and Germany.
- A new breakfast room is being considered.

Disney's Davy Crockett Ranch
- Since late 2010; 365 cabins have been replaced.
- By 2013 all 595 should be replaced.
- New cabins were build by a French company.
- Installing them is much easier then before, a normal 4x4 can easily pull it. (A video was shown how this was done).
- Guest satisfaction has soared for Davy Crockett Ranch since the new cabins are in use.

Disney Hotels
- The other hotels will receive refurbs as well.  It takes approx. 2 years for one hotel to be refurbished.
- Disney's Hotel Santa Fe is next and will start October 2011.
- The current rooms which received the Cars make-over were far from finished and were more of a patch up.
- The hotel façade and roofs will be refurbished an rethemed.
- Other hotels will follow with a retheming, but no decisions have been made yet.
- Responding to a question by Alain Littaye, Gilles confirmed a plan exists to either expand the Disneyland Hotel with a new wing or build a separate building in the same theme nearby.  This was all very conceptual and execution depends on guest demand.

Davy Crockett Ranch cabin
- After the presentation we were taken to one of the new cabins, which look absolutely amazing.  The cabin featured 2 bed rooms, 2 bathrooms both with showers, large fridge, flatscreen tv and elevated terrace.

 

After the visit were taken back to Disneyland Park were the fan meeting came to end.  We returned back home with a really nice souvenir; a piece of the ribbon from the Molly Brown ceremony.

We all had an amazing time finding out about all the exciting upcoming refurbishment projects.  During the day, all the attending CM's, wether they were VP, Imagineer or salary CM, they were all open to our questions and were truly open minded about our feedback.  A big congratulation to DLP for listening to its fans!  :thumbs:

[norhel]

It seems that they have big plans for refurbishing the Resort, witch in my opinion is great. I think it is really needed.
And the meeting seems like that DLP had used time on. It's great to hear how they told you about it all.

[ed-uk]

Thanks for posting. It all sounds very promising and exciting. Can't wait to see the finished results. Good news about the pirate ship. Good news all round. Well done DLP.

[davewasbaloo]

Great stuff, and some really great news. Thanks for sharing!

[dagobert]

Thanks for the update, Kristof.

It seems you had a very informative day at DLRP.

I'm happy to hear that Disney tries to improve the whole resort. Honestly I want to see the park to return to its old glory than getting new attractions. By the way, did they tell you something about new attractions, like Ratatouille or Star Tours II?

It's really great that they are returning to the old color scheme of the castle. I'm wondering how they are going to incorporate Jack Sparrow into the Captain Hook's pirate ship.

[ulak]

Greta report!! Thank you for it! I am so happy now!

[15MagicalYears]

Thank you for reporting back to us Kristof, the news of all the refurbs are great. Although as I posted in the Rock N' Rollercoaster topic I'm dissapointed we won't be seeing a new exterior for the ride first.

[littlemermaid83]

Thanks for sharing, good to see a lot of refurbs in the works

[WalkerboyUK]

The Santa Fe is being renamed as Hotel Cars or Cars Hotel from September according to notices in the hotel reception!

[ulak]

Cars Hotel? It sounds so low cost...

[dagobert]

I hope this isn't true. What a stupid name. Why are they doing that? It ruins the whole American theme, but I'm sure no one cares about that.

[Kristof]

The Santa Fe is being renamed as Hotel Cars or Cars Hotel from September according to notices in the hotel reception!

What notices?  Posted where, on scene or backstage?  This is the first thing I've heard about this.   :-k

[Javey74]

Great read Kristof, very revealing insight into all the plans and really promising on quite a few issues raised, look forward to seeing the final results..  :thumbs:

Sounds like you and Anthony had a great day, just a shame there was no video footage or images allowed, though I can understand why..  

Thanks again for sharing..  

[Anthony]

What an excellent write-up, great job Kristof. :thumbs:

There's so much to say about yesterday. I'll admit being rather shy I was a little nervous attending something like this, meeting important people behind the magic and all those other fansite owners, but it was an absolute blast. Relaxed, intimate, informal and everyone was so friendly and willing to talk. The two ambassadors Osvaldo and Régis in particular are really wonderful guys, totally know and love their resort. Meeting and talking to Peggie was a real honour, hearing how she began working for Disney and progressed through Imagineering with all these familiar names popping up. She has a great humour and an absolute love for Imagineering. Being asked over lunch by the head of WDI Paris what the next refurbishment project should be... well, it doesn't get better than that.

Thank you again to the great people who put their time and effort into this day. To be allowed inside this world, to hear directly the official word on what's happening and actually be listened to is so exciting for all of us on the forum.

You'll certainly be seeing plenty of news on DLRP Today this week. Perhaps at some point the actual illustrations we saw of the Castle and Pirate Ship will be released. If not I'll give you a preview... stunning. Exactly what we wanted.

[Patrick]

I am so amazed so much is going to be refurbished, it sounds incredible to think a few years ago we longed for all this and never got it, well done to the people who made sure this all gets done   .  I like the idea of the changing colours of façades on Main Street, quite nice to hear they're constantly thinking of reviving things within the Resort. It is also interesting to see they're willing to refurbish so much during the summer, notably the Pirate Ship, but if it can be done then and not during the freezing winter it makes sense .  All in all a wonderful report, great to see Disneyland Paris embracing the fan community.