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[ICHAPMAN]

Hi,

Just been reading the latest article over on dlp.info regarding Entertainment Rumours.    

Link to original article: http://www.dlp.info/News/2010/02/entert ... summed-up/

Entertainment Rumors Summed Up

Over the years the various entertainment offerings in both theme parks at Disneyland Paris have been closely scrutinized by fans, a considerable group of whom in the recent years became more and more vocal. Subject of the criticism were in particular the limited amount of entertainment offered outside high season, the sometime as stale or not popular enough perceived offerings and what can only be seen as waste of money by the entertainment team in the form of ordering the construction of a major stage on Central Plaza, when other stages sit mostly unused.

With the "New Generation Festival" starting in April 2010 for both theme parks and the heavy emphasize that the resort itself put on the entertainment offerings the rumor mills started turning fast again and then jumping into overdrive when suddenly reports about the pre-opening cancellation of a small happening planned for the Walt Disney Studios Park surfaced during the past weekend. Unfortunately that is not the only bad report / rumor coming out of the resort for the entertainment offerings ... time for a "rumor sum up"!

Please note that the following is summing up the various rumors – so changes should be expected, even already confirmed offerings might be changed or cancelled by the resort ... so you have been warned.

Let's start in the Disneyland Park ... Currently guests can enjoy the popular "happening" / small show "Step in Time with Mary Poppins" several times daily around the gazebo on Town Square with some of the most beloved songs from the Disney classic "Mary Poppins". However, rumor has it that with the start of the New Generation Festival Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen from Disney newest animated feature "The Princess and the Frog" will be meeting with guests in the gazebo. Since a small brass band supposedly will be involved in these meetings as well all rumors sound as if a new "happening" / small show might be presented here - bringing up the so far unanswered question whether Mary Poppins will go on hiatus.

Minnie's Party Train on Main Street, U.S.A. will be renamed for the New Generation Festival into "Disney All Stars Express" but will continue to run several times daily. Also the Once Upon a Dream Parade will certainly continue – with Tiana and her Prince Naveen joining the cast of royal couples in the final segment of the parade. However, the show "It's Party Time ... with Mickey and Friends" on the huge stage set up for the show in Central Plaza seems to be gone.

While late last summer a casting call of the resort went out looking for dancers for this particular show offering one year contracts, current rumor has it that the show will be cancelled without replacement, leaving the ugly stage empty throughout the day (as no word about a replacement has come out yet). Instead rumors claim that only in the evening a once-per-day show will be presented on that stage to bring the day to a magical end with the title "Disney Showtime Spectacular".

The open-air Royal Castle Stage also seems to sit empty for another year except for the Princess Meet'n'Greets held here. However, during the christmas season the popular "Snow White ... Happily Ever After " happening / small show featuring Snow White, all seven dwarfs, the Evel Queen as old hag as well the Prince was presented here and frequently draw more guests seated on the ice cold benches than were interested in watching the elaborate show "It's Party Time ... with Mickey and Friends" on Central Plaza. So hopes are – and first careful and very lowly whispered rumors are giving first according hints as well – that this happening might return later this year, if only for the high season summer months. In the meantime the also popular happening / small show "Once Upon a Time, Sleeping Beauty" in the Castle Courtyard continues to enchant guests with the story of Sleeping Beauty. No apparent changes seems to be planned here.

"No changes" also seems to be the policy for the Fantasy Festival Stage below the Fantasyland Railroad Station. I.e. the stage will sit empty for most of the year unless an amateur performance as part of the "Magic Music Day" program is scheduled. Only during the most busy days of the Christmas Season in December and the summer high season in July and August Winnie the Pooh and his pals move in for the "Winnie the Pooh and friends, too!" show. While it seems reasonable to expect a return of this popular long running show for July & August again it is worth noting that it has not been subject to rumors so far.

Moving on into Frontierland for the round-up of entertainment rumors certainly the Chaparral Theater as the (capacity wise) largest theater in the Disneyland Park moves into the focus. Once upon a time the theater offered shows nearly year round with the popular "Mickey's Winter Wonderland" during the winter half-year and the artistic show "Tarzan – The Encounter" during the summer half of the year. However, the "Tarzan" show closed for good at the end of summer 2008 after it already had its performing run considerable reduced leaving huge gaps in spring and fall before "Mickey's Winter Wonderland" would open. In 2009 the theater sat empty during the summer half except for July and August when the hastily assembled show "Goofy's Summer Camp" was performed six days per week but mostly played to an only half full auditorium even on busy days. So what's in store for 2010? Current rumors have it that the theater will fall dormant again once "Mickey's Winter Wonderland" has closed. In fact rumors have it that not even "Goofy's Summer Camp" is expected to return. Albeit no word about a replacement show have been revealed so far either, leaving rumors circulating, that we might not see a show at all – unless entertainment comes up with a show on short notice as they apparently did last year with "Goofy's Summer Camp".

This having said one last big theater remains to be covered in the Disneyland Park: the Videopolis Theater in Discoveryland. Once upon a time the resort presented here its spectacular show "The Legend of the Lion King", a Broadway-style musical featuring an elaborate set, special effects, a huge cast and live singers. Since 2009? An empty stage with a large screen on which classic Mickey Mouse shorts as well as adverts for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in the Disney Village are screened. Only during the cold winter months the drummers from Adventureland with their performances of the "Tam Tams" have moved in for a (on the huge stage) really small performance on selected days. Unfortunately the rumors are pretty persistent on what to expect on this stage in 2010: nothing i.e. more Mickey shorts on the screen.

Before we forget it: the fireworks spectacular regulalry scheduled for July & August is supposed to run as usual – even so the rumors are all staying mum whether to expect a new show or whether the "Enchanted" fireworks will return once more...

To sum it up for the Disneyland Park: unfortunately the park's theaters will continue to sit unused for most of the year, in fact if rumors are true the new stage on Central Plaza only constructed in 2009 would sit unused throughout the day as well. However, the rumors also indicate a new "happening" / small show on Town Square for Princess Tiana (unfortunately bringing up the risk that it might turn out to be a replacement for the popular Mary Poppins happening there) as well as a new "end of day" show on Central Plaza

All in all this brings up the question: was the stage worth the investment considering that the open air Royal Castle Stage was sitting unused by entertainment just a few meters to the site in the first place and already had all sound and lighting set up since 1992? Also: how far will the resort continue to cut back the large scale entertainment offerings in its theaters in the Disneyland Park – or in other words: at what point will regular first time guests start to notice the many empty theaters and the lack of shows outside the high season?

Questions galore and only time will tell the answers – and whether the current rumor pointing to the heavily cut back entertainment in the Disneyland Park is correct. We'll keep you posted ...

P.S.: come back tomorrow for a rumor run-up in regard to the Entertainment at the Walt Disney Studios park next door.

UPDATE - a short overview over the more extensive coverage above for easy access:

Town Square:
Princess Tiana happening – rumor (potentially replacing "Step in Time with Mary Poppins" happening)

Main Street:
Minnie's Party Train continues renamed as Disney All Stars Express - official announcement
Parade route:
Once Upon a Dream Parade continues with Tiana and Prince Naveen joining the royal couples in the final segment – official announcement

Central Plaza:
"Disney Showtime Spectacular", a once daily, end-of-day performance / show – rumored as replacement for all daytime performances of "It's Party Time ... with Mickey and Friends"
Royal Castle Stage:
Princess Meet'n'Greets only, no show – however first rumors hint that the "Snow White ... Happily Ever After" might return for high season

Chaparral Theater:
no show – rumor (this includes no return for "Goofy's Summer Camp" during July and August)

Fantasy Festival Stage:
return of "Winnie the Pooh and friends, too" for July and August - rumor
Castle Courtyard:
"Once Upon a Time, Sleeping Beauty"  continues – rumor

Videopolis:
no show, Cinema Mickey screenings continue with occassional indoor performances of the "Tam Tams" – rumor

Christ, that is depressing to read.   I thought things were becoming bleak when Tarzan and Lion King disappeared, but if you believe the rumours in this article it would appear that just about all the major stages will be empty for the foreseeable future.

Cost Savings are one thing, but in my mind the 'show' is now suffering.

Regards

Iain

[Poppy The Monkey]

The latest news on "Disney's Showtime Spectacular" indicate the show will be performed 3-4 times a day.... with 8 dancers and up to 20 characters!! These are.... Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Mr Incredible, Mrs Incredible, Lilo, Stitch, ANGEL, Princess Tiana, Prince Navine, Sulley, Mike, BOO, Remy, Emile and maybe couple more!

Rehearsals start next week more info then!

[smurfy74]

hi poppy any idea what will happen in the weeks between MMP and NGF, im visiting then and would love to see some of the NGF and report on here

[Anthony]

Nothing we didn't really know before to be honest but yes, not looking good.

The Princess Tiana happening on Town Square isn't a "rumour", it's confirmed in the press release:

"And that's not all: Princess Tiana and her Prince Naveen will meet 'n' greet guests and pose for photographs at Town Square Gazebo, with lively music by the Dixieland Band inspired by the music from the film."

Hopefully Mary Poppins can continue alongside, perhaps later in the day?

The latest news on "Disney's Showtime Spectacular" indicate the show will be performed 3-4 times a day.... with 8 dancers and up to 20 characters!! These are.... Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Mr Incredible, Mrs Incredible, Lilo, Stitch, ANGEL, Princess Tiana, Prince Navine, Sulley, Mike, BOO, Remy, Emile and maybe couple more!

Thanks for the info! We need to start separate topics for the NGF events...

[pussinboots]

This had better be the last of these awful theme years. How many different outfits is the Character Express going to see, how many incarnations of Candleabration is Central Plaza going to host and how many years are the stages and theaters of Disneyland Park going to sit empty. Depressing is the word indeed.

So no Princess and the Frog Mark Twain show, either?

[dagobert]

There are so many stages around the parks and then they are building this ugly stage in front of the castle and I'm sure that this stage will stay forever. It would be so great to see the Partnes Statue on Central Plaza, like in all Disneyland parks, than in the WDS.

I've only seen the Lion King at DLP and I loved the show. So it's really sad that there are no musicals and other shows in the parks.

[Kristof]

So no Princess and the Frog Mark Twain show, either?

Nope, that idea was considered last year when they were creating the New Gen festival, but was quickly dropped.

[davewasbaloo]

We used to have some of the very best entertainment in the Disney parks around the globe, now we have the very worst. And people wonder why I am grumpy?!!!

[Adam]

http://www.dlp.info/News/2010/02/new-sh ... and-paris/

Maybe they have been reading the forum and decided to put on a new show!

[dagobert]

I don't want to see any show, I want to see a show like Lion King or Tarzan. Unfortunately I have never seen Tarzan. For example at WDW the AK alone has more great shows than the whole Paris resort. There they have Lion King and Finding Nemo, which is by far the best Disney stage show I have ever seen. Here in Paris is just one good show, Animagique.

[pussinboots]

I agree. And Tarzan is/was superb. YouTube doesn't do it justice. It was incredibly simple, there was no real dialog, you just got swept away in the music and the acrobatics. Which is also why it was so repeatable. Frankly, it was probably better than the Broadway musical.

It was great, it was popular, it transcended language barriers and there should have been a slew of successors to it, but alas.

[Kristof]

http://www.dlp.info/News/2010/02/new-show-being-prepared-for-disneyland-paris/

Maybe they have been reading the forum and decided to put on a new show!

L'Incroyable Rendez-Vous Disney is the French name for Showtime Spectacular...

[Adam]

Really? lol - so that article is nothing then!

[Anthony]

Aw, I was briefly excited.

I heard about some weird new event being planned called le Train Express des Stars Disney though...

[Riebi]

I think the entertainment that we will get this year is the result of a process that started just one day after the official launch of the 15. birthday. It´s seems that the ED management and creatives put all their minds together for this event. Every part of the company tried their very best to give the visitors one of the best disney "seasons" ever. And it was great, wasn´t it?
Putting minds together means that you can´t be in two minds about several problems the park had in this days. They very just one unit in making a great event. The refurb-guys realized that they have to refurb nearly everything but instead of moaning the just start to refurb. the decoration part of the company was happy to create a classy and wonderful decoration for the birthday events. The show guys create some magical shows and parades. The marketing department did wonderful direct marketing campaigns (Remember your personal "invitation" to the event? wasn´t it great to have such a nice flyer in your letterbox?)...just everybody did their job TOGETHER.

I think we can say that at the 15 birthday (Part I) we know that the spirit of 1992 hasn´t really left the resort.



But as always in this times after a big ALL TOGETHER NOW you could clearly see the diffrences again growing.


Now in 2010 we see what differences could make.

The entertainment department was dreaming to hard for a big REALLY BIG STAGE on central plaza (cause they had this wonderful show on central plaza during the 15. Part I) without knowing something about their target audience. The result is this stage monster on central plaza where in the times of MMP FIVE (not one) performances of MMP-Show haven´t hit more then 20 visitors per day. They were misadviced thinking that whole masses of park visitors want to see a "How can I dance like an idiot" show five times a day. Remember that they had widening the pathes around central plaza cause the were realy thinking that the masses couldn´t come through the heart of Disneyland Park. To fix the high costs for such failures we had a horrible MMP decoration on the castle and on main street (they took really old 15. birthday pieces and fix them "somehow"), cancelled shows and an entertainment concept which is just for kids under 5.
Focusing on the visitors would mean: Revive the stages of Disneyland Paris. You don´t need new stages just because you are accustomed to the old onces. Make again a wonderful show on the castle stage. Rip out the stage monster on central plaza and cancel this kind of showmaking without one piece of real story.

The marketing department seems to be like a addled child just throwing discounts all around, but mainly in their old target markets (UK, Spain: both shaked by the financial crisis and with not much money for Disney at this times) without looking for new ones and without making a campaign with a bigger idea in the back. Something "real". And by the way NGF is also not really a major move. It´s just some basic bla bla to promote some new discounts for the UK. The whole marketing gang seems to be in panic.
Focusing on the visitor would mean: Create again a dream. Dream means not rubber heads. Dream means not discount (and making the product little value). Dream means create a story! (No "new/older" stars hopping from somewhere isn´t a story)

The refurb teams has the same problem since years: with the hard belt-tightening between 2000 and 2006 they have now nearly everything to refurb. (But ok they make some steps forward but they need even more steps to get again the whole resort in good conditions)
Seems to be one of the company parts that know that they have to work for the visitors again.

The operation team had a wonderful idea to safe some money: Cutting the attraction hours. The result is that after dark and in the high priced summer season you have no attractions to visit. Which means that the guest expectations collide with the high prices for hotel rooms.

I could go on in an endless list of things but lets face it:

In 2010 the parts of the ED company doesnt work together. The result is something that doesnt fit compltly to the resort, to the guests expectations and to disney.

The solution: Just think about what you are: A storyteller. Tell us a story.

By the way: Just to make you a bit focusing on other resort: In Disneyland Resort Anaheim we had even not a wonderful show during Halloween. Just Fantasmic and that was all you could watch over their. So DLP isn´t that worse.