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[Kristof]

It's time for a new Disneyland Paris photo report, this time filled with lots of scaffolding!  

Let's start with an observation I made during the weekend: in the aftermath of the Big Thunder Mountain incident have all mechanical effects, that come near ride vehicles, been disabled. Inside Crush's Coaster all the "moving" projectors were turned off including the 'waves' in the dark ride scenes and the video projectors & the bubbles in the coaster scene.  The latter was a pitch black experience. At Rock 'n' Roller Coaster lots of the moving lights were disabled, though the static ones remained lit. Apparently it was the same situation over at Space Mountain: Mission 2.  Inside Blanche Neige et les Sept Nains Snow White's arm holding the candle, the rolling mine cart and the scary trees all remained static. I didn't ride Pinocchio, Peter Pan, POTC or Phantom Manor, but I assume similar interventions have been made there too.

Enough with the bad news, lets continue with lots of photos of a park that's gaining its beauty again.

Disneyland Park

Scaffolding on Main Street








Disney & Co

The Disney & Co shop has now been closed completely while work is being finished inside.  As you know, the organ is being moved to Florida were it will be treated with more respect.








Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant

The new colours are coming out very nice.  I took the chance to photograph it against different colours of the sky.






























Big Thunder Mountain

The attraction remains closed (rumoured to reopen end of May), but its repaint has not been delayed. Several special effects are being repaired too, like this smoke effect.







Note the possums have been removed.




Geysers

Sorry, no love here...




The Old Mill

The thatch roof of the Old Mill is being refurbished. March Hare Refreshment will soon undergo the same fate.






Fantasy Festival Stage

The floor in front of Festival Stage is being renewed.




Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost

The façade of the former Explorer's Club is finally getting some attention.








Captain Hook's Pirate Ship

No changes here (at least not on-scene).



Orbitron - Machines Volantes

Orbitron has been disambled for a full (planned!) refurbishment.








Walt Disney Studios Park

Toy Story Playland

The temporary single rides line at Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop received permanent barriers.



Note the ladder has been removed from the army tower.



Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin got a permanent outdoor queue.




Cars Quatre Roues Rallye

The rock outside the attraction has been cleaned.



Rock 'n' Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith

Gibson is now the official RNRC sponsor. Maybe that's the reason behind the new upcoming light show?








Disney Village

Earl of Sandwich construction






World of Disney construction




Disney Hotels

Disney's Hotel New York

Saturday evening around 10 pm there was a fire alarm inside Hotel New York and all guests were evacuated from their rooms.  Guests were first gathered on the hotel's parking lot and then later moved inside the convention centre when it turned out the fire wasn't located inside the building.  The cast members did an excellent job moving the guests from one place to another and others handed out blankets and water for those who needed it. It's worth pointing out that quite a few cast members from Disney's Sequoia Lodge, Hotel Santa Fe and Hotel Cheyenne were also taking part of the evacuation.  The actual fire broke out probably in one of the pumps of the fountain. (It should be noted it wasn't working for 2 days, so it could have been a cigarette lighting up leaves as well).




Disney's Newport Bay Club

The light house has been completely covered with scaffolding.  No major work can be seen yet.






Mind the guests!

I couldn't help capture this guest behaviour on photo.

Where's guest flow?



Trying to see Mickey's Magical Celebration from the third row of guests.  All guests in front of me were blocking the view with kids on their shoulders.  Behind me there were no guests because they couldn't see.



Same thing over at Star 'n' Cars.  While at Following the leader with Peter Pan, guests on the first 4 rows were asked to sit down or move to the back if they preferred to stand.




Time to wrap up!

[davewasbaloo]

Yep, Following the Leader is pretty much a waste of time. Sadly the kids go on the shoulders because they cannot see unless they are at the front. This is the reason why standard operating procedure were to use theatre spaces for these things (the theatre at the Fantasyland Station could have been used), or for them not to have times and you happen upon them (real Disney magic). Not anymore.

[dagobert]

Thanks for the great update.

The castle is really beautiful after the repainting.

I think Disney removed the ladder, because of people climbing up.

Guest behaviour is really bad in Paris. I can't believe how rude some people are. We encountered that at WDW, too, but there CMs and even Park Security in police uniform came and told people not to climb over fences. DLRP should enforce that.

[davewasbaloo]

I think the issue Paris has is language. Not just in real terms, but I have also seen a lot of rude people pretend not to understand when they do.....grrrrrr. But yes, the behaviour in DLP is very poor. I do not really understand it. when you go to local parks in different European countries, people seem to be relatively well behaved. Get folks to DLP and they are animals.

I mean look at WDSP. Before it opened I warned people about RC Racer disappearing and the things in the Parachute Drop needing to be moved. My evidence base was having seen the abuses at DLP with the castle, or other walk throughs, and most notably in the studios where they had to fence off Guido and Luigi at Cars (and people still climb over the fence to get to them).

Either they need cast members to enforce it (don't get me started on how many people cross the fences to get on the lawn near the castle as show here), or design the park the first time to consider these risks.

[dagobert]

I haven't been to many themeparks, only to DLRP, WDW, Legoland Windsor and Cedar Point, but I have never experienced such a bad behaviour anywhere else than at Disneyland Paris. Did anyone alse encounter such rude guests in other parks?

It really seems to be a European problem, but I don't think that it is only the language barrier. Is DLRP afraid to tell people how to behave? Do they think they will not return after being told how to behave.

Disney Park Security at WDW is dressed like real police officers, maybe that helps to gain respect.

[davewasbaloo]

I have been in parks in Spain - people behave there, the UK, France (Park Asterix), Germany, Belgium and the US. In coaster parks, people can be badly behaved (mainly teen coach parties). In DLP, having observed over the years, there is a negative behaviour escalation. Heck you can even read it on the boards (people giving advice how to shove in to character meet and greets being something they learned because it happened to them).

I honestly think DLP showcases some of the very best things about Europe (people smiling and joking with each other even when they are from different cultures and languages) and the very worst (vandalism, pushing, and my least fav, the teens who smoked all the way through It's a Small World and pretended to not understand when I asked them in 7 languages not to smoke, the cast member then shoved her shoulders and let them go when I told her).

But to be fair, I have encountered just as bad behaviour in Disneyland and Walt Disney World too. I think Disney in the main have let standards slip (in the 70's, DL would not allow guys with long hair or girls in revealing clothes in the park, now, virtually anything goes).

[Riebi]

Sorry to say that but one of the badest guest behavior  experiences was at Disneyland Anaheim for me.  Never saw such rude people (jumping from the exit over the queue barrier at indiana jones (started by a family mother) in front of me was the mildest) . The diffrence is: They have much more Cast Members that actuell show the guests that they can´t do everything they want (Not at indiana jones/Fantasmic but at the parade route and everywhere guests climbing over the route barrieres on the green green grass (and yes they do that there as well)). And they do this job.

On the other hand I also had the badest CM  experience of my lifetime at Disneyland Anaheim...

[Josh]

Great photo report. I always look forward to them.

It was quite surprising to hear about that fire!

[mdw]

Hi we are going on Monday and I want to get a good pic of my children in front of the castle, is it likely to be covered in scaffolding?  Wud there be a cm to take a family pic of all of us?

Liked your trip report but it's our 1st time and looks like there's going to be a lot of scaffolding!

Michelle

[CafeFantasia]

A fascinating photo report. Thanks for posting that Kristof.

It's nice to see so many things getting fixed at Disneyland Paris. The castle looks great (like a freshly iced birthday cake), Big Thunder looks clean and orange again, Slinky Dog got permanent coloured poles for its queue (nice), and the Cars rockwork got cleaned too. Earl of Sandwich looks very smart, and the World of Disney shop is coming along very rapidly. It's all good stuff.

I never noticed those two security cameras (white and pink) on Sleeping Beauty Castle before. Are they new or have I simply never studied the castle in this much detail?

It's disappointing to see guests walking around on the grass in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, but as you guys have said, this is really due to the CMs not being strict enough. Presumably Disney could increase the height of the railings around these areas, making them more challenging to climb, but this would ruin the look and aesthetics.

On a technical note, have you edited these photos Kristof, or are they exactly how they came out of your camera? If you have edited them, what software did you use? Thanks :-)

[Kristof]

@Alan, photos have only been resized and the watermark added to it.  What you see is how it came out of the camera.  The cameras on the Castle have been there for a long time.

@mdw, you shouldn't worry too much about the Castle.  There shouldn't be scaffolding on the front side, so it won't ruin your photos.

[Pete's Dragon]

They turned off all the mechanical effect throughout the park, because of what happened at BTM? I bet IASWA would be pretty drap if it too had everything turned off.

[Kristof]

No, not all mechanical effects.  The ones that move or lean over towards a ride vehicle/track.

[Riebi]

Do you know if this is something that they want or do someone of the BTM-fact-finding commission want this?
Sounds to me a bit hm "hard". Wouldn´t it mean that all WDI-lean-over-effects in the world are unsafe? Or just the DLP effects cause they all need a refurb?

For BTM: I really would miss such effects like the  opossums.

[davewasbaloo]

Perhaps DLP have little to no faith in their safety due to the poor maintainence?  Reibi, FWIW, I haven't seen the opposums working for a few years. It is such a shame, as we all know, if DLP had the money of the other resorts, it could easily be the best. It used to be.