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[disneylandparisgirl]

I got back early this morning and the covering is really there, it looks horrible, the leaves are easy to see and so is the horrible join! It might not of been so bad if they had covered it all but I can't see how they will get it off without causing damage to the beautiful carving!

Many people were not going down the tunnel just using it as a shelter! The ones who did were looking for details I saw many people get excited when they did find the rats on the benches!

[Anthony]

I posted these on the DLRPToday twitter on the 17th:

Tom Fitzgerald and other Imagineers are standing shaking their heads at the covered-up Gusteau carving! Taking pictures on their phones. Ha!
10:24 AM Aug 17th via Twitter for iPhone

And now pointing to the walled-off costuming building, site of the future ride. Ah, how close can you stand before it looks weird?
10:26 AM Aug 17th via Twitter for iPhone

So let me explain a bit more...

There were several Imagineers waiting in the wings of the Toy Story Playland opening (including Tom Fitzgerald and a female Imagineer I remember from the WDS opening promos), and after I jumped straight on Parachute Drop it wasn't hard to spot them again walking around the land. Pretty soon they walked down to the tunnel and then turned around to look up at the carving... one of them appeared to hold their arms out with a slight look of "what can we do"/"oh well" exasperation, while the woman (must look up her name...) took a photo on her phone! That made me laugh. (Can you imagine the phone calls back to Burbank?)

They were stood for a long time looking at it and discussing it but I didn't catch much, sorry. I'll have to improve my crazed-fan-following-Imagineers-around-the-park skills. ;-) I did overhear two (more official) looking suits stood near the Barrel of Monkeys kiosk - one kinda gesturing towards Costuming and saying "what will this be?" and the answer definitely "façades", so that backs it up again for what will happen to the side of the building.

And then again on the 18th, with a photo this time:

Live: Oh to be two and a bit years into the future... Note the covered-up Chef Gusteau being pointed at again! http://yfrog.com/03vznkj
Tue Aug 17 2010 16:15:19 (GMT Daylight Time) via Twitter for iPhone

I was sat on the bench next to the tunnel and one of them returned with a friend/colleague from behind the blue gate, appearing to be explaining why it was covered up. I think I heard something about the angle being wrong..? The man pointed up along the Paris street imagining people walking towards it. So one thought I had myself is that someone somewhere decided they don't like Gusteau being above the entrance to Toy Story Playland. I mean, you don't have a symbol of Frontierland above the entrance to Adventureland... right? It doesn't actually make a lot of sense. Maybe it's just covered over while they decide what to replace it with. But then how would the faux-carving have made it so far through planning and construction?

If it's not removed, I don't think we'll see it again until the opening of the ride, that's for sure. The joining of the box onto the tunnel doesn't look like something they'd just do for a few weeks for the Toy Story Playland opening, but I could be wrong.

Finally, I was grabbing some last minute videos while it was (at last!) sunny yesterday, and wandered down there to see a group stood in the middle of the street, further up, pointing over at the corner of costuming where a shop is rumoured. A bench next to them just happened to be empty (all the others were full, it's a popular area already), and despite the screams from RC and (really loud) sound effects of Parachute Drop I quickly worked out they were something to do with merchandising... They were all about getting people into the shops, oh boy, but more encouraging: maximising merchandise variety.

One British man was very keen on variety and was quite passionately explaining that if people walk into a shop within the park and see the same merchandise as everywhere else, then they won't bother again. They'll feel like they're wasting their time (and I guess just leave it to the end of the day) - and importantly, there's no point building a new shop if it's just going to tell the same stuff as everywhere else. He seemed to be saying there were a lot more opportunities for good merchandise - at Crush, he suggested the "mine mine mine" seagulls would be perfect! Brilliant guy.

Overall, they seemed very concerned about getting people into this shop, making it different to the others. He referenced Star Traders and "the Bazaar" a lot - saying you can't get more variety than "the Bazaar" (the closed Adventureland Bazaar? not sure) - and seemed to be setting out to get more people into shops during the day, before they even ride the attractions. The big big conclusion seemed to be: "Where are you going to get them to go first?". I think they were even discussing interior layouts: "kitchen table" was mentioned! Haha!

So, lots happening around here this week. I understand I'm being one of those awful people who posts things they overhear, but so what. It's very exciting to see this kind of attention given to the Studios.

I'll post some photos when they're done copying. There's also another small but nice Ratatouille detail besides the archway and benches...

[Donald-Duck-Malta]

Hey guys!

Found this sweet article on the Ratatouille Dark Ride....and it claims that works for this future E-Ticket ride should begin this fall or early next year as it will be a major ride - with a budget estimated around 130-150M$ and in the ride we shall find trackless ride vehicles and 3D projection effects along the ride.... :thumbs:

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... nqjTxpFhEA

Enjoy! /

[Anthony]

There's also another small but nice Ratatouille detail besides the archway and benches...

Found it:



 :thumbs:

[dagobert]

Thanks Anthony for this great pictures. It's good to see such details. I'm already excited about Ratatouille and can't wait until it opens.

IT's agreat that the Imagineers talk about the new shop and the variety of merchandise. They are absolutely right that people don't buy until the evening when every shop sells the same stuff. I'm glad they realized it. It was about time. And hopefully we will see some quality merchandise and not crap like during Mickey Magical Party.

[Tuvok]

Love your 'imagineeringreport', Anthony!

I honestly don't think that they would cover up Gusteau because it has 'a wrong angle' or should be somewhere else. I've spooken to some Cast Members and they all told me that they covered it up because of the focus on Toy Story Playland now. They don't want 'the buzz' (bad choice of words here haha) to be concentrating around the coming Ratatouille attraction.

The street looks so great. I can only imagine how the actual Paris area and ride will look like.

@ Dagobert: It's not realy about the themeyear 'crap', though I have to agree on that one (New Generation Festival merchandise is way better). It's about specific merchandise which are related to the shops location. I absolutely love that the Barrel of Monkeys shop inside TSP is exclusively selling Toy Story stuff. Not that I would buy any of them, but finally they are having themed merchandise in the RIGHT location.

[dagobert]

Love your 'imagineeringreport', Anthony!

I honestly don't think that they would cover up Gusteau because it has 'a wrong angle' or should be somewhere else. I've spooken to some Cast Members and they all told me that they covered it up because of the focus on Toy Story Playland now. They don't want 'the buzz' (bad choice of words here haha) to be concentrating around the coming Ratatouille attraction.

The street looks so great. I can only imagine how the actual Paris area and ride will look like.

@ Dagobert: It's not realy about the themeyear 'crap', though I have to agree on that one (New Generation Festival merchandise is way better). It's about specific merchandise which are related to the shops location. I absolutely love that the Barrel of Monkeys shop inside TSP is exclusively selling Toy Story stuff. Not that I would buy any of them, but finally they are having themed merchandise in the RIGHT location.

I didn't have a problem with the theme, but I think the merchandise offered last year was of poor quality and that it was sold in every shop. That's what I mean, Toy Story merchandise should be sold in TSPL and at Buzz Lightyear Laserblast, but not in Frontierland.

[15MagicalYears]

Thanks for pasting that Anthony, really intresting. It's very true about the merchandising though, by the end of our stay we ended up avoiding in park shops and buying everything we wanted in the village.

[Soap]

Thanks for pasting that Anthony, really intresting. It's very true about the merchandising though, by the end of our stay we ended up avoiding in park shops and buying everything we wanted in the village.

Yeah indeed, same thinking here.
Would be great to see some more specific shops and we will have to see all the shops and hunt for the special
stuff!! :lol:

Great info Anthony  :thumbs:

[Tuvok]

I didn't have a problem with the theme, but I think the merchandise offered last year was of poor quality and that it was sold in every shop. That's what I mean, Toy Story merchandise should be sold in TSPL and at Buzz Lightyear Laserblast, but not in Frontierland.

I agree fully!  :thumbs:

[disneylandparisgirl]

I absolutely love that the Barrel of Monkeys shop inside TSP is exclusively selling Toy Story stuff

Sorry to burst the bubble but there was cars merchandise in barrel of monkeys which I was very disappointed to see! Also all the merchandise in there was available everywhere else! (Sorry off topic)

I hope they do sort this out though and not just in time for ratatouille but for other areas of both parks and improve what they sell as well! Maybe they could do some ratatouille kitchen stuffand decent toys! For example I was very dissapointed by the lack of toys from Toy Story available to buy, no Woody dolls, no Jessie dolls, no Rex, no Ham piggy banks etc they need to really look at this for ratatouille and get good quailty merchandise that people want to buy!

[Tuvok]

I absolutely love that the Barrel of Monkeys shop inside TSP is exclusively selling Toy Story stuff

Sorry to burst the bubble but there was cars merchandise in barrel of monkeys which I was very disappointed to see! Also all the merchandise in there was available everywhere else! (Sorry off topic)

I hope they do sort this out though and not just in time for ratatouille but for other areas of both parks and improve what they sell as well! Maybe they could do some ratatouille kitchen stuffand decent toys! For example I was very dissapointed by the lack of toys from Toy Story available to buy, no Woody dolls, no Jessie dolls, no Rex, no Ham piggy banks etc they need to really look at this for ratatouille and get good quailty merchandise that people want to buy!

Strange. I've take pictures of all the merchandise (see my Windows Live Photos like earlier in this topic) inside the new shop and it's all Toy Story. Maybe you think that the stuffed 'cars' (which are themed to Buzz Lightyear and Woody) are 'Cars' merchandise from the movie? It's not.
Yes, you're right that the merchandise is also available in other shops, but my point was that they have now a shop which only sells Toy Story merchandise. I also agree that the other shops, with exception for Constellations next to Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, can stop (or at least decrease) their Toy Story merchandise now.

[Malin]

Getting back to the subject of the Gusteau cover up. I see very little purpose in hiding it, so not to take the attention away from TSPL. Over at DCA, Management took the opportunity for World of Colours media event to promote all the upcoming attactions coming to the park in the next few years. Here at the Studios in Paris the Management seem to want to hide all future developments. Doesn't make sense to me!

[pussinboots]

Excellent journalism, Anthony. I also believe you're the first one to spot the chef's hat bollard.

There were several Imagineers waiting in the wings of the Toy Story Playland opening (including Tom Fitzgerald and a female Imagineer I remember from the WDS opening promos), and after I jumped straight on Parachute Drop it wasn't hard to spot them again walking around the land. Pretty soon they walked down to the tunnel and then turned around to look up at the carving... one of them appeared to hold their arms out with a slight look of "what can we do"/"oh well" exasperation, while the woman (must look up her name...) took a photo on her phone! That made me laugh. (Can you imagine the phone calls back to Burbank?)

They were stood for a long time looking at it and discussing it but I didn't catch much, sorry. I'll have to improve my crazed-fan-following-Imagineers-around-the-park skills. ;-) I did overhear two (more official) looking suits stood near the Barrel of Monkeys kiosk - one kinda gesturing towards Costuming and saying "what will this be?" and the answer definitely "façades", so that backs it up again for what will happen to the side of the building.
[...]
I was sat on the bench next to the tunnel and one of them returned with a friend/colleague from behind the blue gate, appearing to be explaining why it was covered up. I think I heard something about the angle being wrong..? The man pointed up along the Paris street imagining people walking towards it. So one thought I had myself is that someone somewhere decided they don't like Gusteau being above the entrance to Toy Story Playland. I mean, you don't have a symbol of Frontierland above the entrance to Adventureland... right? It doesn't actually make a lot of sense. Maybe it's just covered over while they decide what to replace it with. But then how would the faux-carving have made it so far through planning and construction?

I thought it a bit unusual as well to have Gusteau welcoming you to Toy Story Playland. Then again, what could they do? Replace it with a faux-carving of Rex? In any case, in a park so riddled with flaws it seems silly to get quite so critical over something as nice as this.

Finally, I was grabbing some last minute videos while it was (at last!) sunny yesterday, and wandered down there to see a group stood in the middle of the street, further up, pointing over at the corner of costuming where a shop is rumoured. A bench next to them just happened to be empty (all the others were full, it's a popular area already), and despite the screams from RC and (really loud) sound effects of Parachute Drop I quickly worked out they were something to do with merchandising... They were all about getting people into the shops, oh boy, but more encouraging: maximising merchandise variety.

One British man was very keen on variety and was quite passionately explaining that if people walk into a shop within the park and see the same merchandise as everywhere else, then they won't bother again. They'll feel like they're wasting their time (and I guess just leave it to the end of the day) - and importantly, there's no point building a new shop if it's just going to tell the same stuff as everywhere else. He seemed to be saying there were a lot more opportunities for good merchandise - at Crush, he suggested the "mine mine mine" seagulls would be perfect! Brilliant guy.

Overall, they seemed very concerned about getting people into this shop, making it different to the others. He referenced Star Traders and "the Bazaar" a lot - saying you can't get more variety than "the Bazaar" (the closed Adventureland Bazaar? not sure) - and seemed to be setting out to get more people into shops during the day, before they even ride the attractions. The big big conclusion seemed to be: "Where are you going to get them to go first?". I think they were even discussing interior layouts: "kitchen table" was mentioned! Haha!

Well, of course he means the Adventureland Bazaar! If only that man were able to convince the powers that be to build a Parisian version of it, an interconnected series of small shops selling Mickey Mouse macarons and quality kitchenware. Although I'll gladly settle for his kitchen table shop at this point.

Well, it all sounds very promising. Keep stalking these people.

[bigrossco]

in my opinion looking at all of the benches lamps etc that have been placed ALONG where Ratatouille is rummered to be placed, surley this must be coming? and surley it cant be that long before they announce it? after all all the theming is already there, it has nothing to do with TSPL maybe we should all email into DLP about it and bug them lol