In August last year (2014), I had the opportunity to test out the latest attraction that made its way to Walt Disney Studios, at Disneyland Resort Paris.
For over five years, after a mural of Gusteau, one of the main characters in the animated Pixar movie Ratatouille (2007), appeared behind the Barrel of Monkeys, a scenery element in Toy Story Playland, rumours started circulating around the fan community about a Ratatouille attraction coming in the future. Slowly, some Parisian benches appeared on the road that connects the entrance of Toy Story Playland with the future land, and some blueprints of the attraction and restaurant leaked online. This was an unofficial confirmation that a new attraction was certainly coming to Walt Disney Studios.
Half a decade later, on July 10th, Ratatouille: L’aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy opened in Place de Rémy, a brand new land was annexed to the layout of the park.
I didn’t have the opportunity to be there for the opening day, but a month later, I was already trying the new experience that was recommended and highly appreciated by the Disneyland Paris Fan Community. And I personally appreciated too, because of its atmosphere and unique style, but not as much because its location near Toy Story Playland, the calm and relaxing ambiance being spoiled by screams from RC Racer, and visually by the bright colour of it and the other attractions from the neighbour land.
As soon as you step on the path that can be easily missed if you are fascinated by the enormous talking Buzz Lightyear, you feel like you see Paris in the horizon. Gusteau’s sign high above the buildings creates an introduction not to the City of Lights that is 40 kilometres away, but to the Paris of Ratatouille. The Parisian scenario is slowly created, first by seeing the traditional French benches, with a Ratatouille twist, the lamp posts, the buildings facades that you pass by, the alley with a classic French paving, everything making you feel like a surprise is waiting for you at the end of the street. And you will not be disappointed. This initiating path prepared you for a great revelation, where music, light and architecture creates a perfect blend between those arts. A warm welcome, where the fountain cools up the atmosphere, adding refreshness and dynamism to the scenario.
La Place de Rémy
There are three main attractions in this land: Ratatouille: The Adventure, Bristrot Chez Rémy and the Paris of Ratatouille. It may seem odd that I added the mini-land on the list, but it is an attraction itself, on a quality that not only Walt Disney Studios, but Disneyland Paris has never reached recently, or even since its opening. The high level of immersion is given because of the great details and the beautifully crafted elements on which were used authentic materials, not the commonly ones used in the theme park industry. In this case, Paris is as authentic as it could be, but still not a replica of it. The Pixar twist worked very well with the design, without creating an in-your-face Toon Paris, but a comfortable and relaxing ambiance to spend time in.
The beautiful details and hidden references to the Disney•Pixar movie can be found all over the place, from the inside of the lampposts, where some rats are eating their cheese, and fences that, in a stylised way that respects Paris’ identity, are decorated with some other rats, to not-so-subtileGusteau’s sign that stands over the buildings and Colette’s Vespa and Linguini’s Bike.
Probably, the first thing that you would want to see here, in Place de Rémy, is the 270 Million Dollars trackless attraction, where you shrink to the size of a rat and go explore the rooftops of Paris, Gusteau’s kitchen and restaurant, but I will let this for another time.
Because of the large queues (constantly over two hours during the summer), I only had the chance to experience the attraction twice, with the help of the Single Rider Queue, that is a live-saver in many situations.
Gusteau invites you for dinner
Writing a short description, I will start with the queue that was a big surprise and pleasure to experience, being one of the only queues in the resort where you want to spend more time in.
The level of details is over the top, where all the imperfections of the windows, pots and walls were exaggerated. The objective of making you feel like a rat really works, the only issue is that you get to see humans around you. The queue is not just a place where you just stand and slowly advance until you reach the loading station, but a very important piece of the attraction that immerses you in the environment, in the romantic City of Lights during the night. Music, light, sounds and details is what makes this main room of the queue this enjoyable. You see Paris’ skyline in the background, you hear the traffic, a dog barking from time to time, the beautiful song “Le Festin” that is played every once in a while, and of course, Gusteau who surprises you when he starts talking and moving, just like in the movie, inviting you for dinner. But, you may expect after you wait too long that you figure out what will happen next. And I could confirm that if only this was a mediocre attraction, and this is definitely not in that category. Everything is so carefully done, that you can’t figure out what is happening, everything seems natural, not like a loop of sound effects and music repeating itself over and over again.
Moving towards the loading area, you encounter the same feeling of anticipation, when you expect to be surprised again, after you already did with the path and the main room of the queue. And so it does. You find yourself, again, on the rooftops of Paris, ready to embark one of the 36 “Ratmobiles” that are creating a visual ballet when they move towards the first scene.
Rooftops
The attraction itself is an innovation that is not often use because of its costs, most of the theme parks, using it as their last weapon to bring people back in their parks. And Walt Disney Studios is no exception.
The ride itself consists of a series of scenes, most of them being made of enormous screens and some props that immerse yourself with the help of the 3D projectors and some special effects like wind, tilting, water effects, heat effects and even scents. The blend between projection and physical props is something that the ride lacks of. Universal Studios can be a standard when we talk about this blend, and this ride doesn’t even reach half of that quality.
But viewing the positive side, which is most of the ride, the attraction itself creates more than an experience, but a sensation. The romance of Paris, the music and its spirit I can say that tops Paris itself because of the twist that I mentioned earlier. The whole thing is a feeling that I personally made me fall in love with the land and with the ride. There is something that is behind the technology, behind the ride system, behind the immersion: a feeling. Everything makes you feel in a way that I have never experienced before in an artificially-created environment. And this is the key to the success when we talk about everything: a personal connection with the guest. You canfeel that romance in your hart, making you forget that you are in a theme-park and that you are standing in the middle of a large steel building.
Realism with a Ratatouille twist
This mini-land is the perfect example of perfection in a theme park, of quality and of immersion. The level of details being overwhelming, making you ask yourself why and how a theme park would invest such a big amount of money and time: because they need it.
Compared to the other side of the park, and with the park itself, La Place de Rémy looks like a mistake because of its location is Disney’s worst theme park ever created. The land is far superior than many attractions and lands created by Disney, but compared to Walt Disney Studios, you can feel disappointment when you exit the land and see something else, because that is the moment when you realise how bad everything is. The sense of style and beauty, of harmony and immersion was lost before the constructions for the park even started. But there is still hope. How can you reach that quality again, in order to create from a piece of land with paths where you go in circles, a full-day destination? This is a question that we are going to talk about next time. For now I will let you dream of Place de Rémy, because it is a dream itself: one that lucky can’t forget.
For over five years, after a mural of Gusteau, one of the main characters in the animated Pixar movie Ratatouille (2007), appeared behind the Barrel of Monkeys, a scenery element in Toy Story Playland, rumours started circulating around the fan community about a Ratatouille attraction coming in the future. Slowly, some Parisian benches appeared on the road that connects the entrance of Toy Story Playland with the future land, and some blueprints of the attraction and restaurant leaked online. This was an unofficial confirmation that a new attraction was certainly coming to Walt Disney Studios.
Half a decade later, on July 10th, Ratatouille: L’aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy opened in Place de Rémy, a brand new land was annexed to the layout of the park.
I didn’t have the opportunity to be there for the opening day, but a month later, I was already trying the new experience that was recommended and highly appreciated by the Disneyland Paris Fan Community. And I personally appreciated too, because of its atmosphere and unique style, but not as much because its location near Toy Story Playland, the calm and relaxing ambiance being spoiled by screams from RC Racer, and visually by the bright colour of it and the other attractions from the neighbour land.
As soon as you step on the path that can be easily missed if you are fascinated by the enormous talking Buzz Lightyear, you feel like you see Paris in the horizon. Gusteau’s sign high above the buildings creates an introduction not to the City of Lights that is 40 kilometres away, but to the Paris of Ratatouille. The Parisian scenario is slowly created, first by seeing the traditional French benches, with a Ratatouille twist, the lamp posts, the buildings facades that you pass by, the alley with a classic French paving, everything making you feel like a surprise is waiting for you at the end of the street. And you will not be disappointed. This initiating path prepared you for a great revelation, where music, light and architecture creates a perfect blend between those arts. A warm welcome, where the fountain cools up the atmosphere, adding refreshness and dynamism to the scenario.
La Place de Rémy
There are three main attractions in this land: Ratatouille: The Adventure, Bristrot Chez Rémy and the Paris of Ratatouille. It may seem odd that I added the mini-land on the list, but it is an attraction itself, on a quality that not only Walt Disney Studios, but Disneyland Paris has never reached recently, or even since its opening. The high level of immersion is given because of the great details and the beautifully crafted elements on which were used authentic materials, not the commonly ones used in the theme park industry. In this case, Paris is as authentic as it could be, but still not a replica of it. The Pixar twist worked very well with the design, without creating an in-your-face Toon Paris, but a comfortable and relaxing ambiance to spend time in.
The beautiful details and hidden references to the Disney•Pixar movie can be found all over the place, from the inside of the lampposts, where some rats are eating their cheese, and fences that, in a stylised way that respects Paris’ identity, are decorated with some other rats, to not-so-subtileGusteau’s sign that stands over the buildings and Colette’s Vespa and Linguini’s Bike.
Probably, the first thing that you would want to see here, in Place de Rémy, is the 270 Million Dollars trackless attraction, where you shrink to the size of a rat and go explore the rooftops of Paris, Gusteau’s kitchen and restaurant, but I will let this for another time.
Because of the large queues (constantly over two hours during the summer), I only had the chance to experience the attraction twice, with the help of the Single Rider Queue, that is a live-saver in many situations.
Gusteau invites you for dinner
Writing a short description, I will start with the queue that was a big surprise and pleasure to experience, being one of the only queues in the resort where you want to spend more time in.
The level of details is over the top, where all the imperfections of the windows, pots and walls were exaggerated. The objective of making you feel like a rat really works, the only issue is that you get to see humans around you. The queue is not just a place where you just stand and slowly advance until you reach the loading station, but a very important piece of the attraction that immerses you in the environment, in the romantic City of Lights during the night. Music, light, sounds and details is what makes this main room of the queue this enjoyable. You see Paris’ skyline in the background, you hear the traffic, a dog barking from time to time, the beautiful song “Le Festin” that is played every once in a while, and of course, Gusteau who surprises you when he starts talking and moving, just like in the movie, inviting you for dinner. But, you may expect after you wait too long that you figure out what will happen next. And I could confirm that if only this was a mediocre attraction, and this is definitely not in that category. Everything is so carefully done, that you can’t figure out what is happening, everything seems natural, not like a loop of sound effects and music repeating itself over and over again.
Moving towards the loading area, you encounter the same feeling of anticipation, when you expect to be surprised again, after you already did with the path and the main room of the queue. And so it does. You find yourself, again, on the rooftops of Paris, ready to embark one of the 36 “Ratmobiles” that are creating a visual ballet when they move towards the first scene.
Rooftops
The attraction itself is an innovation that is not often use because of its costs, most of the theme parks, using it as their last weapon to bring people back in their parks. And Walt Disney Studios is no exception.
The ride itself consists of a series of scenes, most of them being made of enormous screens and some props that immerse yourself with the help of the 3D projectors and some special effects like wind, tilting, water effects, heat effects and even scents. The blend between projection and physical props is something that the ride lacks of. Universal Studios can be a standard when we talk about this blend, and this ride doesn’t even reach half of that quality.
But viewing the positive side, which is most of the ride, the attraction itself creates more than an experience, but a sensation. The romance of Paris, the music and its spirit I can say that tops Paris itself because of the twist that I mentioned earlier. The whole thing is a feeling that I personally made me fall in love with the land and with the ride. There is something that is behind the technology, behind the ride system, behind the immersion: a feeling. Everything makes you feel in a way that I have never experienced before in an artificially-created environment. And this is the key to the success when we talk about everything: a personal connection with the guest. You canfeel that romance in your hart, making you forget that you are in a theme-park and that you are standing in the middle of a large steel building.
Realism with a Ratatouille twist
This mini-land is the perfect example of perfection in a theme park, of quality and of immersion. The level of details being overwhelming, making you ask yourself why and how a theme park would invest such a big amount of money and time: because they need it.
Compared to the other side of the park, and with the park itself, La Place de Rémy looks like a mistake because of its location is Disney’s worst theme park ever created. The land is far superior than many attractions and lands created by Disney, but compared to Walt Disney Studios, you can feel disappointment when you exit the land and see something else, because that is the moment when you realise how bad everything is. The sense of style and beauty, of harmony and immersion was lost before the constructions for the park even started. But there is still hope. How can you reach that quality again, in order to create from a piece of land with paths where you go in circles, a full-day destination? This is a question that we are going to talk about next time. For now I will let you dream of Place de Rémy, because it is a dream itself: one that lucky can’t forget.
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