There’s an incredible amount of information to be found here regarding the US parks, so it felt appropriate to share an update with you about the little brother in Europe, Disneyland Paris. I’ve searched WDW Magic for the below topics and couldn’t find anything – please accept my apologies if this has been shared before and I overlooked it.
First of all, there’s good news for those of you who are planning to visit DLP after September of this year. DLP has just confirmed that the night time spectacular Disney Dreams will be extended until September 2016. I am particularly pleased with this news as I am celebrating my birthday at DLP in October and haven’t had a chance to see it in real life.
We’ve all heard about the financial struggles of DLP which slowed down (or rather stopped) the expansion as set forth in the Euro Disney master plan. TWDC has injected quite a bit of money and is buying up shares in order to regain control of the resort. There appears to be one small company that still owns about 1% of the shares who's not willing to give them up. That’s probably just a matter of time and my believe is that once TWDC is back in control, one of their main priorities should be raising the quality of DLP to the same level as it’s US counterparts. Now I’ve read quite a bit of complaining about the US parks on this forum, but I believe that if you truly want to make a good comparison, you should at least visit one park outside the US. Visit Tokyo Disney Sea and you will be amazed of what can be done in terms of beauty. Visit DLP on the other hand, and you might appreciate a little bit more of what you have at home.
Moving forward, I’ve never understood why DLP started with six large hotels and a camp ground, whilst only having two parks during it’s first decade. There must have been the idea of multiple gates to justify the capacity found in terms of hotel rooms. This question lead me to the master plan and I started to having great hopes for DLP’s future. Part of the deal with the French government was that DLP had to build three parks before the year 2020. Clearly they won’t be able to live up to that promise and DLP has been granted an extension of that agreement, meaning that they now have to complete a third gate before 2030 – or else sell back the land. This in itself would block any further future expansion so I’m confident TWDC will have that park ready before 2030.
I’m dying to find out what kind of park they have in mind. My hope is that the imagineers come up with something truly original – like Disney Sea – but as Eisner said in his biography there was “a conscious attempt to model the Euro Disneyland after Walt Disney World”. Due to Paris’ harsh winters AK won’t be an option, nor will a water park like BB or TL be able to be open year round. Speaking of water parks; Euro Disney Associés SCA has teamed up with Pierre & Vacances to build a large holiday destination called Villages Nature about 5 km south-east of DLP. It will have its very own indoor aqua park heated by deep geothermal energy. It’s actually a pretty neat concept of harmony between man and nature which will open in 2016 (click here for the YouTube video). I wouldn’t mind a European EPCOT with Future World making use of the latest technology, but I fear that Europeans won’t get out of bed for World Showcase.
Some serious work is going to be done on the relatively small Walt Disney Studios park and it wouldn’t surprise me if Marvel will get a dominant presence. As Universal doesn’t have a European park I see less issues with the rights / franchise / etc. Also, the expansion of WDS will not include Star Wars as Star Tours and its props are currently located in Discovery Land at Magic Kingdom. Primarily because there’s no business justification in relocating the iconic X-wing ship and Star Tours to WDS, as there’s more than enough space to expand for Star Wars at the north of Discovery Land. In addition, the Jedi Training Academy is on it's way to be set in Videopolis, as mentioned at the shareholders meeting.
Last but not least, I’ve been told that there are plans for MM+ to be implemented before the 25th anniversary of DLP in 2017. I’m not sure if it will be anything like what you guys have at WDW but if it could be one thing, I’d hope for the fastpass system with the magic band and smart phone!
First of all, there’s good news for those of you who are planning to visit DLP after September of this year. DLP has just confirmed that the night time spectacular Disney Dreams will be extended until September 2016. I am particularly pleased with this news as I am celebrating my birthday at DLP in October and haven’t had a chance to see it in real life.
We’ve all heard about the financial struggles of DLP which slowed down (or rather stopped) the expansion as set forth in the Euro Disney master plan. TWDC has injected quite a bit of money and is buying up shares in order to regain control of the resort. There appears to be one small company that still owns about 1% of the shares who's not willing to give them up. That’s probably just a matter of time and my believe is that once TWDC is back in control, one of their main priorities should be raising the quality of DLP to the same level as it’s US counterparts. Now I’ve read quite a bit of complaining about the US parks on this forum, but I believe that if you truly want to make a good comparison, you should at least visit one park outside the US. Visit Tokyo Disney Sea and you will be amazed of what can be done in terms of beauty. Visit DLP on the other hand, and you might appreciate a little bit more of what you have at home.
Moving forward, I’ve never understood why DLP started with six large hotels and a camp ground, whilst only having two parks during it’s first decade. There must have been the idea of multiple gates to justify the capacity found in terms of hotel rooms. This question lead me to the master plan and I started to having great hopes for DLP’s future. Part of the deal with the French government was that DLP had to build three parks before the year 2020. Clearly they won’t be able to live up to that promise and DLP has been granted an extension of that agreement, meaning that they now have to complete a third gate before 2030 – or else sell back the land. This in itself would block any further future expansion so I’m confident TWDC will have that park ready before 2030.
I’m dying to find out what kind of park they have in mind. My hope is that the imagineers come up with something truly original – like Disney Sea – but as Eisner said in his biography there was “a conscious attempt to model the Euro Disneyland after Walt Disney World”. Due to Paris’ harsh winters AK won’t be an option, nor will a water park like BB or TL be able to be open year round. Speaking of water parks; Euro Disney Associés SCA has teamed up with Pierre & Vacances to build a large holiday destination called Villages Nature about 5 km south-east of DLP. It will have its very own indoor aqua park heated by deep geothermal energy. It’s actually a pretty neat concept of harmony between man and nature which will open in 2016 (click here for the YouTube video). I wouldn’t mind a European EPCOT with Future World making use of the latest technology, but I fear that Europeans won’t get out of bed for World Showcase.
Some serious work is going to be done on the relatively small Walt Disney Studios park and it wouldn’t surprise me if Marvel will get a dominant presence. As Universal doesn’t have a European park I see less issues with the rights / franchise / etc. Also, the expansion of WDS will not include Star Wars as Star Tours and its props are currently located in Discovery Land at Magic Kingdom. Primarily because there’s no business justification in relocating the iconic X-wing ship and Star Tours to WDS, as there’s more than enough space to expand for Star Wars at the north of Discovery Land. In addition, the Jedi Training Academy is on it's way to be set in Videopolis, as mentioned at the shareholders meeting.
Last but not least, I’ve been told that there are plans for MM+ to be implemented before the 25th anniversary of DLP in 2017. I’m not sure if it will be anything like what you guys have at WDW but if it could be one thing, I’d hope for the fastpass system with the magic band and smart phone!
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? I'll never wait more than half an hour to catch a good spot, even in busy days.
