Transformative Multi-Year Expansion Announced for WDS Paris

[The Empress Lilly]

I love a good teacup ride and I love Tangled. But surely this isn't what's needed? Two teacups in the resort might be overkill. And the lantern scene - I assume that will be the theming* - is a slow moving, gentle, romantic moment. The teacup ride is better paired with the zany energy of Alice.


Pity that Tangled, a movie I adore, my favourite movie this side of Stitch, should yield me toilets and a teacup ride in the two resorts I visit.

*upon further reflection, that seems to be the theming of the adjacent pond. The cups perhaps themed as that dance in the city?

 

[mrflo]

upon further reflection, that seems to be the theming of the adjacent pond. The cups perhaps themed as that dance in the city?

In the blueprint of the ride building you can see multiple little square objects hanging from the ceiling. I assume those will be the lanterns. Plus with the ride vehicles being little boats, it pretty much has to be the lantern scene.

I completely agree with you that the energy of the "teacup" ride system does not really match with the lantern scene from the movie. It's a bit like having a Lion King "Can you feel the love tonight" rollercoaster. But maybe they will adjust the speed of the ride accordingly.

 

[wdrive]

i cant wait to see how they utilize that new lake, its pretty large. Im assuming there will be a nighttime boat show or something? Maybe drones? They built a large harbor area for it so something big must be part of it.

I believe they have the barges from Tokyo’s Fantasmic

 

[Markiewong]

I love a good teacup ride and I love Tangled. But surely this isn't what's needed? Two teacups in the resort might be overkill. And the lantern scene - I assume that will be the theming* - is a slow moving, gentle, romantic moment. The teacup ride is better paired with the zany energy of Alice.


Pity that Tangled, a movie I adore, my favourite movie this side of Stitch, should yield me toilets and a teacup ride in the two resorts I visit.

*upon further reflection, that seems to be the theming of the adjacent pond. The cups perhaps themed as that dance in the city?

Studios desperately needs infill and more family rides. A teacups ride is perfect for it, also because I expect this one to be slower. The theming of the facade matches with the new restaurant thats getting built. The pond outside has a small gazebo-ish building.

Spoiler: Tangled ride

We know for sure it is a tangled ride themed to the lantern scene. The blueprint gives it away (see the lanterns at the ceiling and the boat vehicles). Furthermore we see 3x6 boats, which is bigger than the 3x5 from mad hatters. And lastly the queue indicates theres a standby line and DPA line.

Spoiler: Blueprints

There is also going to be a toilet building next to it in the same style.

Spoiler: Toilet building

The entire theme of the new walkway + lake seems to be focused on gardens and greenery. Which is a great thing for such a grey concrete park it is now.

It was always kind of in the drawings - just it was assumed to be showing Alien Spinners from DHS.


View attachment 662945

Originally it was also the Alien Spinner, but rumours already said it would be cancelled and replaced by a tangled spinner. I expect an updated concept art for the expansion at D23.

 

[montydysquith-navarro]

Interestingly, the Tuileries Garden-aka the central theme of the new boulevard-has its own (Baroque-themed?) carousel. Could they be riffing off it with the Tangled spinner, but not really (since they're two different ride systems)? I guess they dodged another comparison bullet there if they did.

 

[LondonTom]

It seems an odd ride system to use for the Tangled Boats. I'm all about a nice slow, family ride being added but it seems odd to use something like a spinner/tea cups for this? (In an ideal world some sort of slow version of AquaTopia ? So you are actually floating along the water?).

It really does just seem like they have an area to fill and know they could do with a family ride and this was the first thing they thought at least A.S.S would have slotted into Toy Story playland.

 

[Robbiem]

It seems an odd ride system to use for the Tangled Boats. I'm all about a nice slow, family ride being added but it seems odd to use something like a spinner/tea cups for this? (In an ideal world some sort of slow version of AquaTopia ? So you are actually floating along the water?).

It really does just seem like they have an area to fill and know they could do with a family ride and this was the first thing they thought at least A.S.S would have slotted into Toy Story playland.

A tangled version of aquatopia is a great idea

 

[DCBaker]

 

[mrflo]

Previews of the D23 Expo exhibition space are surfacing new images for the new "English-style garden" leading up to the lake.


This also includes an image of the new entrance for TS Playland.

 

[Indy_UK]

Looks really nice

 

[marni1971]

DLP Works images, my composite

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Interestingly, the Tuileries Garden-aka the central theme of the new boulevard-has its own (Baroque-themed?) carousel. Could they be riffing off it with the Tangled spinner, but not really (since they're two different ride systems)? I guess they dodged another comparison bullet there if they did.

I will say that the general aesthetic of the gardens looks nice enough, but I don't really see what this park is supposed to be once all of these additions are finished. They don't even really seem to be trying to make the studios theme make sense beyond the front of the park, instead just basically adding things which might be appealing and adopting the Epic Universe model of a random collection of lands.

DHS is obviously not the most cohesive park, but compared to WDSP once all of this is finished I think the studio theme still makes reasonable sense there as nothing in the park is quite as random as this whole (large) area.

 

[mrflo]

Seeing the golden Peter Pan statue sitting on the lamp, I would not be surprised if more golden statues will be sprinkled across the garden area. Once WDW's 50th anniversary is over, they could easily move those golden statues over to Paris.

Disney also unveiled the new statue of Walt Disney, titled “Walt the Dreamer,” which will be installed in Epcot. I would not mind seeing this finding it's home in the new WDS area as well. Though if they do, I hope they don't put it next to the new toilets.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Disney also unveiled the new statue of Walt Disney, titled “Walt the Dreamer,” which will be installed in Epcot. I would not mind seeing this finding it's home in the new WDS area as well. Though if they do, I hope they don't put it next to the new toilets.

Yes, I'm kind of surprised no-one looked at the finished product and said "Ah, we may need to reconsider this"!

 

[marni1971]

Yes, I'm kind of surprised no-one looked at the finished product and said "Ah, we made need to reconsider this"!

Could say that about quite a lot.

 

[montydysquith-navarro]

Yes, I'm kind of surprised no-one looked at the finished product and said "Ah, we made need to reconsider this"!

Definitely. Presentation is key here. This is what it's supposed to look like in the park, placed above the guest's level and sitting on a longer bench:

As Jim Shull said on Twitter:

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I will say that the general aesthetic of the gardens looks nice enough, but I don't really see what this park is supposed to be once all of these additions are finished. They don't even really seem to be trying to make the studios theme make sense beyond the front of the park, instead just basically adding things which might be appealing and adopting the Epic Universe model of a random collection of lands.

DHS is obviously not the most cohesive park, but compared to WDSP once all of this is finished I think the studio theme still makes reasonable sense there as nothing in the park is quite as random as this whole (large) area.

What I assume they're trying to do is have the park divided into the sub categories of the actual Disney Studios. As in having areas for Marvel, Pixar etc with this lake and surrounding attractions looking to be all Disney animation proper.

It's not a cohesive or clever thing to tie everything together, but that's what it looks like to me.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

What I assume they're trying to do is have the park divided into the sub categories of the actual Disney Studios. As in having areas for Marvel, Pixar etc with this lake and surrounding attractions looking to be all Disney animation proper.

It's not a cohesive or clever thing to tie everything together, but that's what it looks like to me.

That kind of makes sense in the way that I don't think it's hard to wrap your head around lands themed to specific film franchises in DHS. The gardens, though, seem like a weird fit. They seem to be just literally themed as nice, old, European gardens with structures from perhaps from the late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century. I believe, for example, the restaurant concept art suggest art nouveau theming. How is any of that supposed to fit into the studios theme? It's also such a large part of the park.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I believe, for example, the restaurant concept art suggest art nouveau theming. How is any of that supposed to fit into the studios theme?

I think that's because Art Nouveau is the new Victorian, in that anything done in that style signifies "Disney" and that it's also more "European". At least to the American based Imagineers designing all of this.

They also don't seem to have any interest in doing anything more with Studios/Old Hollywood despite the park's name and buildings.

(but the Victorian aesthetic at least had some connection to Walt's childhood and filmography).

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I think that's because Art Nouveau is the new Victorian, in that anything done in that style signifies "Disney" and that it's also more "European". At least to the American based Imagineers designing all of this.

Just as a personal aside, I really don't like Disney's attempts at art nouveau. For example, I think the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel is kind of ugly. It's an interesting architectural style from a particular time and place, but it quickly went out of fashion and I really don't think modern recreations work well at all.