Transformative Multi-Year Expansion Announced for WDS Paris

[Sir_Cliff]

Indeed. I always gauged it by having attractions a castle park wouldn’t have. Now it’s leaning towards a confused second gate that’s only missing a castle in the middle.

The Frozen and Lion King attractions are more logical additions to Disneyland, and even within the IP mandate it makes more sense to me to have the animated films in Disneyland and the live-action stuff (Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar) in Studios.

Yes, the IPs and attractions they have chosen are kind of remarkable for how easily they would slot into the park next-door. The Ratatouille and Toy Story mini-lands, for example, do feel like things that wouldn't fit Disneyland. Every attraction planned to open as part of this new addition, however, would fit logically in either Fantasyland or Adventureland. It's part of the reason a Star Wars or Pandora section would have made more sense than this Lion King mini-land, IMO.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Yes, the IPs and attractions they have chosen are kind of remarkable for how easily they would slot into the park next-door. The Ratatouille and Toy Story mini-lands, for example, do feel like things that wouldn't fit Disneyland. Every attraction planned to open as part of this new addition, however, would fit logically in either Fantasyland or Adventureland. It's part of the reason a Star Wars or Pandora section would have made more sense than this Lion King mini-land, IMO.

To me, it's like this when looking at properties:

Period = Disneyland ("once upon a time")

Contemporary = Studios

Ratatouille and Toy Story, like most Pixar, is set in our modern world.

Frozen is an archetypal fairy tale. Very traditional Disney.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Instead, they seem intent on taking that approach to building parks but ditching not just the studios theme, but any overarching concept whatsoever.

That the same core Frozen ride has been slotted into a castle park, a studio park, and EPCOT is proof of this.

They pick the IP first and then decide what park to stick it in.

 

[cjkeating]

The lake area's focus on Disney animated classics and European inspired gardens makes it Fantasyland 2.0...Just with an Islands of Adventure layout.

The Frozen and Lion King attractions are more logical additions to Disneyland, and even within the IP mandate it makes more sense to me to have the animated films in Disneyland and the live-action stuff (Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar) in Studios.

Frozen could have certainly fitted into Disneyland Park however based on the scale they need to build [multi- billion dollar] IP to nowadays I doubt they could have fit it into Fantasyland. I do think in an ideal world a small scale ride near Casey Junior would have been best.

Regarding Lion King I've said this before but it's too cartoon for the Adventureland in Paris. All of it is human based. Pirates, archaeologist, explorer.

If anything I think Frozen could be the outlier of the expansion lands around the lake as it is based closer to real life than the rest, but that does give WDSP the parks castle which I think was the aim as WDSP was seen as a more masculine park than the first gate.

 

[Jordan dby]

i definitely agree that "pick an IP, plop it wherever you need to build next" is the approach they're taking, but a big advantage of frozen in paris (in my view) is that it borders a lake. the Frozen body of water serves a purpose as it links backstage area to the bigger show lake. I've not visited but i imagine Hong Kong loses something when the "fjord" is basically just a pond that ends where the land ends.

 

[mrflo]

Regarding Lion King I've said this before but it's too cartoon for the Adventureland in Paris. All of it is human based. Pirates, archaeologist, explorer.

I remember one of the insiders bringing up this point as well before the official announcement. Based on that I had actually expected the outside of the Lion King land to be even more cartoony than what they have shown so far. Considering Rafiki and gang already are at home in Adventureland, I don't think it would have been a huge dealbreaker compared to IPs like Coco in Frontierland, etc.

Personally I would have preferred a Jungle Book Splash Mt. in Adventureland instead - character designs by Marc Davies (who also did characters for Jungle Cruise, Pirates, etc.) as well as music by the Sherman brothers. Mowgli would be the human explorer character while the attraction would be the perfect DLP replacement for the Jungle Cruise. I guess that cruise has sailed now.

 

[DisneyDean97]

I remember one of the insiders bringing up this point as well before the official announcement. Based on that I had actually expected the outside of the Lion King land to be even more cartoony than what they have shown so far. Considering Rafiki and gang already are at home in Adventureland, I don't think it would have been a huge dealbreaker compared to IPs like Coco in Frontierland, etc.

Personally I would have preferred a Jungle Book Splash Mt. in Adventureland instead - character designs by Marc Davies (who also did characters for Jungle Cruise, Pirates, etc.) as well as music by the Sherman brothers. Mowgli would be the human explorer character while the attraction would be the perfect DLP replacement for the Jungle Cruise. I guess that cruise has sailed now.

It's still mind boggling that Disney never built a dark ride or boat ride based on the classic Jungle Book animated movie.

 

[mrflo]

Maybe some of you have already seen the discussion on the French forum or on X. I thought I bring it here as well:

A rumour suggests that the application for the Lion King land building permits at WDS Paris is delayed due to budget cuts, including potentially a shorter ride, fewer animatronics and more screens, changes to the ride-system, etc. Some believe nothing is final, while others worry the cuts are more severe than usual. The main issue seems to be that ambitions don’t match the budget that the US mothership wants to grant.

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

Maybe some of you have already seen the discussion on the French forum or on X. I thought I bring it here as well:

A rumour suggests that the application for the Lion King land building permits at WDS Paris is delayed due to budget cuts, including potentially a shorter ride, fewer animatronics and more screens, changes to the ride-system, etc. Some believe nothing is final, while others worry the cuts are more severe than usual. The main issue seems to be that ambitions don’t match the budget that the US mothership wants to grant.

Go figure. Paris always gets the short stick for funding.

 

[mrflo]

No budget cut.
According to insiders, Disney does not want to allocate more budget than what was already planned in the expansion plan, and the initial vision for the ride did not fit within this budget. Ultimately, DLP could have secured a bit more money, but Disney will not provide more. A budget cut is when a project is about to be funded, and at the last minute, Disney revises the proposed budget downwards compared to what had been promised.

The final version of the ride has been greenlit last week, they can now move foward.

Thank you very much for the clarification and the update!

Do you know what this means for the final/greenlit version of the ride in terms of quality and scale? When insiders were talking about how ambitious the ride will be, were they talking about the initial vision or about what has been greenlit?

 

[Aramar]

That mountain looks very impressive! Disney is talking about this Parisian ride more than usually, so I hope it's a good one!

 

[MisterPenguin]

No budget cut.
According to insiders, Disney does not want to allocate more budget than what was already planned in the expansion plan, and the initial vision for the ride did not fit within this budget (~€ 40 Million in excess). Ultimately, DLP was able to secure a bit more money, but Disney will not give more. A budget cut is when a project is about to be funded, and at the last minute, Disney revises the proposed budget downwards compared to what had been promised.

The final version of the ride has been greenlit last week, they can now move foward.

Indeed, this happens often when what is built is less than the artist concept advertised.

As you've said, it's not the budget being cut. The problem is that it's over-budget in spending. And so, to stay within the budget, the *scope* of the attraction is cut back.

Disney isn't taking money away. It's bad at estimating the final cost, or, just is bad at staying within budget. That's why elements get cut (for the most part). Disney is spending the money it allocated, only, that money is buying less than what they thought it would.

 

[mrflo]

Disney isn't taking money away. It's bad at estimating the final cost, or, just is bad at staying within budget. That's why elements get cut (for the most part). Disney is spending the money it allocated, only, that money is buying less than what they thought it would.

The question now still remains what elements worth of ~€ 40 Million that were initially envisioned had to get cut. The rumour might not have captured the budget situation itself correctly. Though the more essential part that they have to make some downgrades (e.g. shorter ride, fewer animatronics and more screens and/or changes to the ride-system, etc.) to stay within the allocated budget actually seems confirmed.

Insiders were quite enthusiastic about the ambition and scale of this ride. I would assume those opinions were based on the originally envisioned version. At least - based on the latest model - the outside of the ride with the massive rocks still looks very impressive.

 

[mrflo]

Thank you again for the additional information! I assume having an original attraction for DLP with all the extra development costs comes at a higher price tag as well. We will see if it is still the ambitious blockbuster ride - comparable to RotR, FoP, etc. - that the park would deserve and I would have liked to see. I just hope they are not planning to spread the construction & costs over too many years again. Are we still talking 2028 or 2029 - or later?

 

[marni1971]

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Final model revealed!

It's amusing to me how much the overall profile and silhouette resembles Splash Mountain despite this being a brand new flume ride built from the ground up.

 

[Bernswss]

It's amusing to me how much the overall profile and silhouette resembles Splash Mountain despite this being a brand new flume ride built from the ground up.

It does resemble Splash, but it's much bulkier and the top section a lot bigger too. While Splash had the tree, this Pride Rock looks HUGE compared to it. This model and angle is an outstanding way to comprehend just how big this ride façade, if you can even call it that, will be. Also, note the lack of animals around the mountains, I wonder if that could've been an area they cut some of the budget on, wouldn't be too bad if that means a more impressive attraction.

 

[Bernswss]

Here's a few better quality shots from the video reel:

 

[IMDREW]

Super excited for this! This is the scale and feel we hoped for from these investments. Frozen land is also very charming if judged by Hong Kong. Two absolutely great new areas. Just wish for a second ride in both, even a small one, to make those lands feel like proper lands. But, if eventually we have 4 or 5 of this quality around the lake, it'll be a great great park to be in.

They do really need to fix the heart of the park someday again though. These paint jobs and floors won't do it and drag the quality feel of the park down.

 

[Aramar]

Guys, on the first image there's clearly a person working on the model, so it's a work in progress. That's what models are for, to test how the idea and project look before building it. If there are some elements missing, like the animals, maybe it's because it's not fnished yet. Or maybe they put the animals and didn't like the result so they removed them. Or maybe they were indeed cut to save money, we can't assume anything yet.

Aslo, talking about outdoor animated figures, they just put an animated Mickey figure outdoor at the Lego Store, so I can see a similar thing for Simba/Mufasa just moving his head a little. It doesn't need to be a very detailed animatronic considering how far it will be.