Disney Announces More Marvel Attractions for Several Parks

© Disney

The Disney Parks are continuing to add new Marvel themed attractions to their offerings across the globe, highlighted in a series of announcements today.  The popular characters that are a part of the Marvel universe will become a part of new lands, shows and rides at several parks over the next few years.

At Disney California Adventure, the addition of a whole new themed section based on Marvel characters has finally been confirmed.  Opening in 2020, a new land will take up the space currently occupied by A Bug's Land, which also includes the closure of It's Tough To Be A Bug - that took place on March 19th.  The rest of the Bug's Life themed land will close at the end of the summer.

The space is adjacent to the recently opened Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! attraction, and will feature the Avengers and Spider-Man, but no hints yet on what rides or attractions will be built.

© Disney

Disney recently announced a large expansion for Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, which will include a new Marvel themed land an a retrofit of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster based on the Avengers characters.  That is set to open in 2020, but this summer the park will hold the Marvel Summer of Super Heroes event, featuring an all new show titled Marvel: Super Heroes United.

The show will be held indoors at The Studio Theatre, and is described as a  "live-action super-production that mixes a huge 400 m² stage with one of the biggest LED screens in Europe, incredible special effects and, for the first time, in a Disney Park, the indoor use of drones beneath unbelievable aerial choreography for a truly spectacular show."  More details of the incredible show can be found in this press release.

Also previously announced is the creation of a new Marvel land at Hong Kong Disneyland, where a new ride based on Ant-Man and The Wasp will join the existing Iron Man Experience in giving visitors a new world to explore.

Walt Disney Studios Paris to Receive $2 Billion Makeover with Marvel, Frozen and StarWars

© Disneyland Paris

Today Disney announced a "transformative" expansion to the Walt Disney Studios Park, part of an overall $2 billion Euro expansion to the Disneyland Resort.  The work will see three new themed areas built at the Disney Studios Park, expanding it greatly and helping it to become a true full day theme park experience.

The three new lands will be themed around the Marvel universe of characters, the Frozen film franchise, and the ever-popular StarWars brand.  The concept art above (click for more detail) is of the transformed park, showing two of the new lands being built toward the back of the property in currently undeveloped space, and the Marvel area taking over the left section of the park.

A brand new central lake will be built as well, with what looks like fountain shows taking place on it, with the new lands surrounding it.  The art depicts popular current rides at the park, such as the Tower of Terror and Ratatouille: The Adventure still being present when the work is done.

© Google

Here is a current image of the park from above, while the perspective is not the exact same you can see how the park will grow with the announced additions.  The current backstage area will become a part of the central lake, with the Frozen area beyond it and StarWars land tucked next to that.  The art and this map make it appear as though there will be significant open space left for potentially more additions down the road.

An exact time frame for the opening of these new lands was not announced just that the new additions will come online starting in 2021 - just three years from now.

Disney Parks Share New Ride Developments at D23 Expo Japan

© Disney

Just like they did with the domestic D23 Expo, Disney Parks had a nice presentation filled with goodies at the Japanese version of the event, held this past weekend.

There were updates and some new details released on already known projects, and even a couple brand new ones revealed.  The official Disney Parks Blog has a recap of all the news.

Up top is some new concept art for Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway that is opening at Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2019.  Riders will enter the world of a cartoon short and the ride's vehicles can be seen depicted in the above art for the first time.

© Disney

Another interesting update came for the Star Wars inspired hotel that we now know will be built adjacent to and "seamlessly connected" to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  New concept art, above, was also released.  It sounds like the level of theming for this new hotel experience doesn't currently exist on the planet, so this is one big development to keep an eye on.  More details are available in this story from Disney.

Elsewhere in Florida, Disney confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy themed ride going into Epcot will indeed be an enclosed roller coaster, and it will be one of the longest in the world when it opens.  The coaster will also have a "new innovative ride system" that the Imagineers are sure will impress visitors.

© Disney

One major new attraction, well technically a transformation of an existing one, was also revealed for Walt Disney Studios Paris.  The park's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, a clone of the original Florida version, will be totally rethemed to Iron Man and the Avengers.  Aside from the concept art above, no other details on the retheme, including an opening year, were released.

Be sure to check out the full Disney Parks Blog recap post to see what else was shared at the D23 Expo Japan!

Ratatouille: The Adventure Now in Previews at Walt Disney Studios

After being under development and construction for what seems like eons, Ratatouille: The Adventure has finally opened for special media and employee previews.  Located in the corner of the Disney Studios Park in Paris, Ratatouille is a blockbuster new attraction that aims to bring interest and turnstile clicks back to the floundering park.

The ride also comes along with a new highly themed dining experience, Bistro Chez Remy, where guests dine in a setting that makes them the size of Remy himself.  Oversized props cover the restaurant, with Christmas lights hanging above among giant flowers and leaves.

The actual Ratatouille attraction features trackless vehicles, a technology that Disney has used on several high profile additions around the globe.  Video never gives the best representation, and in this case it lacks the 3-D glasses, but here we go:

I had read that the ride would utilize video screens, but I will admit that I didn't expect quite so many of them.  Hardcore fans of the park are griping about that, but if you consider the direction of most new blockbuster rides... well they all use screens pretty heavily.  Only the Japanese Disney parks seem to buck that trend.

But putting that debate aside, I think this Ratatouille attraction looks fun, fits for the whole family, and is something the park needs.  Does it seem like something that will transplant well to other parks?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I do hope it gives the Disney Studios Park the kick it needs to see continued expansion.

Ratatouille: The Adventure officially opens on July 10th.

Disneyland Paris' New Ratatouille Art and Video

Some news about the Walt Disney Studios' major new attraction, themed around the film Ratatouille, was released as part of the resort's 2013 annual report.  We've already known the premise of the ride, which will shrink visitors down to the size of Remy and let them "scurry through the kitchen, dining room, and walls of Gusteau’s famous Parisian restaurant, all the while trying to avoid the nemesis from the film, Chef Skinner."

© Disneyland Paris Resort

The attraction is a major dark ride and comes along with a new mini-themed area, technically a part of the Toon Studio section but thickly themed to Paris and quite beautiful, if you ask me.  The concept art above was just released and shows off the main plaza for the Ratatouille area.  For a closer look at the art and what's hiding in the image check out this post by DLRPToday.  The plaza will not only serve as an entrance to the ride, but also feature a shop named Chez Marianne Souvenirs de Paris, and also a restaurant (of course!) named Bistrot Chez Rémy.  The restaurant is said to be "rat sized," so I would assume the larger than life surroundings found in the attraction will carry over to the dining establishment.

As a part of starting to promote the ride, the Disneyland Paris Resort has also released this short preview video for the ride.   Since I won't be in Paris anytime too soon,  I'll have to await video of the new ride to check things out.  It sounds like it has a lot of potential and I hope it lives up to that!  There's no doubt that Imagineering can still produce an amazing ride considering what they did with Mystic Manor in Hong Kong - I guess it just comes down to the budget!  Fingers crossed.

Disney Studios Paris Releases Ratatouille Details

© Disneyland Paris

Under construction for what seems like ages now, the Disneyland Paris Resort has finally released the full name of the new Ratatouille themed ride going into Disney Studios Paris.  Translated into Ratatouille: The Crazy Adventures of Remy, the attraction will be refereed to officially in French as Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy.

The dark ride will shrink riders down to the size of a mouse as they head through Remy's adventures through the kitchen.  As seen in the first concept art released by the park (above), the ride's vehicles will look like a mouse - though not Remy himself.  Plenty of over-sized kitchen sets along with other props are being fabricated for the inside of the ride.

For some recent photos of the outside facade of the attraction check out the Disney and More blog.  The ride's buildings - and adjacent restaurant - look to be beautifully themed.

A Rat In Paris

Some crafty folks have published some images of the plans that Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris has for a new Ratatouille dark ride.  Filed with the local authorities as part of the construction planning process, there is both a beautiful concept art style image as well as blueprints of the area.

The drawings, which you can check out here, show a highly themed facade for the large dark ride which also includes a restaurant inside a massive building.  The level of theming is a plus for the somewhat barren (my opinion) Disney Studios, though the park has made steps to improve that in recent years.

According to various websites, rumor has it that the dark ride and restaurant could open at the park in 2013.  While the attraction is a perfect fit for the Parisian parks, is there any hope for an eventual stateside copy?

Toy Story Playland at Disney Studios Paris

While it opened a couple weeks ago, I just finally had time to check out some videos and photos from the new Toy Story Playland at the Disney Studios at the Disneyland Paris Resort.

After a bit of uncomfortable anticipation that the area would contain 'typical' carnival rides that would lack the Disney charm, I'm actually pleasantly surprised. The area does happen to contain three rides that you might find more often at a Six Flags than a Disney Park, but the theming is rather extensive. They even have an Intamin half-pipe coaster that's disguised as an RC Racer. The area is really not anywhere near as bad as many made it out to be.

Disney Studios in Paris really needs more attractions to grow into a nice compliment to the uber-gorgeous Disneyland Paris - but it looks like a high-tech Ratatouille E-Ticket is on the horizon, and that will certainly be a step in the right direction.

For now, check out this video tour of the new land. Be sure to click through to YouTube and watch part 2 as well.

Three New Rides And One Gigantic Buzz Lightyear

It feels as though we've been awaiting the opening of Toy Story Playland at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris forever. The official opening will be in the middle of next month, but the new area looks to be pretty finished.

The three new rides located in Toy Story Playland have been testing regularly. These include the Parachute Drop, RC Racer, and Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin. The land is filled with over-sized toys and other figures, making humans feel as though they are the size of a toy themselves. The entrance to the land features a gigantic Buzz Lightyear that guests pass directly under.

There are some nice shots of the rides testing, as well as some video, located here on the Disney Central Plaza forums.

Weekly Rewind 3.20.10

Cedar Fair's very last minute postponement of the vote of whether or not to be purchased by Apollo did not go over well with it's current investors. After a lot of debate, the company has stayed quiet on the issue. If you want a hard investors-sided look at what they're doing, check out this NYTimes article.

CBS' new Undercover Boss has been quite that talk at my water cooler lately. And now there's an episode that fits with our favorite industry! On the episode airing Sunday, March 28th, CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment will go undercover to see how the average employee of the company works. Should be interesting!

Paulton's Park is getting ready for the vote to take place on whether or not they may keep their Edge ride operating at the park. If you remember back, the park was accused of building both the Edge and the Cobra without permission. The park has received over 1,400 messages of support so far - hopefully helping to influence the upcoming vote. They previously won approval to keep the Cobra.

Disney and More has a nice piece on the making of Walt Disney Studios Paris' new Toy Story Playland. Lots of very over sized set pieces will dot the area. Not sure I'm a fan yet of the area, but I'll decide that when it's open!

The News Leader out of Missouri has a nice article on Silver Dollar City's 50th anniversary this year, looking back at how the park grew over the years. Part of the celebration includes a special website where you can list your favorite memories celebrated at the park.

La Ronde has announced a new interactive laser tag attraction for the park: TerminatorX. Two teams will battle against Skynet inside a set quite reminiscent of the Terminator films. While in French, they have a site up for the attraction.

Such a big announcement that it needed it's own announcement! Universal Orlando will be announcing the opening date of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the full details of the main ride of the area on the 25th. They've released a preview video as well, available here.

Staying in that very same wizarding world, Universal is giving away an awesome trip for a teacher and their class to the opening events of the new section. The class just needs to explain why they are extraordinary in a short video, and if they win they get to go! Check out the official site for details on how to enter.

Just for fun - here's a photo of Jordin Sparks, winner of the sixth season of American Idol, who visited Busch Gardens Tampa Bay last weekend with her cousins and family to ride roller coasters and hand-feed giraffes on the park’s 65-acre Serengeti Plain. That giraffe really likes her!

Car & Driver magazine has a fun article comparing Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster's launch to that of the acceleration of a Bugatti Veyron. Guess which of the two had a more intense launch?

Carowinds is gearing up for the opening of the park for the 2010 season on March 27th. The park recently had a construction tour that not only showed off the new Intimidator coaster, but also all the changes that came with Planet Snoopy. See the photos here.

Holy Halfpipe!

© 2010 DLRP_bopazot

I knew that the RC Racer attraction in the new Toy Story Playland at Disney Studios Paris would be an Intamin halfpipe coaster style attraction, but I guess I didn't think it'd be so... orange? These photos of the ride being constructed on Mice Chat from user DLRP_bopazot really give you a great idea how the ride will stand out at the park.

Disneyland Resort Paris also released this nice concept art for all of the Toy Story Playland area just recently, which WDS Fans has uploaded:

I still can't say that I think this area really 'fits' with the latest round of Disney quality attractions being built, but at least it gives this small park more attractions and ride capacity.

Weekly Rewind 2.13.10

Anyone interested in a Geauga Lake Memorabilia Show and Employee Reunion should check out the Roller Hutt Skate & Fun Center at 10268 Hewins Rd, SR 88, Garrettsville, OH on March 6th at 7 p.m. The first ever gathering of its type will take place to celebrate the park and allow old friends to see one another again. Admission is $5 to help cover the expense of the event, but is free for exhibitors and volunteers.

It may not have a name yet, but La Ronde has put up a webcam where you can watch the construction of their new SLC coaster. Right now it looks like a good amount of the footers for the ride are in place, and track has started to go up as well!

Hooray for new blogs! Six Flags has joined our little 'club' and launched their own official blog on the corporate level. They promise all sorts of goodies going forward, and I for one can't wait to see what they come up with!

Nickelodeon Universe is building something new, but with no official announcement to go off of we can't be sure exactly what. Rumors point to the debut of the Unicoaster from Chance Rides on that nice new ride foundation they've poured. Photos of the work can be seen here.

Lots going on with Cedar Fair this week - they've set a date for the vote on the Apollo merger, March 16th, and will hold a special unit holder's meeting that day in Sandusky, OH. The possible sale seems pretty dead in the water at this point, though, as plenty of major investors are publicly against it. The company also released full 2009 earnings this week, which as expected, weren't so great.

The plan to 'move' the Zippin Pippin from Memphis to Wisconsin is will quite alive and well, but the ride no longer is. Due to a partial collapse, the rest of the ride has been torn down. No bother to Green Bay, though, as they understood that most of the ride wasn't salvageable anyway, and they really want to buy the rights to the name and design of the ride. Can you imagine how fun it would be to have the Gravity Group rebuild the ride?

With Harry Potter opening next door, Walt Disney World isn't resting on it's laurels this summer. They've announced Summer Nightastic! - an ongoing event that is punctuated by the return of the Main Street Electrical Parade and a brand new fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom. The Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios will also have new effects and new drop sequence. See all the details here.

The post closing announcement fallout at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom continues. A recent article says that 4 operators are already lining up to take over the lease and operate the park this summer. And the fight over who owns the rides on the land has already started. Drama!

Walt Disney Studios Paris has gone vertical with some of the rides and attractions in their new Toy Story Playland area. The parachute tower is now up and is... well, it makes quite an impact on the park's skyline. Full update on the work can be seen here.

A follow up on the Kings Island tax issue - the plan to add a ticket and parking tax was voted down this past Monday. Looks like that Tailgate party really helped drum up some support for the park!

It may not be a big new ride, but hey, the park is known for it's shows. Six Flags Fiesta Texas announced that 2010 will bring three new ones to the park, and return several favorites from last year. More details from the park here.

No idea how I missed seeing these when they were published, but a couple posters on Orlando United took a helicopter tour over Islands of Adventure to get some amazing shots of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter under construction. If you are interested in this project these are a must see.

Finally, as most of you know - the weather this week was snowy and awful. But it makes for pretty park photos! Sabrina posted a list of parks that are showing off their snowy midways... and seeing if you guys know of anymore! View the list / add to it on the NPN Facebook page!

Perhaps More Pixar for Paris

© WDSFans.com

Wouldn't it be wonderful to spend New Year's Eve in Paris? Well I don't know about you but I can't! More like try to stay awake till 12 to see the ball drop! Hehe...

Anywho, WDSFans has been reporting on some new construction going on at Walt Disney Studios at the Disneyland Paris resort lately. It seems they've posted notice that they will be removing a lot of the forest area that currently resides inside the park's Studio Tram Tour path.

The site is now also reporting that the park very well may see a new Pixar themed area called Toy Story Playland. The area would be filled with highly themed flat rides, and be aimed at families with younger kids.

It's something the park still sorely needs, but why hasn't Disney done anything lately that's not themed to a Pixar franchise?

Disneyland Paris Resort Strong Again

Disneyland Paris Resort has announced their first quarter fiscal year 2008 results - and they are looking good again!

The resort with such a troubled history posted a 20% increase in revenues for the quarter on strong park attendance and hotel occupancy.

This streak of growth is going to do great things for the resort. This continues and I'm sure we'll see some more amazing attractions get built in the fields outside Paris.

Here's the article.

Paris Tower of Terror Photos

The Disney and More Blog has a fantastic photo tour of the Tower of Terror at Disney Studios Paris, which is already having pass holder previews.

The ride is a clone of the California version, and honestly from these pics you can't easily tell that it's not photos of that ride. Still, it's worth checking out; the photos are really high quality and very well done.

Disney Studios Paris Extreme Makeover

© 2007 Scrooge

Talk about an amazing transformation. User Scrooge over at Disney Magic Interactive has posted a large set of photos of the new area at Disney Studios Paris.

This is the result of the placemaking project around the park entrance/Tower of Terror area. Speaking for Tower, I believe it starts previews this month.

The area looks fantastic, and this only gives me more hope as to how California Adventure will turn out!

See all the photos.

Tower of Terror Paris + Placemaking

© 2007 Disneytheque

The picture above speaks for itself, I think. The 2nd little Disney Park in France is finally starting to shape up. Those are new buildings that went up as part of the placemaking project going on at the park in the front of the photo.

Disneytheque has a whole slew of Tower photos as well as placemaking photos.

Good Year for Disneyland Paris Resort

Euro Disney S.C.A. announced their fiscal year 2007 results today, and they were a nice improvement over the last few years.

Overall revenues were up 12% on what you *want* them to be up on, growth in attendance at the resort. The resort saw a staggering 1.7 million increase in attendance for the year.

That, in turn, increased revenues from the parks, their downtown Disney area, the hotels (which saw 5.8 percentage points higher occupancy rates this year), and everything else they offer.

The company finally had a positive operating profit for the year, and while they still had a loss over all, it's a step in the right direction.

Add this new strength to Tower of Terror opening soon and we may see even more expansion at the resort in coming years.

Disney Studios Paris Placemaking

Ever since I heard that Disney Studios Paris was doing some large scale placemaking to turn the area around their soon-to-open Tower of Terror into a 1950s Hollywood street, I've wanted to get a better idea of how it would play out.

Well, now thanks to WDSFans.com, I have just that. They have created a nice map of the area and listed all the buildings that are going in. Apparently they are snatching up designs from California Adventure and Disney-MGM Studios for use in this area.

If you are curious like I was, click here to check out WDSFans.com's page.