New Attractions and Forthcoming Events

Last update: March 11th, 1999.

Disneyland Paris's newest attraction, the 3D movie experience "Honey I Shrank the Audience", is ready for its grand opening on 28 March 1999. Based on the popular attraction at Walt Disney World, this show replaces the CineMagique Captain EO movie in Discoveryland which closed on 16 August 1998. For the information-hungry, here are a few vital statistics:

• 604 people can be shrunk simultaneously.
• The motion base weights in at 48 tons (empty) or 148 tons with guests.
• 3,000 cubic metres of earth had to be moved to build the new attraction.
• 20 km of electric cables and 600 metres of fibre optics were used.
• There are 13,000 light bulbs, requiring 100,000 watts of power.
• Aligned end to end, the neon lights alone would cover over 300 metres.
• 24 different sound sources are distributed around 381 loud speakers (including 40 sub-woofers).
• 2,400 electro-valves, over 2km of soft water pipes and over 5km of air pipes create the physical effects.
• 20 TV monitors weighing in at 100kg each have been installed in the pre-show room.
• Presented by Kodak, the amusing and inspirational pre-show is set to Cindy Lauper's song, "True Colors".
• There are 300 headsets for simultaneous translation into French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.
• Shot in 70 mm 3-D, the main show runs for 20 minutes.
• Directed by Randal Kleiser (director of the second feature film, "Honey, I Blew Up the Baby")

A special holiday package, available from 28 March to 15 July and 12 September to 31 October 1999, has been created to celebrate the opening of the "Honey I Shrank the Audience" attraction. This 3 night/4 day break at the Sequoia Lodge, Newport Bay Club, Hotel New York or Disneyland Hotel include three souvenir watches per room and one certificate per room proving that "you have been shrunk at Disneyland Paris".

Celebrating this years Saint Patrick's Day is a Celtic Festival at Disney Village, running from 17 March to 20 March 1999. The festival features live acts such as The Commitments and The Dubliners (17 March), Soldat Louis and Celtas Cortos (18 March), Fest Noz and Armens (19 March), Celtic Flame and Gaelic Storm (20 March) plus Donal Lunny, Luka Bloom, Sharon Shannon, Mary Black and Eimear Quinn.

A 300-seat Rainforest Café will open in Disney Village in April 1999 (replacing Key West Seafood). It will be the first Rainforest Café to be located in France.

Crescondo'O - l'Eau et le Cirque. A brand new aquatic circus show, devised by Muriel Hermine, will be performing in Disney Village from 1 June 1998. The publicity material states that the authentic big top will offer scenery and effects unrivalled anywhere in the world: a magical pool containing nearly 600,000 litres of water appears and disappears during the show, while aquatic dancers, divers, trapeze artists and acrobats leap and twirl through water, air and fire, brining this entrancing aquatic and musical spectacle to life. Shows will start at 7.30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays (no performances on Thursdays) and two shows at 5pm and 8.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Cost will be FFr 220 per adult for the 1 hour 50 mins show.

Seven new screens are due to be added to the Gaumont cinema in Disney Village by June 1999 making 15 screens in all - bringing the total seating capacity up to 3,700.

Halloween: Frontierland will turn into a spooky ghost town from 16 October until 1 November 1999.

The following attractions have opened recently:

McDonald's Restaurant, 25 January 1999:
As part of its long-term global partnership with the Walt Disney Company, McDonald's today opens its first restaurant at Disney Village, on the site of Disneyland Paris. This is the third McDonald's restaurant to be built at a Disney Park. Two others are located at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando (Florida). Located by the Marina, the new, 670 square-meter McDonald's restaurant features a unique showcase design that takes customers straight into the enchanting world of Commedia Dell'Arte.

McDonald's France Managing Director Denis Hennequin said: "McDonald's is celebrating 20 years in France this year, so we are thrilled to be today opening this one-of-a-kind restaurant with our long-time Disney partner. We are hoping that it will offer patrons a magical dream experience." "With a track record of success here in France, our two brands are once again making history with this magnificent new Disney Village McDonald's," added Jack Greenberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of McDonald's Corporation. The new restaurant will be open seven days a week with a staff of 90, including seven hostesses and 73 crew members, along with additional managerial personnel. It offers seating for 250 on two levels, with a 220 square-meter terrace for a further 100+ customers.

The restaurant has a genuine children's focus. A unique play area, inspired by the pioneering inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, offers agility and balancing activities, while a nacelle located at mezzanine level is equipped with telescopes and periscopes where budding astronomers can study the heavens or, closer at hand, life alongside the Marina.

The opening of the new McDonald's restaurant at Disney Village illustrates the long-term partnership between two enterprises that share common values such as childhood, universality, dreams and magic. Since January 1997, McDonald's is Disney's official global foodservice partner and is developing original initiatives to ensure that the Disney magic is brought to children inside its restaurants worldwide. In France, the two corporations began working together in 1992, when McDonald's celebrated the Disneyland Paris opening with a Disney-themed Happy Meal. Since that time, the partnership has continued to grow, with numerous, innovative activities specifically developed for customers at its French restaurants.

With 12.5 million visitors per year, Disneyland Paris is Europe's number one resort destination. Disney Village, located just at the exit to the Theme Park, is the ideal place to build a showcase McDonald's restaurant. The artistic creativity and the variety of shows proposed, make Disney Village the ideal gathering place for Theme Park visitors, local residents and Disney employees. For the inauguration, Jay Rasulo, Executive Vice-President of Euro Disney SCA said: "An additional interest for the visitors, is the fact that Disney Village constantly updates its shows and musical festivals providing guests with a large array of choices. I am convinced that McDonald's will associate itself perfectly to this diversity, thus illustrating the ambition of creativity demonstrated in the design of the restaurant we inaugurate today."

"Mulan the Legend" debuted on 28 November 1998 at the newly-enhanced Videopolis Stage in Discoveryland. Featuring live acts including acrobats, dancers and musicians, this show tells the story of Walt Disney Pictures' latest animated feature film, Mulan.

5 April 1998 saw the opening of the brand new "Winnie the Pooh and Friends Too" show on the outdoor Castle Stage. This 20 minute bilingual musical show, featuring Christopher Robin, Pooh bear and all their friends from the Hundred Acre Wood, replaced "Le Livre Magique de Mickey" (Mickey's Magic Book) which had been running seasonally since the park first opened. The show normally plays at weekends and every day during peak seasons, but will probably not be performed during the winter months.

From 30 March 1998, the afternoon parade is The Wonderful World of Disney Parade. Twelve new or modified floats and more than 140 dancers recreate the magic of classic Disney full-length animated feature films. Around 500 children each day are invited to participate in the parade as it makes four or five stops and the dancers seek out children to take part in specific scenes. The full parade consists of the following floats: Steamboat Willie, The Princesses' Float, Pinocchio, Dumbo's Circus Train, Peter Pan (Captain Hook's Ship), Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Hercules.

A concert venue is now available near to the Disney Village car park (used for Jimmy Cliff, Kool and the Gang, etc.). Main Street Motors no longer exists as such. It is now just another store selling Disney merchandise - currently Winnie the Pooh related. You can sometimes purchase promotional photographs in souvenir holders here (a photograph of you and The Phantom taken in front of Phantom Manor).

The Star Traders store in Discoveryland no longer specialises in science fiction merchandise, selling sports related products and a few Star Wars items instead. The new eight-screen Gaumont cinema complex, located at the entrance to Disney Village, is now open. It has a total seating capacity of more than 2,000 people, including one very large 700-seater screen. Open from around 1.30pm to 10.30pm, there will be roughly five sessions per day.

A new restaurant called Buzz Lightyear's Pizza Planet (themed after the Toy Story pizza restaurant, and replacing last year's Explorer's Club) has been opened in Discoveryland, near to the exit from Space Mountain. Planet Hollywood is now open! Located near the park-side entrance to Disney Village (opposite Annette's Diner, between Rock'n'Roll America and the new Gaumont cinema complex), the building is designed as a huge globe with a large illuminated Planet Hollywood logo. The restaurant covers some 2,000 sq. metres, with 450 seats on two floors in themed areas such as Zebra, Adventure and Sci-Fi. On the ground floor there's the ubiquitous gift shop and the restaurant features the usual assortment of star exhibits, including Sylvester Stallone's mountaineering accessories from "Cliffhanger", Charlton Heston's spacesuit from "Planet Of The Apes", Bob Hoskins' suit from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", and even a replica of Roger Rabbit himself.

The beginning of the parade route (next to It's A Small World) can now sometimes be used as an alternative short-cut to reach Discoveryland - it's normally opened after the mid-afternoon parade has finished.

Near to the Frontierland Railroad station there is now a children's playground called the Pocahontas Indian Village (on the old Indian Canoes site). A games arcade called "Arcade des Visionnaires" has opened near the entrance to Discoveryland, in the site of the old Cafe des Visionnaires which no longer exists.

Miniature figures have now been added to the Storybookland dioramas which make the scenes look more alive. There are now photo-opportunity facilities at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain, where you can buy photos taken at the top of one of the drops.

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