ENGLISH VERSION BELOW
De nouvelles attractions à Disneyland Paris, c’est en soi un véritable événement tant le phénomène est rarissime. La dernière en date, Ratatouille L’Attraction Totalement Toquée de Rémy remonte à 2014, il y a huit ans. Par conséquent j’ai été un peu pris par surprise quand Disneyland Paris a inauguré l’été dernier l’Avengers Campus, ce qui justifie totalement l’écart de six mois entre l’ouverture du nouveau land Marvel et du contenu qui en parle sur Le Parcorama.
C’est un grand jour! Et pas uniquement parce que je poste un article sur Le Parcorama moins de six mois après le précédent – et en français qui plus est.
Avec mon compère Louis de l’excellentissime chaîne YouTube Parchéologie, nous lançons aujourd’hui notre podcast La File d’Attente! Au programme: parcs d’attractions et digressions. Toutes les deux semaines, on vous propose une petite conversation posey entre passionnés sur l’univers enchanté des parcs à thèmes.
A while ago I posted a list of my favorite Underrated Disney Park Music, featuring all the greatest lesser known soundtracks of your favorite parks. This time, as the holiday season is starting in Disney parks—I mean those that are not closed due to COVID—I’m in the mood for sharing my favorite Christmas background music from the Disney parks. These are the cheerful atmospheric audio loops you can hear in various areas, attractions, queues and boutiques during the holiday season. They will bring a little bit of Disney Magic=&0=& to your living room for the holidays.
There is a ton of Christmas background music loops in the eleven Disney parks around the world so remember this is not a comprehensive collection but a selection of our favorite tunes. Those we like to play when we’re just chilling at home.
If you like this selection, I’ve also created a YouTube playlist out of it for your convenience. Enjoy!
Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe
This boutique located in the Magic Kingdom offers a selection of holiday decoration and ornaments. The background music is reminiscent of musicals from the 50’s and 60’s. It’s equally delightful and kitsch. It’s also our most played Christmas music loop at home.
Main Street Christmas Music – Disneyland, Magic Kingdom
This classic music loop has the same vintage qualities and brings typical 60’s / 70’s orchestrations of US Christmas classics. Definitely the most quintessential holiday music from the Disney parks.
Jingle Cruise Queue
Since a few years the famous Jungle Cruise ride is getting a yearly holiday overlay : Jingle Cruise. The audio loop from the queue is in fact the “Global Broadcasting Service : The Voice of Civilisation” radio. It features swing and boogie woogie versions of Christmas classic songs including the Andrew Sisters and in typical Jungle Cruise fashion, some pretty quirky songs too. If The Twilight Zone – Tower of Terror had a holiday overlay, it would probably sound like this.
Buena Vista Street Christmas Music
From the same 30’s/40’s era, the holiday music from Buena Vista Street is just as exquisite, but with a big band twist.
EPCOT entrance holiday music
And now something completely different. These are basically symphonic orchestrations of Christmas songs. Epcot’s entrance area holiday music is so classic it’s almost generic. In fact it’s so generic they use the same audio loop here and there in the Walt Disney Studios “theme park”. But it will definitely get you in a festive mood nevertheless. Or at least, your mom.
Main Street U.S.A. Christmas music – Disneyland Paris
Unlike its american counterparts, the christmas loop of Main Street USA really puts the Euro in Disney. From the songs to the instruments and orchestration it really feels like Europe’s old tradition of Christmas markets. You can smell the muled wine just listening to it.
Echo Lake Christmas Music – Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Another big favorite here. It features 50’s legendary jazz and easy listening artists from Ella Fitzgerald to Dean Martin, to Nat King Cole. It just feels like Christmas in the lobby of a mid-century modern grand hotel.
World of Disney Christmas Season music – Disneyland =&1=&
The large boutique located at the front of Disney Village in Paris is packed with symphonic versions of the Christmas classics you need.
American Waterfront Christmas music – Tokyo DisneySea
If you never had the chance to experience Christmas in New York in the early 20th century, Tokyo DisneySea’s American Waterfront holiday background music gives you some joyful ragtime orchestrations of Christmas standards.
Wilderness Lodge Christmas Loop
My husband Mansour and I are happy to share with you our vlog of these unforgettable weeks. As non professional vloggers (yes mom, this is 2020 and vlogging is a job) you’ll see it doesn’t really follow the traditional rules of vlogging. We haven’t covered everything you can do in Orlando and and the footage we made didn’t allow us to make an edit that follows an actual timeline. Instead, every episode will be focusing on one theme, park or land. For instance an entire episode will be dedicated to Star Wars : Galaxy’s Edge !
As French is our language, the vlog is entirely in French. But if you don’t speak French, I think it’s a great opportunity for you to make fun of us as we are painfully trying to say Runaway Railway. It’s pretty entertaining.
We hope you’ll have a good time watching this four part series. One episode released every Sunday afternoon. Make sure to let us know what you think, we love to hear your feedback. Maybe we’ll do more videos of our adventures in theme parks in the future if you like it. Enjoy!
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
In the ill fated history of Disney’s Paris resort, the Walt Disney Studios park certainly is the darkest chapter. It has been designed with no ambition, no budget, no taste, no sense, almost no ride and technically no desire to build it. Nothing but the strict, contractual obligation to open a second theme park by 2002, as stated on the convention between Disney and the French government. Walt Disney Studios instantly became famous for being the worst Disney Park ever made thanks to its signature Basic Supermarket Parking Lot aesthetics. In my opinion, it’s not just the worst Disney park but one of the worst amusement parks ever made. But enough with the past. Those fifteen years of WDS nonsense have been painful enough. For more on the WDS fiasco, read my dedicated article.
Photo: Disney
This week’s highly anticipated announcement is the natural next step to The Walt Disney Company‘s recent buyout of the Paris resort. Now that Disney is the sole owner of Disneyland Paris, it finally has full control of what it can or cannot do. While we can’t be blind to the fact that EuroDisney minor shareholders have been pretty much robbed in the process, as a theme park nerd, I’m happy when I can visit a great, fully functional, profitable theme park. I’m even more happy when I don’t have to fly to the US or Asia and double my visit budget to do it. It’s been frustrating enough to be a European theme park nerd when the world’s greatest amusement park operator struggles so much do deliver quality investments where I live, to the point it became a joke. Yes, DLP is still Europe’s number one tourism destination but the the European theme park market leaders in terms of ambition, creativity and guest experience/service have become Europa Park and Efteling. Not Disney. *Awkward silence*
So, what’s in this announced investment plan? Two billion euro will… Wait. Let’s pause for a moment. Two. Billion. Euro. Two billion euro will be invested in Paris, *including* a transformation of the Walt Disney Studios park including new Marvel, Frozen and Star Wars inspired areas, rides and entertainment and also a new lake. These will open by phases starting in 2021 (while in an interview Bob Iger states from 2020 to 2025). The press release doesn’t go much deeper into details, but the concept art, as vague and purposely blurred as it is, maybe reveals a little bit more. Let’s now brainstorm and speculate on what hasn’t been detailed! Please note that the things presented as rumors next on this post come from reportedly insider sources from the ED92 forum.
Concept art: Disney
Marvel Area
This might be the first phase to open to guests considering the recent announcement to revamp the stupid Rock’n’Rollercoaster into an Iron Man feat. Avengers attraction. DLP insiders also whisper that RNRC and the Moteurs Action Stunt Show are both set to close by the end of 2018. Bye Felicias. Looking at the released concept art, this new Marvel superhero land seems themed as a colorful fantasy-sci-fi futuristic land, like the overall aesthetics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as opposed to the long rumored New York style theme for this Marvel area. I’m curious and a little bit anxious to discover what it’s going to look like considering Disney’s attempts at doing Marvel theming so far. While the inside of Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout at Disneyland and Iron Man Experience in Hong Kong look fun and sleek, the outside of these rides is quite generic (Iron Man in HKDL) and over-the-top-tacky like it’s based on Power Rangers aesthetics (GOTG in Disneyland).
This new Marvel land seems to include Disney Channel/Stitch Live and Restaurant des Stars buildings, Blockbuster Cafe, the Armageddon soundstage and the stunt show seems to stay, but is rumored to be re-themed on The Avengers. While Tower of Terror appears untouched, some sources say it will keep the overall style and experience but get rid of the Twilight Zone IP, so it can fit the classic Hollywood entry land. And stop paying rights for an IP nobody realizes it’s here or even remembers. If true that’s a great news. Tower of Terror is badly located on the park’s map and theming it on Guardians of the Galaxy would make it look like the central icon of the parc, the one that defines the whole park is a Marvel IP. Phew!
Concept art: Disney
I just hope the Marvel area will not just use its most famous franchises as attractions and newer characters like Black Panther, Dr Strange and
Guardians of the Galaxy
He’s the person you should thank for making Disneyland Paris’ castle so elaborate and romantic, with square trees and a fire breathing dragon underneath. The one who decided to put Big Thunder Mountain on an island because why not?! The man who made the most spectacular Disney castle park ever made, with dozens of highly detailed walkthrough attractions. The list goes on and on.
I strongly suggest you watch this unique moment greatly captured by the folks from ED92 at the bottom of this page. But if you’re extremely lazy, here is is a list of five new things I learned from Tony Baxter during this unforgettable guided tour of Disneyland Paris.
Photo: Arjay Endozo
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js1. Main Street Arcades have multiple benefits
Imagineers were told Paris would need to cover Main Street USA because of the ever changing weather, like they did in Tokyo. The downside is you can’t run motor vehicles or a full parade under a canopy. Making arcades parallels to Main Street came as a solution. Not only they are one of the most cherished locations of the park, but they were also much cheaper to build than covering Main Street entirely. The benefit of that is Imagineers could spend the rest of the initially budgeted amount to make the boutiques more beautiful and detailed than any other castle park.
Photo: Kris Van de Sande
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
2. Walt’s restaurant decoration is more than just theming
Inside the fancy Walt’s restaurant, each room is themed upon each of the parks lands. But the art you can see framed on the walls of each room is the actual artworks that were created and used by the Imagineers during the development of Disneyland Paris. These pieces guided and inspired them to make the park as stunning as it is, so it’s a little more than just theming.
Photo: Kris Van de Sande
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
3. No, Discoveryland is not about Steampunk
Tony Baxter has an interesting way of explaining the very concept of Discoveryland. At all times in history, storytellers imagined what the future would look like, using fantasy or realistic visions. Whether it was through art, technology, books or movies, Steven Spielberg or Georges Lucas are the Jules Vernes or H.G. Wells of our era. Their visions of the future inspired young children from different eras the exact same way. It means that if Steampunk style is an important part of Discoveryland, it’s not about that and different visions of the future will always live together in this unique land.
Photo: Kris Van de Sande
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
4. Movie franchises are an opportunity, not a threat
Some fans are disappointed when something they love in the park needs to be replaced. With the ongoing trend of using intellectual properties (IP) as source material for anything new in theme parks, when something gets changed, the replacement is usually based on Frozen. Eh sorry, I mean Frozen and Star Wars and Marvel stuff. But one of the tasks of Imagineers is to keep the park up to date to stay relevant. The stories and characters we see in Disneyland through rides, boutiques and restaurants can not be stuck in the past of Pinocchio, Snow White and Beauty and the Beast. New characters and stories are needed to keep younger audiences emotionally connected too when they visit the park.
On this topic however, I encourage you to listen to The Season Pass Podcast episodes with Tony Baxter as a guest. He discusses more openly about balancing IP-based and non-IP-based content in theme parks.
Photo: Kris Van de Sande
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
5. Tony Baxter’s favorite things in Disneyland Paris are…
