The Walt Disney Company would like to remind fans that it already has a couple of theme parks in Europe. And one of them is getting a major facelift, too.
Just days after Universal Destinations & Experiences announced plans for a "world class" theme park in the United Kingdom [see Universal sets 2031 debut for new park in United Kingdom], Disney Experiences revealed new details about its expansion project at the Disneyland Paris resort in France. Today also is the 33rd anniversary of the opening day of what was called EuroDisneyland in 1992.
Disney is transforming its Walt Disney Studios Park into Disney Adventure World, with that rebranding set to take effect next year. Disney is completing that transformation in phases, with the next phase now set to open in a little over one month.
On May 15, the former Studio 1 building at the park's entrance will reopen as the refurbished and rethemed "World Premiere." This space will include The Hollywood Gardens Restaurant and Mickey's of Hollywood Boutique and lead guests into a reimagined World Premiere Plaza, which will be completed next year. You can see some of the new design in this promo video just released by Disney.
The big new addition coming to the park next year will be World of Frozen, a copy of the Arendelle section of Disney's original Frozen-themed land in Hong Kong.
Connecting that new land to the rest of the park will be the new Adventure Way, which will serve as the new hub of the park.
Here is another photo from the resort of construction on Adventure Way.
That land will be home to the previously announced Raiponce Tangled Spin ride, The Regal View Restaurant and Lounge, and a nighttime spectacular on its new lagoon. Today, Disney announced another attraction for this land - Disney's first theme park ride themed to Pixar's "Up."
This as-yet-unnamed waveswinger ride will be designed to evoke the iconic scene at the start of the film where balloons lift Carl's home into the sky.
Finally, Disney today also released new concept art for a show scene in its upcoming "The Lion King"-themed flume ride at the park.
Construction will begin this fall on the attraction, which will bring a Tiana's/Splash-style flume ride to Disneyland Paris for the first time. It will be the anchor attraction in the new Pride Lands-themed land at Disney Adventure World. No opening date for those yet.
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With the exception of the Lion King x Splash Mountain attraction, every decision Disney have made in the badly needed revamping of this embarrassing park have felt like those of a company on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s mind boggling - a spinning flat ride is the last thing this park needs.
The Lion King Splash Mountain is exactly what DLP resort needs... frozen should be great quality... but...
We all wondered where the "Monkey Swingers" in "Chessington World of Aventures" would end up... now we know!!!!
Sorry Disney. I love you, but this is poor. And if it's retaliation for Universal GB, then it's laughable. It looks like a seaside ride that uses disney illegal copyright on the side of the ride to entice kids in. I think it's a shame, as other decisions seem to be good options also. Disappointed.
Man, the Lion King ride sounds great. I know wouldn't fit in WDW as well but can't help wondering if a better choice than Tiana.
Very odd decision to immediately respond to Universal's announcement of a new theme park with an "announcement" that has no new information and an artist rendering of a wave swinger which you can find at pretty much every amusement park around the world.
I've always thought Up would be perfect as a new iteration of the Peter Pan ride system. Other than that these look like solid additions to this once underwhelming park.
Tiana's is fine. It needs some text so you can understand what people are saying. The readability is pretty poor which is on the QA department. It probably needs fireflies writing the plot in script to tell you what is going on. Readability is about as poor as Avatar, Navi River, 3 Cablleros (LOL) and Tron. I do think Frozen and Twilight Tower have the best readability of what is going on... (though the forward movement in ToT is kind of dumb... maybe it is just anticipation.
I think UP would be better suited to a
Doctor Doom drop ride.. Have a giant BAlloon like they put over tennis courts in the winter.....Have everything lift up into the air with a gap between a show building like space mountain as the base and the hot air balloon.. when you get in the balloon it is a kaleidoscope of music and families can secretly upload photos of their loved ones ahead of time so they get projected on the screens inside of the balloon. everybody gets off in tears... the queue is a circular queue with the loading station in the middle and you descend stairs to exit... lots of scaffolding and it is about the wright brothers learning to fly... very little up stuff but it is there in subtle hidden mickey fashion. you can call the ride up.
People are already rightfully criticizing the spinner ride for it's laziness, but I actually think the same thing for the lion king ride. Sure, it's a cool looking ride, but it's supposed to anchor a whole land that we have no details about? No supporting attractions? Just a random IP and a random ride system?
Disney doesn't need to 'respond' to the Universal announcement. It literally doesn't even have planning permission yet (and trust me, getting planning permission in the UK is a ludicrously complicated, time-consuming and expensive process). Even if the optimistic time scales are met we're looking at 2031 for an opening. Disney will 'respond' in 5 year's time. In the meantime they're just drip-feeding minor improvements to a park that is undergoing a transformation.
Don't even get me started on the EU announcement 'response'. Villains land to rival Dark Universe, Tropical Americas. . . It all seems very spur of the moment and not well thought out. Kind of like Disney Adventure Park to begin with.
JustLikeMe - bang on!
This sad excuse for a Disney "theme" park somehow never gets anything really right. It all feels lackluster, incoherent and don't get me started on that new name!
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Jealous about that lion king flume not gonna lie