Walt Disney Studios Park – Marne-la-Vallée, France

Walt Disney Studios Park is the second theme park of Disneyland Resort Paris, but also owned and operated by Euro Disney S.C.A., at the heart of the Disney resort complex in Marne-la-Vallée. The park is currently promoting the resort’s 15th Anniversary Celebration with new attractions and entertainment to mark the occasion.

The park is supposedly themed around a working film studio, with the “lands” being studio lots. Most of its attractions are imported from the other Disney parks in California, Florida and Tokyo, yet the park has some original attractions, such as Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular which was later exported to Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

History

Opened on March 16, 2002 as part of an initiative from The Walt Disney Company pledging to open a new theme park gate at each of their resorts around the world, the Studios is the smallest Disney park and has taken criticism from many Disney fans since its opening – mainly stemming from its lack of attention to detail, theming and number of attractions compared to Disneyland Park next door.

It was traditional for a period of time for Walt Disney Feature Animation to have a satellite animation studio at each of the company’s resorts, but the Paris studio was located in Montreuil, at the city limits of Paris and was never associated with the park.

Originally the Brizzi studio owned by brothers Paul Brizzi and Gaëtan Brizzi, Disney purchased the studio in the early 1990s and renamed it Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris. WDFA Paris’ first films were A Goofy Movie and the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain. WDFA Paris contributed sequences to every Disney film from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, most notably producing the Firebird Suite sequence for Fantasia 2000. It was closed in 2004 following Disney Florida and Disney Japan, when Feature Animation was downsized to save production costs.

Disney could not use the website address “www.waltdisneystudios.co.uk” to access this site until a month before the official opening in 2002. This was after a domain name dispute which ran for almost 3 years. This name, among others was held by a notorious cybersquatter, Mr Andrew South. Mr South has caused many large companies serious domain name problems over a long period of time. These disputes have been well documented. He has also been known by the alias “George Wellington-Scott”, and is thought to have held over 70 Disney related names.

On June 26, 2007, a 14 year-old girl from Spain lost consciousness while riding Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. A health team tried to revive the girl, but she was declared dead when an ambulance arrived. This was the first death to occur on Disneyland Resort Paris.

Early Projects

Disney-MGM Studios Europe was the original plan for a second theme park and was scheduled to open in 1996. However, these plans were cancelled around mid-1992 due to the resorts financial crisis of that time.

After the resort began to make a profit, plans for a movie themed theme park went into development again but on a much smaller scale. In 2002, the Walt Disney Studios Park opened.

Recent Growth

June 2007 saw the opening of a brand new “land” in the Animation Courtyard area of the park. Called Toon Studio, the new area is themed as a “toon backlot”, apparently representing the film studio work place of animated characters, where they produce their animated classics. The concept has been created exclusively for Walt Disney Studios Park and features two brand new attractions, not seen in any other Disney Theme Park, along with small merchandising locations and many character meet-and-greets. The key attractions in this expansion phase are Crush’s Coaster, a custom-designed Maurer Söhne SC 2000 indoor spinning roller coaster, and Cars: Race Rally themed to the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars, with the ride taking the form of an enhanced tea cups ride. Similar attractions can be found in Mermaid Lagoon at Tokyo DisneySea and A bug’s land in Disney’s California Adventure.

In December 2007, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction opened in the new Hollywood Boulevard area of the park. Stitch Live! has replaced the Disney Channel Studio Tour. Playhouse Disney Live is rumoured to be added to the Disney Channel Studio tour opening around mid summer 2008.

No new attractions beyond 2008 have been confirmed although a Ratatouille themed dark ride has been rumoured along with Soarin’ and a Journey to the Centre of the Earth addition set to Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic.

Future Projects

Though no solid plans have been announced, the original “Creation & Operation Of Euro Disneyland” contract from 1987 states that the “Euro Disney Resort Paris” is to have 3 operating theme parks by 2017.

Studio Lots

The 5 themed lands of Walt Disney Studios Park are officially called “Studio Lots”. The overlying “story” of the park is that the guest enters the park as a “nobody”, but leaves as a world-class movie star “celebrity”.

Front Lot

• Disney Studio 1
• Earffel Tower
• Place des Frères Lumières

Toon Studio

• Art of Disney Animation
• Flying Carpets Over Agrabah
• Animagique
• Crush’s Coaster
• Cars Quatre Roues Rallye

Production Courtyard

• CinéMagique
• Stitch Live!
• Place des Stars

Hollywood Boulevard

• Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Backlot

It is the park’s Backlot that really packs in action-packed attractions and eateries.

• Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular is a stunt show based in a mediterranean town , full of explosive stunts , car chases and a mind-blowing finale. This attraction is unique by the fact that it is the only Walt Disney Studios Park attraction to be copied into Disney’s Hollywood Studios Park and not Vice-Versa.
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith is an indoor looping roller coaster based on Aerosmith’s journey to a concert. Most of the attraction is in the dark , and the ride features a launched start , doing 0-60 mph in less than 3 seconds.
• Armageddon – Les Effets Speciaux

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Walt Disney Studios Park has a sister park, Disney’s Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios) in the Walt Disney World Resort. The two parks share the same theme (showbiz), and shared the same icon (The Earful Tower in Florida and The Earffel Tower in France) until The Sorcerer’s Hat was built in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and took the role as the park’s icon in 2001.

Other Information

Walt Disney Studios Park

• Location: Marne-la-Vallée, France
• Opening Day: March 16, 2002
• Resort: Disneyland Resort Paris
• Theme: Showbusiness
• Website: Disneyland Resort Paris homepage
• Operator: Euro Disney S.C.A.

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