Disneyland Paris Park Plan v2

Just over 2 years ago, I posted an expansion plan for Disneyland Park Park, where I proposed a few major hypothetical changes to the already great park. And now today I have a version 2.0 that improves on that design.

In the original post, I discussed how much I love the existing park. I was only there a day, but that day left an impression. Frontierland has one of the best overall stories and themes of any land I've been to, Fantasyland is by far the most beautiful example of the type, Main Street is impeccably detailed and lifelike, Adventureland has one of my favorite exploratory areas, and the original Discoveryland aesthetic and concept is just the best ever. More discussion about why the park is great in the original post.

So with an expansion plan like this, the idea is not really to fix the existing park, but to add more to it that hopefully complements whats already there. There are really only a few places that this park can expand, so this plan is a little similar to the previous one. A few of the additions from last time are retained, and the rest of them are replaced with a new idea. So now we will talk a walk through the park, pointing out my proposals.

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Just like last time, Main Street is completely unchanged. No way to improve that. Special plug for the great Arcades. Go explore those if your there.

The main area of Frontierland is also unchanged. Its great that the land has recently gotten some attention with the refurb of Big Thunder Railroad and the Rivers of America.

The area farther along the River, by the existing theater, is the first area I changed. When I visited, this area was completely empty because there really was no draw, so I feel like it could benefit from some permanent additions.

My proposal is an American National Park setting, similar in a way to the Camp Woodchuck additions to Tokyo Disneyland, but as a whole land that specifically features the Country Bears. The Bears own and operate the park as a vacation retreat for all their animal friends, so this land can thematically include the large catalog of animal based Disney properties. The setting and style is decisively North American with architecture based on the Yellowstone Lodge style.

The rustic redwood camp setting transitions as we pass through a denser forest just past the Big Thunder load building. Straight ahead through the brush is a sprawling fort in front the gentle stream. The fort, which is based on the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail from DCA, is accessed to the left, where there is also the existing canoe dock, themed to fit in the land. The fort top offers the best view over the river and the land below.

Crossing the stream leads to the rest of the land. To the left is a version of Junkyard Jamboree, nestled along the river. The vehicles are ranger jeeps that have been repurposed into the thrilling attraction. Adjacent is the existing theater, where animal specific themed shows are presented. Something like Forest of Enchantment with a bit of a Country Bear National Park plot frame would be perfect for the area. The Cowboy Cookout building remains but is redressed as the rustic Camp Mess Hall and the interior and menu are adjusted to match. And finally, next to the train station, is the main attraction, a mid-scale musical dark ride. The building through the trees is a Park Lodge where we set off on a tour of the National Park, guides by the Country Bears themselves. This would be a musical adventure through a world of animals and plants, reflecting the adventure of the great outdoors. This is the same attraction I proposed for DCA.

The next change is up in the expansion area of Adventureland. Again, the main part of Adventureland is unchanged, except the Indiana Jones coaster is removed in favor of my proposed Indiana Jones ride in the Studios park. Replacing this and the expansion pad are two attractions, completing the loop back to the Pirates area. This area is all themed as an African jungle as opposed to the Caribbean and Arabian areas in the rest of the land.

The first is a concept for an indoor replacement for the Jungle Cruise idea. Last time, I tried an actual indoor Jungle Cruise, but I don't think that really works. So instead, here I am suggesting an indoor jeep exploration attraction that uses the Test Track/Radiator Springs ride system. That would allow for both slow attraction show scenes, passing similar gags as the Jungle Cruise, and more fast paced and rough exploration moments through the dangers of the jungle. It would be entirely indoors, unlike the other versions of this system. The load is in an open cave facing out into the land. Additionally, the train would look into the jungle for a quick moment on the back side of the show building, seeing the jeeps pass by.

The other attraction is a Tarzan themed family coaster, something lacking from this park. The two existing coasters are pretty intense, so I felt like something tamed down but still fun would be a good option. The entrance is at the base of a second fake treehouse for the land, this one much smaller, not explorable, and directly based on the ship built treehouse from Tarzan. Ship wreck fragments surround the area, as well as a series of canvas tents, left over from the events of the movie. We load on the upper level of the main tent, and then swiftly speed into the show building. First there are a series of show scenes through the world of Tarzan, Jane, and Turk, and then the coaster portion, which is mostly outside.

The other change to Adventureland is less of a change and more of a return to the original: The Pizza Outpost once again gets talking animatronic birds in the dining rooms, creating a facsimile of the Tiki Room.

Fantasyland has a few additions. The Frozen subland to the north that I proposed last time remains (attraction post here!) as well as the addition of a meet ans greet center in the open spots on the east side of the castle. Around the corner from Small World are two new dark rides.

I has a lot of internal debate for the theme of the first, using the plot across the parade path. But my decision came by realizing I should maintain the geographic distribution of Fantasyland. If you have not noticed, all the existing buildings are grouped by region, which makes a lot of sense for architectural consistency. British Tudor area to the far west, Germany on the west of the castle courtyard, France to the east, Scandinavia with my Frozen addition to the north, and Italian on the far east side, where my addition is. The Pizzeria Bella Notte is definitely a group of Italian styles. Unfortunately, there are no Italian Disney IPs. So I adapted to Mediterranean and decided to propose a Hercules dark ride. That's a property that is under utilized in the parks, so I decided it would be a great idea. The facade would be a Greek Marketplace, attempting to echo the Italian style across in any way possible. Inside is a very traditional musical dark ride, guided by the Muses.

And finally, I am proposing another dark ride in the expansion area outside the berm, anchored by a tall and spindly green beanstalk spanning over the train track. This is obviously a dark ride for the future film Gigantic. This film is based in Spain, also a Mediterranean locale, so I am hoping this could be a complementary style to the area. The entrance path leads under the stalk and the train track to a small village facade and the attraction inside. This would be a much larger dark ride, potentially trackless, through the world of the film. Since it is not out yet and we don't know much, that's as specific as I can be.

The last land, Discoveryland, might have the most changes, but again, not to change the original vision, but to restore it. The concept of the future as imagined by the past is such a cool and unique idea, but like all Tomorrowlands, it is too easy to melt away. I proposed Star Wars for the Studios park intentionally so that I could remove it from this park and go back to the Jules Verne inspired idea.

So first, Buzz Lightyear is removed because it clashes theme and style and replaced by a Time Machine inspired dark ride, using the same Omnimover track. The idea would be to present a fun and colorful journey through some significant times and settings of Europe.

Next, inside the Videopolis, a dark ride is added to align with the theme of the Cafe Hyperion. The bulk of the theater is converted to show space and there is a bit of an addition to the north, all holding a suspended dark ride telling the story of Around the World in 80 Days. Part of the theater remains as the seating for the restaurant, and the balloons load and float along above the seating before starting the adventure.

Space Mountain becomes its original concept and the Autopia is unchanged. Across the land, the current Les Mysteres du Nautilus walk through, which was fantastic but seemed unpopular, becomes the queue to a new attraction. The attraction is a Circumotion Theater attraction by Falcon’s Treehouse, which is a theater in the round simulator under a domed projection screen. Guests load into one of the two Nemo designed observation submarines for an exciting trip to the bottom of the sea. Above, we have a fantastic view into the wonder of the ocean before our required squid attack that jostles us around.

Last, the far east expansion area across the train track is used for another sub land that's a bit different from the rest of the land. Space travel is a common Tomrrowland/Discoveryland theme, but not exploring another planet, so I thought that could be an interesting area.

The existing simulator attraction, currently Star Tours, becomes the launch station of a fictional Verne inspired space agency. Maintaining the style of the rest of the land but a bit more modern, the simulator attraction launches us from Discoveryland straight to a base on Mars, which is the rest of the land. The exit of the ride takes us into a the interior of a futuristic but still Verne inspired base. This is a bit of a fantasy version of how we would travel to and live on Mars, so it matches the adventurous spirit and fun of the rest of the land. There is also a second entrance to the land behind Space Mountain.

Outside the domed buildings is the main area of the land, an enclosed red and rocky valley. Outside in the valley is a Jetpack spinner, like the one in Shanghai and a couple other buildings built into the landscape of the planet. The other main building across the valley is the entrance to the main new attraction, a rover attraction on the surface of Mars. The attraction would use a similar system to the EMVs of Indiana Jones, so that it could travel up and down elevations, drive over rough terrain, and have a relatively hidden track ahead. It would be a completely different vehicle modeled on real Mars rovers. The trip would start simple with exploration across the rough terrain, then journey into a lava tube and down into a undiscovered cave. Since this is a fantasy take on the concept, we ultimately encounter what appears to be an alien civilization underneath the planet.

Last, there is a final time travel show scene for the train, transitioning from the Discoveryland aesthetic back to Main Street.

And back to Main Street, and that is everything I have!

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So that is my second version of Disneyland Paris Park. I think it is an improvement from the last version and I am glad that I got to try some things out.

Let me know what you think with a comment! And follow me on Twitter to keep up with progress. I tweeted a few quick polls during designing this to get quick feedback, so follow so you can catch those next time!

Not sure what will be next up for either the text post later this month or next months design post, but maybe I'll let you know soon.

Frozen in Disneyland Paris

UPDATE: Today, June 21st, the first real Frozen attraction opened in EPCOT, so now that I have seen that attraction, I have some additional comments and ideas to add into this post. A few things have changed, which I will note as I go.



Another month, another post. This is going to be a good one.

So first I have to be honest. This post was meant for December and there was going to be a different November post. But that one needs more work and this one was ready. So easy switch, even though it throws off the seasonal theme. Oops.

So earlier this year, I posted my plan for Disneyland Paris, which included a large Frozen expansion north of Fantasyland. This is that expansion.

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Before the plan, I want to start with some Frozen commentary. So there is no way you can deny that Frozen in the parks has gotten a little over-saturated yet underdeveloped. Now three full years out from the most popular Disney animated movie of recent memory, we still don't have a high quality attraction. Just parties, shows, meet and greets, and merchandise that have taken over whole parks. What we have gotten was good, but not as great as possible. We have gotten quantity over quality, which unfortunately works most of the time.

Even if we have been Frozen overloaded, its hard to deny that Frozen's quality and success warrant proper representation in the parks with a modern, fully themed attraction. That looks like its going to start changing with Maelstrom/Frozen coming soon and the large Tokyo land, so hopefully, once those happen things will balance out and we will have a more manageable Frozen presence in the parks. My approach was to give Frozen a landmark status presence in the park.

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This expansion plan is the response to this need for Disneyland Paris, so it was important to me for the expansion to be of  substantial size and quality and in a properly themed setting.

Based on the thematic distribution of the park and the available land, I decided to place this major expansion to the north of Fantasyland, outside of the train tracks. The whimsical gardens and architecture of the land make a suitable transition to the separated area. The Fantasyland train station and meet and greet building in front of it are removed and rebuilt with the Arendelle style as an entry way to the land: steep pitched roofs with hand carved detailing, octagonal towers with wide overhang roofs, and a blue and brown color scheme. Guests can either go through the building to get to the land or along a path to the left and under the train tracks. There is also an entry from the Storybook Land area.

Guests passing through the train station building exit the other side to find the gate of the palace. There are also small retail locations on the ground floor. The access to the train station above is by the side doors of the building, which lead to grand stairs up to the platform. One side is entrance and the other is exit.

Through the open palace gate is the main square of Arendelle, with two large fountains and the steeply pitched grand entrance to the palace. The southwest corner tower is the entrance from the pathway around the train station. The attraction entrance is on the right of the main doors, the exit on the left, and the entrance to a sit down restaurant is at the northwest tower. A gate in the west wall leads to backstage and a gate in the east wall leads to the village retail area and the Storybook area. This retail area is the village of Arendelle, so has more rustic facades hiding a large shop.

The elements of the land are basically in one giant building behind the palace and village facades. From right to left, these elements are the retail location, the attraction and queue, the post show skating rink, and the restaurant.

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I will start with the attraction. The queue entrance is to the right of the main façade and enters a regal side hall that looks into the main hall. The queues immediately turn left and back outside under an overhang and then back inside into a side building. After switchbacks it turns back towards the main hall. All of the interior spaces of the queue that are set in the palace are richly themed and dressed with tapestries, paintings, and royal fixtures. The queue in the hall curves around the royal seal on the marble floor and then deeper into the palace. Fastpass then turns right towards the stables of the palace, standby turns left for more time in the palace. The standby queue passes through the library, with tall ceiling height bookcases on the walls and in the middle of the room. On the southmost wall of the space, there is a large feature bookcase and a set of bookstands with large open books along the queue. The open books are projection mapped to show a storybook style version of the events of the movie. The queue eventually makes it back towards the stable area of the queue.

This space is much rougher and more rustic with exposed wood beams and stacks of boxes and barrels and hay around the queue. There are also windows that look out into the loading room, which is meant to be outdoors. The two queues are merged and then sent outside to the load platform. We find ourselves in a snowy forest with twinkling stars above. Ahead is a load platform where sleighs are dispatched. Four sleighs load at one time, each seating 8 guests. After loading and seat check, the set of sleighs move forward and through a large pitched roof wooden tunnel, like a gate.

Quickly before moving forward, I want to mention the thought process behind the story here. There is a lot of criticism for book report dark rides, and this is not one of those. However, I still knew I had some crucial moments from the film that needed to be visited. So I staged this as a post movie trip back to the Ice Palace, where Elsa still likes to retreat to escape from the palace. Anna leads the trip and visits some of the same locations as the film in the same order, but it is not simply a retelling of the film but an exploration of the environment. (Update: this is basically exactly what Frozen Ever After ended up doing, so I feel good with that choice now.)

Back to the ride. Once we pass through the tunnel and see a projection of the city in the near distance. We turn the corner and pass through the forest to a large projection surface. As we approach, a sleigh comes out of the forest with Anna driving. She tells us that she is glad to run into us, and that she is on her way up to the North Mountain to bring back Elsa and we can follow along. These first scenes are projection, but then the ride transitions to physical figures along the way. (Update: My original thought to make these projection was because I figured Disney would try to minimize animatronics. Apparently that is not the case, as there are more figures than I expected in Frozen Ever After. So this scene could be replaced with a physical Anna figure instead of projection.)

We continue through the dark forest, seeing first seeing the menacing eyes of wolves in the underbrush and then seeing a projection of Anna’s sleigh racing through the trees. We exit the forest and turn to find Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post. We see projections in the windows of the happenings inside. Across the path is an Anna figure, talking to us about the dangers of the forest. A projection surface shows her sleigh and reindeer sitting in the clearing. We then continue into the barn next to the Trading Post. Inside the dark wooden barn we meet Sven, eating hay, and then Kristoff standing next to his sleigh and greeting us, singing about reindeer. We exit again and out to the frozen crystal forest, with icicles hanging around us. Olaf and Anna are to the right, greeting us and trying to figure out the directions to find Elsa. (Update: this would be a good place for a copy of that totally amazing walking Olaf animatronic, standing on a snowbank to the right of the track. The scene could work with just Olaf, no Anna too if the figure is dynamic enough.) The forest transitions to the snowy rockwork of the mountain and again we see Anna, Olaf, and Sven saying that we are here. Sven repeatedly tries to bite off Olaf’s nose while Anna celebrates.

Now we have reached Elsa’s Ice Palace, the highlight of the ride and the main musical location. Couldn’t leave out Let it Go. The rockwork transitions to highly geometric ice walls that first enclose us and then open up to an important scene. To the right of the track is the transforming Ice Tower, which, in time with the music, magically grows bigger and grander as we pass by. We turn after it has reached its full height and pass right through the middle. Above us, we see the grand ice chandelier growing and pulsing in time. We exit the other side and turn to finally see Elsa wielding her powers and making it snow. Anna calls out to her, saying she is needed back at home, and we then exit the icy walls and back out to the snowy rockwork.

Ok back to describe how this scene works. This growing Ice Tower is my favorite part of the ride and one of my favorite designs overall. Its best to reference the elevations below, showing the start and end point of the growth. The effect is made with both mechanical actions and projection mapping. The main physical element is the top crown of the tower, which can raise up 8’. It sits outside the permanent center of the tower and has a blackout curtain above, so it appears as if the entire tower grows while just the top rises around the stationary center. The middle balcony does the same thing. It rises just 2’ up along the central tower. The handrails of the balcony also rise up out of the balcony as it raises, as if they are growing up. On the top crown, two geometric protrusions come out as it raises to add geometric complexity to the tower. Last, pointed arches slide out in the framed “windows” of both levels. Each side of the arches slide out horizontally from the side to form the completed shape. All of these movements would be supplemented with projection mapping to add icy texture and more changing detail on the facades. The entire change would happen in about 10-15 seconds so that each of the 4 cars can see the process. The changes only happen on this south side of the tower, while the other north side is permanently in its finished state.

Now inside the tower, there is another effect. An angled scrim is positioned above us which is a projection surface. The ice chandelier is projected here. Above the scrim is a physical set of an arched vault which is faintly lit and seen through the scrim. The projected chandelier grows below the real vault. Between the projection, the actual set, and lighting effects, the view above transitions from an empty vault to a grand ice chandelier. (Update: or, it could just be fiber optic effects like in Frozen Ever After. That looks pretty good too.) On the other side of the tower is the main Elsa figure, who conjures the snow and ice with fluid waves of her arms.

Back to the attraction. We leave the Ice Palace, and around the corner is the whole group in physical form, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf talking about going back to the palace and thanking us. We leave through a rockwork arch back into the load/unload room. We continue through the forest past a final scene of physical Sven and Olaf interacting and talking to us. Around the corner is unload and the spur to the maintenance bay. Behind the unload station is an extremely large window looking into the palace, specifically the Great Hall which is now being used for ice skating.

Guests exit the unload area and enter back into the palace and directly into the Great Hall to see the skating activity. Like the start of the movie, Elsa has made an indoor rink and invited us to join. The skating floor is over 6000 sq ft so should have a healthy capacity. Based on past skating attractions in parks, this would be an extra cost attraction. There is a small queue the leads to a payment and skates desk and a seating area to put on skates. Guests would have a half hour skate session with a new group of skaters every 10 minutes. There would also be Photopass photographer on the ice to capture pictures of skaters. Every 10 minutes, there will be an indoor snow flurry, accompanied by lighting and projections on the walls to bring winter indoors. Next to the Hall is the first retail location, which is where the pictures could be viewed. This post show area exits to another hall that leads back towards the exit to the main square. Restrooms and a side entrance to the restaurant area also located here.

The restaurant main entrance is in the main square, through a first open vault tower and down a hall to a second larger space. The rooms radiating from here are the dining areas. Tables sit under wooden beams and draped fabric sails. Anna and Elsa visit during dinner and have a photo spot in the large entry space. In the city square, Olaf has a meet and greet and there are also a few themed merchandise carts.

Back out of the square, the village resembles the area from the film and is entirely retail. The main building on the north side has multiple facades but is one large space. The buildings to the south are restrooms and an outdoor retail pavilion. The existing Casey Jr. Train passes through the show building, which is now an Ice Cave finale to the ride.

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I think that covers everything. I think Frozen needs a high quality themed experience like this, and I hope that what really happens is even better. 

Comment with any questions or your thoughts about what kind of experiences Frozen should have in the parks! Thanks for reading!

Disneyland Paris Park Plan

I had the great pleasure to visit Disneyland Paris for a day last spring, my first visit to a Disney Park outside of Orlando. I don’t know how familiar you all are with this resort, so I’ll share some general thoughts. First, since we only had a single day, we only visited Disneyland Park. I really wish I could have seen the state of the Studios Park just so I could understand how it didn’t work, but I didn’t want to use valuable time to park hop. I was expecting a well-designed park after seeing the incredible concept art and photos in the Disneyland Paris: Sketch to Reality book and it lived up to my high expectations.

This park is a prime example of the concept of making the park itself the best attraction. I’ve somewhat adopted this idea from SW Wilson at Ideal Buildout, who says the park should be an E Ticket. This park absolutely is the best execution of this idea that I’ve seen. It’s a beautiful park, filled with detail and out of the way spots that bring it to life. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Magic Kingdom and this park was like a bizarre but fantastic alternate version of what I know. Each land is a beautifully developed full world with more attention to detail than you can possibly comprehend at once. It’s hard to say how much I loved the design and style of this park without just saying the same things over and over so I’m going to move on.

As for the attractions in the park, I would say that overall it is a small step down from the Magic Kingdom as a total experience, but has vastly superior versions of many individual attractions. Paris’ Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates, and Space Mountain are all the best versions I have experienced. I had no complaints with any ride in the park. It just needs a few more of them, especially attractions that deepen the rich detail of the park.

I also want to quickly acknowledge a particular attraction. La Tanière du Dragon, a simple single room walkthrough, safely became a Top 10 Disney attraction for me. It’s simple, just an animatronic dragon figure that periodically comes to life. But it was one of the most immersive and magical experiences I’ve ever had in a theme park. I think we stopped in there 4 times in a single day just to watch for a while. It’s a true highlight of the park because it’s a little touch that adds life to a rich environment. Fantastic.

My long term expansion plan ended up being focused on the creation of 4 sublands to the existing lands, which was not intentional. I realized that this speaks to the thematic strength of the existing lands, that they really don’t need much fixing, just expansion. The exception is in Discoveryland, where my changes restore the original theme that has been diluted over the years.

Frontierland is an incredible land, among the best designed in Disney Parks because of its rich backstory. The main section of Thunder Mesa between Phantom Manor and the path connecting to Adventureland is beautiful and active, while the outskirts of the land towards the empty Chaparral Theater and Train Station were almost completely empty during my visit. There is just nothing there to draw guests back, especially with the theater currently empty.

This area is redeveloped as a Critter Country type area with an American National Park design. However, the Park is operated by a colorful collection of forest animals and owned by the Country Bears. They have opened up a park to all their animal friends from around the world as a vacation retreat, so this land can thematically include the large catalog of animal based Disney properties. The setting and style is decisively North American with architecture based on the Yellowstone Lodge style.

The main addition is a traditional dark ride led by the Country Bears and featuring a large cast of original animal characters in a musical tour of the Park. Across the path is a rethemed version of Junkyard Jamboree where guests are whipped around behind the Park’s fleet of jeeps. The Chaparral Theater is enclosed to host exclusively animal based shows. This park has had problems in the past with placing shows that do not fit in Frontierland in this theater, so that should be avoided. Possibilities include a live Country Bear Revue show with appearances by characters from Disney films such as Bambi and Pocohantas. Cowboy Cookout Barbecue is absorbed and rethemed as a Redwoods forest dining lodge.

In Adventureland, the western section is redeveloped. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, a basic themed coaster, is removed in favor of a South American jungle with the Indiana Jones Adventure and a new indoor Jungle Cruise. The existing Adventureland represents Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, so this area should have a distinctly different style. The EMV Indiana Jones attraction is the same ride system and track as the existing versions but with an original storyline in a Mayan temple. I considered a new attraction, but the EMV Indiana Jones ride is still a solid attraction that would be unique to the continent.

The bigger addition is the Jungle Cruise, which I consider the quintessential Adventureland experience. It was not included originally because of weather and snow concerns as far as I know, so that’s why this must be indoors. Near a cliffside temple, a series of temporary canvas and wood structures have been erected, home to a scientific exploration. Like Small World across the park, it loads outside and can follow a covered path into the show building. However it also has an alternate uncovered route when weather isn’t an issue. The guided boats take a quick trip through the jungle, passing through a cave, and then into the temple. The covered path stays below a series of rigged canvas tarps, leading into the temple. Inside the large show building is an artificial jungle with similar show scenes to the classic Jungle Cruise. However, the controlled environment allows for more sophisticated figures and special effects, creating exciting new scenes like a whirlpool that causes the boat to temporarily travel backwards. Because of the train tracks, the building is in two segments and boats travel under the train tracks.

In Fantasyland, there are two small additions as well as a subland. In the open expansion plot in the east courtyard building, a meet and greet center is added, like those recently added to other parks. It’s not the ideal solution, but logistically makes sense because this is a fairly small open space and there is increasing demand for these meet and greets. Also, on the east side of the land, a theater is added. Fantasyland needs a theater and I’ve heard rumors that one is coming soon. This seemed like a suitable space for it. Stylistically, it follows the language of Small World across the path. A large entrance plaza and tower on the north side welcomes guests into the theater that could hold Broadway caliber revue shows, like the Golden Mickey’s.

The big addition in the north expansion plot of the land is Arendelle. Meet Mickey Mouse is removed and the train station is redesigned as the entrance hall to the Kingdom of Arendelle. Across the tracks is the gate and main courtyard of the land with a small village area to the right on the path to Storybook Land. Inside the palace of Arendelle is a table service restaurant, a large sleigh ride trip to Elsa’s ice castle, and the opportunity to ice skate in the grand hall of the palace, just like Anna and Elsa do in the film. The village area is entirely retail space for the highly popular Frozen product line.

Discoveryland sees the most change to restore it to its original concept. First, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast is removed because of a new Toy Story based shooting attraction in the studios park. It is replaced with The Time Machine, the same attraction proposed in my Magic Kingdom plan. The Videopolis Theater is also removed because it has been unoccupied for years. It is replaced by a suspended dark ride loosely based on Around the World in 80 Days, which is already the basis of the counter service in the building. The interior space is reshaped to create a dining room for the Café Hyperion with the balloon loading and track traveling above before entering the main show scene space of the building. Across the land, the current Les Mysteres du Nautilus walk through, which was fantastic but seemed unpopular, becomes the queue to a new attraction. This honestly was an attempt to bring more prominence to the wonderfully designed Nautilus interior sets. The attraction is a Circumotion Theater attraction by Falcon’s Treehouse. Guests load into one of the two Nemo designed observation submarines for an exciting trip to the bottom of the sea.

The last and most significant addition to the park is the Star Wars Spaceport. Because this is totally different thematically from the rest of Discoveryland, it has to be a distinct subland. It begins along the train tracks in front of Star Tours. With an exterior that fits into the rest of Discoveryland, the covered spaceport interior acts as the entryway to the area. The indoor concourse advertises different galactic locations guests can travel to, tying in to the existing Star Tours storyline. To the right of the spaceport, a path leads to Coruscant, the main area of the land. The Captain EO Theater is demolished for this expansion. The city includes the Millennium Falcon in dock, a shopping market, a large counter service cantina, and the Jedi Training Academy. Nearby is a X Wing Fighter, marking the entrance to an extreme spinner ride. The main attraction is a kuka based X Wing flight, including the iconic trench run. There is also a table service restaurant looking over the city of Coruscant. To the left of Star Tours is a large expansion plot for a future Star Wars world.

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This week’s question:

What are your thoughts about the strategy of creating unique versions of classic rides vs reusing the same designs over and over?

As I mentioned, Disneyland Paris has fantastically unique versions of multiple classic Magic Kingdom attractions. Big Thunder Mountain is on an island, Pirates features a unique open layout and an uphill waterfall, Space Mountain is as extreme as Rockin Roller Coaster, and Phantom Manor is as original as a take on a classic as you can get. Unfortunately, Disneyland Paris is the nearly the only example of this. Disneyland and Disneyworld are generally the same, Tokyo wanted exact copies of the American versions, and Hong Kong used copies for economic reasons, though this has been reversed in the last few years. Shanghai however, seems to be going almost all original, which is great.

If the design goal was to give Disneyland Paris a unique identity, then I believe it succeeded and I wish that each resort around the world did the same thing. The attractions in their unique versions are successful and able to stand alone, but can be appreciated even deeper when you are able to compare versions across the world.

Additionally, an important reason that unique versions of attractions are successful is because they allow world building. Image a Disneyland Frontierland that was forced to use the same Haunted Mansion. It just wouldn’t be the same because it would destroy the detailed story and design aesthetic of the land. The ability of the park to use original takes on classics is one of the reasons the park is so strong. I’m absolutely sure the attractions in Tokyo Disneyland are fantastic and I would enjoy them, but I would know it’s basically the same attraction in a different place. This I believe is one of Disneyland Paris’ triumphs. It was a whole new bizarre fantastic experience.

So my thoughts on unique attractions: I wish it was done more. Copying the same attraction around the world may be easy and may make sense, but unique designs make the best park.