Paul Arthur

Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland Paris

I would definitely plan for a whole day at the Studios park. We were on property for 3 days and still didn't get everything in. The addition of wait times for Crush and TOT really eat up a considerable amount of time. Another sidenote on schedule for this park... contrary to the other live shows, they don't run as many performances per day of Moteurs Action!.... sometimes only once daily. Plus, the seating capacity is smaller than the one in Orlando. So if you want to see it, check the times and schedule around it.

It really does act as a visual centerpiece for the park, which is strange since it is such a newly added attraction and the big visual centerpiece attractions are normally there from the time of opening.

I stupidly realized I left a few photos out of this part of the report.... so here they are. Finally, a nice sunset shot of the water tower. The information board for the Studios park. The boxes next to the show times are little video monitors that show clips of the respective shows. They're running 2 separate High School Musical shows multiple times a day in the Studios park. It was hard to get a steady shot, as I was attempting to hold the vomit reflex in check.

Crush did NOT have a fastpass... which was pretty dumb, considering the magic carpet ride next door did. Over the 3 days we were there, the shortest wait time we saw was 50 minutes. My advice is sucking it up and getting in line anytime it shows between 50-60, as it would jump up to 120 a lot. Other interesting thing was that Crush has been there the better part of a year with no fastpass and 2 hr. waits, while Tower of Terror just opened, with average 45 minute waits and has fastpass.

Hmmmmm..... when submitting, my computer seems to have reversed all the pictures and descriptions.... Weird. Is there a way to easily reverse these?

My wife, Rebekah, and I spent a few days at the end of our England-France vacation at the Disneyland Resort Paris. We were both fascinated and dismayed by many of the differences between this group of parks and their brethren across the ocean. We spent a total of 3 days at the resort and hopped between the parks quite often. For sake of simplicity, I am posting the pictures in park groups Note: pictures are reversed... so it's best to start at the bottom and work up. Current park map showing Tower of Terror and Crush's Coaster. Back of the park program. Heading up to the entrance. Heading through the admission gates. Walking into the soundstage entrance... did I miss the reason they're still heavily advertising CARS? Inside the soundstage entrance. The view as you walk out of the soundstage entrance. Into Rock-N-Roller Coaster.... we had no audio at all in the main show room. It was incredibly quiet during our ride. The ride operator is very visible in the load area of this version. Beginning of the launch. Shot #2 of the launch. I can't help but love the beginning of this ride. Time to check out the backlot Tram Tour. From the tram we see a nice side view of Tower of Terror. The tour featured a duplicate of the Catastrophe Canyon sequence. One difference was this static set from Dinotopia. The other difference was the Reign of Fire set on which a fireball shoots from the sewer . That's about all that happens on this set. The strangest souvenir we saw was a Jobox full of American license plates. If I had known, I would have brought some in my luggage to sell. They had rodent-friendly souvenirs. We have 3 pet rats, so Rebekah was a big fan of this hat. Animagique made for a nice sitting break for 30 minutes. It's okay, but if time is tight, it's missable. Time to head over to the very newly opened Tower of Terror. Yes, that's a bunch of kids crawling around in the fountain and poking at the fiber optic signage. The main entrance was very small and kind of 'missable' if you were walking by when the walkway is crowded. The outdoor section of queue was REALLY boring. I missed the overgrown gardens, fountains and such. Unused section of queue. We never saw it used all 3 days, even when the wait got to 60 minutes. Heading inside from the outdoor queue. Main lobby atrium area. Waiting for the library. The library is pretty much the same. Just dubbed in French. Yes, I'm afraid it's the dreaded hallway. The ride was pretty much a duplicate of the one at California Adventure. Exiting through the giftshop. The exit from the giftshop. After leaving Tower of Terror, we grabbed a snack at the courtyard nearby and watched the group next to us and their very interesting snack selections. She ate an entire cucumber while we sat there. Over to the original Moteurs Action! stunt show. The grandstand for this one is quite a bit smaller than the one in Orlando. The Tower of Terror looms over the Moteurs Action set. The bacon cheeseburgers at Disney Paris use giant discs of bacon. A little bacon in every bite.... mmmmmm. Yet another thunderstorm passing through. This kid seems to have had just about enough for the day. Now over to the Crush Coaster.... You get to watch cars coming by outside the building. This happens just after you leave the load platform inside. Closeup to show car carriage and grab handles. A view of the show building from the beginning of the queue. The ride really was a lot of fun. The first minute is spent "dark ride" style going through scenes from the movie. The second minute is the coaster, which was extremely smooth and quite fun overall. Imagine Space Mountain in free rotating cars. At an early point in the queue, they hold you back for 5 minutes at a time. But that didn't stop this kid from just crawling in through the landscaping and bypassing about 30 minutes of waiting. Line jumping was a common practice for the locals... both child and adult. The first part of the queue takes you towards the show building and the blessed overhang that covers the second part. Once on the side of the show building, you navigate another 30 minutes of turnarounds before heading inside. First view of the inside queue after walking inside. Up the staircase that goes across the load platform. The car in this picture is coming back in to unload. Ride operator sits behind the window under the Angel's Cove sign. Closeup of seats. These were, IMO, the most comfortable coaster seats I've ever been in. The center grab handle was really nice. The cars constantly move through the load platform. The seagulls constantly move and occasionally make "mine" noises together. Our favorite sign in the queue. By the time we came back out, the line was back up to 120 minutes.... During one of the sunny breaks in the day, people just started camping out on grassy sections of the park. It was like being back on a college campus. The queue for Stitch LIVE was always long and, as it's not really our cup of tea, we never made it inside. Is it just me... or is this the most out of place attraction at the Studios park??? Over to Cinemagique to end the day. I recommend not missing this show.... it really is fun to watch. This was actually our 2nd visit to see it. This show was one of our favorite exclusive attractions in both parks. They combine footage from classic movies, live action, and special effects on a large format screen. This guy figures very prominently into the show. If you go twice, it's fun to watch him during the preshow. Rebekah is very excited by the HUGE Indiana Jones promo at the Disney Village cineplex. Only a couple more weeks..... On to Planet Hollywood for some dinner. Bekah got her fave.... Cap'n Crunch chicken tenders. I got the Tostadas. I had been aching for some American style 'texmex' for two weeks. The Disney Village is their blend of the Marketplace, Downtown Disney, and Pleasure Island. The cheesy Eiffel tower vendors run rampant here and really make the entrance look trashy. We checked out the only nightclub on resort property. The first time we went, we were the only ones in the building other than staff. The next time we decided to turn around and leave when we were told that we would have to check every camera, bag, coat, sweater, etc at 2 Euro each. No thank you..... What is that in the distance..... This balloon would take people up to viewing height to overlook the property. Note: Pictures and descriptions are reversed, so start at the bottom and work up.

Crazed 49: Unfortunately, I didn't get to go in person. These were forwarded on to me from a friend of a friend who shot them. I agree though... the idea that a wooden coaster gets consumed again by the woods is an eerie notion.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hellmutt/sets/72157602655023537/with/919712963/

I liked Mr. Toad's Wild Ride for many of the same reasons.......

Next up... The Tower of Moderate Apprehension

From Jim Hill Media jimhillmedia.com Forget about "Grim Grinning Ghosts." Get ready for "Prim, we-don't-mean-to-offend-anyone Ghosts." That's the word coming out of Glendale these days. Reportedly in response to guest complaints about goofy but ghoulish lines like "Drag your wretched bodies to the dead center of the room," the Imagineers will soon be revamping the script for the Haunted Mansion. Deliberately changing lines that Disney cast members on both coasts have said for almost 40 years now in favor of less objectional material. "Why make this change now?," you ask. Truth be told, those macabre remarks that all of those "butlers" and "maids" have made to Disneyland & Walt Disney World guests over the years were never actually scripted. They were just ad-lib lines that got laughs that -- over time -- then became the pro forma dialogue used in the Foyer and the Portrait Gallery. Well, that's all about to change. According to my sources at WDI, in order to prevent squeamish guests from being offended by semi-improv-ed remarks like "Please follow the blood red carpet into the Foyer," the Imagineers have now written an official script for the Mansion's entrance area. What's more, the cast members who work at both the Anaheim & Orlando versions of this attraction will soon supposedly be asked to attend acting classes. Where they will then be taught the official staging & blocking for this new script. As you might imagine, once the news of this proposed change started making the rounds among Disney cast members who work at the Mansion, the grousing began. As one Disneyland vet put it: "Half the fun of working in the entrance area at the Mansion is that you got to play a character of your own devising. You could put a silly or sinister spin on the butler or the maid. It was all up to you. But now with this official script and the new blocking, that's all going to change. It won't be nearly as fun as it used to be to work at the Mansion." Of course, Imagineering has an entirely different take on this tale. According to my guy in Glendale, this proposed change isn't about stifling cast members' creativity. But -- rather -- making sure that guests who visit the Disneyland & Walt Disney World versions of the Haunted Mansion get a consistent quality product. As he explained: "First of all, please let your readers know that we're not touching anything that Paul Frees did for the Mansion. His Ghost Host will remain just as it always has. We'd never dream of touching that recording. It's a crucial component of what makes the Mansion so popular with Disney theme park guests. As for this new script that we're putting together for the cast members ... It isn't so much that WDI is responding to specific guest comments about offensive material at the Mansion. It's more about 'plussing' the guest experience. Giving Disneyland & Walt Disney World visitors something entertaining & new to view as they move from the Mansion's Entrance Hallway through the Foyer into the Portrait Gallery. Trust me. Once people hear the new script and see what the cast members are doing now, no theme park guest is ever going to complain again. They're just going to think that this is a clever addition to a classic Disney attraction."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the entire Cars race ride looks to be outdoors. If it is indeed true that the Cars ride will be a combination of EMV and Test Track technology, it will be interesting to see how a ride track like that fairs outdoors, as all of Indy and much of Test Track are indoors. As far as Pier rides go.... I wouldn't miss Zephyr one bit, as it's never been operating due to wind conditions when I've walked by. How is a ride equitable if it has such high operating safety holds?

Worlds of Fun here in Kansas City (part of Cedar Fair) has been cracking down on the smokers in non-designated areas this season. Though I haven't heard of a park-eviction yet.