Walt Disney Studios Park (French: Parc Walt Disney Studios) is the second of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. which opened on 16 March 2002. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. Upon opening, it was dedicated to show business, movie themes, production, and behind-the-scenes, but in the 2010s, in a similar manner to its sister park, Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida, it began to distance itself from the original studio backlot theming and entered a new direction of attraction development inspired by iconic Disney stories. In 2019, the park hosted approximately 5.2 million guests.[1] The park is represented by the Earffel Tower, a water tower with Mickey Mouse ears similar to the one formerly located at Disney's Hollywood Studios, which in turn was inspired by the water tower at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California.
History
Initial plans for a second theme park, named Disney-MGM Studios Europe or Disney-MGM Studios Paris, were scheduled to open in 1995, though these plans were canceled around mid-1992 due to the resort's financial issues at the time. After the resort began to make a profit, these plans were revived on a much smaller scale. The park was announced on 29 September 1999.[2] Construction would officially begin a year later in 2000.[3] Walt Disney Studios Park opened on 16 March 2002.[citation needed]
In the 2019 documentary series The Imagineering Story, Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive (2007–2016, 2023–present)[4] of Walt Disney Imagineering, described his reaction when he visited the park when it first opened:
The first time I went to Paris second gate, it was after hours. No kidding, for the first ten minutes, I'm walking through, and I was like 'When are we gonna be in the park?' And he turned to me and he goes, 'You're in the park.' And I'm like 'I'm on stage?' He goes, 'You're on stage.' Like, 'This looks backstage.' It's a bunch of gray warehouses. He goes 'Yeah. It's supposed to be like a studio.' But again, it was this notion of, 'Ah, the people… the guests will buy it. This is what a studio really looks like. The guests, they just want, you know,' and it's like talking yourself in at the highest levels of, the guests… the guests would just buy this stuff.[5]
In 2007, Walt Disney Studios Park began expanding. June 2007 saw an expansion to Animation Courtyard opened along with the new area wide name "Toon Studio". It is themed as a "toon backlot", representing the film studio workplace of animated characters, where they produce their animated films. The concept has been created exclusively for Walt Disney Studios Park and features two rides not seen in any other Disney theme park, along with small merchandising locations and many character meet-and-greets. In this expansion phase arrived Crush's Coaster, a custom-designed Maurer Söhne SC 2000 indoor spinning roller coaster, and Cars Quatre Roues Rallye themed after the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars, with the ride taking the form of an enhanced teacups ride. A similar ride is found in Mermaid Lagoon at Tokyo DisneySea. On 22nd December 2007, Production Courtyard grew in size with the introduction of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror which soft-opened with the new Hollywood Boulevard.
In March of 2008, a variant of Stitch Encounter was imported from Hong Kong Disneyland with the new name 'Stitch live!'. It was one of two shows introduced to replace the Disney Channel Studio Tour and Cyberspace mountain attractions.[citation needed]
In 2009, new entertainment opened at Walt Disney Studios to run alongside Mickey's Magical Party, which began in April 2009. Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! was the second of the two shows to replace the Disney Channel Studio Tour and was presented in French, English and Spanish. In addition to Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! came the opening of Disney Stars 'n' Cars, a smaller version of Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade imported from Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World,Florida. The parade was introduced to replace 'Disney's Cinema Parade' which had been operating since opening in 2002.
On 27 February 2018, Bob Iger announced a transformative multi-year expansion, opening in phases from 2021 to 2025 to coincide with the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, which will completely transform the park. The cost of this expansion is €2 billion. It will feature new areas based on Marvel, Star Wars and Frozen, all surrounding a new man-made lake.[6]
On 14 March 2020, Walt Disney Studios Park, alongside Disneyland Park, temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France.[7][8] Both parks reopened on 15 July 2020 with strict rules such as limited guest attendance, social distancing, and mandatory wearing of face masks.[9][10] The park closed again on 29 October 2020 following a second nationwide lockdown,[11] the resort's original intended reopening on 2 April 2021 was ultimately deferred to 17 June.[12][13]
On 15th June 2021 the new changes and expansion to the park started to arrive with the soft opening of Cars: Road Trip. This attraction is comnprised of the loop for catastrophe canyon from the Studio Tram Tour redecorated with props and characters based on the world of the 2006 film Cars.
Walt Disney Studios Park is divided into five "studio lots". Originally these were to represent various aspects of film production present at a Hollywood film studio, though this connection has weakened over time with the addition of lands themed for prominent film franchises.
Front Lot serves as the park's main entrance and is home to most shops and services of the park, the Earffel Tower is located here. The entrance courtyard, La Place des Frères Lumière, is designed in Spanish Colonial Revival style, a style common in Hollywood in the 1930s. It is based on the design of the original Disney Bros. Studios on Hyperion Avenue. The central feature of the courtyard is a large Fantasia fountain. The name of the courtyard is a tribute to the French inventors of cinema.
Front Lot features Disney Studio 1, a covered walkway with shops and restaurants themed after a soundstage with a recreation of a Hollywood street inside.
Toon Studio features attractions and shopping based on Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios franchises, including a live show, Mickey and the Magician.[14] When the park originally opened in 2002, the area was known as Animation Courtyard. In 2007, as part of the park's fifth anniversary, two new rides were added: Crush's Coaster and Cars Quatre Roues Rallye. In 2009, the area was expanded with the creation of the Toy Story Playland. In January 2012, construction began on a new Ratatouille-themed ride and restaurant.
In 2021, most of this area's attractions were separated into the newly named Worlds of Pixar area of the park.
Attractions:
Animation Celebration hosts the interactive experience Frozen: A Musical Invitation, wherein guests step into the snowy world of Frozen to meet Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven.[15] Guests can also participate in the Animation Academy, where they can be instructed on the hand-drawing of Disney characters.
Flying Carpets Over Agrabah is an aerial carousel ride, very similar to the famous Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction; in this version, the riders sit within magic carpets, acting as extras in the Genie's directorial debut. The attraction is set against a large "movie set" backdrop of Agrabah. This is the only opening-day attraction that remains open to this day.
Entertainment:
The Animagique Theatre is home to Mickey and the Magician, a live-action stage show. Set in the atelier of the titular magician (of Fantasia origin) in 20th century Paris, his apprentice Mickey gets into mischief, as he explores and learns to use his own magic.[16]
Worlds of Pixar
Formerly a part of the Toon Studio section, the Worlds of Pixar area features rides, attractions, shopping, and restaurants based on Pixar's Finding Nemo, Cars, Toy Story, and Ratatouille franchises.
Attractions:
Crush's Coaster is a spinning roller coaster where guests enter the beached sound stage and film set of Finding Nemo, where Crush invites them to climb aboard sea turtle shells for a ride through memorable scenes from the movie.
Cars Race Rally is a Zamperla Demolition Derby where guests spin at a Radiator Springs car service station. Their cars are located on four spinning plateaus and they change from one spinning plateau to the next.
Ratatouille: The Adventure is a motion-based trackless dark ride based on the 2007 Disney·Pixar animated film Ratatouille. It opened in a new Paris themed area of the park in conjunction with a new restaurant following the Ratatouille theme.
Cars Road Trip is an abridged version of the defunct Studio Tram Tour, themed after the 2006 Pixar film, Cars. This attraction utilises part of the Studio Tram Tour track, and the "Catastrophe Canyon" portion of the former ride. It has been designed as a "temporary ride to increase park capacity until the new expansions open".
Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin is a Caterpillar-style ride where guest sit in a large ride mechanism resembling Slinky Dog from Disney-Pixar's Toy Story movies. Another version of the ride also exists at Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland.
RC Racer is a steel shuttle roller coaster themed around RC from Disney-Pixar's Toy Story movies where guest ride in RC on an orange, half loop track. Another version of the ride also exists at Hong Kong and Shanghai Disneylands.
Production Courtyard's theme revolves around the production aspect of Hollywood movies and the Hollywood mythos, including movie legends. The land contains two distinct parts: Hollywood Boulevard, which features Hollywood-inspired street sets and the ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - A New Dimension of Chills and Place des Stars themed around the production facilities of movie lots, containing Stitch Live!.
Attractions:
The Studio D, which formerly housed Walt Disney Television Studios, hosts:
The Studio Theatre, which formerly housed CinéMagique, hosts a rotation of shows during the year. It will become the home of Together, a show based on Disney Pixar movies, later in 2023. Previous shows have included:
Marvel: Heroes Unite
Merry Jolly Jingle
The Lion King: Rhythm of the Pridelands (playback of recorded show from Frontierland in Disneyland Park for guests unable to secure tickets to watch live)
Various character meet & greets
A number of shows have taken place in the open space including The Incredibles' Challenge and Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Dance-Off.
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Avec Aerosmith was the largest attraction of the area, and an almost exact clone of the ride found at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, with only a few story aspects changed. The attraction closed on September 2, 2019, to make way for Avengers Assemble: Flight Force, which retained the track layout.
Moteurs... Action!: Stunt Show Spectacular was a stunt show that showed how action movies are filmed, using car and motorbike stunts. There was also a clone of the attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando which closed in 2015. This attraction closed on March 13, 2020, as the final attraction of the area. The closure was moved earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, as it was initially planned to stay for a short time longer, but instead closed.
Future areas
On 27 February 2018, Bob Iger announced that The Walt Disney Company will invest €2 billion into the Disneyland Paris resort. The Walt Disney Studios Park will be expanded with three new areas based on Marvel, Frozen and Star Wars. In addition to the three new areas, the expansion includes a new lake, which will be the focal point for entertainment experiences and will also connect each of the new park areas.[18]
The second phase of the expansion will be Kingdom of Arendelle which is originally scheduled to be open in 2023 until it was delayed to 2025, since the opening date was postponed indefinitely followed the closures of the park due to COVID-19 pandemic. Guests will be immersed in the kingdom of Arendelle (set after the events of Frozen and before Frozen II), where Queen Elsa has declared a Summer Snow Day for its citizens. A new and expanded version of Frozen Ever After will debut with the land as well as a restaurant and a shop.[19]
Third themed land
The third and final phase of the expansion was supposed to be a land themed to Star Wars. The land was originally scheduled set to be completed between 2024 and 2025. Multiple sources have claimed that this expansion will be a version of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge found in Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios.[20][21] However, it is currently speculated that the Star Wars-themed land has been canceled, with new themes for this area currently being explored.[22][23]
Walt Disney Studios Park has a "sister park" at Walt Disney World, named Disney's Hollywood Studios, originally Disney-MGM Studios, which opened in 1989. Both parks are themed after film and television production backlots, and have similar attractions. The Earffel Tower, which represents Walt Disney Studios Park, is nearly identical to the original tower that existed on the backlot of Disney's Hollywood Studios from 1989 to 2016.[citation needed]
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