Fantasyland Theatre

There's an insisting rumor that the Fantasyland Theatre in Fantasyland at Disneyland Paris will be bulldozed in the following years to make way to the European version of Disney's Calfornia Adventure's "The Little Mermaid" ride wich is rumored to be of the best ride WDI ever designed. The Fantasyland Theatre is a lovely building made of bricks, glass and steel and even though it was definitely not used as much as planned, if rumors prove true and the building will be demolished, I will surely miss it. That said, I building and attractions won rewards based on the numers of pictures taken of it, Famtasyland Theatre would be cursed: here are the only two pictures I found in more that ten trip to Disneyland Resort Paris.


This last one, taken on a foggy winter day, is from the right side, close to Alice's Curious Labyrinth and you can see the Fantasyland station on top of the theatre building. I'm surely going to take some more pictures of it next May.

Disney relief for the weekend

Just survived from an hectic week in Milan, and in so much need of some disney magic! Here are some soothing images for you (am me!) to savour fpr the weekend.

Some Beautiful rock formations on the side of the castle. Would pay to climb them!


Castle balconies. A little bit rotten and in need of some maintenance, but you know what? Most real castle are like that so I quite like the final look (just won't say it too loud so suits won't find a cheap excuse to cut on maintenance...)


And the grand finale: the cozy outdoor area of L'Auberge de Cendrillon restaurant. Just so sad it's almost never used because of the rainy parisian weather!

A Castle Backyard

As I already said before, guests rushing from ride to ride, blindly believing in the fastpass-is-better mantra, sadly lose those details that really makes Disneylands all over the globe so much different from any other theme park. This time, we'll talk about the wondrous "backyard" of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Paris.

Guests with a faspass attitude will probably rush through the castle to get first in line at Snow White's or Pinocchio's ride and, after riding it, with their heads plunged on the park map, rush to the end of Fantasyland to catch the line for Peter Pan's ride.

Stop. Take a breath, and turn.


Your eyes are just looking at a gem, kindly reserved to the ones who still think a vacation is not just a checklist of fun (!?) things to do. The "unuseful" details put into this side of the castle never fail to amaze me. For instance, look at that wooden stairs, those stone set in the tower. Breathless...


Let's enjoy a closer look. Look at the brown tower and the golden spike over it. Wonderful!


These pictures feature a grey sky and this time time I must say the castle looks beautiful with it, just as good as the silver parisian roofs. Good job, Imagineering!

It's a Small World galore, part III

And now, let's go have a look at North America! Here we are in the middle of the Wild Frontier: cactuses, weird-looking rocks, snowy mountains in the background and a frontier town with a chuckwagon that's just parked. Even the sun changed its appearance (see my previous post).
Wait, North America is not just about the Wild West: there are the sleepy towns and the city that never sleeps, and let's don't forget about Canada! (By the way, I think among the skyscraprers of New York City, World Trade Center is still there. They were wise enough to keep it there).

And what's right next to the Statue of Liberty? C'mon Newyorkers, theGolden Gate, of course!

Then, the magic spell on my camera ended and picture started to look blurry again. But I was lucky enough to take one final picture of the Grand Finale, where all children of the world dance in a blu, silver and pink extravaganza! I often wonder if they did the right thing by letting the roof of the building so visible: wouldn't it be better if it were black? Then I come to my senses and realise that a dark black background would have given the ride a much darker look (even though more truthful to Mary Blair's original artwork), while here the core message was friendship and most of all, that the more color and differences the more beauty!

Its' a Small World galore, part II

We just left Italy, attracted by some mysterious kites floating above our heads. Of course, we are heading to Middle East and Asia. See the cloud shapes? we're definetely in India, don't you think? There's even the Taj Mahal at the end of our ride!

On the left a tempting souk teases us with its colorful merchandising (I'm starting to write like a '50's travel brochure...)


Ok, let's cross the ocean and tour beautiful South America: am I the only one to find perfect beauty in the shades of green of the hills in the backgrounds? And the sun takes a South American accent. Next time: North America, the Grand Finale and some thoughts on the colored roof.

It's a Small World galore!

And now it's time for the "It's a Small World" Extravaganza! As you know it's a small world is one of my favorite attractions, a perfect and mysteriously achieved balance between cuteness and plain simple beauty. Everytime I ride the attraction the mixture between colors always leave me breathless. And how many times have I tried to take pictures of that magic blend only to get blurry pictures? Once, in 2005 something magic happened to my camera as I took quite sharp pictures while riding, so I can finally share the interior with all of you who have never rode this masterchief.

Lets begin with a few shots of the European area. Appreciate the neat hill covered with a Scottish texture and right to the left a joyful Lochness Monster (partly hidden). In the foreground, giant flowers. Do I have to say something about the wonderfully balanced colors?...

Let's go back home, to Italy, now! Florence (the bridge), Pisa (the leaning tower), Venice (the gondola)... just perfect! take a look at how well Imagineers managed to blend three Italian icons coming from very different cities in one consistent environment: that's craftmanship!


Right next to Italy lies Switzerland...


and just across the riverbend there's something in the air (didn't know I live so close to China ;-)

Details: La Confiserie des Trois Fées

Wildy overestimating their audience, thinking we all Europeans wouldn't stand a cheap carnival look, and finally eager to put Disneyland Paris up away above the its European competitors, Imagineers literally put nice little touches, kinetic details in almost every corner of the park: flags, animatronics, even working fireplaces (!) to make guests feel they were really in a magic land of its own kind.

For instance, let's take a tour of La confiserie des Trois Fées (Three Fairies' Candy Kitchen), Disneyland Paris' Fantasyland candy shop.

Here we are, right in the middle of a warm, rustic kitchen, full of sweets, candies and treats while a mouth-watering vanilla scent slowly tempt our senses: Aurora just left, probably to pluck some wild raspberries in the woods. But, what about the three fairies? Where did they go? where did they hide? They're fairies after all, you're not supposed to spot them so easily, but raise your eyes above those candy boxes and look in the fireplace. Look closer. What are those colorful little dots gently floating in the air? Here they are: Flora, Fauna and Merrywheather! Say hello to them, maybe they'll wave you back!

For many years, under the curse of a cheap management that ruled the park since a few years ago, this nice touch was simply turned off to save some pennies, and the three fairies were literally sent away to who-cares-nobody-will-notice-land. Then, a more respecful and intelligent management realised the mistakes done in the past, freed the fairies and give them back their kingdom (well, not really, their kitchen).

This effect is little, but it really adds to the atmosphere. For thos of you always wondering how did they do that, the trick used here is basically tha same used in the Ballroom scene from the Phantom Manor: a glass cleverly positioned between us and the wall reflects a monitor with the three fairies on it, thus giving the appereance they are floating right before your eyes.

Details III

In order to understand what it feels like to be in another place, sometimes a little detail is much more powerful than a thousand fancy pictures. Cinderella's Castle usually suffers of this tendency: we are all so much awed by the shimmering white turrets under the deep blue sky that we usually take pictures like this one:

which, by the way is a wonderful picture, but so similar to tons of official pictures that it really doesn't help us to understand what the real thing really feels like. So I thought some unusual pictures could help those of you who haven't been there to get a glimpse of the real castle.

It's a Small World, again and again and again!

As you probably already know, I am a huge fan of It's a Small World and Mary Blair's outstanding art. I posted a few days ago some pictures of the Tokyo Disneyland version and said that in my opinion its color scheme is the most faithful to Mary Blair's original drawings, featuring for instance her incredible brigh colors on dark backgrounds. Though I said it happened to be my least favorite version of this beloved attraction. Jump cut to Paris, judge by yourself and leave a comment.

This pictures were taken by Sparkyfra (thanks again) during one his many trip to Disneyland Paris. It was October and the light had a wonderful orange hue wich really added to the beauty of the facade of It's a Small World.




Looking at these pictures I realized imagineers definitely took inspiration from Mary Blair's artwork yet at the same time used a much more consistent palette of brown pinks, reds and yellows, with some bright accents of gold and light blue. The final result is not faithful maybe to the original, but I think it's more balanced and tuned to the place and the peculiar light of it.

Useless pictures

Matterhorn1959 has post in the past weeks in his wonderful blog Stuff from the Park a very interesting collections of pictures os signs taken in Disneyland: some amusing, others just beautiful, all definetely worth a look.


But you know what I like most about this kind of pictures?
Even if when I took them, I sometimes feel like a stupid, or when I show them to my friends after my expensive vacation at Disneyland, it always makes my friends think that I'm a really weird but funny guy who spent lots of money just to take pictures of useless spots, the truth is that as time goes by those pictures get better and better, while other get easily forgotten.
What I mean here is that everybody takes pictures of, say, Main Street Usa with the castle shimmering at the end of the street, and after a while there's nothing personal, peculiar, really interesting in this kind of pictures and they all start looking the same. But those pictures taken almost by chance... They never stop to interest me and to spark my curiosity.


So here are some pictures of store signs and details I took at Tokyo Disneyland's Fantasyland... with the hope in the fifty years or so they will get more and more intersting.



By the way, thanks to all the people who visited my blog during these months. I really appreciate and please, leave comments if you like: I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

It's a Small World

It's a Small World is definetely one of my favorite rides. In the Disneyland Paris version a little gem not to skip it's the area past the attraction (even thought it's a basically a huge display of the main sponsor of the attraction, France Telecom). You have to walk through a pathway surrounded by very elaborate and colorful reproductions of the most important building in the world. It's a very nice and colorful space and I never miss it!

A Happy Valentine chez Pizzeria Bella Notte

Pizzeria Bella Notte is one of my favorite restaurants at Disneyland Paris!
Ok, the food is definetely nothing special, especially if you're from Italy and/or know what a goof pizza should taste of, but the efforts Walt Disney Imagineering put into designing this place are just worth the microwaved pizza (and let's not even talk about the maccheroni with bolognese sauce...)The exterior of the Pizzeria Bella Notte has a distinctive italian flair. In fact, the original plans for this area featured an Italian/Mediterranean Street in a romantic and kind of maritime setting. Don't forget that just in front of Pizzeria Bella Notte Eric's Castle from The Little Mermaid was supposed to rise (and host inside The Little Mermaid dark-ride).

Again, details are just to many to fit this blog but the real show is inside the building. Don't believe me? Watch the pictures then...

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!