It’s been another quiet week and busy weekend at Disneyland Paris as international Guests are still discouraged from visiting France for the most part. It wasn’t a quiet week in terms of news however with more cancelations and postponements that suggest the effects of the pandemic are far from over. On the plus side, the Parks are looking amazing and constructions projects are moving along! Let’s take a look.

Goodbye Lion King & Jungle Festival

After The Jungle Book Jive failed to open and Rhythms of the Pride Land was suspended twice, Disney decided to pull the plug on this PR and financial nightmare and cancel the entire season. Tons of love for the Cast and Crew who worked so hard to make these shows happen. Let’s hope they both come back in their full glory once we are all out of the woods.

Disney also postponed the opening of its new « Disney Jr. Dream Factory » to a later date. It was set to begin this fall but clearly the conditions are not here for a proper performance (and attendance).

Even Eurostar has canceled direct service from London well into October due to the UK quarantine rules. There’s no date yet as to when the trains will return.

As Disney constitues to evaluate the situation on multiple levels ranging from budgets, attendance and government restrictions, it’s fair to say we are in for a bumpy ride well into 2021.

Halloween Creeps In

Halloween decorations continued to appear this week in Frontierland with notably Fort Comstock:

With these lovely lights:

And the return of Dante at Fuente Del Oro:

Together with the lovely Coco flags:

And later in the week the big flowery arch!

Halloween is also on Main Street with so far the many pumpkins on the balconies and roofs:

And onto Castle Stage with the return of the banners and a new spooky floor:

All while in Castle Courtyard, Maleficent’s brambles continue to grow everyday:

On Thursday we also spotted the « Raise the Rafters » float from Mickey’s Halloween Celebration. If all goes well, this float and a few others could pop up randomly on the parade route:

This is what is looks like from the concept art:

Disney’s Halloween Festival starts September 26!

Avengers Campus and WDS2

This week we took the the skies to get one big update on Avengers Campus and the expansion project. The headliner are these incredible foundations for the Iron Man Coaster entrance feature. If you remember, this is what it should look like when complete:

We also took a look at Mission Control, the Heroes meet and greet which is also moving along nicely:

And of course plenty of photos of the overall project and the Spider-Man attraction show building which has reached the next milestone:

However if we look beyond at the rest of the expansion project, not a lot has changed although land has been cleared and the berm are slowly taking shape:

To the right of the Park, the station for the upcoming « Cars Route 66 Road Trip » is also being built quite quickly now. There’s no opening date yet but spring 2021 could be it:

Avengers Campus was set to open mid-2021.

Maintenance and Refurbishments

The big news this week is the Molly Brown where some electrical or engine parts caught on fire on Wednesday. It’s expected to reopen next week.

We’re eagerly waiting the opening of the resurfaced area near L’Arbre Enchanté. Pavers are largely done and panels were seen on the ground for trucks to go by at night.

Talking about areas soon opening, Front Lot has received sets of new generation turnstiles.

At Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, works happen mostly behind the tarps on on the roof, but some theming elements could be seen outside from Orbitron.

The snack stand rebuilding project in Frontierland is now behind tarps, this is what it looked like earlier in the week:

The French message was updated on the social distancing markers. The original one was apparently too confusing.

Water got turned off at the « it’s a small world » fountain for a few days. Just enough to admire the amazing duct tape work:

We also noticed some « fresh » artificial flowers at Pizzeria Belle Notte. All part of the current effort to make the park picture perfect:

If you’re wondering how come we can see characters better on the Castle Balcony – that’s how:

Nearby, Le Carrousel de Lancelot closed for refurbishment until September 26:

At Walt Disney Studios Park, all the lighting equipment was removed from the Production Courtyard light towers. Guess the end is near for that awkward stage.

And heading to Disney’s Newport Bay Club – from the sky – a new compass design was built in the middle of the resurfacing project on the lake side:

At Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel, a crane works on the red vertical LED strips of light that will line the facade when it finally opens one day:

We could also spot a test solar canopy backstabs – to be installed on Guest Parking soon:

Merchandise

Christmas continues to transition in at most of the main shops with some news hats and this cute new cup:

We took a look at the new Arribas Jafar Scepter

And this awesome Space Mountain, from the Earth to the Moon « postcard » which sadly has been delayed:

Characters

Nothing groundbreaking this week as the teams prepare for Christmas, but Daisy met up with a hardworking pup from the Disneyland Paris security team. Here are a few more highlights!

Privilege Tickets

Reservations for the October AP Privilege Tickets are now open. Be quick as these go fast. As a reminder this is only a capacity reservation and the tickets must still be paid on the day with the AP Holder. You can try your luck HERE.

Pooh Balloon ans myself hope you enjoyed this week’s report! Thank you as always for sharing and interacting every week. See you next week!