Disneyland Paris News & Photo Report #174 – August 19-31, 2024

Welcome back to a new DLP Report! It’s the tail end of summer but that doesn’t mean we have nothing to talk about: a mini season, an attraction reopening and .. Christmas ? Let’s dig in.

Pays des Contes de Meh

This week saw the reopening of “Pays des Contes de Fées” and the big news is that the big book is looking amazing! The reopening was met with overly negative reviews with many fans finding it too cheap and simple.

The Attraction is now sponsored by Vittel because what says “magic” more than disposable plastics destroying the environnement. Don’t worry; it’s all ok as long as they wrote a check to Disney. Lovely new sign however at the entrance of the Attraction.

Three original scenes were destroyed for various reasons, and one of them was replaced by Frozen. In Paris we’re not getting the gorgeous Arendelle Castle but we are getting the grey beige ice castle.

But don’t worry there’s a blue light in it that makes it grey AND BLUE but only at dusk or really cloudy weather.

Clearly Disney is aware of the issue as it sent out this photoshopped press photo. With this sunlight, the ice castle should be grey. Liar liar, Maleficent on fire.

The second updated sdene is a half scene so it’s understandably quite simple: Winnie The Pooh.

And finally there’s a new scene for the world famous fairytale “Up” which is getting more visibility at Disneyland Paris, at a later date. The Up house has a visible mechanism to make it move up and down but so far it has never worked.

The existing scenes were also renovated (although some cobwebs remain). It’s great to see the attraction shine again.

The Attraction queue was also refreshed and repaved.

The “Pays des Contes de Fées” poster designed by talented artist and Disney Fan Rob Yeo is now on display under Main Street Station and you can also get a free copy with each purchase of Vittel at The Old Mill (while stocks last).

Next door, Casey Jr. also for some TLC with a refurbishment of the train, signs, platform, Cast Member booth and general landscaping. All looking great!

On Friday, Mickey, Minnie and the Attraction’s Cast Members were on hand to welcome Guests to this lovely little part of Fantasyland. Welcome back !

Princess Week

She’s fabulous and she’s running the show. Princess – or should we say Queen Minnie hosted another Princess Week!

On Main Street Station, Minnie welcomed Guests in the morning while a duo of Princesses waved goodbye at night.

Across the lands, Disney Princesses were on hand to greet excited Guests who has to deal with extremely long waits and poorly managed queues – but what would be a meet and greet at Disneyland Paris without a nervous breakdown!

A wonderful addition this year was Storytime with Belle, for young Guests only.

On Central Plaza, each afternoon the Disney Princesses invited everyone to “Live Your Story” whatever that means with a simple but effective new mini hub show showcasing each Princess.

Food and Bev delivered a simple offering with no noticeable disasters : from entry level at Market House to mid range at Victoria’s and elite at Disneyland Hotel with super pricey fancy cocktails.

As we said before, Disneyland Paris has got a good handle on the formula for these mini seasons and while they’re not blowing anyone away they are a lovely extra for Guests visiting during the period. Well done, and see you again next year!

Construction and Refurbishments

That’s right 14 photos in your Disney Adventure World update this week. Some notable shots: the markings for different types of top level theming on the rock work, stone walls and pavilions coming together in the viewing areas and the clock tower is almost done!

But I saved the best for dessert: testing of the Arendelle Castle lighting! World of Frozen opens in 2026.

In Disneyland Park a section of the new Casey’s Corner gazebo was reveled to criticism that the structure looks cheap and industrial. Hopefully this isn’t the final form.

At Space Mountain the themed tarps now cover the renier back of the building as the structure is getting some much much needed renovations.

Castle Stage continues its upgrading.

And it’s great to see the Fort Comstock rockwork getting some love.

At Disney Village, the slow death of Planet Hollywood carries on with the stripping of the back part of the building.

Christmas in August

Like every year, comes end of summer, all the Christmas merchandise starts taking over the shops. Yes – Halloween isn’t there but don’t worry it will by there (mostly at Thunder Mesa Mercantile). Christmas just is a much much bigger revenue maker so here it is. Some lovely new items this year, I’ll let you have a look!

The Factory is Closed.

And just like that we said an abrupt goodbye to the Disney Jr. Dream Factory. This lovely show sadly wasn’t filling up the theater anymore and also featured outdated chars tee that the younger audience didn’t really know. The venue will be filled by a Minnie meet and greet starting in November. A week after a big uproar from fans, Disney stated the show “may return at a later date”. However it’s hard to imagine the company would spend money on this lovely but expensive and outdated production that already was not filling up the venue. Maybe an updated version, I guess time will tell. So long, Disney Jr. Dream Factory!

And that’s our wrap up of everything happening these last two weeks at Disneyland Paris. Quite a bit! Thank you for reading and sharing, have a wonderful end of summer and I will see you again next time!

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Actively involved in the Disneyland Paris Community since 2014, Ben is a founding member of DLPReport and focuses on our Twitter account, the Podcast in English and the group’s relationship with Disney.