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Tag: Disney
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WDW vs. DLP: Fantasyland (Part Two)
In the concluding section of my two-part article comparing the Fantasyland in Walt Disney World with its namesake in Disneyland Paris, I shall be looking at the Castles, the meet-and-greets and that unforgettable international cruise:a “it’s a small world”.
THE CASTLE
In both WDW and DLP, the Castle stands visible from the majority of Main Street as the parks’ most recognizable weenie. Standing at 167ft in DLP and 190ft in WDW, this structure (often thought to be one of the entrances to Fantasyland, although it is actually IN that land) is the focal point of the night-time show: Disney Dreams in DLP and Celebrate the Magic in WDW.
Whilst WDW’s Castle is named after Cinderella; the Paris equivalent is themed to Sleeping Beauty and is officially known as Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant. Both feature shops in their interior on the first floor. On the second floor in Paris is a walk-around area which tells the tale of Sleeping Beauty, whilst the equivalent story in Florida features a restaurant (Cinderella’s Royal Table). Above that is Cinderella’s Castle Suite, which I know very little about, but there is a lot of interesting information, and photos, on the subject at http://www.disneytouristblog.com/cinderella-castle-suite-tour-photos/
Both versions of the Castle feature coats-of-arms, stained-glass windows and (allegedly) a hidden Mickey in their tiles. The one in Paris however also has an animatronic dragon living in its dungeon, sixteen towers (to represent Aurora pricking her finger on her sixteenth birthday) and various water features.
For more about the Paris Castle, see my article of 2012 comparing it to its Californian counterpart: http://mousescrappers.com/wordpress/?p=3681
MEET-AND-GREETS
In Florida, Cinderella can regularly be met inside the Castle (specifically in the restaurant on the second floor). There is an equivalent eatery in Paris (L’Auberge de Cendrillion) which is equally classy, and also a good place for character meet-and-greets.
Although DLP doesn’t have any equivalents to the meet-and-greets in WDW based on Ariel or Merida (nor does it have any version of Pete’s Silly Sideshow) there are still several other locations in DLP’s Fantasyland where one can meet the characters.
One of these places is just in front of the Castle (the Royal Castle Stage) and another is just behind it, in a location where stage shows based on Sleeping Beauty and/or The Sword in The Stone are occasionally performed.
Other locations in DLP’s Fantasyland where you can encounter characters include Meet Mickey (pretty similar to the one in WDW’s Main Street) and Enchanted Tales with Belle. Enchanted Tales in DLP is a lot more simplistic than its WDW counterpart though, with none of the set, props or animatronics; it also features Belle in her “village” dress, rather than her “Princess” costume.
The final place in DLP’s Fantasyland where characters can be met is Princess Pavilion (similar to WDW’s forthcoming Princess Fairytale Hall, although hopefully the latter will be better run and with more to look at). Whilst Princess Fairytale Hall is to be on the location of the former Snow White ride; Princess Pavilion is on the site of the former post-show to “it’s a small world”.
IT’S A SMALL WORLD
The concept of both versions of “it’s a small world” (as well as the lower case lettering and the quotation marks) is remarkably similar in both Paris and California, with identically-faced dolls singing the titular song, which was written by the Sherman Brothers in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both feature the same recurring motifs and many identical sets and figures –not necessarily in the same order- and both were opening day attractions.
The main differences to the ride itself occur in the Finale room, which in WDW is much busier, features the ditty sung only in English and has drabber lighting.
The following room, known as the “goodbye room” is also stylistically different; in WDW this features the word “goodbye” in various languages adorning flowery designs, whereas in DLP this room features oversized postcards with ethnically different characters bonding on each. This scene makes less sense in WDW though, seeing as this resort’s attraction doesn’t feature a “hello room”.
Generally though I prefer the interior of WDW’s “it’s a small world”, because there is more to look at, and (after one ride) you don’t get the feeling you have seen everything. Other reasons for it being my preference includes the trenching style meaning one can naughtily splash your friends, less chance of being bumped from the boat behind, better maintenance, better segueing and more interesting lighting effects.
The exterior of DLP’s “it’s a small world” however is much prettier than WDW’s. In part this is because the load/unload zone is outdoors (and away from any restaurant windows). Both now feature the infamous clock, although DLP’s is the only one of the two which puts on a mini-show every quarter hour and it is visible from further away. The overall look is more aesthetically pleasing, featuring topiaries, real-life ducks, a three-dimensional model of the globe design seen in two-dimensions above the entrance to the first scene of WDW’s ride, and the Railroad tracks.
For more about the Paris “it’s a small world”, see my article of 2012 comparing it to its Californian counterpart: http://mousescrappers.com/wordpress/?p=3860
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WDW vs. DLP: Adventureland
Standing in front of the castle, with your back to Main Street, U.S.A./World Bazaar, the first Land you encounter clockwise in four of the five Magic Kingdoms is Adventureland. Internet rumors abound that in Shanghai, Adventureland will take up the Tomorrowland/Discoveryland position to the East of the Hub. However, for now, Disneyland Paris has the only “park one” where Adventureland is to be found elsewhere; it is located between Frontierland and Fantasyland.
Not including restaurants, shops or shows (seasonal or otherwise, past and present) there is very little to do in either the Walt Disney World (WDW) or the Disneyland Paris version of this Land. If we also exclude meet and greets, there are fewer attractions in Adventureland in Paris than in any other Land; in Florida only Liberty Square and Main Street, U.S.A. have fewer.
SWISS FAMILY TREEHOUSE
In both Florida and Paris, this is a walk-through attraction themed to Johann Wyss’s 1812 novel Der Schweizerische Robinson (commonly known in English as The Swiss Family Robinson) and Disney’s 1960 film version of the text.
In many ways, the two are similar, featuring examples of how the Robinsons lived on a day-to-day basis, with look-but-don’t-touch glimpses into their rooms, underscored by the lively, if repetitive, strains of Buddy Baker’s catchy Swisskapolka. Both have a set path to follow, featuring beautiful views, hand-painted leafs and more steps than you remember until it’s too late.
Although the waterwheel in Florida’s treehouse is more impressive than its French counterpart (in terms of its size and its ability to actually transport water), and the route has fewer theme-less yellow health-and-safety signs, I do still prefer the Paris version, as it is taller (89ft as opposed to 60ft) and features several details not included in the WDW version, such as the nearby wreck of the Robinson’s vessel, and a walk-through root cellar.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
This classic attraction was an opening day attraction in Disneyland Paris, and has been in WDW since 1973. Both are set in a Spanish Fortress, although the one in France is supposedly a lot more run down with a darker queue area which only has one route.
The storyline for both versions of Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC) is pretty similar: a group of pirates attack a small village, set it on fire, and die with their skeletons found posed near their boats. The order this is experienced in varies considerably, with the French version being the more chronological of the two. Likewise, both have versions of the iconic moments (such as the auction scene, the pooped/gluttonous pirate, the talking Jolly Roger, the mayor being dunked in a well and so forth) but in a totally different order.
Paris does not yet have characters from the film franchise added (and whether they ever will, or should, appear has become a source of much debate) although a look-alike Jack Sparrow sometimes partakes in a meet-and-greet near the attraction’s entrance.
Details found on the Paris POTC which do not appear in any other version of the attraction worldwide include a protective octopus, sword-fighting pirates and a buccaneer who swings over the riders’ heads. Sadly its proposed Pirate-themed Shooting Gallery never made it off the drawing board. Nevertheless, due to these details (and the overall narrative of the attraction) I would suggest that I prefer the Paris version to the one found in Florida.
THE MAGIC CARPETS OF ALADDIN
This Dumbo-esque attraction was added to WDW’s Adventureland in 2001 and an equivalent was added to Disneyland Paris in 2002 as an opening day attraction in their Walt Disney Studios park. The French version, called Flying Carpets Over Agrabah, is not particularly different in terms of looks or control (with the Guests in the front controlling the height, and those in the back determining the angle). Both feature sixteen carpets, all of which seat a maximum of four riders, rotating around a central lamp and, in my opinion, neither suit the Land in which they are housed.
Thematically, the French version is more interesting as it gives the impression that the riders are extras in a new movie, directed by the Genie. His comments can get frustrating, especially if you have already heard most of them whilst waiting to board, but I still prefer this to the Florida counterpart due to the beautiful Agrabah backdrop, the use of FastPass, the lack of spitting camels and the better shade for those waiting.
OTHERS
Paris has no equivalent of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room or Jungle Cruise. The latter has been put down to the language issue, as well as the climate not being right for either outdoor animatronics or thematically suitable plants. The Land does however feature a boat based on the eponymous one from The African Queen (which Jungle Cruise was partly inspired by) outside of a counter-service restaurant called Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost.
The Explorer’s Club (the original table-service eatery, where Colonel Hathi’s now stands) once featured animatronic birds which would sing on occasion. The birds, located in a tree at the center of the building, still exist, but are now rarely-if-ever switched on. This design was reminiscent of Walt’s original idea for California’s Tiki Room; a restaurant where the birds performed whilst Guests ate. To a lesser extent, this also reflects one of the early notions for Disneyland’s Club 33, where an audio-animatronic vulture would have interacted with those dining.
Unique to the Adventureland in Disneyland Paris is Le Passage Enchanté d’Aladdin, a walkthrough attraction, where you pass nine miniature tableaux telling Disney’s version of the story, as per the 1992 film. This attraction is often overlooked by Guests, and doesn’t mean much to people who haven’t seen the movie, but it is incredibly detailed and makes good use of the Pepper’s Ghost effect. With the exception of the music and the dialogue painted by the opening/closing images (which are in French) the attraction is bi-lingual. It is the only attraction in the whole resort I have never seen a Cast Member at (and the switches and fire extinguishers are easy to find) so it is perhaps one of the easiest parts of the park to raise havoc in.
Also in Adventureland in Disneyland Paris is Adventure Isle (similar to Florida’s Tom Sawyer Island) and Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril, which was the world’s first Disney attraction to feature an inversion, and is still the Disney attraction with the greatest height requirement to ride unaccompanied (54 inches). This is a standard Intamin rollercoaster although for four years (2000-2004) the cars were turned to face the other direction, so the riders could not see which way they would be going next.
During our most recent Disney Vacation in March I was totally inspired by the new video from One Republic’s “Good Life.” We listen to the song often and we close our eyes and envision ourselves riding on Big Thunder Mountain, skipping through the park with Mickey or playing the drums with Donald. My inspiration was all the live footage inside a “photo frame” with live footage. I thought this would be a terrific idea to do with our photos in each of the 4 parks. This is what I finally came up with…
I posted these on my facebook page as we were vacationing and had a lot of people asking me “How did you do that?” Well, it’s not as tricky as you think. So let’s get started with doing your own little magic…
First have your family members stand on each side of the landmark and have them “pretend” they are holding a frame. I’m going to show you how we did our Hollywood Studios family magic. What is important here is that you want four fingers in the back and your thumb in the front like below:
Take this photo a few times both horizontal and vertical so later you can decide which photo is going to work best. Then take a photo of all of you in the same spot as a group.
Now comes the fun part of creating your family magic photo.
Step 1. Decide which “Pretend” and “Family” photo you like best and open them both in your preferred digital creative software. I use Photoshop Elements 9 so the screen shots you see below are from this software program.
Step 2. You will need to create a “NEW” page with a transparent background. I always create a new 12X12 page but for this purpose a photo size would be perfect. Let’s call this our “canvas” to make it easier to understand.
Step 3. I then re-colored the canvas to a bright green but you can recolor as you desire to makes it easier for you to see and work with.
Step 4…. result
Step 5. Take the canvas and drag and drop it onto my “Pretend” photo and resize the width to fit in the fingers of my subjects. In this case my son, John Wesley and my daughter, Adrianna.
Step 6. I like to also reduce the opacity to about 60% so I can see how it fits over their thumbs but not too much into their hand.
Step 7. Now you need to resize the green background to fit into their hands like below…
At this point it’s time to save your work as a .psd file so you don’t overwrite your original photo but yet can still continue to work on your project. I will call mine Good Life AK Magic.
Step 8. After saving you now need to grab the “Family” photo and drag and drop it over your canvas.
Step 9. You need to hit Ctrl-G which will group your photo in the shape of the canvas. If it doesn’t work then you need to go back to your Good Life AK Magic and ensure you have selected the canvas before dropping your “family” photo.
Step 10. I then resize the photo to fit inside the shape as I desire. Now it might not be tall enough or too tall so select your canvas and play with the height but be careful to monitor your width as you don’t want it to move from the fingers of your subject.
Step 11. You now need to hide the family photo by clicking on the eye which then disappears just like your photo.
Step 12. Now you need to click on your Canvas and reduce the opacity to 60%.
Step 13. Now it’s time to use your eraser and start erasing over the finger. I selected 8 px with the solid brush.
Step 14. As you can see below I erased the green that was over each finger. It’s important to take your time and do a little bit at a time and stop that way it’s easy to undo if you accidently erase to much you don’t have to start over with the whole finger just the last item you erased.
Step 15. Now you can increase the Opacity on the Canvas back to 100% to review your work.
Step 16. Click on the “eye” next to the Family Photo to reveal your family photo.
Step 17. Now you you’ll notice that it looks like they are holding a free floating family photo.
If you want you can stop here but if you wish you can add a frame as I did. I selected this great frame from Natalie’s Place Designs – Not So Spooky kit. It has great layering and I love the look it created for me.
Step 18. You now need to drag and drop your frame onto your project.
Step 19. Resize it to fit over the photo/canvas. I like to reduce the occupancy at this point as well because again we want it over the finger properly but not too much to give the right illusion.
Step 20. You might have some of the photo exposed either above or below the frame so you will need to get rid of it.
Step 21. Make sure you select the canvas before you start to erase. As you see below as you erase the bottom disappears. Be careful not to go above the inside of the frame.
Step 22. When finished you can see that the bottom is gone below the frame.
Step 23. Now you need to select the frame and erase over the finger.
Step 24. I selected 13px and what I call the fuzzy brush to erase the frame to expose the fingers.
Step 25. Repeat for the other finger. I adjusted it to 8px for her finger.
Step 26. Now increase you opacity on your frame back to 100%. Now it looks like they are hold a framed photo.
When complete simply save as .jpg and you’ve now created your very own “Good Life” Magic Shot! Hopefully I didn’t lose anybody through the process. Sometimes I never know if I provide too much information or not enough so I try to do too much just to be safe. Here is my cover for using my “Good Life” Magic Shots.
I can’t wait to see all those wonderful “Good Life” magic shots! Let the Memories Begin! Wishing you all a magical day!