• The Disneyland Paris park opened on April 12, 1992, and is therefore currently celebrating its 30th anniversary with new activities and an impressive night show.

  • It is also an opportunity to come back to the small and big stories of the park, in the company of an ambassador and a designer-writer.

  • Did you know, for example, that the Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant was inspired by Mont-Saint-Michel, the Hospices de Beaune or the Château d'Ussé?

On April 12, 1992, the Disneyland Paris park opened its doors and has since become the leading tourist destination in Europe with more than 375 million visits.

The 30th anniversary festivities have already begun, since the weekend of March 5-6, with the daytime show "Let's dream... and the world lights up", the new "Fairy Gardens", new products in the shop and therefore new queues, but above all the impressive “Disney-D-Light” night show around the castle, with video projections, luminous water jets, fireworks and even drones!

But this anniversary is also an opportunity to dive back into the history of the park, and more particularly into its secret stories and other 1,001 details that bring facades and attractions to life.

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“Enormous attention to detail”

"If I had to give you a guided tour with all the anecdotes, in two hours, I would not have passed the entrance to the park", laughs Quentin Rodrigues, ex-mechanical engineer who became the park's 2022-2023 ambassador. and its employees after a tough selection.

He also points out that the Walt's restaurant, which reopens on April 12, is located at 1401 Flower Street, the real address of Walt Disney Imagineering.

Main Street is the first thing visitors see and walk through, both street and scenery.

"I don't want to completely break the magic, but Main Street, like the rest of the park, has a huge attention to detail," says the ambassador.

Nothing is there by chance.

Like the five names on the front of the dentist.

These are the names of the engineers, or Imagineers, of the five

lands

of the park.

And if you prick up your ears, you might hear a cry of pain.

Probably a toothache.

As for the hairdresser and barber Dapper Dan's, he is not only there to look good, but to make you look good since it is a real shop, often full so it is better to make an appointment.

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Each attraction has its story

When Main Street is cordoned off for a parade, it is always possible to use the arcades, with several references to Franco-American friendship.

But this is not the only “shortcut” to Disneyland Paris.

For example, it is possible, and even recommended, to go directly from Main Street to Frontierland without going all the way to Castle Square, as Laurent Cayuela explains to EnjoyPhoenix in a video.

Designer-writer at Walt Disney Imagineering, Laurent Cayuela himself hosts a series of videos entitled “Once upon a time at Disneyland Paris”, where he looks back on the history of the attractions.

Indeed, if the visitor comes for the magic and the sensations, he has a whole story to discover for each attraction, even a double story for the Big Thunder Mountain and Phantom Manor attractions, physically close in the park and linked by a story of families.

By the way, don't hesitate to stick your ears to the largest, anonymous grave in the manor's cemetery.

Brrrr.

The Castle of Sleeping Beauty, a certain history of France

The Sleeping Beauty Castle can also be considered an attraction in its own right.

After a year of renovation, it is once again open to the public and still houses its dragon, which with its 24 meters and 2 tons remains one of the largest

animatronics

in the world.

Not far from his lair, the visitor can discover, on an arch, the coat of arms of the Walt Disney family, originally from Isigny-sur-Mer.

D'Isigny was gradually anglicized to become… Disney.

This is not the only link with France.

"When you look at the castle, you see Sleeping Beauty Castle and it's true, but that's not all," explains Ambassador Quentin Rodrigues.

When the Imagineers designed it, they wondered how to build a castle in a country with such a heritage of castles.

However, they were inspired by it.

The silhouette with the castle on a rock is Mont-Saint-Michel.

The checkerboard roofs are the hospices of Beaune;

the adjoining towers, the Château d'Ussé;

the dome with the stained glass windows, the Château de Chambord… And if you look at the gold spikes, you will see snails trying to escape, both a tribute to Burgundy and to the tradition of French gastronomy.

»

Disneyland Paris of course conceals other stories and secrets, it is possible to be exhaustive, and moreover, beware all the rumors and legends are not true.

One of them, tenacious, wants that in the cups of Alice in Wonderland, the purple cups spin faster.

Wrong, replies the ambassador.

OK, but we'll try anyway.

Culture

Disneyland Paris: The parades, an American tradition and a French challenge

Society

The secrets of the success of French-style amusement parks

  • disney

  • Disneyland

  • Paris

  • Culture

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