Remember Backlot Express Restaurant?

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When you visit Walt Disney Studios Park and you’re in for a snack, there’s Disney Blockbuster Cafe right across Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith. It has two themed rooms: High School Musical and Pirates of the Caribbean, but did you know this wasn’t always like that? Up until June 2009 the place was called Backlot Express Restaurant and was themed to a props storage room!


(Left: Backlot Express Restaurant; Right: Disney Blockbuster Café)

Upon entering Backlot Express, you would’ve noticed a large collection of stuff (or junk) you’d find at a flea market, all grouped together. But among that “junk” there were also real movie props from productions as Dinotopia, 102 Dalmations and Armageddon. In the main room where the food counters were located, there were a few bigger props attached to the ceiling. Among them a large generic shark, a Kit Kat glider and an original Imperial Speed Bike from Star Wars Episove IV: Return of the Jedi. There was even a Space Pod from the now closed Horizons attraction from Epcot.

In the room on the left hand side of the main room, more generic “props” could be found. The walls were decorated with clocks of all sizes, as well as photo frames and signs. There were also several storyboards on the walls, including artwork for a Kit Kat commercial.

A shelf suspended from the ceiling hid several props from Armageddon, as well as a scale model of Disney’s California Adventure Park information kiosk and blue prints of a “Special Effects Building” for Disney-MGM Studios.

All of these props disappeared in the Disneyland Paris Imagineering archives and got replaced by the Pirates of the Caribbean and High School Musical props and costumes, none of which are originals…

Though it wasn’t perfect, one has to agree that the theming of the restaurant wasn’t the main issue, the food offering was and still is, as no changes have been made there…

Take a full photo tour of Backlot Express Restaurant and judge for yourself:

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The interesting history of Café des Cascadeurs

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For many Disneyland Paris fans, Café des Cascadeurs is the only table service restaurant that can be found in the park and sadly, it’s rarely open. But did you know besides the fact it serves burgers & fries, it has an actual history going back to 1950?!

The whole metal diner shell actually originates from New Jersey, New York where it was used as an actual diner called “The Excellent Diner”. It served classic American fast food up until 1995 when it was sold and shipped to Germany. It’s history from there on is unknown, but somehow a group of Walt Disney Imagineers found out about this excellent retro gem and purchased it for the Walt Disney Studios Park.

The interior of the diner was completely rebuild and brand new signs were designed to match the existing design.

Café des Cascadeurs opened a few months after Walt Disney Studios Park had opened on 16 March 2002.

Next time when you have the chance to have lunch here, remember you’re probably sitting in one of the oldest items that can be found in the entire resort!

Take the photo tour:

A big thank you goes to Jordan Zakarin who e-mailed me the history of The Excellent Diner a few years ago. Read his blog post, including a picture of the original diner here.

What is your Disneyland Paris story?

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A new official website was recently launched called “Generation Disneyland Paris”.

Besides featuring a blog and an entire section dedicated to the history of the development of the resort, its main focus is on the personal stories of guests, fans and Cast Members who can post in their own words their highlights of 20 years of Disneyland Paris.

It’s easy to subscribe and posts can be submitted in English or French, between 100 characters and 2000 characters long and its possible to include photos as well.

I shared my own story about my final trip on Space Mountain de La Terre à la Lune, which can be found here. But what is your story?

E-mail the link to your story and we’ll make sure it gets listed in our next blog post about Generation Disneyland Paris.

How Disneyland Paris celebrated its birthday on 12 April 2012

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To celebrate its 20th Anniversary on 12 April, Disneyland Paris threw one big party for all guests to enjoy. In the morning, over 2000 Cast Members from all over the Resort presented a flashmob to the beats of “Magic Everywhere”. This was concluded with two planes of the French Air Force Stunt Team forming a 20 behind Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant.

Inside Videopolis a master class with Tony Baxter (Senior Vice President, Creative Development, Walt Disney Imagineering) took place. He talked about the creation of Disneyland Paris and some of its challenges. He revealed for instance that there was no budget for the Disneyland Hotel at the entrance of Disneyland Park, it was just supposed to be a façade. But they were able to convince Michael Eisner to drop one of the Lake Disney hotels and build Disneyland Hotel instead. Tony also revealed that Imagineering had the same budget as they had for Tokyo Disneyland, but they were able to spend the money better on show elements by making the right decisions. Instead of building a completely covered Main Street like in Tokyo Disneyland, they opted for the two arcades on each side of Main Street, which were a lot cheaper. The rest of the budget was used to put in more details. Tony also shared his interpretation of the Phantom Manor storyline, but that is something you have to see Tony in his own words. Our friends at DLRP Magic! filmed the entire presentation, which can be seen here.

Throughout the day each land hosted its own celebration-show starring the Disney characters. Main Street, U.S.A. hosted a show with Mary Poppins and Duffy the Disney Bear, Fantasyland with Mickey, Minnie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Discoveryland with Stitch and Angel, Frontierland with Goofy, Max and the Country Bears and finally Adventureland brought Baloo, the monkeys and Mowgli on the stage.

The Disney Ambassadors from Disneyland California, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland all flew in to join the celebrations as well. They opened the Disney Magic on Parade in the Main Street Fire Truck.

The surprisingly sunny day ended with the enchanting Disney Dreams!, part of the year long 20th Anniversary celebrations.

Meet Mickey Mouse at Cottonwood Creek Ranch

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While the permanent Meet Mickey Mouse location is under construction at Fantasy Festival Stage, a temporary photo location has taken over the old Critter Corral / Woody’s Roundup Village. This temporary solution even has its own story line; it’s a travelling show. There plenty of well themed signs and posters all over the old animal stables that guests can admire while queueing to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Souvenir photos taken by a Disney photographer can be purchased at the photo kiosk, located in the old Woodcarver’s Workshop.

Disneyland Paris makes its ships seaworthy again

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That the Disneyland Paris ships were not in a good condition, was an understatement. But this all changed last year when the Molly Brown was reintroduced to the park. The ship was complete stripped down to its bare bones and beyond, and then completely rebuild from the ground up. The Queen of the River was dedicated in front of a crowd full of Disneyland Paris fans on 25 March 2011. That was also the day when the refurbishment of Captain Hook’s Pirate Ship was announced and previewed. The ship was in fact in such a bad condition, it was decided she had to be stripped down and completely rebuild as well, but this time out of special materials that would stand the harsh Marne-la-Vallée weather.

The scaffolding that hid the construction came down only a few days before the launch of the 20th Anniversary. It revealed not only a brand new ship, but a new colour palette as well. The colours were chosen in such a way they could be associated with Peter Pan, but also with Pirates of the Caribbean.

Moving on to Disney’s other ship that was in need of a refurbishment: Nautilus in the Discoveryland lagoon. Although a rebuild was not needed, some cleaning, repainting and fixing the bubblers that surround the submarine for once and for all was long overdue. The walk-through attraction “Les Mystères du Nautilus” was refurbished a few months before.

And finally, work has started on the refurbishment of Mark Twain, which will undergo the same as Molly Brown went through last year. This time however a huge temporary tent has been resurrected over the dry dock, themed to an old barn, complete with a reference to two great Walt Disney Imagineers: Jeff Burke and Pat Burke.

Take a look at the marvellous work done by Walt Disney Imagineering Paris and the maintenance teams:

20th Anniversary press weekend: Generation Disneyland and merchandising

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Disney’s Hotel New York was the place were the press and invitees were welcomed and were given their press kits. But there was more than just goodie bags at the Convention Center reception. A small photo exhibition called “Generation Disneyland” was placed nearby. It featured photos of guests from around the time Disneyland Park opened, along with a near identical photo taken a few weeks ago; complete with the same outfits, props etc.

A large selection of Disneyland Paris 20 merchandise was on display as well, featuring the wonderful retro-style drawings of the entire Resort.