The Disneyland Paris that never was - Part Seven : Hotels and Disney Village

Here is the last part of this “Disneyland Paris that never was“ series, in tribute to this wonderful park. And this one should make happy those of you who like never realised projects.

For this last article we go outside the park to have a look to what was formerly known as “Festival Disney “ - now “Disney Village” - the nightime entertainment and shopping area. On our way, let’s stop a minute. One of you once asked me if there were a big fountain project for DLP - i mean, a big one like the one in Epcot, for instance. Well, it’s true that unfortunately there is no big fountain at DLP but WDI imagineers did think about having one as you can see on the picture above.

The entrance of the WDS are up front, the Magic Kingdom is on the left and Disney Village on the right. The concept with the sorcerer’s hat was okay, but i must say the dimensions were by far too big.

This rendering show the entrance of the Disney Village. The metallic tower were done, but not the guitar or the hat theming.



More regrets, however, for this incredible restaurant concept....



And the hotels, you say? Well, here is some incredible hotels-that-never-were concepts. First I have to tell you that some of the most reknown architects in the world were asked to propose different hotel concepts. And the central theme for all the hotels was: America. Weeks later , they all came back with their own proposals: For Austrian architect Hans Hollein, Amercica mean “war”, so he proposed an hotel with the shape of an aircraft carrier (!) as you can see below.



Jean Nouvel, a famous french architect proposed an all-transparent hotel.



Architect Ron Koolhass concept was pretty modern, too.



Robert Venturi proposed another original concept, a tribute to “Fantasia”.



But one of my favorite is this unique concept by Bernard Tschumi with an inside marina.



All of these projects were not developped, and, frankly, if the central theme was “America” , the hotels that were finally built were obviously a better choice. Hope you enjoyed these Disneyland Paris "that never was" articles!


Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

All photos and artwork: copyright Disney

Exclusive pictures of tonight Bolt Premiere at Disneyland Paris

The French Bolt Premiere - the movie and main character is called "Volt" here - was tonight saturday 17th at Disneyland Paris Disney Village Gaumont Theater, and D&M have for you the pics of this memorable evening!

On the picture below, from the left: The two Directors Byron Howard and Chris Williams, John Lasseter, Mark Walton, Rhino's voice in the original version and Clark Spencer, Producer.



Below, another picture of John Lasseter with the Bolt and Penny characters.



Richard Anconina (right) and Gilles Lelouche (left), the two french actors doing Bolt and Rhino's voices in the french version.



All the crew again, with the french actors who did the characters voices on the french version of "Bolt".



All pictures: copyright Disney-Image.net

A Great Disney Village restaurant idea that never was...

This indoor "Dining in New York" restaurant project for the Disney Village - where guests would have dinner on a New York rooftop with the Manhattan skyline in front of them - was a hell of a good idea, but unfortunately never realised.

However, the good point is that it could be built in the future. Not that the imagineers are specifically thinking about it, but technically speaking, it's not a difficult concept to build. It's an all indoor decor with a huge backdrop who give to the guests the feeling they are outside - like the Sci-Fi Cafe at Disney Hollywood Studios - even if they're not.

The project was designed for the Disney Village, but it will be a great restaurant idea for the Walt Disney Studios, too. A perfect concept, in fact. Imagine that, when the imagineers expand the Hollywood Boulevard - as they will do in the next years - they create a "New York" street, this restaurant project will fit perfectly. And, because it's all about decor and illusion, it will also fit perfectly in the WDS theme. All they'll have to do is to have a larger area where they can put more tables, and, of course, to avoid the Twin Towers in the backdrop painting!

Artwork: copyright Disney Enterprises Inc

DLP Update Part One : Miracle at Disney Village !

It's Frank Gehry - yes, the acclaimed Pritzker price architect who designed the famous Gugghenheim museum at Bilbao or the Walt Disney Concert Hall at L.A - who did the original design of the Disney Village. Disney Village, for those of you who never came to Disneyland Paris is the shopping and entertainment area of DLP - the equivalent of Downtown Disney at WDW, just smaller.

When the park opened in 1992, it looked like this original rendering, with these huge pillars covered with copper plaques. As Disney Village is close to the train station, Frank Gehry's idea was that these pillars were " the remains of a giant factory that once supplied the station with energy ".



From Gehry's original concept, most of the pillars have been removed - on this picture shoot from the balloon last year, some of them are still there, but many more have been removed since then.



As for the buildings, it is now a mix of different architecture styles which goes from the Planet Hollywood's giant bowl to the Rain Forest cafe and his giant mushrooms, not to mention the german Ludwig restaurant with a bavarian style. And i forget the big Mac Donald's with its 1960's facade. In two words, the best idea that Frank Gehry could have is to never come back at DLP to check his original creation!

Although it's almost a rule in Disney's entertainment areas to have a mix of different architectures, until recently there was another big problem at the Disney Village: the total lack of vegetation, leaving the guest in a space where metal and concrete coexisted with multicolored facades....Finally, it reached a point were i thought it was such an architectural disaster that i often say that the only good thing to do with it was to dynamite everything, and rebuild a new Disney Village !

And then, in this month of July, a miracle happened ! Somebody had the genious idea to install trees and vegetation all along the Disney Village, creating really cool spaces where for the first time since a looong time i was happy to stay and enjoy a good cold beer...It was just as simple as that: add some trees and the place miraculously become "friendly" !

As you will see on the pictures below, specially if you already know the Disney Village, this vegetation addition really changed everything. People have room to sit under the trees, The New York Style cafe now have a terrasse, the Planet Hollywood bowl is surrounded with vegetation, etc...



As a friend of mine said: the only question is " why did it took 16 years to them to have the idea? ". Now that it's done, it looks so obvious that it was the right thing to do, and let's hope that they won't stop and add more vegetation in the future. It should be the case, and it will be even better.














One last thing: a nice food cart is now installed at the exit of the Disney Village, and its style fits quite well with the 1950's architecture of Annette's Diner nearby.



So, next time you'll come to DLP, when you will exit the Magic Kingdom, don't hesitate to go to Disney Village, as it is now a real cool place to enjoy a drink or having dinner.

Photos: Alain Littaye and Daniel Rous for Disney and more.

A Special Disneyland Paris high-res wallpaper pictures

It's July 14, and in France it's the big national day - like the 4th of july in the U.S.
So, today, here is a special Disneyland Paper pictures that should look wonderful on your computer desktop.

let's begin by some shots of the Magic Kingdom with, above, the It's a small world facade.

This is Big Thunder Mountain



A Halloween sign in the back of Frontierland



The entrance of Space Mountain



And a scene of the popular Lion King Show



The TOT and the Mickey water tower at the WDS



The Tower of Terror at night



And inside the Studio 1 during a private party



High School Musical show, in front of the TOT



And the entrance of the Disney Village



As always, i remember you as it is written on the "terms of use" page that, in the event you download any material from The Disney and more blog, the download of the material, including any files or images must be for your personal, noncommercial home use only. You may not and cannot sell, print or reproduce in any way any material downloaded from The Disney and more blog, and specifically any material copyright Disney , Walt Disney company or any other companies.

All Photos: copyright Disney