The beloved Disneyland Paris attraction "Le Visionarium" is now an extinct attraction. Since the opening of the park in 1992, and until it was replaced by the "Buzz Lightyear laser Blast" ride, everybody loved it. The music score was one of the best ever written for a Disney attraction, the Time Keeper and Nine Eye Audio-animatronics were just perfect, and the circlevision movie was awesome - a special award to legendary french actor Michel Piccoli who played the best Jules Verne ever seen in a movie.
The attraction opened years later at WDW Magic Kingdom - it was called "From Time to time" - but was less popular than it was at DLP. For an inexplicable reason, the music was changed in the WDW version, and i'm sorry to say that the new score was not as good as the original one at DLP who - literally - was giving an incredible epic energy to any DLP guest. A few years ago the last place on Earth where it was possible to see - i should say "live" the attraction - was at Tokyo Disneyland's Tomorrowland but it also closed at TDL to be replaced by....Buzz Lightyear!
We will have a closer look to how this great Circlevision movie was done, thanks to a wonderful making-of documentary in three parts, partly in english, partly in french. Making-of documentaries of Disney attractions are pretty rare, we saw recently "Shoot for the Moon", the one filmed during the making of DLP's Space Mountain, and this one is just as good. Enjoy it!
All my thanks to the very good Imagineering Files site who had the good idea to download it on Daily Motion.
Pictures and Video: copyright Disney
I really loved this attraction and I can't believe that they changed it for Buzz (Am I the only one who don't like this attraction?).
ReplyDeleteThat's another one they should bring back to DLP. In the beginning, Discoveryland was definitely the best "Tomorrowland" of all the MK, but they are gradually ruining it.
Well done DLP executives!
Such a pity, this attraction had to close :((
ReplyDeleteNo one was seeing it Marco. As we all may love it, it's not financially smart.
ReplyDelete@Marco Antonio Garcia: Definitely not, in my case it would even be an understatement to say that I "don´t like" it - I´d use stronger words...
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the diference between the movies in DLP and WDW florida? I saw a lot of things in this making-of that I don't remember in the USA version of it.
ReplyDeleteMainly the sequence with Depardieu. And I don't like the Buzzlight atraction, too.
Sorry about my english. This is not my native language. Thanks.
The Florida version was called "The Timekeeper" (but the score of the original was entitled "From Time to Time"). Incidentally, for many years the Paris version of the score could be heard as part of the background music loop in Magic Kingdom's entry plaza.
ReplyDeleteThe only difference I am aware of besides the omission of Depardieu and the different music was a short sequence flying over New York City at night.
ReplyDeleteLe Visionarium's Score will be performed at this year's film music concert gala "HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA" for the very first time. Composer Bruce Broughton will conduct and create a special suite for this event.
ReplyDeleteThis year's "Hollywood in Vienna" takes place on Sept 23 2011 in Vienna Concert Hall.
http://www.hollywoodinvienna.com