Today's Disneyland Paris update is pretty exceptional. You may have wondered what's happening in the parks at night when the doors are closed and guests back at home or in the hotels and this is what you will see thanks to DLP who invited Disney and more and Max Fan, D&M contributor, and
DlrpWelcome webmaster, for an exclusive look at the many activities happening in both parks between sunset and sunrise, after the parks are closed.
Not only we have plenty of pictures to show you what's happening but Max also filmed a video and i suggest that we begin with it.
This second part of the article will show you other works not appearing in the video as well as great night shots of the parks without any guests, like these Main Street shots below.
Let's start with something about the Disney Dreams show which requires a team of 10 technicians, 5 firemen and 5 other people for the fireworks. Below, pictures of the Disney Dreams control room and of the recalibrating of the projectors on the castle, an operation happening each week.
2 am: We're learning from Alexandre Theophile, DLP Duty Manager that between 200 and 300 cast members are in the parks each night to clean everything after dozens of thousand guests coming in the parks each day. There is also three duty managers to control the activities at both parks and Disney Village. For instance at WDS Toy Story Playland from the top of Toy Soldier Parachute Drop the maintenance guys are checking every night that all cables and pulleys are working fine, all this with a great night view of the park.
Below some pictures of Toy Story Playland at night as well as night views of the park shot from the top of the Parachute Drop.
Same at Tower of Terror where everything is double checked. The TOT sign is located at 41 meters from the ground - fantastic view from up there as you will see. The Tower elevators are falling from this height and also go down 12 meters in the ground.
3.45 a.m: The show decor team are refurbishing the stands for the Moteurs, Action! stunt show market scene. During the show, these are hiding the airbag mattress used when the red car is falling.
Then, another team check the lighting on the town decor - inspired from the french town of Villefranche sur Mer.
Without the lighting:
With the lighting:
5 a.m: the carpenters team of Laurent Picard are here to anticipate risks and are here in Adventureland on the Hakuna Matata bridge after they did some try backstage on different kind of antiskid during one year. Some fiberglass will serve as skeleton on which the product will mold before the addition of sand. All this to avoid that the antiskid get out of its place. It requires 24 hours to dry and in one month all the works at this location will be finished.
Same problem on the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril where are installed special steps previously prepared backstage. You need to know that the products used for the antiskid are the less toxics for environment, as well as for the wood. In the case of the Hakuna Matata bridge it is important as although the bridge is 20 years old its wood is still of excellent quality.
6 a.m : It's sunrise and eight gardeners are entering Central Plaza to take care of the lawns around the castle, with three of them on the little hill on the left. For security reasons gardeners must be attached to a "stop fall" cable. The lawnmowers work on air cushion which help to have a better maneuverability.
The lawns are cut each week, and when the lawnmowers have finished to cut, the cut grass is aspirated.
For the cypress trees - the one with a square cut - some of them will be replaced next year with the addition of two new ones.
7 a.m: Eric Peigne, glazier at Disneyland Paris since 15 years, is doing some cleaning and restoration works on the stained glass of Sleeping Beauty Castle. When one talk about stained glass in the park we instantly think of the ones inside the castle but there is plenty of others in Main Street U.S.A for instance and also in Frontierland, that's why a special department was created for this kind of work.
It's now 8 a.m, and it's time for us to leave as the park will open its gates to the guests anytime soon!
Disney and more wants to thanks a lot Elisabetta MARIGLIANO, Sébastien FRANK, and Mathias DUGOUJON from Disneyland Paris for their precious help in the making of this report as well, as always, Max Fan for his pictures and video. See you soon for a new DLP Update!
One more thing about the Disneyland Paris book as i remind you that there is now less than FIFTEEN copies of the Disneyland Paris From Sketch to Reality book available in its english collector's edition, and if you don't own the book yet, it's really now or never! Don't miss the $45 Discount on the Disneyland Paris book! Order in one click with the Paypal button below !
Don't miss the Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality book, in which you have the whole park in 320 pages with 750 photos including 250 WDI renderings. Last english collector's edition copies, french collector signed copies are also always available. And i do a special price right now on it with a $45 / 40€ discount on the normal price, so order your collector copy while there is still copies available as it's really the last english collector copies. You'll find below a one click Paypal button as well as a video showing the whole book. And you can have more infos about this gorgeous 320 pages book HERE.
Pictures and videos: copyright Max Fan - Dlrp Welcome
