In a complete contrast to last month there has been just one rumour doing the rounds this month. And unfortunately for us, it isn’t a very substantial one, or a very exciting one. As usual though, we’ll also include a recap calendar for all the rumours in the run up to Disneyland Paris’ 25th Anniversary in 2017.
Captain EO replaced with short-film cinema
@ED92live suggested this week that Captain EO in Discoveryland will close fully in summer for a slight refit to its interior to allow for it to perform a slightly different role. The rumour goes that the cinema screen inside will be refitted with modern 3D technology and an improved sound system. This would be to allow for short films to be played or promotional segments of Disney movies. In short, there would be no original content.
The response from the fan community on social media was muted for two reasons. Firstly because this is not a very exciting proposition. The idea of losing an attraction with such historical and cultural significance is a hard pill to swallow, but for its replacement to be effectively just a home for the Walt Disney Company’s advertising is an even more difficult thought. It wouldn’t really be that Captain EO was being replaced by an attraction, more simply that the space where Captain EO was would be used.
Secondly we come to the fact that this is actually highly unlikely. @ED92live has been the only one to propagate the rumour and there are a number of problems with the proposed timings. The suggestion stands that the replacement for Captain EO would be in place for summer, but Disneyland Paris has already announced its closure schedule for the run up to summer and there is no sign of Captain EO closing just yet. Moreover one has to imagine that there is enough work going on in Discoveryland in the run up to summer this year with Space Mountain, Nautilus and Videopolis all currently undergoing refurbishment.
Captain EO is not a popular attraction by any means, which is highlighted by the fact that it often only operates on certain days of the week. Captain EO is bound to close fairly soon, but its safe to say that it won’t be this soon – and in reality we just don’t know what will replace it.
25th Anniversary Refurbishment Calender
Disneyland Paris has officially stated that it wants to be fresh and rejuvenated for its 25th Anniversary. Primarily this means refurbishment work on the Disneyland Park to ensure that all is operating as planned and has that Disney level of quality. The dates listed below are estimated opening times for the refurbished attraction, click on the links to visit articles which will contain more details on the dates and refurbishments themselves.
Disneyland Park:
– [Confirmed] Summer 2015: Space Mountain (A ‘behind the scenes’ update with show feature refreshes)
– [Confirmed] Summer 2015: Les Mystères du Nautilus refurbishment
– [Confirmed] Summer 2015: Frozen Sing-A-Long at the Chapperal Theatre + Frozen at Cottonwood Creek Ranch
– 2015: Jedi Training Academy hosted in Videopolis
–Winter 2015: It’s a Small World
–Spring 2016: Accessibility improvements to Adventure Isle area
– Winter 2016: Big Thunder Mountain
– [Confirmed] 2017: Star Tours upgrade to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
– 2017: Phantom Manor
– 2017: Pirates of the Caribbean
So that closes up a quite February. In March Swing into Spring will start across the Disneyland Park and that will likely take people’s interest for a while – we certainly won’t be expecting any announcements on anything from Disneyland Paris themselves. The next big bit of news will be speculation on exactly what will happen to Big Thunder Mountain if it closes for refurbishment in September.
Check back here at the end of every month for a round up of all the speculation and keep up with news as it develops with us on Twitter @MagicalDLP.
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