This month’s rumour mill seems to suggest that almost all of the Disneyland Park is getting a major refurbishment over the next two years. And it’s highly likely to be true! Highlights include Space Mountain, Thunder Mesa and a “Frozen Summer” – but there’s much more than just that.
Space Mountain: Mission 2
Now that Space Mountain: Mission 2 has officially shut its doors, some information is finally leaking out as to what state it will reopen in for summer. Officially Disneyland Paris has limited its own official comment to stating that it will be a general refurbishment, meaning that it won’t be a ‘Mission: 3’ or equivalent – so will probably not involve any story or music changes. What it does mean, however, is that the effects used on the attraction will get a polish to make sure they operate correctly and perhaps a few new tweaks will be added. The rumour mill suggests that both the interior and exterior of the show building will receive this refurbishment, and that a complete overhaul of the backstage technology operating the attraction will take place. Once reopened, the attraction is anticipated to be called just Space Mountain.
ED92 suggest that the refurbishment will fix the cannon to correct working order, and return the launch sequence within the cannon to being in two stages – as it was when the attraction was Space Mountain: De la terre à la lune. They also claim that the queueing system will receive a make-over (and air conditioning!) with the FastPass queue being moved and the exit of the attraction feeding back towards the centre of Discoveryland. In the attraction itself, new projection effects will be added. However – ED92 also states that there will be a further update to Space Mountain before the 25th Anniversary which may well include new trains and a change of story.
@InsideDLParis has suggested that the main bulk of the changes will be behind the scenes, but that new LED effects will be added both in-show and on the exterior of the show building. The scheduled opening date being stated as 24th July 2015.
Les Mystères du Nautilus
The Nautilus has been officially confirmed to be receiving a general refurbishment. As with Space Mountain, this is expected to be largely in the form of ensuring that existing features are working correctly. It has been rumoured that this is not a proper refurbishment, in the sense that it has a specific objective, and that actually it has simply been forced to close because its emergency exits have been blocked by the Space Mountain refurbishment. This would make sense, seeing as no rumours had surfaced of its refurbishment prior to its closure. Nonetheless, Disneyland Paris have stated that they will be taking the opportunity to give the attraction a bit of tender loving care! (My words, not theirs…) Plus, Disneyland Paris also intend on giving an unspecified refurbishment to the Nautilus lagoon area.
“Frozen Summer”
Disneyland Paris announced during their shareholder meeting on 13th January that this summer would be a season of Frozen, confirming that a Frozen Sing-a-long show would be opening in the Chapperal Theatre for summer. @DisneylandBerry also unofficially stated that the whole area of Cottonwood Creek Ranch around the Chapperal Theatre will be ‘invaded’ by Disney’s Frozen!
Thunder Mesa and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is undoubtedly the most popular attraction in the resort, with its high capacity and yet still consistently massive queues. It would not be unsurprising then, that Disneyland Paris may want to make sure it’s top attraction is in top condition for the 25th Anniversary. But the rumour mill suggests that it won’t just be Big Thunder Mountain getting some love, but the whole of Thunder Mesa.
Rumours suggest that the water around Thunder Mesa will be drained to allow for proper cleaning and the fixing of the geyser field by Phantom Manor. The mountain itself will likely receive a new coat of paint to make sure its browns and oranges are looking suitably vibrant and impressive.
As for the almighty attraction, ED92 suggest that the trains will all receive an extra car to improve capacity further. This would mean a major overhaul to the station to cope with longer trains. They also suggest that the attraction will receive some of the upgrades given to sister-attractions in California and Florida, including projection mapping and explosion effects during the third lift hill and new interactive elements within the queuing system. These upgrades are highly likely, seeing as they have been tried and tested successfully elsewhere in the world and thus can simply be duplicated instead of developed from scratch at cost.
Both ED92 and @InsideDLParis agree that the refurbishment will occur between November 2015 and December 2016 – that’s just over a year! However, the latter does suggest that perhaps these dates are open to some change until confirmed by Disneyland Paris officially.
It’s A Small World
Both ED92 and @DisneylandBerry state that It’s A Small World will enter refurbishment in July 2015 until December 2015. Neither have given explicit details as to what may occur during this refurbishment, so we shall have to be patient until nearer to time to find what might happen. Fixing the movements of all dolls and synchronising them is likely to be a priority, but it’s possible that whole scenes could be altered.
Adventure Isle and La Cabane de Robinson
Again the two sources of ED92 and @InsideDLParis both have said that the whole Adventure Isle complex, including La Cabane des Robinson will close this September for a major refurbishment. Of course La Cabane des Robinson is notorious for having bits and bobs not working correctly, so a refurbishment here will be well received by the fans, however Adventure Isle itself is slated to have some more major work done to it to improve accessibility. As usual with these current refurbishments, Adventure Isle will mainly just be being returned to its proper standard of quality, although the chances of it having a couple of little surprising new touches would be quite high! Both sources expect this refurbishment to be completed by April 2016.
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 most substantial rumours which have been amassing over the past months are collated below…
Disneyland Park:
– [Confirmed] Summer 2015: Space Mountain (@InsideDLParis) 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 (@DisneylandBerry)
– 2015: Jedi Training Academy hosted in Videopolis (@DisneylandBerry)
–Winter 2015: It’s a Small World (@InsideDLParis)
–Spring 2016: Accessibility improvements to Adventure Isle area (@InsideDLParis)
– Winter 2016: Big Thunder Mountain (@DisneylandBerry) “full refurbishment with surprises”
– [Confirmed] 2017: Star Tours upgrade to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
– 2017: Phantom Manor (@InsideDLParis) possible retheme
– 2017: Pirates of the Caribbean (@InsideDLParis)
What a packed Rumour Mill to begin the year with! If they’re all as full as this in 2015 then my keyboard is going to be seriously worn out… As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on these rumours, so feel free to leave a comment below, contact us on Facebook or on Twitter @MagicalDLP (& author: @SIMCITYWEST).
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