DLP Reopening Roundup #3: Assemble!
Sixty characters will jump into your selfie at DLP! Spiderman jumps over Avengers Campus at Disneyland! Mickey & Minnie proudly jump Around the World in a brand new song! So, let’s jump right into the third Disneyland Paris reopening roundup!
As the weather heats up in Marne-la-Vallée, the number of French Covid infections are going down, construction walls are being put up for repaving works in Fantasia Gardens, and a series of U-turns and technical difficulties in the Annual Pass booking system is making heads spin. You know it’s been another rollercoaster week of emotions for DLP fans.
Avengers Campus: A new reality
The big Disney news this week came from across the pond at Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) where the first Avengers Campus opened, giving us a good idea of what to expect for the same expansion at Walt Disney Studios here in DLP. The showstopper at this hangout of Marvel superheroes was a Spiderman flying high over the land’s rooftops. It’s indeed a marvel of engineering by WDI combined with nifty storyline, timing and sound design.
By what we can see from construction images of our own campus, there’s nothing to suggest we won’t get this spectacle too. Then there’s the accompanying Web Slingers: A Spiderman adventure which, for the people who managed to book a slot on the Disneyland App, is reportedly a lot of interactive family fun.
An interesting observation by Los Angeles Times journalist Todd Martens is that Avengers Campus connects more to our immediate world as opposed to portending to be a different universe to escape to. The campus feels like a modern industrial or office area in your local city where wondrous things happen and you can join in, a performative “embrace of the present” Martens calls it. Apparently an original concept that set the campus in New York was rejected, opting instead for this more relatable version that has scope to evolve over time. DCA’s Avengers Campus currently also has the existing Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! (ex-Tower of Terror), Paris will get an Iron Man attraction (ex-Rock-n-Roller coaster avec Aerosmith).
As such, Martens says he was most taken by a very grounded moment of reflection by the Dora Milaje, the royal female guard of Wakanda lead by General Okoye who make an impressive spear-wielding appearance of wisdom, self-pride and optimism, encouraging guests to find their rhythm and show their confidence. We can certainly see this working very well in DLP.
These show elements are apparently what bring the campus to life, Dr. Strange coming through a portal to share his mystic skills, Black Panther and Black Widow taking on Task Master, or Ant-Man’s culinary experiments in Pym Tasting Kitchen with snack molecules, quantum sandwich and oversized pretzels that make a ketchup bowl look irrelevant. It’s world-building that needs us, the normal people, to make it work.
Love your selfies
Even without a fixed opening date for our WDS campus yet, you won’t need to wait too long for an encounter with Marvel heroes, and many others Disney favourites too. DLP promises there will be opportunities to see up to 60 photo-ready characters throughout the parks from reopening on June 17th. Possibly the DLP app will give you timely hints as to where and when, but most of the fun will be surprise appearances in covid-safe settings (remember, there’s no hugging Tigger yet.)
Disneyland Paris also released a dance-along video this week of an exclusive new song called Around The World with the inclusion of Mickey & Minnie, celebrating equality and diversity during Pride Month. It inspires everyone to get involved, show your colours and creativity with the choreography and share the love on socials with #DisneylandParisPride.
Meanwhile a group of InsidEars locals were given a guided tour of Disney’s Hotel New York: The Art Of Marvel and it’s clear that despite its business and conference-focussed facilities there will be selfie opportunities inside with Spiderman (he gets around) and Thor’s hammer. But we don’t know yet if non-guests will be allowed in the hotel for those special photo ops. That’s still going to cost you around €719 per night. Take a look at the images and tours on social media to see if it’s for you.
Fans of Disney’s Sequoia Lodge will also be happy to hear that the hotel can be booked for visits from December 1, 2021 as opposed to the previously indicated “summer 2022”, so those exterior refurbishments seem to be progressing. Prices are at a much more relaxed room & tickets rate of about €300 per night (2 persons) although there seems to be some fluctuations in price on the site depending on which country you book from so we suggest calling directly to know what’s what.
And finally…
A word on Annual Pass reservations. The online system for booking privilege tickets broke down on June 1, and the AP team have said that in order to fix the problem they had to shut it down and cancel bookings that were made on that date. Very much like Spiderman, everything was up in the air, but on June 9th the AP Team will send Annual Pass holders a new link to book tickets. Let’s see where it lands.
If you can’t make it to DLP, you might find consolation in the upcoming Disney+ series Behind The Attraction starting July 16th. Should be almost as thrilling as The Imagineering Story was. Just saying.
Stay tuned to D2DLP as we’ll be live on site from the 15th of June giving you all the fun and facts about the 2021 Disneyland Paris reopening!
