Walt Disney Studios Park

**Walt Disney Studios Park** (also known as **Parc Walt Disney Studios**) is a theme park at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France.

It opened on March 16, 2002 as the second of the two parks built at the resort. It is dedicated to show business, themed after movies, production and behind-the-scenes. Its sister park is Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

## History

Initial plans for a second theme park, named Disney-MGM Studios Europe or Disney-MGM Studios Paris, were scheduled to open in 1995, though these plans were cancelled around mid-1992 due to the resort's financial crisis at the time. After the resort began to make a profit, these plans were revived on a much smaller scale. Walt Disney Studios Park opened on March 16, 2002.

In June 2007, a new "studio lot" opened in the Animation Courtyard area of the park, named Toon Studio. It is themed as a "toon backlot", representing the film studio workplace of animated characters, where they produce their animated films, including The Little Mermaid, 101 Dalmatians and The Jungle Book. The concept has been created exclusively for Walt Disney Studios Park and features two rides not seen in any other Disney theme park, along with small merchandising locations and many character meet-and-greets. In this expansion phase are Crush's Coaster, a custom-designed Maurer Söhne SC 2000 indoor spinning rollercoaster and Cars Quatre Roues Rallye themed after the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars, with the ride taking form of an enhanced teacups ride. Similar rides are found in Mermaid Lagoon at Tokyo DisneySea and A Bug's Land at Disney California Adventure. On December 22, 2007, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror soft-opened with the new Hollywood Boulevard on Production Courtyard. Stitch Live!, imported from Hong Kong Disneyland, replaced the Disney Channel Studio Tour.

In 2009, new entertainment opened at Walt Disney Studios to run alongside Mickey's Magical Party, which began in April 2009. Playhouse Disney On Stage! opened next to Stitch Live! and is presented in French, English and Spanish. Walt Disney Studios opened with a full-size parade called 'Disney's Cinema Parade', which was themed after popular Disney animated and live-action films. In 2008 the parade was replaced with 'Disney's Stars 'n' Cars', a smaller version of Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade, which came from Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World in Florida. In August 2010, Toy Story Playland opened to coincide with the new Disney/Pixar film Toy Story 3, "shrinking" guests to the size of a toy. The three attractions are a Half pipe coaster named RC Racer, a parachute jumpstyle ride named Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop and a Music Express train named Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin, all themed intricately around the first two Toy Story films.

On February 27, 2018, Bob Iger announced a transformative multi-year expansion, opening in phases from 2021 to 2025 to coincide with the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, which will completely transform the park. The cost of this expansion is €2 billion. It will feature new areas based on Marvel, Star Wars and Frozen, all surrounding a new man-made lake.

On March 14, 2020, Walt Disney Studios Park, alongside Disneyland Park, temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both parks reopened on July 15, 2020 with strict rules such as limited guest attendance, social distancing and mandatory wearing of face masks. The park closed again on October 29, 2020 following a second nationwide lockdown. The resort's original intended reopening on April 2 was ultimately deferred to June 17.

## Lots

Walt Disney Studios Park is divided into four "studio lots", representing various aspects of film production present at a Hollywood film studio.

### Front Lot

Front lot serves as the park's main entrance and is home to most shops and services of the park, the Earffel Tower is located here. The entrance courtyard, La Place des Frères Lumière, is designed in Spanish Colonial Revival style, a style common to 1930's Hollywood. It is loosely based on the design of the original Disney Bros. Studios on Hyperion Avenue. The central feature of the courtyard is a large Fantasia fountain. The name of the courtyard is a tribute to the French inventors of cinema.

Front Lot features Disney Studio 1, a covered walkway with shops and restaurants themed after a soundstage with a recreation of a Hollywood street inside.

### Toon Studio

Toon Studio is inspired by Disney and Pixar animated characters. The lot features characters such as Crush (from Finding Nemo), The Genie (from Aladdin), Mater and Lightning McQueen (from Cars), Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Slinky and other characters from Toy Story, in addition to the other Disney characters present in the land's show, Mickey and the Magician.

When the park originally opened in 2002, the land was known as Animation Courtyard but in 2007, as part of the park's 5th anniversary, two new rides were added (Crush's Coaster and Cars Race Rally). In 2009, the area was expanded with Toy Story Playland. In January 2012, construction began on a new Ratatouille themed ride and restaurant.

### Production Courtyard

Production Courtyard's theme revolves around the production aspect of Hollywood movies and the Hollywood mythos, including movie legends. The land contains two distinct parts: Hollywood Boulevard, which features Hollywood-inspired street sets and the ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - A New Dimension of Chills and Place des Stars themed around the production facilities of movie lots, containing Stitch Live!.

### Backlot

The Backlot was themed after actual movie backlots with an industrial theme and was very plain. This lot showcased the high thrills of movies and was targeted toward older children and adults. The Backot also featured soundtracks from blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible 2, 1968's Planet of the Apes, Batman or Independence Day. The majority of this area was closed to make way for the upcoming Avengers Campus Paris. The Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular was the last opening-day attraction standing on this lot. The cafeteria service restaurant Blockbuster Café, the buffet Restaurant des Stars and a small diner Café des Cascadeurs were also part of the Backlot.

## Future Areas

On February 27, 2018, Bob Iger announced that The Walt Disney Company will invest €2 billion into the Disneyland Paris resort. The Walt Disney Studios Park will be expanded with three new areas based on Marvel, Frozen and Star Wars. In addition to the three new areas, the expansion includes a new lake, which will be the focal point for entertainment experiences and will also connect each of the new park areas.

### Avengers Campus

The first phase of the expansion will be Avengers Campus which is scheduled to be completed in 2022. The area will include an Iron Man re-theme of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure (taking over the location of Armageddon - les Effets Speciaux which closed on April 1, 2019) and Doctor Strange: Journey into the Mystic Arts, in addition to several restaurants and shops.

### Arendelle: World of Frozen

The second phase of the expansion will be Arendelle: World of Frozen which is scheduled to be open in 2023. Guests will be immersed in the kingdom of Arendelle (set after the events of Frozen and before Frozen II), where Queen Elsa has declared a Summer Snow Day for its citizens. A new and expanded version of Frozen Ever After will debut with the land as well as a restaurant and a shop.

### Star Wars Land

The third and final phase of the expansion will be a land themed to Star Wars which is scheduled to be completed between 2024 and 2025. Multiple sources have claimed that this expansion will be a version of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge found in Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.

## Attendance

 2012
 2013
 2014
 2015
 2016
 2017
 2018
 2019