A Rat In Paris?

[soundtracker]

I was very interested to read this snippet in Al's latest MiceAge column:

The other ride originally proposed for the Paradise Pier remake was a roller coaster themed to Ratatouille. That one has been shelved for now. While the box office for Ratatouille was strong in North America, there wasn't much appetite for the merchandise with American consumers. It's thought now that the Ratatouille theme isn't lasting enough to dedicate a major attraction to in DCA, and an attraction for the northwest corner of Paradise Pier is undecided at this time. Ratatouille has done very well in Europe however, and the merchandise and toys are selling better in France than they did in America. With that, the Ratatouille attraction concept may very well be slotted in to the Walt Disney Studios park in Paris.

This comes only half an hour after I caught the following rumour over at Blue Sky Disney:

The park has seen a sizable increase in attendance for the 15th and this is a very, very good thing. Let's just say the Suits are happy and the Imagineers are eager to show what they can do to make this quarter-day park, a full day park. They're not in the approval phase yet, but several blue sky projects are underway... There are plans for at least two new "E" Tickets to be put in WDSP by the tenth anniversary if all goes well... you can bet that one of the proposals for an "E" Ticket ride involves a certain Parisian Rat as well. He's a big hit in the Gallic nation right now and the Mouse is keen on exploiting the Rat.

Interesting, n'est-ce pas? If a Ratatouille ride does appear in Paris, it's fair to assume that it won't be the re-themed version of Crush's Coaster we've been hearing about for a few months now. And this talk of an E-ticket has me intrigued. What could it possibly be? Anybody any guesses?

By the way, the rest of the Blue Sky article is well worth a read. The site is usually fairly reliable when it comes to inside information, and if even half of what he says is on the way to DLRP over the next ten years actually turns up, I'll be a very happy bunny! Catch it here:

http://blueskydisney.blogspot.com/2007/10/blue-sky-alert-europe-paris-sleeping.html

[fizzog]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

Eww no, not MORE Pixar. Toon Studio needs something based on animation now, a Casey Jr. roller coaster so a new E-Ticket can go in that just off of Fantasyland eventually. Very interesting article, I just hope it all (apart from the rat) comes to fruition. I also loved Pixar being called 'the lamp', hehe, I'm using that from now on. WDS bubbles with potential but it's going to have to be pretty much perfect in the execution of its development if it wants to rise up the second gate ranks (of course these non-existent 'ranks' are entirely opinion-based anyway so who knows). I hope the lamp doesn't churn anything good out soon, I'm sick of 'em! lol

[Malin]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

I don't have a problem with a Ratatouille ride coming to the Studios, as long as its original like the Crush coaster and not another simple spinner type ride like Cars or the Carpets. How about a Ratatouille ride based on the Toy Story/Midway Games system.

One thing for sure through Al Lutz has the best sources, so there must be something to do story.

[pussnboots]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

The fifteenth anniversary of the Resort is going great for Disney and its millions of visitors. In fact, the Disneyland Paris Resort finally seems to be moving out of the shadow of financial troubles... [...] the hotels in France are starting to fill enough beds to make the accountants a little less worried. Possibly happy, even.

Is this based on any solid numbers or has someone been standing in line for a crepe thinking, "hmmm, rather busy today"? I do hope it's true.

[soundtracker]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

Eww no, not MORE Pixar. Toon Studio needs something based on animation now, a Casey Jr. roller coaster so a new E-Ticket can go in that just off of Fantasyland eventually. Very interesting article, I just hope it all (apart from the rat) comes to fruition.

I must admit, you surprise me, Fizzog! While the creeping Pixarification of the Disneyland Park is a problem, I think the Lamp's stable of characters are a natural fit for the Studios Park, and help to give the place a more distinctive feel.

What's more, the prospect of a Ratatouille ride has me really excited - it's an absolutely fantastic film (probably the best film I've seen all year), and it really deserves to have a charming, entertaining attraction built in its honour. Like Malin said, something original. This talk of an E-ticket is unusual though. Is there an existing E-ticket ride system that could be given a Pixar theme?

Disney have already given the Rendez Vous Des Stars restaurant a light Ratatouille overlay, which seems to have gone down well with Guests and CMs alike, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they push the characters further. (Perhaps we'll see a full, permanent overlay for the restaurant before we see a ride appear.)

[StrongStyle]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

I don't want to come across as a Pixar-lover (although I do think they have produced the best material to be labelled Disney over the past decade), but I think a pixarisatiion is inevitable in most of the parks unless WDA pulls out something pretty special pretty soon.

If you were thinking of a new E Ticket ride using characters/theme that don't have a ride already, where else do you look? The only blockbuster motion picture franchise they've produced was based on an existing ride. Most of the animation classics have already been used in one form of another, the second wave of classics should have rides but are now very old and have kinda missed their opportunity (although I think still deserve more park presence), the movies after that were all flops apart from Stitch which has been used; there's only Pixar and the Muppets left.

The fact is, when you think 20 years into the future when our kids have kids and look back at the "Disney Classics" of the 90's and 00's they will all have the word Pixar in their title and they will look at the Pixar rides put in now the same way our generation look at the dark rides of Peter Pan, Snow White etc that reflect our/our parents childhood.

[pussnboots]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

I don't want to come across as a Pixar-lover (although I do think they have produced the best material to be labelled Disney over the past decade), but I think a pixarisatiion is inevitable in most of the parks unless WDA pulls out something pretty special pretty soon.

And I'm sure that's how the marketing department thinks, but from an artistic point of view, why does every ride need to be based on a film? Or a recent film? I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but once upon a time WDI created rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, which were original ideas that needed no existing franchise to mooch off. More recently, they tapped into "lost treasures" such as the Song of the South and the Twilight Zone TV show. But it's only this past decade or so that they've been hauling this "synergy" crap to such a level that people such as yourself have forgotten that there even is an alternative.

Nowadays, whenever Pixar churns out another hit, people expect to see not only matching McDonald's Happy Meal toys but also a new theme park ride. Which is nice in a novelty sort of way, but gimmicks don't last and ultimately hurt the parks. Which sounds a bit dramatic, but it's true.

[stitchon]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

aww, no Remy Ride for CA. Too bad, I loved Ratatouille so much, I guess a Carsland will be fine.

[fizzog]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

I'd love to see a Ratatouille restaurant in Toon Studio, LOVE it, but not another Pixar E-Ticket, either make the area 'Pixar Studios' and do a light changearound (ie. replacing the Toon Town backdrop with something else) and scrap the carpets (!!!shock horror!!!) which I would be perfectly happy with, or keep it as Toon Studio and not overload it with Pixar. In fact, I'd very much like to see a zany 'Pixar Studios' at WDS, I'd rather that than Toon Studio as it fits much better with the studio theme. The horribly-tarmacked section could be devoted to animation with Animagique and 'the art of...' and maybe something else and that could be called 'Animation Studios'. Yeah!

[StrongStyle]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

And I'm sure that's how the marketing department thinks, but from an artistic point of view, why does every ride need to be based on a film? Or a recent film? I don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but once upon a time WDI created rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, which were original ideas that needed no existing franchise to mooch off. More recently, they tapped into "lost treasures" such as the Song of the South and the Twilight Zone TV show. But it's only this past decade or so that they've been hauling this "synergy" crap to such a level that people such as yourself have forgotten that there even is an alternative.

Nowadays, whenever Pixar churns out another hit, people expect to see not only matching McDonald's Happy Meal toys but also a new theme park ride. Which is nice in a novelty sort of way, but gimmicks don't last and ultimately hurt the parks. Which sounds a bit dramatic, but it's true.

You make a lot of good points and i agree with many of them, I said I don't want to come across as a pixar lover but then again I have a degree in business and work in investments so i also see things from a management point of view and where the money comes in.

Artistically, they shouldn't all have to be based on films, but they do have to be based on a premise and if it's a good premise for a ride, chances are its been covered by a film at some point, if not disney then someone else (and then we get into "copy cat"). But I agree, it would be nice for more rides to be entities to themself rather than based on existing matieral. However at the same time if you forgot about the history of the ride and the films etc etc and put pirates into a park as a debut now, would it be as successful as it is? In a way, making a disney version of a Haunted House was just putting a spin on a classic carnival ride premise, it wasn't exactly a work of genius to come up with doing it.

As for bringing up the lost treasures and using them, I have to be honest and Im sure others will disagree with me, but they could be themed to anything and still be as successful as they are. I really doubt anyone goes on Splash because they have to see Brer Rabbit, that ride could be Mr Toad being chased, it could be Remy being chased through a multi story restaurant ending with a dive into a trash chute to the sewer, it could be have anything as long as the drop on the end is there, the story is just bumpf. As for Tower of Terror, it's already been proved than the Twilight Zone is superflouous because the TDL version under plays it because they never had the show. If they were to make a Splash Mountain at DLP I would love to see them use Emporers New Groove for the theme and have it as a huge pyramid would themewise would look awesome alongside Indy. But at the same time these treasures have to be recognisable, otherwise they are pointless. I only know about Song of the South because of Zipadee Doo Da, I only really knew the characters pre-SM by rough knowledge; my son wouldn't have a clue who they were if not for the book of Disney characters i go through with him. Ive only seen a couple of episodes of Twilight Zone, my wife has seen most of them, i wonder how many of the next generation will even watch a single episode.

With my business hat on, i have to say that synergy is very important. I don't mean to the extent of "Disney Parks" merchandise because thats synergy too far; but a ride has to attract people to it and sell merchandise. To sell merchandise the ride needs to have a symbol or a character that can represent/figure head it (look how under merchandised Pirates was until Sparrow could be used as the icon of it), and as I heard one of the Epcot designers say on WDW Radio a few weeks ago, its near impossible to create a new character and popularise them with the ride being their genesis (the only exception being Figment/Dreamfinder).

I dont know, maybe Im just babbling. If the ride is enjoyable I don't care if its themed on something existing or a totally new concept. I'm not going to go on a ride i hate just because it features a character I love, likewise Im not going to ignore a ride i love because I dont like the theming of it (hence if people started boycotting Splash because its related to song of the south with isn't being released on DVD because it features slavery).

End of the day, just give me a good ride

[fizzog]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

Amen

[yesitsme]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

Well Disney have just proved that they don't have to attach an attraction to a film or TV property for it to be a huge success. Correct me if I'm wrong but Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom is not based on a Film or TV show? and look at the way it has turned around the fortunes of Animal Kingdom.

I think attractions in the Studios pretty much have to be based on some kind of film/TV or hollywood related property due to the nature of the park. What does concern me is how readily Disney announce they are going to open a ride based on a film which hasn't even left the cinemas yet!

I honestly believe that Pixar films like Toy Story, Finding Nemo and to a certain extent Monsters Inc will stand the test of time but I have my doubts about Bugs Life, Ratatouille etc

I just hope that if they do build a ride based on the rodent movie that it works as a stand alone attraction which can be enjoyed for years and years even if you haven't seen the film.

Finally... Unless DLRP want to rename the Walt Disney Studios to Animation Studios I suggest they think about adding some rides/shows based on 'actual' films as well as animation (apart from TOT every new attraction is animation based) I realise they haven't got that many 'live action' films in the Disney vault but they do still own the theme park rights to 2 of the biggest film franchises in history!

[StrongStyle]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

Everest isnt based on anything existing Disney (unless you want to link it to the matterhorn), but it's not like you hadn't heard of the yeti before you went into the queue line either. And how long will it really be until Disney makes a yeti movie now?

But the yeti is an established character whether Disney in creation or not, therefore it can be easily merchandised and therefore is meets the synergy needs. You dont need to see the HUGE animatronic for more than the second because you know what he's supposed to look like and what he is; there's no need to be educated and build a report with it as a character.

I don't know exactly how long you see the yeti for, but if imagination had only featured Figment for that same fraction of a second time period with no interaction, no communication and only the breifest look, I dont think Figment would be loved as the character he is.

Anyway, i think the point im trying to make is that Everest isn't exactly "not based on a Film or TV show"; there's been dozens of them; just not Disney. And thats before you compare to Matterhorn and the abominable snowman appearance in Monsters Inc. Maybe he's just trying to give us a snowcone!

[yesitsme]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

I don't really see what your getting at. People had heard of Pirates and haunted houses before POTC and the haunted mansion were built but those attractions were not based on films or tv. As you say, people have heard of the Yeti legend but there isn't a film or TV prog based on an out of control train running through Everest while being attacked by a Yeti. Please tell me if there is cos I'd love to see it!

My point is that EE had a huge effect on Animal Kingdoms' attendance without being based on an actual film or TV property, it was loosely based on a legend which has been around for hundreds of years and NOT a film which is still showing in cinemas and which has yet to prove it's longevity (word of the day toilet paper))

[soundtracker]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

I'd love to see a Ratatouille restaurant in Toon Studio, LOVE it, but not another Pixar E-Ticket, either make the area 'Pixar Studios' and do a light changearound (ie. replacing the Toon Town backdrop with something else) and scrap the carpets (!!!shock horror!!!) which I would be perfectly happy with, or keep it as Toon Studio and not overload it with Pixar.

So far, I think the Studios Park has struck a good balance between Pixar and Disney characters. But how about this snippet from the Blue Sky Disney site:

There is a proposal for an "E" Ticket that involves a classic Disney character that could make it into the Park by the end of the decade.

Granted, it's talking about the Disneyland Park, but it's proof positive that Lamp & Co. aren't having it all their own way. (And just for the record, I have a sneaking suspicion that this rumoured E-ticket might just be the Japanese verison of Pooh's Honey Hunt. That's not based on anything concrete, it's just pure speculation.)

[fizzog]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

Yep, The Haunted Mansion and Country Bears, two of the world's biggest film franchises

[nathan detroit]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

Yep, The Haunted Mansion and Country Bears, two of the world's biggest film franchises

Hey! I quite enjoyed The Country Bears! (and I own both of those films on DVD).

Having not seen Ratatouille yet (it's not out for another two days in this country!), I can't comment on that particular film. However I am happy to come across as a Pixar-lover - because I am! Disney has used their films as a crutch for over a decade now and long may they reign (although I would love to see Disney animation come back up to speed and am confident that it might with JL at the helm). Anyway, what concerns me is not the building of movie-based rides but the youth of these films. As has already been pointed out, Ratatouille is still in nappies and has not proven its timelessness. I suspect that its popularity will live longer and stronger than that of Cars, but that movie already has Race Rally with Carsland to come.
Finding Nemo remains Pixar's highest grosser and its 4 years old, so I suppose Crush can be forgiven, but there should be a 'cooling off period' between release of the film and going as far as building a ride based on it. It just shows that the Suits at the Disney parks are thinking in he short-term and assuming that all Pixar movies will be tomorrow's classics. Although I like it a lot, A Bug's Life hasn't proven to be particularly memorable but A Bug's Land remains. Saying that, by this arguement we should be chastising Muppets 3D and Honey I Shrunk the Kids filmset at MGM, one is based on characters hardly known and loved by today's youth and the other is based on a film which, again, is hardly seen as a classic now.

My other concern is that we get another Crush with a different name. Ratatouille was planned as the US version of Crush but now a rethink is surely in order.

[tasman]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

With most Disney parks I oppose shoe-horning of Pixar attractions but with a "movie" park it doesn't bother me at all. IMO WDS doesn't have a "theme"...it's just a collection of rides mostly related to movies. So they could add a dozen more Pixar rides if they wanted to...for me that would only improve the park, as long as the rides themselves were decent.

[fizzog]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

But WDS does have a theme, it's themed as a movie studio, it never betrays that theme at any point, hence it's themed. Saying it doesn't have a theme is just giving up. At least WDI think it has a theme since they've added Hollywood Blvd. Read my WDS ideas post for what I think should be done...read it now!

[StrongStyle]

Re: A Rat In Paris?

I don't really see what your getting at. People had heard of Pirates and haunted houses before POTC and the haunted mansion were built but those attractions were not based on films or tv. As you say, people have heard of the Yeti legend but there isn't a film or TV prog based on an out of control train running through Everest while being attacked by a Yeti. Please tell me if there is cos I'd love to see it!

My point is that EE had a huge effect on Animal Kingdoms' attendance without being based on an actual film or TV property, it was loosely based on a legend which has been around for hundreds of years and NOT a film which is still showing in cinemas and which has yet to prove it's longevity (word of the day toilet paper))

You expect me to have a point? that may be expecting far too much

Anyway, I think what I was trying to get in some ways was that I dont think Pirates or HM would be built today as new attractions because they don't have a focus point character or way of marketing them; just a general premise.

If The Little Mermaid had never been made but Disney decided to make a ride which is supposed to be set underwater with animatronic mermaids and a singing crab, would anyone be overly excited? It's basically the same type of ride as pirates but with a different theme/premise, no main character to put a face to the ride. I don't think any of us would be bothered. But, if they were to make the Little Mermaid ride through that was on the DVD, we'd be gagging for it.

Pre Jack Sparrow there was very little Pirates merchandise, there still is very little Haunted Mansion merchandise. To me it's very clear to see the impact of adding a focus character like Sparrow to the ride when it comes to merchandising/advertising that ride. Sparrow isn't even in the DLP version but you can still see his effect on the ride's popularity in general. Before the opening of Everest (and Matterhorn) they were able to use the known existing character of the yeti as a marketing tool; you can't do that with a character that is new and noone knows.

A known face makes a HUGE difference so it's either use an exisitng Disney character which they own all the rights to and can merchandise, put in parades and do whatever they want with or pull in some other character that is very well known but have to work around any copyrights as well as have the danger that another place could make a very similar ride based on the same character; lets face it, there is nothing stopping Universal from using the popularity of the yeti caused by Everest and building a yeti ride twice as big just down the road.

And so that brings us to who do they use in their own library of characters that hasn't been used already and has the popularity and recognisability; and generally at the moment, thats the characters from Pixar. Incredibles is still begging for a E ticket to feature them, Bugs Life I agree will be overshadowed by the rest of their movies but Ratatouille I think will stand the test of time because it's a fantastic movie that will grow in classic stature as the years go on. I wouldn't be surprised if Enchanted isn't done in some way as well, it begs for something in Fantasyland or the Studios (so no doubt it will end up in tomorrowland).

As for the movie with and out of control train running through Everest while being attacked by a Yeti; it's only a matter of time.