Originally Posted By dagobert In recent years the restrooms have always been in a bad condition, but DLP started to renovate the restrooms. That's how the new toilets look like: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/InsideDLParis/status/411856025571328001/photo/1">http://twitter.com/InsideDLPar.../photo/1</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/InsideDLParis/status/411856723486720000/photo/1">http://twitter.com/InsideDLPar.../photo/1</a>
Originally Posted By dagobert Here's a new update by the French Disney Gazette website. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.disneygazette.fr/gazette-decembre-ratatouille-produits-2014-news-1402.html">http://www.disneygazette.fr/ga...402.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The entrance gate looks nice, but I'm having trouble figuring out where it is. Is it between the plaza over the train station and Disney Village, or is it at the south side of the plaza, near the parking structure? The Ratatouille buildings look really nice. It's really impressive to me how much it looks like the movie, and not just like actual Paris I think it's somewhat ironic to see how much land they're tearing up to build Villages Nature, so guests can travel hundreds of miles to celebrate the environment. It seems like it would be much more environmentally friendly for them to just stay home and enjoy the outdoors there. I know it's a popular concept in Europe at the moment, but it just doesn't make sense to me
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>The entrance gate looks nice, but I'm having trouble figuring out where it is. Is it between the plaza over the train station and Disney Village, or is it at the south side of the plaza, near the parking structure?<<< It is located near the Vinci Parking garage. When you are leaving the parks towards Disney Village, you have to keep right. Then on the left hand side there is the WoDS and the IMAX. On the right hand side there ist the space for the future second train station.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I didn't know that area was designed as a second train station. It makes sense, because there's not a lot over there and it feels sort of deserted; I also think that would add to the entrance of the Studios, and make it feel less like it's stuck in the corner out of the way Would it be a second entrance to the existing train station, or a whole new station? And has there been any talk of it actually getting done, or is it just there for eventual use?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I love how western Europeans have the easy ability to just jump on a train and go almost anywhere, like Disneyland, unlike Americans. When I was in Italy a couple of weeks ago I took a high-speed train from Rome to Naples for the day - a distance of 118 miles - and the trip took just under an hour each way. No TSA. No arriving 1-2 hours before departure. No freeway traffic jams. Just zipping along in comfort with the Italian countryside on display. I realize that this is routine for citizens in most developed countries, but for an American it felt like I was experiencing some kind of technological marvel.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Would it be a second entrance to the existing train station, or a whole new station? And has there been any talk of it actually getting done, or is it just there for eventual use?<<< Honestly I don't know for sure. I just read that some years ago on a Disney fan site and I can't find the article anymore. The article mentioned that the train station building, I guess it should have been used for the RER, would have also housed an ESPN Zone style sports restaurant. I think the problem is, that Disney isn't in carge of the train station. It belongs to the French government, like a big part of the resort hub. That's why it took them so long to get rid of the street vendors. So I would guess that it will take a few more years to build the new station.
Originally Posted By dagobert Here's another article I found about the train station. This one shows a TGV station, but doesn't mention the restaurant. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlrptoday.com/2009/11/04/forget-shanghai-paris-lets-slip-major-projects/">http://www.dlrptoday.com/2009/...rojects/</a>
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I love how western Europeans have the easy ability to just jump on a train and go almost anywhere, like Disneyland, unlike Americans. When I was in Italy a couple of weeks ago I took a high-speed train from Rome to Naples for the day - a distance of 118 miles - and the trip took just under an hour each way. No TSA. No arriving 1-2 hours before departure. No freeway traffic jams. Just zipping along in comfort with the Italian countryside on display. I realize that this is routine for citizens in most developed countries, but for an American it felt like I was experiencing some kind of technological marvel. <<< Traveling by train is very common over here. I've gone to DLP by train a few years ago. It was a night train and so I could sleep and in the morning I arrived in Paris. Here's an articly written by an American about traveling by train in Germany for the first time. It's in German, but you can use Google to translate it. page 1 <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.zeit.de/2013/31/joey-goebel-bahnfahren-ICE-deutschland">http://www.zeit.de/2013/31/joe...tschland</a> page 2 <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.zeit.de/2013/31/joey-goebel-bahnfahren-ICE-deutschland/seite-2">http://www.zeit.de/2013/31/joe.../seite-2</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Thanks for the link to that article about the expansion. When I visited last spring, I stayed in Val d'Europe, and felt that whole area seemed like it was just part of a multi-phase project. The buildings were relatively densely packed, and then they just sort of stopped. Much like the area around the proposed train entrance, it just felt unfinished. I'm glad to hear that both areas will be getting some attention soon, and will continue to progress >>I've gone to DLP by train a few years ago. It was a night train and so I could sleep and in the morning I arrived in Paris.<< Was it a direct train? When I was there, I tried to get an overnight train from Munich (I assume any train from Salzburg would pass through Munich too), but had a transfer in the middle of the trip. Given that it would have meant being awake in the middle of the night (I think the layover was 1-3am), I opted to fly, which was slightly cheaper anyway
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Was it a direct train? When I was there, I tried to get an overnight train from Munich (I assume any train from Salzburg would pass through Munich too), but had a transfer in the middle of the trip. Given that it would have meant being awake in the middle of the night (I think the layover was 1-3am), I opted to fly, which was slightly cheaper anyway<<< Back then it was still possible, but that changed a few years ago, because the German Rail Company wanted to use high speed rails to Paris in partnership with the French Rail Company. In 2006 I took the Orient Express from Vienna to Paris.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That makes sense, I'm glad that I didn't miss the train since that would have been a neat experience (much like Hans, I'm a simple American that's still amazed by rail travel) I was surprised when I booked my trip that the one-way trip from Munich to Paris on train was about the same as a one-way air ticket, but a round-trip flight was only about half the price. Is that normal in Europe? I ended up booking the roundtrip flight and only traveling the first half of it
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I was surprised when I booked my trip that the one-way trip from Munich to Paris on train was about the same as a one-way air ticket, but a round-trip flight was only about half the price. Is that normal in Europe? I ended up booking the roundtrip flight and only traveling the first half of it<<< That's normal. Roundtrip flights are always cheaper than just one way. At least I have always made the same experiences.
Originally Posted By dagobert Today marks the start of the rebuilding of the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril rollercoaster. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/InsideDLParis/status/420882703853301761/photo/1">http://twitter.com/InsideDLPar.../photo/1</a> The rebuilding lasts for five months.
Originally Posted By dagobert Disney & More has posted some great DLP pictures from 1992. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2014/01/rare-disneyland-paris-pictures-circa.html">http://disneyandmore.blogspot....rca.html</a>
Originally Posted By dagobert Here's a photo update about what's currently going on at DLP. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.pixiedust.be/photonewsletter/news16jan2014.html">http://www.pixiedust.be/photon...014.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Those early pictures are really neat. It's interesting to see how much the entertainment has changed through the years (I assume the fireworks during MSEP were done only for the photo shoot, like they did in the US parks). It's pretty cool to see that huge opening day marching band! It's also interesting to see the construction workers wearing so little. In the US, they're required to wear long pants (and possibly long sleeves) all year for safety reasons
Originally Posted By FerretAfros It's also good to see the current photos. I can't imagine characters just standing around like that in the US parks; it seems they're always busy enough that there's at least a couple guests waiting I'll be interested to see how much work they do to the Indiana Jones temple. I read it was a total reconstruction, but 6 months seems pretty short for that (and I wouldn't think they would put scaffholding up, if they were just going to replace the entire structure). Is any of the track getting replaced during this refurbishment? It was really rough when I last rode it I didn't realize that there was a Frozen float added to the parade. It looks nice!
Originally Posted By dagobert I read about the complete rebuilding as well, but I don't know what they are really going to do with the temple. Only the looping will be replaced.
