WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARIS
Outside Paris, France
Abbreviation: WDS
Walt Disney Theme Parks
Ride Rehabs - The following information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.
Flying Carpets - Jan. 8 through TBD
Park News - (4/20/2023) According to Forbes, Disney’s Imagineering division has spent a record $51.5 million on planning the expansion of Disney’s European theme parks. The biggest project behind this massive push is a huge mutli-year set of expansions coming to the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park.
The first phase opened last year as the new Avengers Campus and will be followed by a new land themed to the animated film Frozen that is already under construction. More lands will follow this, including a new Star Wars themed land, though they wont say yet if it will be a copy of the Galaxy’s Edge land added to Disney’s American parks or something new or different.
(1/11/2023) Disneyland Paris has announced that a new drone show will be coming to the Walt Disney Studios Paris from Jan. 28, 2023 through to May 8, 2023. The new show will be themed to the Marvel Super Heroes, combining music, lights, fireworks and video projections on the Tower of Terror structure to create this all new nighttime spectacular, combined with an armada of 500 flying drones. Check out the preview below!
 Through 2026 - Horizon 2026 Expansion / Three New Lands and More - (10/11/2023) A construction update on the new Frozen themed land under construction at the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park can be found over at MouseSteps this week.
(9/27/2023) A construction update from the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park showing off the progress of the new “Frozen” themed land can be found at MouseSteps this week.
(4/16/2023) Disney has released a new video showing off the construction progress being made at the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park with the building of the new land themed to the animated film, Frozen.
(3/17/2023) While it isn’t as far along as the “Frozen” themed land under construction at Hong Kong Disneyland, MouseSteps has posted new construction pictures of the Frozen themed Kingdom of Arendelle land under construction at the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park.
As you can see the basic foundations and lower half of the buildings, including the castle, have already been placed. There are a lot of construction vehicles finishing up the surfacing of the artificial lake as well.
(2/13/20) A large collection of photos showing off concept art, layouts and plans for the Frozen Land planned for Walt Disney Studios Paris were collected together into a post on Facebook by Disney & More this week. You can see them below, and see how the show building for the new flume ride, based on the Frozen Ever After ride at Epcot, will be hidden inside the fake snow covered mountain behind the village.
(10/13/18) Disney & More shows off images from the official expansion plan of the Walt Disney Studios park that were released this week. Not a lot of details, but it confirms quite a bit about those plans that were leaked previously. It also seems that a lot of the land they are looking to use for the expansion is property that Disney does not yet own, so there will have to be a purchase of the property to take place first.
Overall this is a $2 billion expansion plan concept called “Horizon 2026”, with $1.5 billion of it estimated to go towards the renovation and expansion of the Walt Disney Studios theme park, that includes projects themed to Frozen, Star Wars and Marvel.
(7/9/18) Disney & More has posted a new look at what the possible expansion to the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park could look like, including some basic building plans spotted in a leaked document, as well as some possible speculation about two other possible future lands that could be added as well to finish off the rest of the pathway around the new lake: Cars Land and Pandora.
(6/22/18) According to a brief article from WDWNewsToday, when Disney builds new Frozen themed dark rides for Hong Kong Disneyland and for Walt Disney Studios Paris we can expect them to be near-clones of the Frozen Ever After ride at Epcot, which was created by using the former Maelstrom flume ride system. While I'm sure there could be a few years between now and when they start construction to change their minds, don't look for another clone to appear in Tokyo DisneySea however, as the Oriental Land Company has already requested something entirely different to be used at their park.
(3/8/18) I missed this little detail, but in the new concept artwork for Walt Disney Studios Paris, if you look at where Toy Story Land is, you will be a new building has been added that is identical looking to the new Alien Swirling Saucers attraction going into Toy Story Land in Florida. Looks like a clone may be in the plans for Paris.
(2/28/18) Huge news came from the Disneyland Paris Resort on Tuesday as Bob Iger announced a TWO BILLION EURO multi-year expansion plan was being put into effect for the French resort that would heavily see a major expansion and renovation made to the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park. While the exact plans were not laid out in detail, they did confirm that the expanded Studios park would have three new themed areas added for: Marvel, Frozen and Star Wars, along with the addition of a huge lake at the back of the park. This mega-expansion will "roll out in phases beginning in 2021.
Now lets go over what we think we know based on rumored plans as well as what we can see in the concept art released.
Marvel - The transformation of the Rock 'n Roller Coaster was already confirmed by a previous announcement earlier this month that will give the ride a new Iron Man theme. Looking at the concept art, you can also make out a new circular shaped facade will transform the front entrance of the attraction building as well. It is also clear that this entire area of the park will be given the Marvel treatment, with some kind of new attraction likely to take over the Armageddon special effects attraction space, and you can see an Avenger's QuinJet parked where the entrance to the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show is, which is being replaced by a rather large but non-detailed looking structure in the background, which I can only assume may be similar to the rumored Avengers attraction that is also being planned for Hong Kong Disneyland for 2023.
The Lake - Hard to miss the giant lake now placed in the back of the park, but it is also worth mentioning what isn't here anymore... as there is no trace of the backlot studio tour in the artwork. In the lake you can make out giant fountains shooting water into the sky on the left and right sides, as well as a boat making it's way across the lake. The lake is also surrounded by a large circular pathway that will take guests back to the two other new themed land, but also seems like it would provide a great viewing area for a giant nightime spectacular. Like... the kind of lights, water and projection show that Disney is famous for... but also the kind that was rumored last week as a possibility for the lake near the resort hotels. Good project rumor... wrong location. Seems that rumored new nighttime spectacular was actually for the Studios park, though Disney made zero mention of it in their announcement. All in good time...
Star Wars: Galaxy Edge - Clear to see in the artwork that Paris will be the first international location to get their own version of Star Wars: Galaxy Edge, and with ample space to build into plus the added benefit of extra time, I wouldn't be surprised if a few new innovations and surprises find their way here as well.
Frozen - Disney is still betting big on the idea of building Frozen themed lands. While we have no timeline for the long hinted at Frozen land in Japan, the one announced for Hong Kong Disneyland is expected to open by 2021. Much like Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, this will be a second generation land, where the Imagineers will have had time to review what works and what didn't in the first version and make improvements for this one by the time it is built.
Even more impressive is the fact that we're only talking about what is coming to the Studios park as part of this massive expansion. I'm sure there are some goodies planned for Disneyland Paris as well next door. So nice to see what can happen here now that Disney has taken full ownership of the parks.
(2/22/18) The latest report at Disney & More claims that the current Disney Illuminations fireworks/projection show on the castle could come to an end sometime in 2019, but the rumored replacement is what is interesting. According to the rumor, Disney may be considering creating a new nighttime spectacular outside of the parks on and over Disney Lake that could combine some of the technology and features used in the World of Color (DCA) and Rivers of Light (AK) shows from the US which feature more fountain, lighting and video projection technology rather than fireworks. Putting it outside the parks however is a bit of a bold move, as the rumor indicates that guests in the area without park tickets may need to pay a fee to get into the seating area to see it, if this really happens. (UPDATE - Turns out this rumor seems mostly true... but the rumored location was wrong, as a new lake is planned for the Studios expansion.)
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