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 - NOW CLOSED through Nov. 8
 Park News - (4/12/2024) Disney surprised everyone this week when they announced that the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park would be renamed as Disney Adventure World in the near future. Look for this change to take place when the park opens their latest land, World of Frozen, which was also officially given that name as well.
This move represents a change from the original theme of the park, which was focused more on soundstages and movie magic, with a move towards allowing guests to visit fascinating and immersive new worlds and adventures. The transformation will include a ‘new entrance’ to Adventure Way in Spring 2025. “You’ll be transported into a vibrant, contemporary open-air movie studio, World Premiere, and welcomed to a glamorous movie premiere in the heart of Hollywood. The current soundstages will be replaced with all-new pieces paying homage to historic movie theaters.” This will lead guests to World Premier Plaza, a new theater district that will celebrate the films of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios.
The World of Frozen will be just the first new land positioned along the shores of Adventure Bay, which will serve as the heart of the park’s future expansions. Adventure Bay will also feature a unqiue central stage that will allow for 360º viewing. The next land coming to Adventure Bay is already in development and they promise to deliver more details soon. Oh, and would you believe that a new attraction is also coming to Adventure Way? Raiponce Tangled Spin, “ inspired by the beloved Disney Animation movie, “Tangled,” will take you on a spin through the iconic floating lanterns scene before setting off to try the delicious dishes over at The Regal View Restaurant and Lounge.”
Speaking of new attractions, the park also announced that on May 25th a new live show will open called Alice and the Queen of Hearts: Back to Wonderland. The show will “feature high-flying acrobats pushing their limits in a supercharged pop and rock showdown with two possible endings decided by the audience. ”
(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.
2026 - World of Frozen - (10/13/2024) A couple of new pictures showing off the progress of the World of Frozen in Paris can be found at ThemeparX. The images were originally posted by the Imagineering team on LinkedIn and showcase the topping out of the tallest part of the attraction being placed, with a large crane lowering the top peak of the North Mountain into place.
Despite the progress, World of Frozen will not be ready to open until 2026.
(8/11/2024) A new update from D23 now indicates that the opening of World of Frozen has been pushed back to early 2026.
(7/13/2024) Some great pictures of the construction work taking place at the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park can be seen below. This includes a tweet with some aerial photos over the site showing off the backside view of the World of Frozen area, as well as some taken in the park showing off what it looks like right now from the ground.
(7/4/2024) New construction pictures of the Frozen themed land under construction at the Walt Disney Studios Paris theme park (soon to be renamed Disney Adventure World) can be found over at ThemeparX this week.
(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.
???? - The Lion King - (8/11/2024) While the World of Frozen at Disney Adventure World has now been confirmed as opening in 2026, another new attraction has been announced to be in development for the park themed to The Lion King. You’ve only to look at the concept art to realize that this new flume style attraction will take inspiration from the classic Splash Mountain style ride system, featuring Pride Rock. Guests will go for a ride through the caverns below Pride Rock to relive Simba’s journey from a cub to the Lion King before taking a big plunge at the end. The Lion King inspired area will not just be a new ride, but also feature a themed area around it, including new dining and shopping adventures and the chance to meet some favorite characters.
Future Expansions - Horizon 2026 Expansion -
(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.
(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.
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