Walt Disney Studios Park

Walt Disney Studios Park is the second theme park of Disneyland Paris, and is also owned and operated by Euro Disney S.C.A.. It is located to the west of the hub, next door to Disneyland Park at the heart of the resort in Marne-la-Vallée.

Since April 2, 2010, the New Generation Festival has been the park's theme.

History
The park opened on March 16, 2002 and is themed after a working film studio, with the "lands" being studio lots. Most of its attractions are imported from the other Disney parks in California, Florida and Tokyo, although the park has original attractions including Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular, which was later exported to Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

It was traditional for a period of time for Walt Disney Feature Animation to have a satellite animation studio at each of the company's resorts, but the Paris studio was located in Montreuil, at the city limits of Paris and was never associated with the park. Originally the Brizzi studio owned by brothers Paul Brizzi and Gaëtan Brizzi, Disney purchased the studio in the early 1990s and renamed it Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris (WDFA). WDFA Paris' first films were A Goofy Movie and the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain.

WDFA Paris contributed sequences to every Disney film from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, most notably producing the Firebird Suite sequence for Fantasia 2000. It was closed in 2004 following Disney Florida and Disney Japan, when Feature Animation was downsized to save production costs.

Early Projects
Disney-MGM Studios Europe was the original plan for a second theme park and was scheduled to open in 1996. However, these plans were cancelled around mid-1992 due to the resort's financial crisis of that time. After the resort began to make a profit, plans for a movie themed theme park went into development again but on a much smaller scale. In 2002, the Walt Disney Studios Park opened.

Recent Growth


In June 2007, a brand new "land" opened in the Animation Courtyard area of the park. Called Toon Studio, the new area is themed as a "toon backlot", apparently representing the film studio work place of animated characters, where they produce their animated classics. The concept has been created exclusively for Walt Disney Studios Park and features two brand new attractions, not seen in any other Disney Theme Park, along with small merchandising locations and many character meet-and-greets.

The key attractions in this expansion phase are Crush's Coaster, a custom-designed Maurer Söhne SC 2000 indoor spinning roller coaster, and Cars: Race Rally themed to the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars, with the ride taking the form of an enhanced tea cups ride. Similar attractions can be found in Mermaid Lagoon at Tokyo DisneySea and a bug's land in Disney's California Adventure. On December 22, 2007, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction soft-opened with the new Hollywood Boulevard on Production Courtyard. Stitch Live! has replaced the Disney Channel Studio Tour.

In 2009, new attractions and entertainment opened at Walt Disney Studios to run alongside with Mickey's Magical Party, which began in April 2009. A new attraction Playhouse Disney Live On Stage! opened next to Stitch Live! and is presented in French, English and Spanish. For the first time, Walt Disney Studios Park received a full parade, Disney's Stars 'n' Cars is a smaller version of Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade, which had previously come from Disney's Hollywood Studios park in Walt Disney World Resort, Florida.

Future developments
Toy Story Playland, now well into construction, to coincide with the new Disney·Pixar film Toy Story 3. This space will "shrink" the visitor to the size of a toy, and will comprise of 3 attractions, as well as several photo opportunities. The three attractions are a Half pipe named RC Racer, a parachute jump style ride named Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop and finally a Music Express train named Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin, all themed intricately on the first 2 Toy Story films. The area will open in August 2010. It is part of Toon Studio as we can see on the official website.

Studio Lots
The Walt Disney Studios features four lots.

Front Lot

 * Disney Studio 1

Toon Studio
Toy Story Playland (August 17, 2010)
 * Flying Carpets Over Agrabah
 * Crush's Coaster
 * Cars Quatre Roues Rallye
 * Art of Disney Animation
 * Animagique


 * Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop
 * Slinky Dog Zig Zag Spin
 * RC Racer

Production Courtyard

 * Stitch Live!
 * CinéMagique
 * The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
 * Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic
 * Playhouse Disney Live on Stage!

Backlot

 * Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular
 * Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Avec Aerosmith
 * Armageddon – Les Effets Speciaux

Sister parks
Walt Disney Studios Park is considered a sister park to Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios) in the Walt Disney World Resort, which opened in 1989. Both parks feature a show business theme, and the two parks share numerous attractions. The Earffel Tower, Walt Disney Studios Park's water-tower icon structure, is basically identical to Hollywood Studios' Earful Tower; Hollywood Studios' icon formerly was the Earful Tower prior to the construction of The Sorcerer's Hat in 2001.