Ratatouille ride debuts at Disneyland Paris with Bistrot Chez Rémy restaurant and new themed area

Making its official debut July 10, 2014, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy is the name of the new ride in the Walt Disney Studios theme park at Disneyland Paris.

Over the weekend, a press preview was held to unveil the new attraction, Bistrot Chez Remy restaurant, and surrounding mini-land inspired by the Oscar-winning Disney/Pixar film “Ratatouille.”

The “Ratatouille” mini-land is located in a new corner of Toon Studio, featuring Parisian elements straight out of the animated film, along with plenty of fictional touches. There’s even an Guestau’s sign that illuminates and animates at night.

A fountain is its centerpiece, filled with tiny sculptures of chef rats, designed as if the water feature is bursting with a bit of bubbly.

In the ride Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, guests shrink down to the size of a rat and join Remy and his friends as they scurry through the kitchen, dining room, and walls of Gusteau’s famous Parisian restaurant, all the while trying to avoid the nemesis from the film, Chef Skinner.

Trackless rat ride vehicles take guests through all the twists and turns of the attraction that combines real life set pieces with plenty of 3D imagery on large screens. It’s a similar type of ride experience to Universal Studios’ Transformers: The Ride 3D.

In addition to the attraction, the mini-land also features a shop, Chez Marianne Souvenirs de Paris, and a rat-scale themed table service restaurant, Bistrot Chez Rémy. It’s not Gusteau’s, but rather a restaurant Remy himself has set up. Again, guests are shrunken down to his size to enjoy the experience.

Star Wars Land Rumors Buzzing Around Walt Disney World

Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, two attractions are closing in the near future, and these closings are leading some to speculate that Disney is making way for a Star Wars land at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Disney Dining is reporting that the American Idol Experience, which opened to much fanfare in 2009, will close in early 2015:

The close is not that surprising.  The show has never really gotten solid traction and it seems Disney is ready to pull the plug.

A statement was posted between the Walt Disney World Company:

“After more than five successful years, The American Idol Experience will be coming to a close at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park in January 2015. Our partnership with FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment has been a great addition to the park and we are very appreciative of the amazing cast and guests who have devoted their time and talent to make this experience special and memorable. We are incredibly proud of the more than 2,000 Dream Tickets that have given guests a chance to live their very own Cinderella story and audition for ‘American Idol.’”

Over at Disney At Work, sources report that the long-running Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular will close soon as well:

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is also slated to close at the end of the year. All of this is happening to make way for the major Star Wars additions coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It will surround that end of the Echo Lake corner of the park, and supposedly extend further out as well, though in what direction(s) is uncertain. What is coming in remains to be formally announced, as the attraction is also being tied to a very anticipated follow-up series starting in 2015.

What’s interesting about the closings is that nearly all the vestiges of Disney’s Hollywood Studios as a “behind-the-scenes” park will be gone. Instead of the original park idea of a glimpse behind the magic of the entertainment industry, Disney's Hollywood Studios is increasingly becoming a park about the movies, music, and television programs themselves. Do both closings point to a new Star Wars land? Of course, the outcome remains to be seen, but I’ll keep you in the loop.

How Walt Disney made Sleeping Beauty

Mary Costa voiced Princess Aurora in Disney’s 1959 animation masterpiece,Sleeping Beauty. She talks about the years that went into the making of the film.

“One night in 1952, I was at a party and a group of guests were gathered round the piano. I began to sing under my breath and, when I finished, the man next to me, who was the music director for Disney, said they’d spent three years looking for a voice for Princess Aurora. He asked me to audition the next day. When I arrived, I found a sound booth crowded with people and looked in vain for Walt Disney. It turned out he was listening from behind a screen and knew after the first bar that I was what he’d been seeking. I had a warmth to my voice, he said, and my easy phrasing sounded like it was a plausible extension of speech.

When Walt decided he wanted me to do the speaking part too, there was concern about my Tennessee accent. “If Vivien Leigh could play a southern girl in Gone With the Wind, surely a southern girl can play an English princess,” Marc Davis, Aurora’s lead animator, said to me. Luckily, my dad and I had always enjoyed practising accents and English was our favourite, so when they hastily scribbled a few lines for me to say, I passed muster.

Because everything was hand-drawn, if the animators changed so much as a single expression I’d have to re-record the line. It ended up taking three years to complete my recordings. Walt told me to imagine the changing colours of a kaleidoscope and try to paint with my voice — advice that coloured my whole career.

Meanwhile, Marc would sit in the sound booth and sketch my every gesture and expression. Although they’d used an actress to model the figure of Aurora, he superimposed some of my mannerisms. When I took my mother to see the film, she cried out: “Oh Mary, she looks just like you!”

The tensions that dogged the many years of filming never touched me, partly because the other actors and I had such fun. Eleanor Audley, who voiced Maleficent, was a small person, but had such a huge, commanding voice we’d all rush into the sound booth to hear her.

Marc modelled Maleficent’s imposing facial features and expressions on her, yet off-mic she was a hilarious character who loved a joke. The three fairy godmothers and I enjoyed teasing Bill Shirley, who played the prince. He was shy and handsome and we all had a crush on him. Before he recorded a song, Verna Felton, who played Flora, would hold up a pencil as though she was about to conduct him and he’d crack up.

Being with Walt taught me an invaluable work ethic. He said to achieve your dream you needed three other Ds: dedication, determination and discipline. He wanted everyone to be punctual and prepared and would speak right out if you weren’t.

Back then, the voice wasn’t given much prominence in animated films and I wasn’t even invited to the premiere. I had no idea that this would be a role I would always be remembered for. Once, when someone asked me what it was like doing a voiceover, Marc told her sternly: “Voices are the ocean of sound on which we animate.”