Disneyland Paris CEO Philippe Gas unveils plans forfuture projects Published by François Mayné the 16 April 2012,
The Chief Executive Officer of Euro Disney S.C.A., Philippe Gas, made a couple of announcements recently in the French weekly news magazine L'Express.
After it has obtained an additional standby revolving credit facility of 150 million (about $192 million) from The Walt Disney Company in January, the operator of Disneyland Paris, whose resort celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2012, is currently looking at the future.
With a global investment capacity of 250 million (about $320 million), the company already stated that it plans a multi-year expansion of the Walt Disney Studios Park which includes a new attraction set to open in 2014. Philippe Gas explains that the ride will be a world first, have a French theme and will be based on a famous Disney movie, which is another step before the official announcement of the long awaited Ratatouille dark ride.
Philippe Gas also states that Disneyland Paris is currently considering the addition of an interactive attraction inspired by Toy Story Pixar/Disney movie, following the popular success of the Toy Story Playland area that opened in August 2010 in the Walt Disney Studios Park. Explaining that the ride will allow visitors to come back without having a feeling of repetition, he probably talks of Toy Story Mania, an interactive dark ride with shooting gallery's style games in 3-D.
Also announced in the article are the plans to introduce the awarded Star Tours 2 : The Adventures Continue replacing the current Star Tour ride that opened in 1992. In 2013, Disneyland Paris will be the only Disney theme park in the world to run the original version after Tokyo Disneyland decided to update its own ride that same year.
Considering the third theme park that will open before 2035 according to the agreement signed between the company and the French State in 2010, Philippe Gas adds that they will decide in 2020 if the concept is viable or not. If yes, this third theme park could be inaugurated in 2025.
Finally, Philippe Gas reminds that the new resort and water park (the biggest in Europe) Villages Nature is still scheduled to open in mid-2015. Famous Imagineer Joe Rohde, head design for Disneys Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, is currently working on the project that includes an artificial swimming lake heated by geothermal.
After the addition of the night show Disney Dreams!, Disneyland Paris will open in the coming months a new Meet & Greet location in Fantasyland (Meet Mickey) and a brand new retail store in Disney Village (World of Disney).
