Get Your Moteurs Running

By far the largest, most complex attraction at Walt Disney Studios Park has to be Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular. This Paris original, since exported to Disney's Hollywood Studios in the form of Lights! Motors! Action! Extreme Stunt Show, brings to life the high octane thrill of seeing precision vehicle stunts executed on an enormous outdoor movie set.

Approaching the stadium for the show, the audience is treated to a look inside the real garage where the stunt vehicles are carefully maintained, as well as a view of the not-so-real (although very realistic looking) production equipment being unloaded for the day's shoot.

Those familiar with the Florida version of the show would find this iteration nearly identical, with the exception of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror looming in the background and a heavier dose of French language. The park even introduced Lightning McQueen (here known as Flash McQueen) into the show earlier this year, just as he was at Walt Disney World.

As similar as the experience is, though, what I always appreciate most are the subtle differences. We arrived at the stadium as the show was beginning, but while other Guests hurried to their seats, my eye was drawn to the restrooms. More specifically, I was intrigued by the restroom signs, a Disney Parks detail for which I have an unhealthy obsession. The ones at Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular, designed to look like dashboard gauges, did not disappoint.

Located near the exit of the stunt show is Cafe des Cascadeurs (Stuntman Cafe), the only full table service restaurant in the park (Restaurant des Stars, where Chef Remy appears, is the fanciest establishment, but operates as a buffet). Designed to look like a mid-century American diner, Cafe des Cascadeurs serves traditional fair, from hot dogs to hamburgers.

The restaurant also serves up a cool photo op with this motorcycle and sidecar parked out front. It's a great place for some storytelling props, as well as a word from the location's presenting sponsor, Coca-Cola. As the plaque on the side of the cart says about that frosty, delicious beverage: "It keeps a cool head in the heat of the moment!" Sounds perfect, whether you're performing stunts or just spending a day touring the studio.

Slip Him a Mickey

During Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, the hero of the film being shot sees a lot of action, but if he's looking closely, he might notice one or two other things... Hidden Mickeys!

The most subtle of these is in the window of the Motomania shop - the one through which he crashes in his efforts to elude the bad guys. Tucked behind the top right pane of glass (actually Plexiglas panels) is a set of gears and belts arranged in the classic three-circle pattern:

Slightly more obvious (and even visible from the grandstand by those with sharp eyes) is the Mickey in the window of the antiques shop next door to Motomania. More accurately, it's on the window, where you'll spy an image of a 1930s-era Mickey Mouse toy.

The Stunt Master

When the precursor of Lights, Motors, Action!, Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular, opened at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, nothing like it had ever been done before. In order to bring the appropriate level of thrills, credibility and safety to the production, Disney's Imagineers partnered with legendary French stunt coordinator Rémy Julienne (photo below ©Le Post/Tony Frank). Since the 1960s, Julienne has created memorable stunts for films ranging from the original The Italian Job (1969) to The Da Vinci Code (2006).

Rémy is perhaps best known for his work on several of the James Bond films, including For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights and GoldenEye. It's no coincidence that the faux film shoot that's part of the show bears a striking resemblance to a 007 adventure. In fact, had it not been for a contentious relationship between Disney and Bond's home studio of MGM, the park may well have been able to boast a James Bond stunt show.

While the "film" being shot may be generic, the stunts performed are anything but. When the villain cars bump up on two wheels during the show, they're performing a balance routine pioneered in the 1971 Bond outing Diamonds Are Forever.

The prototype cars featured in the show are equipped with a unique gear system, based on a design by Rémy Julienne, allowing the driver to go into reverse regardless of the amount of revolutions per minute. This provides incredible maneuverability in performing stunts like the close encounters in the Ballet Chase.

At the conclusion of each show, the footage from "today's" sequences is edited together with previously shot scenes to give the audience a sense of what the finished film will look like when it all comes together. In that film, the "hero car" is actually driven by Rémy Julienne's nephew. In all, three generations of the Julienne family worked on the show, included Julienne's son Dominique.

The "finished film" that plays on screen as part of the finale of Lights, Motors, Action! is the same one originally shot for the Paris version. The sets for the two shows match almost exactly, although a close observer may be able to pick out some subtle differences.

One thing that's the same, though, whether you see the show in France or Florida, is the pure rush of adrenaline that comes from this high-octane production, one of the most thrillingly realistic stunt spectaculars ever staged.

LMA from another POV

Anyone who has seen Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show knows how exciting the stunts and precision driving action can be from the grandstand. Today, we take a look at some vantage points typically seen only be the drivers as they're speeding across the stage (often mere inches from another vehicle).

Below is a view from backstage of the "backwards hero car" (if you haven't seen the show yet, I won't explain what that means), ready to take action and appear on the set right on cue.

During the Ballet and Touch & Go sequences, cars have to get up to speed quickly in order to accomplish the jumps and other maneuvers called for in the show. That's where Acceleration Alley comes in. This long stretch (seen out between the buildings below) allows the drivers to back up to the fence and accelerate as much as they need to.

Acceleration Alley runs parallel with part of the route and load zone for the Studio Backlot Tour. Timing your tour right, you can get a particularly unique view of the drivers on this part of the stage during a show or rehearsal.

The finale of Lights, Motors, Action! comes as the "hero car" jumps through a fiery explosion... straight toward the audience! From the driver's point of view, the grandstand looms ahead and over the relatively small opening through which he or she must aim the vehicle. It's an exciting moment, and one that happens with precision and safety every day of the week.

Putting the Motors in Lights, Motors, Action!

It's easy to take for granted some of the things that happen during a performance of Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. After all, any show within a theme park environment automatically takes on a patina of artificiality. The stunts on display at Lights, Motors, Action!, though, are real. They're performed in real time, and there's real danger. The professionals who work the stage, from Technicians to Precision Drivers, are among the most skilled anywhere... and safety is always the top priority.

The show is pretty spectacular, but just as fascinating is what goes into each production. I recently had an opportunity to step behind the scenes at Lights, Motors, Action! It gave me a whole new appreciation for what the team there pulls off every day.

Backstage, the Cast has a lot of fun. When the Stage Manager calls "Places," though, it's all business. They take their jobs seriously. Many of the Drivers and other Stunt Performers on the show have also worked on real film and TV productions, everything from The Fast & the Furious movies to the USA network series "Burn Notice."

All the vehicles used in the show are maintained by a team of Mechanics and Engineers working out of a fully-equiped garage (visible from the Guest queue).

The cars are modified Opels from Europe, adapted to be lighter weight and have a better center of gravity. They are equipped with 1300 CC motors and weigh less than half that of a regular car, but they have more than twice as much power.

To keep the weight down, there's nothing in the cars that isn't necessary to get the job done. That includes air conditioning. In the photo below (that's our tour guide, Driver Ron Fox), you may notice a small blue cooler under the hood. That's filled with ice water at the top of the show and plugged into tubes that feed cool suits worn by the drivers. According to Ron, though, it gets so hot the ice melts and the water turns warm after just a few minutes.

The vehicles for the show were designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and produced in the Opel Live design workshops in Frankfurt, Germany. In fact, while the "villain cars" (the black ones) are based on production models, the "hero car" (the red one) is a one-of-a-kind model designed by WDI.

Inside each car is a reinforced steel roll cage, designed to protect the driver in the event of an accident. Fortunately, with as good as this team is, incidents are rare.

Setting Le Scene

Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show made its first appearance with the opening of the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris in 2002. In 2005, the show made the transition state-side, adding to the lineup at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida.

On the Studio Backlot, one can find production sets ranging from New York City to Tatooine. With Lights, Motors, Action!, a bit of the south of France was brought to the park as well. The setting for the espionage thriller being "filmed" in the show is an unnamed seaport town on the Mediterranean. In actuality, the sets were directly inspired by the real town of Villefranche-sur-Mer.

The photos above and below show the picturesque coastline of Villefranche-sur-Mer, along with comparisons to the sets at Lights, Motors, Action!

As with any movie set, the production only built what the camera needed to see. As Guests enter the stadium for the show, they're treated to a view of the bare, structural supports behind the scenes. Once you come around to the front, though, the artistic work and attention to detail of the set designers becomes apparent. It's as if you've left the Florida Studio lot and stepped onto the Riviera.