The Production Courtyard

The remainder of Production Courtyard at Walt Disney Studios Park consists of soundstages and other production-style facilities, including the Studio Theater where screenings might be hosted. This is home to CineMagique, another attraction unique to the Paris park - and one of its best.

CineMagique begins as a film tribute to many of the greatest movies in cinema history. A short while in, however, someone's cell phone starts ringing. The offending Guest stands to take the call and is soon being chased down by Security. He runs on stage and right into the screen! At this point, we see the "Guest" is none other than Martin Short, who ends up on a madcap adventure through classic movie scenes. He even falls in love along the way. CineMagique lives up to its name: It's pure cinema magic!

Scattered throughout Production Courtyard are Studio Catering wagons and other equipment waiting to be pressed into service with some production shooting on the lot. Like a real studio, though, Walt Disney Studios isn't just for movie making. There's also television production... or at least, there was.

Early in the park's history, this Art Deco structure housed Walt Disney Television Studios, the one spot where Guests could see real production taking place. A tour, hosted on video by an animated Buzz Lightyear, took groups past the various facilities, including the building's four stages. If you were lucky, you could have even caught an actual taping of "Zapping Zone," a popular show on Disney Channel France.

The TV tour was less successful than the designers of the park had originally hoped. Attempts to boost interest included adding the Cyberspace Mountain simulators from DisneyQuest Chicago to the post-show area of the tour, but eventually the attraction was shuttered.

In its place today, Guests can instead participate in live shows designed to feel like you're on the set of some children's TV programs. With Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage! and Stitch LIVE! (an experience similar to Turtle Talk with Crush), young Guests find this corner of Walt Disney Studios Park particularly entertaining. With the multiple languages spoken at Disneyland Resort Paris, the versions of these shows presented here are presented in several versions. Take a look a the reader boards on each marquee, and you'll see they advertise just when the next show in your language will be playing.

Winding through Production Courtyard from one end to the other is a virtual walkway of film history. The pavement is designed to look like a filmstrip, with Mickey patterns in the sprocket holes. Along the way are a series of tributes, ranging from movie and TV posters adorning sound and lighting towers to homages to some of the greatest contributors to cinema.

Some of the celebrities present for the park's opening back in 2002 have left their handprints in cement, similar to Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Here, you'll find stars both from Europe (Angela Lansbury and 3rd 007 Roger Moore) as well as those who are inexplicably popular in Europe (David Hasselhoff is HUGE in Germany).

The name Remy Julienne may not be particularly well known, but his work is. As a stunt coordinator, Julienne contributed to some of the biggest action scenes in films from the James Bond series to The Da Vinci Code. He was also chief consultant in the development of Moteurs... Action! Stunt Spectacular for the Walt Disney Studios Park.

Of course, the movies wouldn't be what they are today with the contributions of a few folks with the surname "Disney." Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew and a producer on films including the True-Life Adventures, was in attendance at the opening of the park.

Nearby, a plaque honors Roy's father and uncle, commenting without understatement that "They changed the face of entertainment and virtually created the genre of the animated feature film."

Several of these plaques in Production Courtyard pay homage to the true visionaries of motion pictures... and they're not all Hollywood names. Appropriately positioned near the Special Effects building on the Backlot, at the foot of Rue Georges Méliès, is a plaque honoring the Parisian stage magician who is credited with discovering techniques such as stop motion, slow motion, dissolves, fade-outs and superimposition.

Welcome "Behind the Scenes"

At the end of Hollywood Boulevard, like a gate leading into the Hollywood Hills beyond, is the entrance to the Studio Tram Tour, one of the featured attractions of Walt Disney Studios Park. While Walt Disney Studios in Paris was never intended to be a real, functioning movie studio, the attraction still does an effective job of providing Guests a "behind the scenes" look at motion picture and television production.

The queue winds past large-scale movie props, like this car driven by Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil in the live action 102 Dalmatians, and then it's on to the tour tram. Similar to the shuttles used for the Studio Backlot Tour at Disney's Hollywood Studios, the key difference here is these tram cars are each outfitted with a high-definition flat screen.

The screens are used to deliver the narration for the tour, courtesy of actors Jeremy Irons, speaking English, and Irene Jacob, speaking in French. Apart from the dose of celebrity provided, the screens are also effective at showcasing how some of the sets and props seen on the tour were used in their respective productions.

After an introduction, the tour proceeds past the first of two "Boneyards," areas on a studio lot where vehicles and props from past productions are left until they might be needed again. Among the items seen along the Paris route are this large-scale model of one of the shuttles from Armageddon and some animatronics used in the production of the live action elements of Disney's Dinosaur.

Next, it's on to a large, outdoor set from the TV series "Dinotopia," which was actually more popular in Europe than it was in the U.S. The area is completely decked out with all the necessary equipment to give the impression that this is an actual "hot set."

While the crew shooting "Dinotopia" might be MIA, there's definitely some activity happening on the next set up ahead: Catastrophe Canyon. Although it's essentially a duplicate of the attraction in Florida, what this version of Catastrophe Canyon does better is to create the illusion of a modern, working set.

Once on the set, the show is the same, complete with simulations of rain, an earthquake, explosions and a flash flood.

Leaving Catastrophe Canyon behind, our guides on screen begin to discuss the Studio's Wardrobe department, a holdover from the days when the trams actually drove alongside the open windows of the Costuming building. With the recent addition of Toy Story Playland, however, the route was changed, removing that element from the tour.

Next, though, it's on to the Studio Motorpool, a collection of classic cars used in everything from Pearl Harbor to Reign of Fire.

Reign of Fire, a futuristic action film about a flock of dragons who emerge from the earth to wreak havoc on London and the world, opened in 2002 shortly after Walt Disney Studios Park made its debut. The movie was, no doubt, expected to be a blockbuster (alas, it was not), so sets from the film were recreated on the lot of the new studio park.

Our tour tram enters the London street set, littered with debris from battles with the dragons. We pause briefly outside an Underground Station, only to be surprised with a burst of fiery dragon breath so close and hot it'll singe your eyebrows.

The tour takes one more turn alongside the backstage prep areas for Moteurs... Action! Stunt Spectacular, before returning to the station for us to continue exploring Walt Disney Studios Park on foot.

Hollywood Boulevard

Once through Disney Studio 1, the Hollywood set continues in a much more realistic fashion, with Hollywood Boulevard on the studio lot. Between the two is a small park, at the center of which stands a copy of "Partners," the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse crafted by Blaine Gibson. You'll also find a copy of the dedication of Walt Disney Studios Park, opened by then-CEO Michael Eisner on March 12, 2002:

To all who enter this studio of dreams... welcome.
Walt Disney Studios is dedicated to our timeless fascination and affection for cinema and television. Here we celebrate the art and the artistry of storytellers from Europe and around the world who create the magic. May this special place stir our own memories of the past, and our dreams of the future.

The Hollywood Boulevard sets use an illusion of forced perspective to give the impression the buildings are taller and the street longer than they are. Seen from the point of view of Disney Studio 1, Hollywood Blvd. seems to go on for miles, all the way to the famous Hollywood sign. In reality, it's merely a handful of carefully-placed facades.

Each facade, though, is a work of art unto itself, dressed out with props and exterior details that complete the illusion. Whether it's the Deluxe Talent Agency (where hopeful starlets might go to get discovered) or Gower Books & Music (which takes its name from Gower Street in Hollywood), these look like real businesses you can step right into.

Ready for your close-up? Be sure to visit DeMille Studio for professional headshots! (Cecil B. DeMille was not only one of the greatest directors in old Hollywood, but also the subject of Norma Desmond's famous line in the film Sunset Boulevard: "Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

There's the well-traveled intersection of Hollywood and Vine, and nearby... Hollywood & Lime, a refreshing drink and snack station sponsored by Perrier. Typical of what would be found on a real movie studio lot, much of the food service at Walt Disney Studios Park is handled by food trucks and carts like this, all in the guise of Studio Catering.

The entire Hollywood Blvd. area of Walt Disney Studios was added to the park in 2007, both as a placemaking enhancement and to support the addition of the park's newest attraction, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

A near duplicate of the Tower of Terror attraction built at Disney California Adventure, Guests in the Paris park are taken beyond the old Hollywood sets and placed right in the middle of the action in their very own episode of "The Twilight Zone."