Disneyland Paris in a Wintry Blanket of Snow... and Ice !

This winter in France is a real one, one of the coldest we had since many years! Last week, snow storms were all around France, including Disneyland Paris. Yesterday, as the weather was better and the sky perfectly blue, i went to DLP to took pictures of the park under snow. Even if it doesn't show on the pictures, they were a lot of people at the park this week-end - almost like a regular sunday - and the snow had melted on the walkways but not everywhere else as you will see below in one of the biggest update ever done on Disney and more. There is more than 90 pictures and all are in high-res as usual, so i think you should enjoy this "winter" update!

Let's begin by Fantasia Gardens!







Next, Town Square on Main Street USA!






Around Casey Corner...




The water around the castle is now totally frozen...




Let's move to Frontierland where a big surprise awaits us! Everything around the Fort and the Indian village is covered by snow.





But the big surprise is when you arrive near the Rivers of the Far West: the whole river is totally frozen, icebergs everywhere! Because of the ice the Mark Twain and the Molly Brown are not working.







However, this ice is a haven for the seagulls who can "land" on it!







Let's have a look at Phantom Manor's area and Boot Hill!








The geysers are totally covered by snow!




Let's move now to Big Thunder Mountain entrance...





The Cowboy Cookout Barbecue and around the Pocahontas Indian playground...









Frontierland Station and Woody's Round-up ranch are also totally under snow...












O-kay, let's move now to Adventureland, beginning by the entrance: no more sand in the oasis, only snow!






Next, Colonel Hathi's restaurant and Indiana Jones.








Hakuna Matata and Swiss Robinson Tree area.





Let's have a look now to Adventure Isle. Guess what? Yes, Adventureland Lagoon is also totally frozen!




And when i say frozen, i mean REALLY frozen!











Goodbye Adventureland, Hello Fantasyland...where the ponds are also frozen!




Peter Pan's flight, Toad Hall restaurant and Alice Curious Labyrinth...





Other areas in Fantasyland...





Fantasia Gelati is more "gelati" than ever!





We will end our round trip with Discoveryland...



If you've never drive on Autopia with snow all around, it's now or never!



Let's have a look if the Nautilus Lagoon is also frozen...



Yes, it is! And don't ask me if the seagulls are also landing on the ice here...



The Nautilus covered by snow, you don't see that every day...




On the side of Space Mountain which is in the shadow, the snow is still there!




Okay, that should do it for today, and i hope you've appreciate this big winter-at-DLP report. Feel free to use any of these pictures as wallpaper for your computer if you wish, and any kind comments will be highly appreciated!

All pictures: copyright Alain Littaye and Disney and more

Breaking News : WALL-E Wins Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes tonight, and I personally think that it's a great news and a well deserved award for Andrew Stanton and everyone at Pixar who worked on this beautiful animated movie. More about it on the Upcoming Pixar blog.
Also, more about the Shanghaî Disneyland project in this new L.A Times article.

Goodbye Polaroid, Hello PolaDROID ! - Or : How to send your digital Disneyland pictures magically back in time

Sometime, during the week-end - when there is a good reason for - i'm doing a "tech" article. And today, there is a very good reason to do one, as i'd like to introduce to you a wonderful little application called PolaDroid. Don't go away, as you'll discover below how Poladroid will allows you to create fantastic "Polaroid" pictures from your Disneyland digital photos.

We all remember the fantastic Polaroid pictures and their unique colours. The digital era arrived and changed everything, and soon, even if you still own a Polaroid camera, it will not be possible anymore to realize Polaroid pictures. Simply because the Polaroid Co will stop this year the fabrication of the legendary Polaroid photographic paper...

And then arrived PolaDroid, a magical little software. Created by Paul, obviously a big fan of the old Polaroid era, PolaDroid will allow you to give to ANY of your digital pictures "Polaroid"-like colours in a few seconds. Suddenly, the picture you took last year will look like a 1960's picture, bringing you back in time, with colours that no camera is doing anymore.

The picture above of WDW Magic Kingdom look like an early 70's picture, doesn't it? Well, actually it's a WDW marketing photo probably shoot 10 years ago...



And this other famous photo of DHS Sunset Blvd...



...look now like a real 1950's Sunset Blvd picture!



I shoot this picture of the Walt Disney Studios last year. Two minutes in the PolaDroid...



...and we're now back in time almost at the real Walt Disney Studios old era...



Of course, the software re-frame each picture to the original Polaroid "square" size.

These pictures of WDS Tower of Terror were shoot on grand opening ...or back in 1928 during that fateful day?




Main Street buildings looks more old than ever...



It's also fun to see what we can get when you use the PolaDroid with already old pictures like these 1960's pictures of Disneyland...




These WDW pictures are only 10 years old, but now they look like early 1960's pictures...




Let's have a look to the effect of PolaDroid on very recent pictures, like this marketing shot of Expedition Everest...



...Or those from Hong Kong Disneyland.




This picture of Mission Space entrance shows how subtle the effect of PolaDroid can be on the colours.



Before i explain to you how PolaDroid works, let's end this series with this marketing picture of the Epcot Nemo ride - already a picture with digital special effects with the Nemo characters...



As you saw this PolaDroid application can create amazing effects, now here is how it works, and it's extremely simple: First go on the PolaDroid web site and download the application which works both for Mac and PC. The PolaDroid software is free, but if you wish to do a donation to his creator it will be highly appreciated. Once you've install the application, you launch it, and a little Polaroid camera will appear on your screen. Now, all you have to do is to choose any of your digital picture, and drag and drop it on the Polaroid camera. That's all you have to do, can't be more easy, isnt'it?



Ten seconds later a little picture will come out of the camera, and just like the real Polaroid pictures, it'll take the photo 2 to 3 minutes to appear! Actually, you'll see it appearing little by little, just like with the real one. Once it's done, the picture in big size and in jpeg file is waiting for you in the "Images" folder of your computer. Very easy, very fun, very magical. So, go ahead, try this amazing PolaDroid application, and enjoy it!

Pictures: copyright Disney