Here we go for a new Disneyland Paris update and this time you'll discover the awaited new "Swing into Spring" festival thanks to Max Fan, D&M contributor and DLPWelcome webmaster. This spring season festival is really a good idea, as you will see it brings more magic and beauty to the park, just when the high season begins and i'm sure the guests will love the beautiful topiaries elements here and there in the park.
But first, let's stop at the Disneyland hotel with its facade currently being cleaned with high-pressure water so everything will look nice for the season opening.
At Main Street Station the new flowers for "Swing into Spring" are almost finished to be installed.
Let's move on Town Square where guests can see the first topiaries, here with Mary Poppins and Bert as well as kids "running" with kites. Note that when Max shoot all these pictures DLP gardeners hadn't totally finished to put everything in place. But for the most almost everything was already there.
The next topiaries awaits the guests on Central Plaza and we'll start with these ones with Lion King characters.
Next, are topiaries with 101 Dalmatians!...
...and the Aristocats!
Always on Central Plaza, great topiaries of Bambi and his friends!
Let's have now a closer look at how they did it with a special presentation of "Swing into Spring" thanks to John Berrick Vice Président of Entertainment at Disneyland Paris. John is Australian. In 1993, he joined the Walt Disney Company in Australia and was responsible for promoting the Disney characters ( including through performances involving emotional ) , movies and goods in 14 countries in Asia.
He told us a private telephone conversation he had with Michael Eisner asked him to produce shows for the promotion of what was at that time the future Hong Kong Disneyland. John thought at first it was a joke , but it was not! In 2000, he moved to Hong Kong Disneyland to work on the development of HKDL. He created shows for HKDL and participated in official ceremonies then he moved to Tokyo, where he was for six years Director in the Entertainment Division for both parks, Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea . In 2012 John moved to DLP as Vice President of Entertainment for Disneyland Paris to bring his experience to the park.
"Swing into Spring" represents one year of work. The project was presented to Philippe Gas DLP CEO at the end of 2013 and approved on December 24, 2013, not for 2015 as originally planned, but at the insistence of Philippe Gas for 2014. The creative team moved then in a dynamic creations during which in 3 months, the sets, shows, and music had to be created and delivered on time. Everything must be considered for the future development of the season as the peculiarity of the season is that every year new aspects and new festivities will have to be declined without impacting the musical spirit of the season.
Right now, the creative teams are already preparing the 2015 season even though the delivery of the first version is still not totally finished! But what exactly include this season? To learn more, John praised the people who helped him and introduced the work teams with Christophe Leclercq (director for the Entertainment Department) and Olivier Dussautoir (designer), below on the picture with Vasile Sirli, DLP Musical director.
For DLP guests the day will begin with a happening called "Welcome to the Beautiful Season" ( Welcome to Spring ) in a way close to "Good Mornin Main Street USA" where residents of Main Street, USA, will greet visitors in the park and start the show at the launch of the music. 12 inhabitants of Main Street with Victorian-style costumes, will be present six times a day for the show and will pose for photos and chat with DLP guests.
The future meeting point of Rapunzel will replace the one with Winnie the Pooh and will be adorned with a huge heart 3 meters high and 4.5 meters wide, made with boxwood and 10,000 artificial flowers. The 20th anniversary train was also completely redesigned as well as 3 cars of the Disney's Star 'n' Cars parade for the awaited performance of "Disney's Spring Promenade" which include 90 performers ( 30 dancers inspired by the character of Mary Poppins 30 dancers inspired by the character of Bert, 30 "sweeps" performers ), and add to that thirty Disney characters and fifteen musicians. At the end guests will have a show with 125 performers ( so more than in a parade) happening 5 times a day from 11:40 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. during 12.30 minutes ( see the park program for accurate hours ) from the Castle Stage to Central Plaza. The show is of course inspired by the theme of Spring and Mary Poppins movie which just celebrated its 50th anniversary. The final of the show will take place on the song "Let's go fly a kite".
The show will be visible from 360° to Central Plaza and will be a "flash-mob". The advantage of the show is that guests will be able to see it from anywhere on the Plaza.
Vasile Sirli ( musical director at Disneyland Paris) told us more about the Swing into Spring music. To summarize in one word: "Musical! ". The music is inspired by musical comedy, and this was made possible by the way they did the recording of the soundtrack. Indeed, the recording was intentionally less calibrated and more "live" to keep the "imperfections", the sounds that musicians performed in addition to give the feeling that the music is played "live".
Topiaries are done with a mix of artificial and dry flowers for the simple reason that Paris climate and the three months of festivities make it impossible to use real flowers for the whole season. But don't worry flowerbeds are composed with real flowers. At the end, no less than 100,000 artificial flowers have been required to develop this Swing into Spring season ( not counting the 100,000 natural flowers ). Olivier Dussautoir has insisted that the musical notes in the decor are actual sheets of music and many Hiddens Mickey are hiding in the decorations.
What changes can we expect for the future Spring Festivals? From 2015 DLP plans to consider Springtime Stroll - "Swing into Spring" - like a real season. In 2015, the music will become even more important in the festivities. And a new version of Disney Dreams! on the theme of spring is also "planned" which doesn't mean yet that it will happen for sure.
Let's end with a great news as to celebrate Disneyland Paris 22nd Anniversary i'm doing a special offer price on the gorgeous Disneyland Paris "From Sketch to Reality" book for both ENGLISH or FRENCH editions, and in addition to a special price until April 30 it includes a "surprise gift" that everyone who will order the book will receive, and believe me you will love it! Thanks to this special offer you will save $50 on the normal price, so if you don't own the book yet i'm sure you don't want to miss it! Paypal and credit card payment are accepted, so make sure you to place your order now!
You can use the Paypal button below for the english edition, and for orders of the french edition or for credit card payment please send me an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com
Pictures: copyright Max Fan, Disney
