Okay, this time this is it, we can say that the construction of the awaited Ratatouille dark ride at DLP Walt Disney Studios will begin anytime soon! Not only as it was announced this week DLP now have an additional 150M € credit line from the WDC which is more or less the price of the ride and land - but, before they begin to build it, the french law request to display on site a construction announcement. That's what happened this week and generally when this is done construction begin anytime soon. You have a picture of it above, posted on the Disney Central Plaza forum by the always excellent Mouetto.
We also have new infos about the ride which is supposed to be called "Ratatouille Kitchen Calamity"! Note that this is the project title and that the final attraction title might change as it was the case on Toon Studio's Crush's Coaster previously called "Crush's Turtle Twister". Anyway, the project title bring some infos about the ride and it means that a big part of the ride should happen inside Gusteau's kitchen.
Some infos i had a few years ago - so the final script might have changed - were saying that guests will have the feeling to be reduced at the size of a rat and i agree that this could be fun. As far as i remember, after a start in Gusteau's kitchen guests will be "trapped" and throw in the sewers - which, if it's still in the storyline, could give a great visual scene and a reference to the sewers sequence at the opening of the movie. Then we will go out and all the goal would be to comeback to Gusteau's kitchen... Again, considering that these infos are two years old the script might have changed but it seems that's how it was envisioned originally.
Technically speaking we know that the ride will use a trackless vehicle system, that there will be 3D projections effects and it's also indicated on the construction permit that the ride will use 36 vehicles with 6 people inside each vehicle, including one vehicle for wheel chairs. Each vehicle is separated (not attached with others), have wheels, and energy is provided by electric batteries. The trackless technology should be close to the one used in Pooh's Honey Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland and the whole thing, technically speaking, might be close to how is done the famous Spiderman ride at IOA or the new Transformers ride at USS which also use a trackless vehicle and 3D projection effects.
You'll note that the picture on the top provides also interesting infos about the Ratatouille land. First, we can note that it's not written explicitly "Ratatouille attraction" but "Creation of attraction Toon Studio D", which is the code name of it, simply because it is located in the Toon Studio land. Then, we can see that the buildings construction is supposed to be almost 18 meters high which is as high as a six floor building in Paris! You can see above a rendering showing the Paris themed area, and i remind you that a restaurant will also open in the land, which is more than logical considering the Ratatouille original story.
We also see on the top picture the size of the land, in square meters, and i think that the "250796 sam" is referring to the total area of Toon Studio. The others 5719 sqm might refer to the Ratatouille land area, which makes an area of 57m x 100m, more or less. Logistically speaking the area is located close to the new Toy Story Playland and behind the Costuming building and as this is a kind of
cul de sac let's hope that it won't create any guest flow problem - not sure, though, specially if the attraction is as popular as expected...
This next picture is a montage done by DCP Forum with the current WDS map, and although it shows precisely the location of the Ratatouille land we might not expect an Eiffel Tower small replica as it is shown on it.
The ride and Ratatouille area are supposed to need two years to be build, so don't expect an opening before fall 2013 at the earliest. But at least we know that the project is now a "go" and all we have to do is to wait, something that DLP fans are used to do (!).
In the meantime, i remind you to don't forget to pre-order a collector's copy of the Disneyland Paris book, on its way for reprinting. The book is absolutely gorgeous,
Just go HERE to learn more about the book and how to place your order.
Attraction Pictures: copyright Disney, with all my thanks to Disney Central Plaza
