6/5: Toon Story: Cars, Part II

[Al Lutz]

Guest Columnist Alain Littaye concludes his photo tour of the new Toon Studios at the Paris Disney Studios park, Discuss it here!

[fizzog]

I gotta say, that Cars theming looks great! It looks as though the smaller attraction is outshining Crush's Coaster at the moment but I'll be able to judge when I visit in July. I am rather sad cos I was looking forward to Crush but maybe they'll have smoothed things out at least a little by then.

[Speedway]

Everything looks fabulous.
I think they made a point of leaving the shops and restaurants out after years of furore over too many shops and too little rides.

I heart Disney.

[Diznyfan]

I hate to rain on the parade but Im not impressed. I think the Cars ride looks cheap, the themeing in the que reminds me of Monsters Inc @ DCA. The ride itself is a joke what a waste of money. Toontown also looks awful I cant belive Disney even puts their name on that garbage. I know these rides are only C tickets but come on. Besides why waste all that money on intense themeing for a B or C ticket ride why not just build a D or E ticket. God I hope that stuff does not come to the states. Tower of terror does look awesome though.

[MasterGracey]

I hate to rain on the parade but Im not impressed. I think the Cars ride looks cheap, the themeing in the que reminds me of Monsters Inc @ DCA. The ride itself is a joke what a waste of money. Toontown also looks awful I cant belive Disney even puts their name on that garbage. I know these rides are only C tickets but come on. Besides why waste all that money on intense themeing for a B or C ticket ride why not just build a D or E ticket. God I hope that stuff does not come to the states.

By the way Tower of Terror does look awesome though.

You hope that stuff doesn't come to the states? Have you not seen Flick's Fun Fair at DCA?


Anyway, good article Alain. The theming looks wonderful, but the attractions don't seem like hardly anything to get excited about. I mean, DCA got a similar addition with Flick's Fun Fair - it looks really great - but the attractions are really weak and do nothing for the park. You'd think they'd've learned..

[Doopey1]

I think the Cars theming looks great, I love that they built so much of Radiator Springs. I think the ride itself is cute for what it is (not everything Disney ever builds has to be an E-ticket), but it would be nice if there was an additional Cars attraction along with it to take advantage of all the theming.

Personally, I would love it if they were to build something like this in the US (Disney-Pixar Studios? DCA?)

Thanks for all the great pics and the report.

[Diznyfan]

You hope that stuff doesn't come to the states? Have you not seen Flick's Fun Fair at DCA?


Anyway, good article Alain. The theming looks wonderful, but the attractions don't seem like hardly anything to get excited about. I mean, DCA got a similar addition with Flick's Fun Fair - it looks really great - but the attractions are really weak and do nothing for the park. You'd think they'd've learned..

Yeah but wouldnt it suck if we had Flicks fun fair and this. I agree that these rides have their place, but for Pete's sake doesnt that park have problems similar to DCA already. Maybe a few quality Disney "E" tickets would help.

[nojarama]

Thanks for another wonderful report! I think it all looks wonderful myself. You also have to rememeber that all of this is geared more for the kids rather than the adults, as is Bugsland at DCA. I think the kids will absolutely adore it all. The Carsland area is esquisitely detailed (my nephew would go NUTS over it all). And you never know, they may get more rides in that area taht are similar (think how Bugsland is similarly-themed). TOT looks breathtaking! (even moreso than the version at DCA (as the DCA version is tucked in the back & you really can't grasp it enormity until you're closer to it). I'm still quite bitter how "ab fab" the TDL version is. I think I'd like that version even more myself. As for Crush's Coaster, it was a rush job (wasn't it?)... I'm sure they'll get it streamlined by summers end. Hopefully, we'll get something similar stateside.

Regardsarama,

Jon

[MasterGracey]

Yeah but wouldnt it suck if we had Flicks fun fair and this. I agree that these rides have their place, but for Pete's sake doesnt that park have problems similar to DCA already. Maybe a few quality Disney "E" tickets would help.

I don't think Disney would be so dumb as to put Cars Race Rally in DCA, considering its basically the same ride as Lady Bug Boogie in Flik's Fun Fair.

Surely, some quality attractions would help - they'd help at all the parks ... but unfortunately, Disney keeps putting in cheap off-the-shelf rides and just adding some theming to them. For some reason they havent learned that some good theming on a carnival ride isn't going to make the ride, or the park, a winner.

[disneyland255]

I agree with you Mastergracey. Disney touch is having that ride that Disney has put it's time, heart, and soul into. Look at Expedition Everest. COmpletley original and it is a wonderful ride. I have heard that the Cars ride at DCA will be more like a Test Track type of ride. I want to see originality come back to Disney! Hopefully the subs will bring some of this back!

I do have to say though that the themeing for Crush's Coaster and ESPECIALLY The Cars ride is very good!

[EvilQueen]

Thank you for the Great Report - and excellent pictures...

I loved your in-depth (sorry, no pun actually intended) report on the Crush Coaster that we have been watching progress; distressed to hear that the car "spins" - increasing re-ride-ability (a different view every time!) and increasing nausea at some points in the attraction... with the Nemo Subs coming to DL, it is likely that we will never see this version of this ride coming to the DLR - although, I would love to see Mulhulland "Chase the Mouse" Madness remade into a true Disney creation...

The Toon Studios area really looks to be shaping up: I am trying to weigh the "Crush Coaster-breaking-out-of-its-Sound Stage" theme vs. the Toon-realistic CARS area - two very different takes on the Toon Town / Studios Theme in a very small area... (are the "cartoons spilling out of the Studio?" or are the themed area(s) "already there for the visiting?" either Theme would work, it just looks to me as if they went in two separate directions...).

I agree with the previous posts; the CARS area theming looks outstanding - lots of Photo Ops all over the place, but I wonder: it IS an awful lot of Hoopla (and space!) for one small B- or C-ticket attraction... I am hoping that this Kiddie Ride stays "unique" to the DLP Park, and that we don't get a knock-off rendition of it transplanted over in DCA; too similar to the Lady Bug Boogie ride in Flik's Fair area, as has already been pointed out; but I can see little boys going ape for the CARS themed area (since little girls get more than their share of "Princess" imagery to enthrall them...).

I am interested to hear what others have to say about these subjects...
Thank you again for the excellent Photo-journalism!

[mmmmike]

I find it simply incomprehensible that they have spent so much money and effort creating the extensive, detailed theming of the Cars area, but have failed to put a ride of any great worth in the middle of it all! The spin ride might be fun for the kiddies, but it hardly seems to justify it's own themed area, surely they could have come up with something better than this.

Style yes, substance no.

[Alice's Wonderland]

I think the Cars theming looks great! I was surprised and impressed at what they did. I think it will be a cute ride for little kids. Thanks for sharing!!

[loaloa]

Hello, Alain Littaye, here. What i have forgot to say in the article , and it explain a lot of thing, is that these attractions were decided and approved BEFORE John Lasseter was nominated as supervisor of the creative process at WDI .
So it's not that "they never learn" , it's just that Lasseter arrived too late for these.
Frankly, i think he will be happy with the cars theming, but i will be very surprised if he was with the Crush coaster - but who knows?

[kcnole]

To me it looks like someone made a beautiful wedding cake with some of the most elaborate frosting designs and displays but underneath it all is just a cardboard box. I really don't want to see either of these areas here in the states.

I wouldn't mind seeing Indy pulled into Fantasyland and given the cars treatment like that however.