Go behind the scenes of pre-opening refurbishments at Disneyland Paris

Take a peek behind the scenes of the pre-opening refurbishments at Disneyland Paris.

In the latest episode of Live from the Magic, the Disneyland Paris InsidEars team take us inside various pre-opening refurbishments taking place at the resort. The video, a delight for fans, showcases the Disneyland Railroad garage, fine-tuning the audio animatronics and video elements inside Pirates of the Caribbean as well as offering a unique look at the Chateau de la belle au bois dormant.

Inside the Disneyland Railroad garage

We begin with a look inside the garage of the Disneyland Railroad. The railroad is an authentic stream train locomotive (the very last that Disney has built given that Hong Kong is actually a Diesel engine), in this segment of the episode we are shown three locomotives with an extra currently being worked on inside the workshop.

Disneyland Railroad Garage at Disneyland Paris

Julien shows us how the 60 metre long trains are maintained as well as just how a steam engine actually works. Along the way we learn that these trains are completely refurbished once every ten years verifying that they still meet all relevant safety requirements and are in perfect condition.

The George Washington train in the garage at Disneyland Paris

Retuning and refining audio animatronics at Pirates of the Caribbean

We then meet Samuel at Pirates of the Caribbean, during the resort closure the waterways were completely drained in order to allow the teams to complete some essential maintenance work and retuning of various audio animatronics and video screens. We meet the team who, each night, inspect each audio animatronic to ensure that they are in good working order for guests to enjoy the following day.

A drained waterway at Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland Paris

There is also get an extremely rare view of how these audio animatronics are precisely tuned and timed as we see the remote computer controlling the Captain aboard one of the ships in the attraction.

An imagineer takes control of an audio animatronic at Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland Paris.

Restoring a park icon: The chateau de la belle au bois dormant

The Chateau de la belle au Bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty Castle) is currently undergoing its largest ever refurbishment. Whilst the park icon will be under tarps for the grand reopening on June 17th, essential work is ongoing daily that will ensure that the castle has never looked better when we come to celebrate the 30th anniversary next year (2022).

Closeup of one of the Sleeping Beauty castle turrets during its refurbishment at Disneyland Paris.

At the castle we meet David who is tells us how the resort closure actually provided a unique opportunity to work during the daylight hours as usually the teams doing this work are only allowed to work when guests have left in the evening.

A look behind the tarp as the Sleeping Beauty castle is behind scaffolding at Disneyland Paris.

We discover the artistry and skill that goes in to replacing 15,000 tiles on the castle’s 15 turrets which all need to be replaced using skilful techniques.

We then go inside the tarps and learn how the painters are bringing the castle to life in vivid and vibrant colours. As fans, we are impatient to see the result.

If this little summary has wet your appetite, grab some popcorn and watch the full episode, right now, on YouTube.

Geoff

When we enter a Disney park, we leave reality at the gate, we turn the turnstile and enter another world. A world where everything has a reason behind it, a world where yesterday is just as good (if not better) than today, and the promise of the future is bright. We immerse ourselves in this world for days at a time, but eventually we must leave and return home to that reality. Now, I run DLP Town Square to share my passion with the world.