[vc_row type=”vc_default” full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” columns_placement=”bottom” parallax=”content-moving” parallax_image=”3547″ el_id=”section1″ el_class=”vc_hidden-xs vc_hidden-sm”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1497811651270{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_custom_heading source=”post_title” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20italic%3A700%3Aitalic”][vc_column_text]With the opening of Star Tours: L’aventure continue and Hyperspace Mountain, Disneyland Paris has rethemed and repurposed two successful and popular attractions. Fans are divided on whether or not this is a good or bad thing. For some, any new experience is an occasion to be celebrated; others dislike how classic experiences are modified from their original design and that preference should be given to expansion.[/vc_column_text][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-chevron-down” color=”black” align=”center” link=”url:%23section2|||”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”vc_default” full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” columns_placement=”bottom” video_bg=”yes” video_bg_url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYa_6C85uw” el_id=”section2″ el_class=”vc_hidden-xs vc_hidden-sm”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1497811663491{padding-top: 40px !important;padding-right: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;background-color: rgba(12,12,12,0.82) !important;*background-color: rgb(12,12,12) !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Rethemes are not inherently bad” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]For many retheme=bad. But this is not always the case. Take the recent re-opening of Space Mountain with a Star Wars overlay which has opened to fan approval. There are other rethemes that have fans more sceptical such as the one that has recently taken place at Disneyland in Anaheim where the Tower of Terror has become Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. It’s difficult to take an emblematic attraction and change it. Space Mountain is one of those attractions that is beautiful on the outside and inside but was difficult to market. Hyperspace Mountain is still beautiful from the outside but has an intense marketability.
If the idea is good, the retheme will also be good. The worry is purely on whether the retheme is purely for marketing reasons or if there is an plausible reason to change the story.[/vc_column_text][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-chevron-down” color=”white” align=”center” link=”url:%23section3|||”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”vc_default” full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” parallax=”content-moving” parallax_image=”3713″ css=”.vc_custom_1497811999940{background-position: center;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}” el_id=”section3″ el_class=”vc_hidden-xs vc_hidden-sm”][vc_column][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1497807874776{margin-right: 300px !important;margin-left: 300px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_column_inner offset=”vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_custom_heading text=”Why not expand? ” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1497808523069{padding-top: 15px !important;padding-right: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1497808463750{padding-top: 40px !important;padding-right: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;}”]The more complicated question is answer is why not expand? Expansion is quite simply expensive. In 2014, Disneyland Paris inaugurated Ratatouille: L’Aventure totalement toquée de Rémy which included the attraction, shop, restaurant and mini-land costing €200 million. Additionally there is a recruitment of new cast members to cover the cost of a new attraction and increased maintenance costs. This should not stop development but it does go someway to explaining as to why new attractions don’t come daily or yearly. Ideally new attractions bring an increased number of visitors to the resort and higher revenues; however this was not the case in Disneyland Paris for the Ratatouille development. Rethemed attractions are not only cheaper but allow marketing for new experiences based on popular franchises. Hardcore Disney fans may object to a franchise being shoe-horned into the park, but the average visitor simply doesn’t care – they want to see a film and characters represented.[/vc_column_text][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-chevron-down” color=”black” align=”center” link=”url:%23section4|||”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”vc_default” full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1497812008897{background-image: url(https://www.dlptownsquare.com//wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Cinemagique-Night.jpg?id=3723) !important;}” el_id=”section4″ el_class=”vc_hidden-xs vc_hidden-sm”][vc_column][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1497809269399{background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.01) !important;*background-color: rgb(255,255,255) !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1497810407551{padding-top: 40px !important;padding-right: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”But retheme and expansion can work harmoniously” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]The two are not mutually exclusive. It’s not as if you can have one but not the other. In fact an expansion could work best when involving a retheme. For example, the previously referenced retheme in Disneyland with Guardians of the Galaxy involves a bigger plan, the plan for a Marvel superheroes land. One can assume that this will involve expansion. Thus an attraction has been used with the vision of becoming the gateway to something bigger. Something very similar could be happening at Disneyland Paris with the closure of Cinémagique; rumours are spreading that this theatre will become a Marvel-based stunt show. It is very possible that the Walt Disney Studios park will have a Marvel themed area and why not some of this being an expansion? It’s not entirely inconceivable after all.
Would this be a good solution to the loss of a beloved attraction? Potentially.[/vc_column_text][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-chevron-down” color=”black” align=”center” link=”url:%23section5|||”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”vc_default” full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” full_height=”yes” columns_placement=”bottom” parallax=”content-moving” parallax_image=”3730″ el_id=”section5″ el_class=”vc_hidden-xs vc_hidden-sm”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1497811695291{padding-top: 40px !important;padding-right: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 40px !important;padding-left: 40px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Are Disney prioritising retheme over expansion and new attractions? ” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]Quite simply, no. Whilst the retheme of attractions seems to be recently prevalent it is certainly not new. The most known example in Disneyland Paris is the change from Space Mountain: de la terre à la lune to Space Mountain: Mission 2, but other things have been rethemed or renamed. Hakuna Matata and Agrabah Café have all been given new names over the past years at Disneyland Paris. Even looking at the trends in Disney parks across the world, expansion is still taking place. In Paris we have very recently had La place de Rémy, in Florida the expansions of Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land are underway and in Anaheim Star Wars Land is also underway. The Asian resorts are also seeing extensive expansions from the major projects in Hong Kong and Tokyo to smaller projects in Shanghai.
Paris is simply following an international trend and it’s OK. Whilst we all want to see the Walt Disney Studios park expand, sometimes the price for a new attraction is a retheme, and that is not necessarily bad. Providing story exists and make sense a retheme can be just as good as an expansion.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”vc_default” el_class=”vc_hidden-md vc_hidden-lg”][vc_column offset=”vc_hidden-lg vc_hidden-md”][vc_column_text]
Retheme or Expansion: A careful balancing act
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]With the opening of Star Tours: L’aventure continue and Hyperspace Mountain, Disneyland Paris has rethemed and repurposed two successful and popular attractions. Fans are divided on whether or not this is a good or bad thing. For some, any new experience is an occasion to be celebrated; others dislike how classic experiences are modified from their original design and that preference should be given to expansion.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3595″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Rethemes are not inherently bad” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:left|color:%230c0c0c” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]For many retheme=bad. But this is not always the case. Take the recent re-opening of Space Mountain with a Star Wars overlay which has opened to fan approval. There are other rethemes that have fans more sceptical such as the one that has recently taken place at Disneyland in Anaheim where the Tower of Terror has become Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. It’s difficult to take an emblematic attraction and change it. Space Mountain is one of those attractions that is beautiful on the outside and inside but was difficult to market. Hyperspace Mountain is still beautiful from the outside but has an intense marketability.
If the idea is good, the retheme will also be good. The worry is purely on whether the retheme is purely for marketing reasons or if there is an plausible reason to change the story.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Why not expand? ” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]The more complicated question is answer is why not expand? Expansion is quite simply expensive. In 2014, Disneyland Paris inaugurated Ratatouille: L’Aventure totalement toquée de Rémy which included the attraction, shop, restaurant and mini-land costing €200 million. Additionally there is a recruitment of new cast members to cover the cost of a new attraction and increased maintenance costs. This should not stop development but it does go someway to explaining as to why new attractions don’t come daily or yearly. Ideally new attractions bring an increased number of visitors to the resort and higher revenues; however this was not the case in Disneyland Paris for the Ratatouille development. Rethemed attractions are not only cheaper but allow marketing for new experiences based on popular franchises. Hardcore Disney fans may object to a franchise being shoe-horned into the park, but the average visitor simply doesn’t care – they want to see a film and characters represented.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3708″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”But retheme and expansion can work harmoniously” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]The two are not mutually exclusive. It’s not as if you can have one but not the other. In fact an expansion could work best when involving a retheme. For example, the previously referenced retheme in Disneyland with Guardians of the Galaxy involves a bigger plan, the plan for a Marvel superheroes land. One can assume that this will involve expansion. Thus an attraction has been used with the vision of becoming the gateway to something bigger. Something very similar could be happening at Disneyland Paris with the closure of Cinémagique; rumours are spreading that this theatre will become a Marvel-based stunt show. It is very possible that the Walt Disney Studios park will have a Marvel themed area and why not some of this being an expansion? It’s not entirely inconceivable after all.
Would this be a good solution to the loss of a beloved attraction? Potentially.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3723″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Are Disney prioritising retheme over expansion and new attractions? ” google_fonts=”font_family:Ubuntu%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]Quite simply, no. Whilst the retheme of attractions seems to be recently prevalent it is certainly not new. The most known example in Disneyland Paris is the change from Space Mountain: de la terre à la lune to Space Mountain: Mission 2, but other things have been rethemed or renamed. Hakuna Matata and Agrabah Café have all been given new names over the past years at Disneyland Paris. Even looking at the trends in Disney parks across the world, expansion is still taking place. In Paris we have very recently had La place de Rémy, in Florida the expansions of Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land are underway and in Anaheim Star Wars Land is also underway. The Asian resorts are also seeing extensive expansions from the major projects in Hong Kong and Tokyo to smaller projects in Shanghai.
Paris is simply following an international trend and it’s OK. Whilst we all want to see the Walt Disney Studios park expand, sometimes the price for a new attraction is a retheme, and that is not necessarily bad. Providing story exists and make sense a retheme can be just as good as an expansion.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
