Disneyland fans who want to see something new — other than construction walls — may need to fly to Paris next year.
While the company works on new projects including an expanded Avengers Campus in Anaheim and new Tropical Americas land at Walt Disney World, it will open a major transformation of its Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris in March.
I flew to Paris last week for a preview of the changes. On March 29, Disney will rename Disneyland Paris’ second gate as Disney Adventure World. With the original Disneyland Paris next door, that will give the Paris resort a “Disneyland” and a “Disney World” in the same place for the first time. If that’s not confusing enough, Disney will then take the “Walt Disney Studios” name that Disneyland Paris will no longer be using and slap it on the old Animation Courtyard land in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World.
You know, the park that used to be called Disney-MGM Studios. At least Disney is doing its best to keep sign makers fully employed.
But it’s not just a name change in Paris. Disney is expanding the park with multiple new lands, including an installation of the World of Frozen land that first opened in Hong Kong in 2023.
Leading up to it will be Adventure Way, a new promenade at the heart of the park. Imagine if Disneyland ended at Town Square, with paths to Adventureland and Tomorrowland extending from either side. That was the basic shape of the old Walt Disney Studios Park, which consistently placed last among all Disney theme parks worldwide for attendance.
Adventure Way creates a handsome new “Main Street” that extends from the park’s entry plaza all the way down to Arendelle’s North Mountain and Castle in World of Frozen. The architecture of Adventure Way reminded me of Celestial Park in Universal’s new Epic Universe park in Orlando. Both evoke turn-of-the-20th-century world’s fairs, with a blend of Victorian and Art Nouveau influences. It’s a smart design choice for an engaging central space that complements the variety of single-franchise-themed lands that they lead into.
In Paris, two of those lands will be Disney’s first themed to The Lion King — which will open at a later, unannounced date — and World of Frozen, which opens March 29. Like its predecessor in Hong Kong, Disney’s real-life creation of Arendelle is all Scandinavian hygge, a cozy space of wooden facades that welcome fans into an indoor boat ride, restaurant, shops and character meets.
One of those characters will be a robotic Olaf. Disney unveiled the size-appropriate animatronic character in Paris last week to great praise. It’s a stunning work of technology that makes you forget that it is tech. All you see is Olaf from the Frozen movies, walking, talking and come to life.
Disney has teased a Frozen-themed land as part of its DisneylandForward plans in Anaheim. If Disney does add a World of Frozen to its to-do list in Anaheim, I suspect that California fans would be pleased with that addition. In the meantime, it’s a great add in Paris.