(Euro) Disney(land) (Resort) (Paris) Logos…

Between its development and today, through its various name changes, The Resort Currently Known As Disneyland Paris has gone through quite a few logos. Here's an overview that should cover most of them…

A Short History of Disneyland Paris Guide Maps

If you haven’t yet seen the Disneyland Paris Treasures blog featuring the 1992 souvenir map created by imagineer Sam McKim, you should do so immediately. The maps I’m looking at today are a little less fancy, though I'd bet they had a substantially higher edition size… 

"it's a small world – celebration" Attraction Poster

"it's a small world – celebration" is the holiday overlay to the popular attraction at Disneyland Paris. Unlike its cousins in California, Hong Kong and Tokyo, the overlay does not consist of adding Christmas imagery to the show scenes but rather showcasing winter holiday traditions from each place represented, mostly through highly elaborate costumes, a number of typical props and various special effects.

The seasonal overlay originally ran from 1999 through 2004 when it was discontinued… When it was picked up again for the 2009 holiday season, Tom, the new project manager, wanted to change and improve the show in a number of ways. He got me onboard for any new graphics, illustrations and audio/video production, gradually updated through 2011.

Euro Disney – "A Dream Come True"

It's been a while since I've last posted something from my vintage Euro Disney collection (Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted anything at all). To make up for it, here's a 32 page German-language brochure that was distributed as an advertising supplement in newspapers and magazines back in 1992.

It's a little worse for wear as you'll see, mostly because I couldn't stop examining the publicity shots in it as a kid. I must have spent hours looking at that aerial view on the next-to-last page alone.

I've kept everything in it, including the park sponsors' ads so you can fully enjoy this little document from a time when magazine ads had more text but fewer footnotes and when Euro Disney actually advertised their resort in Germany.

Where the Birds Sing Words…

I've posted this some time in advance on Twitter but here it is again:

A quintessential Disneyland experience and probably the first thing that pops into my mind when I think of our visit to Walt's original park.

Happy birthday, Enchanted Tiki Room!

The Hillbilly Bear Trio

I'm no Marc Davis. If you don't already know his work inside-out, I urge you to go and seek out his actual artwork rather than looking at this small and quick sketch in which I tried (and probably failed) to imitate his style. With that out of the way…

The Hillbilly Trio has been playing at Frontierland since 1992; I still have some 1994 camcorder footage of one of their songs. A few of their tunes even appear on the park's album releases. When I was working in Frontierland in the mid to late 2000s the same three musicians were still regularly performing at the Cowboy Cookout Barbecue restaurant. More recently they played on board the Molly Brown for its big re-opening ceremony. In short, they're pretty much a Disneyland Paris staple.

I really enjoyed their outdoor sets with banjo, washboard percussion and upright or washtub bass. So here's a little tribute to that group; the Hillbilly Trio as Country Bears.

The Duck Avenger

This week marked the 3000th issue of the Italian "Topolino" (Mickey Mouse) magazine. The Italian comics have expanded the Disney Duck universe considerably and one of their most notable additions was Donald's thief-cum-superhero identity.

Here's a little tribute to that part of the Disney family tree. Paperinik, a.k.a. The Duck Avenger, in art deco style. I grew up on Italian comics along with those by the likes of Carl Barks and Don Rosa so doing this brought me right back.