What Is Happening To Art Of Animation

Closures come and go at Disneyland Paris and many of them are little more than repair work. With Project Sparkle for the 25th Anniversary we've seen some lengthy closures, with Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain and Phantom Manor closing for between 7 and 12 months. These rides saw huge behind the scenes work in bringing the rides back to their original glory while adding some extras.

Currently scheduled, but not announced, appears to be a lengthy closure for Art of Animation in Walt Disney Studios. Starting January 7th, it'll remain closed until at least the 7th August. This is a four room building where three use screens and a four contains a meet and greet area as well as a drawing school. These aren't elements which should require more than a few weeks at most.

What adds to the intrigue is the other planned closures in close proximity. The Studio Tram Tour behind the Art of Animation building will also close on January 7th but reopen 6 months later. This could provide a lot of access to the Art of Animation building and land around it. Cars Quatre Roues Rallye will also be closed for 3 and a half months from February 11th to May 24th. This would allow the entire area around Art of Animation to be closed off.

Cars Quatre Roues Rallye
The ride isn't and hasn't been scheduled for any big refurbishment but this closure could allow them to update some electrics. What seems strange is to decision to close it at the same time as two other attractions. Mickey and the Magician also won't reopen until March leave the Studios very light on attractions.

Studio Tram Tour The Tram Tour was originally on the Project Sparkle plan with changes coming to various themeing. Reign of Fire was to become Avengers, Catastrophy Canyon would be Cars and Dinotopia, Star Wars. Jeremy Irons was also set to record new footage. This could be back on the agenda and well as a long rumoured entrance move. With the park expansion due to start next year this closure could be part of the wider park changes.

Art of Animation

This still leaves a lot of questions around Art of Animation, it surely can't have a lengthy closure to open as the same attraction for the reasons above. It could continue to operate and certainly doesn't need at least two months longer.

Meet and Greet Location A few meet and greets have been placed in the final room here. Moana, Belle and the Incredibles have all had spells. Mickey and Minnie has also appeared in Festive attire. It is possible it will receive a refit similar to Fantasy Festival Stage which is now a multi-room Mickey meet and greet location. This by itself seems an under use of the building.

Walt Disney Studios Expansion Much like One Man's Dream in Hollywood Studios in Florida, the rooms could be converted to house the expansion models and sketchs to raise the excitement of what is to come. This could be expanded to include other park history elements and increase the meet and greet offerings.

Star Wars Launch Bay The closure coincides with Legends of the Force which will see Star Wars again descend on Walt Disney Studios. Chewbacca is already confirmed to be meeting guests but it's not announced where. Path of the Jedi could move into one of the theatres in the building. Plans of the expansion including the new Star Wars land could be added too. Art of Animation would as such be closed, but temporarily replaced in the way the Spiderman meet and greet currently is.

New ride Like Visionarium, Art of Animation has a large floor space with little work needed to open it out. There is certainly scope for it to be turned into a other ride. Despite the announcement of a huge expansion there is only one confirmed ride. Rock n Rollercoaster's re-theme to Iron Man. The released image was only an artists impression.

What rides would fit in the space? The long rumoured Toy Story Mania could though it is probably a bit dated now. A retheming of it is possible. A dark ride like Under the Sea or Winnie the Pooh could possibly fit too but probably doesn't fit in with the theme of the area. The building appears to short for a version of Mickeys Runaway Railway being built at Hollywood Studios. Something in the Pixar worlds would be the most likely but with few options available it would appear a ret-heme or new idea would be required.

Restaurant The final idea would be to change this to a new themed restaurant. This may allow Backlot Express to be scrapped and even Restaurant des Stars replaced. With Marvel going in that side of the park they will most likely have to close for a time at least. With Chez Remy being very popular and Walt Disney Studios food options being quite poor, a new Pixar restaurant could fit the bill. We already know that Colonial Hathis will be receive a change, possibly in theme and dining experience. Pizza Planet in Discoveryland is also gone for good. Could it come back in Walt Disney Studios?