At the end of Hollywood Boulevard, like a gate leading into the Hollywood Hills beyond, is the entrance to the Studio Tram Tour, one of the featured attractions of Walt Disney Studios Park. While Walt Disney Studios in Paris was never intended to be a real, functioning movie studio, the attraction still does an effective job of providing Guests a "behind the scenes" look at motion picture and television production.
The queue winds past large-scale movie props, like this car driven by Glenn Close as
Cruella de Vil in the live action
102 Dalmatians, and then it's on to the tour tram. Similar to the shuttles used for the Studio
Backlot Tour at Disney's Hollywood Studios, the key difference here is these tram cars are each outfitted with a high-definition flat screen.
The screens are used to deliver the narration for the tour, courtesy of actors Jeremy Irons, speaking English, and Irene Jacob, speaking in French. Apart from the dose of celebrity provided, the screens are also effective at showcasing how some of the sets and props seen on the tour were used in their respective productions.
After an introduction, the tour proceeds past the first of two "
Boneyards," areas on a studio lot where vehicles and props from past productions are left until they might be needed again. Among the items seen along the Paris route are this large-scale model of one of the shuttles from
Armageddon and some
animatronics used in the production of the live action elements of Disney's
Dinosaur.
Next, it's on to a large, outdoor set from the TV series "
Dinotopia," which was actually more popular in Europe than it was in the U.S. The area is completely decked out with all the necessary equipment to give the impression that this is an actual "hot set."
While the crew shooting "
Dinotopia" might be MIA, there's definitely some activity happening on the next set up ahead: Catastrophe Canyon. Although it's essentially a duplicate of the attraction in Florida, what this version of Catastrophe Canyon does better is to create the illusion of a modern, working set.
Once on the set, the show is the same, complete with simulations of rain, an earthquake, explosions and a flash flood.
Leaving Catastrophe Canyon behind, our guides on screen begin to discuss the Studio's Wardrobe department, a holdover from the days when the trams actually drove alongside the open windows of the Costuming building. With the recent addition of Toy Story
Playland, however, the route was changed, removing that element from the tour.
Next, though, it's on to the Studio
Motorpool, a collection of classic cars used in everything from
Pearl Harbor to
Reign of Fire.
Reign of Fire, a futuristic action film about a flock of dragons who emerge from the earth to wreak havoc on London and the world, opened in 2002 shortly after Walt Disney Studios Park made its debut. The movie was, no doubt, expected to be a blockbuster (alas, it was not), so sets from the film were recreated on the lot of the new studio park.
Our tour tram enters the London street set, littered with debris from battles with the dragons. We pause briefly outside an Underground Station, only to be surprised with a burst of fiery dragon breath so close and hot it'll singe your eyebrows.
The tour takes one more turn alongside the backstage prep areas for
Moteurs... Action! Stunt Spectacular, before returning to the station for us to continue exploring Walt Disney Studios Park on foot.
TAND
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
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