After three years of renovations, the Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris, finally re-opened on Jan. 25 with a new focus on luxury.
With a five-star rating and a manager whose resume includes the Ritz and the Mandarin Oriental, the hotel, which is located over the main entrance to the park, boasts a spa, kids club, styling studio similar to Florida’s Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and even a pillow menu (there are seven different types of neck support to choose from) in addition to its 487 rooms and suites.
While Disney’s last foray into experiential accommodation ended in tears when Orlando’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel shut down last fall just eighteen months after it opened, the company’s latest endeavour (which launched just a week before new Pixar Place Hotel at Disneyland in Anaheim) proves lessons have been learned about what guests actually want.
Gone are the windowless cabins and mandatory character interaction. Instead visitors can enjoy breathtaking views of Sleeping Beauty’s castle and soak in high-tech animated details, including a life-size version of Aurora’s dress made from fibreoptic fabric that turns from pink to blue at the touch of a button.
“You’re not only coming here to sleep in a bed,” manager Majbritt Iaconis tells Variety.
“Why are you coming here? It’s for all the different experiences on offer.”
Promising “excellence and immersive storytelling,” the hotel aims to offer both an extension of the company’s two French parks (as well as Disneyland Paris there is also a separately-ticketed park called Walt Disney Studios) and the first word in comfort, combining themed restaurants, character encounters and interactive suites inspired by classic films including “Beauty and the Beast” and “Cinderella” with amenities such as 24-hour room service and high-end bath products.
Disney’s French team, led by veteran Imagineer and art director Sylvie Massara (who was also responsible for the resort’s 2021 Marvel-themed hotel), were tasked with bringing the studio’s films to life, with Disney’s Burbank HQ providing archive art and props for inspiration as well as approving designs and interactive details, such as a glowing glass slipper in the Cinderella suite. Pixar Studios artists designed a “Brave”-themed tapestry, which was brought to life by craftsmen from a 130-year-old weaving workshop in the North of France and now hangs in the hotel’s Royal Banquet restaurant.
— Variety