March 16, 2024, 3:11 PM ·
Happy 22nd birthday today to Walt Disney Studios Park.
The second gate at the Disneyland Paris resort opened March 16, 2002. Themed to a movie production studio, the park disappointed many Disney fans when it debuted. Only the Animation Academy step-drawing class and Flying Carpets Over Agrabah spinner continue among the park’s opening-day attractions.Over the past two decades, Disney has added several new attractions to the park, even as it has revamped or removed others. A Cars overlay now occupies the remnants of what was once the Studio Tram Tour. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with Aerosmith got a Marvel retheme to become Avengers Assemble: Flight Force, anchoring the Avengers Campus land that also claimed the former Armageddon show theater. In 2014, Walt Disney Studios Park added a Ratatouille-themed ride, which came to Walt Disney World’s EPCOT in 2021. That is now part of WDS’ Worlds of Pixar land, which also includes Crush’s Coaster and Cars Race Rally, which were added to the park in 2007, and Toy Story Playland, which opened in 2010.
Now under construction, WDS’ Frozen-themed land, Kingdom of Arendelle, will open next year. Mostly a clone of the World of Frozen land that recently opened at Hong Kong Disneyland, Paris’ version will not include the Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs family roller coaster. In addition, the park is slated to get a new Alice in Wonderland show later this year. But it also is closing the Studio 1 building, as Disney creates a new entrance plaza for the park.So, as always it seems, Walt Disney Studios Park remains in a state of transition, as Disney keeps working to draw more fans to what was its least-attended park worldwide before the pandemic. But, hey, happy birthday, Walt Disney Studios Park. We can’t wait to see everything that Disney has in store for this destination.For tickets to the Disneyland Paris theme parks, please visit our partner’s Disneyland Paris theme parks tickets page.To keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider’s weekly newsletter.
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