Hi again!
Today the Kenzie’s took Disneyland Paris!
For those of you who don’t know, I
LOVE Disney. I grew up watching the movies and going to the parks. I have been
to Walt Disney World in Florida multiple times and Disneyland in California
once. I wear a lot of Disney in my daily wardrobe. My phone case and purses are
my everyday Disney accessory, and if I could wear Mickey ears everyday I would.
For my capstone collection, I have focused on the freedom of Disney, and being
able to embrace your love of Disney characters and your inner child. Though, I
have seen many variations of Disney style through the parks and Pinterest, I
wanted to experience an international Disneyland. This was also Kenzie
Santamour’s first trip to any Disney park, so I had the pleasure of being a bit
of a tour guide and making the trip magical for her.
Disneyland Paris is split up into
two parks, Disneyland Park (which is the Magic Kingdom) and Walt Disney Studios
Park. We started at Walt Disney Studios Park, which is similar to Hollywood
Studios in Walt Disney World. I was very excited to see the little Toy Story
and Ratatouille sections they had there. I love the Toy Story themed areas and
rides because they make everything large, in order to make you the scale of the
toys, making you feel part of that world (oops Little Mermaid reference). The
Toy Story section had a very cute ride called, Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop,
making it as if you were one of the toy army men floating down on a parachute.
Similar to Toy Story, the Ratatouille
ride made you feel what it was like for Remy, a rat, to be running around the
kitchen floor in Gusteau’s restaurant. This movie is set in Paris, so it was
exciting to see them utilize it in the park, as I have not seen much for
Ratatouille in the other Disney parks I’ve been too. It’s interesting to try to
figure out what characters are more popular here than in the U.S. It’s hard to
say if Ratatouille is more popular here because it has an attraction and
merchandise, because it’s French, or because of the characters itself. What I
love about Disney is seeing all the merchandise they come up with for all of
their characters, like the Remy hat and shirts. I thought they were very cute,
and will probably regret not buying them.
We then went to Disneyland Park to
see Main Street, U.S.A. and Sleeping Beauty’s castle. We went on several rides
there including Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Mad Tea Party,
Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain, and “it’s a small world.” We wanted to hit the
thrilling rides, as well as the classics. “It’s a small world” may be very
dated, but it is a classic Walt Disney ride. He debuted this ride at the 1964
New York World Fair. Not all may care for the tune to be stuck in their head
for hours after riding it, but this ride displays Disney history and their
focus on detail. Though the 300+ animatronic children are not detailed to e
lifelike, their costumes are. Most of the costumes are fabrics, and not just
part of a robot. Each one uses the most identifiable elements of a culture’s
fashion to represent them in the ride. There is a focus on how fabrics will
move with the dancing of the character, seen in the Indian dress and hula
skirts. African prints and colors are used to create this cultures garment for
the dolls, and are not seen elsewhere. Each costume is embellished according to
the culture, and is done so with great care.
After going on rides, we ventured
the shops on Main Street U.S.A. where I was able to find some great inspiration
for my capstone. Part of my collection is focused on elevating Disney
merchandise to higher end garments, with more emphasis on fabrics and surface
details. In one store I did find the Disneyland Paris collection. Many unique
fabrics in higher quality fabrics were used to create garments that stood out
from the average Mickey tee. Their was a dress made of velour, which stood out
next to the typical t-shirt and sweatshirt material, and was adorned with
embellishments and patches. This made me feel good about my collection, because
it seems people are looking for things similar to what I am creating, and that my
collection will hopefully appeal to an international customer.
The rides and the park were all
very magical. One of the things I love about Disney is seeing how they change
things from park to park, and all the little details they put into everything
they do. It was certainly a day full of Disney magic!
