Hope all are well.
When looking at the possibilities for the 2nd Gate to Disneyland Paris, I've typically started from scratch, as it is more enjoyable for me to imagine & lay out a park that begins with Vision, awe-factor, rhyme & reason in terms of theme and attraction placement, carefully positioned vistas, weenies & sightlines - all of which WDSP has lacked. But now that the much-needed revamp is well-underway, I've decided to draw a plan showing how the actual park-that-will-be could further expand & improve.
Right now, this drawing shows - mostly - what will be there when the current central boulevard, lake and Arendelle are finished in 2025. The Front Lot, Toon Studios, Toy Story Playland, Place de Remy, Avengers Campus, Cours des Reves (my name for the lake and boulevard, as I'm not sure what the actual name will be) and Arendelle are "as is" and do not need written explanation here.
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HOLLYWOOD
The big change in Part I is Hollywood, which takes some inspiration from the original Disney-MGM Studios at its best. One passes out of the cheesy Studio One indoor main street and enters a much more impressive Hollywood facsimile: the street is curbed, the atmospheric Resident characters and vehicles are there, the detailed facades all now hold shops & dining. The Tower Hotel looms behind the shops. On the right is a Studio Gate separating Toon Studios from 1930s/40s Hollywood streets.
The major addition here takes up the currently underused corner of the park with a new version of The Great Movie Ride, with its landmark Chinese Theater facade. As at MGM, one queues in an ornate lobby past movie props and costumes and then enters a theater showing classic film trailers, previewing upcoming scenes. Great Movie Ride in its 1.0 form was one of my all-time favorites. Here the concept/feel of the ride is the same, though the execution is somewhat different, including ride system are new film scenes. Musical, Gangster, Western, SciFi, Comedy, Adventure & Fantasy genres would all be represented via highly detailed sets, scores of audio-animatronics and special effects. In my imagination, it would be fully narrated by the great "What will be your fate?" voice from the original ride.
PANDORA
When I think about fixing this park, (ideally) I would have had WDSP offer a completely different menu of themes and IPs than its neighbor, DLP. Duh. Any properties that would nicely enhance an extant land at DLP shouldn't have been considered for WDSP (e.g., Frozen, Tangled, etc. belong in an expanded Fantasyland, not in this park IMO). That ship has sailed, but Disney still has a lot of IP that isn't a natural fit for DLP and would be well-suited for this Catch-All park, some of which is already present: Marvel, Ratatouille, Toy Story, Cars. Avatar is another big example, already associated with Disney Parks, so here it goes.
As often mentioned, my major consideration is sightlines and vistas - how it feels just to explore and soak in the park. So in this plan, I am trying to minimize the impact of the rear of the (ill-placed) Tower of Terror, add a lot of nature and do something to disguise the long view of the Flight Force (former RocknRollecoaster) gravity box. Considering the scale and treatment of the Avatar Flight of Passage showbuilding in Orlando, I thought this would work well abutting Flight Force and get two birds with one (rockwork) stone.
While Flight of Passage is generally the same as in WDW, including the landmark floating mountains, this plan shows a unique and improved version of Pandora, defined by the Navi River Rapids - a long indoor-outdoor raft ride that takes adventurers on a journey throughout the land. This ride features additional "floating" mountains at the top of the lift hill, adding to the depth and grandeur of vistas in the park. Maybe the Good Humans have set up an eco-tourism business, which queues partly through an abandoned hydro plant. Lively Pandoran plants and AA wildlife (e.g. a herd of hammerhead titanotheres, a troop of Pandoran monkeys in branches, etc.) are seen around the riverbanks, with the more sophisticated AAs (such as Navi) and bioluminescence saved for the indoor scenes at the beginning & end of the ride. To account for the Parisian weather, how wet riders get could be turned way down as it is on Tokyo's Splash Mountain.
The canteen and shop from WDW are also here, though relocated. The other addition is a Hometree explore zone.
AVENGERS CAMPUS
I've changed the left edge of the land with the removal of the Stunt Show Theater. A new attraction inspired by Dr. Strange and his magical artifacts takes the form of a special effects show in a similar vein to Alien Encounter or Poseidon's Fury with multiple stages: Preshow A, Preshow B (more elaborate), Main Show (two theaters for capacity).
The exterior is an ancient & otherworldly portal or sanctum made visible by Strange's magic. This aids in the transition to Pandora.
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To be continued...
