Fans of the Disney universe finally have a date to tick in their calendar with the announcement of the reopening of Disneyland Paris on June 17th.
After two postponements, the first European amusement park and its hotels will open its doors to visitors, who will be able to discover the new attraction "Cars Road trip" which will transport visitors into the world of animated films "Cars" and book as soon as possible. on June 21 a room at Disney's Hotel New York - The Art of Marvel, renovated to immerse yourself in the universe.
A reopening for which the park had been preparing for many months. Like its iconic attraction of Sleeping Beauty Castle, Disneyland Paris Park, in Marne-la-Vallée (Seine-et-Marne), seems dozing since it was forced to close its doors to public on October 29th. But we should not be fooled by appearances, behind these closed doors many employees are busy continuing to maintain the amusement park or on the renovation sites of attractions.
Of the approximately 14,000 permanent employees employed by the famous amusement park, nearly a thousand "Magic keepers" continue their daily work of maintenance, security or development. 'horticulture.
They are supported by 3,000 other employees who continue their teleworking activity, so that the park can reopen with all its novelties as if it had never closed its doors.
Maintenance, work on attractions and horticulture
“We haven't stopped working. Since March, 50% of our teams have been working on site to maintain the 400 ha of green and flowered spaces and ensure irrigation management ”, explains Pierrick Paillard, manager in charge of supervising the horticulture team. . "We are in charge of the largest garden in Europe with nearly 35,000 trees and up to a million flowers planted in some years, as well as 10,000 km of irrigation, 45,000 sprinklers but also 35 beehives and nesting boxes for wild birds, ”says the manager who started out as a simple gardener when Disneyland opened in 1992. Today, he is in charge of 130 gardeners and landscapers.
Chessy, Wednesday April 21, 2021. The gardeners of Disneyland Paris took advantage of the confinement and closure of the park to the public to redo floral decorations around attractions and hotels.
Sylvain Beche
This new forced closure, the second since March 2020, is an opportunity for park teams to move forward on sites for future attractions, such as “Cars Road Trip”.
It needed to remodel the decor of the “Catastrophe Canyon” of the old Studio Tram Tour of the Walt Disney Studios park.
Or to redo the exterior floral decorations of parks and hotels, in particular of the famous attraction "It's a small world".
To read alsoThe future attraction "Cars" of Disneyland Paris benefits these companies of Seine-et-Marne
“The closure to the public has enabled us to complete pending work and in particular to rework two remaining beds on this attraction, which has 2,000 flowers in all.
We were able to do more in-depth work on the floors than if visitors were present.
People do not suspect all the work necessary and the many actors behind this magic ”, confides Manon Hazebroucq, project manager who imagined the new floral decoration of the attraction and in particular its iconic clock.
More than 500 trees, such as country maples, Colorado spruces, giant sequoias and other large trees transported in exceptional convoys, have also been planted to develop the future “Cars Road Trip” attraction.
Chessy, Wednesday April 21, 2021. The gardeners of Disneyland Paris took advantage of the confinement and closure of the park to the public to redo floral decorations around attractions and hotels.
Sylvain Beche
An adapted work organization
But the closure to the public also allows the different teams to adapt their work organization. “Normally, when the park is open to visitors, we are a bit of a shadow worker because our teams of gardeners work at night or very early from five in the morning, before moving to the green spaces of the hotels. In the absence of visitors, the hourly amplitude is more important. Instead of starting at dawn we start around 7 or 8 o'clock. It's more pleasant to work with daylight and it allows us to be more efficient, ”says Pierrick Paillard.
A quietude that arouses mixed feelings among employees. “It was certainly better to be able to mount the more complicated parts of the floral decoration in the light of day, such as eight-meter-long diamond-shaped battens. It can sometimes be a nice feeling to have the park all to ourselves, but it's sad to see this empty place. The salt of our trade is the night planting periods. I miss that and I can't wait to take them back and see the visitors' reactions the next day, ”Manon Hazebrouck projects herself.