For many the Nala building may mean absolutely nothing. This building is part of the changes going on at Disneyland Paris (DLP) right now. Though leaked several weeks ago, even pictures of them breaking ground, today the Euro Disney Group actually made a formal announcement about it.
It’s importance
While a building which will be backstage doesn’t sound very exciting it is important for several reasons. The first is that it is money visibly being spent on the resort and, as highlighted in their article, it is the first new backstage building since 2002. That is the year the Walt Disney Studios park opened. It’s the clearest indication that there is some money to spend and a long term game plan. It isn’t some quick fix. This building is huge and will even house Parade floats. It is being built behind Its a small world.
Show Expansion
In the last year DLP has changed and increased its show lineup, the Nala building is essential in keeping this going. The shows in Paris seem to close at times for no other reason than a change of cast; I have to wonder if this is due to limited rehearsal space which this building will hopefully solve. Will the rumoured Marvel stunt show, due to replace the now empty Cinemagique, on the way, this space could be very important for it. We still seem to be a year away from it reopening so it seems likely stunt rehearsals are currently required in the Cinemagique building.
Park Expansion
For those that visited WDS prior to the Ratatouille expansion, you may remember that the Tram Tour took a slightly different route. After returning past the Dinotopia scene you would drive past the costume building. This was demolished and then replaced with the Ratatouille ride and restaurant. Since then a temporary structure had been in place behind the Tram Tour entrance. It would appear everything here will be moving to the Nala building. That doesn’t mean we will suddenly see expansion behind the Tram Tour but it is one of the steps required for any expansion in that area.
Timeframe
The Nala building will take less than a year to build and open in November 2018 once testing has been completed. This will be just 6 months prior to the next D23. That’s important as they will also need time to clear the area behind the Tram Tour and file any expansion paper work. If they want to announce anything for Paris at D23 this would fit nicely into the schedule. As expected it would mean no new ride construction before the next D23 which could well be why nothing was announced in 2017.
Pandora the world of Avatar
One rumour that has been doing the rounds is the Walt Disney Company (TWDC) wanting to recreate Pandora the world of Avatar in Paris. They’ve spent $500m designing and building it at Animal Kingdom in the hope of making it a full day park, something they are trying to do at WDS too. It would be expected to be built behind the Tram Tour. If fact, the first announcement about Pandora back in 2011, confirmed it would be coming to Disney Parks (plural) and that Animal Kingdom would be the first, but not the only.
There are very few other options for where they could build this around the world. Star Wars land will take up most of the potential expansion space is California, where space is very limited. Hong Kong and Tokyo already have expansions announced. There would also be question marks around building a non Disney IP land inside a main Disneyland Park. Hong Kong’s second park seems on the back burner with possible investment being redirected to the current park. Pandora doesn’t seem like it would fit with the current Disney Sea style without some reworking. WDS seems to be looking to create some very distinct areas, Pandora could be one with the added benefit of not needing to build around existing rides. This could be a straight copy and paste making it cheaper to build. There are numerous Avatar sequels scheduled to start releasing from December 2020 which would allow Paris to open the land off the back of the film releases.
It’s easy to run away with ideas from one announcement but though this in itself doesn’t confirm any sort of expansion, it a required step for it in the future.
My Speil 
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