DodoFinance Breaking News Made For You!
Today, 1:23 p.m.
The Dutchman Michel den Dulk (42) is the creative manager of the future expansions of the Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris. The park will be expanded in the coming years with several new themed areas, including a Frozen section. In a podcast episode, designer Den Dulk lifts a corner of the veil.
The Dutch cartooning talent joined the D-Tales podcast, for an interview lasting over 140 minutes. Den Dulk, who in the past also the Efteling and Europa-Park, left friends and family more than ten years ago to start a new life in the United States. He explains exactly how he ended up at The Walt Disney Company and what Disney projects he’s been involved in so far.
The designer also says more about the design process: who decides which attractions and theme worlds will be built? What is the freedom of Disney imaginers and how do they work? And what’s it like dealing with Disney greats like Tony Baxter and the late Marty Skler go?
Countryside
Den Dulk has specialized in developing Frozen attractions in recent years. After a boat trip in the American Disney park Epcot (2015), a Frozen part of his hand will open next year in Hong Kong Disneyland. Something similar will follow later at Disneyland Paris. It’s not always about copying and pasting, stresses Den Dulk, because you always have to take into account the surrounding landscape.
In Paris he takes care of “some unique aspects”. Frozen’s expansion there is part of a larger master plan, in which the entire studio park is ultimately to receive a new design and look. “The idea is that you can see the park at different stages of filmmaking, when you enter this park”said Den Dulk. “Think of where the film originated, when the film came out in a theater. And then you enter the world of the film itself.”
haunted house
The Dutchman further reveals that the attraction will not contain any references to the 2019 sequel Frozen II, as preparations for the project were already at an advanced stage when the film was released. Finally, he speaks about the critics of the fans and about his ambitions. Den Dulk indicates that he would like to design a haunted house. He is closely following the development of the Danse Macabre ghost attraction in Efteling, he says.
