Water Park, Village, Hotels & Transportation: Imagineering the Future Pt.5

Water Park, Village, Hotels & Transportation: Imagineering the Future Pt.5

It’s been a long time since the last 
Disneyland Paris 2040 project video, let’s refresh our memory pull a fast 
“previously on” Disneyland Paris 2040 recap! In part one and two, we transformed the 
Disneyland Park with many changes and additions, the land that saw the biggest transformation 
was Discoveryland with countless new rides and experiences, including a Star Wars land behind 
the berm. Fantasyland and Adventureland saw the addition of a new Little Mermaid ride, 
Seven Dwarves Mine Train and a Moana area, in Frontierland we added a new haunted immersive 
dining experience, Fantasmic! on the Rivers of the Far West and my take on a Villains Kingdom 
land behind the berm. In part 3 and 4 we went to the second gate of the resort, this was my most 
ambitious project yet that saw the addition of new placemaking in World Premiere, a slightly 
modified Radiator Springs replacing Road Trip, the Lion King land that’s actually coming and 
Avatar with the flying theatre we all love and two new rides, including a kuka arm that I really do 
think would make an incredible ride. We also added a small forest expansion to the World of Frozen 
and one to Avengers Campus, on top of all this also came a major new 5-star hotel at the back of 
the park, alongside its own exclusive entrance! A total of 20 new attractions, including ones 
that are actually being built as we speak, 10 in each park were added in the plans, 12 new 
restaurants, countless shops and kiosks and a lot of new entertainment. All this is sure to attract 
millions more guests to the resort every year and so in today’s video we’ll focus on 4 major 
aspects: the shopping, dining and entertainment district, also known as Disney Village, 
hotels for all these new guests coming in, infrastructure both backstage and on stage with 
new transportation methods, roads and more and on top of this a brand new water park! So, with 
that, let’s start with Disney Village, shall we? First things first, Disney Village is currently 
undergoing a big transformation of its own that will eventually include an expansion, creating a 
triangle shaped dining, shopping and entertainment district. Just like in the other videos, I 
included current plans and worked around what Disney has showcased over the years. As you enter 
Village, everything has received that refresh, World of Disney comes into view followed by the 
newly redone cinemas, after this Casa Giulia, the new Italian restaurant appears and just 
like that you’re in the main avenue. With Disney Wonders on the left, a newly made English Pub 
bar and restaurant on the right comes into view, on its side is the remade Billy Bob’s bar and 
buffet restaurant, this has been completely redone from the ground up to better utilize the 
space. The Steakhouse is still there, similar to what it looks today however the rainforest 
café, which uses a much older building has been demolished and replaced by a new Rainforest Café 
very similar to the one over on Disney Springs, this has two levels and an improved atmosphere, 
the Earl of Sandwich remains as is. Now, I’ve said twice that this is also to include 
entertainment and Disney Village has had a main show venue since day one back when it was called 
Festival Disney with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. This was an incredible adaptation of the 
legendary show with real animals, amazing stunts, native American actors, a full meal and so much 
more, it really was a big pull for Disney Village. Unfortunately, it closed down forever 
with the covid induced closure and the horseshoe shaped venue has been abandoned 
ever since however I plan to bring it back. While I would love to see the Wild West Show 
once again, the stables and backstage stuff has been removed in preparation for the Village 
expansion, so I had to create something new… The theatre would undergo a big renovation 
focusing on new technologies and the space could be adapted as time goes by for new shows. It would 
reopen with a next level Disney characters show, in a similar vein to Fantasmic! where we follow 
a main character going from one Disney story to the other, while keeping with the full meal 
dinner included in the ticket so attendees could enjoy both an incredible meal with different foods 
from around the world, depending on which segment of the show was playing. A part on Mulan could 
bring some spring rolls while one with Jessie, Woody and Bullseye has TexMex and Tangled German 
sausages, there really are a lot of possibilities. What this would do is effectively bring back the 
entertainment side of the district and use what is a very large and unique theatre, one that 
can hold around a thousand people per showing, back from the dead! Now, we’ve talked about 
the expansion and so I gave it a shot, looking at plans and blueprints from years ago 
since this has been planned for a very long time. A new avenue begins where the old McDonald’s used 
to be, notice also the new McDonald’s now on the right, here you can find many new shops that 
aren’t really Disney per se, but we’ve become accustomed to them in a Disney shopping setting 
with Disney Springs, Downtown Disney and Disney Town in Shanghai. There’s a total of 6 large 
stores and 3 small pop up like stores with brands such as Coca-Cola Store, M&M’s Store and Goofy’s 
Candy Company, as an example of the smaller ones. In between shops, there’s also a bowling alley 
with great snacks to eat as you play. There are several food kiosks serving delicious snacks that 
change with the different seasons throughout this new side, on the left is a large indoor space that 
too changes with the seasons, here you can find small window restaurants in a dynamic environment, 
pick up a classic New York hot dog or pizza slice, a few dumplings or spring rolls, a couple of 
drinks or just escape the hot or very cold weather outside, the Marketplace is the place to visit. 
At the edge of new Village are two restaurants, a high-end Asian restaurant and a quick service 
chicken restaurant, something that’s oddly missing from the resort, perhaps with Chicken Guy!, 
a restaurant also found in Disney Springs. This also gave me the opportunity to 
change the south entrance of the resort, one that has always been quite bad and badly 
organized. The roundabout is much smaller and no longer is the entrance to the Village Parking, 
this can now be done via another street below. What this does is reduce the traffic here and 
allow us to use more space for Village. You might have noticed a large grey building on the 
left, this space is reserved for the south train station in the agreement between Disney and the 
government and so I went for it and added it in. This train station could work as the terminal 
for Eurostar, providing a new and enhanced experience for travelers from outside the country 
and even bringing a new passport area for British travelers, in addition to the train station, the 
RER is also accessible from here, giving locals a faster and most comfortable entrance. Right as 
you exit the station, there’s an entrance and exit to the security bubble, where you pass through 
the metal detectors and get your bags checked, this is one of 2 we’re adding. The second on is 
by Chicken Guy, this larger one will see a lot of foot traffic because it serves a very important 
reason: the Skyliner, straight from Walt Disney World this new transport will connect the 
resort together, but more on that later. We’ve been through Disney Village, just like we do 
at the end of a very successful day in the parks, now it’s time to rest so we can do it all again 
tomorrow! Hotels are a very important part of Disneyland Paris, when it opened there were just 
too many and it was hard to fill them but today Disney has mastered the art of keeping the hotels 
full and they really are, as the resort grew, Disney themselves never built one extra room but 
relied on others to do that for them in the shape of Disney Partner Hotels. There are currently 7 
partner hotels and many more around the resort, these now house countless guests whose 
sole reason is to visit the parks however this is money that Disney themselves 
could be making, and I sincerely believe we’ll see new hotels being announced in the next few 
years. Well, what I did was design those myself, once again inspired by old plans Disney drew 
up. First of all is the fourth lake hotel, this is a deluxe hotel on the same level as Hotel 
New York, I called it Disney’s Hotel Hollywood, as it’s the one closest to Walt Disney Studios 
Park, or as I renamed it Disney’s Hollywood Adventure. It’s designed in an Art Deco style, 
evoking the classic architecture of the golden age of Hollywood. To give you an idea of the 
style I’m looking for, I believe the classic Hyatt Nice hotel really captures what I’m going 
for. It would look incredible at night and from the other side of the lake in Sequoia Lodge with 
Hollywood Tower Hotel peeking behind it. It would offer around 400 rooms, a spa, indoor and outdoor 
pool, a small movie theatre with classic Disney shorts playing day round, Mickey’s: a high-end 
restaurant and an incredible bar immersing you in a mysterious yet elegant speakeasy, inspired 
by the never built 1920’s Main Street USA. A big part of the original plans for Euro Disney 
was a major convention center, and I mean major. The giant convention center was always meant 
to be a driving force when it came to the business side of the destination, it would be a 
place where people could play and work. Today, those plans are still very important, and I 
don’t doubt that someday they’ll actually come to fruition. There are a few large convention 
spaces around the resort, the largest being in Hotel New York and Newport Bay Club, the 
Events Arena used to be the biggest one, but it was demolished just a few months ago. For 
the design I used some not that old proposals and plans for this exact spot that show just how 
absolutely huge the center is supposed to be. This space is incredibly well located, 
in between the Newport Bay Club hotel, the south transportation hub, the new Hollywood 
Hotel, Disney Village and Disney Hollywood Adventure, however there’s one more addition 
that really elevates it to the next level, that being a new hotel directly connected to it. 
My idea is for this hotel to be used more towards the convention side of the resort however it still 
needs to follow the same principals as the other Disney hotels and have that distinct feel. The 
Disney Vegas Hotel draws inspiration from the most iconic hotel in Las Vegas, the Bellagio. It’s not 
nearly as tall as this hotel, due to sightlines from within the park right behind it, but its 
inspiration can even be seen in its shape. The Disney Vegas Hotel is in the same level 
as Newport Bay Club with four stars and can be enjoyed by anyone, there for business or not, 
it offers a great location close to the parks and inside, while there is no casino, you can 
definitely see what it’s supposed to represent with fun details themed around slot machines, key 
cards in the shape of chips and several others. These two hotels together, plus Disney’s Belle 
Epoque hotel in the back of Hollywood Adventure add 1800 rooms to the resort, bringing the total 
to 7500 rooms, however we still need more space for all the influx of new guests, let’s not forget 
where the project is going next with the creation of a third major new theme park, this alongside 
all the expansions and the water park that we’re still to talk about in this video could see the 
doubling of guest numbers. This doesn’t mean that there’s twice as many people coming but twice as 
many visits, with longer stays and more guests. All that to say, let’s go to the next hotel. 
Located in the large parcel of land between the third park and Newport Bay and Sequoia lie 2 
new hotels, the one below is a new value resort in the same vein as Art of Animation in Walt 
Disney World, however this is different because it’s connected to one IP. The Toy Story Hotel 
isn’t a new concept but it’s one that can be very effective. Just like in the land, here you 
shrink to the size of the green army men which gives a lot of creative liberty for the theming, 
from huge Lego themed buildings, huge versions of known toys and games and others. This hotel offers 
incredible capacity at lower prices, allowing more people to stay on property and enjoy the resort 
as it was meant to be enjoyed, it adds 1200 rooms. On top of it, and right by newly created 
waterways, lies another brand-new hotel: Disney’s Hawaiian Hotel. In a similar design as 
Aulani, Disney’s Hawaiian offers some impeccable tropical relaxation and atmosphere, the anchor 
of the hotel is Moana, whose influence can be seen everywhere if you look close enough but 
it’s not too on the nose. This moderate resort, on the same level as Sequoia Lodge, is the perfect 
way to expand on the very famous IP, connecting it to one of the expansions of the Disneyland Park 
but the main reason for its theme has to do with what it overlooks because on the other side of 
the waterways and directly connected to the hotel paths is the brand new Disney’s Aloha Lagoon Water 
Park! With these 2 hotels, the total room number reaches 9500, there will be a few more hotels 
but that will come alongside the third park. While nowadays there’s a very clear focus point 
of the whole resort, this being the park plaza that acts as the entry way for people coming into 
the parks, to and from Village and the hotels. Everything happens around this spot but with 
the creation of the third gate and water park, two different major points appear, and people 
need to go from one to the other. Transportation is a major component of a vacation to Disney 
World however in Paris everything is walkable, even if you have to walk for 20 straight minutes 
at a good pace from your room to the entrance of the parks. I saw the opportunity to change how 
movement happens here, seeing how much larger the resort is becoming, and so, in addition to walking 
and the busses that will move from the main hub by the train station to the third park and water 
park, two new methods emerge: boats and gondolas. Straight from Disney World, the friendship 
boats that can carry around 100 people at a time will make their way around the waterways 
with three stops along the way. These waterways use an already existing part but have 
been extended to get to the third gate, this is achieved with a water bridge that passes 
on top of the main gateway street of the resort. Departing from the dock in front of Disney’s Hotel 
Hollywood, the boats take a 180º turn and pass under the tall bridge by the Newport lighthouse, 
these then make their way to the first stop, Disney’s Aloha Lagoon and Hawaiian Hotel, there 
are two ports here, from here they then travel to the third park and make their way back, 
stopping once again in Aloha Lagoon and then Disney Village. There are a total of 6 friendship 
boats, however only 4 are operated at the same time and two of the boats go straight to the third 
gate while the other half stop at the water park and Hawaiian Hotel. The total ride time between 
Village and the third park is around 20 minutes but if you take the express one, that doesn’t 
stop halfway, it goes to around 15 minutes. If you don’t fancy a relaxing boat ride, the 
Skyliner is the way to go, also taken directly from Disney World. The Skyliner departs from 
the south entrance to Disney Village, I placed it here because it forces people to pass through 
Village in the morning and after the parks close, making sure the foot traffic remains high, from 
here it takes flight and turns left, towards the hotel lake, it passes by Newport and Sequoia 
and climbs north, reaching the midway station, this isn’t a stop but actually the same situation 
that happens in the Riviera Resort where the gondolas slow down allowing people to exit, 
enter or remain seated until the next stop. This station connects Aloha Lagoon, Santa Fe, 
Cheyenne and in some way even Sequoia Lodge to Village and the third gate, Disney Horizons. 
Here, it takes off once again and only stops in the final station at Disney Horizons 
Park, going back the way it came once again. With so much being added everywhere, hotels, 
rides, restaurants, facilities, new parks and much more Disneyland Paris needs more cast members 
and one of the main things that the resort needs to expand this much is making sure the employees 
that make everything run have somewhere to sleep, eat and live. For this the resort has two housing 
accommodations around the park that help a lot, but their capacity is very limited. 
Walt Disney World has the same problems, but they’ve tackled this in an incredible 
way these past 5 years by building what is a literal town for their cast called Flamingo 
Crossings, this community has many buildings and a total of more than 10.000 beds. The plot of 
land beyond the Studios berm has actually been allocated for a similar project but not on the 
scale I did here. With 14 residence buildings, 3 facility buildings with gyms, restaurants, 
places to hang out, play, pools and more, underground parking and one multi story 
parking, this community can hold nearly 2500 people. Located between the bustling town 
that is Serris, close to a couple of nice urban parks and right on the doorstep of the 
parks, reducing commute times. It’s modeled after Flamingo Crossings and would serve an incredibly 
important role in making the resort operate! Well let’s finally talk about to Aloha Lagoon 
and explore what this park has to offer. Located exactly where Lava Lagoon was supposed to be built 
30 years ago, Aloha Lagoon is a very large indoor water park opened all year round with an outdoor 
section open only during the warmer months of the year. Themed Water Parks can be found in a lot of 
theme park resorts around the world and Europe, Europa Park opened Rulantica not long ago, 
PortAventure has had theirs for decades and so many more exist or are planned, it’s surprising 
Disneyland Paris hasn’t shown a lot of interest in this, especially since the start of the plans have 
been drawn up. However, this isn’t exactly true, Disney had a 50% share of Villages Natures, 
the destination 20 minutes by car away from the resort to the side of Davy Crockett Ranch, which 
includes the fun Aqua Mundo water park. Disney has since sold their part back to Center Parks and 
I doubt that would come in the way of their own water park, especially since the large majority 
of Disney guests don’t know that even exists. Aloha Lagoon has one IP that I haven’t 
used anywhere in the parks so far, exactly because I wanted it to be exclusive 
to this park. An IP that, in Europe, is bigger than just an attraction or themed area: 
Lilo and Stitch. If you’ve ever been to one of the Parisian theme parks you will know just how 
much stitch merchandise is available everywhere, that little blue alien is incredibly well 
known and profitable, in fact in 2024 the Walt Disney company sold over 2 1/2 billion 
dollars’ worth of stitch themed merchandise, one of the most profitable franchises and 
IPs under Disney’s portfolio, so it really is nothing crazy to imagine a water park with an 
overall Lilo and Stitch theme. Let’s talk about the actual water park itself then, I took the 
old Lava Lagoon sketches and plans and ran with them but made it slightly larger, the theming of 
the whole park lies around a Hawaiian tropical beach full of tall trees and lush greenery, 
there’s a lot of tiki theme happening as well, in the center of the lush forest and waterways is 
a large mountain, almost a volcano but we can’t be certain because on top lies the red one ship 
from the movie that got stuck there. It’s kind of a mix between Volcano Bay in Universal Orlando and 
Typhoon Lagoon, this every once in a while, water bursts from the engines, sending it cascading 
down the sides of the mountain. The thing that sets this apart from other tropical themed water 
parks is the fact there are countless spaceships, buildings and just pieces of reused material from 
outer space in that unique Lilo and Stitch style. In terms of attractions, there are several water 
slides like Escape Pod Plunge, the tallest and fastest one in the park that simulates a drop from 
the top of the mountain inside the spaceship or Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride, a water slide coaster 
that’s able to push riders upwards. Other kinds of attractions include Stitch’s Splashdown Bay, a 
large spaceship inspired play area filled with water cannons and all kinds of effects, Ohana 
Drift where you can take a relaxing lazy river through tropical landscapes, crashed spaceships 
and even some animatronics, this that goes outside during the summer or takes a shorter route 
during the winter, Kahuna Wave, a large tsunami style water slide and of course Lilo’s Wave Bay, 
a very large Typhoon Lagoon style wave pool that occupies the majority of the outdoor space 
surrounded by sand beaches for sun bathing and lush greenery. Inside there are other activities 
like a spa center for people that wish to have a more relaxing time, incredible restaurants from 
table service to snack locations and even Stitch Live that we removed from Walt Disney Studios 
some videos ago! The idea is to really bring water parks to next level when it comes to immersion 
and with all this and more, I think that could be achieved. The friendship boats pass through 
the inside section of the water park and people inside can see them making their way through the 
waterways, adding more to the overall ambiance. With 5 brand new hotels, two major new ways 
to get around the resort’s different axis, a water park, a major new business oriented 
expansion with the convention center, Disney Village practically doubling in size, 
the cast member community and more we come to the end of this phase 5 of Disneyland Paris 
2040. Make sure to let me know down below all your thoughts and what you would’ve done 
differently, I read every single comment and try to answer all of them! Make sure to check 
out the DIScord community and my other socials, all linked down below. And now, as always, 
thank you for watching and That’s a Wrap!

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0:00 The Project
2:00 Disney Village
9:00 New Hotels
16:00 Transportation
19:30 Cast Members
21:00 Aloha Lagoon Water Park
25:50 Thoughts and End