Disneyland Paris: Work on the Disney Blockbuster Café transformation trundles on and continues to be a game of two halves. Whilst more new props for the pirates have been added, elsewhere the new restaurant has already seen its first removal…

Could this be the end of those dummy Fastpass machine tickets — and confirmation that E-Tickets are here to stay? The first Fastpass distributors are now accepting optical barcodes.

Testing of new contactless payments is now underway at several shops and restaurants across Disneyland Paris, allowing users to simply flash their card and pay instantly — grabbing a nice discount during the trail period, too.

We’re entering a new era. The old, October 2006-launched official Disneyland Paris website has just seen its first major update in all that time. Whilst new pages themselves are yet to come, this soft opening finally replaces the squashed, Flash-intensive, design with a, erm, wider Flash-intensive design.

The second exclusive preview from the official New Generation Festival website covers the new addition coming to Disney’s Stars ‘n’ Cars — revealing a brand new motor car, piled high with kitchen utensils, for Remy and Emile.

If those stills from the epic new Disneyland Paris TV spot whet your appetite and you’ve yet to catch the ad on any of the major broadcasters in the UK, we’ve got a treat.

The full, 40 second commercial for the New Generation Festival. Enjoy

The busy holiday weeks of Easter may be in full swing, but that hasn’t stopped the refurbishments. Besides Disney Studio 1, the sparkling new Castle Bridge has been uncovered, the Tea Cups are taking a much-needed break and organ music is in the air…