Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, I got into the Olympic experience, looking at a former Disneyland Paris attraction.
Via Fat Tire Tours
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had an amazing time these last couple of weeks watching all things Olympics. I’m a bit of an Olympic fiend, so I think I’ve gotten close to watching bits and pieces of nearly every single sport represented at the Olympics. The Games have all been fantastic this year, with so many inspiring storylines and beautiful backdrops featuring all things Paris.
These Olympic games are the second Summer Olympics in a row to be located in close proximity to a Disney Park after the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, so another successful year of being close to a Disney Park, though that streak will come to an end with the 2032 Brisbane Olympics…unless Disney somehow announces a new theme park coming to Australia by 2032.
Via DLP Guide
To celebrate the Olympics, I decided to take a look back at an extinct Disneyland Paris attraction, this one aptly named Goofy’s Summer Camp. Taking over the Chaparral Stage in Frontierland during the summer of 2009, Goofy’s Summer Camp allowed Tarzan: The Encounter to take a quick break from performing for audiences for a bit
Right from the start of the show, I was impressed with the design of the stage, with a ton of rock work that really helped set the tone for the rustic, Frontierland environment of the camp. I loved the touch of having a live band on stage, too, because the show featured a ton of songs, which a live band always helps.
To start things off, a camp director gave the audience a bit of context for the camp in English before introducing the main man himself, Goofy. Goofy spoke French in what is a pretty common move at DIsneyland Paris shows, with the characters helping everyone in the audience understand what was going on. Together, they sang a welcome song, which also served as an introduction of sorts for Chip and Dale, whose entire ethos just basically screams camp attendees. To wrap up the characters, Donald and Daisy also popped up in their own camper outfits, and they seemed to be counselors of some sort.
With the whole gang on stage, they moved along to sing a couple of camp songs before bringing out a giant rope with the plan to play a bit of Tug of War (which used to be an Olympic sport, fun fact). At first, it was just Goofy against Chip and Dale, before they realized it would be more fun with more people, so they brought some kids on to the stage to help pull the rope and determine a winner. With the battle complete, the background dancers did some lasso work, while Chip and Dale messed around over on the side.
After having the kids involved, it was time for the moms and dads to get in on the fun, so they brought up three moms and three dads to follow what the background dancers were doing in what amounted to a dance contest, which the dads won in this case. The games were over after that with the camp director leading everyone in identifying animal sounds before all of the dancers did a little jig where they pretended to ride horses.
Via Flickr
There was one more closing song after the horse riding, with the show just coming to close. There really wasn’t much of a plot to Goofy’s Summer Camp, but it was a perfect summer time waster. It only appeared during the summer of 2009, but I can’t say that it was too big of a bummer because Tarzan: The Encounter was one of my favorite shows in the Disney pantheon. But I do love the idea of having specialized summer shows and wish that we’d see stuff like Goofy’s Summer Camp more often.
Via Instagram
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day and say hi if you see me at D23!