For a day, Disneyland Paris followed the Cast Members of P.C.C.R. at their place of work, just above the "it's a small world" attraction.
The P.C.C.R. (Park Central Control Room) is a bit like the central control booth of Disneyland Park, where the teams control the parade audio, announcements and some of the Disneyland Park lights. Walt Disney Studios Park has a similar control room, managed by the same team, on the first floor of Disney Studio 1.
The team consists of 10 operators, technicians and programmers, spread over the 2 parks, to operate the daily activities and program the various shows and soundtracks. They are supervised by a stage manager.
Starting the day in music
The teams usually arrive on site an hour before the opening of each park, to do a complete checkup of audio systems and computer programs. In particular, they review the various automatically managed soundtracks, such as the music of the different lands but also the Disneyland Park announcements.
Their major task is then to broadcast these opening and closure announcements, as well as any other (planned or not) daily announcement at the parks.
The shows punctuate the rest of the day
During periods including seasonal shows or parades at Disneyland Park, the P.C.C.R. team is in charge of broadcasting the audio and deploying the lights along the entire Parade route (Fantasyland, Castle Stage, Central Plaza, Main Street U.S.A. and Town Square) as well as controlling the embedded audio systems in the parade floats.
Of course, they operate the Disney Stars On Parade every day, according to a proven organization and technology developed specifically for Disney Parks and also used at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California.
From the beginning, the P.C.C.R. teams are in close contact with the other Entertainment teams, and collaborate to ensure the programming and smooth running of shows and parades. To prepare a season like Halloween, it takes 2 weeks of sound and light adjustments on the Parade route.
But the cool thing is that the parade floats also have their own audio system. In perfect synchronization via a GPS system embedded in each unit, the team follows their position live on screens, and can perfectly coordinate the distribution of music on the various speakers. Each unit "advances" with its own music, while the speakers of the parade road accompany them in perfect synchronization.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls..."
When the closure of Disneyland Park comes, the P.C.C.R. team will transfer some of the controls to the Central Plaza management team for the Disney Illuminations night show. Once the show is over, the time has come to say goodbye to visitors and tell them to exit the Disneyland Park. They will then leave the park background music active for about 90 min after closing. The music is then deactivated for the night.
A team made up of new talents
At the P.C.C.R., teams come from different backgrounds because they have to handle audio, light, video, and animations. This is called "show control": Cast Members must control audio, video and light machines via computer programming.
These new entertainment professions are developing more and more at Disneyland Paris, and it is a unique and rewarding professional experience for people interested in this profession.
The P.C.C.R. (Park Central Control Room) is a bit like the central control booth of Disneyland Park, where the teams control the parade audio, announcements and some of the Disneyland Park lights. Walt Disney Studios Park has a similar control room, managed by the same team, on the first floor of Disney Studio 1.
The team consists of 10 operators, technicians and programmers, spread over the 2 parks, to operate the daily activities and program the various shows and soundtracks. They are supervised by a stage manager.
Starting the day in music
The teams usually arrive on site an hour before the opening of each park, to do a complete checkup of audio systems and computer programs. In particular, they review the various automatically managed soundtracks, such as the music of the different lands but also the Disneyland Park announcements.
Their major task is then to broadcast these opening and closure announcements, as well as any other (planned or not) daily announcement at the parks.
The shows punctuate the rest of the day
During periods including seasonal shows or parades at Disneyland Park, the P.C.C.R. team is in charge of broadcasting the audio and deploying the lights along the entire Parade route (Fantasyland, Castle Stage, Central Plaza, Main Street U.S.A. and Town Square) as well as controlling the embedded audio systems in the parade floats.
Of course, they operate the Disney Stars On Parade every day, according to a proven organization and technology developed specifically for Disney Parks and also used at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California.
From the beginning, the P.C.C.R. teams are in close contact with the other Entertainment teams, and collaborate to ensure the programming and smooth running of shows and parades. To prepare a season like Halloween, it takes 2 weeks of sound and light adjustments on the Parade route.
But the cool thing is that the parade floats also have their own audio system. In perfect synchronization via a GPS system embedded in each unit, the team follows their position live on screens, and can perfectly coordinate the distribution of music on the various speakers. Each unit "advances" with its own music, while the speakers of the parade road accompany them in perfect synchronization.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls..."
When the closure of Disneyland Park comes, the P.C.C.R. team will transfer some of the controls to the Central Plaza management team for the Disney Illuminations night show. Once the show is over, the time has come to say goodbye to visitors and tell them to exit the Disneyland Park. They will then leave the park background music active for about 90 min after closing. The music is then deactivated for the night.
A team made up of new talents
At the P.C.C.R., teams come from different backgrounds because they have to handle audio, light, video, and animations. This is called "show control": Cast Members must control audio, video and light machines via computer programming.
These new entertainment professions are developing more and more at Disneyland Paris, and it is a unique and rewarding professional experience for people interested in this profession.
Article and photos by Disneyland Paris.
