News about Les Voyages de Pinocchio

At the end of 2025, Disneyland Paris put another visible Fantasyland refurbishment in front of guests. A large structure of scaffolding and coverings went up around Les Voyages de Pinocchio so specialists could work on the exterior of the classic Pinocchio dark ride. The setup allowed the job to continue in less friendly weather.

The notable detail for visitors was that the ride itself did not have to close. While the outside of the building was being refreshed, guests could still board the journey through Pinocchio’s story. That kept the operational impact in Fantasyland relatively small, even though the construction scene was hard to miss.

The work fitted into a broader refurbishment cycle across Fantasyland. Au Chalet de la Marionnette, Auberge de Cendrillon, Peter Pan’s Flight and Sir Mickey’s Boutique had already received attention. For Disney fans, the project showed that Disneyland Paris was also investing in its smaller classic Fantasyland attractions, preserving their role while steadily improving their presentation.

In December 2024, Looopings highlighted the more vulnerable side of Disneyland Paris drone shows. Photos from fansite Dphile showed crashed drones on rooftops in Fantasyland. One of the affected locations was Les Voyages de Pinocchio.

According to the report, part of the Pinocchio dark ride’s roof was damaged when a faulty drone came down. Several roof slates broke off and ended up in the gutter, where a safety net stopped them. The incident made clear why Fantasyland is cleared well before evening performances: not just to keep guests away from the show area, but because outdoor technology can fail.

For the attraction’s history, this is an unusual footnote. Les Voyages de Pinocchio did not change as a ride, but its building was affected by the growing role of drones in Disneyland Paris entertainment. As drones became more important in nighttime spectaculars, the classic Fantasyland façades also became part of the modern show environment, including the risks that come with it.

When Disneyland Paris reopened in June 2021, guests returned to a resort that had visibly adapted to the pandemic era. Looopings described the reopening after 230 days of closure as a moment full of changes, from new entry gates and adjusted queues to a castle under scaffolding and rides fitted with additional protective measures.

Les Voyages de Pinocchio was listed among the attractions where plexiglass screens had been installed in the ride vehicles. The same happened at Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains, Peter Pan’s Flight, Hyperspace Mountain, It’s a Small World, Star Tours, Tower of Terror, Cars Road Trip and Ratatouille. The purpose was practical: to increase capacity while keeping guests separated under the rules in force at the time.

For the attraction’s history, this is a clear snapshot of its pandemic-era operation. The dark ride itself remained familiar, but the way guests experienced it temporarily changed because of health measures. It shows how even a classic Fantasyland ride had to adapt to an exceptional operating period, balancing atmosphere, capacity and safety in a new way.

In May 2021, Disneyland Paris announced that the resort would reopen on 17 June after an exceptionally long pandemic closure. The parks had been closed since 30 October 2020. Looopings noted that the closure would have lasted more than seven and a half months, a length of time without precedent for Disneyland Paris since its 1992 opening.

For Les Voyages de Pinocchio, the shutdown was not just a period of inactivity. The resort used the empty months for a great deal of maintenance. The report specifically mentioned that the dark rides Les Voyages de Pinocchio and Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains had been refurbished. Other projects, including Orbitron, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Main Street and Sleeping Beauty Castle, were part of the same maintenance wave.

The timing made the news especially relevant. A refurbishment can normally mean closures, diversions or lost capacity for guests, but Disney could carry out this work while the park was closed anyway. For fans, the reopening therefore marked not only the return of the resort, but also a refreshed Fantasyland in which Pinocchio had already received attention.

In March 2021 it became clear that Disneyland Paris was using its long pandemic closure for an unexpectedly substantial refurbishment of two classic Fantasyland dark rides. Alongside Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains, Les Voyages de Pinocchio was also being refreshed. Painters and decorators worked through the sets scene by scene.

The shared details said the scenery was being repainted and that LED lighting was being installed. Together, those changes were meant to give the blacklight-heavy environments more depth and sparkle. The work was expected to take around two months. It had originally been planned for later, but the resort closure made it possible to bring the project forward without disrupting normal guest flow.

For fans, this was more than routine upkeep. Les Voyages de Pinocchio belongs to the classic Fantasyland dark rides that depend heavily on atmosphere, lighting and layered scenery. Fresh paint and better lighting can decide whether such a ride feels tired or alive again. The refurbishment also fitted a wider dark ride push, with Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast undergoing major work as well.