​The sensory side of Disneyland Paris

Ever walked along a street and been welcomed with the fragrant aroma of vanilla? This is an everyday thing for visitors to Disneyland Paris’ Main Street, as higher education students recently discovered.

Creative media production students spent February half term exploring the behind the scenes production work and special effects that encourage tourists to enjoy all the sights, sounds (and smells) of the holiday destination.

Charlie Mason, 19, said he found the trip enriching from both an education and personal point of view. “Putting together a 4D sensory experience like this takes a lot of effort and I could tell that Disney had got things perfect. The special effects were brilliant. The lighting was good too – it suited people that might be photosensitive like me. Not every tourist attraction is like this, so it’s nice that things can be done this way.”

Anna Gwilt, 20, added: “I found it interesting to see the inner-workings of somewhere as big as this and for such a famous brand.

“Everywhere we went we saw something new and we were lucky we could get up close to a lot of it. A motocross show was happening on one of the days and we saw how the stunts laid out and filmed. It’s all very clever.”

So far during this academic year, the students have visited Warner Studios for the Harry Potter Studio Tour and been to ITV’s studios at Manchester’s Media City. Other trips are also being arranged.