An Elland firm has added a touch of Yorkshire to Disneyland Paris.
Bespoke joinery firm Andy Thornton Contracts had 60 people working on a new attraction at the theme park, based on the film Ratatouille.
They sourced all materials for the attraction in and around Yorkshire, helping to install some Yorkshire magic in the Ratatouille restaurant and Chez Marianne boutique.
Richard Woods, Operations Director at Andy Thornton Contracts, said: “Something like this and the prestige that goes with it makes it a great job.
“They had this ‘crookology’ description, the film is set in old Paris where all buildings are lopsided and everything is crooked.
“So we’d have to make a door that fits properly, but the mouldings and profiles had to be out of kilter to make it look wrong and crooked.
“It has been a great job to work on.”
The link between Disneyland Paris and the Andy Thornton Company, Andy Thornton Contract’s original owners, dates back 23 years when the resort and theme park first opened.
The Elland firm, based at Ainley Bottom, helped create some of the magical-themed fireplaces, stained glass windows, bars, back-fittings and other bespoke joinery for the park.
Disneyland Paris was looking for a trusted UK supplier capable of finding creative solutions to transform artists’ designs into quality finished products and the link was created.
The team of 60 included highly-skilled carpenters, polishers, designers and apprentices worked full time on the boutique manufacturing and installing a little bit of Yorkshire in Paris.
Their work is designed to capture the style of a Parisian boutique with unique interior furniture pieces, as well as the stained glass artwork.
Mr Woods added: “We put a tender in for the restaurant and then the boutique.
“We’ve been working on this project for two years and the manufacturing has all been done in Yorkshire. Our main supplier is based here, and any smaller sub-contractors we’ve used have been in the area.”
The new Ratatouille Boutique, ‘Chez Marianne’, is the latest themed retail experience at Disneyland Paris and complements the restaurant Bistro Chez Rémy, which has had more than 100,000 visits, alongside the Ratatouille ride.
