Remy’s Paris | Epcot Becoming Episode 2 | National Geographic

The projects that we design, we build in steel and concrete. They're going to be there a while. So, we do our homework. World Showcase has always been a reflection of the real countries around the world. A celebration of the architecture, of the music, of the food, of the culture. And that's great.

But what about the stories? Why not bring Remy and Ratatouille here to France? In the France Pavilion, they were really trying to evoke legitimately Paris, the feeling of being there. Remy's Paris is definitely a character. It's pushed. Very nice. Recreating the emotional world of animation into the architectural world of the park requires a bit of optical illusion.

I can go bigger. At first view, it looks like a very traditional Parisian fountain. It's not until you get up close that you realize that the sculptures on there are rats holding champagne bottles. The fountain is a celebration of Remy. He's standing at the top, really majestically holding a big spoon. We wanted Remy’s Paris.

That meant bringing the rats forward. With a total of 37 rats on the fountain, it's really all about the rat. We like to put little hidden moments from Ratatouille in here, too. The manhole covers are custom-made. And there is Remy fording his way through the sewers of Paris. These benches are a little special because if you look very closely... you can find that we have sculpted little details from Ratatouille in there for guests to discover.

Dozens of hidden Remy's help ease you into the story of Ratatouille. When we had the opportunity to design the marquee, I just immediately went to the designer of the film. I said, can you design this for us? A sculptor at Pixar translated the design into a clay maquette. Once the model was completed, Imagineers fabricated the life-size final piece. Actually covered with a real gold leaf that will look gorgeous forever.

So, how do we take you into the story of Remy's Ratatouille Adventure? Magically, as guests are in this cue, Gusteau will come to life, just as he does in the movie. We're going to make a big-scale jump because we need to go from human world into the rat world. The window across the way is gigantic. The gutters are huge. Everything here now has grown in scale so that you could be the size of Remy as you go off on your adventure.

The massive ham weighs 2.7 tons and the fish is 26 feet long. It was important for us to really make you believe that you're riding with a character. They don't just go off as a train of vehicles. They can spin, they can stop, they can tilt, they can shake. All of that is designed to make you really feel like you were going on this adventure with Remy.

I’m so proud of what the teams have created in this transformation of Epcot. We design these things for years to actually see it and to be surrounded by it. It’s so gratifying.