After nearly a five-year wait, the highly anticipated Ratatouille attraction opened today (10 July) at Disneyland Paris. The debut visitors were plunged into a world based on the Disney-Pixar movie, and on boarding the ride were whisked off on a “ratmobile” into the heart of the over-sized Parisien restaurant Chez Gusteau.

The immersive family attraction, L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy (Rémy’s Totally Zany Adventure) – which includes a restaurant and soon-to-open shop inside a Paris quarter – is based on the concept that the riders are shrunk down to a rat’s size. Travelling through Chez Gusteau in the six-seater ratmobile, an entirely new ride experience at the park, they experience animation uniquely created in 3D by filmmakers Pixar. P&P Projects were also involved, and developed and created all the oversized elements in the kitchen scene, like gigantic vegetables, sausages and fish.

The making of the €150m ($204m, £119m) Ratatouille attraction has been in itself a gigantic undertaking, with 4,000 craftspeople involved and 44 companies from France alone. Disneyland Paris is not the only European theme park to invest heavily this year.

Technological innovations such as 3D video projection, massive screens and trackless ride technology play as important a part as the animation. A special machine has even been developed that uses ultrasound to clean the attraction’s thousands of sets of 3D glasses. The Ratatouille area – located in the Walt Disney Studios Park – has also created 200 new jobs at Disneyland Paris.

Written by Alice Davis, edited by Tom Anstey