No doubt foodies and fans of Disney Pixar's award winning Ratatouille were delighted when Disney unveiled Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, inspired by the very said film Ratatouille, released what feels like a lifetime ago, in 2007. The attraction has since become one of the most popular trackless dark rides at Disneyland® Paris, giving the world a chance to reacquaint themselves with Remy the rat and Linguini, the chef who knows nothing about cooking, and offering yet another reason to explore Paris, be it for the first, second or third time.
Set in the heart of Paris, Disney Pixar uses real Parisian locations and landscapes to form the film's backdrop, most of which are iconic and you will recognise, others maybe not so obvious....
Film Locations vs Real Paris Landmarks
Film scene | Real Paris landmark | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
View from Linguini’s apartment window | Basilique du Sacré-Cœur | Montmartre, North Paris |
Remy spots the restaurant from the street below | Eiffel Tower | Visible from the Seine embankment near Gusteau's |
Chef Skinner reads the newspaper in a street scene | Notre-Dame Cathedral | Île de la Cité, central Paris |
The exterminator's shop with rats in the window | Destruction des Animaux Nuisibles | 8 Rue des Halles |
Gusteau's restaurant, mapped onto the real city | Pont des Arts / the Louvre | Roughly opposite the Louvre, across the Seine |
The amazing view that can be seen from Linguini's small apartment window, that overlooks Paris from an elevated view, suggests that his apartment is located on Montmarte in North Paris. Montmarte is a hill in Paris that makes home to the famous Roman Catholic church Basilique du Sacre-Coeur ( Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris), which sits at the highest point in Paris.
Of course, this particular Parisian landmark needs no introduction. When Remy becomes separated from his family, he ends up in Paris beneath Gusteau's restaurant in Paris. It's the sight of the Eiffel Tower that confirms to Remy that he has, much to his delight, not only ended up in Paris, but at the restaurant of his favourite chef.
You will have noticed the romance capital's beautiful gothic cathedral, the Notre Dame form the backdrop of a street scene, where a disgruntled Chef Skinner reads about the success of Linguini at Gusteau's.
If you look close enough at this image, you will notice a particularly familiar mime artist nearer the cathedral. Those of you that can't recall this Disney character, he is Mr Incredible's enemy, Bomb Voyage, the mime like criminal from the Incredibles (2004) directed by Brad Bird, who is also the director of Ratatouille.
Although not a particularly nice visual, in one of the scenes in Ratatouille a shop with dead rats hanging in the windows is shown. This is an actual establishment in Paris, an exterminator shop called Destruction des Animaux Nuisibles, found at 8 Rue des Halles, just in case you should want to visit! We thought we'd spare you any gory images, but you can keep an eye out for it the next time you watch the film.
According to Disney Pixar's landscapes, should the animation depict the actual layout of Paris, Gustau's restaurant would be located directly opposite the Louvre across the River Seine, the very river Linguini almost throws Remy in. This has been deciphered from scenes in the film that display the Pont Des Arts from a perspective that shows the Eiffel Tower and Gustau's restaurant on the opposing side. Of course, Gustau's isn't an actual restaurant and won't actually be found in Paris!
Now that Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy is open at Disneyland® Paris, and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT, there's no need to hold off booking your Disneyland® Paris tickets. So why not hop on the Eurostar to Paris and spend your days admiring the spectacular Parisian landmarks and landscapes that made Ratatouille so authentic, riding the attraction itself, and your evenings dining on food that'll make your mouth water.
AttractionTickets.com offers a range of sightseeing tours in Paris which include the landmarks featured in this article, apart from the Destruction des Animaux Nuisibles, which we have no doubt you won't want to see anyhow!
Bon voyage!
