Almost a year ago, Avengers Campus at Disneyland Paris opened its doors to guests from around the world, enabling visitors to become recruits every day and experience heroic adventures beside Marvel Super Heroes. Since its opening, the Campus has become a place where young and old alike can reveal their inner heroes.
To honor those inner heroes, Disneyland Paris unveiled the “Hero Up! Reveal the Hero in You” campaign, which celebrated 13 real-life heroic profiles and career journeys, including four of our very own cast members. Each guest took part in a photo shoot directed by Julien Benhamou, an artistic photographer specializing in moving images, at the heart of the Avengers Campus.
Stéphane, a member of Disneyland Paris‘ Rescue Operations team, has been working for the company for 28 years. Following a life-threatening accident, he returned to work in 2021 in a specially adapted position and has continued to ensure the safety of visitors daily. “Disneyland Paris helped me along the way, and I managed to find my place in my core business, supporting the operational teams,” said Stéphane. “Today, my role is to provide them with all the resources they need to serve the public.”
Through his portrait, all the cast members of the Safety, Prevention, Rescue & Health teams are represented and honored. With his red and blue outfit and helmet, Stéphane pays homage to his firefighting gear.
Vincent has been a cast member for 14 years and currently works as an experienced attraction operator at Adventureland. A few months ago, he demonstrated his composure and courage in saving a life by performing first aid. His act of bravery has earned him a Disney Heroes Award, an exceptional honorary award that recognizes cast members of The Walt Disney Company who, through their actions, have tried to save a life. “I asked for the heartbeat line (electrocardiogram) to be represented in my makeup,” said Vincent, which correlates his heroic act with his Disney Heroes Award upon saving someone’s life.
In addition to their roles, Emilie, project assistant, and Michel, concierge at Disney Newport Bay Club, are part of the Disney VoluntEARS Program. They were honored to be named “Disney VoluntEARS of the Year 2022,” celebrating their dedication and commitment to volunteer work, including helping to grant children’s wishes and participating in the Pièces Jaunes operation. Between them, Emilie and Michel have donated over 330 hours of their time to the Disney VoluntEARS program, making them an unsurprisingly heroic duo in the aisles of the Campus. “It was the first time we’d ever taken part in a photo shoot, so it was very emotional and exciting to have new experiences,” said Emilie. “We felt like real superheroes for a night – it was a real opportunity!”
With the help of the Atelier Couture teams, participants imagined their heroic custom-made outfits before seeing them become reality, in keeping with an epic and inspiring artistic approach at every stage of the project. From producing first sketches to seeing the final product come to life, our heroes were able to be along for the entire process and help design their very own costumes.
For more information on these profiles, including those content creators, be sure to follow @DLPAmbassadors on Instagram and visit the exhibition online and over the summer at Disney Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel.