Disney has announced that Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, officially known as Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy and otherwise known as “The Rat Ride” (although I’m partial to Kitchen Calamity) will close for extensive refurbishment and enhancements at the Walt Disney Studios Park, soon to be known as Disney Adventure World (although I’m partial to Disney’s CineMagique Kingdom).
We have full details about what Disneyland Paris is describing as a “major renovation.” Normally, we wouldn’t cover a refurbishment at Disneyland Paris, even an extensive multi-month one that’ll last through 2026. But this one caught our attention for the simple reason that Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy is the same attraction as Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT.
Don’t let the different names fool you. They didn’t even bother to translate the ride when cloning it to Walt Disney World. Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy originally opened at the much-maligned Walt Disney Studios Park back in 2014, and was such a smash hit that it was announced for the France pavilion at EPCOT a few years later. Given that the Rat Ride is a direct import from Disneyland Paris, the obvious question on our mind is: Will Imagineering follow suit with ride enhancements to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at Walt Disney World?!
Let’s start with the announcement by Disneyland Paris. Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy will hang up its chef’s hat for a major renovation starting in October 2025. The teams at Walt Disney Imagineering Paris and Disneyland Paris are cooking up something special, pulling out all the stops to spice up and refresh this iconic experience at Walt Disney Studios Park.
The refreshed Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy attraction will reopen to guests in Spring 2026. On the menu for this renovation is a generous serving of technical upgrades and scenic enhancements, all carefully crafted to offer a better guest experience in the world of Ratatouille.
When the Rat Ride reopens in Spring 2026, guests will discover an enhanced queue with a new scene depicting a Parisian artist’s studio teeming with details and accessories such as canvases on the walls, paint splatters, and a fruit basket that may well whet the appetite of all the “adorable” rats in the neighbourhood. Here’s concept art for the new scene:
Editorializing a bit, this appears to me to be a scene in the queue that was already incorporated into the EPCOT version when the ride launched at Walt Disney World. It looks a bit different in Florida, but that just could be artistic liberties with the concept art. This is one of two major differences between the rides, with the other being the (real) restaurant you exit into at Disneyland Paris.
Disney has also revealed additions onboard the attraction, including enhanced projections, and larger-than-life props and set pieces – specially crafted by Disney Imagineers – that will add extra flavor to key scenes. These changes are aimed at enhancing guests’ perception of being shrunk to the size of Remy and his rodent pals.
This renovation also serves up the perfect opportunity to modernize the Rat Ride’s technical equipment, including replacing all video projectors with state-of-the-art models The upgrade will also include the projection of enhanced video media in the attraction, offering optimal visual quality.
With these additions, and following several months of testing and guest surveys, the attraction’s media content will now be permanently projected in 2D. Meaning that Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy will no longer utilize 3D glasses when the attraction reopens.
Theme Parks Moving Away from 3D?
Once infamous for its screen-heavy and 3D-centric attractions, Universal has moved away from utilizing glasses in recent years in favor of crisper and glasses-free 2D projection imagery.
When it opened in Hollywood, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction used 3D projection technology. There were immediately complaints of motion sickness from guests, and a general disdain of the 3D “upgrade” from fans.
Universal quickly moved away from 3D there, and upgraded to 4K 120 FPS technology shortly thereafter. The same thing happened at Universal Studios Japan, which switched to 4K 120 FPS projection technology for both its Harry Potter and (now sadly defunct) Spider-Man rides.
Universal Orlando has recently done the same with Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem and Skull Island: Reign of Kong (not sure if that one was ever made permanent). Most notably, Epic Universe opened with zero 3D attractions. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is augmented reality, so technically goggles are required, but that’s the only ride–and totally different. Other attractions utilizing screens that could have required 3D glasses opted against them.
On multiple occasions over the last few years, there have likewise been reports of Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy doing extended tests of the attraction in 2D to solicit guest feedback. A bit of internet sleuthing reveals that this actually began in 2019, before resuming in the last couple years.
I can’t say I’m the least bit surprised by this, as there are several reasons for ditching 3D. One is obviously not needing to clean 3D glasses or replace stolen ones. Although I doubt the cost of this is high for traditional films or attractions, we’ve heard that Avatar: Flight of Passage utilizes proprietary technology and pricey glasses as a result.
I’d assume there are also maintenance expenses associated with keeping the projections calibrated. It’s safe to assume 2D is less costly and labor-intensive than 3D, from an operational perspective.
The more straightforward explanation for dropping 3D is the guest experience. In some guests who are more prone to motion sickness, 3D can exacerbate that. Others wear prescription glasses and a pair of 3D glasses on top of that poses challenges. Perhaps there are other ailments of which I’m unaware.
As someone who has no issues whatsoever with any of this, my complaint is simply that 3D effects don’t always work. When 3D projections are in perfect alignment, it can be fantastic.
But the practical reality is that I’ve experienced many attractions with subpar calibration, and that immediately took me out of the experience. It’s easy to say that theme parks should be better about preventative maintenance and calibration, but sometimes this stuff just happens.
Conversely, I can see how some fans–particularly those who have been fortunate to only have positive 3D experiences–would consider this a downgrade. Immersion will arguably be lost, etc.
From my perspective, every Universal attraction that has dropped 3D is better off for it. I don’t ride Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, Monsters Unchained, or even Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and think, this would be better with 3D glasses. That has literally never crossed my mind with any of those.
Again, to each their own, but the most effective 3D attraction of all-time is the one that actively leaned into (and poked fun at) the gimmick, MuppetVision 3D. Maybe Mickey’s PhilharMagic. All the rest have felt like they’ve used 3D as a crutch at best. Films have “needed” it to differentiate themselves from ordinary movies.
All rides at Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World that still use 3D would be better off without it. I’m not even sure that’s a hot take, quite honestly. Good rides shouldn’t need the crutch of 3D.
Other Promising Upgrades to the Rat Ride
Arguably, the issue with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is that it’s not a great ride. That it does need the crutch. Look, I’m on record explaining why I think Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is overhyped–sentiment I shared even before the EPCOT attraction opened, and that I stand by. But even I don’t think it’s a bad ride by any measure. Just a bit overrated. It’s still easily my #8 or #9 favorite attraction in EPCOT.
This brings us to the other improvements in Ratatouille L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy: new “larger-than-life props and set pieces.” From my perspective, this is huge. Literally and figuratively.
Even as-is, there’s a lot to love about the Rat Ride. It has portions that are dynamic and engaging. There’s a lot of swift but smooth movement as you dart around the restaurant. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is a really fluid and fun experience that’s suitable for guests of all ages.
The high point is darting through and under oversized props that sell the idea that you’re a rat running around a kitchen. There’s also some stage dressing in other areas in an attempt to suspend ride disbelief. The portions of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure that feature physical props and dimensional environments work incredibly well. If all of the ride were this, it’d be a 10/10 attraction.
Unfortunately, that does not describe most of the ride experience. Most of the attraction lacks fully dimensional sets. The bulk of it takes place in front of a series of gigantic screens–and it’s very obvious that you’re watching action unfold on a screen rather than actively participating in the shenanigans.
One of my biggest disappointments was that Imagineering did nothing to address this when cloning the Rat Ride at EPCOT. They could’ve attempted to better conceal these screens so as to not ruin the suspension of disbelief that the rest of the ride accomplishes. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is a huge asset to World Showcase regardless, but it could’ve been the marquee attraction.
Will Walt Disney World Ditch 3D?
As for Walt Disney World will follow suit, our best guess is that they eventually will. At least with removing 3D from Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
Given that Imagineering has already tested Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy without 3D at what’s soon to be Disney Adventure World, it stands to reason that they can do the same at Walt Disney World. This means that change is theoretically possible without extended downtime. It’d probably be better with a refurbishment to swap out and upgrade equipment, but it could conceivably happen overnight. I wouldn’t be surprised if Walt Disney World has already run the attraction without 3D in certain circumstances, but I’ve never experienced that.
As for the rest, we’ll probably have to wait for these changes to ‘trickle down’ to Walt Disney World. One of the things we’ve been discussing for a while is EPCOT’s menu of ride reimaginings and enhancements, and why it’s unlikely that multiple major attractions would go under the knife at the same time.
Even if Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is overrated, there are still much bigger fish to fry at EPCOT. Between that and an understandable unwillingness to have multiple rides down simultaneously, I cannot imagine the Rat Ride being prioritized. It’s also a much newer attraction at Walt Disney World (opened in 2021 vs. 2014 at DLP), so there’s almost certainly less of an appetite for a ~6 month closure.
Down the road, the biggest wildcard in whether Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT receives these enhancements is who gets to make the call. Walt Disney World is notoriously averse to funding anything like this. (Anyone seen moving cannons lately on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? Not if you did the DHS version!)
If the decision is made at the local level, the on-ride enhancements will probably never happen at Walt Disney World.
On the other hand, if this is decided at a higher level, it could happen. I still wouldn’t expect it at Walt Disney World anytime soon–probably not before 2027, at the absolute earliest.
Maybe if Imagineering can figure out how to implement some of these enhancements during the overnight hours or with minimal downtime, it could happen sooner. Even so, there’s the difference that Disney Adventure World is having its relaunch in 2026, and now this is part of that. By contrast, Disney already hung the ole ‘mission accomplished’ banner at EPCOT.
As an almost off-topic side note, one thing I’d really love to see happen as part of ongoing leadership changes is the empowering of Imagineering. We’re starting to see flickers of this, but it needs to occur to an even greater degree. Walt Disney World shouldn’t be trusted to make this kind of decision. They’ve proved that time and time again over the years. But I digress.
Ultimately, the Rat Rides have tremendous unrealized potential. These could be on par with the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man over at Islands of Adventure. That is still the gold standard of screen-centric attractions like this, and Imagineering set the table for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure to be on par with that. They delivered on so much of the meal…save for the main course. More and better props and other ways to distract from the large empty rooms with big screens could really spice up the attraction and elevate it to a 3-star Michelin experience.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Disney ditching 3D at the Rat Ride in (real) Paris? Hope this happens at Walt Disney World next? Have you experienced Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure? What did you think of the attraction? Any other Disney or Universal rides to which you’d compare the rat ride? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!