Disneyland Resort Paris

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Disneyland Resort Paris is a holiday and recreation resort in Marne-la-Vallée, in the suburbs of Paris, France, featuring two Disney theme parks, Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park. With 12.4 million visitors in 2004 ORTIF - ["Chiffres clés du tourisme 2004 en Île-de-France", page 5], it is one of Europe's main tourist destinations. It is owned and operated by the French company Euro Disney SCA, a public corporation of which 39.781% of the stock is held by The Walt Disney Company, 10% is held by the Saudi Prince Alwaleed and other shareholders hold 50.22%. The park is run by president Karl Holz.

Transport

The Resort is also directly connected to the two international airports of Paris (Charles De Gaulle International Airport and Orly Airport) with special bus lines (Navettes) operated by VEA.

History

The Alicante area in Spain was thought to be good site, as it had a similar climate to that of Florida for most of the year. On the other hand, this area is also considerably affected by the strong Mediterranean Mistral winds. In the end, it was the French location that won out, and a site was picked at Marne-la-Vallee because of its close proximity to Paris and its central location within Western Europe. This location would put the park within 4 hours of driving for 68 million people and within two hours of flight for a further 300 million or so.

Michael Eisner, Disney's CEO at the time, signed the first letter of agreement with the French government for the 20 square kilometre site in December 1985, and the first financial contracts were drawn up during the following spring. Construction began in August 1988, and in December 1990 an information center named Espace Euro Disney was opened to show the public what was being constructed. Then, in September 1991, the casting center was opened to start recruiting the hundreds of cast members that would be required to operate the park's attractions. Plans for a showbusiness theme park next to Euro Disneyland, Disney-MGM Studios Paris, went into fast tracked development, for opening in 1996.

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The resort officially opened as Euro Disney Resort and the first theme park as Euro Disneyland on April 12 1992, but attendance was disappointingly low. Five hundred thousand guests were expected on opening day, but only a fraction of this number turned out, and the numbers fell further after the first three months. Some believe the park was built larger than it should have been for opening day, and the project carried too much debt. Additionally, the park failed to plan for certain cultural issues such as initially not offering wine in its restaurants and trying to offer more French food on its menus to visitors who were more interested in distinctly American cuisine. High entrance fees were also blamed for the lack of visitors. Furthermore, the theme park faced protests by commentators who thought a Disney park in France would harm French culture with its American influence; some went as far as to call the project a "cultural Chernobyl." Plans for the Disney-MGM Studios Paris were scrapped, although many years later the idea was revived and became the Walt Disney Studios.

On October 1 1994, Euro Disneyland and Euro Disney Resort changed their name to Disneyland Paris (after the opening of the Walt Disney Studios Park in 2002, Disneyland Paris was given its actual name, Disneyland Park, and the entire Resort became known as Disneyland Resort Paris). As a result of the name change, the addition of more attractions, and the retooling of the entire Theme Park complex to better appeal to European tastes, Disneyland Resort Paris finally turned a profit in 1995. But profits for the park have been small, when it has been profitable at all.

On 16 March 2002, Disneyland Resort Paris introduced its second theme park, Walt Disney Studios Park. The tenth Disney theme park in the world, Walt Disney Studios Park opened with the aim of keeping visitors to the resort on property for more days, but the park was criticized for not having enough attractions and having very minimal theming. The park is also the smallest Disney theme park in the world. With the expansion of the resort, four new hotels, not managed by Euro Disney SCA, opened in Marne-la-Vallée. These hotels are connected to the RER/TGV station with a free shuttle service operated by PEP'S.

That same year, Euro Disney S.C.A. and the Walt Disney Company announced another annual profit for Disneyland Resort Paris. But it has incurred a net loss in the three years following, and the park is still about US$2 billion in debt. Disneyland Resort Paris has plans to expand over the next few years with addition of several new rides: Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast will open at Disneyland Park in April 2006; a new land, Toon Studios, will open at Walt Disney Studios Park in 2007; and finally The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror will open at Walt Disney Studios Park in late 2007 / early 2008. These new rides are in addition to The Legend Of The Lion King Show that began in 2004 and Space Mountain: Mission 2, a 2005 re-theming of the popular roller coaster. In 2005, the Walt Disney Company agreed to write-off all debt to the Walt Disney Company made by Euro Disney S.C.A., to improve the financial performance of the resort.

Disneyland Resort Paris attracts more than 12 million visitors per year and more than 150 million since opening.

The Resort

• Disneyland Park - Magic Kingdom-style park; Europe's most visited theme park.
• Walt Disney Studios Park - Hollywood studio-based park.
• Disney Village - similar to Downtown Disney and the Ikspiari, an on-site shopping, dining and entertainment complex.

• The Disneyland Resort Paris hotels:
• * Disneyland Hotel and Disney's Hotel New York (four-star hotels)
• * Disney's Newport Bay Club and Disney's Sequoia Lodge (three-star hotels)
• * Disney's Hotel Cheyenne, Disney's Hotel Santa Fe, and Disney's Davy Crockett Ranch (two-star hotels)

• Golf Disneyland - 9-hole and 18-hole courses.

• Four resort hotels not managed by Euro Disney SCA:
• * Holiday Inn Hotel and Vienna International Dream Castle Hotel (four-star hotels)
• * MyTravel's Explorers Hotel (three-star hotel)
• * Kyriad Hotel (two-star hotel)

Trivia

• The Simpsons parodies the initial response to EuroDisney in the episode Itchy & Scratchy Land when the screen cuts to "Euro Itchy and Scratchy Land". A man with a French accent is berating (non present) people for not coming to the park. ("Hello? Itchy and Scratchy Land open for business! Who are you to resist it, huh? Come on! My last paycheque bounced...my children need wine!")

• In the movie Escape From L.A., Snake Plissken and Map-to-the-Stars Eddie are hangliding over what looks like Disneyland in the postapocalyptic Los Angeles. Plissken remarks "Is that what I think it is?" and Eddie replies: "Yeah..Place changed owners so many times then went out of business. That place in Paris killed them!"

• Many people in the United States have come under the impression that the park was shut down, and still refer to it as "Euro Disney".

Timeline

• March 24 1987 - The French government and The Walt Disney Company sign an agreement for the creation of Euro Disney Resort.
• March 31 1992 - The Marne-la-Vallee/Chessy RER station is inaugurated.
• April 12 1992 - Euro Disneyland and the Euro Disney Resort are officially inaugurated.
• May 19 1994 - The Marne-la-Vallee/Chessy TGV station is inaugurated.
• October 01 1994 - The Euro Disney Resort is renamed Disneyland Paris.
• May 31 1995 - Space Mountain: From The Earth To The Moon opens at the theme park.
• April 12 1997 - Disneyland Paris celebrates its 5th anniversary.
• May 1997 - A Gaumont multiplex movie theatre is opened at Disney Village.
• March 28 1999 - Honey I Shrunk The Audience opens at the theme park.
• October 24 2000 - The Val d'Europe international shopping centre opens for business.
• January 10 2001 - Disneyland Paris receives its 100 millionth guest.
• March 16 2002 - The Walt Disney Studios Park officially opens its doors, its sister park is renamed Disneyland Park and the resort is renamed Disneyland Resort Paris.
• April 12 2002 - Disneyland Park celebrates its 10th anniversary.
• July 5 2003 - Fantillusion, from Tokyo Disneyland, begins running at Disneyland Park.
• June 24 2004 - The Legend of the Lion King show opens at Disneyland Park.
• April 09 2005 - Space Mountain: Mission 2 opens at Disneyland Park.
• April 2005 - Disney Village expands with the addition of an IMAX theater and PanoraMagique, the world's largest tethered balloon.
• April 08 2006 - Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast opens at Disneyland Park.

References