| It's the place everyone dreams of going: Disneyland | | | | many attractions. In March 1992 Euro Disney opened |
| Paris covers over 138 acres and is built in keeping with | | | | to employees for testing also main sponsors and their |
| the other Disney parks, making the layout familiar to | | | | families were invited. The park finally opened on April |
| people who have been to the other parks in Orlando, | | | | 12th 1992 but the expected prediction of 500,000 |
| Tokyo and Anaheim. Disneyland Paris consists of two | | | | visitors was wrong as barely 50,000 people turned up |
| theme parks, retail, dining, entertainment districts and | | | | - this was partly due to protests from French locals |
| seven Disney-owned hotels. It is the second resort to | | | | who thought that it would harm the French culture. |
| open outside of the United States - the first being the | | | | Overall this was a disappointing start for the Disney |
| Tokyo based one - but is the first that is owned and | | | | Company. |
| operated by Disney. Disneyland Paris is situated in a | | | | The misery continued as the park's first phase of |
| perfect location its nearby the Capital but lies just on | | | | development went over Budget and cost 22 billion |
| the outskirts of it, but with that said the options of | | | | French Francs to complete, and the next few months' |
| where to stay are endless you could choose to stay | | | | attendance figures didn't improve much. By the time of |
| at Disney but a more cheaper option is to stay outside | | | | May the park only attracted around 25,000 visitors a |
| of it. Being near to Paris you could find various places | | | | day instead of the 60,000 that they predicted. Over |
| some would say the best villas in France. | | | | the next year things were getting worse, which wasn't |
| Disneyland in Anaheim was successful so plans to | | | | helped by a European Recession that hit property |
| build a European extension were afoot. These first | | | | prices in 1992 and that the dollar was cheap so most |
| started around 1975, coincidently nine years after Walt | | | | would forego Europe in favour for Florida's Park. |
| Disney died. The countries Britain, Italy, Spain and | | | | There were other problems and by the start of 1994 |
| France were all considered as possible locations, but | | | | the company had serious financial difficulties, which |
| Britain and Italy were quickly dropped from the list as | | | | lead to a meeting with banks and backers and the |
| potential sites because they lacked the necessary | | | | banks agreed to help them keep them stable for a |
| large expanse of flat land. It was thought that the | | | | few years. |
| mostly likely site would be the Alicante area of Spain | | | | By August of 1994 things started to change for the |
| because it had a climate that was similar to that of | | | | better as the entire park's hotels were fully booked |
| Florida's for most of the year, however it was ruled | | | | during the peak season. The park rode on this |
| out as well because of the Mistral winds. After much | | | | resurgence by changing the name from Euro Disney |
| though, Marne-la-Vallee in France won the location, due | | | | to Disneyland Paris. They saw the new name |
| to its close proximity to Paris (the capital of France) | | | | connects more with the romantic city of Paris and to |
| and because of its central positioning within Western | | | | not associate it with Poor reputation that comes with |
| Europe. They thought this would be crucial to the | | | | the phrase 'Euro Disney'. The end of the year figures |
| park's future success if it was to attract sufficient | | | | showed promising signs as they the previous year's |
| visitors. It was calculated that the location puts the park | | | | 650 million loss was reduced to around 200 million. By |
| within 4 hours (driving) for around 68 million people and | | | | the end of March 1995 the company predicted that the |
| 2 hours (flying) for a further 200 million. | | | | resort may break-even by the end of the year, this |
| The chief executive officer of The Walt Disney | | | | was helped by the fact that a new attraction and one |
| Company at the time, Michael Eisner, signed the first | | | | of the most popular rides (still today) space mountain |
| letter of agreement with the French government in | | | | was opened. In August 1995 Disneyland Paris and the |
| December 1985 and Robert Fitzpatrick, a key | | | | Euro Disney resort complex announce a 22m profit, |
| organiser of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was | | | | followed by the first annual operating profit announced |
| appointed as the Euro Disney President, this was the | | | | in November 1995 and since then its been smooth |
| when the park finally started to take shape, with the | | | | sailing. |
| construction on the 2,000 hectare site in August 1988. | | | | Many of the attractions of the park are refined (some |
| In Disney 1990 Espace Euro Disney (an information | | | | would say superior) versions of those that appear in |
| centre) was opened to the public to show what | | | | the parks that were made before it. For example the |
| Disney were constructing. This was followed by the | | | | Space Mountain in Orlando is slower and in fact is the |
| opening of the casting centre on 1st September 1991 in | | | | fastest of all the five versions of the ride plus features |
| order to start recruiting the hundreds of Cast | | | | a launch cannon start to the ride. |
| Members that would ultimately operate the park's | | | | |