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Disneyland paris.jpg Disneyland Resort Paris is a vacation and recreation resort in Marne-la-Vallée, in the suburbs of Paris, France, featuring two Disney theme parks, Disneyland Park (usually called Disneyland Paris) and Walt Disney Studios. With 12.4 million visitors in 2004 [1], 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%. * 1 Transportation Transportation The Resort is located 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of central Paris and is easily accessible by car and the RER (commuter train). The Resort also has its own train station which provides direct links from many French cities by TGV, to Belgium by Thalys trains and to London by the Eurostar. With respect to the RER train, visitors must be aware that the Resort is in zone 5 of the Paris transportation system. Tickets valid for transportation within the City of Paris (zones 1 and 2) are not valid for going to the resort, and appropriate tickets must be purchased; failing to do so may result in a fine and/or difficulties for leaving the train station. 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 Following the success of the Disneyland park in Anaheim, California, in the United States, plans to build a similar European theme park started out around 1975. Initially, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain were considered as possible locations. Both Great Britain and Italy were quickly dropped from the list however, as they both lacked a sufficiently large expanse of flat land suited for the resort. 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 forthe 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. The resort officially opened as Euro Disney Resort and the first theme park as Euro Disneyland on 12 April 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 1 October 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. 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 themeing. 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 the Walt Disney Studios in 2007; and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror will also open at the Walt Disney Studios in 2007. 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 Space Mountain, opened in honour of Disneyland's 50th birthday. 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 - the largest Magic Kingdom-style park, the park is Europe's most visited theme park. * The Disneyland Resort Paris hotels: * Golf Disneyland - 9-hole and 18-hole courses. * Four resort hotels not managed by Euro Disney SCA: |
