The History of Disneyland Paris
The History of DisneyLand Paris
In the beginning...
Following on from the success of the DisneyLand theme park in Anaheim, plans to build a European version first started around 1975, nine years after Walt Disney died. Initially Britain, Italy, Spain and France were all considered as possible locations, though Britain and Italy were quickly dropped from the list of potential sites because they both lacked a suitably large expanse of flat land.
The most likely site was thought to be in the Alicante area of Spain, which had a similar climate to that in Florida for a large part of the year, however the area was also beset by the notorious Mistral winds.
Eventually the French location won, and a site was duly investigated at Marne-la-Vallee, partly because of its close proximity to Paris, and also it 's central positioning within western europe. A factor that was though to be crucial to the park 's future success if it was to attract sufficient visitors. The proposed location put the park within 4-hours drive for around 68 million people, and 2 hours flight for a further 300 million or so.
Michael Eisner signed the first letter of agreement with the French Socialist government in December 1985, and started to draw up the finantial contracts during the following spring. Robert Fitzpatrick, a key organiser of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was appointed as the Euro Disney President, and the park slowly started to take shape, with construction starting on the 2,000 hectare site in August 1988.
In December 1990, Espace Euro Disney (an information centre) was opened to the public to show what Disney were constructing. This was followed by the opening of the casting centre on 1st September 1991 in order to start recruiting the hundreds of Cast Members that would ultimitely operate the park 's many attractions.
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Opening Day...
Euro Disney first opened to employees, for testing during late March 1992, during which time the
In the beginning...
Following on from the success of the DisneyLand theme park in Anaheim, plans to build a European version first started around 1975, nine years after Walt Disney died. Initially Britain, Italy, Spain and France were all considered as possible locations, though Britain and Italy were quickly dropped from the list of potential sites because they both lacked a suitably large expanse of flat land.
The most likely site was thought to be in the Alicante area of Spain, which had a similar climate to that in Florida for a large part of the year, however the area was also beset by the notorious Mistral winds.
Eventually the French location won, and a site was duly investigated at Marne-la-Vallee, partly because of its close proximity to Paris, and also it 's central positioning within western europe. A factor that was though to be crucial to the park 's future success if it was to attract sufficient visitors. The proposed location put the park within 4-hours drive for around 68 million people, and 2 hours flight for a further 300 million or so.
Michael Eisner signed the first letter of agreement with the French Socialist government in December 1985, and started to draw up the finantial contracts during the following spring. Robert Fitzpatrick, a key organiser of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was appointed as the Euro Disney President, and the park slowly started to take shape, with construction starting on the 2,000 hectare site in August 1988.
In December 1990, Espace Euro Disney (an information centre) was opened to the public to show what Disney were constructing. This was followed by the opening of the casting centre on 1st September 1991 in order to start recruiting the hundreds of Cast Members that would ultimitely operate the park 's many attractions.
________________________________________
Opening Day...
Euro Disney first opened to employees, for testing during late March 1992, during which time the