April 12 - Euro Disneyland

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On this day, in 1992, Euro Disneyland opened  its doors to guests in Marne-la-Vallee, France. The glimmer of a European Disney park had started shining in executives’ eyes two decades before the dream became a reality. It wasn’t until the almost instant success of Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, though, that plans began in earnest. Over 1,200 sites in several countries were considered before finally choosing the French countryside about 30 miles outside of Paris. By the time construction began in 1988, plans already existed for a second Disney-MGM Studios type park (which was still under construction in Florida) to be built right next door to the Disneyland park and open in 1996. It was also clear that guests would need a place to stay, so 5,800 hotel rooms should be enough, and, heck, why not throw in a Downtown Disney type shopping complex, too. We’re Disney, what could possibly go wrong? Well, as it turns out, quite a bit actually.

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Europe, for those of you who were wondering, is not Japan. The Japanese have a long-standing love of cute little cartoon characters (think Hello Kitty or Pokemon) that easily incorporates Disney. They are so gaga for Disney that there are tons of non-main characters you can get on merchandise in Tokyo that you can’t get anywhere else. The craze for critters does not translate to other parts of the world. It’s not even as robust in America much less Europe. So when the protests began before the park was anywhere near completion, they were not a good sign. True, some of the French people were protesting things that didn’t have anything to do with Disney, like the farmers who were upset with US trade policy, but when you give them a 20 square kilometer target to aim at, they’re going to go for it. However, many others were upset with the company itself. Everything from Disney’s hiring practices to their appearance requirements to the fact that American consumerism itself was unwelcome hindered the process of building and staffing Euro Disneyland. But Michael Eisner and his team of executives persevered and got the job done. Which almost became a moot point.

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Attendance on opening day was expected to be fairly high, based on the reception other parks around the world had experienced. Unfortunately, the French government and media got a little excited about the venture, were for some reason expecting over 500,000 people in over 90,000 cars to clog the countryside and warned people to avoid the area if at all possible. So, unlike Americans who see traffic as a challenge, the French people listened. By mid-day, Euro Disneyland’s parking lot was barely half full. It didn’t help that there was a short railroad strike happening on the same day that prevented anyone from taking the train over from Paris. To say that the number of guests that first April day was disappointing would be an understatement. The figures improved somewhat as the months went on, until August, when Europe found itself in the throes of a recession and things went bad quickly.

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Recognizing that the top complaint about the resort was a lack of things to do, Disney added an Indiana Jones themed roller coaster in the beginning of 1993, but even that had issues. Just weeks into operation, a string of guest injuries were caused by faulty emergency brakes. By the start of 1994, things were looking dire. Euro Disneyland was on the verge of bankruptcy and was starting to drag on the rest of the company. Eisner and his team actually threatened to cut the company's losses, walk away from the resort and let the banks have the land. Eventually a deal was reached to help alleviate the pressure of more than $3 Billion worth of debt. Disney sold part of its stake to a Saudi Arabian investor, the banks agreed to not collect interest for a few years and Disney agreed to not collect royalties for the same period. Then, in May 1995, things began looking up for real.

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A version of Space Mountain had been planned for Euro Disneyland from the start, but economics kept pushing construction on the project back. Which turned out to be a good thing. Imagineers gave this Mountain a total redesign, including inversions and a catapult launch beginning, making it something that you couldn't ride at any other Disney park. At a cost of $100 Million, Space Mountain: De la Terre a la Lune was a huge gamble. It paid off. The quarter the coaster opened became the first quarter in the park's history to turn a profit. At the end of that fiscal year,  attendance had jumped 21% and the hotels had seen a 8.5% increase in occupancy. After all was said and done, Euro Disneyland showed a profit of almost $23 million for 1995, an almost miraculous turnaround from the previous years.

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Euro Disneyland's fortunes yo-yoed for the next ten years. Sometimes it saw a profit, sometimes it didn't. In 2002, the resort underwent a name change and became Disneyland Paris. The second park, the Walt Disney Studios Park, was finally opened that same year. An aggressive ad campaign was launched soon after and, by 2005, Disneyland Paris had surpassed the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre to become Europe's top tourist destination. The resort's financial picture still see-saws a bit, but in general it turns a profit and enjoys increases in attendance and revenue. In June 2017, the Walt Disney Company bought out some of the partner companies in the resort, bringing their ownership share to over 85% and giving them full control of the place. Since then, it's been announced that over $2 Billion will be invested in new attractions, hotels and park expansions. 

I myself have been to the Paris park once, in the summer of 2000. It was almost by accident that we went. Our trip the City of Lights didn't include going to Disney until we saw an advertisement in the paper for an after 4:00 deal that worked out to about $25 per person. We couldn't pass that up. I found it to be charmingly European in design. We enjoyed the Alice in Wonderland hedge maze, the Old Mill Ferris wheel, the souped up Space Mountain and the fact that four of us ate dinner at a counter service restaurant for under $20 total. Someday I would like to return to Paris to enjoy more art at the Louvre, gellato near Notre Dame and another day at the expanded Disney resort (and yes, I'll do it in that order).