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Disneyland Resort Paris
(Disneyland Paris Resort)
Disneyland
Resort Paris (also known as the Disneyland Paris Resort) is
a vacation and recreation resort in Marne-la-Vallée, near
Paris, featuring two Disney theme parks, Disneyland
Paris and Walt Disney Studios. 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 50.22% is held by other shareholders.
The Disneyland Resort Paris is located 30 kilometers to the east
of 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 Belium by Thalys trains
and to London by the Eurostar. Be aware that the Resort is located
in the 5th zone of the Parisian metro system, therefore a special
ticket must be purchased in order to avoid a fine and also to be
able to exit the station.
Disneyland Paris Resort History
Construction began in 1988 and the entertainment Resort officially
opened as
Euro Disney 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. Furthermore, the theme park
faced protests by those who thought a Disney park in France would
harm French culture with its American influence. Some went as far
as to call the EuroDisney
project a "cultural Chernobyl." 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.
In October 1994, Euro Disney changed its name to Disneyland Paris
(later to 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, in 1995,
Disneyland Resort Paris finally turned a profit. But profits for
the park have been small, when it has been profitable at all.
In 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, many of which were copied from Disney-MGM
Studios at Walt Disney World.
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's Laser Blast
will open in Disneyland Park in 2006; a new land, Toon Studios will
open in Walt Disney Studios park in 2007; and the long-awaited Tower
of Terror will open in Walt Disney Studios in 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 retheming of the popular
Discoveryland roller coaster Space Mountain.
Disneyland Paris Resort Layout
The Disneyland Resort Paris consists of the following:
* Disneyland
Park, a theme park modelled on the original Disneyland park
of Anaheim, California. It has five themed lands, and the majestic
Castle of the Sleeping Beauty at the center. It is the most popular
theme park and the most popular tourist destination in continental
Europe.
* Walt Disney Studios Park, the second theme park in the resort,
with several gated lands. The park is themed around a bustling 1940s
working movie studio in Hollywood, and features exhibits on how
Disney animated classics are made.
* Disney Village, a bustling and popular shopping complex just
south of the two parks. It is the European equivalent of the American
Downtown Disney complexes. It features many high-quality resturaunts
and popular shops and nightclubs.
* 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)
This article is licensed from Wikipedia under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
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