Disneyland Paris (until 1994 Euro Disney Resort or Euro Disney
Resort Paris, from 2002 to 2009 Disneyland Resort Paris) is a 2,230
hectare leisure complex in the commune of Chessy, part of the Ville
nouvelle Marne-la-Vallée, 32 km east of Paris, France.
The
resort opened on April 12, 1992 after four years of construction and
has since been visited by over 320 million people from all over the
world. Today it includes the two theme parks Disneyland Park (1992)
and Walt Disney Studios Park (2002), the entertainment area Disney
Village, the golf course Golf Disneyland, several hotels as well as
residential and business districts. With an estimated 9.9
(Disneyland) and 4.3 (Walt Disney Studios) million visitors, both
parks were among the five most visited amusement parks in Europe in
2014, with Disneyland Park being the most visited park on the
continent.
The Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of the
Walt Disney Company has a 76.71% stake in the capital of Disneyland
Resort Paris, whose development and expansion is the responsibility
of Euro Disney SCA. This in turn owns Euro Disney SA and 82% of Euro
Disney Associés SNC. The latter manage and manage the domain.
Disneyland Park (until 1994
EuroDisney, then until 2002 Disneyland Paris) with an area of 51
hectares is the oldest part and the centerpiece of the resort. Based
on the model of the Magic Kingdom from the American Disneyland
resorts, it is divided into five themed areas, which are grouped
around the Sleeping Beauty Castle, which is the park's landmark. The
different areas, viewed clockwise from the park entrance, are:
Main Street USA
Main Street USA begins after the entrance to
the park. Mainly restaurants and shops are located here. Similar to
the other Disney parks, it leads to the so-called “hub” in front of
the castle, from which visitors have access to all the different
themed areas of the park. The architectural style of the buildings
transports visitors to a small town in the USA at the turn of the
century. The architecture is based on Marceline in the state of
Missouri, the city where Walt Disney grew up. There is also the
opportunity to have your hair styled or shaved in the style of the
turn of the twentieth century. Main Street Vehicles (old-timers that
transport guests) drive here. The Discovery Arcade and Liberty
Arcade (strolling and discovery miles) run parallel behind the
façades of the buildings. In addition, the official Disney parades
take place on the main street. The Disneyland Railroad – Main Street
Station, the "main station" of the Disneyland Railroad, is also
located here. With the train it is possible to bypass the park and
get an overview.
This area is based on a typical Wild West setting. Frontierland is home to the Darkride Phantom Manor, which is themed as a ghost train. The Big Thunder Mountain family rollercoaster is also located here, where trains pass through an underground tunnel under the lake around Big Thunder Mountain and ride up the mountain against the backdrop of an old mine. There are also other attractions in Frontierland such as the Rustler Roundup Shootin 'Gallery, the Pocahontas Indian Village playground and the Chaparral Theater. There is also a Disneyland Railroad stop in the back of the themed area.
In Adventureland, visitors embark on the paths of well-known
adventurers such as Indiana Jones or can explore the fairytale town
of Agrabah. There is also a pirate-style adventure playground based
on the Pirates of the Caribbean for children.
Attractions in
this area include the "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril"
(Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril), the "Adventure Isle", the
tree house of the "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Pirates of the
Caribbean" . The latter attraction formed the basis for the Pirates
of the Caribbean film series of the same name.
The Fantasyland themed area is particularly geared towards younger
visitors. The attractions are designed around well-known fairy tales
adapted from Disney. The "Sleeping Beauty Castle", the Sleeping
Beauty Castle in the center of the park with some shopping
opportunities, is particularly well known. There is also “La Galerie
de la Belle au Bois Dormant”, a walk-in gallery with glass windows
and tapestries from the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. The accessible
dragon cave "La Tanière du Dragon" is located under the castle.
Other attractions include “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”,
which tells the story of Snow White and contains elements of a ghost
train. "Peter Pan’s Flight" - Peter Pan’s Flight is a gondola that
takes you over the rooftops of London to Neverland. This is also
where the "Alice’s Curious Labyrinth" is located, which ends in the
Queen of Hearts Castle. “Pinocchio's Journey” tells the story of
Pinocchio and during the boat trip in “Le Pays des Contes de Fées”
(The Fairy Tale Land), fairy tales like Snow White, Peter and the
Wolf or Aladdin are shown. "Casey Jr." is a nice, "slow" family
rollercoaster that is located behind the maze.
"It's a small
world" is a boat trip with singing children from different nations.
This is an attraction that was originally designed for a world
exhibition and represents every country or region in the world:
Europe, rainforest, Africa, Alaska etc. The park steam locomotives
make a stop on their tour of the park at the "Fantasyland Station
Disney Railroad" a. There is also “Le Théâtre du Château” (theater
for productions and shows) in Fantasyland.
In Discoveryland ("Land of Discoveries") the visitor experiences,
among other things, the fictional future of Jules Verne. When it
opened in 1992, this subject area was deliberately built into a
future of classic visionaries from the perspective of the 19th
century - away from classic Star Wars and science fiction motifs.
The focus of the themed area is the Space Mountain indoor roller
coaster, which opened in 1995: De la Terre à la Lune. In April 2005
the roller coaster opened after a renovation phase as Space
Mountain: Mission 2 and left the classic Jules Verne theme with the
new appearance inside the attraction.
From 2004 to 2009 the
show The Legend of the Lion King ("The Legend of the Lion King") ran
in the Videopolis across from Space Mountain. The show is structured
like a musical with a duration of around 30 minutes. Since 2010 the
show program at the Videopolis has consisted of an African drum
show.
Other attractions in Discoveryland are the Buzz
Lightyear Laser Blast (an interactive dark ride), which replaces the
360 ° Visionarium cinema. Star Tours (flight simulator), Orbitron
(carousel with rockets) and Autopia (a kind of go-kart track with
petrol vehicles) expand the program. Further offers are the 3D film
Captain EO, which has been included in the program again after a
long break as a replacement for the 4D film Honey, I shrunk the
audience! (“Darling, I've shrunk the audience!”) And screenings of
classic Mickey Mouse cartoons at the Videopolis.
Walt Disney
Studios Park
Furthermore, there has been the "Walt Disney
Studios" since 2002, which is directly adjacent to the original park
and the Disney Village. In this park, visitors should be able to
look behind the scenes of films. The park is divided into three
(formerly four) themed areas: Front Lot, Production Courtyard and
Toon Studio.
Front Lot
In the front lot is the entrance
area of the park together with the entrance hall (Studio 1), which
is designed after Hollywood Boulevard.
Production courtyard
Since December 22, 2007, visitors can experience the “Twilight Zone
Tower of Terror” free fall tower. In March 2008, “Stitch Live”
(“Stitch Encounter” at Disneyland in Hong Kong) was opened in the
Disney Channel building complex.
There is also the stunt show
"Moteurs ... Action!" In this area, in which stunt effects are shown
with vehicles, explosions and all kinds of "action". This show is
the last part of the former backlot and will close soon in
preparation for the Avengers Campus.
Toon Studio (formerly
Animation Courtyard)
The last attraction from the opening year in
this area are the Flying Carpets Over Agrabah. In June 2007, the
Spinning Coaster Crush’s Coaster, based on the film “Finding Nemo”,
opened, as did a teacup-like attraction for the film “Cars”.
In the summer of 2010, a new themed land “Toy Story Playland” moved
into the Toon Studio. This new themed area has three new attractions
- a parachute ride ("Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop") with the theme of
the little plastic soldiers, a halfpipe coaster ("RC Racer") with
the theme of RC Racer and a music express with the Theme by Slinky
Dog ("Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin").
In 2014 the park was expanded
to include a dark ride based on the film Ratatouille, including an
attached restaurant and shop. Since 2016, the show Mickey and the
Magician has also been in this area. The latest show in this subject
area is "Frozen: A Musical Invitation" in the former building of
"Art Of Disney Animation".
Planned expansions
The new
attraction “Car Route 66 Route Trip” will open in 2020 in the Toon
Studio area of the park.
By 2025, the park is to be
expanded to include three more themed areas around Marvel, Frozen
and Star Wars.
The first of these subject areas will open in
2021 with Avengers Campus. The Avengers Campus will be located in
the former area of the backlot and will open with two new
attractions: an interactive Spider Man Dark Ride and an Iron Man
roller coaster, which is a redesign of the "Rock 'n' Roller
Coaster". Later, the area will also be supplemented by an Avengers
Dark Ride.
The second new themed area "Frozen: Kingdom of
Arendelle" is expected to open in 2023. In addition to a restaurant
and a souvenir shop, the main attraction of this area will be a
longer version of the “Frozen Ever After” dark ride from Epcot in
Disneyworld.
The third and final step of this expansion will
be a smaller version of the Star Wars Galaxys Edge themed area,
which opened in Disneyland and Disneyworld in 2019. In contrast to
the American parks, only the dark ride “Star Wars: Rise of the
Resistance” is being built in Paris and not the flight simulator
“Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run”. The area is scheduled to open in
2025.
Most of the former attractions were located
in the backlot area of the park, which is currently being
converted into the Avengers Campus. This includes, for example, the
"Rock 'n' Roller Coaster", which has been closed since 2019. Here
the passengers were accelerated from 0 to 92 km / h in less than
three seconds, and a rock soundtrack composed by the band Aerosmith
could be heard during the journey. The effects simulator Armageddon
- Les Effets Speciaux, which was closed in 2019, was also in the
backlot topic.
In the show "CinéMagique", which was located
in the Toon Studio, there were many small film clips combined with a
love story. Until 2019, this area also housed the “Art Of Disney
Animation” attraction.
Another show in Walt Disney Studios
Park was the black light show Animagique, which has been closed
since 2016, was in the Courtyard production and in which well-known
Disney melodies were shown wrapped in a story. The so-called “Studio
Tram Tour”, a behind-the-scenes tour with special effects
presentation, was also in this area until January 2020.
Disney Village amusement center
Opened for inauguration in 1992
under the name Festival Disney, the Disney Village is located in the
center of the resort between the hotels and the two parks. The
original design was planned and built by the architect Frank Gehry.
As a result of renovations and changes in use over the years, almost
nothing has been preserved from the original concept.
The
Disney Village with an area of approximately 15 hectares and
numerous attractions such as shops, restaurants, a nightclub, a
cinema complex and shops such as B. a Disney store, is presented as
a complete "city" that is still open after the park closes. Adjacent
there is also a bowling and video game center, as well as a separate
parking garage for visitors, so that “non-park visitors” from the
surrounding area can also be attracted as visitors. Essentially all
of the merchandise items that can be purchased in the park can be
found in the three existing Disney stores.
The Disney Village
is also home to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Dinner Show, a
western-style performance with horses, acrobatics and stunts, where
the visitor is served dinner and one of four teams cheers on a
competitor.
There is also an IMAX 3D cinema in Disney
Village. Numerous discos and several restaurants such as the
Rainforest Cafe, the Billy-Bobs, in which there is regular live
music, or the Annette's restaurant, in which the food is brought to
visitors with rock'n'roll music by waiters who ride on roller skates
will have settled here. A McDonald’s fast-food restaurant can be
found there as well as a branch of the Starbucks coffee house chain.
Golf Disneyland
A few minutes' drive from the Disney Parks,
the 27-hole golf course in Disneyland Resort Paris is located
between waterfalls, rocks, streams and trees. The course is suitable
for both beginners and professionals.
Right next door is the
four-star Radisson Blu Hotel at Disneyland Paris.
Disney operated hotels
Disneyland Hotel (5
stars)
Disney’s Hotel New York (4 stars)
Disney’s Newport Bay
Club (4 Star)
Village Nature Paris (4 stars)
Disney’s Sequoia
Lodge (3 star)
Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne (3 Star)
Disney’s Hotel
Santa Fe (2 stars)
Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch
Partner
hotels
Vienna International Dream Castle Hotel
Vienna
International Magic Circus Hotel
Algonquin's Explorer Hotel
Hotel Kyriad
Hôtel L’Élysée Val d’Europe
Radisson Blu Hotel
Adagio City Apart Hotels
B&B Hotel
Transport
infrastructure - transport links
With the Marne-la-Vallée -
Chessy train station, the resort has a direct connection to the
Paris “S-Bahn” RER, to the TGV high-speed rail network and to the
Eurostar train to London. It can be reached in about half an hour
from the center of Paris (Charles-de-Gaulle - Étoile, Auber,
Châtelet - Les Halles, Gare de Lyon or Nation stations) on the RER
line A.
VEA buses (Val d'Europe Airport) run to the two Paris
airports (ORLY and CDG). From Paris-CDG airport, the most convenient
connection is the TGV high-speed train, which takes just 10 minutes.
The site is connected to the French A4 motorway with two
separate exits (13 and 14).
Shuttle buses run every 10 to 20
minutes between the RER train station, the theme parks and the
Disney hotels and so-called affiliated hotels (see above). If you
live at the “Davy Crockett Ranch”, a car is required as there is no
bus connection.
Val d'Europe business district
Val d'Europe shopping center
Office buildings of the Parc International d'Entreprises Arlington
Val d'Europe
La Vallée Outlet Shopping Village, Quartier du Parc,
Val d’Europe
Vacation and residential areas
Quartier du Parc
Quartier du Golf
Val de France district
Waiting times
Due to the increasing number of visitors and the size of the park,
it is hardly possible to see or complete all the attractions in one
day, as waiting times of 60 to 90 minutes and more for a trip are
not unusual. During the low season (e.g. in winter), however,
waiting times of a few minutes are also possible (especially on
working days).
A system called Fastpass has been introduced
at the most popular attractions. These limited special tickets
contain a time window within which visitors can enter the attraction
via an extra queue. This can significantly reduce waiting times.
Similar systems exist in many comparable parks.
Visitor numbers
The number of visitors remained almost
constant in the early years at around 10 million visitors per year.
At the end of the 1990s they rose to around 11 million; in 2001,
12.3 million people visited the park. In 2002 the number of visitors
fell to 9.2 million, in the following years they recovered and in
2006 were 12.8 million. In fiscal 2007 the numbers improved again
and rose to 14.5 million. A new visitor record was achieved in the
2008 financial year with 15.3 million visitors. In 2008, the 200
millionth visitor since the opening was also welcomed. In the 2009
financial year, the number of visitors fell to 12.74 million.
In 2011/12 around 16 million visitors were counted, in the
following financial year 2012/13 the number fell again to just under
15 million. With these figures, Disneyland Paris claims to be the
most visited tourist attraction in Europe.
On average, about
36% of visitors come to Walt Disney Studios Park, 53% to Disneyland
Park and 11% to Disney Village.
Business results
In 2013,
there were still around 1.7 billion euros in debt from the initial
investments in the books of the accounts. For the majority of years
Euro-Disney made losses; between 2008 and 2013 every year. From this
period alone, the losses add up to 78 million euros in debt. The
park responded with an austerity program that was tightened several
times and which was felt by employees as considerable pressure.
Visitors were also affected by the austerity measures and responded
to the closure of rides, the cancellation of shows and savings in
the catering trade with protests.
In 2012, the parent company
had to take over the old debts, extend the repayment periods and
reduce interest rates. The license payments to the parent company of
70 million euros per year are a key factor in the red numbers. A
two-year modernization process ended in 2017, as part of which
numerous attractions were renewed and partially reopened and hotels
renovated.
Investments
The rides and attractions are
showing their age. However, there is a lack of funds for systematic
renewal, but the savings from the support of the parent company are
intended to improve the situation. In 2014 the park was expanded to
include a dark ride based on the film Ratatouille, including an
attached restaurant and shop. In February 2018, Disney announced
that it would invest around 2 billion euros in expanding the park
over the next few years.