Why Build Disneyland in France?

Disneyland Paris opened on 12th April 1992 2 ½ years after construction of the site began. After much hype and expected transport chaos opening day saw less than 50000 guests attend the park, lets face it that must have been disappointing. Since then the sorcerers apprentice has had to pull more than one financial rabbit out of the hat to keep the mouse house up and running but 16 years on and with the addition of the Walt Disney Studios park things look a little brighter. Guest numbers are up, they are spending more money and there is more to do. Average room occupancy at the Disneyland Paris resort hotels is around 87% and judging from my most recent stay I would say that business seems good.

So with the benefit of hind sight plonking Disneyland in the middle of France seems an obvious choice but was it always that simple. Back in the days when Disneyland Paris or ‘Euro Disney’ was still only lead in an imagineers pencil it must have seemed to most that the obvious place to put it would be in the subtropical climate of Spain, there the park could closely emulate the feel of it's American counterparts and almost guarantee great weather for your Disney vacation. So it came as quite a surprise when Marne-la-Vallée, 32km east of Paris with its, how shall we put it, ' changeable’ climate was chosen, after all who wants stand and watch the mid afternoon Disney parade when it’s freezing cold and pouring with rain, its just not Disney.

Luckily the powers that be could see beyond the small matter of the weather and instead focused on who would visit the resort and how they would get there, with this in mind the middle of France was a no brainier. Marne-la-Vallée was chosen because of its close proximity to Paris and its easily accessible location within Europe. This location was estimated to be no more than a four-hour drive for 68 million people and no more than a two-hour flight for 300 million more, that’s a lot of potential customers. With the subsequent opening of the channel tunnel in 1994 and the introduction of a direct Eurostar service from London’s St Pancras station to Disneyland Paris I can get from my home in southern England to the gates of Disneyland Paris within 4 1/2 hours.