Disneyland Park is a theme park which is a part of Disneyland Resort Paris. Owned by Euro Disney S.C.A., it is one of two theme parks in the complex just outside of Paris, in Marne-la-Vallée, France.
The park is based on a formula pioneered by Disneyland in California and further employed at the Magic Kingdom in Florida and Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. Occupying 566,560 m² (140 acres) it is the largest Disney park based on the original in California. The park opened as Euro Disneyland on April 12, 1992.
Dedication[]
To all who come to this happy place, welcome. Once upon a time... A master storyteller, Walt Disney, inspired by Europe’s best loved tales, used his own special gifts to share them with the world. He envisioned a Magic Kingdom where these stories would come to life, and called it Disneyland. Now his dream returns to the lands that inspired it. Euro Disneyland is dedicated to the young, and the young at heart... with a hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration for all the world. - Michael D. Eisner, April 12, 1992
History[]
For the fourth park to be based on the original in Anaheim, California, modifications were made to the concepts and designs of the park. Amongst these changes was a shift from Tomorrowland to "Discoveryland," giving the area a retrofuturistic theme rather than futuristic. Other elements that were altered include the The Haunted Mansion, which was redesigned as Phantom Manor, and Space Mountain. The park's location in Europe brought forth its own challenges. For instance, the castle is said by its designers to have been necessarily reevaluated for a continent on which authentic castles stand.
Modifications to the park were made to protect against changes in weather in the Parisian climate. Covered walkways were added and Michael Eisner ordered the installation of 35 fireplaces in hotels and restaurants. "People walk around Disney World (sic) with humidity and temperatures in the 90s, and they walk into an air-conditioned ride and say, ‘This is the greatest,' " said Eisner. "When it’s raining and miserable, I hope they will walk into one of those lobbies with the fireplace going and say the same thing."
The park, as well as its surrounding complex, initially failed to meet financial expectations. This resulted in an image change in which the word "Euro" was phased out of several names, including Euro Disneyland.
List of Attractions[]
Main Street, U.S.A.[]
- City Hall
- Liberty Arcade
- Discovery Arcade
- Dapper Dan's Hair Cuts
- Horse-Drawn Streetcars
- Main Street Vehicles
- Disneyland Railroad - Main Street Station
Frontierland[]
- Legends of the Wild West
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Phantom Manor
- Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing
- River Rogue Keel Boats
- Rustler Roundup Shooting Gallery
- Pocahontas Indian Village
- Woody's Roundup Village
- Chaparral Theatre
- Disneyland Railroad - Frontierland Depot
Adventureland[]
- Le Passage Enchanté d'Aladdin (Aladdin's Enchanted Passage)
- Adventure Isle
- La Cabane des Robinson (Swiss Family Treehouse)
- La Plage des Pirates (Pirates Beach)
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril)
Fantasyland[]
- Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty Castle)
- La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty's Gallery)
- La Taniére du Dragon (The Dragon's Lair)
- Le Théâtre du Château (The Castle Stage)
- Le Carrousel de Lancelot (Lancelot's Carrousel)
- Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
- Les Voyages de Pinocchio (Pinocchio's Fantastic Journey)
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Alice's Curious Labyrinth
- Mad Hatter Tea Party
- It's a Small World
- Le Pays de Contes de Fées (Storybook Land Canal Boats)
- Casey Jr. - Le Petit Train du Cirque (Casey Jr. Circus Train)
- Fantasy Festival Stage
- Disneyland Railroad - Fantasyland Station
Discoveryland[]
- Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
- Orbitron, Machines Volantes (Orbitron, Flying Machines)
- Autopia
- Videopolis
- Arcade Alpha & Arcade Beta
- Les Mystères du Nautilus (The Mysteries of the Nautilus)
- Space Mountain: Mission 2
- Star Tours
- L'Astroport Services Interstellaires (The Spaceport Interstellar Services)
- Captain EO
- Disneyland Railroad - Discoveryland Station
Trivia[]
- Shareholders of Euro Disney S.C.A. have access to a private lounge at the park, Salon Mickey, which allows them to bypass the regular turnstiles.'
In popular culture[]
- The Simpsons parodies the initial response to Euro Disneyland in the episode Itchy & Scratchy Land.
- In the film Escape from L.A., Snake Plissken and Map-to-the-Stars Eddie are hangliding over what looks like Disneyland in the postapocalyptic Los Angeles. Plissken remarks "Is that what I think it is?" and Eddie replies: "Yeah... Place changed owners so many times then went out of business. That place in Paris killed them!"
- On an episode of the Warner Bros. cartoon Freakazoid, the title character goes back in time to 1941 and stops the Japanese from attacking Pearl Harbor. When he returns to the present he finds out the world is a better place and reads in the newspaper that people are actually going to Euro Disney.
- Warner Bros. later spoofed the park again in the Histeria! episode "Music", which featured a sketch where Nostradamus hosted a Dating Game parody, with the prize being "a trip to Euro Dizzyland", which is naturally deserted; when the bacherlorette, Miss Information, picks him, Nostradamus admits he doesn't want to go there.
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