Disneyland Park (Paris)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Disneyland Park | |
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| Location | Marne-la-Vallée, France |
| Opening Day | April 12, 1992 |
| Resort | Disneyland Resort Paris |
| Theme | Magic Kingdom |
| Website | Disneyland Resort Paris homepage |
| Operator | Euro Disney SCA |
| Disneyland Resort Paris |
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Disneyland Park |
| Resort hotels |
Disneyland Park is one of the main attractions of Disneyland Resort Paris. Owned by Euro Disney SCA, it is one of two theme parks in the resort just outside of Paris, in Marne-la-Vallée, France.
Spread out over 650,000 m² or 140 acres (rendering it the largest of the Magic Kingdom parks), it was built using the same formula as Disneyland in California, the Magic Kingdom in Florida and Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. The park opened as Euro Disneyland on 12 April 1992.
For the fourth Magic Kingdom-style park the concept was heavily redesigned and the park thus features little to no exact copies of elements in previous parks. Amongst the most severe of these changes is the shift from Tomorrowland to Discoveryland, giving the classic area a retrofuturistic theme rather than a futuristic one. Other well-known Disneyland elements that were altered include 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 iconic castle, a Disney theme park institution, is said by its designers to have been necessarily reevaluated for a continent holding authentic castles.
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[edit] 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 land that inspired it. Euro Disneyland is dedicated to the young and the young at heart... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration for all the world." - Michael Eisner, April 1, 1992
[edit] History
Initially the park infamously failed to meet financial expectations, rendering it the subject of much satire in the early 1990s. Euro Disney SCA responded with an image change in which the word "Euro" was phased out of all its brands, including Euro Disneyland.
This initial phasing out process was managed in three steps and followed once more by a change in 2002:
- Euro Disneyland was the park's official name from April 1992 until May 1994, the entire destination being called Euro Disney Resort;
- From June of 1994 until September, the park was called Euro Disneyland Paris*;
- From October 1994 until February 2002, the park was called Disneyland Paris*;
- Finally, from March 2002 the park was to be known as Disneyland Park. With the opening of the Walt Disney Studios Park next door, keeping the brand and identity of Disneyland Park separate was once again deemed necessary. In this strategic move, the destination was in its entirety rebranded Disneyland Resort Paris.
Disneyland Park is marketed to French consumers as Parc Disneyland, although a separate logo for this name has not been enforced since 2005.
The branding issues that have occurred regarding the unification or separation of the initial theme park and entire property including hotels, other parks and common facilities aren't unique to Disney in France. As Disney's global resorts have expanded with theme parks and other recreational amenities that share hotels and basic facilities on property, The Walt Disney Company experimented with marketing strategies as one of the first companies to be challenged with this task.
*During these periods, no distinction was made between the names of the entire resort and the current Disneyland Park.
[edit] Areas of Disneyland Park
In 2006, the park map lists 48 attractions in five areas known as "lands."
The Disneyland Railroad runs along the perimeter of the park and stops in Main Street, U.S.A., Frontierland, Fantasyland and Discoveryland.
[edit] Main Street, U.S.A.
- Horse-Drawn Streetcars
- Main Street Vehicles
- Liberty Arcade
- Discovery Arcade
- Dapper Dan's Hair Cuts
- City Hall
- Disneyland Railroad Main Street Train Station
[edit] Frontierland
- Phantom Manor
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing
- Rustler Roundup Shootin' Gallery
- Legends of the Wild West
- River Rogue Keelboats (Coyote and Raccoon)
- Pocahontas Indian Village
- Critter Corral
- Disneyland Railroad Frontierland Depot
[edit] Adventureland
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril)
- La Cabane Des Robinsons (Swiss Family Treehouse)
- Le Passage Enchanté d'Aladdin
- Adventure Isle
- Pirates' Beach
[edit] Fantasyland
- Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty Castle)
- La Galerie de Belle au Bois Dormant
- "it's a small world"
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains
- Les Voyages de Pinocchio
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Le Caroussel de Lancelot
- Mad Hatter's Tea Cups
- Alice's Curious Labyrinth
- La Tanière du Dragon
- Casey Junior, Le Petit Train du Cirque
- Le Pays des Contes de Fées
- Les Pirouettes du Vieux Moulin
- Disneyland Railroad Fantasyland Station
[edit] Discoveryland
- Space Mountain: Mission 2
- Orbitron, Machines Volantes
- Autopia
- Star Tours
- Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast (formerly Le Visionarium)
- Honey, I Shrunk the Audience
- Les Mystères du Nautilus (The Mysteries Of The Nautilus)
- Arcades Alpha & Beta
- Disneyland Railroad Discoveryland Station
[edit] Incidents
In early October 2006, some park employees dressed as Disney characters were caught simulating sexual acts in a dressing room, prompting media attention. Disney said that it took "appropriate action" against the employees in question. [1] [2]
[edit] Trivia
- The Simpsons parodies the initial response to EuroDisney in the episode Itchy & Scratchy Land when the screen cuts to "Euro Itchy and Scratchy Land". A man with a French accent is berating (non present) people for not coming to the park. ("Hello? Itchy and Scratchy Land open for business! Who are you to resist it, huh? Come on! My last paycheque bounced...my children need wine!")
- In the movie 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!"
[edit] References
- Imagineers (1998). Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look At Making the Magic Real. Disney Editions. ISBN 0-7868-8372-3.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Disneyland Resort Paris Official Website
- The Disneyland Report - Disneyland Paris and Disney news
- Dlp.info - The Guide to Disneyland Resort Paris
- Google Maps (Satellite Image)
- Everything you need to know about Disneyland Park
- Petition on line to re-open the Bazar in Adventureland (in French)
