Disneyland Park (Paris)

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Disney theme park
Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty Castle)
Disneyland Park
Location	Marne-la-Vallée, France
Opening Day	April 12, 1992
Resort	Disneyland Resort Paris
Theme	Various
Website	Disneyland Resort Paris homepage
Operator	Euro Disney SCA

Disneyland Park (Parc Disneyland in French) is a theme park which is a part of Disneyland Resort Paris. Operated 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 concept 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 12 April 1992.

[edit] 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 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.^[1]

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."^[2]

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.

[edit] Areas of Disneyland Park

This article or section is written like a travel guide and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style.(May 2008)

In 2007, 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.

Main article: 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

Fort Comstock at Frontierland

Adventureland

Captain Hook's galley at Adventureland

Space Mountain: Mission 2 in Discoveryland

Main article: Frontierland

• Phantom Manor
• Big Thunder Mountain
• Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing
• Rustler Roundup Shootin' Gallery
• Legends of the Wild West
• River Rogue Keel Boats
• Pocahontas Indian Village
• Critter Corral (now closed, replaced by Woody's Roundup)
• Disneyland Railroad Frontierland Depot
• The Tarzan Encounter at The Chaparral Theater
• Woody's Roundup Village

[edit] Adventureland

Main article: 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

Main article: 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 Jr. - Le Petit Train du Cirque
• Le Pays des Contes de Fées
• Les Pirouettes du Vieux Moulin (closed)
• Disneyland Railroad Fantasyland Station

[edit] Discoveryland

Main article: 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
• La Légende du Roi Lion (The Legend Of The Lion King) at Videopolis Theater

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• 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.
• The Simpsons parodies the initial response to Euro Disneyland in the episode Itchy & Scratchy Land.
• 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!"
• 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.
• 'Chante, C'est Noel is a song written by Jay Smith and performed by Vasile Sirli that is played during the Disneyland Paris Christmas Parade. CD singles of the song, which is mostly in English, can be purchased at the park.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Disneyland Paris

• Disneyland Resort Paris Official Website
• Dlp.info - The Guide to Disneyland Resort Paris
• Google Maps (Satellite Image)
• Everything you need to know about Disneyland Park
• DLP Foodguide - All the restaurants, all the menu's and tons of reviews

Coordinates: 48.873° N 2.777° E