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Credit: Travel + Leisure, Twitter One of Disney’s theme parks was promised $2 billion in upgrades and expansions, and now, years later, it looks like a lot of that money feels like it disappeared, with expansions being cut and canceled, and a bulk of the funds going into a building that already existed beforehand.
Disneyland Paris has had an interesting history.
Initially dubbed Euro Disney by Micheal Eisner, the park was not well-received by locals who found the confusing European “sell” of the park to be distasteful. The significant critique of Euro Disneyland was its perceived lack of international or distinctly French character, leaving many European visitors feeling unsatisfied. There was confusion among guests regarding the park’s theme, with uncertainty about whether it aimed to be European, American, or French in nature.
Now, the parks name has been changed to Disneyland Paris, and it holds a second theme park, Walt Disney Studios Park.
For years, many fans of Disneyland Paris were waiting for the theme park to get the same love in terms of financial care and expansion announcements, and in 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger gave confirmation that more was coming.
As noted by Reuters, ” The Walt Disney Company announced a 2 billion euro ($2.5 billion) investment to expand its French theme park Disneyland Paris after taking full control of the business [in 2017]. Chief Executive Bob Iger announced the spending plan after meeting President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, saying it reflected the U.S. media group’s positive view on France and Europe more widely. “This investment…is the direct result of the growing confidence that we have in the economy of Europe and in France in particular,” Iger said in a video posted on the French Presidency’s Twitter account.”
Part of that expansion would be in Avengers Campus in Walt Disney World Studios Park, and it includes Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (a re-theme of the park’s opening day attraction Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith that features Iron Man and Captain Marvel) and Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure from California, now titled as Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure.
A Frozen themed land was also confirmed, as well as Disneyland Paris’ very own Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and an expansion to Toy Story Playland.
“The expansion plan is one of the most ambitious development projects at Disneyland Paris since its opening in 1992 and underscores the company’s commitment to the long-term success of the resort as Disney’s brand beacon in Europe,” Walt Disney said in a statement.
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While Arendelle is still coming to life, the Star Wars expansion and the Toy Story Playland expansion have both been cut from the budget. Additionally, construction has also been heavily delayed due to the pandemic.
A large chunk of the money was also used to refurbish The Disneyland Hotel, their flagship resort.
Disneyland Paris fan The Mountain King (@themountainkin1) took to X to bring up that, “The fact that Disneyland Paris spent a large part of the 2 BILLION EURO investment announced in 2018 on re-theming the hotel, instead of building new attractions, for it to be a monumental critical flop is hilarious ⚰️⚰️”
Le fait que Disneyland Paris a dépensé une grosse partie de l’investissement de 2 MILLIARDS D’EUROS annoncé en 2018 dans la rethématisation de l’hôtel, au lieu de construire de nouvelles attractions, pour que celui-ci soit un flop critique monumental est hilarant⚰️⚰️ https://t.co/Dbnysu73hB
— Themountainking (@Themountainkin1) February 19, 2024
The Disneyland Hotel’s reopening has certainly not come without challenges. While its new look and princess-themed suites are stunning, the hotel has has capacity issues since it opened. Initially, guests who wanted to see the new hotel were being turned away at the door, and then lines were formed with guests waiting for a “visitor” pass to become free so that they could enter the hotel.
This caused lots of build-up at the doors, leaving paying guests unable to enter as well.
Now, the hotel is using the Lineberty online reservation app to have visitors schedule a time to enter. While this removes the need of a line, the system has been malfunctioning for guests and has proven to be difficult to use. Additionally, spots for the day have been filling up within two minutes of opening.
The hotel has also been getting a lot of poor reviews on hotel websites like Trip Advisor and Expedia. Considering The Disneyland Hotel is the most expensive hotel at Disneyland Paris, and it is meant to uphold a certain standard of luxury for guests, these low ratings are not a strong start to its return, and a potentially poor use of the expansion money if guest experiences do not turn around.
We do know that Bob Iger has pledged another $10 billion to the parks and Disney Cruise Line over the next 10 years, with a majority of that money going to increase guest capacity in one way or another, but with the $2 billion still under construction in Disneyland Paris, it does not seem that either park will be at the top of the list for more funding.
Overall, it could seem as if the $2 billion basically disappeared, with so many projects being cut, and the ones that sucked the most money appearing to be a “flop”.
What do you think of Disneyland Paris’ expansions with the $2 billion fund?