By Disney standards, this is a relatively modest-size operation: 30 attractions that define but don’t advance the state of the art set on about 1,500 developed acres-think of the Orlando operation stripped of Epcot and the Disney-MGM Studios. For the time being, at least, Euro Disney is the theme-park equivalent of a “Greatest Hits " album; these are basically the same zippy rides you remember from Florida or California, plugged into those funny-looking European sockets. Disney is banking on the fact that the French and other Europeans crave American pop culture so ferociously, they want nothing more or less than the company’s classics. And yet-because France and the United States have long maintained a complex, love-hate relationship-the company couldn’t presume to pass off a purely American extravaganza as its best effort. So we have the obligatory Old World touches, some subtle (the ghosts on the Phantom Manor ride give out multilingual shrieks), some not (the airship Hyperion, a tribute to Frenchman Jules Verne). Please stay seated, mesdames and messieurs, until the diplomacy comes to a complete and final stop.
The official literature claims the park is situated at “the crossroads of Europe, " about 20 miles outside Paris-yet another example of French beet farmers hogging all the best locales. Actually, Euro Disney is within a few hours of London or most anywhere on the Continent. The problem, for a large part of the year, is that once you get there, you can freeze your little mouse ears off. The Disney Imagineers have tried to cope with the climate by honeycombing the place with covered walkways and putting log-burning fireplaces in the restaurants. The most troublesome chill of all, though, may be the one that emanates from the un-Disneylike French employees. An item in Spy magazine had Disney chief Michael Eisner going “ballistic " when, while wandering around incognito, he was treated rudely by an attendant at a souvenir stand. The company denies having any major problems with its 12,000 “cast members, " but a French labor union has complained that Disney’s 13-page manual of dress and manners ( “no dyed hair … earrings no larger than two centimeters in diameter … deodorant must be used “) has stripped them of their French “individualism. "
The company is also bracing for more trouble from contractors who claim they were underpaid $150 million because Disney kept changing its plans. Construction workers have threatened to disrupt the opening ceremonies, which are being taped for a CBS special starring Tina Turner and Cher. Still, the biggest obstacle may be good old American gridlock as Europeans drive past historic sites to see a man-made Mississippi River and Sleeping Beauty’s prefab chateau. Even with admission for a family of four costing about $175, 11 million people are expected in the first year. Morgan Stanley Investment Research estimates that Euro Disney will turn a $2.5 million profit during that period, thanks in part to tax breaks and low-interest financing. Eisner has already announced that a Disney-MGM Studios park will be completed by 1995-and that the 5,200 hotel rooms will be more than tripled by 2017.
What the once flat and rustic Brie region will look like, even a few months from now, is anybody’s guess. About 400 cast members have moved into Magnyle-Hongre, a village that used to have 300 inhabitants. The sky above them lights up regularly with a massive fireworks display that rattles the farmhouse windows. Although the revenue that Euro Disney generates should make the surrounding communities among the richest in France, some of the locals have complained about what a publicity blurb calls “a dazzling canopy of color. " The Disney employees, after a hard day of smiling, tend to sleep right through it.
