We’ll Always Have Paris: France Was A Crucial Decision For Eisner
File under: Did you know? But for Michael Eisner, Disneyland Paris (nee Euro Disney) might have been built in Spain?
As many of you know, for a long time, the Eisner and Disney friendship was beautiful. Then it wasn’t. However, before Michael Eisner got on that plane and Bob Eiger took over, Disney Parks gained a foothold in Europe.
Forbes‘ Christian Sylt says the crucial decision to put a park in Paris produced dividends, both for Eisner’s legacy and the fortunes of The Walt Disney Company.
The Crossroads Of Europe
“We wanted to be close to the biggest population base, the crossroads of Europe,” says Eisner. “Although the UK has a welcoming business and creative climate, we didn’t consider England for Euro Disney for the reasons of location. We considered France and Spain. Most of the strong Disney management we inherited would have preferred to go to Spain because of the presumed similarities to Los Angeles and Florida. But that was a false assumption. Florida is warmer than Spain in the winter and has a history of Disney available tourism. For decades American travelers traveled past Orlando on their way to Southern Florida to places like Miami. People left Boston, New York, Toronto, and Philadelphia, etc. and drove through Florida to Miami.
“Of course, Spain, which is a fantastic country and would have been a good choice, did not have the history of Disney type tourism. If we had gone to Barcelona or even Valencia, it would not have been that warm in winter as Florida, and it wasn’t a convenient route across Europe. Paris, on the other hand, is in the middle and the big question was about the weather…
““My view was that, unless there is a blizzard, people in France do not let the weather keep them from going out. We knew, if France agreed to extend the RER to our front gate as well as the TGV, Disneyland Paris would work. And in addition, the tunnel to the UK was on the horizon. So the big question on the table was whether to build in Spain, because of the Disney California mentality, or France because of my New York mentality. I never wavered.
And although his hold on the company eventually waned, Disneyland Paris has gone in the opposite direction.
Disney Dividends
Forbes added:
A report in 2017 by consultancy firm SETEC revealed that since Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, it has generated 6.2% of France’s tourism revenue and $8.1 billion in taxes. In total, the resort has invested $8.7 billion (€7.9 billion) in France and generated $75.1 billion (€68 billion) of added value to the French economy. That’s just the start.
Through the operation of its parks and hotels, Disneyland Paris has spent more than $15.2 billion (€13.7 billion) on purchasing, and although 82.3% of this was in France, its imports still came to $2.7 billion. SETEC’s data showed that in 2016, 490 of the 3,000 suppliers to Disneyland Paris came from countries within Europe, excluding France…
The resort has had an equally spellbinding effect at an even more grassroots level. According to SETEC, Disneyland Paris is now the largest single-site employer in France with 75% of its 15,000 staff coming from the country, 18% from elsewhere in Europe and 7% from the rest of the world. They represent 100 nationalities and work in around 500 career roles from hotel management to horticulture and engineering. Far from being vacation jobs, close to 85% of employees are on permanent contracts, and more than 400,000 hours of training and education are available to all of them every year.
A Beautiful Friendship
And now, wholly owned by The Walt Disney Company, Disneyland Paris is living up to the expectations of its progenitor.
Eisner explained to Sylt:
“Jacques Chirac, the then Mayor of Paris, Laurent Fabius the then prime minister, and François Mitterrand delivered on what we needed, mainly enough land and transportation. The President did say on opening day that Disney was ‘not his cup of tea,’ although he asked for Disney tee shirts for his grandchildren. Chirac, on the other hand, was all in having spent some of his youth in the USA. But from the very first day, it was a smash hit as far as the public was concerned.”
Touche, Michael. Touche.