1992 Commemorative EuroDisney Pass

07:01 pm on Oct 11th 2006

1992 EuroDisney Commemorative Ticket

My friend, David, told me he had an opening day commemorative ticket from EuroDisney. I told him to scan it in and I would add it here. He did and here it is.

EuroDisney opened on April 12th, 1992. The expected crowd was 500,000 but only about 50,000 passed through the gates. This lack of interest, only 3 out of 10 visitors were French, continued for the rest of 1992 causing Disney stock to plummet. Many started to question the strategy of EuroDisney.

The park hemorrhaged money year over year. By early-1994, Michael Eisner was publicly quoted as saying that they would shut the park down by the end of March. This was in part to put pressure on the European banks to restructure the debt so it was more manageable to Disney to continue investing in the park. The banks agreed and with some outside investment, things started to look up.

In October of 1994, the park was officially renamed Disneyland Paris. Things starting aligning and the losses started to lessen. By March 1995, Disney Execs were predicting the park would break even by the end of 1995. From this point, aggressive expansion and improvements continued to drive visitors and profits.

Today, the park is profitable and continues to be developed. There are no worries and the strategy in hindsight now makes perfect sense. I think we are starting to see some similar questions regarding Hong Kong Disneyland but as with EuroDisney, I think these are just opening pains that will go away with time.

6 Comments »Tags: , ,

  • bishdom

    It really comes down to the investment size that the Mouse is putting forth. It used to be that they would go it alone, however, since the EuroDisney debacle and now the strong partnership with the Oriental Land Company for development of Tokyo DisneySea as well as the success in that market, you won’t be seeing Disney going it alone as often. I think Hong Kong will be successful once Disney plays to the right crowd. I agree that it’s most likely growing pains.

  • http://www.disneyfrontier.com/ Josh Kenzer

    So any bets on the next country to get a Disney Park?

  • Jeff

    Wups, left a comment on the wrong post.

    I have two commemorative opening day tickets in mint condition (framed and in storage for years). Any idea what they’re worth?

    Thanks,
    Jeff

  • http://www.disneyfrontier.com/ Josh Kenzer

    I don’t really know. There are none listed on ebay right now but commemorative pins are going for around $20. I would guess between $30 and $50 each. But that’s just a guess.

  • http://www.stuckincustoms.com/ SLR camera

    even without discounts and offers there are still people who will go to Disneyland cause its so wonderful place and its a good feeling to go there.

  • http://www.stuckincustoms.com/ SLR camera

    even without discounts and offers there are still people who will go to Disneyland cause its so wonderful place and its a good feeling to go there.