EuroDisney has a lot to answer for.
Disney’s first European resort was an exciting prospect to many when it was originally announced, but it faced a lot of financial difficulty after it debuted, with rumors about bankruptcy and closure permeating its first few years of operation. It eventually rebounded and was rebranded as Disneyland Paris, although it is struggling with a horrendous debt load even today.
The failure of the Euro Disney Resort and its headline park, Euro Disneyland, wasn’t a localized phenomenon. The financial struggles of the Paris park wreaked havoc on Disney’s ambitious plans for the 1990s, which CEO Michael Eisner had famously referred to as the “Disney Decade”. The Imagineers were hard at work designing new concepts and attractions for theme park fans, but many of them never came to fruition – largely because the previously bullish Eisner had been rattled by the EuroDisney experience.
Keep reading to learn more about the infamous Disney Decade, what problems Euro Disneyland’s financial struggles caused and all of the concepts that had to be tinkered with or discarded altogether.
The “Disney Decade”
The Disney Decade has become infamous in the intervening years, but when it was introduced it was described as a “dream” of the current Disney CEO Michael Eisner and president Frank Wells for the company. The term debuted in Disney’s 1990 employee annual report, along with many of Disney’s intentions for its parks over the next ten years. Here is an excerpt from the report, titled “Building a Dream Together,” courtesy of famed Disney historian Jim Hill.
“[W]e’ve given the dream a name. It’s called the ‘Disney Decade.’
The Disney Decade is about a dream, and it’s about us. The plans are incredibly exciting and will touch every aspect of this Company … New hotels, new attractions and a new theme park at Walt Disney World. The biggest expansion of Disneyland in its history.
Some might think that we’re overly ambitious. We don’t think so … We’re confident about achieving the mission we’ve set for the next ten years. After all, people the world over expect Disney to dream, and dream big.
If the Disney dream, in its sheer size and scope, takes your breath away, we want you to know it does the same for us. But we’re certain that there are still plenty more dreams to go around. Just wait until … ten years from now … when we’ll be talking about Mickey’s Millennium!”
Most would likely agree that Michael Eisner and the company were overly ambitious, and many Disney employees and afficionados would probably liken the Disney Decade less to a dream and more to a nightmare.
What went wrong with Euro Disneyland
So what caused Euro Disneyland to be such a disaster initially? There are a few explanations for the lack of success the park had in its early years. The debut on April 12, 1992 was far from perfect, for one thing. Based on reports of expected attendance, the government was worried that the roads would be chaotic, so the French radio warned of traffic. People staying home due to the warning and a one-day strike that cut a railway connection from the center of Paris contributed to a paltry attendance, estimated to be less than 25,000 visitors, on the opening day of Euro Disneyland.
Various controversies may have also played a role in Euro Disneyland’s problems. Some pundits felt that the park would purport American cultural imperialism. The bigger issues, though, were centered on employment practices. Disney wanted to enforce an appearance code like they do in the United States, but French labor unions saw that as an attack on the workers’ individual liberties. Disney’s policies and especially their working conditions proved unpopular with employees. The Hollywood Reporter reported that a quarter of them, about 3,000 individuals, had quit by May of 1992.
The big issue, though, was an untimely recession and a collapse in the French property market, which left the financial plans of Disney and its partners in the EuroDisney project in ruins.
The impact
It’s hard to think of a bigger ego blow Disney has suffered than the lack of success Euro Disneyland had in the early years. The company which thought itself on top of the world suddenly had to start second-guessing itself. That was especially true for its theme park plans, specifically the Disney Decade it had boasted about only a couple of years earlier. Many of its ambitious plans for Disneyland and Walt Disney World had to be downsized or scrapped in the wake of the Euro Disneyland disaster.
The discared Disneyland projects
At first, before Euro Disneyland crumbled, things were getting built at Disney’s original Californian park. The Dick Tracy Musical Revue: Diamond Double Cross stage show, inspired by the Warren Beatty adaption, ran during the summer of 1990, before the Euro Disneyland woes. You can view it here. But soon after, and especially once Euro Disneyland tanked, plans started going haywire.
Here are a number of shows, attractions and entire lands that were in the works for Disneyland resort, but were either downsized or abandoned (at least in part) due to Euro Disneyland’s woes.
The Young Indiana Jones Adventure Spectacular
This was a planned elaborate stunt show that would have been made with the help of the co-creator of Indiana Jones, George Lucas. A press released stated,
“This action-packed live extravaganza will thrust Young Indy into a series of thrilling adventures and misadventures, adding a new dimension to the legendary lore of one of Hollywood’s greatest heroes.”
The Magnificent Muppet All-Star Motorcade
Both Disneyland and Disney World were going to get a daily parade that starred the Muppets characters, with an Electric Mayhem band and the iconic Muppets tour bus.
The original version of Mickey’s Starland/Toontown at Disneyland
Mickey’s Toontown was created in 1993 to celebrate Mickey Mouse’s 65th birthday. It was originally known as Mickey’s Starland, the same name as the area at the Magic Kingdom that was built in 1988 in celebration of Mickey’s 60th anniversary. What was later titled Mickey’s Toontown did come to fruition at Disneyland, yes, but not in as grand a way as Disney executives had hoped before the Euro Disneyland debacle. Disney had to seriously scale back the amount of money being spent on it. Casualties of that budget cut included:
Kermit the Frog presents Muppet*Vision 3D
The plan was for an impressive Muppet Theater to be built at the center of Toontown’s downtown area.
A Little Mermaid dark ride
By the mid-1990s The Walt Disney Company wanted a dark ride inspired by The Little Mermaid, stating, “This magical adventure will take guests for a ride in the mirthful, musical undersea kingdom of Ariel the mermaid and her friend Sebastian the Crab.” This was actually going to be a clone of an original Little Mermaid attraction that the Imagineers were designing for what was described as Phase 2 of Euro Disneyland. But Phase 2 never happened due to Euro Disneyland’s struggles, so both the original and clone of the dark ride were left on the cutting room floor (of course, a Little Mermaid dark ride did eventually arrive at Disney California Adventure in 2011).
Tomorrowland 2055
Disneyland was going to get a brand new version of Tomorrowland in 1994 before the failure of Euro Disneyland derailed those plans. The Disney Decade press release stated:
Disneyland’s exciting “land of the future” will get a totally new 21st Century look for the summer of 1994. Guest will be able to stroll along “Sky Walks” which will give the area a second story. The ever-popular “Star Tours” and “Space Mountain” attractions will be joined by several sensational new adventures:
- Alien Encounter, produced in collaboration with George Lucas, will put visitors in the middle of a teleportation experiment gone wrong. An interplanetary foul-up will cause a terrifying alien to appear in the spectators’ midst.
- Plectu’s Fantastic Galactic Revue will house a resident troupe of itinerant alien entertainers. Stranded in Tomorrowland, these extraterrestrials will turn to show business for survival, presenting an outer-space musical-variety revue.
- A New Circle-Vision 360 Film — Presented by Delta Air Lines, the spectacular new addition to the Circle-Vision 360 theatre will explore the scenic wonders and culture of Western civilization. Sophisticated Audio-Animatronics characters will disappear into the film at key points, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
- A New Disney 3-D Motion Picture, produced by George Lucas, will offer visitors to the new Tomorrowland the latest in dazzling, 3-D film technology.
None of these attractions ever made it to Anaheim, but Alien Encounter did find life at Walt Disney World’s New Tomorrowland. Likewise, the planned Circle-Vision 360 film (named “The Timekeeper”) ended up at Disneyland Paris’ Discoveryland as well as Walt Disney World.
Hollywoodland
Hollywoodland was supposed to be finished at Disneyland by 1999. It was described as “an idealized recreation of Hollywood Boulevard in the ’30s and ’40s, complete with shops, restaurants and the atmosphere that marked the ‘Golden Age of Movies.’” It would have been made on the piece of backstage property that laid between Main Street and Tomorrowland. To keep the atmosphere of the 1930s/1940s setting intact, the backstage-facing part of Space Mountain would have been redressed to look like the Hollywood hills. That would have included the famed original Hollywood sign.
The attractions intended for Hollywoodland included:
Dick Tracy’s Crime Stoppers
This was supposed to be a precursor of Hollywoodland as a whole. If Michael Eisner and the Disney execs had gotten their way, Dick Tracy’s Crime Stoppers would have premiered in 1996, starring the popular comic strip character Dick Tracy who was featured in a recent film. It was going to simulate a high-speed chase with gangsters, getting guests “into the act” with a high-tech adventure using the latest Audio-Animatronics technology, sound and special effects.
Toontown Trolley
This promised to bring you a new fantasy dimension with simulator technology similar to what was used in Star Tours. Roger Rabbit was going to be the star of the attraction, taking you throughout the world of Toontown that was made popular in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Baby Herman’s Runaway Baby Buggy Ride
This one was also connected to Roger Rabbit, based on the misadventures he and Baby Herman had in the Disney cartoon short “Tummy Trouble,” which you can watch here. The attraction would have gone through the sets of Toontown Hospital, where you’d crash through doors, jump over beds and fall down stairs.
The Great Movie Ride
This attraction, which landed at Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World, sends you through classic scenes from famous films with advanced Audio-Animatronic technology.
Superstar Television
This was going to be a very unique experience where you could enter scenes of classic TV shows programs and even “co-star” with stars of television, and is another project that made its way to Disney-MGM Studios.
Michael Eisner and the Imagineers were clearly excited to level up Disneyland over the course of ten years. It’s bittersweet to know some of the fantastic concepts they had planned for the Happiest Place on Earth, which never happened, thanks to the failure of Euro Disneyland.
The impact on Walt Disney World
There were a lot of plans for Walt Disney World as part of the Disney Decade, with a number of things set to debut at the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center and Disney-MGM Studios, along with expansions mapped out for the resort. Some attractions, such as Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, One Man’s Dream and the “fourth theme park” that turned out to be the Animal Kingdom, did see completion, but many others did not. Here is a list of a number of the things at the parks that didn’t end up happening.
EPCOT Center
Soviet Union Showcase
A lot of EPCOT Center visitors were eager for a USSR showcase. The one Disney planned was titled Red Square and the Soviet Union. It would have replicated Moscow’s Red Square and had a St. Basil’s Cathedral as its centerpiece, which would house an Audio-Animatronic show that focused on Eastern European history with film segments and live actors called Russia: The Bells of Change. Another planned attraction was Ivan and the Magic Pike, based on Eastern European folk stories.
The Soviet Union Showcase project collapsed not just due to a lack of funds because of Euro Disneyland’s struggles but also because the Union collapsed shortly after Imagineers created designs and concept art like the piece above. With the decline of its economy in the wake of the collapse, the Russian government couldn’t afford to invest in a pavilion at EPCOT Center.
Matterhorn Mountain and Bobsled Ride
The press release states:
“Inspired by Europe’s tenth most famous mountain, this imposing landmark will be built on the shores of World Showcase Lagoon beside a charming Swiss Village. Bobsleds will race up, down, around and through a chilling ice-covered adventure. It will be the centerpiece of a picturesque Switzerland Showcase.”
Journeys in Space
This was going to be an attraction at Future World that simulated space travel with new systems and special effects.
Disney-MGM Studios
The Muppet Movie Ride
In the late 1980s and early 90s, Disney was eager to purchase Jim Henson’s Muppets so that it could develop an area at Disney-MGM Studios called Muppet Movieland. Disney still made one of the attractions planned for the land, Muppet*Vision 3D. However, the other, a parody of The Great Movie Ride called The Great Muppet Movie Ride, was never built.
Sunset Boulevard
Similar to Disneyland’s Hollywoodland, this would have been “a new Tinseltown street beginning at Hollywood Boulevard and extending the atmosphere of film’s past and present with landmarks along the way geared to memorable moments.” Several of the attractions planned for it were the same as the ones planned for Hollywoodland, including Tracy’s Crime Stoppers, Toontown Trolley and Baby Herman’s Runaway Baby Buggy Ride. Here are additional attractions that were planned for Florida but not California:
Roger Rabbit’s Hollywood
A group of attractions, shops and restaurants centered on the Toontown Depot that was set to open by 1995.
The Benny the Cab Ride
Mickey’s Movieland
Mickey’s Movieland was going to be housed inside a copy of the original Disney Studio found in California. Here’s the description from the press release:
Disney history will come to life in the form of a replica of the original Hyperion Avenue Disney Studios. Inside, children and adults will encounter whimsical hands-on movie-making equipment which will give them a chance to live out their own motion-picture-producing fantasies.
In the 1990s, additions at the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park will include a whole new menu of unusual dining experiences, “streetmosphere” characters and many other themed specialty shops that will line the new boulevards.
Disney’s Boardwalk
The entertainment, dining and shopping area Disney’s Boardwalk did happen, but there were some shows planned for it that never made it out of the concept stage. They are:
Under the Sea
This was going to be a 900-seat indoor aquatic dinner show featuring The Little Mermaid and Sebastian.
Family Reunion
Disney was planning a 300-seat environmental theater dinner show that mingled guests and the cast.
Disney Magic
The title pretty much explains this one. It was going to be a dinner magic show starring Disney characters.
The early, tossed attempts at a second California park and a Disneyland Resort
The Disney Decade press release was intentionally vague about “a second Disney theme park for Southern California” that they stated would have been located either next to Disneyland or in Long Beach. That lack of clarity was because they hadn’t decided which direction to take yet. We’ve discussed the theme parks they were considering building in the past, but here’s a short look at each of them and how they were affected by Euro Disneyland’s troubles.
Port Disney / DisneySea
Announced in 1991 in a publication called The Port Disney News, Port Disney was an expansive plan for a property next to the Port of Long Beach in California. It was going to include a cruise ship port for the Disney Cruise Ship line, a 400-boat marina, a retail and entertainment area and a total of five hotels. Most significantly, though, Port Disney was going to include DisneySea, the aquatic theme park that ended up finding a new home in Tokyo.
Though disagreements with the city of Long Beach were also cited as a cause of its incompletion, former Disney cast members have reportedly said that one of the biggest reasons why Port Disney didn’t happen is because of the financial problems caused by the bomb that was Euro Disneyland. After that stumble, The Walt Disney Company was hesitant to spend the $1 billion that Port Disney was estimated to cost. Learn much more about the Port Disney/DisneySea project by reading this.
WestCOT
Also announced in 1991, WestCOT was a new vision of EPCOT Center intended for the West Coast that would feature, among other things, a taller, gold version of Spaceship Earth called SpaceStation Earth and a World Cruise boat ride. The plan was to build it next to Disneyland in Anaheim. Ultimately, though, the Euro Disneyland debacle and other issues forced Disney to announce the cancellation of the WestCOT in 1995. Learn more here.
The cancellation of these two projects resulted in us getting California Adventure as the second theme park of the Disneyland Resort. If Euro Disneyland had done better, maybe we would have gotten the more expensive and (at least initially) more impressive Port Disney/DisneySea or WestCOT.
The failure of Euro Disneyland has definitely played a big role in Disney’s past, present and future. If not for it we probably wouldn’t have California Adventure and the list of “lost” Disney attractions would be quite a bit shorter. For good or ill, Euro Disneyland completely changed the course of Disney’s theme park business and the company as a whole. We can only guess how things might be different if the international park was a success from the start.
