"Euro Disney - Paris" a Marne-la-Vallée Travel Page by tweetycaro

Following on from the success of the DisneyLand theme park in Anaheim, plans to build a European version first started around 1975, nine years after Walt Disney died. Initially Britain, Italy, Spain and France were all considered as possible locations, though Britain and Italy were quickly dropped from the list of potential sites because they both lacked a suitably large expanse of flat land.

The most likely site was thought to be in the Alicante area of Spain, which had a similar climate to that in Florida for a large part of the year, however the area was also beset by the notorious Mistral winds.

Eventually the French location won, and a site was duly investigated at Marne-la-Vallee, partly because of its close proximity to Paris, and also it's central positioning within western europe. A factor that was though to be crucial to the park's future success if it was to attract sufficient visitors. The proposed location put the park within 4-hours drive for around 68 million people, and 2 hours flight for a further 300 million or so.