Disneyland Resort, Paris
Disneyland Resort Paris is
located in a town in the eastern
suburbs of Paris called
Marne-la-Vallée. It is
a holiday and
recreation spot 32 kilometers off
the center of Paris. Most of the
resort is on Chessy, and
it has two
theme parks, a dining, retail and
entertainment district, and seven
hotels.
Paris’ Disneyland Resort is the
second to open outside of the United
States. The first is the Tokyo
Disney Resort in Japan. It started
operating in April 12, 1992, and
with over 15 million visitors in
2008,
it has become one of the top
tourist destinations in Paris.
In March 1988, Disney and a group of
four architectural giants – Michael
Graves, Frank Gehry, Robert Venturi
and Robert A.M. Stern – decided to
build the hotels following an
exclusively American theme. Each of
the seven Disney-owned hotels in the
resort depicts a region in the
United States.
Gehry is the architect behind
Disneyland Resort Paris’
entertainment, dining and shopping
complex, which is called Festival
Disney. He used Downtown Disney in
Walt Disney’s World as the
inspiration for his work. Gehry’s
final design features towering
silver and bronze columns
illuminated by an array of lights.
One of the popular attractions in
the resort is Lake Disney. It is an
artificial lake that draws
millions
of tourists every year. In some
months, the resort has more visitors
than the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower
combined. |
