The history of Disneyland Paris, simply told

The first park opened in 1992, a second one followed in 2002, and that second park got a new name in 2026: here’s the whole story of Disneyland Paris.

The idea of a Disney park in Europe goes back to the 1970s. After a long search, The Walt Disney Company was torn mainly between France and Spain. France ended up winning, and the deal became official on March 24, 1987, in the form of a thirty-year contract signed with the French government. Several reasons tipped the scales: France’s central position in Europe, its status as the world’s top tourist destination, and easy access thanks to the RER A extension out to the park and a brand-new TGV station. On top of that came favorable financial terms (land, taxes, development of the Marne-la-Vallée area) that convinced Disney to set up east of Paris.

Construction got underway in 1988. For four years, nearly 10,000 people worked on the site to build a park, hotels, and an entire leisure complex, on a budget estimated at around 4 billion dollars. On April 12, 1992, the park finally opened to the public as Euro Disney Resort. It was the first Disney park built in Europe, and the second outside the US after Tokyo’s. I cover that opening day, its stories, and its numbers in my post on the 1992 opening.

Behind the scenes, the first years were a real struggle. Opening day fell during a recession across Europe, not long after the Gulf War, and interest rates were high. Fewer French guests came than forecast, the upscale hotels ran at half capacity, and losses kept mounting until debt reached almost €3 billion. By 1994, Euro Disney was on the brink of bankruptcy. That June, a major financial overhaul got the green light: the parent company gave up its royalties through 1998, lenders cut the interest burden, fresh capital poured in, and Saudi investor Prince Al-Walid bought roughly 10%. This bailout is the reason the park pulled through and got back on its feet.

That’s the backdrop for the name change. At opening, the complex was called Euro Disney Resort. But the word "Euro" came across as too cold and too tied to finance, and the company wanted to put France front and center. On October 1, 1994, the resort was renamed Disneyland Paris. The name would change again (Disneyland Resort Paris from 2002, then back to Disneyland Paris since 2009), but "Euro Disney" long remained the legal name of the company that ran the park.

After the crisis, the park kept on changing. Space Mountain’s debut in 1995 brought crowds back, and you can read its story in my post on Space Mountain. On March 16, 2002, Walt Disney Studios opened as the second park. From then on, milestone anniversaries marked the resort’s calendar: 15 years in 2007, 20 years in 2012 (roughly 16 million guests that year), 25 years in 2017, and 30 years in 2022, celebrated with the launch of Avengers Campus. In 2017, The Walt Disney Company acquired almost every remaining share and took the resort fully in hand. Then in 2018, Disney unveiled a €2 billion plan to grow the second park. You’ll find all of these anniversaries covered in my dedicated post.

The latest big chapter is being written in 2026. Announced back on April 12, 2024 (the park’s anniversary), the change took effect on March 29, 2026: Walt Disney Studios gave way to Disney Adventure World, a reimagined and expanded park. The new World of Frozen land, dedicated to Frozen, is its centerpiece. I detail everything that has opened and what’s still to come in my post on the Disneyland Paris expansion.

The park’s history also hides in its rides and its smallest details. To dig deeper, check out the legend of Thunder Mesa (the story behind Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain), the lost places of Disney Village, the 1992 Euro Disney map to see the park as it looked on opening day, and above all my guide to the secrets of Disneyland Paris, packed with stories and hidden details.