History
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General History 1994
Early 1994:Euro Disney in crisis. Rumours are rife in the press that the park will have to close due to massive losses. Crisis talks are held with the banks and backers.
June 1994:
A financial
rescue package is announced which involves a number of actions:
massive injection of new cash ($500 million) by a Saudi prince;
the Disney Company agrees to waive its royalty fees for five years
while the park finds its feet; agreement by the banks to support
better loan repayment schedules; a new issue of shares.
August 1994:
All of the
park's hotels are fully booked during the peak holiday season.
At least there appears to be no shortage of visitors, and their
reactions to the park itself are generally favourable - although
food and merchandise are still seen as being too expensive.
August 31st 1994:
Trading
in Euro Disney stock was temporarily suspended for 15 minutes
on the Paris stock exchange after share prices fell to less then
$2 (i.e. a drop of more than 10%). Shares hit $1.40 in the first
10 minutes of trading. The problems were due to 'technical reasons',
and an analyst's recommendation to sell stock. The company blames
the European recession, a fall in real estate prices and poor
spending by visitors.
October 1994:
The park's
name is officially changed to "Disneyland Paris". This
is due to public mistrust of all things 'Euro', a wish to more
closely link the park with the romantic city of Paris, and a desire
to disassociate with the poor reputation that has become linked
with the phrase "Euro Disney". The 'Euro' part of the
logo had been reducing in size for some time, and the name gradually
transformed from "EURO Disney" to "Euro Disneyland"
to "Euro Disneyland Paris" to "Disneyland Paris".
The entire resort complex is technically still known as Euro Disney
Resort, though.
November 1994:
Slightly
more encouraging year-end figures are released. The previous year's
£ 650 million loss has been slashed to around 200 million.
This is despite a 10% fall in attendance to some 8.8 million visitors
(caused largely by the 1st and 2nd quarter panics that the park
would be closed by Summer).
Winter 1994:
Unlike previous
years, all of the site hotels remain open for business, except
for some down-time for renovation work (e.g. Newport Bay Club,
Sequoia Lodge and Santa Fe).