What if Disneyland Paris either didn’t fail or never existed?

[pumpkinbot343]

A lot of planned Disney concepts in the 90s were canned due to Paris’s failure. If either that park was instead somehow a success back then in 1992 or instead someone had the good idea to tell Eisner to make a park elsewhere, how do you think Disney would have realistically been like in the 90s and now?

 

[TheUniC6]

We would have gotten WESTCOT instead of DCA for starters...

 

[Jerroddragon]

Westcot would have happened more then Likely.....ohh god....what have we done?

 

[Andysol]

Westcot would’ve happened for sure. And a good chance we would have gotten Disney’s America.

And- butterfly effect means Frank Wells likely doesn’t die in the helicopter crash.

Which means Pixar isn’t Disney. Which means Chapek never happens. Universal buys Star Wars and doesn’t ruin it. Trump never runs for office. Canada is our friend again but we lose men’s hockey this Olympics.

Something like that.

 

[Freak]

Disneyland Paris failing was a major cannon-event in the theme park world.

Westcot was scrapped.

Disney Decade….Gone…..reduced to atoms.

Beastly Kingdom now begone kingdom.

Imagineering laid off, now using the scrapped ideas Disney had from DLP’s failure for Universal’s future plans for IoA.

In an alternate timeline where Disney didn’t care about the French market, theme parks would look radically different now.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Watching YouTube essays about Disney’s past, I’m now not sure if Eisner wouldn’t have screwed up anyways even if the Paris fiasco wasn’t a thing. Michael, as much of a creative he is, always seemed to suffer from jealousy, spite, and plagiarism if the rumors for his motivations for MGM, Animal Kingdom, and DisneyQuest are true.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Animal Kingdom would have been a more fully built out park at opening day.
Westcot (or something more ambitious) would have been built. Maybe not Tony Baxter's version.
EuroDisney would have gotten a more ambitious 2nd gate. Hybrid of Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

 

[Mad Dog]

Disneyland Paris, an albatross that suffocated Disney.

 

[UNIrd]

And now DLP has to be the most expensive Disney resort to visit. So they're having the last laugh.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Where to start.

Dick Tracy Crime Stoppers. More world showcase pavilions. The Mediterranean resort. Beasley Kingdome. Countless next generation attractions we never heard about.

 

[Jake S]

What's truly wild to me about this is that Disneyland Paris is really good. The Studios park is an abomination, but DLP is one of the best castle parks on the planet. Was it built in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong messaging? I mean, pretty obviously yes. But it isn't DCA or Hong Kong Disneyland, that's for sure.

 

[UNIrd]

What's truly wild to me about this is that Disneyland Paris is really good. The Studios park is an abomination, but DLP is one of the best castle parks on the planet. Was it built in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong messaging? I mean, pretty obviously yes. But it isn't DCA or Hong Kong Disneyland, that's for sure.

Hey! Bite your tongue. HKDL is one of my favorite castle parks. Very possibly #2.

 

[Jake S]

Hey! Bite your tongue. HKDL is one of my favorite castle parks. Very possibly #2.

Was it one of your favorites when it opened in 2005? Because that's what I meant. DCA is a very good park now — what a difference 25 years makes.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

It's easy to pinpoint every major issue with the theme parks (incl. Euro Disney) to unfortunate business decisions, not creative.

Disney Executives were too bullish assuming they can do a similar amount of hotel business as WDW did on day 1, thinking they can compete with Paris itself. They didn't adjust operations (like they did at every other Disney international park) to the European mindset.


Some of the biggest failures at the parks have been a result of poor business decisions, not creative.

• Rocket Rods - WDI forced to work within a structure that wasn't built for what management wanted
• IOA Initial Opening - marketing failure
• Figment 2.0/3.0 - effort to reduce operating costs, not WDI's fail
• Supercharged - forced IP synergy
• SWGE - forced use of the newer trilogy for synergy purposes
• WDSP - contractual obligations

Sort of the reason why I tend to complain about the operations/business side of the industry... they tend to hold back the creative side.

 

[Andysol]

What's truly wild to me about this is that Disneyland Paris is really good. The Studios park is an abomination, but DLP is one of the best castle parks on the planet. Was it built in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong messaging? I mean, pretty obviously yes. But it isn't DCA or Hong Kong Disneyland, that's for sure.

Well, right. That’s kind of the entire point. They overspent on the park for what their return was and they weren’t going to make that mistake again; hence DCA and HKDL being what they were.

The park, itself, was never the problem. Operationally and culturally it was. Less hotels and wine day one would have nearly saved it even with the other issues.

And WDS was only built because it was a contractual obligation. They definitely didn’t want to.