MARNE LA VALEE : Monsieur Mouse
Walt Disney Co. officials hope for a repeat of last year’s unseasonably warm April 12 weather when they officially open the sprawling new Euro Disney complex here, 20 miles east of Paris, on Sunday.
Since ground-breaking in 1989, workers have poured about 9.5 billion tons of cement and slapped on more than 100,000 gallons of paint preparing this fourth Disney park (after Anaheim, Orlando and Tokyo). About 50,000 first-day guests are expected. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other cartoon stalwarts will be among 13,000 Disney “cast members” on hand to greet them.
Euro Disney President Robert Fitzpatrick is sanguine about the French capital’s unpredictable weather. “There has been a long Disney tradition of opening every park in the rain,” he said in an interview.
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