Euro Disney Plans New Park Near Paris With Movie Theme

Euro Disney on Wednesday announced plans to open a second theme park outside Paris that will offer visitors a behind-the-screen look at the movies.

Euro Disney executives are hoping that Europeans will embrace the Disney show-business theme park the way they have Mickey Mouse and Space Mountain. The Disney Studios park is scheduled to open in the spring next to the existing park in Marne-La-Vallee, east of Paris. It will cost about $670 million.

The park takes its inspiration from European and American cinema, TV and cartoons, and it will be similar to the Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida. Visitors will be able to watch cartoonists at work, attend special-effects shows and watch filmings of TV programs, Disney executive Gilles Pelisson said at a news conference.

“The goal is that visitors pass through the movie screen and see what’s behind it,” Pelisson said. “It’s about interaction.”

Euro Disney officials also intend for the park, planned since 1987, to become a site for movie shoots and other artistic endeavors.

Walt Disney Co. has said it will put up 39% of the capital, in keeping with its current commitment to Euro Disney.

Once the park is fully operational in 2003, the company expects an estimated 4.2 million visitors annually. The company has not yet determined a ticket price for entrance to the park.

Euro Disney executives have estimated that the park will create 1,500 jobs.

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has made jobs his first priority. Euro Disney now employs 10,000 people and has said it will favor young people in assembling a staff for the new theme park.