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TO WHAT EXTENT HAS DISNEYLAND PARIS

RE-DEFINED THE EUROPEAN THEME PARK INDUSTRY?

BY ROWENA WHITE

A 2016 FINAL YEAR EXTENDED ESSAY

FOR FILM AND SCREEN MEDIA BA (HONS)

ST MARYS UNIVERSITY, TWICKENHAM

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NOTES

This extended essay was originally written for a final semester module at St Mary’s

University, Twickenham and received a 2:1. Its overall intent is to contribute a new

hypothesis for the limited study of European theme parks, using Disneyland Paris

(exclusively referred to as Euro Disney here) as a background catalyst between the

1980s and 2000s. As it has been broken down into multiple sub-sections, it may read

similar to a report than academic prose.

Please properly source the essay, author and publish date when referencing.

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CHAPTERS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

3. METHODOLOGY

4. DISCUSSION

1. ATTENDANCE

2. RESORT DEVELOPMENT

3. EXISTING PARK OWNERSHIP

4. NEW PARK DEVELOPMENT

5. CULTURAL SETTING

6. EXTENT OF THEMING

5. CONCLUSIONS

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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1. INTRODUCTION

Disney’s theming and synergy practices have saturated the world’s theme park

industries since the opening of Disneyland in 1955 (Jackson and West, 2011, p.5). Walt

Disney popularised and standardised the concept as a new form of clean homogenous

entertainment that differed on a thematic scale to the conventional amusement parks.

This concept has become known as Disneyization, where ‘by which the principles of the

Disney theme parks are coming to dominate […] the world’ in a globalising force

including theming, merchandising and performative labour (Bryman, 2004).

Pleasure gardens and amusement parks were already a common form of leisure, culture

and heritage before Disneyization saturated the industry. Parks at the time were often

small urban or medium regional sizes, run independently and only competed within

their countries and, to a lesser extent, their neighbouring countries. Tivoli Gardens in

Denmark, opened in 1843, is one of the oldest running amusement parks and was a

partial influence on Disneyland during one of Walt’s visits to Europe for its theming,

atmosphere and courtesy (Thomas, 1994). 1896 saw the opening of Blackpool Pleasure

Beach in England, a British import of the popular American amusement park blueprint.

The Dutch institution, Efteling opened in 1952 as part of a long standing nature park

and is widely considered a contemporary of Disneyland for its immersive fairy tale

theming.

From 1955 to 1985 came new waves of parks run by families and local businesses,

mainly entertainment showmen, in Western Europe. Europa Park, opened and run by

the Mack family in 1975, was like many of these parks in they were influenced by the

practises made popular by Disney and borrowed many aspects. Some even reproduced

major aspects from Disney’s most well-known attractions, such as the Haunted Mansion

and Pirates of the Caribbean, albeit retooled to accommodate their own smaller

European audiences. In 1980, the former country estate Alton Towers was developed

into a major leisure park aimed at the family market and once stated ‘an ambition to

“take Alton Towers into the Disney league”’ in an early 1980s document (Kelsall,

2007).

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When the Euro Disney project was first announced in 1985, it had the capability to

change the then dynamics of the industry. Established parks would need to reposition

themselves to attract international visitors and invest in new and upgraded facilities to

contend with what a Disney park would provide. It was equally conceivable that new

parks would be invested in by major entertainment companies, who would want to

capitalise on Disney’s success. In order to address the subject of this essay, a number of

different aspects will be considered in order to assess the impact of this major

development between 1985 and 2005.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

A wide literature review was conducted prior to this investigation however few works

have been found that are of relevance to the topic. Most previous studies made into the

theme and amusement park industries have focused on the American market and the

Walt Disney Company itself, whereas there have been very little on European theme

and amusement parks in comparison.

The most detailed study found is The Global Theme Park Industry by Professor

Salvador Anton Clave, published in 2007. It includes major investigations into the

European industry from a non-objective outlook, discussing the industry expansion on

continental levels and the cultural trends the parks bring with specific park case studies.

Paraphrasing, he acknowledges writing the book was a challenge due to little

presentative data and there still being much material in theme park studies which

remains to be developed (Clave, 2007, xiv-xxi). The Roland Mack: King of Fun

biography written by Berno Stieber, 2015, is an unforeseen yet beneficial piece of

literature which goes into depth about Europa Park. In particular, it discusses the park’s

objectives, history and the investments following Euro Disney in 1992. What makes it

an invaluable source is that it’s the only modern work relating to a specific independent

park or an owner have been published as of this investigation. Quantifiable data would

also be required to measure areas such as attendance at various European parks, this has

been compiled where available in order to assess the trends between 1990 and 2000.

With only two sources directly relevant to the topic, the literature review was extended

to less directly relevant sources, such as Disney itself which is already one of the most

academically studied companies in Western culture. Alan Bryman’s Disneyization of

Society (2004) relates to theme parks but also relates to the impact on society at large

and discusses the aspects that the Walt Disney Company has popularised over the 20th

Century. Bryman discusses his investigations in a systematic and impartial manner,

rather than in a negative conjecture which Disneyization is widely known to be

perceived. Jackson and West’s Disneyland and Culture is another example, comprising

a series of objective essays by a diverse variation of scholars. Whilst it does have some

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reference to European parks, it is mostly focused on various aspects related to the

development of the Disney parks, the semiotics surrounding them and their cultural

impact.

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3. METHODOLOGY

My literature review has shown there are a number of different topics and variables that

will need to be considered during this study, those are:

ATTENDANCE

This will investigate if the opening of Euro Disney in 1992 may have affected visitor

attendance at local French parks and major European parks in England, Germany and

the Netherlands between 1991 and 2001. The French leisure park industry prior to Euro

Disney’s opening will also be taken into consideration.

RESORT DEVELOPMENT

The Disney model involves building hotels and other leisure amenities in addition to the

parks to create resorts which cater to a wider range of interests. Consideration will be

given to whether major parks were influenced to start investing into multi-day resorts

and facility development to increase revenue.

EXISTING PARK OWNERSHIP

A number of theme parks have undergone changes of ownership, typically from family

or small company management to larger corporations. The extent to which Euro Disney

has contributed to this change will be examined.

NEW PARK OWNERSHIP

There have been cases of both European and US entertainment companies deciding to

move into the European theme park sector with varying degrees of success. How and to

what extent this trend was influenced by Euro Disney will be assessed.

CULTURAL SETTINGS

The decision to build Euro Disney in France and the cultural discussions that followed

will be reviewed. The impact on the nearby Parc Asterix, which has a strong French

identity, will also be considered.

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EXTENT OF THEMING

Theming has generally increased at European parks over time. The extent and type of

theming introduced at the parks between 1991 and 2001. An assessment will be made

about the effect of Euro Disney on this trend.

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4. DISCUSSION

4.1 ATTENDANCE

Attendance numbers will be examined at the 3 most local French parks as well as 3

established European parks, for which statistics are available. The French parks and

opening years are Nigloland (1987), Parc Asterix (1989) and Walibi Smurf (1991). The

European parks and opening years are Efteling (1952), Europa Park (1975) and Alton

Towers (1980). This should give representative figures in order to test the local and

wider European impact. The parks that have been chosen to be broadly comparable to

Euro Disney in the types of attractions and theming. For example, Futuroscope in

Poitiers has not been considered because, despite it being a major French theme park, it

does not have any traditional rides.

Table 1: Annual Attendance (millions) at 3 French parks 1991-1999

Table 1 shows Parc Asterix saw the biggest impact between 1992-1993 (noting Euro

Disney opened in 1992) with a 30% attendance decrease. Subsequently however, the

attendance recovered and even exceeded previous figures. This was despite no major

investments being made between 1991-1993. The figures may have been helped by the

Channel Tunnel opening in 1994, which may have made Parc Asterix more accessible

to visitors from the UK.

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Nigloland and Walibi Smurf are smaller, more local parks which is seen from the lower

attendance figures on the chart (Montbeliard, 2001, pages 5-7). The figures suggest that

no noticeable impact was made on attendance at either park. However, both parks saw

investment in new rides and attractions in the period 1991-1993, so it is possible that

there could have been an impact from Euro Disney but it was offset by the investments.

Note that firm attendance for 1992-1993 at Walibi Smurf is not available and so

previous trends have been used to estimate the figures for these years.

Table 2: Annual Attendance (millions) at 3 European parks 1991-1999

1 9 9 1 1 9 9 2 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 4 1 9 9 5 1 9 9 6 1 9 9 7 1 9 9 8 1 9 9 90

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

3,500,000

Efteling Europa Park Alton Towers

Table 2 shows that attendance figures were not apparently affected by the opening of

Euro Disney in 1992 (Clave, 2007, page 68). However, as with some of the French

theme parks above, all three of the selected European parks carried out significant

investments in new rides, attractions and facilities during the 1991-1993 period. This

may have compensated for the opening of Euro Disney, although it is difficult to be

certain. Note that no clear reasons have been found for the fluctuations in Alton

Towers’ figures over the entire period.

In summary, what this shows is that whilst there was a short term impact on Parc

Asterix at the time that Euro Disney opened, there does not appear to have been a major

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impact on attendance at both French and wider European parks during the 1990s.

However, this lack of impact may have been mitigated by investments in those parks.

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4.2 RESORT DEVELOPMENT

The trend with Disney parks over the years has been to develop ‘resorts’ that can

become short break destinations with a range of facilities, which would attract people

who may not normally visit theme parks and would be prepared to travel longer

distances in order to visit such resorts. Such an approach will inevitably raise the

revenue potential of theme parks and their associated facilities. This was the same

model that was applied to Euro Disney. The measures that selected other theme parks

took to invest in the early 1990s will now be considered.

Figure 1: Efteling - Masterplan De

Wereld van de Efteling (1988)

Between the late 1980s and 1990s, Efteling in the Netherland developed an ambitious

investment proposal, ‘De Wereld van de Efteling’. The plan was developed between the

late 1980s and early 1990s to target multi-day visitors and to offset Euro Disney. In

Figure 1, De Wereld detailed new accommodation facilities and second gate park. These

included a hotel, bungalow park, golf course and entertainment district. The investments

would have been constructed in phases and completed by the early 2000s. However due

to arising problems, the park decided to delay the strategy and it was eventually shelved.

As an alternative, they chose to build the Efteling Hotel for a 1992 opening and golf

park for 1995. However, it wasn’t until 1999 that the Hotel achieved financial viability.

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On the site where the entertainment district was proposed, the House of the Five Senses

was built as a new entrance to deal with a high visitor capacity in 1996 (Eftepedia,

2016).

Euro Disney’s opening also influenced Europa Park, Baden-Wurttemberg, to develop

accommodation in the 1990s. Park founder, Roland Mack recognised the appeal of a

Disney resort in Europe and knew, regardless of its success, that Europa Park would

need to counter it. He also noticed there had been a steady rise in overnight visitors

staying at local guesthouses since the park’s 1975 opening. The consistent yearly

investments and rising attendance figures meant a day would not be adequate for some

visitors. As a result, a hotel was a rational step in development providing it would meet

the high uniform standards of theming and service as the park. Despite initial concern

the hotel would not reach yearly maximum capacity would be a commercial loss, the

Spanish themed El Andaluz opened in 1995 after 4 years of planning and would already

require additional capacity by 1997. Castillo Alcazar, El Andaluz’s extension, opened in

1999. A guesthouse named Circus Rolando was later built in 1996 (closed in 2016). A

monorail stopping service to the main park entrance from El Andaluz began operating

in 1995 and a second smaller park entrance was built to befit overnight guests (Stieber,

2015, pages 128-134).

It could be concluded, therefore, that at least some of the major European theme parks

did feel the pressure from the Euro Disney resort development enough to make their

own investment in facilities that would attract a wider group of visitors. Interestingly,

French theme parks have not engaged in this resort development. No reasons have been

found for this, although it could be speculated this is due to well-developed hotel and

transport infrastructure in France.

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4.3 EXISTING PARK OWNERSHIP

In this topic, the ownership of existing theme parks in Europe will be reviewed and the

extent to which there were subsequent changes of ownership. A selected number of

existing theme parks will be considered by country.

Prior to Euro Disney’s opening in 1992, most existing theme parks in Europe were

largely founded by men in the show business sector, then either run by the founder’s

families or a minor dedicated company as small to medium sized entertainment

ventures.

In Belgium, Walibi was opened by Eddy Meeus in 1975 and subsequently became the

flagship park of the Walibi Group created the same year. Bellewaerde, 1954, was

originally owned by the Florizoones, it was sold to the Walibi Group in 1990. After the

Walibi Group was acquired in 1998 by Six Flags, only Walibi’s name was changed to

Six Flags Belgium until 2005. Flemish musician Bobbejaan Schoepen’s Bobbejaanland,

1961, was bought by Parques Reunidos in 2004.

England: Blackpool Pleasure Beach (1896), Drayton Manor (1950), Flamingo Land

(1959) and Paultons Park (1983) were and are still family run enterprises today. Thorpe

Park, 1979, was owned by Leisure Sports Limited until 1998 when it was sold to the

Tussauds Group. Alton Towers, opened in 1980, was owned by John Broome before

also being sold to the Tussauds Group in 1990. The Tussauds Group also took control

of Chessington Zoo in 1978 and commissioned a plan to renovate the area into a theme

park in 1987, re-opening as Chessington World of Adventures.

Germany: Tripsdrill has been owned by the Fischers since 1929. The Macks own

Europa Park as well as their own ride manufacturing company. Phantasialand was

opened in 1967 by Gottlieb Löffelhardt and Richard Schmidt, and now operates under

Robert, Gottlieb’s son. Holiday Park, 1971, was owned by the Schneider family until it

was sold to Studio 100 in 2010. And Hansa-Park, open since 1977, is owned by the

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Leichts. Heide Park was operated by Hans-Jürgen Tiemann from 1978 to 2001 where it

was bought by the Tussauds Group (Heide Park, 2016, pages 1-2).

From this investigation, it can be summarised that two operating groups, Tussauds and

Walibi, grew in intercontinental ownership of established parks between 1985 and 1998.

The prominent anomaly is the growth of the Six Flags, later Premier Parks, group who

were diversifying in Europe between 1998 to 2004, albeit not to necessarily compete

with Disney. The Tussauds Group eventually became a part of Merlin Entertainments in

2007. The Walibi Group was eventually acquired by Compagnie des Alpes in 2006 after

Premier Parks sold the company to Star Parks in 2004. Changes to ownership have

occurred both before and after Euro Disney’s 1992 opening, and therefore it is hard to

see any clear impact.

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4.4 NEW PARK DEVELOPMENT

The new parks built in Europe between 1985 and 2005 will be investigated. Those parks

opened from 1985 onwards have been chosen because, from that time, it was known

that Euro Disney would be coming to France.

Prior to Euro Disney’s opening, 4 French theme parks had already been proposed and

built as major leisure investments as an attempt to pre-empt its success between 1985

and 1989. The parks were Zygofolis (1987-1991), Mirapolis (1987-1991), Big Bang

Smurf (1989-1990) and Parc Asterix (1989). Both Zygofolis and Mirapolis were closed

due to poor planning and design, inadequate management and market assessments. Big

Bang Smurf was briefly closed until it was bought by Walibi Group and re-opened as

Walibi Smurf in 1991 (Johnson, 1998). Nigloland was a fifth French park that opened

during this period in 1987, run by the Gelis brothers and inspired by the American

parks, but was not part of the major leisure investments (Niglolandworld, 2016).

Spain equally experienced a major growth in theme park tourism because of the

expectation of Euro Disney created when it was considered being built in the country.

Despite Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s decision to eventually choose France, it provided

an encouraging atmosphere for developments surrounding Spanish tourism and current

trends (Clave, 1997). The four parks developed between 1995-2002 were PortAventura

(1995), Isla Magica (1997), Terra Mitica (2000) and Warner Bros Movie World Madrid

(2002). PortAventura was built near one of the proposed sites for Euro Disney, as a

partnership between Universal, Anheuser-Busch and Tussauds (Dahms, 1995). Isla

Magica was built on the Seville World’s Fair site and Terra Mitica was managed by

Paramount Parks between 2001-2004 (The Info List, 2016). Warner Bros Movie World

Madrid was being built by Six Flags as part of the European expansion plan (Tagliabue,

2000).

In 1997, Premier Parks acquired the Walibi Group and their 6 European parks. As they

later bought Six Flags in 1998, the company chose to rebrand and redevelop the small

Walibi parks into Six Flags parks. This also included the newly built Warner Bros

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Movie World Germany (1996) and the upcoming Warner Bros Movie World Madrid.

However, the parks did not exceed attendance expectations after 2000 and Premier

Parks sold off the former Walibi properties to Star Parks Inc in 2004, to lessen their

debts (Mills, 2004).

A small example of a successful new park owned by a major US entertainment

company is PortAventura, a joint effort by Tussauds, Anheuser-Busch and Universal

Studios. Originally, PortAventura was to have an additional resort until Anheuser-

Busch decided to postpone the plans, citing Euro Disney’s financial issues and

disappointing hotel trade (Bloomberg News Service, 1994). 1995-2005 park attendance

ranged between 2.7 million and 3.3 million, reflecting similar numbers to established

European parks (see Section 4.1, Table 2, page 8). Their first two hotels were eventually

opened in 2002. Universal owned the park between 1997-2004 until they sold it to La

Caixa, one of the park’s original shareholders. Tussauds sold their 40% stake to

purchase Thorpe Park in 1998.

There were a number of theme parks built from 1985 onwards and there is evidence, at

least in the cases of Spain and France, that these were developed in response to Euro

Disney. Little evidence has been found of theme parks being built in Britain as a result

of Euro Disney.

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4.5 CULTURAL SETTING

France is widely considered to be a conservative country that highly values its history,

culture and intellectualism. French scholars particularly believed America to be a

consumer nation pacified by a homogenous mass culture, hence the decision to place

Euro Disney in France was not popular.

There were numerous socio-political issues that were brought into debate and many

French intellectuals feared their national culture would be appropriated and

Americanised. Theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine’s phrase ‘cultural Chernobyl’, used

in a private discussion with Euro Disney chairman Robert Fitzpatrick, has since become

synonymous with the criticism (Mnouchkine, 2003).

In contrast, many intellectuals who supported Euro Disney argued the American

presence should not be a concern and would not be strong enough to overthrow

centuries of French culture. The films were already known to use European stories and

the original Disneyland was inspired by Denmark’s Tivoli Gardens. Furthermore,

Disney stated they had researched European history and culture, which would be

included in the park (Ramet, Crnkovic, and Arieti, 2003).

This intention was not fully realised in practise and the cultural setting of Euro Disney

was European to some extent, rather than reflecting French culture itself. For example,

Disney did not properly research the consumption of alcohol with meals in France and

rectified this mistake a year later. There were also only 3 attractions (the castle, Alice’s

Labyrinth and Discoveryland) that reflected the extent they were truly accommodating

European culture. These changes were, at best, cosmetic but still did not revolutionise

the initial impressions made by the French.

Parc Asterix reflected a strong French identity, covering the Gaul vs Romans narrative

themes such as independence and resistance to outside interference, in comparison to

Euro Disney. Although not as popular as Euro Disney in terms of visitor attendance, it

is an intellectual property with a clear placement in France’s cultural history that has

gained a loyal following and financial success as one of France’s top theme parks.

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However, Albert Uderzo (A co-author of the Asterix comics) wanted to find investors

who were interested in building a park ‘with the spirit of Disneyland’ (Babic, 2013,

pages 58-60). Aspects borrowed from Disney include the park’s layout, such as a Main

Street hub area and linked themed areas, and style of catering. From this, it can be

observed Parc Asterix was consciously influenced by Disneyization for some aspects

but whilst retaining the strong cultural setting of the comics. As noted earlier, the 1992

attendance at Parc Asterix dropped by 30%, due to the opening of Euro Disney, but

became much more accepted by the French public in 1994.

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4.6 EXTENT OF THEMING

This section will examine the extent to which theming at the parks increased between

1991 and 2001, and whether this can be traced back to the impact of Euro Disney. A

distinction will be drawn between the parks that were more clearly copying Disney and

those that largely maintained their own identity.

Europa Park, Germany, is a well-known park that directly lifted aspects from both

Disneyland and Walt Disney World prior to Euro Disney’s opening in 1992 (Stieber,

2015, p.112. Most notably, they have 3 dark rides that closely resemble the Haunted

Mansion (Geisterschloss), Pirates of the Caribbean (Piraten in Batavia) and Universe of

Energy (Universum de Energie), all built between 1982 and 1994. The park also

borrows Spaceship Earth’s geodesic structure for EuroSat, the 1989 space themed

rollercoaster which also shares similarities to Space Mountain. However, Europa Park

has distinguished two of the aforementioned dark rides. Geisterschloss is the House of

Medici’s cursed castle after they made a devil’s pact to remain wealthy and powerful

whereas Piraten in Batavia is themed to the Dutch colonisation of South East Asia in

18th Century (Stieber, 2015, pages 118-119). Despite the Disney facsimiles, Europa Park

has maintained its identity as an independently themed park and between 1992-2002,

built 6 new areas themed to European countries, 35 original attractions and 3

accommodation lodgings.

Nigloland is an example of a European park that has borrowed popular Disney

attractions both before and after Euro Disney opened. Instances involve the Niglo

Show, La Riviere Canadienne, King of Mississippi showboat and La Train de la Mine

in the Canadian Village (1991-1992), Manoir Hante (1994) and Spatiale Experience

(1998). Unlike Europa Park, their reproductions scarcely deviate from the original

source. The Canadian Village and its attractions are thematically similar to Frontierland,

in particular the Niglo Show which directly imitates the animatronic variety show,

Country Bear Jamboree (Disneyandmore, 2009). The borrowing of popular Disney

concepts also extended into 2013 when Nigloland opened their Jungle Cruise-esque

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boat ride, Africa Cruise, which follows a near identical layout to the original.

The Tussauds Group in England was aware of the imminent competition from Euro

Disney and that theme parks would be a major player in the entertainment and leisure

industry (Eley, 2012). After opening Chessington World of Adventures (1987), they

bought Alton Towers (1980) from John Broome and decided to modernise it from an

amusement park to a theme park for the 1992 season (Lambert, 2015). They needed to

convince guests that they would not have to travel abroad to Euro Disney in order to

have a themed state of the art experience. Between 1992 and 1999, Alton Towers built

12 new areas and 5 major attractions. The most thematically similar to a Disney

attraction was John Wardley’s Haunted House in Gloomy Wood (both 1992), one of the

first technologically advanced dark rides in Britain and a modern take on the ghost train

ride type made popular by the Haunted Mansion (Eley, 2012). Its success led to a

second dark ride and thrill rollercoaster, Toyland Tours and Nemesis respectively, being

opened in 1994, then Oblivion in 1998. Hence, although the Tussauds Group did

respond to the threat caused by Euro Disney by increasing investment, they were only

copying the theming on one ride out of all the new attractions opened between 1992-

1999.

It can be concluded that some European parks have been influenced by Euro Disney and

others have imitated areas or attractions found at a Disney park prior to Euro Disney,

although the extent to which this imitation occurred has varied.

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5. CONCLUSIONS

In order to assess the impact that Euro Disney had on the European theme park industry,

a number of different aspects were considered.

With regards to attendance numbers, whilst there was a short term impact on Parc

Asterix, there does not appear to have been a major impact on attendance at both French

and wider European parks during the 1990s. Some of the major European theme parks

did feel enough pressure from Euro Disney to make their own investments in facilities

that would attract a wider group of visitors, and the investments may have offset the

negative impact Euro Disney might have otherwise caused.

Ownership of parks was considered both from the point of view of existing and new

establishments. Two operating groups, Tussauds and Walibi, grew in intercontinental

ownership of established parks between 1985 and 1998, whereas Premier Parks tried to

diversify in Europe but were unsuccessful. Changes to ownership have occurred both

before and after Euro Disney’s 1992 opening, and therefore it is hard to see any clear

impact. A number of new theme parks were built from 1985 onwards and there is some

evidence, at least in the cases of Spain and France, that these were developed as a

reaction to Euro Disney.

The cultural setting of both Euro Disney and Parc Asterix were reviewed; for Euro

Disney, it was concluded that limited research was done into ensuring it would reflect

French culture despite their claims to the contrary. Parc Asterix was consciously built to

reflect some aspects of the Disney model although it has also retained a number of

French values and reflected the French ethos.

Finally, when examining the extent of theming, a mixed picture emerged. Some

European parks had been influenced by Disney prior to the Euro Disney project, some

afterwards, and others have imitated Disney both before and after 1992.

In conclusion, the Euro Disney project caused a major shift in investments and market

repositions by already established parks, as well as a new growth in properties owned

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by transnational entertainment companies. Disney’s presence in Western Europe

ultimately motivated these established parks to diversify themselves, an unwitting

achievement that few other major entertainment companies have made.

Word count: 4,504

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