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THE COUNTDOWN IS UNDER WAY: ON APRIL 12, 1992, the gates will open to Europe's largest private recreational development, the Euro Disney Resort. Already, drivers on the A4 expressway just east of Paris are slowing down for a second glance at a vibrant information center straight out of Fantasia.
Rising out of the otherwise quiet French countryside, the newly opened Espace Euro Disney gives a sneak preview of the resort. Visitors can watch a film and view models to see what the resort will look like on opening day, shop for Disney merchandise, and, of course, greet Disney characters who just happen to be on hand.
Mickey could not have asked for a more convenient location. By opening day, visitors coming to see him will be able to board a regional train at the Arc de Triomphe in the center of Paris and arrive 23 minutes later at a new station being built at the Euro Disney Resort. When the Channel Tunnel linking France with the United Kingdom opens in 1993, tourists leaving London by train will reach the resort in three-and-a-quarter hours. By June 1994, TGV high-speed rail service will also service the park.
By car, the Euro Disney Resort is on the A4 expressway, between Paris and Strasbourg, with two newly constructed exits just for the resort. By air, it's between two international airports, Orly and Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. Shuttle services will operate from both airports directly to resort hotels.
In the early 1980s, when Disney decided to add to its sole foreign location (the very successful Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983), it looked to Europe, where Disney films have historically done even better than in the United States. From 1983-87, the company searched for sites in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy before selecting the site 32 kilometers (20 miles) east of Paris. At 1,943 hectares, it is one-fifth the size of Paris itself, and an ideal geographic location: Of the more than...