THE HISTORY OF THE DISNEY THEME PARK MEDIA ESSAY    pt1     1700w

The opening of Euro Disney in the spring of 1992 was as characteristically French as it was typically American. The theme park was filled with stars and Disney officials were more than willing to pose for pictures. The opening ceremony was even broadcasted live in many countries which inspired a Dutch journalist to call it the longest commercial ever broadcasted in the history of television [1] . However, mere days after the official opening, striking French farmers blocked the entrance and the anticipated positive reviews in the press remained sparse. Disney’s European dream started off as a nightmare in which mainly the French acted as the villains who put ‘Meekee [2] ‘ in a corner.

Disney’s first theme park, called Disneyland, is located in Anaheim, California and opened in 1955. Its Floridian counterpart DisneyWorld, located in Orlando, opened in 1971. The success of these parks and the success of Tokyo Disneyland which opened in 1983 motivated the company to expand further in order to achieve optimal market domination [3] . The fourth theme park was to be built in