Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris

 

Disneyland Paris has been open for twenty years now and is still going strong. There was a plan to build a European Disneyland park as far back has1975. That was only nine years after Walt Disney died. It was considered that Britain, Spain, Italy and France would be the most likely place to build the park. Eventually France was chosen to be the best place to have the park built. This was because France had expansive flat land that would make it suitable for the park. The site in question was Mar-la-Valli it was close to Paris and very central within western Europe. This meant that the location was only four hours drive from an estimated 68 million visitors and only two hours flight from another potential 300 million visitors.
 

It would take another tens years before anything really started to move on. Then an agreement was draw up and signed by Mr Michael Eisner and the French government in 1985. Then a Mr Robert Fitzpatrick was appointed as the President of Euro Disney and the park started to take shape has the first 2,000 hectares started to be constructed in August 1988. Then in 1990 Espace Euro Disney was opened to provide the public with information on the park and a year later a casting centre was open to start recruiting the staff for the park.

Disneyland Paris opened its doors to the public on April 12^th 1992. The opening day was not a big success failing to reach the expected half million visitors. Instead only 50,000 visitors actually turned up on the first day. The company where very disappointed with these figures. The first part of the park complex had over run its budget massively, with the final bill being a whopping 22 million French Francs. The fact that over the next six to eight months the park failed to reach its targets for visitors. The park was receiving 25,000 visitors a day which was far short of its predicted figures of 60,000 visitors a day. This lead to the stock price of Euro Disney falling sharply almost wiping a third of its value. The European recession of 1992 did not help matters. This lead the company into some serious financial troubles. The fact at the time the very cheap dollar meant that people were being persuading to go to the Florida to see the original Walt Disney World. The park carried on losing money over the next couple of years.

 
The company's money problems kept on growing and by the beginning of 1994 EuroDisney was on the verge of bankruptcy and a series of crisis talks took place between the banks and shareholders. The Disneyland team had to try and convince the banks to restructure the loans or risk lose all the money they had invested in the park. The banks would be left with a bankrupt theme park and worthless real estate. This carried on until the banks finally agreed to Disney’s terms on March 14^th 1994. The banks wrote off the next two years of interest payments and the Walt Disney Company wrote off 210 million dollars of services bills. In the summer of 1994 the park started to turn its self around and from August onwards the parks hotels started to become fully booked. In October that year the park change its name from EuroDisney to Disneyland Paris. The park then went on to open new rides and in 1995 the park made its first profit of 22 million GBP. Disneyland Paris is now celebrating its twenty year and all those money worries are far behind them.

I went there earlier this year and thou it was cold and damp the place has a very magical feel about it. The place is great to take your kids, grandchildren or your love ones. Go there and relive your childhood has you walk around the park. The enchanted castle is a must see for anyone you have seen this castle on everything that is Disney, but to see it in real life is something else. I would recommend to anyone to visit Disneyland Paris it is a wonderful place.

Occupy London Camp

Occupy London

Occupy London is an on going peaceful protest. They are demonstrating against social injustice, corporate greed and the lack of affordable homes in the UK. The protest started on the 15th October 2011 with two encampments one in Finsbury Square and the other one located outside St Paul's Cathedral. The camps were set up to show solidarity with the Occupy Wall street protests that had started in America early in the year.

I visited St Paul's over the Christmas period to see the tents and protesters for myself. There were quiet a lot of tents mainly to the west side of the cathedral ranging from one man tents to small marquees. A lot of these tents were zipped up and closed. There was not much sign of life going on within them like they were out for the day. The bigger tents were occupy with a wealth of information about what the demonstration and occupancy was trying to archive and what it was all about . The protesters are trying to say that the current system is unsustainable and undemocratic and unjust. There is a need to work towards alternatives ways. They are all from different backgrounds ethnicities, genders, sexualities, disabilities and faiths and they want to stand together across the world. They do not want to pay for the banks crisis that was creative by the economy. They do not accept the cuts that the government are planing and implementing which are not necessary and they want an end to global tax injustice. They also are saying that our democracy represents corporations and not its every day people. These are some of the demands and statements that the Occupy London Group have said and issued on 16th October 2011 and 500 protesters of Occupy London collectively agreed upon this.

We are living in trouble times and people and family's are finding harder and harder to survive. This system as be around for along time and works very well when it works. Banks lend money to business to help them make money and set businesses up. This has been going on for years and years as society as evolved. Why do people think that by change this system things will change. I do agree with some of the statements that occupy London have made but not all of them. The managing directors of the banks earn a lot of money and a lot more in bonuses. This seems not to be a big issue when everyone else is doing well, fully employed and have a future to look forward to. I think if the banks were to take note of this and reduce they salary and bonuses when times are hard and the economy is not doing well, people would think more of them and would be less likely to complain.

These are some of my views on this subject. Some people may not agree with me and some people will. The time is not right for a revolution things are not the same as there were in the past. People of today are too interested in their self and what’s good for they family’s and scared on losing their jobs. There is no solidarity these days Margaret Thatcher saw to that with the destruction of the unions in the early eighty's. There are far too few people these days who would be willing to stand up and force changes on the government that are necessary for the country and the world. The governments policies need to change so the less well off get a better deal in life.

I do not know if things will change in the near future or in the distance future I can not predicted that. Occupy London are due back in court on the 11th January 2012 to see if thy have to leave the area around St Paul's. I think they will lose their fight unfortunately but lease some people would have heard what they are all about and maybe things might change. If not the next protest will be big because people will only take so much before there is a revolution