Disneyland Paris

Link: Disneyland Paris.

Perhaps a turbulent past has given Disneyland Paris double the reasons to celebrate survival, or maybe it's the French 'Joie de vivre' - either way, the theme park has extended its 15th Year Anniversary Party for another year. Euro Disney opened its doors in 1992 with expectations of a half million visitors on opening day - barely 50,000 showed up. Two years later, rumours of bankruptcy flew. The magic of refinancing and a new name, Disneyland Paris, brought a pixie dusting of hope. A vicious storm in December 1999 damaged the park and caused a shutdown for several hours in peak season. This followed a storm of labour disputes which resulted in strike action. With a dose of French tenacity and lessons learned from Disneyland California, Florida's Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, this fourth and largest "original" style theme park grew up as part of Disneyland Resort Paris, which welcomed 185 million visitors last year.