Walt Disney Studios Park (French: Parc Walt Disney Studios) is the second of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. which opened on 16 March 2002. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Upon opening, it was dedicated to show business, movie themes, production, and behind-the-scenes, but in the 2010s, in a similar manner to its sister park, Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida, it began to distance itself from the original studio backlot theming and entered a new direction of attraction development inspired by iconic Disney stories. In 2019, the park hosted approximately 5.2 million guests. The park is represented by the Earffel Tower, a water tower with Mickey Mouse ears similar to the one formerly located at Disney's Hollywood Studios, which in turn was inspired by the water tower at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California.
History
Initial plans for a second theme park, named Disney-MGM Studios Europe or Disney-MGM Studios Paris, were scheduled to open in 1995, though these plans were canceled around mid-1992 due to the resort's financial issues at the time. After the resort began to make a profit, these plans were revived on a much smaller scale. The park was announced on 29 September 1999. Construction would officially begin a year later in 2000. Walt Disney Studios Park opened on 16 March 2002.
In the 2019 documentary series The Imagineering Story, Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive (2007–2016, 2023–present) of Walt Disney Imagineering, described his reaction when he visited the park when it first opened:
In 2007, Walt Disney Studios Park began expanding. June 2007 saw an expansion to Animation Courtyard opened along with the new area wide name "Toon Studio". It is themed as a "toon backlot", representing the film studio workplace of animated characters, where they produce their animated films. The concept has been created exclusively for Walt Disney Studios Park and features two rides not seen in any other Disney theme park, along with small merchandising locations and many character meet-and-greets. In this expansion phase arrived Crush's Coaster, a custom-designed Maurer Söhne SC 2000 indoor spinning roller coaster, and Cars Quatre Roues Rallye themed after the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars, with the ride taking the form of an enhanced teacups ride. A similar ride is found in Mermaid Lagoon at Tokyo DisneySea. On 22th December 2007, Production Courtyard grew in size with the introduction of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror which soft-opened with the new Hollywood Boulevard.
In March of 2008, a variant of Stitch Encounter was imported from Hong Kong Disneyland with the new name 'Stitch live!'. It was one of two shows introduced to replace the Disney Channel Studio Tour and Cyberspace mountain attractions.
In 2009, new entertainment opened at Walt Disney Studios to run alongside Mickey's Magical Party, which began in April 2009. Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! was the second of the two shows to replace the Disney Channel Studio Tour and was presented in French, English and Spanish. In addition to Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! came the opening of Disney Stars 'n' Cars, a smaller version of Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade imported from Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World,Florida. The parade was introduced to replace 'Disney's Cinema Parade' which had been operating since opening in 2002.
In August 2010 expansions continued with the opening of Toy Story Playland to coincide with the new Disney·Pixar film Toy Story 3, "shrinking" guests to the size of a toy. The three attractions are a Half Pipe coaster named RC Racer, a parachute jumpstyle ride named Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, and a Music Express train named Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin, all themed intricately around the first two Toy Story films.
The first push of expansions came to an end with the addition of 'Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy', soft opening 21st June 2014 and fully opening 10th July 2014.
On 27 February 2018, Bob Iger announced a transformative multi-year expansion, opening in phases from 2021 to 2025 to coincide with the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, which will completely transform the park. The cost of this expansion is €2 billion. It will feature new areas based on Marvel, Star Wars and Frozen, all surrounding a new man-made lake.