designingdisney
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2009
- Messages
- 85
Hi there,
May I invite you to discover my newest blogpost: "Lost Treasures - Euro Disney Preview Center 1990 - 1992"?
With this article, I take you on an extraordinary nostaligic tour around the legendary "Euro Disney Preview Center". With rare photos, interesting facts / trivia / figures, great videos and a map that I made myself.
Nikolai, one of my readers, said on Twitter:
"Just finished reading the newest installment of my beloved "Lost Treasures" series at the @designingdisney blog. A virtual tour of the original Euro Disney preview center, with photos, infos and even a commented floor plan of the building! Love it!!"
Below, you can find an excerpt of the post. Click here to read the entire article and to have a looks at the photos / videos / map.
Twenty years ago, a make-believe world was rising amid French fields of hay and sugar beets. Walt Disney's vision of family fun that sprouted in Anaheim, Calif., with the 1955 opening of Disneyland had finally crossed the Atlantic.
The construction of the Euro Disney Resort, Disney's first venture in Europe, was in full swing! In order to stir up the European appetite for Disney's magic, a preview center was built close to the construction site.
On December 6, 1990, "Espace Euro Disneyland" welcomed its first guests. Here, visitors were able to marvel at beautiful concept drawings for the new Resort as well as take a good look at tiny scale models of various attractions. It featured an exhibition hall, a movie theater, a retail store and a small food facility.
The Euro Disney Preview Center was situated on the outskirts of 'Serris', a small village close to the southern border of the Euro Disney property, the county roads 231 & 406 and exit 13 of the A4 motorway. Exit 14, 'Val d'Europe, Parc Disneyland' was opened to traffic in April 1992.
The structure was placed far enough away from the theme park so that Preview Center visitors would not interfere with construction traffic and activities. From this location there would be no peering through the fence to see what was being built. Visitors would see only the carefully produced message that the Walt Disney Company wanted.
The facility was designed by architect Robert A.M. Stern. It was composed of abstract forms. The entrance to the preview center was topped with a giant sorcerer's hat like the one that Mickey put on during "Fantasia" and images of Disney characters were painted onto the walls of the building. Its facade was adorned by strip lights. Attraction posters were on display in the show windows on both sides of the entrance doors.
Adults had to pay 15 French Francs a head ($2,25) to take a peek in the Euro Disney's Preview Center. Children could enter the Preview Center for 10 FF/ $1,5. Stern's original design didn't provide for a ticket booth so a prefabricated version was installed in front of the building.
[...]
Click here to read the entire article and to have a looks at the photos / videos / map.
Did you liked this blogpost? Please let me know and leave a reaction!
Did you ever visit the Euro Disney Preview Center? Have you worked there? Or did find inaccuracies in our text? Please share your memories, photos and / or knowledge!
Thanks for reading the article!
Take care,
Max
May I invite you to discover my newest blogpost: "Lost Treasures - Euro Disney Preview Center 1990 - 1992"?
With this article, I take you on an extraordinary nostaligic tour around the legendary "Euro Disney Preview Center". With rare photos, interesting facts / trivia / figures, great videos and a map that I made myself.
Nikolai, one of my readers, said on Twitter:
"Just finished reading the newest installment of my beloved "Lost Treasures" series at the @designingdisney blog. A virtual tour of the original Euro Disney preview center, with photos, infos and even a commented floor plan of the building! Love it!!"
Below, you can find an excerpt of the post. Click here to read the entire article and to have a looks at the photos / videos / map.
Twenty years ago, a make-believe world was rising amid French fields of hay and sugar beets. Walt Disney's vision of family fun that sprouted in Anaheim, Calif., with the 1955 opening of Disneyland had finally crossed the Atlantic.
The construction of the Euro Disney Resort, Disney's first venture in Europe, was in full swing! In order to stir up the European appetite for Disney's magic, a preview center was built close to the construction site.
On December 6, 1990, "Espace Euro Disneyland" welcomed its first guests. Here, visitors were able to marvel at beautiful concept drawings for the new Resort as well as take a good look at tiny scale models of various attractions. It featured an exhibition hall, a movie theater, a retail store and a small food facility.
The Euro Disney Preview Center was situated on the outskirts of 'Serris', a small village close to the southern border of the Euro Disney property, the county roads 231 & 406 and exit 13 of the A4 motorway. Exit 14, 'Val d'Europe, Parc Disneyland' was opened to traffic in April 1992.
The structure was placed far enough away from the theme park so that Preview Center visitors would not interfere with construction traffic and activities. From this location there would be no peering through the fence to see what was being built. Visitors would see only the carefully produced message that the Walt Disney Company wanted.
The facility was designed by architect Robert A.M. Stern. It was composed of abstract forms. The entrance to the preview center was topped with a giant sorcerer's hat like the one that Mickey put on during "Fantasia" and images of Disney characters were painted onto the walls of the building. Its facade was adorned by strip lights. Attraction posters were on display in the show windows on both sides of the entrance doors.
Adults had to pay 15 French Francs a head ($2,25) to take a peek in the Euro Disney's Preview Center. Children could enter the Preview Center for 10 FF/ $1,5. Stern's original design didn't provide for a ticket booth so a prefabricated version was installed in front of the building.
[...]
Click here to read the entire article and to have a looks at the photos / videos / map.
Did you liked this blogpost? Please let me know and leave a reaction!
Did you ever visit the Euro Disney Preview Center? Have you worked there? Or did find inaccuracies in our text? Please share your memories, photos and / or knowledge!
Thanks for reading the article!
Take care,
Max
