The first plans for a European Disney park appeared in 1972, but it was not until Tokyo
Disneyland opened in 1983 that Disney started looking again at international expansion.
By 1984 approximately 1,200 possible European locations had been looked at, and by the following year that had been reduced to four. Two in France and two in Spain. The Spanish sites were both located on the Mediterranean so the climate would have been similar to Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
One of the Spanish sites was Costa Calida, where Paramount Pictures is planing to open their Murcia Theme Park.
The other French site considered was in Toulon near Marseille in the south of France, which also has a similar climate to Florida. But after some test digs geological problems found there would have made construction very dificult and expensive.
So the second French site near Marne-la-Vallée became the prefered option and this was where the park was built. The main reason apart from the huge subsidies given by the French government why the park was built in Marne-la-Vallée was becasue the location is about a four-hour drive away for 68 million people and about a two-hour flight time for a further 300 million.
I can't remember now which sites were looked at in the UK, but I know one of them was around the London area, just outside the M25. I would not be surprised if it is where Warner Brothers have build their new Harry Potter Studio Tour London (not a theme park) near Watford or where
Legoland Windsor was built.
You tend to find that if one company does a lot of reseach about a location for a theme park then drops that site for one reason or another then another company comes along and buys the land and builds their own there.
A UK Disney park would have been fun, but to be honest I'm rather glad it did not happen.
Philippe Gas, the Chairman and CEO of Euro Disney SAS who operate Disneyland Paris said in an interview a few years ago that he would like to see mini Disney Villages being build in other cities in Europe.
The concept he explained to the press were mini out of town lesuire parks based on the Disney Village in Paris. Each would have their own Cafe Mickey for character meet and greets with other Disney themed resurants and Disney Stores located there. So Disney Village London, Disney Village Madrid, Disney Village Berlin etc.
Who knows if this idea will ever happen, but nothing more has been said of the idea.
