We are not talking about the new arenas in South Africe for the FIFA world cup or the public viewing arenas that have been set up in many locations… we are talking business, Disney convention business…
The convention business is an important factor for Disneyland Paris. Over the years the resort expanded it’s according capacity considerably. In 1992 the resort’s sole convention center was part of Disney’s Hotel New York, supported only by smaller conference / meeting rooms at the Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Newport Bay Club and Disney’s Sequoia Lodge. Once the convention teams however needed more capacity a second permanent convention center was added as expansion to Disney’s Newport Bay Club. In addition a large event tent was placed backstage next to the Star Tours building accessible for guests from inside the Disneyland Park. However, even that was not enough to meet all demand, so the convention team also took over the Disney Village Dome once the show Crescend’O closed. In addition another big tent for meetings was added next door on the former Disney Village parking lot, once the new parking structure for the Disney Village opened.
However, as reported that tent was taken down partially earlier this year. While fans wondered whether this may be permanent reflecting a decrease in conference business at the resort, the tent was set up completely again soon enough – with a cleaned canvas.
A closer look at the once again bright white structure also shows that it now sorts an official name above the main entrance: Disney Event Arena. It even has it’s own logo featuring the shape of a Mickey head with a tie. One just needs to hope that anyone being offered this location for an event is properly informed about the type of the structure before his arrival as the name does sound way more than impressive than the actual tent.