Archive for September, 2011

Sand Everywhere

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

We talked about it on the DLP news blog (Sand Sculptures Festival opens), showed it on the Mousekingdom Blog (opening Night, More Sand) and even gave away some prizes for it; the Sand Sculpture festival from Blankenberge in Belgium themed after Disneyland Paris. The Belgium edition is coming to a close this month but it has been a success story for the artists as well as for Disney. Disney is so impressed that they are thinking about bringing it to Disneyland Paris next year during the 20th celebration of the park, a perfect time to add this special event. The success in Belgium was gigantic with well over 200.000 visitors breaking every record from previous years. Taking this event to Paris would be an instant success for the park and Disney. The team of the Belgium event, Francis Vandendorpe and Alexander Deman, have been talking to Angela Bliss and Yves Boulanger from Disneyland Paris. The Talks are going very well and it looks like a green light for the project isn’t far away.

But that’s not all they have been talking about. Belgium had another Disney visitor, Craig Dezern, from the Florida parks, Walt Disney World. They are also interested in the event. More about this event on Mousekingdom Blog.

Will Sales Tax Hurt Disney Ticket Prices?

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

Going to Disneyland Paris isn’t cheap with a 2 days/2 parks ticket already surpassing the 100 Euro mark but prices could skyrocket even higher once the sales tax in the industry will change from 5,5% to a 19,6% high. This sales taxes increase was announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy last week as part of measures to reduce the country’s deficit and to help retaining the country’s AAA credit rating. While Disneyland Paris seems busier than ever before with record attendance numbers, this increase could hurt the resort as an increase of this measure will not go unnoticed. 

 His announcement comes at a crucial time for operator Euro Disney, as it is hoping to attract bumper crowds next year for the 20th anniversary of its Paris theme park. (source This is Money UK)