Chapter 486: Euro Disney

[Chapter 486: Euro Disney]

After nearly ten weeks of intense filming, Eric finally completed the last shot of Jurassic Park on September 7. He confidently handed over the wrap-up and special effects work to Jerry Bruckheimer and Stan Winston before boarding a flight to Paris.

After a long twenty-two-hour flight, the Boeing Eric was on landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. As soon as he stepped out of the terminal, Jeffrey Katzenberg was waiting for him outside, accompanied by a few others. "Eric, it's great to see you! I thought you might miss it," he said.

"Of course, for something this important, I had to make every effort to come," Eric replied as he embraced Katzenberg.

After exchanging pleasantries, Katzenberg started introducing a few people to Eric. "Eric, this is Vincent LaBrie, representative of the city of Paris; this is Louis Bartholot, head of the French partnership company; and Patrick Schneider, ha ha, you don't need an introduction for him -- you've met him at the midyear meeting, I know you have a good memory..."

Eric shook hands and chatted with them all, and a few minutes later, the group got into a vehicle and departed.

"Eric, I've prepared a room for you at the Disney-themed hotel in the park, but you can also choose to stay in the city," Katzenberg enthusiastically said as they sat in the back seat of a business van. It was evident that Katzenberg was in a good mood, perhaps because another overseas Disney park was about to open.

This Disney park was still called Euro Disney, not Paris Disneyland as Eric remembered. While filming Jurassic Park, he hadn't paid much attention to this detail. However, during the long journey to Paris, he had managed to sift through his memories about Disneyland Paris. Of course, he couldn't know too many specifics, but he clearly remembered that among Disney's major parks, the most successful was Tokyo Disneyland, while the most unsuccessful was Disneyland Paris.

Thus, he wasn't feeling as cheerful as Katzenberg.

Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983 and had been highly successful from the year it opened. However, due to the agreement between Disney and Japan, they signed a licensing deal for 45 years where Disney even relinquished the royalties on cartoon character representations. They only charged 7% of Tokyo Disneyland's annual revenue as a management fee. It wasn't until Tokyo Disneyland became successful that Disney realized they had made a very poor deal. Even so, this 7% management fee still brought in several hundred million dollars in profit each year.

Stimulated by the success of Tokyo Disneyland, Michael Eisner, who had just taken charge of Disney in 1985, began preparing for a second overseas Disney theme park. Because of the extraordinarily high profit potential and the thousands of jobs it would create, Paris managed to nab the project away from dozens of competing cities by offering many favorable conditions. They even specifically built a railroad directly connecting the city of Paris to Disneyland.

Learning from the lessons of Tokyo Disneyland, Disney, through negotiations, secured a 49% stake in the joint venture for a very minimal cost, along with operational control of the park. Simultaneously, for the first five years, Disney would need to pay the park one and a half billion dollars in royalties, which would rise to four billion dollars per year after that period.

From these agreements, it seemed Disney wouldn't lose out. However, everyone knew that if this new park didn't operate well or even faced losses, Disney likely wouldn't be able to collect the most basic royalty fees.

"Jeffrey, these are minor details; I'll just stay at the Disney-themed hotel. Also, once we arrive, can you arrange for someone to prepare a detailed report on Euro Disney, from the initial planning to future operational models? The more detailed, the better."

Katzenberg nodded immediately without thinking, but upon noticing Eric's expression, he realized something wasn't quite right. "Eric, is there an issue?"

"I don't know," Eric honestly shook his head. The details about Euro Disney's partnership agreements were recounted by Allen on the plane, but he didn't know much beyond that. Without seeing more documentation, Eric couldn't figure out where the problems with Disneyland Paris would lie. "Just consider me curious. If it's possible, can you also find me some information about Tokyo Disneyland?"

"Sure thing," Katzenberg said, no longer probing further, with a smile as he nodded. "By the way, after the opening tomorrow night, the Paris City Government will hold a reception. I figured you might forget about formalwear coming straight from Hawaii, so I've had someone prepare it for you."

"Thanks, Jeffrey," Eric said, looking at Katzenberg's cheerful demeanor, and finally felt a bit uplifted. After all, history had already taken a significant turn; this new park was originally planned to open in April, but due to the Firefly acquisition of Disney and a series of other events, it had been postponed until September. Katzenberg had been managing the project for half a year now, and who knows, there might still be some unexpected turns.

...

Since Eric had been busy in Hawaii, combined with over twenty hours of travel, once he settled into the Disney-themed hotel in Marne-la-Vallee, he fell straight asleep to recover from the jet lag. When he finally woke up, it was completely dark outside.

Upon waking, as he looked through the window of the themed hotel, he immediately saw the brightly lit theme park outside. Although the park wouldn't officially open until the next morning, a large crowd of visitors had already gathered near the entrance.

The doorbell rang a few times and Eric withdrew his gaze, opening the door to find Allen standing there.

"Eric, you're awake! I finally woke you up. Mr. Katzenberg just sent someone over to check if you were up."

"Is there something important?" Eric asked, letting Allen in.

Allen shook his head. "No, Mr. Katzenberg is still at the park checking details for the opening. He's probably going to be out late. Eric, do you want to go over there?"

"Never mind; Jeffrey can handle it alone. I'm really just here to join the fun," Eric chuckled, shaking his head. Filming had drained most of his energy, and he also needed to control the overarching situation at Firefly. Eric didn't want to get too involved in the nitty-gritty of the company's operations; he wouldn't have enough energy even if he were split into several pieces. "By the way, did you get the information I asked Jeffrey about this morning?"

Allen nodded. "This afternoon, Mr. Katzenberg sent over the materials. Do you need me to get them now?"

"Go ahead and bring them. And while you're at it, please prepare a dinner for me. I'll just look over everything in my room."

*****

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