• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Disneyland Paris: General Discussion

Whelp. I’m hanging up my comedian hat and disappearing into a small cave forever.
 
the new McDonald's that opened in Disney village today is also the biggest in the world
I was talking about this with a friend earlier.

As much as Disney Village was ready for a refurb I think the new style is so disappointing. We were looking at the old photos and remembering Disney Village with all the neon lights, Planet Hollywood, the alligator outside Rainforest Cafe, large theming piece, McDonald's with the Carousel theming...

And then you look to now and everything is so... BLAND.

The new McDonald's looks like any other, the shops look like any shop you'd see in a mall, no bright colours, no theming, there's rumours Rainforest Cafe will be removed later in the year to be replaced with another normal restaurant.

I look back at Disney Village and remember it all from being a kid. No kid these days is going to look at the new version and find any of it memorable and I think that's really sad.
 
I'd love to know what that's a product of.

Budget?
Maintenance?
Brand control?
just a wider shift in taste?

All of the above probably.

Hardly comparable but, it made me think of the Meadowhall Oasis in the 90s where every outlet had it's own identity and theming pieces (cars outside restaurants, flashy neon, elaborate facades etc) and I walk into the modernised Oasis now and feel the same as you describe about Disney Village.

There must be a modern interpretation of that energy that could work, though I don't know what that would be... maybe a middle ground with the odd kinetic element and some subtle storytelling... but Leek Signs-esque Marvel murals do not count!
 
I feel its the result of businesses wanting a building that stands out, but knowing that unless they spend a lot of money they'll end up with something that very quickly looks tacky.

McDonald's of the 90' is a classic example. My local one had a classical (roman esq) theme, with fake columns around a central seating area. But the columns were very low quality and would definitely class as tacky now.
Nowadays if you are going to theme something it has to be to a far higher standard, and that costs a lot. For the latest immersive land that's a price worth paying, justified in the parks by people literally paying entry to see it. However outside of them it becomes a question of 'what will look the best whilst costing the least?'

That's why everything has shifted to this modern style. Whilst it can often be bland it is a compromise to look upmarket without spending a lot to achieve it.
 
Original Village look was so 90s, it was never going to last.

30 years is a long time. And quite clear that brands are more eager to have the most blandest looking logos and "clean" look possible these days.
 
Disneyland Paris are showing record profits, which is all the more impressive considering the Frozen investment and likely to continue as a result!

The 2025 fiscal year ended with a net profit of a whopping €260 million, according to the new annual report from parent company Euro Disney Associés SAS. A year earlier, profit was €88 million.

Revenue also increased significantly last year. Total operating income rose by over 8 percent, from €3.15 billion to €3.41 billion. Revenue had never been so high. Revenue from ticket sales, hotels, and other tourism activities reached €2.12 billion, compared to €1.92 billion a year earlier.


 
Disneyland Paris are showing record profits, which is all the more impressive considering the Frozen investment and likely to continue as a result!

The 2025 fiscal year ended with a net profit of a whopping €260 million, according to the new annual report from parent company Euro Disney Associés SAS. A year earlier, profit was €88 million.

Revenue also increased significantly last year. Total operating income rose by over 8 percent, from €3.15 billion to €3.41 billion. Revenue had never been so high. Revenue from ticket sales, hotels, and other tourism activities reached €2.12 billion, compared to €1.92 billion a year earlier.


Record profits are usually always impressive, but the hundreds of millions of Euros being poured into the concrete and steel of the World of Frozen are not being deducted from this year's operating profit as a lump sum expense. That's not how corporate accounting works.

Those construction costs are capitalised. They sit on the balance sheet as an asset (usually "Assets under construction"). They don't hit the Profit & Loss account as an expense until the land actually opens, at which point they will be drip fed into the accounts over the next 20+ years via depreciation.

The profit figure isn't "impressive considering the investment". The profit figure is high because the investment cost has been ring fenced on a different spreadsheet.

It is akin to saying, "I managed to save £500 from my salary this month, which is impressive considering I bought a £400,000 house." You didn't pay for the house in cash out of this month's wages, you put it on a mortgage and acquired an asset.

The record profit is driven by yield management, price hikes and high hotel occupancy. The construction of Arendelle is, for now, just a movement of cash on the balance sheet, not a hit to the bottom line.
 
Top