The Euro Disney Group today announces an important step forward in its collaboration with Pierre & Vacances to create a unique "Nature Villages" resort development just South of the existing resort. Originally announced in 2003, the feasability of the project has been examined for the past three years to allow a non-binding letter of intent to today be signed by Euro Disney Associés SCA, Pierre & Vacances and French State.
The development, covering land and forests surrounding the current site of Disney's Davy Crockett Ranch, is described as "a first-of-its-kind resort based on sustainable development", developed in collaboration with continental Center Parcs owner Pierre & Vacances
Covering an area of 520 hectares, the Center Parcs-style nature resort could eventually be home to over 5,000 tourism apartments and homes with 130,000 sq.m of leisure facilities, split into several zones based on the themes of water (a Center Parcs-style water park), sport & health (spas and sports activities), earth (farming, rural life) and forest (Davy Crockett Ranch).
The project could eventually create up to 9,000 jobs in addition to the 12,300 currently at the resort. The first development could be launched as early as 2010 with up to 2,300 apartments and homes, with plans also allowing the possibility of Disney's Davy Crockett Ranch to be expanded and absorbed into the resort. Currently, the resort features 8,000 hotel rooms across its Disney, Val de France and Val d'Europe Hotels, meaning the full build-out of the "Villages Nature" project would almost double the resort's capacity.
Although it has been reported a separate company would be established by the two groups to run the proposed resort, it has so far not been confirmed how the collaboration would work from either a business or marketing point of view - would the Disney brand be utilised? How much does Euro Disney SCA stand to gain from saturating its market with almost double the current accommodation capacity?
The next steps, however, make clear that this project will not be born overnight, listing countless areas of consideration and feasibility still to be investigated before a general agreement can be signed and the project will truly begin development.
Pierre & Vacances already has a presence at the resort with its Val d'Europe City ApartHotel complex, but a development on such a vast scale as this could effectively take the resort segment of Disneyland Resort Paris one of two ways - help it soar to new heights, or strangle it before it even gets standing.
+ info: http://www.eurodisney.com/data/308.pdf ||| dlprmagic.com
