Buyers Flock to Disney's 'Copycat' New Town at Val d'Europe, Paris

This sounds very much like Celebration in Orlando, but with European/French architecture. Disney, with the approval of the local municipal government, continues to build residential homes and towns around the Disneyland Paris area.

When Disney decided to open outside Paris it resolved not to repeat its expensive mistakes - for example, at Anaheim, in California, where the failure to buy enough land hindered expansion. So Disney became a developer, optioning 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres), including chunks of the existing communes of Chessy, Coupvray, Bailly-Romainvilliers, Magny-le-Hongre and Serris. When Disneyland Paris opened in 1992 the local population was 5,000: now it is more than 20,000. Ten per cent are “cast”, or Disney employees. “There will be 90,000 residents in 2030,” says Bertrand Ousset, vice-director general of EPA, the government development agency that is partnered with Disney. “This is one of the last Paris suburbs to be developed. Technically it's Sector IV of Marne-la-Vallée, but that's not catchy so it became Val d'Europe.”

It sounds like the plan has become a resounding success so far.

Zz.