Disney has invested more than 5.7 billion euros in Disneyland Paris. He still hasn’t recovered even half of that amount.

On March 29, 2026, Josh D’Amaro inaugurated World of Frozen before Emmanuel Macron, Penélope Cruz and Naomi Campbell. It was his first major public act as CEO of Disneyeleven days after taking office. However, he did not do it in the now classic Disneyland in Orlando, but in Paris. A park that, according to French commercial recordsaccumulates a deficit of 4.2 billion dollars after more than three decades open. Disneyland Paris is Disney’s most profitable international subsidiary and even so, it still You have not recovered your initial investment. So…why is it still open?

On paper, all good. When Disney makes public the financial results of your parksit doesn’t break it down by installation. But since Euro Disney Associés (EDA), the company that manages the complex, is obliged to publish detailed accounts in France, we can know the Parisian figures: in the year ending in September 2025, EDA’s income reached a record of 4 billion dollars, 8.4% more than the previous year, driven in part by the implementation of the controversial dynamic prices.

Net profit reached 304.2 million, also the highest in its history. For its part, the results of Disney’s international parks segment They rose 25% in the last quarter of fiscal year 2025and the company explicitly attributed that improvement to the pull of Disneyland Paris.

Do the math. However, since opening in 1992, what was initially known as Euro Disney has only made a net profit in 13 years. Accumulated losses total 3.7 billion dollars. In other words: Disney has invested a total of 6.8 billion dollars (5.7 billion euros) in the complex and has not yet recovered that figure. With 304 million annual profits, it is difficult to think of it being recovered.

The French trap. EDA operates within particular financial parameters. France gave up the coveted 2,230 hectare land in Chessy (almost a fifth of the area of ​​Paris) in exchange for the complex being organized as a public-private collaboration. Disney started as a minority shareholder with 49% and since it was not the main shareholder, Disney did not capitalize the company as it would have done in its American parks. It only contributed 132.1 million of the 4.9 billion that the construction cost. The remaining 59.8% was covered by a bank loan assumed by the Euro Disney joint venture.

EDA was listed on the Euronext, which on the one hand forced accounting transparency, and on the other hand chained the company to a very fragile capital structure just before the first great recession of the time hit. A year after the opening, Philippe Bourguignon, president of Euro Disney, recognized that the company’s financial imbalance was so severe that its very existence was at risk.

Crisis after crisis. In reality, the history of Disneyland Paris is a summary of the great economic crises that the sector and, specifically, France has experienced. The park opened during a recession that affected all of Europe, but especially the country (with a drop in GDP of 1.5% in 1993). French tourists rejected the prices of tickets, the absence of alcohol in restaurants and English as the dominant language. Disneyland Paris’ second park, Walt Disney Studios (renamed Disney Adventure World in 2026), opened in 2002 just as global tourism was suffering after 9/11.

The worst year came in 2016: Disneyland Paris posted a record net loss of $961.8 million after the November 2015 attacks plunged attendance at the park. Disney’s reaction in 2017 was to buy the remaining 51% of shares for 250.8 million and pay another 1,700 to eliminate all the accumulated debt. But the misfortunes did not end: the 2020 pandemic cut off the recovery that this sanitation had started. And things are not over: the war in the Middle East affects energy and flights, and it remains to be seen how it will impact the business in the medium term.

The clear accounts. For 34 years, the royalties and other management expenses that EDA has paid to the American parent company total 2.4 billion dollars: fees for attraction design, licensed characters, costumes, show production… But Disneyland Paris receives 16 million visitors a year, it is the most frequented tourist destination in Europe and, according to the study itself contributes 6.1% of France’s total tourist income.

In 2025, the parks and experiences divisions generated the 57% of Disney’s consolidated operating profiton total revenues of $94.4 billion. It is the weight of that segment that took D’Amaro from parks management to CEO. But one thing is clear: EDA cannot distribute dividends until its accumulated losses are fully compensated. At 304 million in annual net profit and with the historic hole unclosed, that moment is not around the corner: it seems that we are not talking about short-term compensation.

Header | Pablo Monteagudo

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