Editing Disneyland Paris (section)

===Financial, attendance and employment struggles===
[[File:Lake of Disney Village 2.jpg|thumb|left|Disney Newport Bay Club]]
In May 1992, entertainment magazine ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' reported that about 25% of Euro Disney's workforce, approximately 3,000 people, had resigned from their jobs because of unacceptable working conditions. It also reported that the park's attendance was far behind expectations. The disappointing attendance can be at least partly explained by the [[Early 1990s recession|recession]] and increased unemployment, which was affecting France and most of the rest of the developed world at this time; when construction of the resort began, the economy was still on an upswing.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 March 2009 |title=FACTBOX:Who's next? Countries at risk of recession |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSP40009620090304 |work=Reuters}}</ref>

Euro Disney S.C.A. responded in an interview with ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', in which [[Robert Fitzpatrick (art executive)|Robert Fitzpatrick]] claimed only 1,000 people had left their jobs. In response to the financial situation, Fitzpatrick ordered that the Disney-MGM Studios Europe project would be put on halt until a further decision could be made. Prices at the hotels were reduced.
 
Despite these efforts in May 1992, park attendance was around 25,000 (some reports give a figure of 30,000) instead of the predicted 60,000. The Euro Disney Company stock price spiraled downward and on 23 July 1992, Euro Disney announced an expected net loss in its first year of operation of approximately 300 million [[French franc]]s. During Euro Disney's first winter, hotel occupancy was so low that it was decided to close the [[Disney's Newport Bay Club|Newport Bay Club]] hotel during the season.

Initial hopes were that each visitor would spend around US$33 per day, but near the end of 1992, analysts found spending to be around 12% lower.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Disneyland Paris (Euro Disney) Frequently Asked Questions – 1996, Andre Willey/Tom Drynda |url=http://www.faqs.org/faqs/disney-faq/disneyland-paris/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090922165130/http://www.faqs.org/faqs/disney-faq/disneyland-paris/ |archive-date=22 September 2009 |access-date=23 September 2009 |publisher=Faqs.org}}</ref> Efforts to improve attendance included serving alcoholic beverages with meals inside the Euro Disneyland park, in response to a presumed European demand, which began 12 June 1993.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 June 1993 |title=Euro Disney Adding Alcohol |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEEDF1E3FF931A25755C0A965958260 |access-date=23 September 2009 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

By the summer of 1994, Euro Disney was burdened with $3&nbsp;billion worth of debt. Disney CFO [[Richard Nanula]] and Wall Street financier Steve Norris worked with [[Alwaleed]]'s business advisor Mustafa Al Hejailan to rescue the [[overleverage]]d company. In that deal, Disney's 49 percent stake was reduced to 39 percent, the banks agreed to forego interest payments until 1997, Disney wrote off royalties and fees until 1999, and Alwaleed agreed to pay $345&nbsp;million for a 24 percent stake in Euro Disney.<ref name="Khan">{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Riz |url=https://archive.org/details/alwaleed00rizk_0/page/125 |title=Alwaleed, Businessman Billionaire Prince |date=2005 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-085030-2 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/alwaleed00rizk_0/page/125 125–132] |url-access=registration}}</ref>