Following the success of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in the United States, plans to build a similar European theme park emerged in 1972. Initially, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom were considered as possible locations. The United Kingdom and Italy were quickly eliminated as they both lacked a sufficiently large expanse of flat land suited for the resort.
By March 1985, they had narrowed the options down to four possible locations; two in France and two in Spain.[2] Both countries saw a Disney destination's potential of boosting their economies and competed by offering Disney attractive financing deals, free land and more.
Both Spanish sites were located near the Mediterranean Sea and offered a subtropical climate similar to Disney's parks in California and Florida. However, the site in the Alicante area was abandoned when it was discovered that strong Mediterranean Mistral winds affected that region for several weeks each year and Spain itself was deemed to possess an inferior infrastructure to other European nations. Disney had also shown interest for a site near Toulon in Southern France, not far from Marseille, The pleasing landscape of that region as well as its climate made this spot a top competitor for what would be called Euro Disneyland. However, thick layers of bedrock were discovered beneath the site which would render construction unfeasibly difficult. Finally, a site in the rural town of Marne-la-Vallée was chosen because of its proximity to Paris and its central location within Western Europe. This location was estimated to be within 4 hours of driving for 68 million people and within two hours of flight for a further 300 million.