Disney's Eisner Admits Euro Disney Failure

BURBANK, Calif. - Euro Disney is as big a failure as many stockholders feared, the top executive of Walt Disney Co. has acknowledged.

Chairman Michael Eisner, in unusually strong language in the company's annual report, called the French theme park's performance "dreadful."

Eisner said Euro Disney was "our first real financial disappointment" since he took over the company in September 1984.

Despite 17 million visitors, the 18-month-old park near Paris lost $921 million in its first fiscal year, a shortfall of more than $2.5 million a day.

Euro Disney is managed by the Walt Disney Co., which owns 49 percent of its stock. Disney Co. has agreed to keep Euro Disney afloat for a limited time, saying it will require significant funding through 1994.