Disneyland Paris goes begging to parent company Walt as theme park reveals it needs £800million bail out to stay open

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America’s Walt Disney is poised to take full control of the ailing French firm that runs Disneyland Paris.

After decades of financial losses, Euro Disney yesterday said it required an £800million rescue package to keep the park open.

Despite attracting millions of visitors a year and owning the rights to all of the popular Disney characters, the French-operated theme park has never made a profit since launching in 1992.

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Sleeping Beauty Castle: Despite attracting millions of visitors a year and owning the rights to all of the popular Disney characters, the French-operated theme park has never made a profit since launching in 1992

Yesterday the park said business has deteriorated ever further, as it went begging to its investors for more money.

Some 14.1million visitors flocked through its gates last year – almost 800,000 fewer than the year before.

The theme park has suffered as cash-strapped families in France and across Europe reined in their spending in the wake of the financial crisis.

As many as five of its top seven markets were plunged into recession in 2013. Before the financial crash hit, it was enjoying attendance numbers of more than 15million. 

Its range of Disney hotels at the park – which are undercut by local, cheaper rivals – have also seen their takings dwindle.

Europe's biggest tourist destination now expects to report financial losses of £94million this year, up from £61million last year. The company yesterday said it required £800million to pay down its burgeoning debt mountain.

Floats: The park said business has deteriorated ever further, as it went begging to its investors for more money

Euro Disney shares on the Paris stock exchange plunged more than 20 per cent on the news. 

Walt Disney, which owns 40 per cent of Euro Disney, has agreed to stump up the money.

But other investors have not yet committed. 

Mark Stead, Euro Disney finance director, said: ‘It is clear that if none of the other shareholders participate, Walt Disney will increase its holding.’

Ten per cent of the company is owned by the Saudi prince AlWaleed bin Talal.

Euro Disney said cutting its mountain of debt would leave it with more cash to improve and invest in new facilities, which could include new rides to ‘enhance the guest experience’.

In July this year, the theme park opened its 60th ride based on the Disney Pixar film Ratatouille about a chef rat. The ride uses a 3D projection system to take guests through the film’s bustling kitchens. 

The admission of failure by the Parisian firm comes after France received a barrage of criticism over its economic malaise in recent days. 

Last week the boss of John Lewis said that France was ‘finished’.

Fireworks: Before the financial crash hit, the park was enjoying attendance numbers of more than 15million

Andy Street described the French nation as ‘sclerotic, hopeless and downbeat,’ adding: ‘I have never been to a country more ill at ease… nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it.’

In a London speech he was later forced to apologise for, he also described Paris’ flagship train station Gare du Nord as the ‘squalor pit of Europe’.

One of Germany’s most highly regarded economists also warned that France could ‘bring down’ the euro by refusing to get to grips with austerity.

Hans-Werner Sinn, the president of Germany’s Institute for Economic Research think tank, accused the bloated socialist state of ‘hiding the unemployed in government offices’.

New recipe: Earlier this year Disneyland Paris launched a new ride based on the Disney Pixar film Ratatouille