On the 24th of March 1987, The Walt Disney Company and French Authorities signed an agreement to allow the development of "a unique tourist destination on an European scale". That destination opened as the Euro Disney Resort in 1992. To oversee the development and operation of the resort an new company was formed, Euro Disney S.C.A. (Société en Commandite par Actions). Under French law the S.C.A. separates the owners of the company (shareholders) and the Manager who runs the company.

Euro Disney S.C.A. is formed from 3 groups of share holders. The Walt Disney Company, Prince Alwaleed and everyone else.
The current ownership divisions are:
The Walt Disney Company 39.8%
Prince Alwaleed 10%
other Shareholders 50.2%

In the 20 square Kilometre site, Euro Disney S.C.A. own 2 theme parks (Disneyland Parc & Walt Disney Studios®), an entertainment district (Disney Village), 7 themed hotels, a 27 hole golf course and they also lease the land to a further 7 hotels near by. When you start to analyse what exactly is under the Euro Disney belt you realise that there is a lot more than just the 2 theme parks.

There are a few answers to this question, but I'll first point out that *I am not a financial advisor or linked with Euro Disney or any of the Walt Disney Companies or subsidiaries.

Answer 1.
Shares are a choice for investment, but unlike investing in a bond or savings account shares can rise and fall. There is an element of gambling involved. If the value of the shares drop you could lose some money, if they rise you will make some money. I guess the saying goes "Buy low, Sell High", which as long as you keep to that you can't go wrong*. From an investment point of view is Euro Disney a good buy? Personally, I think it is, and this is why.

If you visit the Official Site and see their graph of the past years trading you'll see that it is constantly moving, but there is was a sort of pattern. Literally it alternates every day € 0.08, € 0.09, € 0.08, € 0.09 (this was between August and November). If you were a "day trader" you could purchase enough shares (to counter act your fees) one day and sell them the next.

My other theory is that the share have dropped from their peak of € 36 in 2003 to their lowest point in 2006 at € 6 and have leveled off in 2007 to around € 9. I feel that this is time for long term investment as (my opinion*) the chart could suggest that the value is rising slowly.

Financially Disneyland Resort Paris had always had a rocky background. As far as I'm aware they haven't yet run at a profit. Over the past 2 years this seems to be turning around, the debt looks like it is deminishing at every financial report and provides hope for the future.

Answer 2.
The Shareholder's Club or Le Club Actionnaires. As a shareholder you are entitled to join the Shareholder's Club, which will give you discounts and privileges.

All shareholders that own 5 shares or more are entitled to apply for membership. Membership last for 2 years after that time, as long as you are still a shareholder you have to re apply. If you own more than 500 shares, but less than 20 there is an administration fee of €30. For all shareholders than hold over 20 shares the membership is free.

Privileges include:

• A dedicated booking phone line.
• A Shareholder's Club newsletter.
• Financial publications via email or post.
• Events organised just for members
• A VIP welcome to Salon Mickey (between 9 and noon)
• Discounts (for further information on discounts visit corporate.disneylandparis.com)

To start trading with share you will need to set up an account with a broker. I set up with the Halifax bank. There are a lot of other brokers available, but make sure that the one you choose will allow you to trade on the international markets. Euro Disney Shares are traded on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange which trades are valued on Euros.

To instruct your broker to trade you will need to know the Indices / Symbol, The Exchange and how many or how much you want to trade.
An example of this would be:
The Indices / Symbol for Euro Disney is EDL
The Market they are traded on is Euronext Paris
How many shares? your decision, but for free club membership 20

Other things to look into are the fees that a broker may charge. These could include holding fees, exchange fees, admin fees etc. The reason I chose that Halifax is that they don't charge an annual holding fee, which is good for me as I plan to hold onto them for several years.

As an investor in Euro Disney shares I obviously want their value to increase, from an investment point of view. Generally speaking the value of a company is down to how much someone is prepared to pay. People pay more for a successful financially viable company with good public perception than a company that is in a lot of debt and has a lot of negative publicity. In companies that are also in profit shareholder's normally receive a dividend or share of the profits. This isn't relevant to Euro Disney as it is currently in debt, but that is also reflected in the low trading price of the shares. If you believe that DLRP will turn this around and start making profit, then now is the time to buy "Buy Low, Sell High*".

Good publicity / PR can help raise the value.
Although the Official Euro Disney website doesn't chart as far back as 2002. I would say that I think the share would have rose in value upon the announcement of Walt Disney Studios opening.
When the financial publications are released avery quarter a positive spin on the figures could affect investors decisions. The guests coming to DLRP keeps on increasing year on year, which can only be a good thing. The resort hotels are bring in more income year on year. Surely DLRP will eventually pay off it's debt and rocket those share prices up!

*I am not a financial advisor these are my own opinions.

As of 9th November 2007 the above graph shows the value of Euro Disney S.C.A. shares over the past 5 years. You can clearly see that the graph hasn't ran in a positive way. An optimist like myself though could look at that chart and see positivity. An example would be that around the end of 2006 the share value started to rise and has stayed stable.

Joining the shareholders club was quite easy as long as your prepared with the right information.

1. Own over 5 EDL (Euro Disney S.C.A.) shares in you name.
2. Visit the Euro Disney website and find the shareholders club application form.
3. Print the form off and fill in the relevant details.
4. Make sure that you have a statement showing the amount of EDL share that you own.
5. Depending upon the amount of share you own (less than 20) you may need to pay an admin fee for you membership. This can be by credit card or an Euro cheque made payable to "Euro Disney S.C.A.".
6. If paying by credit card or owning over 20 share you can now Fax your membership form with a copy of your share statement to
   Euro Disney S.C.A. on +33 (0)1 64 74 56 36
7. If you paying by cheque and / or don't have access to a Fax machine you can post the Memebership form and Share Statement to Euro Disney S.C.A. at:
   Euro Disney S.C.A.
   Shareholders Club
   BP 100
   77777 Marne-la-vallée Cedex 4,
   France
8. Sit back and wait. According to Euro Disney you should recieve your Shareholders Club Card with in 6 weeks. When I faxed my details over I recieved a temporary Certificate of membership with in 2 weeks. This could be used for any discounts until the Club card arrived.

Updates

• 3rd December 2007 - Share consolidation (reverse split) - 1 share for every 100 shares held. All values on this page have been updated to include this information.
• 24th January 2008 - First quarter financial publication available online.