Walt Disney Studios Park (French: Parc Walt Disney Studios) is the second of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France, which opened on 16 March 2002. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Upon opening, it was dedicated to show business, movie themes, production, and behind-the-scenes, but in the 2010s, in a similar manner to its sister park, Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida, it began to distance itself from the original studio backlot theming and entered a new direction of attraction development inspired by iconic Disney stories. In 2019, the park hosted approximately 5.2 million guests. The park is represented by the Earffel Tower, a water tower similar to one that was installed at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Dedication History Initial plans for a second theme park, named Disney-MGM Studios Europe or Disney-MGM Studios Paris, were scheduled to open in 1995, though these plans were canceled around mid-1992 due to the resort's financial issues at the time. After the resort began to make a profit, these plans were revived on a much smaller scale. The park was announced on 29 September 1999. Construction would officially begin a year later in 2000. Walt Disney Studios Park opened on 16 March 2002. In the 2019 documentary series The Imagineering Story, Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive (2007–2016) of Walt Disney Imagineering, described his reaction when he visited the park when it first opened: In June 2007, a new "studio lot" opened in the Animation Courtyard area of the park, named Toon Studio. It is themed as a "toon backlot", representing the film studio workplace of animated characters, where they produce their animated films. The concept has been created exclusively for Walt Disney Studios Park and features two rides not seen in any other Disney theme park, along with small merchandising locations and many character meet-and-greets. In this expansion phase are Crush's Coaster, a custom-designed Maurer Söhne SC 2000 indoor spinning roller coaster, and Cars Quatre Roues Rallye themed after the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars, with the ride taking the form of an enhanced teacups ride. A similar ride is found in Mermaid Lagoon at Tokyo DisneySea. On 22 December 2007, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror soft-opened with the new Hollywood Boulevard on Production Courtyard. Stitch Live!, imported from Hong Kong Disneyland,