Case 2-1 Eurodisney

In addition, the politicians’ negative publicity and the cultural leaders’ unfriendliness toward the Euro Disney theme park caused the company to close down one resort hotel and laid off 5000 employees. Taking this into account the Euro Disney marketers should have anticipated peoples’ resistance toward the Theme Park and should have changed their positioning in

The Walt Disney Company has created theme parks throughout the world for guests to undergo a specific experiences that recalls the guests’ inner child through rides, visuals, and music. Disney has proved to be more than just a theme park; it is portrayed as a “world” or “land” of acceptance and integration of all cultures into one place. The universality aspect is what draws people in from different countries to visit the parks. Ultimately, the Disney parks are based off of two key concepts: commoditization and Americanization. Since Disney is an imagined utopia, guests buy into, literally and figuratively, the commodities and experiences it offers. Through music and visuals, Disney intertwines a message of Americanization through a single world culture that the guests accept. Disney’s limited understanding of cultures became much more apparent as theme parks were erected in different countries with cultural values that differ from American norms. Disney is a utopian society that exposes a narrow interpretation of the different cultures throughout the world.

It also had easy, convenient transit from outer lying areas like The Channel Tunnel via Britain, The European High Speed Railway System, and the various airports that surround Paris. (Grant, 2003) They had edge as there were few large-scale theme parks in existence, and still remain the largest in Europe. This was the benefit for Euro Disney, but the opening, which happened, in 1993, failed to produce the level of ticket sales expected, with a mere 50,000 passing through the gates on opening day, falling far short of anticipated visitors. A lack of planning and accounting for the ebb and flow of the economy, there giant gap in the revenue expect, and a recession hit Europe. (Sylt & Reid,

Disney is under pressure to be more inclusive of the cultures of the people in the country they are in(O. Ferrell, Hirt, & L. Ferrell, 2009). When Disney sought to expand into other countries they did not fully understand the culture of the French or the Hong Kong Chinese. They have yet to learn how to successfully incorporate the foods trends and events of the land into the theme park. Disney is struggling with culture in those parks because the Disney theme park is focused on an American icon and while other places know of Mickey Mouse they just do not find it appropriate to place so much focus on something that is part of the American culture (O. Ferrell, Hirt, & L. Ferrell, 2009). There seems to be “a lack of understanding of the purchasing

Having seen the success achieved by two native Disneylands and the Tokyo Disneyland, with full of optimism, Disney launched another international Disneyland – the Euro Disney on April 12, 1992, in France within its $4.4 billion budget. However, unlike Tokyo Disneyland, Euro Disney did not experience the same success in terms of admissions and revenues. There were several reasons that could explain the frustrations of Euro Disney.

Euro Disney could not modify the main theme of other Disney parks to create something unique for Europeans. Restaurants were not prepared according to the European eating habits and one of the biggest mistakes was not selling alcoholic beverages in the park which has very close connection with French culture. Customers had to leave the park to buy those from outside.

Globalization is the worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade, and communications integration. Globalization has impacted many different companies like Nike,Reebok,McDonalds, and Walmart. In order to have a successful globalization and spreading that brand across the world is something that Disneyland has mastered over the years. Opening in 1955 Disneyland was founded in California the company and brand took off over the years and has been globalizing across the world in many of different Countries. While many argue Globalizing a company brands is a bad route to take because it is taking away from the American made style and the company using other people to work for cheap at these other countries across seas. I believe that Disneyland is a good thing for the economy and boosting other countries economy, opening job opportunities’ for people in those countries, and bringing many cultures and people together.

Today, Disney is popular, it has become a global industry. And pop culture phenomenon to rise in the second half of the 20th century, Disneyland will post a huge attraction in the world. It has attracted many visitors from all over the world to the United States of the theme park. Vivid characters in the cartoon of those fantastic imagination, for example, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, in many cases, is represented, serves as a representative for the Disney culture. These characters, in order to visit the country of their dreams, you can bring a lot of fans of this popular culture. Disney 's culture also has become a successful American experience that passes from the West to the East. Everyone I knew that Disney is a theme park based on the American culture. The reason is, because of its globalization, it has adapted itself to combine the taste of many cultures.

Following on from the success of the DisneyLand theme park in Anaheim, plans to build a European version first started around 1975, nine years after Walt Disney died. Initially Britain, Italy, Spain and France were all considered as possible locations, though Britain and Italy were quickly dropped from the list of potential sites because they both lacked a suitably large expanse of flat land.

5. Tokyo’s overwhelming success encouraged Disney to conquer the European market. They felt that they were able to evoke international appeal of the Disney concept and it would not be a hard task to wet their feet in Europe.

Due to the unwelcome vibe and immense failure that happened to the establishment of Disney in France, in 1992, its executives had to learn the hard way, that in order to be globally recognized, a company branching out to a different country, should know the importance of studying the cultural aspects of the different nations that they plan to do business with. Understanding other countries culture, ethics and language are invaluable in creating a successful business internationally. By taking into consideration the countries’ beliefs, cultural values and traditions, the company would be able to set out its plan to successfully tap into the consumers’ interest and values.

In 1992, Euro Disney was launched in Paris. This project unexpectedly received undesirable feedback from its target market since the company wrongly assumed that it would be easily accepted by the Western European market. Disney received criticisms and negative publicity as they were thought to have brought American imperialism into Europe and the French government acquired farmland just to create the theme park which resulted to protests from the French farmers. Cultural issues also arose as most of its employees did not accept well the management style and the dress code, the customers were not satisfied with the language used in the theme park, with the ban of alcohol consumption, the pricing of tickets and merchandise, etc.

The issues rose when Euro Disney launched in Paris in 1992. Due to cultural issue this Disneyland known as Paris Disneyland from the first day. In Paris Disney accused of ignoring French culture issues regarding language, alcohol consumption and pricing tickets and merchandised damage.

The main problem of the Euro Disney was that all calculations made by Walt Disney Company were based on parks in the USA and Japan considering Europe as a mass of people rather than many countries with different languages and cultures. Americans see theme parks as a destination where you can stay between 4 and 6 days. In Europe, Euro Disney was seen as a part of the experience when traveling to Paris. The cost was also a problem for the park. A night in a hotel inside the park costs as much as a high quality hotel in the French capital. So, given that the park was located 40 minutes by car from Paris, visitors preferred to spend a night in the romantic city of Paris.

So, in order to reach a balance between Disney tradition and European culture, they made a number of changes to retain Disney’s image while adapting their culture.