Disney Theme Parks

The case “Euro Disney: First 100 days” talks about the issues faced by the Walt Disney Company when expanding to international borders. The case begins with the history of Disneyland and then describes the reasons behind its success and expansion to various states across the country. It then describes the success of Tokyo Disneyland, first Disney theme park outside America and the factors affecting it.

Do you know what Disney world is, wait of course you do well I am going to tell you all about my favorite place. Keep reading because it is going to get way better. When I am done you are going to want to go there.

"Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow." was said by a very wise man, the former President of India A. P. G. Abdul Kalam. In this quote he does not only mean children but he means the people close to us in general, we must learn to sacrifice for others so that we're not the only ones becoming better but the people around us are too. Furthermore, when I was in sixth grade I was initially going to go on a two-day music trip to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania, and I was very excited to finally head out into the world by myself without my parents holding my hand. Not only that, but this was something I had been preparing for months to perform the first time in front of a judge and be graded

The Walt Disney Company has seen their share of success in taking their parks and resorts into global markets. “60 years ago, the first Disney theme park opened, in California and was the brainchild of Walt Disney himself, who was motivated by the lack of entertainment options available to him and his two young daughters.” (Forbes, 2016). Disneyland California penetrated the market rapidly, and its popularity led to the opening of Disney World in Florida, followed by global expansion in Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. Their latest expansion came in June 2016, on a 963 acres’ site in Shanghai, China (Xu, 2012). After one year in operation, Shanghai Disneyland is outpacing their most optimistic projections, and the park’s

Disney believed in magic. Disney is a common household name. In fact, some toddlers can recite the name of their favorite characters from their favorite Disney movie. It is not uncommon to see adults watching a Disney movie, and I would venture out and say most Americans have been to Disney Land or Disney World once in their life. Needless to say, Disney is part of the American culture. However, translating the success that Disney has had in the United States to another country can present a lot of challenges. As we will see, in this case, Disney did not do their homework when it came to planning this project in Europe. Some of the challenges that the company had were their makings such as hubris management and a lack in understanding their customer’s cultural differences

Spencer, 2009, summarized the early failure of Euro Disney to four trends: European real disposable income per capita, vacation patterns and habits, oil prices, and cultural hostility. As pointed out by our text, new attractions, lower prices, a name change to Disneyland Paris, and a massive marketing campaign has turned the problems around. (Ferrell, Hirt, & Ferrell, 2009)

Walking among thousands of smiling children and nostalgic parents through the Main Streets of the U.S.A. at Disney World parks may sound like an American Dream, but upon closer examination, the economics of Disney World may leave someone’s stomach more unsettled than the park goers who have eaten four Mickey bars and a jumbo turkey leg. Disney can be easily compared to the roots of a tree, as its company is continuously growing into every area it can absorb from—in this case, absorbing money. Disney has an industry in the entertainment business, the tourism business, the amusement park industry, and so much more. A company with accessibility in as many markets as Disney possesses is on its way to gaining a large amount of market power. This could be a red flag as it is not unlikely that market power can go hand in hand with monopolization, so should we be scared of the progression of Disney as a company?

Disney World theme parks have a number of opportunities and threats that they face. Starting with the list of opportunities, the Disney brand name is recognized worldwide. Its popularity and reputation for being a pioneer in its industry can be used to their advantage for expansion (MBASkool, 2017). Disney also has extensive operating experience (MBASkool, 2017). In addition, the predicted rise in tourism should correlate with more visitors from abroad (MBASkool, 2017).

As we know, Disneyland is very success in U.S. when the first Disneyland built in Anaheim, California on 17 July, 1995. After some debate about the site for a European theme park, Michael Eisner and Jacques Chirac signed a contract for the building of s Disney theme park at Marne-la-Vallee, a region of sunflower and sugar-beet farmland and small villages located twenty miles east of Paris (Janis, F., 1998, P.247). However, the European Disneyland was not as such success as they expected. This essay going to regards the main issues in opening the Euro Disneyland and compare the French cultural with American cultural by using Hofstede’s cultural Dimensions and Trompenaars ‘s cultural dimensions. This essay will then end by

Many theme parks in the United States are popular attractions. Some parks like Disney World, Six Flags or Holiday World. My favorite that I’ve been to so far is Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Universal is a theme park all about movies and everything is themed about movies. Rides are named after a marvel character or a movie like Minions. All their merchandise is themed depending on which park you are in. Before I left the park, I bought a Gryffindor mug. Parks like the Harry Potter themed one and the Dr. Seuss park go full blown with having every inch being covered in that particular design. The parks may not have rides like Six Flags or Disney World, but it has many different attractions that do make it worth the time and money.

World Disney has an unending lines at their site seeing’s. The company uses the line analysis simulation to manage the lines.

“Planning in a global economy requires businesspeople to understand the economic, legal, political, and sociocultural realities of the country in which they will operate” (Ferrell, O., Hirt, & Ferrell, L., 2009, p. 106). There is an inherent need to focus and develop an international strategy prior to a leap for “leaping” sake. Simply assuming a business will do well elsewhere because of the level of success in its home court, is not enough for true globalization efforts. The company learned it could not impose the American way of operations and facilities on another culture (Ferrell, O., Hirt, & Ferrell, L., 2009). Despite, those loyal fans that traveled to America to visit the parks, an understanding of the culture is imperative for success, as it illustrates a respect for their way of living. There is no brand that can cross barriers without modifications to fit the culture of which it will exist, not even the famous Mickey

Walt Disney is a well known brand that spans across international markets. Disney saw the potential in Asian markets and sought out the opportunity. The movie The Lion King came out in 1996 and assisted Disney in its ventures to the new Asian market. The success of the movie took well in the Asian market and still upholds the reputation today. In the 1990’s over 2,000 theme parks opened in China. Many of these theme parks resulted in failure due to the high competition, poor projections and high costs. Taking about 10 years, Disney opened in Hong Kong in September 2005. Ticket sales were exceeding expectation actually becoming a problem during Chinese holidays, causing Disney to turn away customers. The location was drawing customers from China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. Disney’s solution to the capacity and cultural variety was to expand their theme park, but the government held limitations and did not support the expansion. In response to this, Disney planned another theme park just 3 hours north of Hong Kong in Shanghai. Disney believed the new location would bring in a new customer base and help Disney’s profits. One of the main contributors to the success of the Shanghai project was the time it entered the market. Disney Shanghai began construction during the economic crisis of 2009 which created 50,000 new jobs for the Chinese economy.

While Tokyo Disneyland is considered a great success, the Walt Disney Company’s next international theme park venture, Euro Disney, is quite the opposite. In the 1980’s with the great success of Tokyo Disneyland, TWDC entertained the idea of building another international theme park. The Walt Disney Company knew they wanted to build a park in Europe but needed to find a place where they could build their own reality free from the sights and sounds of the real world. The Walt Disney Company chose Marne-la-Vallee in France over 200 other sites in Europe because of the “willingness of the French government to offer cheap and plentiful land, cheap loans, road and rail links to the park, tax breaks, and

International expansion and highly diversified strategy Disney consists of Disney theme parks not just in America, but Asia and Europe too. Disney wants growth internationally and it is. Disney has built a lot of different things in different industries but has been able to connect them all together. The Walt Disney Company has diversified into hotels and resorts, theme parks, cruise ships, television networks, animated motion picture, consumer products, and more.