The Internationalization Of Disney: Failure And Recovery

Table of Contents

DISNEYLAND IN THE UNITED STATES 3
CONTEXT: DISNEYLAND AND ITS GLOBAL EXPANSION 4
EURODISNEY: THE INITIAL PROJECT 5
OPENING 7
WHAT WENT WRONG? 7
HOLIDAY HABITS 7
LESS ADVANCED CULTURE OF AMUSEMENT PARKS 9
EATING HABITS 9
THE 1995 CHANGES 12
THE EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION OF DISNEYLAND PARIS 13
ADVERTISING 13
LESSONS LEARNED 17
BIBLIOGRAPHY 18


DISNEYLAND IN THEUNITED STATES

“Here age relives fond memories of the past...and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts which have created America...with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world”
- Walt Disney July 17th 1955 (Opening Day Speech)

When Disneyland opened in 1955, WaltDisney Productions was already a successful studio producing short movies and TV shows. The park was born out of the creative mind of Walt Disney when he realized there was no place that children and adults could go have fun together. Disneyland was Walt’s promise of the “Happiest Place on Earth”.
Location was a critical factor in that it needed to be in an area that was central for SouthernCalifornia, be a large unused lot with plenty of space of future development, but cheap enough for the company to afford. Walt settled on the suburbs of Orange County which was close to a freeway, and just a 30 minute drive from central Los Angeles. The design of the park was meticulously managed by Disney himself. Nothing similar to this had done before and there was no basis for developmentother than ideas created by the team. There were not industry studies, or research conducted on what the market wanted, but rather Disney just went by instinct on what the American public wanted. The construction of the project was expensive and Disney had difficulties in convincing banks that he would be successful so he turned to the public to garner support. The TV special “Walt Disney’sDisneyland” aired to give viewers a first time look at what wonders the park would hold.
When opening day finally came in 1955, the operation was a disaster. Just 11,000 tickets had been issued through invites, but because of counterfeit tickets, 28,000 people showed up. A plumber’s strike meant a lack of water fountains in a 10-day heat wave. Guest’s accused the park of tricking them intopaying for beverages. Asphalt that had been poured the day before trapped high heeled shoes. Disneyland quickly took action to fix the problems and soon after the park became a success. 10 years after the opening, Disneyland had attracted over 50 million guests.
Disneyland was successful largely because it was able to create for its visitors a fantasy away from the world. Beyond the rides,and the tangible, Disneyland was able to achieve this by providing customers with unparalleled level of service. Employees are never allowed to say “I don’t know”, and must always find out the answer to a question. Visitors are known as Guests, and employees are known as Cast Members, since they are both acting parts of a full show experience. Disney holds dear to six cultural values:innovation, quality, community, storytelling, optimism and decency. They try to hire people who possess these qualities naturally so they will exhibit them easily while in front of a guest.
Beyond appeal of the park, Disneyland also gave Walt Disney Productions a platform to further develop and promote their movies and shows.
CONTEXT: DISNEYLAND AND ITS GLOBAL EXPANSION

Since Disneyland was sucha great success, The Walt Disney Company opened Disney World in Orlando, Florida in 1971. Just 12 years later in 1983 they went global and opened their first theme park outside of the US in Tokyo. Then it successively opened two Disney parks in Paris in 1992 and in Hong Kong in 2005. Nowadays, there are in total five different Disney Resorts around the world: the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim,...