Disney theme parks are enormously successful successful in the United States. Families flock there at all times of the year. Disneys best customers customers are repeat customers.[1] customers.[1] When Tokyo Disneyland opened opened in 1983, it was more popular than Disney ever imagined.[2] imagined.[2] With one foot in to the international area, Disney decided to conquer Europe. They scouted out possible locations and decided on an area outside of Paris, France. The deciding factors factors that led to France were available space, convenient convenient location in Europe, and possibly most encouraging support from the French government.[3] Disney was optimistic about the success of Euro Disney and they spent lavish amounts constructing constructing the park. The location was prime with 310 million Europeans Europeans just a 2 hour flight away; Disney expected to make over $100 $100 million in their first year.[4] Almost $3 billion was spent on the park and surrounding hotels. The castle was built with extra attention attention to fit with its European background (where actual castles can be found). With all this hype who would expect the enormous losses Euro Disney suffered in its first year? The park lost over $900 million, not even close to the expected $100 $100 million profit. Were there signs that Disney missed? Looking back on the sentiment of the French during the construction construction of the park, Disney should have been more careful. A criticism from Ariane Mnouchkine, Mnouchkine, a Paris theater director, director, described Euro Disney as a cultural Chernobyl.[5] Disney also did not account account for European vacation habits. Most Europeans are not willing to take take their children out of school for a trip to Disney. Instead families take month long vacations vacations in the summer. Factories and business even shut down down to allow employees to take these vacations.[6] Families did visit Euro Euro Disney, but only as a pit stop on the way to their final vacation spot. spot. And probably most detrimental detrimental is that families spent less time in at the park than predicted. While American families spend 3-4 days at the parks, the the average stay at Euro Disney was only 1-2 days.[7] A slumping economy also kept guests from visiting the park in the first place. After a bailout of Euro Disney parent parent company, Disney. The new park started started to make some adjustments adjustments to attract the European audience. The park name went through some changes and ultimately became became Disneyland Paris. Paris. Park prices were were lowered and hotel hotel prices were cut by 30%.[8] 30%.[8] A new marketing plan targeted individual countries countries in advertisements. In 2001, Walt Disney Studios Theme Park was added to Disneyland Paris. This new addition was designed with the French French audience in mind, and could accommodate conventions which were always more profitable than expected. With the new additions and refocused marketing plan Disneyland Paris started turning a profit and now attracts more guests than the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre combined.[9] After years of trial and error in Europe, Europe, was Disney ready to start another another park? Plans for Hong Kong Disneyland began in the early 2000s. This time around park designers took special care to accommodate accommodate Chinese guests. A feng shui master was consulted consulted during construction construction.. Disney was more successful in Hong Kong but they did make some big cultural mistakes, similar to Euro Disney. Original commercials advertising advertising the park feature a family with 2 kids.[10] Really Disney? It didnt come up in research that Chinese are only allowed one child? Lack of Research
Euro Disney was a huge investment for the Disney Corporation. So when the park was unsuccessful it became an even bigger failure. The park lost money in the first couple of year, and interest on their debt was only growing. How could Disney have missed the mark this badly? Could this have been prevented? In examining the major downfalls of the park, it seems that Euro Disney could have benefited from better research. Tokyo Disneyland found enormous success in Japan. The park in Tokyo has very little differences from the American Magic Kingdoms. Tokyos success with like change from the American parks might have led Disney executives to the misguided belief that cultural differences would not affect the success of Euro Disney. But Tokyo and Paris have some pretty critical differences. Tokyo not only has a higher concentrated population surrounding the park but the average income is higher.[11] Probably the biggest difference is that Japan, as a country, tends to embrace American culture much more readily than the French. The cold winters on Paris were identified as a potential problem but when asked in a meeting if Europeans would be willing to stand in the cold a Disney executive simply stated, The Japanese do.[12] Japanese and Paris winters vary greatly. Paris has 3 times as many rainy days. And the average highs during winter are 5 degrees warmer in Tokyo than in Paris.[13] When opening a vacation destination it seems obvious to understand the vacation habits of the target audience. This is by far the biggest oversight of Euro Disney. A simple survey could have clued Disney executives in and possibly have changed their minds about ever entering Europe. Europeans take month long summer vacations every year. This is drastically different than American habits. In Europe, factories and businesses shut down for the whole month to allow for family vacations. Unlike Americans, European parents are not willing to take their children away from school for a mid-year trip to Disneyland. [14] Disney executives also did not have a grasp of how Europeans spent their money. Because European vacations are longer, they tend to spend their money more modestly. Guests are not as thrilled about superfluous spending on souvenirs, and extravagant meals at the parks. The prices at Euro Disney were set higher than the American parks. The European economy slump that paralleled the parks opening could not have been as easily predicted as other factors. But between the economy lull, airfare wars, and lower prices in the states, it was actually cheaper to make a trip to Walt Disney World than to visit Euro Disney.[15] An added bonus of Walt Disney World is the warm Florida weather and easily accessible beaches. A combination of bad weather, schools being in session and preference for long summer vacation, Euro Disney suffered very low attendance during the winter months. Disney had predicted much higher attendance than the park ever saw but where were these predictions coming from? It seems logical that a society that enjoys long summer vacations, and values education were never planning on changing their lifestyle just because Disney appeared. French Aversion to American Culture
French culture is rich and the French people take a lot of pride in. Paris is host to the Louvre, one of the largest museums in the world. As Spencer puts it, The French, in general, harbor a modicum of hostility toward American culture.[16] The French press waged its war against Disney in time leading up to the parks opening. Michael Serres, a French scholar, was explicit about the damage he thought Disney would cause to French culture. One essay by Serres If were not careful, we will soon lose our philosophical language and even our language for raising our children.[17] Serres was not alone in this point of view. Marc Lambron, a French commentator, compared Disney to Marxism and feared that Disney movies and characters would replace classic French literature. An image of Mona Lisa with Mickey Mouse ears might amuse American but disgracing this revered painting offends the French.[18] Disney is the epitome of mass consumerism, which the French finds as a detriment to their civilization. Disney entered France with and purpose and their attitude only succeeded in push the French people farther away. The people of Marne-la-Vallee (the location of Euro Disney) were never consulted about park developments. Not only were they not involved in negotiations; they were not even kept informed. Local officials took it upon themselves to form an association to get some answers.[19] Environment concerns were raised about Disney constructing a huge park in Marne-la-Vallee. Local ecologist worried about the threat of irreparable damage to the region.[20] And farmers staged protests about the environment impact.[21] Disney did not address any of these concerns and continued with construction, further alienating the French people. The Next Frontier Disney is always expanding and they are going to be looking to open more parks throughout the world. So where to next? How about a new continent? The next Disneyland should be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in South America. Brazils economy is the largest in South America and has been steadily improving since 2003. Brazil was one of the first economies to recover from the 2008 recession.[22] Brazils economy will only continue to grow in the coming years. In 2014, Brazil is hosting the FIFA world cup, which put Brazil at the center of the global stage.[23] Then in 2016, Brazil is will once again play host but this time for the Olympics.[24] Both these international events will put Brazil in the spotlight and increase tourism. Disney will not run into the weather issues that plagued Disneyland Paris. Brazil has warm weather and beaches for guests to enjoy all year long. Another potential problem is the high poverty level in Brazil and bordering South American countries. The new park would help create jobs to alleviate high unemployment rates, hopefully helping to boost the economy even further. A Rio de Janeiro Disneyland could be a very risky option considering poverty rates in South American. But with Brazils growing economy it might just be the perfect time for Disney to invest.
