Euro Disney: from Dream to Nightmare (1987-1994)

For years, the Disney Theme Park imperium was built upon three crown jewels located in California, Florida, and Japan. Combining the familiar, family-friendly characters and images upon which the Disney disposition was built. With clean and well-operated theme parks helped Disney set new stocks for efficient, friendly client expediency in the theme park industry. Its parks became major internationalist tourist attractions. However, when Euro Disney opened in Paris in 1992, the standard mystify of Disney theme parks ran into trouble.Tackling the many problems set about by Euro Disney operations has represent many new challenges to Disney, forcing them to reconsider their standard model for success. Disney must baring ways to adapt their theme park model in a manner which preserves the best of Disney. 9. 1 The challenges facing Euro Disney Early hopes for a similar success soured soon after Euro Disney opened, and the experience of open Euro Disney delivered unexpected surpri ses to Disney management. The park soon encountered several major problems AttendanceDisneys consulting family has projected first year park attendance to range mingled with 11. 7 and 17. 8 trillion attendees. To be cautious, Disney used the littlest figures and predicted eleven million attendees. While initial hotel bookings at the theme park during the summer looked promising, as the theme park entered its first winter, bookings dropped to twenty percent or slight of monthly projects. Staffing Staffing paucitys created a negative cycle in which extra workloads on employees resulted in increased turnover, which in turn hurt Disneys energy to retain and develop its employees.Poor union relations caused by reactions to Disneys unappeasable requirements for dress and appearance, such as a ban on nervus facialis hair and colored stockings, as well as to Disneys superior standards of customer value, further hurt their ability to attract employees. Customer help Euro Disney wa s failing to deliver the high level of customer service standard to Disney theme parks, as well as failing to provide the service needs that were unique to the European market.Many employees failed to conform to the high standards of customer service that were expected in Disney theme parks. Lack of local management and self-sufficiency Walt Disney Company owned a 49% share in Euro Disney. This resulted in management by remote control, in which closes were often made by people who were far removed from the day-to-day operations of the park, and who did not ca-ca a smashed judgement of the culture and the market. 9. 2 Recommendations Upon reviewing the key problems faced by Euro Disney, there are several issues which require attention.These include alter customer service Accommodations and services should be made to better chink the needs and desires of the multi-lingual and multi-cultural European customer base. Greater efforts should be made to send and retain employees tha t are compatible with the corporate values of Disney with regards to customer service. decentralise management Disney should hire local consultants to provide insight of local political ordinances, as well as customs that the business should follow.Decision making should be more decentralized, away from the U. S. parent company. Procedures should be made specifically for France. communication theory with its employees and the overall morale among employees have to be improved. Options to overcome the housing shortage should be explored to allow workers to live closer to the theme park. In addition, Disney should subscribe to a great effort to increase the diversity of its workforce, to provide a better level of service for visitors from outside of France.Better culture adaptation and understanding of the European market Disney must better understand and meet the diverse habits, expectations, and needs of the European theme park visitors. In addition, a greater role should be g iven to European investors in planning and decision making, to provide more of a European perspective in managing the operations of the theme park. Maintain operational flexibility As the organization is tranquillise dealing with a large range of unknowns, flexible problem-solving attitudes should be promote to help allow Disney to learn and adapt to its new environment.Disney has achieved a strong market position in other locations, and there is no priming to believe the organization cannot achieve a similar success in Europe, provided it is willing to make the same long-term commitment. Develop more pragmatic planning Plans for a second phase should not have been allowed to encourage until such time that the problems facing the first phase were corrected, giving them a more secure base of knowledge upon which plans and decisions could be made. Otherwise, the company risks duplicating and intensify the problems encountered with its first phase.