Euro Disney Case Study

The target market for Euro Disney was the people in Europe, France in particular. In June of 1992, Disney said that their attendance was more than 1.5 million, which was lower than what they wanted. Because of this, their shares dropped around 5%. By late July of the same year, a financial analysis of Euro Disney showed that revenue was around $489 million for operations. There were implications from this because Disney as a whole would have a loss even though they wanted the park to have a "high level of operations" (Euro Disney). But the Disney managers hoped that things would turn around for Euro Disney because of who Disney was. Disney as a whole was optimistic that Euro Disney would be a winner in the public eye. One of the reasons for this was "access to the site exceeded that of the United States by 150 million in roughly half of the landmass" (Euro Disney). In addition to this, the company believed people would go to Euro Disney because France was a "popular vacation destination" (Euro Disney) even though the weather was a problem for the country.

Disney would ensure that its service delivery system would have the kind of service that people had become used to including "standards of service, park design, operating details, and human resource policies and practices" (Euro Disney). Disney wanted and hoped to make sure that they "exceed customers' expectations" (Euro Disney). Disney had what they called 'play,' which were the "attitudes and competence of the thousands of Disney park employees which accounted for the experience of visitors" (Euro Disney). Basically, Disney believed that how their employees' acted to the customers would be how the customers would see them. Euro Disney was modeled after the same level of service. Disney also made sure that they were strict with details with Euro Disney. An example of this was that "in anticipation of guests from different parts of the country, they maintained a small instructional garden outside of its employee cafeteria in the Florida park" (Euro Disney). This was an example of Disney's hopes that consumers would like Euro Disney.

These were all parts that Disney implemented in its service delivery system. What they could have done differently was to be a little less strict about having everything in Euro Disney. While the details were important, it was also important to make sure that they had many things that would benefit any culture that came to Euro Disney. Other Disney parks even though they are based in America, do have other cultures in them.

Some aspects of the traditional Disney theme park (imagined and orchestrated by the late Walt Disney) formula did prove to be beneficial to Euro Disney. The case study discusses Tokyo Disneyland and how when it opened "attendance exceeded 16 million" (Euro Disney) and that "Disney designed the park and licensed the use of its characters" (Euro Disney). Why Tokyo Disneyland worked so well was because "it appeared to benefit from a strong Japanese appetite for American styled popular entertainment and an increasing trend in Japan towards leisure" (Euro Disney). So in creating Euro Disney, Disney did try to make sure that the languages associated with Euro Disney were first French. While they made sure that certain aspects of the park were usual Disney, the case study states that "one of the most noted flaps was their decision not to service wine at the park, which many felt was departure from French tradition and lunch habits" (Euro Disney). But Euro Disney did try to have food from every place in the world which was "in contrast to the strictly American flavor of Tokyo Disneyland" (Euro Disney). Disney did try to do the things necessary to make Euro Disney as Disney as possible but they failed to understand that the European culture was different than that of the Japanese culture in that French had many standards that they wanted Disney to relax that Disney did not want to.

Ultimately, Euro Disney proved to be something that Disney did not expect it to be in that it was not as popular, or well known. While the Disney culture and ‘play’ worked at parks in the United States and in Japan, the French had different expectations for the theme park in design and operations.

Work Cited

"Euro Disney: The First 100 Days." Harvard Business School Case Study (1993): Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <http://hbr.org/product/euro-disney-the-first-100-days/an/693013-PDF