DISNEY SPECIAL: The offspring
By Sara Bakhshian
Monday, May 2 2005
Monday, May 2 2005
Published on AllBusiness.com
Fueled by Walt Disney's goal of developing innovative destinations for kids of all ages, the company that bears his name has spent much of the past half-century duplicating his original Disneyland model in markets across the globe.
In the 50 years since the original Disneyland opened its gates, the Mickey Mouse empire has erected parks in Orlando, Tokyo and Paris — and Hong Kong Disneyland is set to open in September.
The first expansion came in 1971 to tap into the tourism market of sunny Orlando.
"Florida was an explosion like nothing I've seen anywhere since," says Harrison "Buzz" Price, who did the original feasibility study for the Anaheim park.
Now the Magic Kingdom reigns as the most popular amusement park in the world, with more than 15 million visitors in 2004 alone. The entire Walt Disney World complex, with four theme parks and two waterparks, drew more than 44 million people last year, according to AB/Economics Research Associates data.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts' strategy for international expansion is simple — it starts by bringing the original Disneyland model to a new territory, and then, if feasible, adding a specialty theme park.
The 22-year-old Tokyo Disneyland, whose visitation is 95% domestic, is the highest-attended park in the Asia/Pacific region, drawing 13.2 visitors in 2004. The 4-year-old Tokyo DisneySea attracted 12.2 million.
While these international parks stay true to the original fairy tales and visuals, cultural adaptations are made for diverse markets.
For example, the parks in Tokyo observe o-miyage — the Japanese gift-giving tradition — by offering customers easily identifiable souvenirs that are available in bulk.
"Rather than an American who would buy one T-shirt and a couple of hats, (Japanese visitors) buy 20 boxes of Mickey Mouse-shaped candy and they'd buy 20 T-shirts," Economics Research Associates senior vp John Robinett says.
The 13-year-old Disneyland Paris, the highest-attended European park with 10.2 million visitors in 2004, offers restaurants that serve beer and wine.
The parks use core languages such as French, Spanish and English, and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts senior vp international business development Nick Franklin notes that cast members are trained to speak everything from Dutch to Russian to Arabic.
As for Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney has joined with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's government to help with daily operations.
To make the market more familiar with Disney products before the park's opening, the company used
In the 50 years since the original Disneyland opened its gates, the Mickey Mouse empire has erected parks in Orlando, Tokyo and Paris — and Hong Kong Disneyland is set to open in September.
The first expansion came in 1971 to tap into the tourism market of sunny Orlando.
"Florida was an explosion like nothing I've seen anywhere since," says Harrison "Buzz" Price, who did the original feasibility study for the Anaheim park.
Now the Magic Kingdom reigns as the most popular amusement park in the world, with more than 15 million visitors in 2004 alone. The entire Walt Disney World complex, with four theme parks and two waterparks, drew more than 44 million people last year, according to AB/Economics Research Associates data.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts' strategy for international expansion is simple — it starts by bringing the original Disneyland model to a new territory, and then, if feasible, adding a specialty theme park.
The 22-year-old Tokyo Disneyland, whose visitation is 95% domestic, is the highest-attended park in the Asia/Pacific region, drawing 13.2 visitors in 2004. The 4-year-old Tokyo DisneySea attracted 12.2 million.
While these international parks stay true to the original fairy tales and visuals, cultural adaptations are made for diverse markets.
For example, the parks in Tokyo observe o-miyage — the Japanese gift-giving tradition — by offering customers easily identifiable souvenirs that are available in bulk.
"Rather than an American who would buy one T-shirt and a couple of hats, (Japanese visitors) buy 20 boxes of Mickey Mouse-shaped candy and they'd buy 20 T-shirts," Economics Research Associates senior vp John Robinett says.
The 13-year-old Disneyland Paris, the highest-attended European park with 10.2 million visitors in 2004, offers restaurants that serve beer and wine.
The parks use core languages such as French, Spanish and English, and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts senior vp international business development Nick Franklin notes that cast members are trained to speak everything from Dutch to Russian to Arabic.
As for Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney has joined with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's government to help with daily operations.
To make the market more familiar with Disney products before the park's opening, the company used