Until 1992, the Walt Disney Company had experienced nothing but success in the theme park business. Its firstpark, Disneyland, opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955. Its theme song, "It's a Small World After All,"promoted "an idealized vision of America spiced with reassuring glimpses of exotic cultures all calculated topromote heartwarming feelings about living together as one happy family. There were dark tunnels and bumpyrides to scare the children a little but none of the terrors of the real world . . . The Disney characters thateveryone knew from the cartoons and comic books were on hand to shepherd the guests and to direct them to theMickey Mouse watches and Little Mermaid records. The Anaheim park was an instant success.In the 1970s, the triumph was repeated in Florida, and in 1983, Disney proved the Japanese also have an affinityfor Mickey Mouse with the successful opening of Tokyo Disneyland. Having wooed the Japanese, Disneyexecutives in 1986 turned their attention to France and, more specifically, to Paris, the self-proclaimed capital ofEuropean high culture and style. "Why did they pick France?" many asked. When word first got out that Disneywanted to build another international theme park, officials from more than 200 locations all over the worlddescended on Disney with pleas and cash inducements to work the Disney magic in their hometowns. But Pariswas chosen because of demographics and subsidies. About 17 million Europeans live less than a two-hour drivefrom Paris. Another 310 million can fly there in the same time or less. Also, the French government was so eagerto attract Disney that it offered the company more than $1 billion in various incentives, all in the expectation thatthe project would create 30,000 French jobs.From the beginning, cultural gaffes by Disney set the tone for the project. By late 1986, Disney was deep innegotiations with the French government. To the exasperation of the Disney team, headed by Joe Shapiro, thetalks were taking far longer than expected. Jean-Rene Bernard, the chief French negotiator, said he wasastonished when Mr. Shapiro, his patience depleted, ran to the door of the room and, in a very un-Gallic gesture,began kicking it repeatedly, shouting, "Get me something to break!"There was also snipping from Parisian intellectuals who attacked the transplantation of Disney's dream world asan assault on French culture; "a cultural Chernobyl," one prominent intellectual called it. The minister of cultureannounced he would boycott the opening, proclaiming it to be an unwelcome symbol of American clichés and aconsumer society. Unperturbed, Disney pushed ahead with the planned summer 1992 opening of the $5 billionpark. Shortly after Euro-Disneyland opened, French farmers drove their tractors to the entrance and blocked it.This globally televised act of protest was aimed not at Disney but at the US government, which had beendemanding that French agricultural subsidies be cut. Still, it focused world attention upon the loveless marriageof Disney and Paris.Then there were the operational errors. Disney's policy of serving no alcohol in the park, since reversed causedastonishment in a country where a glass of wine for lunch is a given. Disney thought that Monday would be alight day for visitors and Friday a heavy one and allocated staff accordingly, but the reality was the reverse.Another unpleasant surprise was the hotel breakfast debacle. "We were told that Europeans 'don't take breakfast,'so we downsized the restaurants," recalled one Disney executive. "And guess what? Everybody showed up forbreakfast. We were trying to serve 2,500 breakfasts in a 350-seat restaurant at some of the hotels. The lines werehorrendous. Moreover, they didn't want the typical French breakfast of croissants and coffee, which was ourassumption. They wanted bacon and eggs." Lunch turned out to be another problem. "Everybody wanted lunchat 12:30. The crowds were huge. Our smiling cast members had to calm down surly patrons and engage in some'behavior modification' to teach them that they could eat lunch at 11:00 AM or 2:00 PM."There were major staffing problems too. Disney tried to use the same teamwork model with its staff that hadworked so well in America and Japan, but it ran into trouble in France. In the first nine weeks of Euro-Disneyland'soperation, roughly 1,000 employees, 10 percent of the total, left. One former employee was a 22-yearoldmedical student from a nearby town who signed up for a weekend job. After two days of "brainwashing," ashe called Disney's training, he left following a dispute with his supervisor over the timing of his lunch hour.Another former employee noted, "I don't think that they realize what Europeans are like. . . that we ask questionsand don't think all the same way."One of the biggest problems, however, was that Europeans didn't stay at the park as long as Disney expected.While Disney succeeded in getting close to 9 million visitors a year through the park gates, in line with its plans,most stayed only a day or two. Few stayed the four to five days that Disney had hoped for. It seems that mostEuropeans regard theme parks as places for day excursions. A theme park is just not seen as a destination for an
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..
