The first theme park, Disneyland, was built in 1955 in Los Angeles, USA. The fancy world of cartoons absorbed hundreds of millions of customers every year. Following American’s and Japans great

The first theme park, Disneyland, was built in 1955 in Los Angeles, USA. The fancy world of cartoons absorbed hundreds of millions of customers every year. Following American’s and Japans great success, Disneyland Paris was opened in 1992 in France and has become the most popular and most visited theme park in Europe. This tourist attraction in France provides an excellent opportunity for families to have fun during the trip. The main focus of Disneyland, of course, the children, but their parents as well feel comfortable in this huge territory. In 2010, Disneyland Paris has overtaken the Eiffel Tower in attendance as the most popular tourist attractions of the French capital. But Euro Disney experienced the huge wave of criticism and ridicule, especially in France, where the construction of a theme park following the American style was considered as a manifestation of “cultural imperialism”. French media believed that this park would infringe on French culture and even called it "cultural Chernobyl." This led to a decrease in the number of visitors by 0.3% per year between 1999 and 2005. However, there are still so many reasons for being the best entertainment park in Europe. So what exactly helps Disneyland Paris keep such a high-class standard of working?

SWOT Analysis:

Strength:

ü It is the most visited theme park in France and in whole Europe; Over 15 million visitors per year.

ü Promotion as a lower-priced „After 5‟ evening entrance ticket, special room rates for the off-season in hotels and etc.

ü Diversification (theme park, studio, hotels, golf clubs, etc.)

ü Top-of-the-mind tourist destination in Europe with excellent brand presence due to association with Walt Disney; the company which has an unparalleled brand presence and awareness in the entire world.

ü Disneyland Paris provides excellent HRM and accordingly, a high-quality service.

ü Disney characters are the most recognizable cartoon characters all over the world and are an excellent source of revenue for the company as well.

ü The work the park is coordinated and operated directly by the Walt Disney Company.

Weakness:

ü For some consumers, a trip to Disneyland and the ticket can be very expensive.

ü Incidents and accidents affect a bad reputation and the outflow of visitors.

ü Some attractions depending on the season.

ü High maintenance cost for running this park.

Opportunities:

ü The positive influence of the brand Disneyland affects the attendance of the park. For example, as soon as there is a new cartoon in cinemas, these characters or thematic area associated with it appears in the park.

ü In Asia and the United States far more parks compared to France and Europe as a whole, this means that Disneyland Paris has little competition and more opportunities for the introduction of something new and innovative.

ü Very convenient location and proximity to the largest cities in France makes Disneyland Paris easily accessible for customers.

ü Perspective strategy of advertising, which includes a unique selling point, based on the originality of the brand Disneyland.

ü The globalization of tourism and especially attraction of a stream of tourists in Europe provides an increase in potential customers.

Threats:

ü Tourists outside Europe choose the closest to them American or Asian Disneyland’s instead of Disneyland Paris.

ü Such entertainment is usually once in a lifetime, and if Disneyland Paris do not want to lose the old customers, they need to constantly upgrade, add new attractions, making themed seasons and etc.

ü Due to the diligent implementation of French culture, the park has lost some of the original American charm and original atmosphere. So perhaps for someone park may not seem as such as an expectation.

ü Remaining a leader in the field of entertainment, there is still the risk of losing customers due to the opening of new parks and possibly because of the lower cost of tickets in them.

(Disneylandparis.co.uk, 2015); (Zhu; Xu, 2010); (Mbaskool.com, 2015).

Disneyland is a modern centre of family entertainment. It is the most popular tourist destination in France which attracts every year twice as many visitors than the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre. But what are the reasons for such a great success?

According to the Walt Disney plan, this magical world created not only for children but also for their parents, for family holidays and joint stay in the fairy kingdom of cartoons. The idea of creating a children's amusement park has arisen at Disney when he was walking with his daughters in the park. While the children ride on the carousel, the father sat patiently on a bench and waited for daughters. During these trips, he came to the conclusion that America really misses the place where it would be interesting to spend time for both, adults and children. That is why nowadays Disneyland Paris covers a huge area of 200 hectares. It includes two theme parks, a hotel complex of six hotels, evening relaxation zone with discos, nightclubs and restaurants, Disney Village ("Village", where there are shops, cafes, restaurants, places of entertainment), camping, ice skating rink, lake, two conference halls, a golf course and several swimming pools. Nearby is a huge shopping complex with about 180 shops and a giant saltwater aquarium. All this variety of entertainment and leisure activities attracts tourists to remain in the Disneyland more than a few days because it is not possible to see even one park within one day. For those travelling families who have two or three days left, there is a terrific opportunity to "stay" in a fairy tale for these days. There is a special system of tickets for this event. For example, "1 day / 1 Park" gives the right to visit only one park. Also there is a "1 day / 2 park" and "2, 3, 4 or 5 days / 2 park." Such proposals are quite beneficial if planning a trip in advance not to re-buy a ticket for the next day again (Disneylandparis.co.uk, 2015). It is not a secret that a large number of discounts and promotions are so attractive for visitors. Especially when European economies are in the way of recovery after the recent crisis. It has led to the fact that a huge number of visitors to Disneyland preferred a vacation in the country than other forms of tourism. This undoubtedly affected the attendance of the park and has attracted a huge amount of customers from all over France and neighbouring European countries (SPANIER, 2014).

The most powerful and constant factor in the success of Disneyland is customer service and HRM. Disneyland Paris operates in a service sector; work in a consumer market and intended for the final consumer. As we know, the main aim of marketing is to produce goods and services that consumers need. That is why to find out what the guests think about Disneyland Paris many surveys are taken every day. Visitors can be asked twice during the day: entry surveys are taken when people first get to the Parks to find out what people are expecting and longer satisfaction surveys are taken at the Parks and Disney Hotels after the attending the park. Moreover, Email surveys are sent to guests when they get back home in order to find out visitors opinion over the time. All this helps to hear suggestions from customers, organize all conditions in the future and correct all the errors and omissions. This also helps everyone maintain customer satisfaction and identify any problem areas. Besides the fact that Disneyland Paris creates a huge number of jobs and provides seasonal jobs for students, is carried out a corporate job and a great coaching staff. The most important component of management at Disneyland Paris is teamwork. Personnel welcome new Cast Members (new Disney employees) and make them feel as at home at Disneyland Paris. All Disney employees are called Cast Members because they are all performers and part of the Disney’s ‘show’. What is more important, all Disney Cast Members have to attend a training programme called Disney Traditions. The basis of this program is acquaintance with the management and identifying the principal expectations of guests. Staff must have knowledge of the park or the person to whom guests need to contact in a case of emergency. Unfortunately, attractions are posing a risk of increased danger. There were even numbers of cases of severe injuries (Samuel, 2013). To avoid trouble, Disney Cast Members constantly monitor the work process of attractions. They are also highly trained in teamwork, communication skills, has knowledge how to behave in an emergency situation and usually improve their skills. Of course for a different type of work requires special skills, for example, Cast Members working in the boutiques need to learn all about using the tills, displays re-ordering, labelling and etc. In addition, it is preferable that Cast Members speak both English and French languages– but there are many Cast Members that speak French and another European language or English and another European language. But the priority quality is an ability to get along with visitors and dealing with people. The result of the visitor’s surveys in 2008 is showing the degree of satisfaction of visitors: Completely or very satisfied: 70%, satisfied: 25%, somewhat dissatisfied or dissatisfied: 5%. This survey is a wonderful indication that Disneyland Paris is carried out an excellent work, creates good conditions for recreation and relaxation and once again proves that visitor satisfaction is the best indicator of the success of the park (Business Basics Workbook, 2010).

Disneyland Paris is designed for audiences of all ages, but still the families with young children are the highest priority. For parents, it is a possibility to give their child a day in a fairytale. Such opportunity brings thousands of families in this country of cartoon and Disney characters every day. Thus, other important factors that have made this company a success are the marketing and brand awareness. Disney cartoons are well-known all over the world. Moreover, some generations have grown up on these cartoons, learning goodness friendship and mutual understanding from the Disney princesses, hated villains and enjoyed happy endings. As from a marketing standpoint, cartoons are an incredible advertisement for the park, and this is just one of the forms of Disneyland’s promotion. Special deals, seasonal discounts such as a free night stay or free accommodation for children up to seven years, and various other offers, all this attracts customers and is an essential part of Disneyland marketing mix. One more element of the marketing mix is a great location. As it was mentioned before, Euro Disneyland is easily accessible for customers. Unfortunately, another element- the price is quite high, especially when it comes to the whole family with food and accommodation, but if there is a demand, so long as it's not so critical. However, the uniqueness of products and services makes this place truly special. The unique selling point is something what differentiate the product or service from its competitors. So as for this amusement park, brand Disneyland is the most well-known cartoon brand, which can be used only by Disneyland Paris Park and official stores and retailers. Stores around the world and of course stores in the park and in Disney Village are selling attributes and souvenirs of very good quality, which good in appearance and recognizable as a Disney product.

As for service, an experience of visiting the park is most likely to be once in a lifetime, yet rides, merchandise and the park can be attributed to durable consumer goods. But the discovery of new attractions, the addition of characters, seasonal performances and all sorts of innovations can make visitors come back to the park again and again. For instance, theme park hopes that next upcoming character based on the animated film will encourage the number of visitors, despite the criticism about queues and prices (Penketh, 2014). According to The Independent, park managers are going to increase Euro Disney’s popularity by investing in new projects, related to European characters such as Hunchback of Notre Dame and Esmeralda. A new generation of heroes is updated constantly at Disneyland Paris. Before, Buzz Lightyear, WALL-E robots, characters from "Monsters Corporation", Tiana and the Frog joined Mickey and Mini and other princesses. All together they travel through the park by train and perform on stage in Central Plaza entertaining visitors and communicating with young guests. In addition, one of the last and biggest investments was a much-anticipated Ratatouille ride, based on the 2007 Pixar film about a rat who becomes a top chef in Paris. It promised that this will be a high-tech project, which has no analogues in the world. Digital technology will lead to dive visitors into such state, that a person will be able to feel themselves quite small as at the size of a rat, and all surrounding objects will seem unreal and huge. All these changes occur because Paris Park revealed the difference between European and American consumer market. It turned out that in the Old World was not thrilled with Mickey Mouse and some people still find fault that it's a piece of America looks out of place in the Paris. Therefore, attracting of new characters, which are more familiar to the European public is another great marketing ploy (SPANIER, 2014). However, despite their age and as a Hong Kong Disneyland keep on losing money, it is very important that the park is not only building new attractions, but also maintain its current beauty and charm.

In summary, Disneyland Paris has the ability to be a leader among the amusement parks in Europe. Primarily due to the world-famous and recognizable brand that attracts children and their parents all over the world. Sometimes even adults still want to get into the world, where the magic alive and become a part of the fairy tale. Disneyland Paris can provide such an opportunity and organize such experience. Located in a small town, with a relatively close to the main city of France, the park annually attracts a surprising number of tourists that even exceeds attractions such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. This adventure can be stretched for a few days, dividing into parks visits, walking through the Disney Village, shopping and evening entertainment. A surprising number of discounts and offers are help consumers to save on tickets to the park and housing, as well as visiting other performances, shows and other events. The appearance of new cartoon is a great advertisement for the park and leads to the organising and investing in new shows and attractions that make visitors come again and again in the second, third and more times. And, of course, the value for money and a high standard of customer service allow Euro Disneyland maintain an excellent level of organization of entertainment for many years.

Bibliography

1. Anton Clavé, S. (2007). The global theme park industry. Wallingford, UK: CABI.

2. Zhu, L. and Xu, D. (2010). Marketing Strategic Change in Expansion of Disneyland. Jönköping: Jönköping University.

3. SPANIER, G. (2014). Magic of Disneyland Paris casts its spell on Brits. The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/magic-of-disneyland-paris-casts-its-spell-on-brits-9240096.html [Accessed 3 Apr. 2015].

4. Mbaskool.com, (2015). Disneyland Paris | SWOT Analysis | BrandGuide | MBA Skool-Study.Learn.Share.. Available at: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/tourism-and-hospitality/2739-disneyland-paris.html [Accessed 18 Apr. 2015].

5. Disneylandparis.co.uk, (2015). Disneyland Paris | Official Website. Available at: http://www.disneylandparis.co.uk/ [Accessed 18 Apr. 2015].

6. Business Basics Workbook. (2010). Disneyland Paris, pp.4,6,8,10.

7. Samuel, H. (2013). Boy 'fighting for life' after accident at Disneyland Paris.

8. Penketh, A. (2014). Can Ratatouille rescue Disneyland Paris? The Guardian.

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