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Executives admit the company might have been naive in the past. "We had not yet had an on-the-ground experience in a multicultural environment," says ceo Jay Rasulo, a Disney veteran who took the helm of Euro Disney in 1998. "It was really the first park that had the majority of its guests coming from very diverse cultural backgrounds." Still, Euro Disney at first believed that Europeans wanted an American product. They didn't - and lessons have been learned. The refreshment stands sell espresso, and you can now have wine or beer with your sit-down (and often tasty...
Today, following a series of management changes, massive debt restructuring and strategic shifts, Euro Disney is profitable. It made ?37.7 million on revenues of just over ?1 billion last year. Attendance is stable at about 12 million visitors a year, up from a low of 8.8 million in 1994. Occupancy at Euro Disney's six hotels is strong, with 86% of rooms filled in 2001. While analysts say the company is "settled" in comparison with years past, investors still shy from Euro Disney stock, which hovers around ?1, less than one-tenth of where it traded 10 years ago. That...
...hasn't. Last weekend, Euro Disney celebrated its first park's 10th anniversary with the launch of a second one, the ?610 million Disney Studios. The expansion of the resort complex at Marne-la- Vallée, 30 km east of Paris, is a sign that the company has found not only stability as Europe's top tourist attraction but also renewed confidence in its long-term outlook...
When the company swaggered into town to build Europe's first Disney park on old beet fields, confidence was high. "My biggest fear is that we will be too successful," then-chairman Robert Fitzpatrick said. He needn't have worried. Many Europeans decided that Disney's vision of a good time - high ticket prices to get into an alcohol-free park with unbearably long lines and inedibly fast food - didn't match theirs. The company reportedly bled $1 million a day, analysts hinted that bankruptcy was an option and Eisner called the project Disney's "first real disappointment...
...company has also tweaked its sales strategies. Europeans rely more than Americans do on travel agents and tour operators, which Disney had largely neglected. Now the company actively cultivates relationships with these intermediaries, and Airtours, Britain's biggest tour operator, will manage one of the three new hotels that Disney is building. A continuing challenge for Euro Disney is to develop the German market, which accounts for only 8% of visitors. (By comparison, 40% come from France, 18% from the Benelux countries and 15% from Britain...