Word: disneyized
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...Disney executives are so convinced they have got the right formula at California Adventure that they're predicting 7 million new customers will visit the park in its first year--despite a weakening economy. That's on top of the 14 million that Disneyland already gets. The goal is to make these visitors, many from overseas, feel like they've hit all the tourist high points of California without ever leaving Anaheim...
...expansion project, five years in the works, clearly illustrates two valuable lessons the company has learned about how to make money in the theme-park business. The first lesson is, don't overbuild. Disney learned that the hard way in France, where the overly ambitious Disneyland Paris forced the company to take a write-down in 1993. "We probably built too many hotel rooms and sized the park a little larger than we needed to," admits Pressler. When it came to expanding in Anaheim, he says, "we wanted to make sure we were building smaller than we feel the demand...
...other lesson Disney has learned is to share the cost. In Tokyo, Disney gets a management fee for licensing its brand to DisneySea, but it has invested virtually nothing in the resort. In France the company now owns only 39% of the property. In Hong Kong, Disney has paid only $310 million for a 43% stake in a venture that is valued at around $4 billion...
Back home, Disney has always worked with corporate sponsors, such as Kodak and Coca-Cola, but the trend is clearly toward shifting even more of the financial burden to them. So California Adventure offers more brand names than Macy's: the Golden Vine Winery and tasting room sponsored by Robert Mondavi, a sourdough breadmaking factory from Boudin Bakery and the Avalon Cove restaurant of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, to name...
...that last, not-leaving part that has spooked Disney's competitors and kicked off a miniboom in Southern California theme-park construction. Knott's Berry Farm, owned by Cedar Fair L.P., a publically traded, Ohio-based company that owns nine amusement parks across the country, has just spent nearly $70 million on a new luxury hotel, a 13-acre water park, Soak City U.S.A., and a thrill ride, Perilous Plunge, which it calls the tallest (115 ft.) and steepest (75[degree] angle) water ride of its kind. Knott's is located only seven miles down the freeway from Disneyland...