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-Manushi Shah

INTRODUCTION

"IF YOU CAN DREAM IT, YOU CAN DO IT"

-Walt Disney

Disney Kingdom of entertainment founded by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney in 1923, is hands down a benchmark in its industry. The Walt Disney companies continue to bring joy and happiness to consumers around the globe, and would never stop surprising us with its visions.

Behind all the wonders that Disney has brought us, are the visionaries of

Disney’s leadership team who strive to generate creativity, foster

innovation, and utilize the latest technologies. Disney is a multinational,

cross-platform conglomerate. Their business flourishes in many different

domains, including parks and resorts, consumer products, studio

entertainment, media networks, and interactive media. The media company

is currently operating in more than 40 countries, and they have ten issues

such a labor, ethics, environment, philanthropy, etc.

The Walt Disney was ranked 2nd in the world’s Most Reputed Companies, 2016, because of the citizenship and governance categories. Nielsen said: “The Walt Disney Company is number one in the world when it comes to being perceived as a good corporate citizen and also as a company with fair and ethical business practices.”

“IT’S A KIND OF FUN TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE”

We chose to look into Disney because it has been part of our, if not everyone’s childhood. Those classic fairytales and adventures taught us about love, about courage, and about faith. Furthermore, like we do, Disney matures overtime, bringing more diversity and innovation into its works, connecting and bringing happiness to people of different generations.

An industry like Disney must compete in complex environment to maintain its position on top worldwide. Now it's important to know its resources and capabilities. We also need to find its strengths and weaknesses. This all helps increase customer satisfaction and strengthens the relationship with customers.

Disney parks and Resorts cover a large area, which would not be located in the center of the city so it would be difficult for people to get there. So there are public transports taking the guests to Disney parks and resorts. This industry provides good maintenance of rides in Disney parks and resorts. Disney provides delicious food, which would be provided by contracted food companies.

“WHEN YOU BELIEVE IN A THING, BELIEVE IN IT ALL THE WAY, IMPLICITY AND UNQUESTIONED”

One of the biggest difference between Disney parks and resorts is their themes of cartoon characters, stories from films. They create parades, music concerts in special events. The strategy of human recourse in Disney parks and resorts in one of the factors make them successful. They have a standardized procedure for recruiting employees and their first priority is attitude. Disney has strict disciplinary rules for employees and they talk about the worst situation first to the new employees. Disney asks their supervisors to work with the employees themselves to create good superior subordinate relationship.

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. CONTENTS

3. HISTORY

4. DIVISIONS

4.1 SUBSIDIARIES

5. MEDIA AND MARKETING

5.1 MARKETING

5.2 INCOME

5.3 INNOVATION

5.4 MARKETING AND SALES

6. CONCLUSION

7. REFERENCES

HISTORY

“WHEN YOU ARE CURIOUS YOU FIND LOTS OF INTERESTING THINGS TO DO”

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts have a history that goes way back. In the six-decades long time, a lot has changed but they still hold the magic that mesmerizes people of all age groups and makes them dream of visiting, year after year

The concept of Disneyland began in 1940s. Walt Disney was visiting Griffith Park in Los Angeles with his daughters, when he had the idea of creating a place where families could enjoy and parents could relax while their children had fun. By 1940s, Disney’s cartoons and movies became popular and he started receiving letters from fans who wanted to visit the Walt Disney Studios and be the part of an experience. Disney knew that the studios wouldn’t offer much so he thought of creating a place where the cartoons and film characters would come alive and the people could see them in real life. In those days, amusement parks were dirty and disorganized and weren’t meant for families. He wanted to change that and create a family-friendly environment.

In 1948, Disney shared his ideas for “Mickey Mouse Park” with studio production designer, Dick Kelsey. The original idea was to create a small park with a boat ride and some themed areas. He decided to make this park on an 8-acre land right across the street from the Walt Disney Studios. He, however, changed his mind when he started visiting other amusement parks for inspiration. Now, more designers were a part of this project and it became clear that they would require a much larger space to make the park that they had envisioned. 27 miles southeast of Los Angeles, they found the space they needed and it was in their budget.

The 160-acre orchard of orange and walnut trees in Anaheim became the site for the “Mickey Mouse Park” which was later named “Disneylandia” and finally “Disneyland”. The construction began in 1954 and it was ready to open its doors to public just a year and 17 million dollars later.

With 18 rides and attractions and five lands including Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and Main Street USA, Disneyland was opened for the first time on July 17, 1955. The park admission costed just $1.00 and additional tickets for individual attractions.

Disney learned from its mistakes and fixed them even after receiving criticism and all the bad press. They changed things according to the situations and it worked wonders as within the first seven weeks, one million people had walked through the gates of Disneyland.

Disneyland pushed the boundaries and brought technology and creativity together to improve the concept of theme parks around the world. Since then, Disneyland has been the most successful themed park in the world. Within a year of opening, the visitor count was five million.

"FIRST, THINK. SECOND DREAM. THIRD BELIEVE. AND FINALLY DARE."

Disney started searching for a location for another Disney Resort in 1958. In 1962, Disney Productions bought the Celebrity Sports Center in Denver, Colorado. They started building this park and in 1968, this was named “Walt Disney World”. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, during the initial planning of the complex. His brother, Roy, wanted to make sure that his dream was realized. It was finally opened on October 1, 1971.

In 1979, Disney along with Oriental Land decided to build a Japanese theme park. Disneyland Tokyo was opened on April 15, 1983. In 1985, Premier Cruise Line became the licensed partner cruise line with Disney. This meant that Disney characters could now be on their ships. Disney also combined their hotel, cruise and theme park packages. During this time, Disneyworld added more attractions like waterparks and theme parks.

On October 1, 1991, the first Disney Vacation Club Resorts, Vacation Club Resort was opened in Vero Beach, Florida. In November 1995, the building of Tokyo DisneySea was announced. It was owned by Oriental along with Tokyo Disneyland and it was scheduled to open in 2001 at a cost of $2.6 billion. In December 1998, Disneyland Paris was added to Walt Disney Attractions. Hong Kong Disneyland was opened on September 12, 2005. A Disneyland resort was opened in Shanghai’s Pudong district on June 16, 2016.

Throughout this time, many projects have been abandoned but Disney still remains on top and is indeed “The Happiest Place On Earth”.

“DISNEYLAND WILL NEVER BE COMPLETED. IT WILL CONTINUE TO GROW AS LONG AS THERE IS IMAGINATION LEFT IN THE WORLD”

DIVISIONS

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

There are 12 Walt Disney theme parks and 36 Walt Disney resorts around the world. You can experience diverse culture and Disney’s magic at the same moment along the way. Disney’s has 4 distinguished ships brims with restaurants, nightclubs, shops and recreational facilities along with lavish service and exclusive activities.

Walt Disney studios

Disney has collaborated with some of the renowned artists and filmmakers and brought up with some of the most successful live action family films like “Alice in Wonderland”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “The Jungle Book” and “Beauty and the Beast”. Walt makes quality movies, episodic storytelling, music, and stage plays to entertain people of all age groups. Initially the company had relied on outside music publishers and composers as neither Walt Disney nor Roy O. Disney had any experience in the music industry. Later in 1956, Disney Records was founded which released soundtrack albums from Disney’s motion pictures, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums.

Disney media Networks

The Walt Disney Company owns and operates Walt Disney Television that looks after television assets.

Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media

If one wants to buy Disney toys and clothes, they could buy it from the official website www.shopdisney.com . Disney’s mobile phones are designed to meet the needs of the family. The world's largest entertainment company doesn't make its own video games. Disney instead licenses its incredibly successful properties out to other companies.

Subsidiaries

Walt Disney Studios

The leading film production companies which include Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, etc. distributes and markets the films for company’s streaming and theatrical purposes.

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Disney animation located in California, is a filmmaker driven animation

studio which continues to make some of the most creative and innovative

films from the first fully animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

in 1937’s to the Frozen 2 in 2019.

Disney theatrical productions

Disney theatrical production limited, also known as Disney on Broadway, is the flagship stage play and musical production company of Disney theatrical group. It was founded by Ron Logan in 1993 as Walt Disney Theatrical and it had its first performance, Beauty and the Beast, in 1994. Gradually the division gained a reputation with the industry for playing some of the popular and professional performances.

The Walt Disney company India

The Walt Disney company in India was founded in July 2004 and today it is one of the leading film studios and distributors. Being one of the largest television networks with 8 channels it targets people of all age groups.

Pixar animation studios

It is an American computer animation studio,

also know as the Graphics Group, which began

in 1979 as part of the Lucasfilm computer

division. It is best known for its feature films

technologically powered by Renderman.

Marvel Entertainment

It is an American entertainment company founded in June 1998 mainly known for its comic book by the Marvel comics, along with its forays into films with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios is an American television and motion picture studio which is known for the production of Marvel Cinematic Universe films based on the characters that appear in Marvel Comics publication.

Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm was founded in 1971, is an American film and television production company. The studio is best known for its films, such as the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as its leadership in developing special effects, sound and computer animation for film.

The Muppets

The Muppets was founded in 1955 is a fictional universe and ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy.

Disney-ABC Television Group

ABC Television Network broadcasts 10 TV stations and more than 60 radio stations

ESPN Inc.

ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate. Most programming on ESPN networks consist of live or tape-delayed sporting events, sports news programming, sports talk shows and original series and documentaries.

A+E Networks

A+E Networks International handles international operations outside the U.S. mostly through joint ventures

Radio Disney

Radio Disney is the best way to stream pop and country music and watch videos on your phone or tablet for free.

Hulu

Hulu is a U.S. based subscription video on demand service.

UTV Software Communications

UTV communications was created with the goal of carrying out film acquisition, syndication and distribution business in the United States.

Maker Studios

Maker Studios was founded in 2009 as a collaborative content engine. Maker Studios continue to innovate with global creators by producing award-winning, original short form series.

MEDIA AND MARKETING

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is one of Disney’s most profitable business units, currently operating in six different locations around the world, including California, Florida, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Marketing

Disney puts a lot of emphasis on marketing to continually attract visitors. The following were what they effort:

1. Embrace New Technology: The park has always been quick to embrace technological advantages, like launching an app to keep visitors informed, or their new MagicBands wearables.

2. Use Data to Inform Decisions: The MagicBand provides tracking data on all of the park’s guests, which allows Disneyland to optimize everything from staffing to the location of a food vendor.

3. Optimize User Experience: Disney always considers customer experience and work to streamline the process of purchasing, using, and servicing product.

4. Balance Accessibility with Exclusivity: Design a way to make customers feel special, and they will respond with customer loyalty.

5. Deliver Unexpected Moments of Magic: Disneyland capitalizes on this affinity with live characters, surprise performances, parades, and exceptional customer service. Making an effort to surprise and delight customers at every turn will always pay dividends.

Income

Disney Parks and Resorts have sustainable and large income every year from park Tickets, restaurants, hotel and resort service. The revenue of Disney Park and Resort increases yearly (14.087M $ in 2013 and 15.099M S in2014), while the profit is also high (2.220M$ in 2013 and 2.663M$ in 2014). (By Walt Disney). As we know, capital is one of the most important factor which contribute to the success of a firm, and Disney has strong advantage in this factor.

Innovation:

New things are always eyes catching. To attract customers in the competitive amusement industry, Disney always has new program or surprising performances. For example, they held Halloween party parade this year to fit in the atmosphere. And another example is that they use new technology to collect data in the park to know customers’ preferences products or rides.

Services At Disney World, the entire park has free wifi for all guests. Consider how big the resort is, and the capacity that the system must support, and where they hide all the camouflaged wifi routers. The free wifi for all guests is actually a pretty innovative and awesome technological feat.

Marketing & Sales

One of the strongest strengths of Disney is integrating all of its business activities to create this synergy that brings in profit, the product of the movie industry could be have the effect of marketing for the theme park industry or Disney’s consumer merchandises. In this analysis, we will be focusing on the marketing and sales activities related to Disney Parks and Resorts. Content Marketing as we have mentioned before, Disney is an empire selling stories, imaginations, and happiness. When you visit a Disney theme park, you see rides, restaurants, hotels that are designed around a certain Disney movie or Disney character you have seen before. In a way, we can say that Disney movies play heavy roles in marketing of the parks.

Social Media Today social media is a part of people’s lives, and a pretty big one too. The internet allows firms to reach its customers faster and cheaper. Disney’s official Facebook page alone has over 50 million likes, Disneyland and Walt Disney World have around 33 million likes combined; and we are just getting started. Listed below are the statistics extracted from Disney’s different social media platforms.

Apart from social medias, Disney also runs its own “Buzzfeed” website called “Oh My Disney" and the “Disney Parks Blog”, which continuously provide contents about Disney, including new attractions in theme parks, promotion of current releases, TV series, Movies, trivia, quizzes, and etc. This keeps the fans updated and interested between their visits to the parks and resorts. In order to attract the more “mature” customers to Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney had launched some interesting campaigns. One of them is the “Disney Dream Portraits”, where Disney casted Hollywood A-list stars as iconic Disney characters in a set of photo shoots. This marketing activity obviously targeted at customers aside from children, and appeals to adults (eg. parents) and older fans.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGHTS

Strength refers to the internal factors that help in business growth globally.

1. Disney parks and resorts have key strengths such as brand, operations, global immersive user experience, human resource and service that makes them have comparative advantage to competitors.

2. Team: Disney also has strong team that is expert in their field and they make sure to bring customers best quality and service. Such a good team makes the company really strong in operations, managing its different pars efficiently.

3. Rides: The rides at Disney theme parks can bring customers good experience, but it is not unsubstituted. Customers can use the rides of others with almost same satisfaction.

4. Focus on experience and not the product: Walt Disney Theme Parks have always been giving more importance to the experience than the product.

5. Continued improvements: Walt Disney was always in the relentless pursuit of excellence and was always working on his current projects trying to make them better.

6. Differentiated offers: Disneyland makes a sincere effort to keep their offer differentiated from the rest of the competition. The services are made as personalized taking care to look into what each visitor wants.

WEAKNESS

1. Limited number of location is really a weakness but it doesn’t much affect to Disney theme park..

2. Waiting time for some attractions is sometimes too much. The service of Disney theme park is sometimes overloaded and guests have to wait hours to buy some ticket attractions. Especially in hot season, they might be hustled and jostled. In the end, some of them refuse to go to Disney in that period.

3. The variety that the park offers is so huge that it is very difficult for a visitor to visit all the attractions due to high number of visitors round the year.
4. It has a very diverse product portfolio with several different theme parks and hotels, which makes centralized management and monitoring very difficult.

5. Balancing the image with the costs: Disney, after almost half a century of operations, is facing a perpetual struggle to sustain the image it upholds while also balancing the cost.

6, Balancing between generations: Disney is trying desperately to sustain the loyalty of the baby boomers who were their earliest customers, who are their current target audience.

OPPORTUNITIES

1. The Disney brand is extremely popular and is the pioneer in the industry of theme parks which can be leveraged to further expand.
2. The Walt Disney Company has a vast experience in operating amusement parks and is very popular internationally.
3. With the flourish of the tourism industry, the park can expect to welcome more visitors from abroad.

4. With various promotional offers like annual passes, discounts on hotel stay and multiple visit passes, the park can try to increase its customer base.

5. By introducing new attractions from time to time, the park can attract more and more visitors.

6. Opportunities in Asia: The markets in Asia are growing fast and countries like India and China are having a high tourist inflow. Disney opened up the Shanghai Park in 2015 but is yet to have one in India. This is an opportunity that the business should explore.

THREATS

1. Back in 1950s, Disneyland was one of a kind theme-park. But as this industry grew, many companies built their theme parks which provided experience somewhat similar to the Disney Parks. Some of the competitors are Universal Studios and Sea World. They have rides that are unique in their own way and the audience might be attracted to that. Below are the top two Walt Disney Parks and Resorts competitors:

Universal Studios
Islands of Adventure

2. As Disney keeps on expanding their diverse portfolio, it may get difficult to handle all the companies at the same time. Some competitors may even take advantage of this and this can cause loss to Disney.

3. If at any point Disney fails to change with time and innovate constantly, the competitors will eat up their shares in the market as they are well experienced and seasoned in this industry.

CONCLUSION

Walt Disney parks and resorts are one of the world's leading providers of family travel and leisure experience, giving millions of guests each year the chance to spend time with families and friends, making memories that will last forever. Walt Disney has definitely worked its way into hearts of almost everyone who watched it. The Disney companies has managed to bring fantasies to life on movie screen and also including the Disney parks for over 80 years. Walt Disney Studios is still strong, innovative, and artistic style company.

We then analyzed Disney Parks and Resorts’ capabilities and resources. Needless to say, Disney was both resourceful and capable. The level of vision and resource they have to make risky but rewarding acquiring decisions (eg. Marvel Studios, Lukasfilm), are just part of the reasons how Disney built its success. Unlike the more traditional manufacturing businesses, Disney sells “dreams” and “happiness” to its customers, the value of their product are beyond the material dimension.

In conclusion, Walt Disney is the master of globalization.

ADDITIONAL CREDITS:

Edited By: Manya Sheth

Blog Made By: Purvai Mishra

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