The Concept of the Disneyland Business - Essay Example

Disney Land Disney Land refers to a chain of business, whose origin is the Disney theme park in Anaheim, California (Seth and Len, 10). The business expanded to venture into many other countries, which include China, Hong Kong, Japan and France. The concept of the Disneyland business empire was conceived by Walt Disney, while he was on a trip to several amusement parks taking his daughters on vacation in the 1930s. Having realized how exciting such a business venture was, and having realized that he could also turn the idea into a successful business, he decided to actualize the idea, but found that the space that he had adjacent to his studio was very small. This made him purchase another property, 160-acre at a site near Anaheim in 1953 (Trahan, 7). The construction of the park started in 1954, and it was completed and launched later in 1955. Since its launch, the business has experienced immense growth and expansion, starting from local expansion and later venturing to other countries in Europe and Asia. While compared to other theme parks in the world, Disneyland Theme park has been quoted as the most successful of them all, hitting a cumulative 600 million visitors by the year 201 (Seth and Len, 12). Its expansion in other countries has also been successful, with its resort complexes and theme parks recording high growth, profitability and popularity over the years. It is in the light of this consideration that there is a need to evaluate the factors that have made Disneyland such a successful venture, thus making it popular the world over. First, the major factor that contributed to the high-notch start for Disneyland is the nature of its launch in July 17, 1955, where a live guest of 15, 000 people were invited to grace the occasion, and the number swelled to an unexpected 30, 000 guests, on top of the 90 million people who watched via a live television broadcast (Barrier, 240). Just by the mere launch of the business venture, it became popular and attracted the attention of many prospective visitors, since such was a rare spectacle in the minds of many who attended the live unveiling and also those who watched it live. Due to the popularity that Disneyland cultivated that day, it was sure to continue receiving visitors consistently, among those who had watched the launch on live television, but now wanted to see the real Disneyland (Seth and Len, 23). The next day after the launch was not different, with visitors streaming in to view the theme park and thus the business kicked off at a relatively high rate, compared to other new business ventures. The success of the kickoff has greatly contributed to the success of Disneyland as it is experienced today, since it started off as a popular business venture, whose popularity and fame has constantly increased over the decades. The other success factor that has shaped the destiny of Disneyland business venture to present day is the initial pricing strategy (Trahan, 13). Having attracted the attention of many potential visitors, the business venture had to differentiate itself from the other amusement parks through charging relatively high entry fees at the gate, with a gate entry fee of $1 (Barrier, 212). This served to present Disneyland as a high class guest attraction, which served to attract the attention of potential visitors even more. Having built on its popularity during the launch, then, the business had to keep the tempo by presenting itself as a high class and unique attraction, which would entice many people to visit and witness the difference between Disneyland and other amusement parks. Another initial success factor that set Disney for more success is the visitor management strategy that was applied from the initial days of the business opening. The management of Disneyland worked towards controlling the attendance of the visitors to the park, through regulating the number of daily visitors to a maximum of 20,000 (Trahan, 13). While limiting the number of customers to any business might appear to be a poor strategy, this strategy worked towards ensuring that the number of daily visitors was manageable, and thus they could get requisite attention and services from the Disneyland staff. This strategy was very instrumental, since customer relationship and customer experience, which is normally derived from the nature of the interaction between the business employees and the visitors, play a great role in enhancing customer service and customer satisfaction (Barrier, 230). Therefore, this strategy worked well for the new business venture, since the restricted number of visitors could be attended well by the staff, since the strategy avoided overpowering of the staff by the visitors. The other success factor for Disneyland is the diversification business strategy, which entails the Sell More to Existing Customers business concept (Seth and Len, 7). While any visitor enters Disneyland to witness the amusements themes that are present, the Disneyland staffs are ready to entice the visitors with more services and products, which make the visitors, contribute to the business success even more. Inside the theme parks and the resort complexes are a variety of other product ventures such gift shops where the visitors can buy their friends and family any gifts they would like to share with them (Trahan, 11). Considering that many of the visitors to Disneyland are the people who want to spend some time enjoying the company of their friends and family, it presents a perfect opportunity for anyone to buy their family members or their friends some gifts. In addition to the gift product services, Disneyland also offers its visitors a variety of other interesting services, such as food and accommodation services, which allows the visitors, who are willing to spend some more time, to remain within the facility and continue enjoying its products and services (Trahan, 8). This service provision is beneficial to the business venture, since it ensures that the visitors get a variety of services they would otherwise seek outside, making the place more comfortable for the visitors. In addition, Disneyland offers a variety of discount service on its offerings, which include ticket upgrade services that allows the visitors to visit other places or dine in the restaurants. This acts as an attractive sales proposition for the business, since visitors are encouraged and afforded an opportunity to enjoy more services, with a mere upgrade of the ticket, as opposed to purchasing new tickets for every single product or service (Barrier, 255). Global expansion is yet another strategy that has seen Disney land realize its current business success. While the business venture initially started only as a theme park in California and later expanded to other regions of the US, it realized that more success could be obtained through venturing into different markets of other countries, through providing such countries with country specific theme parks and resort complexes. This business venture has expanded to both Europe and Asia, with Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney and Hong Kong Disneyland forming a chain of its investment outside the US (Trahan, 16). Through creating a worldwide brand, Disneyland has been in a position to reap the benefits obtainable from regional expansion, since the economic conditions prevailing in different regions or countries of the world are different. Therefore, while the Disneyland venture in one country may fail to perform well economically, due to the prevailing circumstances, the other ventures from different regions will certainly make a difference. This helps the business to overcome the challenges associated with a single locality venture (Seth and Len, 15). Additionally, the creation of niche specific ventures for different countries has served to enable Disneyland reap the benefit of curving a market share in an industry that is most suited for local firms. Promotion has also served as another success factor for Disneyland. Starting from the initial unveiling that was done in 1955 through live TV coverage, Disneyland has always advertised its products and services (Trahan, 19). The business venture has an advertising plan and budget that has always informed its customers about the product and service offering, as well as the new developments and facilities that the business is unveiling. The constant advertisement of Disneyland has ensured that the interest and attention of prospective customers is always cultivated, since the customers are continuously engage and informed about Disney developments (Seth and Len, 18). Disneyland has consistently advertised through the mass media, print and also the internet, ensuring that it reaches all people, notwithstanding the channel of communication that is favored and accessible to different people. Disney land also maintains a database of its customers, and thus keeps them posted on its new developments and offerings through mails (Barrier, 249). This goes a long way in ensuring that repeat purchase by previous customers is enhanced. Innovation, which entails new product development and new service offerings, is yet another success factor that accounts for the excellent performance of Disneyland. The increased growth in the range of products and services offered by Disneyland has also promoted it to a level of success (Trahan, 24). Disneyland keeps adding new facilities and attractions to its theme parks, while also modernizing and refurbishing their facilities. An increase in product offer is yet another common aspect of Disneyland, which matches its offerings with the ever changing customer tastes and preferences. These success factors form the differentiating elements that Disneyland has been riding over to climb up the ladder of success. Works cited Barrier, Michael. The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. Print. Seth Kubersky, and Len Testa. The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2013. Hoborken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2012. Internet resource. Trahan, Kendra. Disneyland Detective: An Independent Guide to Discovering Disney's Legend, Lore, and Magic!Mission Viejo, CA: Permagrin Pub, 2004. Print. Read More