61. Euro Disney

“My biggest fear is that we’ll be too successful.” – Robert Fitzpatrick, Euro Disney chairman

It’s that time of year – les vacances! Oh, wait, you’re stuck at home? No big international trips? Global pandemic got you grounded? Yeah, me too. My favorite summer destination, Disneyland, is closed for COVID, and it’ll be a long time until it reopens. When it does, it won’t be the same. It’ll be an uncanny valley effect, where everything seems like the Disneyland you know and love, but when you look at it long enough, it’s not quite right. It will be a little off-center. It will be a little sad. And it’ll be empty, way too empty for Disneyland.

In other words, it’ll be just like…Euro Disney.

Episode 61: “Euro Disney”

Transcript

Bienvenue and welcome back to The Land of Desire! I’m your host, Diana, and it’s August, aka les vacances, that five week period when seemingly all of France closes up shop, heads out of town, and goes on holiday. Oh, wait. What’s that? A global pandemic’s got you grounded. Yeah, me too. Gotta say, after almost six months in my tiny studio apartment, quarantine life is really getting to me these days, especially because I know exactly where I’d rather be right now. Usually at this time of year, my partner and I visit Disneyland for a long weekend. It’s one of my happy places, combining all my favorite things: zippy rollercoasters, childhood nostalgia, phenomenal amounts of sugar, and for those who know, tiki drinks. These days, of course, it’s a different story. Not even Mickey is enjoying a summer at Disneyland in this cursed summer. Disneyland has closed only 3 times in its history: the assassination of JFK, the Northridge Earthquake, and September 11th. Who knows when the park will reopen? When it does, it won’t be the same. It’ll be an uncanny valley effect, where everything seems like the Disneyland you know and love, but when you look at it long enough, it’s not quite right. It will be a little off-center. It will be a little sad. And it’ll be empty, way too empty for Disneyland. In other words, it’ll be just like…Euro Disney.

Oh, Euro Disney. One of the worst mistakes in Disney history, the blunder that kept on blundering. Now known as Disneyland Paris, this wild misadventure is literally a case study in business schools around the world. It’s a perfect lesson in hubris, the sunk cost fallacy and the importance of localization. This month, let’s learn about the history that Disney would rather have you forget. We’ve got angry farmers protesting on tractors, a beet root field gone bad, surprise ketchup attacks, a bombing that everybody forgot, and the disastrous results of hiring French waiters to deliver American-style customer service. Time to grab a ticket – and don’t worry, there are a lot of them left – and take a ride to the Not-So-Happiest Place On Earth. Welcome to Euro Disney.

As the year 1991 drew to a close, the Mouse was King. Hard as it is for Millennials like myself to believe, Disney spent most of the 70s in the cultural doldrums. By 1984, finance groups were trying to take the company over, and movie studios could say, with a straight face, things like “Disney has been on the fringes lately.” But a bright new CEO, Michael Eisner, was determined to turn the ship around. Step one? Get more money out of the assets we have. All those beloved Disney movies of the past would be freed from the company vault and released on VHS – and if you’re between the ages of about 25 and 35, I know you can feel that plastic clamshell case in your mind right now, so, good move there, dude. Step two? Make more classics. In 1989, Disney released The Little Mermaid, its first massive box office hit in ages. By the end of 1991, Beauty and the Beast was hitting the theaters,