Recently, 5,000 people signed a petition against Disneyland in Paris. What is Disneyland Paris doing wrong?

I actually know a little behind the scenes information from Cast Members who have had to do some work at the Disneyland Paris Resort. Partially, it's a cultural issue. It's not that the French people themselves are rude; however, they do have a very specific type of 'customer service' and attitude about anyone who isn't French. They are a very nationalist society, something Americans should understand. They have trainers that come in from the States to try and structure programs that will improve their reputation in the industry and for guest experience, but they haven't seemed to have made much of an impression. The park is the only one in Europe and should be representing the brand in the best possible light, but they haven't been doing that. The employees are unhappy with their employment conditions, which has more to do with France than Disney. Because they are so unhappy, their behavior affects the guest's experience. It's a recognized problem within the company, I can assure you, but it is a huge hurdle to overcome. Societal norms don't change overnight. I have a deeply personal relationship with Disney and it bothers me greatly to witness the damage to our reputation overseas.

Disney Paris makes a loss each year of approximately 100 million € so there is little money for new investments. The number of visitors per year is decreasing also because of the recession. A lot of people say that Paris isn't a good location because of the weather. Some say that Andalusia would have been a better choice, I doubt that because Andalusia becomes extremely hot in the summer and is far away from the richer parts of Europe. The park still gets a lot of visitors but they don't spend enough money. I have also read that Europeans want to make a lot of rides per day, while American visitors also just 'hang around' and spend a lot of time dining. See: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/06/disneyland-paris-asks-billion-euro-emergency-rescue I have the impression that the competition like for example De Efteling and Puy du Fou is doing better in relative terms.

I'm not aware of this specific petition, but this 2013 blog post (read a bit further down) from a California resident points out issues which would seem to be in line with the subject of the protest.http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2013/2/3/visit-to-france.htmlUpdated link:http://sirlingames.squarespace.com/blog/2013/2/3/visit-to-france.html

In 1996 my partner and I produced a book called Cultural Dynamics: From EuroDisney to Disneyland Paris by Deborah Ancona, Thomas Kochan, Maureen Scully, John Van Maanen, and D. Eleanor Westney, for South-Western College Publishing. It's been awhile but I remember two interestingly problematic features of the launch of EuroDisney that were described in the book: Disney at the time had a corporate policy that required all women cast members to practice underarm shaving. Disney also had a policy against serving wine. Amazingly, for a company proposing to do business with the public on a massive scale in France, they were initially unwilling to compromise on these policies. From what I have read of more recent problems, individual problems are addressed one at a time but the Paris park continues to have a case of corporate confusion about its positioning. What is it, really? Is it primarily an attempt to export the Disney philosophy and brand outside the US? Or is it primarily an attempt to create the most successful possible business in Paris? Until they figure out this Business 101 level question, it seems to me their problems will continue.