Let go of the document in his hand, and type a line of words on the open document on the laptop again. Eric inadvertently looked up and looked out of the window, and found that it was already early in the morning. Because of the time difference and the day off yesterday, Eric Rick didn't feel sleepy all night, and the pile of information on the desk made him unwilling to fall asleep. Compared with Alan's brief introduction on the plane to Paris, the information this time can be described as very detailed, and it also made Eric feel uncomfortable. More and more uneasy.
When the European Disneyland started preparations in 1985, because of the great success of Tokyo Disneyland, the new park was almost the object of competition from the whole of Europe.
The location of Paris was determined because there are 17 million potential tourists within a two-hour drive around Paris, and 300 million potential tourists who only need a two-hour flight. Such a huge consumer group made Disney and The French government is extremely optimistic about the performance of the new park project. No one would consider the possibility of failure. If it were not for the memory of the previous life, Eric would also feel that Euro Disneyland was a success after reading the "exciting" materials in his hand. Almost for granted.
Compared with the success of Tokyo Disneyland, the original project planning book estimated that the overall annual profit of various projects in Euro Disneyland would be at least US$600 million. This kind of extremely optimistic estimate also led to the continuous expansion of the project's budget during the seven years of construction, from the initial one billion US dollars to an astonishing five billion US dollars, not to mention the theme projects of the park, just Seven Disney-themed hotels have been built.
Eric didn't see the specific reasons for the failure of Euro Disneyland from these materials, but he also realized that the project cost expanded from one billion US dollars to five billion US dollars. Definitely means excess resources and huge operation and maintenance expenses. At the same time, there are hundreds of millions of dollars in loans that need to be repaid on schedule every year. Once the data such as the number of tourists and the average consumption amount of tourists fail to meet the original estimate, it means a huge loss.
Disneyland is not only the pride of Disneyland, but also regarded as a symbol of American culture, otherwise there would not be so many European cultural figures opposing the construction of Disneyland.
Although this project was started during Michael Eisner's time, the park failed to operate. As the parent company, Firefly Pictures must be blamed. Although Firefly is not a listed company, Eric does not have to worry about stock price drops and the like. But this kind of reputational blow will affect Firefly’s overseas expansion. Capital is driven by profit. If a project that the whole world was optimistic about failed, no one will follow suit if you want to play next time. .
After Disneyland Paris in the original time and space, Hong Kong Disneyland, the third overseas park, opened to the public 20 years later. At the same time, the scale is far smaller than any other, and there must be the influence of Disneyland Paris.
Theme park is a business that any major Hollywood film company attaches great importance to. The profits it brings even far exceed the box office profits of the film, and it can also increase the brand influence of the film company.
Now that he realized the possibility of the failure of the new paradise, Eric had to pay attention. He doesn't want the influence and profits he created in the film to be swallowed up by the losses of Euro Disneyland.
After copying a survey form made last night according to the analysis on the data into a floppy disk, Eric got up and took a shower. He left the suite and went to the restaurant downstairs.
When he came to the restaurant, Eric unexpectedly found that the entire restaurant was empty, only a few waiters were cleaning and arranging tables and chairs. This discovery made Eric feel a little surprised. He looked at his watch. It was already 6:15 in the morning in Paris local time. September is still summer, and the time is not too early, and Eric also knows that there are many guests in the hotel , it is impossible for no one to eat breakfast.
A ponytailed waitress noticed Eric walking into the restaurant and came up to say something, but quickly recognized him.
"You...Mr. Williams, good morning, good morning," the waitress stammered, looking a little excited, trying to get close, but a little timid.
Eric smiled at the girl, picked a seat by the window and sat down, and then said, "Can I have a breakfast menu?"
The waitress who followed Eric to the table seemed a little embarrassed, and explained in a low voice: "Sorry, Mr. Williams, there is no breakfast in the restaurant. If you want, I can go outside and buy one for you."
Eric frowned. The park is about to open today. There are already a large number of tourists in the hotel. It stands to reason that the hotel should be fully prepared: "Why don't you provide breakfast? It's because there is no official opening and no preparations. Or something else?"
Although Eric's tone was not intense, the waitress still felt Eric's displeasure. Facing his questioning, the waitress pinched the corner of her uniform nervously, her head hung low and she could not speak Come.
"Forget it, go and call the manager," Eric waved his hand, seeing the figure of the waitress turning away in a panic, he couldn't help touching his cheek, he didn't look like a murderous big man at all. boss.
A few minutes later, a middle-aged man hurried into the restaurant with the waitress just now.
"Mr. Williams, hello, I'm Gerald Robinson."
Eric got up and shook hands with the middle-aged man, pointed to the seat opposite him to let him sit down, motioned him to wait a moment, took out a bill from his wallet, and glanced at the waitress' badge : "Miss Sophia, can you buy me a breakfast, anything."
"Of course, of course, no problem," the waitress took the banknote from Eric and left the restaurant in a hurry.
After the waitress left, Eric turned his attention to the hotel manager opposite: "Mr. Robinson, are you French?"
"Yes, Mr. Williams, I was born in Lyon in eastern France, but I grew up in Paris," Gerald Robinson replied politely, and it was only then that Eric realized that the other party's English accent had a French accent.
Eric hummed, and then stared at the other person's eyes and said, "You must know the reason why I asked Sophia to call you just now, right? I want to know why?"
Facing Eric's gaze, Gerald Robinson was not timid at all, but his tone was a little displeased, and said: "Mr. Williams, you may have to ask your management team about this, I don't know who told They said that we Europeans don't eat breakfast, anyway, Mr. Patrick Schneider personally decided to cancel the hotel's breakfast service."
Although the controlling power of the joint venture company is in France, the management right is in Disney. Eric knows that the management team of the new park is all Americans. Patrick Schneider is the CEO of Disney in charge of operating Euro Disney. I met him at the airport.
"Mr. Robinson, since it was a mistake, has no one brought it up?"
"Of course there is." Gerald Robinson spread his hands helplessly and somewhat angrily: "We have raised a lot of opinions, such as the hotel's breakfast problem, the problem of not serving alcoholic beverages in the park, and parking spaces, etc. Nobody listens to that."
Eric could hear Gerald Robinson's great resentment towards Disney's management team, and frowned again. After thinking about it, Eric asked again: "What about Mr. Jeffrey Katzenberg, Have you responded to these issues with him?"
Even if the original management team was blindly arrogant, Eric knew that Katzenberg was definitely a pragmatic person and would not fail to notice these problems.
Gerald Robinson was stunned, shook his head and said, "No, Mr. Williams, I'm just a lobby manager, and I can't talk to Mr. Katzenberg at all."
Sensing Gerald Robinson's somewhat disinterested tone, Eric realized that these French employees must have been completely disappointed with the management team. Even if they could get in touch with Katzenberg, they probably would not be satisfied with the Disney management team anymore. Have expectations.
After thinking about it, Eric said to Gerald Robinson: "Well, Mr. Robinson, can you write a report and list the problems you know, I will live here for a few days?"
Of course Gerald Robinson is aware of Eric's problem. Since he has applied for an employee of Disneyland, Gerald Robinson of course wants to do well, so he didn't refuse, and readily agreed: "Mr. Williams , I will hand it over to you as soon as possible."
"Well, if you can't find me, you can give it to my assistant. He lives next door to me."
Gerald Robinson nodded: "It's Mr. Alan Fishman, I understand."
The waitress bought the breakfast quickly, and Gerald Robinson also got up and left without disturbing Eric for breakfast.
Not long after, Allen also went downstairs and came to the restaurant. Seeing the deserted situation in the restaurant, Allen also felt a little surprised. At this time, Eric had finished his breakfast and was holding an English newspaper in his hand. Reading quietly, seeing Alan walk in from the corner of the eye, Eric took out the floppy disk and handed it to the other party, saying: "The restaurant does not serve breakfast, you can go out and eat something. In addition, this floppy disk There is a survey form I made last night, you hand it to Patrick Schneider in person, and within a week, I will see the detailed survey results of 10,000 tourists."
Allen could hear that Eric's tone was a bit blunt. Although the two were the boss and the employee, they had been together for so long and had cultivated a friendship. Therefore, Allen didn't have any scruples. He picked up the floppy disk and put it away. He directly asked his own curiosity: "Eric, what happened?"
Eric shook his head: "It's not clear yet, but the problem should be serious, you just ask Patrick Schneider to do it."
"Then I'll do it right away," Allen nodded, turned and left the restaurant without asking any more questions. (To be continued..)
ps: I’m really sorry for the updates in the past few days, but the old bookworms who follow the Internet must know what happened. There should be a lot of books missing in your bookshelves. If there are not, then congratulations, you are still a pure people. Anyway, I have been making changes and changes in the past few days, and I am overwhelmed. I hope that the matter will pass next month and the normal update rhythm will resume. I am really sorry.