Analysis of the Walt Disney Company Theme Park Division

The Disney theme parks and resorts compete with other forms of entertainment, lodging, tourism and recreational activities. Universal's Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios are Disney's direct competition within the Theme Parks business.

Studio Entertainment division

Disney's Studio Entertainment business competes with all forms of entertainment. A significant number of companies produce and/or distribute theatrical and television films, exploit products in the home entertainment market, provide pay television programming services and sponsor live theater. They also compete to obtain creative and performing talents, story properties, advertiser support and broadcast rights that are essential to the success of their Studio Entertainment businesses.

Consumer Products division

Disney's Consumer Products business competes in its merchandise licensing, publishing, video game and retail activities with other licensors, publishers and retailers of character, brand and celebrity names. Based on independent surveys, Disney believes they are the largest worldwide licensor of character-based merchandise based on retail sales.

Analysis of potential new entrants

Walt Disney Company has been able to grow over a long period of time, and has developed from within the departments of Research and Development, Marketing, and Finance. By relying on past experience, company officials know to a large extent what the target customer wants. As Disney pretty much dominates the family entertainment market, it will be very difficult for new organizations to develop brand recognition/identification, and product differentiation. Disney has focused on market diversification for years and the company covers a wide array of products and services.
Analysis of substitute products

The threat of substitute products or services is moderate to low. Obviously, other cartoon figures, theme parks, and movies can penetrate the market in which Disney is operating in, but I do not believe that this is representing a significant threat. The Disney Company has already placed price ceilings on many of its product lines, and should be able to compete with new competitors.
Analysis of suppliers

The bargaining power of suppliers is moderate. As the Disney Company is operating in a highly differentiated and unique industry with high switching costs associated with operations the suppliers are dominated by a few companies and is most probably very concentrated. However, Disney is a unique and important customer of many of the suppliers. Furthermore, the size of the company may certainly be a great advantage. By being able to order large volumes of unique products from unique suppliers, will create a dependency relationship in the industry.
Analysis of buyers

The bargaining power of customers is high in the service and in the entertainment industry. Since a large number of customers are needed to make Disney's operations run smoothly, the customers have certain powers. For instance, if the price on a particular home video is too high, customers may be reluctant to spending the money needed to purchase the product. Another example is the entrance fee charged at Disney's theme parks. Furthermore, the entertainment industry does not save the buyer money. Instead it is designed in a way that it will make the buyer spend more. A majority of Disney's product mix focuses on intangible returns on the buyer's money. The case that some customers may not realize that they are getting such a return may increase the bargaining power of the customers.

The Future of the Walt Disney Company

On your next Disney vacation, you may not notice the Frontierland cowboys moving through secret corridors in and out of the park. You will probably never see the imagineer studios where designers are fusing together robot animatronics or the Disney artist studios where painters and wood carvers are making the next attraction's hand-crafted signs.

You may not know what rides are being planned for 2009, or who the CEO of the Walt Disney Company is, but you can rest assured there's a huge team of Disney executives working behind-the-scenes at making your family's trip the experience of a lifetime.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that the Disney Company is pulling behind-the-scenes strings. When visitors enter Disney World Orlando, Tokyo Disneyland or one of the many Disney "empires," the illusion becomes real.

Every care and worry simply ceases to exist for people on their family Disney vacation, which is just the way Walt and Roy Disney imagined it. Like any business, there is competition, and with Universal planning a new Simpsons ride and a Harry Potter theme park, the Walt Disney Company knows it must keep developing or be left in the dust.

There are several projects being undertaken by Disney for 2008-2009. In California, the Mark VII Monorail is being developed to help transport people between parks, and new attractions for the ailing, Disneyland California park, including the Walt Disney Plaza, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and the Little Mermaid Under the Sea Adventure.

Walt Disney World Orlando is changing the name of Disney MGM Studios to Hollywood Studios and is adding an American Idol attraction and Spaceship Earth is undergoing renovation at Epcot. The last major addition at Disney World Orlando was 2006's $100 million Mount Everest rollercoaster set in the Animal Kingdom. Tokyo Disneyland is adding the Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek attraction as well.

Perhaps the most anticipated new attraction is Toy Story Mania being developed for both American parks. In this ride, guests will board vehicles and navigate through a carnival midway, where they'll stop at several 3-D virtual reality game screens. Disney World executives hope to meet people's expectations and desire for instant gratification by greeting guests waiting in line with costumed cast members and a one-million-dollar singing animatronic Mr. Potato Head.

Once inside, Toy Story characters like Bo Peep, Woody and the Piggy Bank will be the carnival operators. "We look at it as gaming meets immersive storytelling," explained one of the designers.

Over the years, the package deals are getting a little sweeter to attract the budget-conscious. Consider that some Disney World vacation packages including a Disney resort room, dining plan and park ticket start at $79 per person, which is less than the cost of a single park admission ticket!

The "no expiration date" ticket option appeals to many families, too, enabling them to come back time and time again. Over the years, the Walt Disney Company imagineers have remained true to its original dream: to provide memorable, fun and educational vacations to families, spanning as many as three generational lines!

Disney - The Man, the Mouse, the Company

Walt Disney built an empire only few could ever dream of achieving.

Walt Disney, born in Chicago, Illinois on December 5, 1901 was one of five children by Elias (Irish-Canadian) and Flora (German-American).

Raised on a humble farm in Missouri, Walt's interest in drawing was already apparent as a young boy. A little known cartoonist in his time, Disney went on and broke all the barriers in the cartoon animation industry.

While working in Kansas for Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio, he met fellow artist Ub Iwerks and became close friends In a matter of time, they decided to form an animated cartoon business together and named it Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists.

The company lasted less than five years so Disney decided to move on to Hollywood to join his brother Roy.

Lady luck seemed to follow Walt to the West Coast for once there he received the good news that a company represented by M.J. Winkler wanted to buy the rights to his series of live-action reels titled Alice Comedies he had made.

From then on Disney proceeded to join Winkler as a production partner until 1927 when he started a new series called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

While on his way back to California, Disney began thinking of creating another character in the form of a mouse. He later named this mouse character Mickey Mouse and drew up some rough sketches and then finally made several films together with his brother Roy funding it with their own money.

Taking things a step further, Walt Disney decided to add sound to his third Mickey Mouse film entitled "Steamboat Willie" which was met with mockery by film distributors.

But he was soon to prove them wrong because audiences loved the film and Mickey Mouse the star was born.

Disney's films were family oriented and some of his most famous films included the very first colored films such as Snow White and Seven Dwarves followed by Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi. Disney's hard work and determination has finally paid off and his name has become a household name almost overnight.

By the mid 1950's, the Disneyland theme park was put up in Anaheim, California along with the debut of the Disneyland television show. Walt Disney also ventured into live action films to make his empire's reach grow even further.

He was hands on with several Disney projects and he demanded the utmost professionalism from his people and the highest quality films for his studios. Disney was not only an innovator but a pioneer.

The company felt some unsteadiness for quite some time after Walt Disney's passing for nobody can seem to match his sense of storytelling and enthusiasm.

But the Disney Company managed to weather the storm and break through due to the efforts of its top honchos and personnel. These people made sure that Disney's legacy will live on, and so will the empire he built.

The company set out and expanded to both foreign and domestic markets; investing in other industries such as music, publishing, the internet, cable television networks and home video aside from the usual popular theme parks, hotels, resorts and Disney merchandise.

To date, Disney's vast scope and scale of properties represents an impressive list of businesses that only few companies worldwide could equal. From humble beginnings, Disney's sprawling empire has grown up unequaled, and it all started because of a little mouse named Mickey.