Word: disneying
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Incoming chief executive Robert Iger badly wants to change that. Unlike his predecessor, Michael Eisner, who never seemed comfortable with international expansion--"Going to China and the Far East might as well have been Mars," the anonymous former exec says of Eisner--Iger has made boosting Disney's overseas revenues a priority. China is a personal Iger favorite. He has made numerous visits, lunched with senior leaders and even dropped in for a movie at a Shanghai cinema. It was so modern, Iger says, "I might as well have been in a multiplex in Indiana...
With so much on the line, a successful Hong Kong Disneyland is crucial. Executives hope the park will pave the way for the company's DVDs, TV shows, toys and other businesses to thrive in China by acting as a huge roller-coaster-filled advertisement for the Disney brand. "At the highest level, Hong Kong Disneyland is a beachhead for the Walt Disney Co. in China," says Jay Rasulo, president of Disney's theme parks and resorts...
...Disney's record with overseas theme parks, however, has been mixed. Tokyo Disneyland has been a smash, with 25 million visitors a year, but Euro Disney, based near Paris, has been a financial sinkhole. Earlier this year, Euro Disney finalized a $2 billion restructuring plan, which included new capital and loan concessions, to rescue the operation. Among the park's problems have been cultural faux pas that have turned off its European audience. When Euro Disney opened, for example, restaurants wouldn't serve wine, an affront even to the French soil it was built...
...Disney made sure not to repeat those mistakes in Hong Kong. "We've come at it with an American sensibility, but we still appeal to local tastes," says John Sorenson, one of Hong Kong Disneyland's landscape architects. Fantasyland has a garden where photo-happy tourists can always find Mickey, Minnie and other popular characters. Mulan will have her own pavilion in the garden, designed like a Chinese temple. Mickey even has a new red-and-gold Chinese suit to wear. Restaurants boast local fare, such as Indian curries, Japanese sushi and Chinese mango pudding served in containers shaped like...
...shui master, who rotated the front gate, repositioned cash registers and ordered boulders set in key locations to ensure the park's prosperity. He even chose the park's "auspicious" opening date. New construction was often begun with a traditional good-luck ceremony featuring a carved suckling pig. (Ironically, Disney kicked up trouble not by being too American but by being too Chinese. Disney offered to serve shark-fin soup at banquets, but the local favorite got yanked from the menu in June after environmentalists, who blame consumption of the delicacy for endangering the global shark population, howled in protest...