Disney And The French Media Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Disney's first theme park, called Disneyland, is located in Anaheim, California and opened in 1955. Its Floridian counterpart DisneyWorld, located in Orlando, opened in 1971. The success of these parks and the success of Tokyo Disneyland which opened in 1983 motivated the company to expand further in order to achieve optimal market domination. The fourth theme park was to be built in Europe. Spain was long in the running as future site, but eventually France was chosen in 1987. The theme park was to be built in the French town Marne-La-Vallée, a town located 32 kilometers outside of Paris. The centrality of this location was deemed perfect, and it was easily accessible by plane, train and car. In addition, the French government also facilitated the decision making process by guaranteeing financial incentives and by extending its transportation network to include the park. These promises perfectly compensated for the northern French climate that initially troubled the Disney planners.

After the official implementation of the partnership between Disney and the French government, the Disney theme park was built on 4,700 acres of farm land. Euro Disney, as it was called in 1992, was the biggest amusement park and resort in Europe upon completion. Nevertheless, its opening on April 12, 1992 was not as successful as its grand scale suggested it would be. The coming months further exemplified this as attendance levels, souvenir and food sales, as well as Disney hotels' occupancy rates remained painfully low. Euro Disney was labeled by the entertainment industry as being an ideal case study on how not to open a theme park. Many French critics echoed this argument. Euro Disney was called a 'cultural Chernobyl', and seen as culturally insensitive to European guests. Overall, antagonism towards American popular culture was widespread among French intellectuals. They were supported by a prevalent nationalistic sentiment that promoted French culture in order to protect it from the supposed global hegemony of American culture. This anti-American context was the main problem that troubled Disney's search for acceptance.

The park went nearly bankrupt in 1994 which forced Disney to reevaluate its strategies to counter the French' anti-American mindset. In other words, the company soon realized that it was too focused on American culture instead of European culture, thus the company started to make essential modifications to cater to the local European context. Adaptations based on cultural differences were made on services, attractions, products and practices which eventually reestablished the Disney formula's appeal. The analysis of these adaptations and the context of the problems that predated them is the framework of this paper. Findings based on this analysis support this paper's thesis statement: cultural hybridization spelled the success of Disneyland Paris.

The first part of the research question that is related to this statement is: to what extent did French and other European responses to the park affect Disney's strategies? These responses are put into context by addressing the acceptance of American popular culture abroad. American popular culture was not easily accepted in France due to a long history of Anti-Americanism and this severely affected Disney's chances of success. This notion provides the foundation for the second part of the research question, namely in how far is cultural resistance towards the Disney theme parks automatic?. The latter of this research question is researched briefly by comparing Disneyland Paris' reception to the reception of the Disney theme parks in Asia. The reception of Tokyo Disneyland was overwhelmingly positive as mentioned earlier, mainly because the Japanese preferred an exact copy of the American model. The reception of Hong Kong Disneyland was also very positive, mostly because of the adaptations Disney made to local tastes and because of its extensive marketing campaigns . All in all, this comparison further proves that the cultural resistance towards the Disney theme parks depends on the larger cultural attitude towards American popular culture.

Studies including Disneyland Paris are often connected to debates regarding global American influence. However, most of these debates focus solely on the economic aspect of the venture as is exemplified by the large number of economic journals that discuss Disney's global expansion. Those journals talk of profits and marketing schemes, but they often neglect to take into account a cultural approach. In recent years, scholars have started to do in-depth research on the role that Disney plays in the development of culture, thus putting economics on the sideline. The book 'The Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney and the American Way of Life' by Steven Watts is one of the first books which gives a detailed account of the huge role the Disney company plays within American society. Watts discusses topics ranging from 'Disney and American values' to 'Disney and American identity construction', ultimately drawing the conclusion that "Disney is a major architect of modern American culture". This premise is frequently used as a foundation for studies dealing with the European Disney park, because Disney's Americanness is seen by some scholars as an obstacle for its reception in Europe. Especially French scholars prefer this standpoint as most of them view Disney's expansion as merely being part of America's cultural imperialism. This standpoint is taken into account in the current academic debate on the European park, but it plays a limited role in discussions. Recent publications on Disneyland Paris focus on the idea that the park has a high entertainment factor, thus it is not solely seen as an entity which spreads American culture or philosophy. Andrew Lainsbury's 'Once Upon an American Dream: the Story of Euro Disneyland' is an excellent example of a book that discusses Disney's professionalism in the entertainment industry rather than its possible ties to cultural imperialism. Other publications such as Kathy Merlock Jackson's 'Disneyland and Culture: Essays on the Parks and their Influence' tie in with Lainsbury's thesis as they put emphasis on the fact that Walt Disney invented the American theme park, consequently uniting professional entertainment with culture. The two sides of this academic debate are combined in cultural studies that take into account Europeans' ability to pick and choose from American culture. As a result, drawing the conclusion that Europeans do not passively absorb everything that American culture has to offer. This paper will follow this line of thought by including theories put forward by scholars Rob Kroes, Richard Kuisel, and Richard Pells, who all acknowledge Europeans' skill to adapt American cultural products to fit into local contexts.

To conclude, doing this kind of research on Disneyland Paris is relevant within the American Studies discipline as it provides an interpretation of an American company in multicultural Europe. Moreover, it also illustrates that there are constant tensions between local adaptation and global standardization.

Disney and the French: a difficult relation

Disney's model for theme parks might be new for the French, but they were already accustomed to theme parks in general. Seventy parks could be visited in France before the opening of Euro Disney. However, not all of them were making profit. Zygofolies Park near Nice had to close down and Mirapolis Park and Smurfs Park had to make huge budget reductions in order to stay afloat. The general idea was that the French were not that interested in theme parks or that the parks were not extraordinary enough to impress French guests. Nevertheless, Parc Asterix which opened in 1989 is still open today and it is considered to be the most successful competitor of the Disney park. Many ascribe the park's success to its detailed theming, exciting attractions and its link to French nationalism. Asterix and Obelix are after all French icons. Still, some scholars believe that the existence of Parc Asterix could not have prepared the French for the arrival of a European Disney park as Christian Renaut explains in his article "Disneyland Paris: A Clash of Cultures" He states that few French people had actually traveled to the American parks in California and Florida, hence the majority of French were uninformed about the Disney theme park formula. Disney spokesman Nicolas de Schonen elaborated on this in the Kansas City Star in 1991: "misunderstandings have arisen with the union because people in Europe do not understand what an American-style resort is" .

Renaut certainly has a valid argument, however one should not forget Disney's marketing expertise. The two American parks had been marketed extensively in France with the help of Disney films, television shows and comics, whereby the comic series 'Le Journal Mickey' played a crucial role. This successful comic series was established as early as 1934 and it portrays all the Disney characters from Mickey Mouse to Daisy Duck, yet it has a very French feel to it. In other words, the characters are foreign, but they are put into a French context. This of course influences the Mickey character itself as he is often shown having more brains than its American counterpart, which might suggest why the French find the American Mickey less interesting. Moreover, the first commercials promoting the park were too American in style, something that put off many parents. In a teaser commercial from 1992, the park's bigness and extravagance was stressed with the help of bombastic music, fast Hollywood-style cuts and a voice-over telling the following: "a new world of holiday dreams…come and discover the magic…Euro Disney Paris, the most spectacular holiday in Europe!". Clearly this was not a commercial that was adapted to European tastes, and its efficiency remains doubtful as these kinds of American oriented commercials could not erase the image that most French had of the Disney park, namely a piece of land filled with merry-go-rounds, and one or two Mickey's walking around to take pictures with. Surely not something which would spur many return visits.

As for French intellectuals, they felt that they knew more about the Disney parks and the kinds of ideologies that they promote, consequently drawing the conclusion that the European park was part of a grand scheme promoting America's supremacy over Europe. French editor Jean Cau called it "a horror made of cardboards, plastic and appalling colors, a construction of hardened chewing gum". Others called it 'the invasion of American culture' and 'the symbol of the loss of European culture'. Thus, the idea of a Disney park in Europe soon developed into a threat on European culture, more specifically French culture. Numerous intellectuals, journalists and politicians started to express their disagreement, sometimes transforming it into pure loathing. The backdrop to all of this turmoil is of course the relationship between the United States and France. From the moment that the Marquis de La Fayette set foot on American soil the relationship has been one of the love/hate category. Frustrated politicians and French-oriented journalists continue to emphasize this special relation. A recent event dealing with this is the 2003 Iraq war and the disagreement that the United States and France had over their involvement. As the conflict heated up, the American press urged the American public to boycott French products, ultimately relabeling French fries to 'Freedom Fries'. However, the past of the relationship also shows the strength of it, as the French population owes much to the Americans, especially with regards to the post-World War II reconstruction period. I.e. the Marshall Plan was essential for France to get back up on its feet after it had been severely hurt by the German occupation. Furthermore, this plan aided the spread of American cultural products in France.

Taking the love and hate aspects of the relationship into account it is quickly concluded that the French' pay much attention to their identity. The French identity is one which is strongly defended, as throughout the years French generations have created categories such as 'the French', 'Frenchness', and 'the French way of life'. Richard Kuisel elaborates on this 'Frenchness' in much detail in his book 'Seducing the French: The Dilemma of Americanization' since it greatly affects how the French viewed the Americans in the 1990s. They believed that their 'Frenchness' was at risk due to the emerging power, prosperity and prestige of America, hence they were initially very critical of the country. Moreover, Christian Renaut makes clear that the French-American relation also has much to do with pride and jealousy. He explains how on the one hand, the French continue to find it difficult to accept that America's multiculturalism resulting from cultural invasion does not seem to have an impact on America's economy. On the other hand, the Americans envy France for its artistic and cultural legacies, and how those legacies remain attractive despite France's limited attempts to hide its arrogance about them. Taking Renaut's arguments into account, it is not difficult to understand that when the Disney company decided to open a theme park in the country of Claude Monet, Victor Hugo and Voltaire with Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Dopey, many would not welcome them with open arms.

In addition, the fact that the development of Euro Disney took place in the 1980s also hurt the company's chances of success in France. Its American theme parks were successful as well as its Japanese counterpart, yet Disney's animation studio was doing very poorly. The fact that its animation studio has to run successfully is crucial for Disney's reception around the world as the films spread the Disney message. After all, bad films create negative reviews for the Disney company. Both 'The Black Cauldron' (1985) and 'Oliver and Company' (1988) failed in France, as was the case in the rest of the world, hence those movies cannot be seen as good promotion material for a theme park. Later successes of 'The Little Mermaid' (1989) and 'Beauty and the Beast' (1991) had little effect on French critics' view on Disney films. The idea that Disney harmed original European fairytales remained too popular in those circles. Very quickly, Ariane Mnouchkine, a successful French theatre director, labeled the Euro Disney park "a cultural Chernobyl". This phrase would be recycled dozens of times by French intellectuals criticizing Disney's European venture.

One of the most vocal critics was French Culture and Education Minister Jack Lang. At a Mexican UNESCO conference in 1981, Lang attacked certain great nations which "have no other morality than that of profit, and seek to impose a uniform culture on the whole world". He called this intellectual and financial imperialism. Later on he labeled Euro Disney as being "an enclave of American leisure industry in France". Still, he did not object to Disney's investment in the French economy and the many jobs it would create. This is confirmed by an article published in Panorama in 1992: "After criticizing the American culture and denouncing its wild imperialism until 1981, the left wing government had but to negotiate with Disney to fight against unemployment and carry on with the development of the Ile-de-France region".

Fortunately for Disney, not all intellectuals would take part in harshly criticizing the arrival of the park. Joffre Dumazedier, a sociologist, stated in 'Le Journal du Dimanche' in 1991: "at the time of Louis XIV, Europe spoke French. Then England fascinated the 19th century. Today it is up to the Americans, then it will be the Japanese. It is a stupid scare. Who cares Disney is American as long as it is well made". Basically the key to the project in France had to do with money issues and job opportunities. No government would turn down Disney's offer, as it had the potential to make a lot of money. In 1995, Right-wing President Jacques Chirac followed up Francois Mitterand. Chirac had a pro-Disneyland mindset as it fit with the right-wing tradition of admiring a sense of enterprise, whatever the cost, in addition to following the American model. Michael Eisner, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, confirms this in his autobiography "Chirac would prove more sympathetic to our project, but his arrival meant dealing with an entirely new group of officials".

Overall, the reality of the presence of a Disney theme park near Paris started a wave of criticism, especially from left-wingers. Disney tried to counter this criticism by continuously repeating that a majority of Disney films were based on European fairytales, hence they reasoned that they were paying homage to those classic tales from France, Germany and Denmark. In addition, Disney promoted the strong link France had with the company, since it had been present in the country for many years, covering various generations. Disney even went as far as showing that Walt Disney himself had drawn inspiration from Tivoli Gardens of Copenhagen in Denmark for the construction of Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Thus, uncovering Disney's European roots. These actions were successful to some extent, but they were not able to stop the negative views towards the park entirely.

To conclude, Disney took into account these initial responses to the park and especially the Imagineering department acted upon French criticism. They designed the looks and feels of the park and tried to incorporate some aspects of European culture. Thus, the Imagineers attempts should be given some credit as they can be considered to be the first who acknowledged Disney's new European context. This raises the question, in how far were the Imagineers successful in creating a European style Disney park?

Grand American designs with European details

The park's architecture is an aspect which is very hard to criticize. The Imagineers knew that they had to design a park which was located in the very land of medieval castles and chateaus. Experience that they had gained from the construction of the American parks and Tokyo park was used to the fullest. One can therefore easily draw the conclusion that the European park is the most beautiful of them all. Popular American attractions such as Splash Mountain, New Orleans Square and Country Bear Jamboree are not included in the park, but this has no effect on its attractiveness. A key aspect of the European park is its landscaping. All themed areas have their own detailed gardens which brings a visitor immediately to the lands portrayed. For example, Fantasyland is filled with French garden architecture. This type of gardening has a mythical and magical feel to it that perfectly connects to the fairytales theme of Fantasyland. However, one has to remain critical when it comes to Disney's architectural adaptations that were made to fit the European context. Mostly because one has to look very closely in order to discover European traits.

Victorian America is still represented in Main Street. Adventureland is not a place to pay attention to Europe as it is focused on Caribbean exotism. Best exemplified by the popular attraction Pirates of the Caribbean. Frontier land covers the heroic conquest of the West, also not a topic were 'Europeaness' could be easily inserted. Fantasyland is the best area in the park when it comes to adapting to Europeans contexts, but Disney has not succeeded in reaching its full potential. The land's carrousel is called 'Lancelot's Carrousel', but the Knights of the Round Table are never referred to. The same applies for attractions such as 'Peter Pan's flight' and the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups'. Literature refers to Alice's Garden labyrinth as the key example of European adaptation by the Disney company, but it is based on Disney's version of the story and not Lewis Caroll's. Thus, absolutely nothing has been done to add an extra European layer to the attractions. The only land where one finds some hints of Europeanness of the park is Discovery Land. The Imagineers originally wanted to copy the American version of Tomorrowland with its emphasis on American technology and space adventure. But even the Imagineers agreed that this would be unsuitable for a park located in Europe. Thus, they constructed a land based on Jules Verne and gave it a nineteenth-century look. They included the Nautilus, a movie theatre showing documentaries on Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, created a Jules Verne inspired balloon for the façade of Videopolis, and developed Space Mountain, a rollercoaster ride themed in Jules Verne style and following a Jules Verne's type of story. The remaining attractions in the land, 'Star Tours', and 'Michael Jackson's Captain EO' completely lack any links with Europe, because they are exact copies of the American versions. Exiting the resort will also not bring guests into European atmospheres as both the Disney village as the hotels are American oriented. The Village's 'Planet Hollywood', and its Buffalo Bill Wild West Show extravaganza are proof of this, as well as the themes of the hotels which can be drawn from their names: Newport Bay Club, Cheyenne Hotel, Santa Fe hotel, New York Hotel, Davy Crockett Ranch and Sequoia Lodge.

As for the castle, the Sleeping Beauty Castle is not an exact copy of the castles in the other parks, yet is it also not typically European. It is absolutely stunning, but it is not more European than its counter parts, since it remains a creation based on fantasy. The idea that it is based on the German Neuschwanstein castle is a poor attempt by Disney to give the castle a European background. However, there is one aspect of the Sleeping Beauty Castle which is very European oriented, and that is the fact that it has a second floor. In the first year of the park, the imagineers came aware of the different reactions Europeans and Americans have towards the Disney castle. Both Europeans and Americans were impressed by its outer design, but Europeans were also interested in its interior design. This is exemplified by the fact that many European visitors ran to the castle's stairs to see what was located on the upper levels. The Imagineers were never aware of the notion that castle interiors were also important, mostly because the American Disney castles are only decorated on the ground level. After all, castles are not part of the local scenery in America, so why would American visitors be interested in lavish interiors? Intrigued by European visitors' reactions, the imagineers designed 'La Galerie de la Belle au Bois-Dormant' located on the mezzanine level of the castle. This is a 'walk-trough attraction' depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty by means of stained-glass windows, tapestries and illuminated story-books. The attraction ends on the balcony of the castle so that guests have the opportunity to view Fantasy Land from above which hopefully results in feeling like a prince or princess.

Despite this European oriented addition to the castle, Disney's architecture in France remains very American in nature. However, other aspects of the park have been 'Europeanized' based on European feedback or at least that is what the Disney company promotes to its guests. These 'Europeanized' aspects will be discussed later on, but first one has to establish the differences between European and American behaviors towards and within Disney parks in order to fully understand the adaptations that were made by the Disney company. Thus, to what extent does European behavior in Disney parks differ from American behavior?

American culture vs. European culture in the Disney park

The park struggled economically in the early years of its existence. Mostly, because Disney forgot to realize that the American visitor is not the same as the European visitor. First of all, the European visitor will not spend his or her money in the same way, most often it is not even spend at all. Secondly, the European visitor does not have a close connection with American Disney culture. For most American families it is normal to be raised with the Mickey Mouse Club, Disney songs and television shows. This is not the case in France and the rest of Europe, because animation celebrities extent beyond Mickey and Minnie. The French have Asterix, and Obelix, whereby jokes from the these comic books have become staples in the French language. The Belgians have Spike and Suzy (Suske and Wiske in Dutch). The Dutch have Oliver B. Bumble and Tom Puss (Olivier B. Bommel and Tom Poes in Dutch) to name a few European comic celebrities. Mickey and company cannot therefore be considered to be the most important characters in European upbringing. This suggests that Europeans are more reserved when it comes to the popular notion of a Disney park being a must-see attraction. Thirdly, European people, especially from France, Holland, Germany and Scandinavia, remain very reserved when it comes to showing excitement towards Disney characters. The American parks are traditionally filled with parents dressed up in Disney merchandise, trying to channel their inner child. The European mindset simply does not comply with this. Many researchers have tried to find reasons for this, yet no consensus among conclusions has been reached, although some researchers connect Europe's reserved mindset to its old cultural heritage. The same cultural differences can be seen in visitors' reactions to parades and shows. American entertainment is accompanied by much applause and audience participation, while Europeans often prefer distance between performer and audience. This is of course not the case for people from the south regions of Europe, as their social codes support close contact, yet their visitor numbers are lower than the ones from the north regions of Europe, hence their presence has little effect on the general European reaction. All of these cultural differences cannot be changed by the Disney company, as they are so deeply rooted within Europe, yet the Disney company was able and willing to change some aspects of the Disney formula to fit European tastes. It must be noted, however, that these changes were mostly motivated by financial loses. By 1993, the park was on the verge of bankruptcy and essential modifications had to be made in order to keep the park from closing down. Thus, in how far was the Disney company successful in changing traits of its formula to European tastes? And have these changes affected the park's appeal for European visitors?. Adaptations that will be the discussed are found in food offerings, merchandise and employee policies in order to examine the park's cultural hybridity.

Disney's attempts to adapt to local tastes

Food

The European park originally copied its food offerings to the ones on offer in the American parks, however, the company soon discovered that European eating habits had to be taken into account, more specifically European meal times. French travel editor Pierre Alamou commented on this by stating: "Unlike grazing Americans, all Europeans eat lunch at the same time,with the exception of Spanish and Italians, fortunately."

Before the park's opening the Disney company had already catered to Europeans' preference for table-service restaurants. Main Street is the home to Walt's, a restaurant specialized in American cuisine and decorated to the life of Walt Disney. Located in Fantasyland is Auberge de Cendrillon, a restaurant themed to the Cinderella story. The restaurant is famous for its French cuisine and for its focus on French culture. However, its French culture is seen through Disney's eyes as it is portrayed as the culture of lavish royal banquets and dances. The Blue Lagoon Restaurant in Adventureland specializes in seafood and offers a perfect setting for quiet elaborate meals. Overall, the table service restaurants serve to European tastes, yet their popularity is frequently challenged by high menu prices. This was the topic of many newspaper headlines in the early 1990s, for example "Europe chokes on Euro Disney! Food and drinks very expensive!" and "Pricey day out!" Feedback like this motivated Disney to quickly begin to focus on counter-service restaurants which offer quick and relatively cheap meals. Examples of such restaurants are Captain Hook's Galley and Casey's Corner. The existence of one counter-service restaurant in particular is interesting, namely Toad Hall Restaurant. This restaurant is built in the English manor style and its interior refers to the adventures of Mr. Toad. These adventures probably do not immediately ring a bell with European customers as their popularity is mostly found in America. Despite the fact that it is based on a story that is popular in America, the restaurant offers English food, as in fish and chips. This shows how Disney planners welcomed international cuisine to cater to European tastes. In addition, croissants, croquet monsieurs and Italian pizza are also offered in the park. As a result, international cuisine and American-style food are both equally featured in the park, although typical American Disney food such as corn dogs, cinnamon rolls and turkey legs have not been imported. Probably because these types of food are still too 'foreign' for European guests.

Food that is quintessential Disneyland Paris is the pizza burger, which was invented in Buzz Lightyear's Pizza Planet Restaurant. Its name covers its content perfectly, it is a burger with pizza buns. One could argue that it is a perfect example of Disney's Europeanization as it combines the American burger with the Italian Pizza. However, it still feels very 'American", despite the fact that it has never been introduced in the American parks. One can draw the conclusion that the pizza burger encapsulates Disney's attempts to portray American food to Europeans. It has European details, but those are dominated by American designs.

The serving of alcoholic beverages in the Disney Park is a highly debated topic. Initially the park banned alcohol as it could potentially harm the creation of a safe family haven. An idea invented by Walt Disney himself. However, in 1993, alcohol was introduced in the park. It was first only on offer in table-service restaurants, but it slowly made its way to counter-service. In this way, Disney paid respect to European dining habits, but more importantly it created much more revenue. This decision definitely played a role in the rise of ticket sales. Next to adaptations made in food offerings and restaurant services, Disney also adapted its merchandise to European contexts.

Souvenirs

Expensive upscale goods initially dominated the Disney stores in the park. Disney planners decided to do this as those goods were very successful in Japan. Moreover, it would show that Disney merchandise was not tacky or distasteful, an image that dominated European views on Disney memorabilia. However, the high price of these products as well as their designs were not accepted by visitors. Some visitors wanted an exact copy of the American merchandise. i.e. big Goofy hats, Mickey Mouse tie-dye shirts and princess dresses. Other visitors preferred 'fashionable' merchandise with underemphasized Disney symbols much in the style of Belgian fashion brand Donaldson. This brand was a Disney licensee and produced stylish trench coats with Minnie Mouse embroidery among other things. In general, Disney took the best of both worlds. It offers typical American merchandise, but it also offers a 'European' oriented line, called 'Produit exclusive Disneyland Paris', as it name suggests , this line includes products that are only on offer in Disneyland Paris.

Employee policy

The imposition of American customs on French workers and management was disastrous for the Disney company. It clearly showed a cultural gap between French and Americans. The restrictions imposed by Disney on how one has to look for the company were very strict. Bill Bryson commented on this in an article he wrote in 1993 for Observer Magazine:

"No one on the Disney pay roll is allowed to smoke, wear flashy jewelry, chew gum, tint their hair an unnatural shade, posses a visible tattoo, be fat or fail to subdue their sweat glands. Men must wear their hair short and may not have a beard or moustache. The Mormons ask less than this"

This strictness was not something that the French were used to, and many of them saw it as something that was inconsiderate to their own cultural values. The American management defended the strict policy as being a necessity for creating the "Happiest Place on Earth", consequently not acting as if they would change the policy to European needs. Law suits eventually forced Disney's management to make adaptations. In 1995, Disneyland Paris was taken to court by French labor unions. The unions pleaded that the strictness of the dress code policy was in violation of French labor laws. Disney lost the case and had to make the policy more lenient, thus cast members have now more freedom when it comes to hairstyles and accessories. Later on, Disney would replace American managers with French ones to help bridge cultural differences connected to management styles.

These adaptations made on food, souvenirs and employee relations shows that Disney slowly began to realize that it had to fit European contexts if it was to be successful on the long run. However, it was not an easy process for the company. The food offerings and souvenir collection were easily adapted as they brought in much money, yet the company was very reluctant in changing its American management and employee policies. Only the intervention of law suits could bring change, and even up until today there remains friction between management and employees. In 2009, three labor unions organized strikes during the Christmas season in the park. Employees demanded higher wages for 2010 and they showed their determination by walking off their jobs during the middle of the day. This had as a result that shows and parades were cancelled. The employees even started a protest march on Main Street, something which one would never see in the American parks. The labor unions called off the strikes fairly quickly, but no information can be found whether the employees succeeded in getting higher wages.

All in all, Disney's adaptations to fit with European contexts are focused on earning as much revenue as possible, no matter the cost. A factor that plays a crucial role in this process is the anti-American climate, as concluded earlier. This climate has ebbed and flowed in the past. The 1980s, the time when Disney introduced its plan for an European theme park ,were very anti-American or at least it was mainstream. Disney felt pressure to react to critical European responses, hence the park's design is somewhat European oriented. One can argue that anti-Americanism in the 1990s was marginalized, and it was the economic recession that dominated European minds. This recession could have been the foundation on which many Europeans were critical of the European theme park, since it was so obviously focused on making money. This hypothesis is somewhat proven by the countless articles in magazines such as 'Business Week' on the financial situation of the Disney theme park. It was exactly this time period when Disney suffered the most loses and it was precisely this time period when Disney made adaptations to gain some European flavor. On the whole, these adaptations leading to a level of cultural hybridity had effect as attendance levels rose over the years, making it the most successful theme park in Europe. It continues to hold this position, but as the money keeps flowing in, the European flavor is flowing out.

Disney opened its second European theme park, called Walt Disney Studios in 2002. The theme for this park is the movie making industry, more specifically Hollywood. The studio park faced disastrous early years, but it seems to be holding up quite nicely nowadays. On first sight, the main reason for this lies in its attraction offerings. The park had few attractions in the beginning, but the opening of Crush's Coaster in 2007 and the Hollywood Tower of Terror in 2008 made the park attractive to many visitors. It seems to be that thrills have become more important than cultural issues as the park has made limited adaptations to tap into its European surroundings. The rich history of European cinema is dealt with on some occasions, for example the insertion of European film clips in The Studio Tram Tour which is in fact a copy of the world famous Studio Tram Tour in Universal Studios, Hollywood. Still, these European film clips are overshadowed by clips from American block buster movies such as Armageddon which even has its own attraction unsurprisingly called Armageddon - Special Effects-.

On the whole, the success of this park can be devoted entirely to its attraction base, but the fading away of anti-American sentiments seem to play a role as well. The second park was never called a 'Cultural Chernobyl' nor was it labeled as being part of 'American imperialism'. The cultural issues were never really discussed in the newspapers, merely the parks initial poor attraction count. It is exactly this development which shows that cultural resistance towards anything Disney is not automatic as the eb and flow of anti-American contexts is crucial for the park's success, that is the European responses are affected by the intensity of an anti-American climate. Disney only reacts to these responses if they can make money out of it, hence the issue of employee policies is still unresolved as it involves Disney losing money. Taking this idea of the level of anti-Americanism into account, one can effortlessly explain the success of Tokyo Disneyland, because it is a park which profited immensely from a pro-American context.

Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983 and it has been a success ever since. The Japanese requested that it would be exactly like the American parks, hence the Tokyo park is blatantly American in orientation. The owner of the park, the Oriental Land Company commented on this as follows: "When we built Tokyo Disney, we made the decision to keep the American flavor as much as possible". However, when one looks closely one can find some differences with the American parks. There are more covered areas due to the humid climate in Japan, and several attractions have been adapted. For example, an animated history of Japan replaced the Hall of Presidents. Moreover, Main Street has been redesigned into the World Bazaar. These adaptations give the Japanese the opportunity to make a little bit of Disney their own. It is certainly the case that the Japanese are very selective in what they accept from American culture, despite the popular idea that Japan accepts all things American. It is true that American fashion, music and baseball are popular there, but they always make such imports their own, as accurately demonstrated by the rise of the Japanese rap scene in recent years. Moreover, the Japanese were never afraid that the arrival of the Disney company would hurt their Japanese identity and culture. Researchers suggest this happened because the Disney theme park promotes aspects that are familiar to Japanese culture. Japanese culture appreciates the clean and efficient factors of Disneyland as well as its label that it is 'the best of the best' in the theme park industry. In addition, Japanese practices promote harmony and hospitality towards guests are much in line with the policies taught at Disney University in America. The exact same policies that the French continue to detest. Overall, the all American model succeeded in Japan and it failed in France. This shows how the cultural reception towards Disney is not something that is automatically negative.

In designing its parks, Disney merely has to train its cultural awareness. Progress made on this field is demonstrated in the latest park, Hong Kong Disneyland which is not too Chinese and not too American. It struck the right cultural balance, quite literally as Disney hired feng shui specialists to balance the park out. Chinese responses to the park are fairly positive, although its small size concerns some. As for culture, the Disney company started an extensive promotion campaign for the park, even before its openings, in order to get the Chinese acquainted with Disney culture as Mao's China banned Disney products. The promotion campaign has proven to be successful as Disney has become very popular as demonstrated by the temporarily closing down of the park in February 2006 due to overcrowding.

Conclusion

The Disneyland park in Europe is American and will always be American. This is something that the Disney company simply cannot change, even if they tried by implementing as much Europeanness as possible. The fact that Tokyo Disneyland was so successful made Disney less aware of cultural differences and their influence on the success of reception. It cannot be questioned that French people have been influenced by the American model ranging from jeans to hamburgers, yet their French identity remains dear to their hearts; a notion which the Disney company forgot to take into account in the early years of the park. European criticism on the park made Disney aware of cultural differences and they introduced some more European flavor to the park by redesigning its attractions, food offerings, merchandise sales and employee policies. This combination of cultures aided in attracting more visitors which shows that cultural hybridity is essential for the park's survival, eventually being the foundation for its success. However, one always has to remain critical of the level of adaptation. Yes, food and drink menus were changed, but they still fall under the category of fast food. Yes, attractions have been adapted, but they still represent a fantasy land that was constructed on American soil. In the end, the park's top coat is European, but its base coat is all American.

Next to its idea of cultural hybridity, the park's success is also very depended on anti-American contexts as was demonstrated by comparing the reception of the Asian parks to the one in Europe. Nowadays, Europe is slowly losing its anti-Americanism as it comes to grips with the rise of globalization. As a result, Disney has more room to express its Americanness which has been concluded from the success of its second European theme park Walt Disney Studios. A park that appears to be unashamed of its American roots and content. It is unlikely that Disneyland Paris would close down in the near future as its success is unmatched within Europe. Moreover, the worldwide success of the Disney parks motivates the company to keep on expanding as Disneyland Shanghai is currently being built and expected to open in 2012. The reception of this park is something to look forward to, although the intensity of Disney's marketing campaigns suggest that mǐ qí will probably not be put into a corner by the Chinese.