Disney Theme Parks
The Walt Disney Company is the world's largest amusement park operator. It runs all of its parks as theme parks, which are amusement parks that focus on a particular motif such as cartoon characters or animals, in addition to the traditional offerings of rides, food, and games. Map 1.2 shows that Disney operates seven of the world's ten most attended amusement parks. Its newest park in Hong Kong opened in late 2005 and has not had enough time at this writing to became one of the most visited parks.
Disney has five theme parks outside the United States. These are Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, Disney Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios (a movie theme park adjacent to Disneyland Paris). Disney has also signed a letter of intent to build another in Shanghai, China, to be ready in time for the Olympics there in 2008. When all of these are operating, Disney's theme park attendance outside the United States will exceed that inside the country.
Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983 and is now the world's most attended amusement park. The Oriental Land Company of Japan proposed the park to Disney, which accepted the concept but did not want to provide any financing. Therefore, the Oriental Land Company owns the park. Disney provided master planning, design, manufacturing and training services during construction, and consulting service after completion of the facility. Disney received fees for its efforts during the construction phase, and it now receives royalties from admissions and from merchandise and food sales. The Oriental Land Company also owns Tokyo DisneySea, which opened in 2001, and Disney receives licensing royalties from the operation.
The Tokyo park is in some ways a paradox. Although such firms as Lenox China and Mister Donut had to adapt to Japanese sizes and tastes, Tokyo Disneyland is nearly a replica of Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in the United States. Signs are in English, and most food is U.S.-style. The management of the Oriental Land Company demanded this because it wanted visitors to feel they were getting the "real thing" and because the company had noted the enormous success that such franchises as McDonald's have had in Japan as Japanese