Theme parks abroad discover Americana doesn’t always fit

  • Mike Schneider / Associated Press
  • Friday, December 28, 2001 9:00pm
  • Business

By Mike Schneider

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — When it opens in 2005, Hong Kong Disneyland may be the Most Harmonious Place on Earth.

That’s because the 310-acre park will be constructed according to the ancient principles of feng shui, the Chinese system of arranging buildings and furniture in harmony with natural elements.

Doorways will be aligned so that no sharp objects point at them. Rocks and pools of water will be added to the park, which is being built to resemble Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., dubbed by Disney the Happiest Place on Earth.

U.S. theme park companies building abroad are finding they must strike a balance between authentic Americana and native sensibilities.

More American theme park companies are looking abroad for growth. Just this year, Universal Studios opened a theme park in Osaka, Japan, and Disney opened Tokyo DisneySea. Next year, Disney is opening a second park outside Paris, Walt Disney Studios, and Six Flags is opening a Warner Bros. Movie World park in Madrid.

"The U.S. and North America are very mature markets, some say saturated," said Tim O’Brien, an editor at the trade publication Amusement Business.

One of the most difficult things about opening a Hollywood-style theme park in Japan was adapting American humor to a Japanese audience, said Norm Elder, senior vice president of international marketing at Universal Studios Recreation Group in Los Angeles.

Some jokes or story lines in the "Wild, Wild, Wild West Show" that ordinarily would have been conveyed verbally, for instance, were performed physically or subtitled.

Such concerns also carry over to the menus at the park’s 20 restaurants, which include Mel’s Diner, Louie’s N.Y. Pizza Parlor and Schwab’s. While the food is predominantly American, much of it has Japanese touches. The company tested 4,000 menu items over three years to get the right combinations.

"You’ll get a spaghetti dish, but instead of spaghetti and meatballs, you’ll have some kind of seafood with it," Elder said.

Bows to local culture take other forms.

Before Orlando-based theme park designer Bill Coan began building the Taman Ria amusement park in Jakarta, Indonesia, local officials buried a water buffalo’s head below the foundation for good luck. The attraction opened in the late 1990s.

Not everyone is keen on inserting the native country’s traditions. Disneyland Tokyo originally did not have a Japanese restaurant.

"The Japanese told us from the beginning, ‘Don’t Japanese us,’ " said Marty Sklar, vice chairman and principle creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering. "What they meant was that, ‘We came here for Disney. We came for America. Don’t give us Japan because we know Japan.’ "

Disneyland Paris, on the other hand, was quick to incorporate French elements, such as the restaurant Auberge de Cendrillon in Fantasyland.

"The French say, ‘We are very important. Therefore, don’t forget you have to pay attention to our culture,’ " Sklar said.

For Hong Kong Disneyland, company officials consulted a feng shui master on the design. Feng shui followers believe the environment is crowded with invisible energy lines that carry with them either harmony or discord, health or sickness, success or misfortune.

While 95 percent of the design was already feng shui-compliant, the master recommended an extra courtyard be built with access to rocks and a small pond, said Wing Chao, executive vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering.

Even the park’s location has good feng shui: It is situated between a hill shaped like a white tiger and another hill resembling a dragon.

"It’s a very prosperous and fortunate site," Chao said.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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