Walt Disney Company

1. Firstly, the Walt Disney Company was founded in the USA from two American

brothers named Walter Elias Disney and Roy Oliver Disney. Consequently the

Disney product itself is an American one. Furthermore the extent as well as

the content of the Disney stories is very American, because they deal with

topics such as "The excitement of great adventures" or "The loneliness of

being among strangers"; these are related to the American history as well as

to its cultural values.1

There is a substantial universal part within Disney. Firstly, Disney targets and

attracts people from all age classes, like children, adults and even

grandparents.2 Secondly, Disney casts and hires people from different

nationalities to provide a multicultural und multilingual workforce, being able to

support their international clientele.3

2. Firstly, Tokyo Disneyland, which was designed to imitate the Disney parks in

the US, was running very well with minor cultural adaptions. Consequently

Disney managers wanted to apply the same concept to Disneyland Paris, as

cultural differences are even smaller, compared to the cultural differences

between USA und Japan.4 Therefore the managers were relatively confident

and optimistic about their original plans and future expectations.5

Secondly, the managers didn't expect the intense criticism from Europe's

cultural elite, e.g. The French president didn't show up for the opening event

because it wasn't his "cup of tea", as well as the anti-Americanism from the

French side.6

3. Firstly, Disney changed their name from "Euro Disney" to "Disneyland Paris",

because they wanted to create distance from the debated Euro currency as

well as to emphasize the Paris location. In addition Disney constructed a city,

called Val d' Europe, in order to integrate Disney into France and Europe.

Furthermore, Disney opened up a second theme park, called Walt Disney

Studios Park. In this park Disney