BROWSE COUNTRIES/ TERRITORIES
By Company or Business Venture in Asia
For Mickey's a jolly good fellow
On November 18, 2008, he turned 80. Arguably the most famous cartoon character on earth, everyone knows him as Mickey Mouse but few realise he started his life as a rabbit.
The saga of Mickey began when Walt Disney, son of an Irish immigrant, left Kansas City in 1920 to seek his fortune in Hollywood, armed with only US$40 in his pocket and a half-finished cartoon in his suitcase.
Disney was a great showman, and a genius animator and story-teller. But Hollywood closed its doors on him. It was Margaret Winkler, a New York distributor, who recognised his talent and commissioned a series of short animation stories.
Mickey McCarthy?
Walt Disney was a life-long anti-Communist. What would he say, now that Disney's cozying up to China?
Have the "Mouses" turned "red" in China?
Ocean Park vs Disneyland
Under the sea, under the sea,
Darling, it's better, down where it's wetter...
(Under the Sea, from Disney's "The Little Mermaid")
Hong Kong's most famous theme park seems to indicate that under the sea is better than anything above.
Mickey's wayward ways
Hong Kong has learnt that marrying into the Disney family is like marrying one of those men mothers have always warned against: a ne'er-do-well philanderer who comes home only to get more money.
Think of a marriage where the wife pays for 90% of the matrimonial home and gives a handsome monthly stipend to her spouse. The husband, on the other hand, spends his days philandering. When the wife is told her husband may have a few women outside, she does not complain. Instead she explains that everything is still fine because "there is space in our marriage for two to three others".
One territory, two systems
Disneyland may not be above Hong Kong law, but it certainly behaves that way.
On the eve of Hong Kong Disneyland's opening ceremony, local officials clashed with the theme park after the latter ordered food inspectors to remove their caps and badges before entering the premises, to avoid scaring visitors. The officials were there to investigate complaints of food poisoning. Disney later apologised, but its trouble with locals had just begun.
It's a small world, after all
Hong Kong Disneyland is by far the tiniest of the dozen or so Disney theme parks around the world. Both Hong Kong and Disney officials have downplayed the size issue, saying extensions are on the way.
But they failed to tell the Hong Kong people — whose money paid for most of the park — that size is crucial in theme parks. The bigger it is, the easier to make money. Below a certain size, theme parks find it hard to survive.
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