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[Oscar]

Okay, I was wondering about the ways EuroDisney adapted to meet the French audience after the less than successful first few months.  I know about the more obvious things such as the name change to Disneyland Paris and the sale of alcohol within the park but is there anything else?  There must be lots of subtle things as I remember reading that the park was planned assuming that an European audience would be just the same as an American one.

Finally, was this the correct place to post this question? If not; I greatly apologise as this is my first post.

[davewasbaloo]

Lol. Good post.

Some of the major differences were having smaller Mickey Mouses and other such things on clothes, rather than big ones. Introducing more Mayo into the restaurants. They also assumed that fireplaces (there are I think 18 in the park) and table service restaurants would place a bigger role (oh man, I miss the Explorer's Club in Adventureland). Also, there is the famous instance of how the Vincent Price sound track for Phantom Manor only lasted a week because it was in english.

The big issue was they built many hotels and restaurants thinking they would be fully booked. Instead they found cheap day trippers that brought picnic lunches and did not realise the kind of experience DLP would be, they were expecting a fair with toons. Sadly, in Toy Story Playland, that is exactly what we got.

[dagobert]

Disneyland Paris offers alcoholic beverages in the Disneyland Park, because people complained about it. At first it wasn't possible to enjoy a glass of wine or beer in the restaurants. I don't know if it wasn't possible to get alcohol in the table service restaurants, too, but now you can get wine and beer in every restaurant. In the US Disney doesn't serve alcohol in the Magic Kingdom style parks. Does someone know what the policies about alcohol are in Tokyo and Hong Kong?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a drinker, but I'm glad Disney changed the policy in Europe, because sometimes, especially on vacation, I enjoy having a glass of wine at dinner.

[davewasbaloo]

Alcohol is only served at Club33 in TDL (and California) it is a members only club, though TDS does serve Alcohol (as does DCA in Ca, and Epcot, DAK and DHS in WDW).

HKDL does not serve alcohol in their MK park. So Paris is indeed unique. And I am not a big drinker either, but I did miss having wine the last time we went to the Blue Bayou in Ca. And I know loads of American fans that think it is disgusting that DLP serves alcohol. I like that it does.

then again, most American Disney fans I know get fidgety if they are in a restaurant for more than 40 minutes. Typically we are in them for 2 hours at DLP (I love that).

[dagobert]

Alcohol is only served at Club33 in TDL (and California) it is a members only club, though TDS does serve Alcohol (as does DCA in Ca, and Epcot, DAK and DHS in WDW).

HKDL does not serve alcohol in their MK park. So Paris is indeed unique. And I am not a big drinker either, but I did miss having wine the last time we went to the Blue Bayou in Ca. And I know loads of American fans that think it is disgusting that DLP serves alcohol. I like that it does.

then again, most American Disney fans I know get fidgety if they are in a restaurant for more than 40 minutes. Typically we are in them for 2 hours at DLP (I love that).

I know what you mean about American fans. A few years ago I started a topic on another Disney forum and some members would be very upset if Disney would change that policy. I really don't see any problem with selling alcohol in the parks, especially when alcohol is served in the other US Disney parks.

In my opinion the US have a strange relationship to alcohol. Legal drinking age is 21, while they are allowed to vote at the age of 18 and voting is also a big responsibility. When we went out for dinner with friends, nearly no one had alcohol, maybe that's because of the free refill.

I think wine and beer are a big part of European culture and so Disney had to adjust.

[davewasbaloo]

Lol. It does make me laugh. On a road trip to Texas in the early 80's, we went to a part where kids could marry at 14 (with parental permission), drive at 15, vote at 18, and drinking was illegal in that county. They taught me how to shoot riffles to go fishing (to kill the snakes) and I was 9. It was very different.

In many ways my attitudes are more European than American these days, problem is, I culturally fit in neither. Lol.

[dagobert]

Lol. It does make me laugh. On a road trip to Texas in the early 80's, we went to a part where kids could marry at 14 (with parental permission), drive at 15, vote at 18, and drinking was illegal in that county. They taught me how to shoot riffles to go fishing (to kill the snakes) and I was 9. It was very different.

In many ways my attitudes are more European than American these days, problem is, I culturally fit in neither. Lol.

Can each county in the US decide that drinking is illegal? Isn't there a federal law? I'm not very familiar with the US law system, although I'm studying legal sciences and I took a course about US criminal law during my semester in the US.

Maybe it depends on the region how people think about alcohol. Texas and the Mid West is known to be more conservative than other parts of the US. I found it strange that there were special shops to buy alcohol, while the regular supermarket didn't sell beer or wine. I even had to get a US licence to buy alcohol, because many of that shops didn't accept my passport.

I met a lot of people who would like to change the legal drinking age. A friend of mine spent a semester in Germany during high school and there he was allowed to drink beer legally. Back in the US he had to wait another four years.

Sorry Dave, I didn't want to rant about your home country, but I just think that the US policy in alcohol is a bit tough, while buying weapons is a normal thing.

Disney doesn't sell alcohol in Disneyland and in the Magic Kingdom, because Walt didn't like that and because they are family parks, or am I wrong on that?

[davewasbaloo]

Lol, I think it is bonkers too. But yes, each county can decide whether to sell alcohol or not, but nationally you cannot drink until you are 21 (nor gamble either - and it used to be New Jersey and Nevada (where Los Vegas is) were the only two states that allowed that).

Some of it is from the issues with mob culture. some of it is because the very strict religious Europeans moved to the US and then pretty much went 250 years without contact with the outside world.

I am fortunate, I am from San Francisco, one of the more European thinking cities. I could not bear to live in the Mid west.

Now back to the point, DIsney was not against alcohol per se, he liked a scotch, a lot. But he did not want the seedy carnivals the US had at the time, where alcohol was the norm. Therefore, he developed the rule.

However, in the early years of Disneyland, they had an area outside the berm called Holidayland, where companies and large families could hold picnics. Disney would sell these people a basket lunch, and it included beer. However, too many people were drinking too much and then disrupting things in the park (I think any time a culture makes something taboo, people take advantage when they have access). He therefore closed Holidayland down after a few years. Club33 is allowed alcohol because at the time, people did business over a drink (watch Mad Men). This club was developed as a business club, rather than a cult for Disney obsessives like us that it is today. He felt that people would not drink too much if they were doing business and therefore allowed it. And in after hours private parties in DL, they do serve drinks in carts in the park.

Another funny story was he was going to put Walt Disney World in St Louis at one stage. It is reported that the guys he was doing business with were hard drinkers, and they said he would have to change the way the parks worked if he wanted to do business in Eastern America. That meeting, and their drunken behaviour allegedly made him switch his thoughts to Florida. Lol