I think you can tell a lot about the culture by how a global brand localizes.
Take Disneyland Hong Kong for example, there was a huge variety in the merchandise, less rides, and even an exclusive members only shop.
There was no Mulan.
No Lion King.
But an enormous love for Duffy and friends, who dominated the shelf space in the stores.
For further context, today in the park, Hyper space mountain reached a max que time of 10 minutes but to meet and greet the characters from Duffy and friends had a 60 minutes wait time all day long.
There seemed to be a lot more adults in full princess outfits than Paris.
There were very short ride queue times and someone posing for a camera everywhere you turned.
Which makes me think for the locals Hong Kong Disneyland serves more as a venue for shopping and photoshoots rather than riding rollercoasters.
Which is totally fine, Disneyland can serve many purposes but it was an interesting comparison to the European and American parks.
Thomas Duggan 