Disneyfication and localisation : The cultural globalisation process of Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) was seen as the 'Millennium Dream Comes True!' in 1999, but as 'Hong Kong's shame' after its opening in 2005. In this article, interviews and ethnographic research are used to examine the different positions of various actors (HKDL workers, consumers and media practitioners) in their relationship with HKDL. Appropriating Lefebvre's conceptual triad of space, these stories show that Disney brought Hong Kong a physical park, non-transparent values and related management practices. These same stories also demonstrate that HKDL workers and visitors work and consume the park in a local way that Disneyland management finds difficult to control; local people produce and circulate the changed meanings of 'Disney' and change certain Disney management policies.