ABSTRACT
The effects of globalisation, or the increasing integration of national economies, are particularly evident in leisure and tourism. The global spread of homogeneous consumer products has, for example, been labelled McDonaldisation (Ritzer, 1993) and Disneyfication (de Roux, 1994). The growth of the theme park, and in particular the market leader in the global theme park industry, Walt Disney, has made the Disney parks one of the most talked about symbols of global cultural homogenisation. Boje (1995:997) has even been prompted to pose the question ‘Who is better known, Jesus Christ or Micky Mouse?’ As Altman (1996:43) comments: ‘Walt Disney occupies a special place in the global culture of the second half of the twentieth century. With the advent of the mass media, Disney characters are household figures all over the globe’. The Disney phenomenon is particularly interesting from a management perspective, not only because Disney itself is often praised as an example of excellent management (Peters and Austin, 1985), but also because Disney parks are frequently cited as examples of post-modern styles of tourism consumption (Bryman, 1993).
