Post #161539 by THOR's on Wed, May 25, 2005 1:31 PM

You are right Tropical.. I understand in the long run the reasons...especially when you consider other cultures that are not exposed as liberally to images as we are in the US.
Many times, I was asked to design attractions in Asia dealing with adventures in the jungle or even "haunted themes" but told not to show skulls or things like that. Just depends on the regions. So, yes, Disney covers a broad market of visitors and just covers their butts by avoiding controversy when they can.
One funny comment I recall when designing attractions for Disney Sea in Tokyo was a simulator ride idea I developed based on a submarine race with "evolved" sea creatures of tomorrow that raced humans underwater.

It was a humorous thrill attraction. All at Disney internally loved the idea and the characters I developed, but when I pitched it to the Japanese side for approval to devop the idea further, they red flagged it. They said" In Japan, we just don't think of sea creatures as "funny". Then they added.."Oh..except for an octopus...now, they are funny!" With that , we looked at eachother and again realized that at times, you can't fight the perceptions of a culture. Also, can't expect them to understand the psyche of the "warped Americans" sense of what they find amusing! All in fun though.