An Interview with Paul Pressler, Part One
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LP: Moving away from Disneyland, I assume you’ve been to Tokyo DisneySea many times?

Pressler: Yes I have and I’m going again next week.

LP: What do you think?

Pressler: It’s fantastic. It’s kind of interesting because the Tokyo market has been our single most successful market for an individual theme park taking into account Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and our other individual parks. I think our brand character which is optimisic and very youthful in a lot of ways - fits a much broader age demographic in Japan than it does right here in the United States. So not only do we get families with no kids but we get a lot of guests between the ages of 15 and 25 who embrace this park the way a seven year old embraces the park here. So there is a uniqueness to that. For Tokyo DisneySea we came up with a thematic which was unique and clever - the idea of telling the stories with the seven different ports of calls, some of which are realistic, some of which are fantastical, and then using the ocean beyond the park as a berm which was kind of a clever way of making the whole thing feel even more real and expansive. So I think that presents what we've done in terms of the individual scenes and a lot of the attractions.

An overview of the Tokyo Disneyland Resort including DisneySea (c) Disney
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LP: If DisneySea turns out to be as spectacular as it looks like it’s going to be, what kind of impact do you think it’ll have in terms of raising the bar of theme parks, even here in the United States?

Pressler: I have to say, to me, it is the same bar that we always try to raise, which is creating stories and giving you an emotional way to experience those stories. I think the the Sindbad attraction over there takes us one step further in terms of what we’ve done with technology. We were able to use 3D animation with live actors and animation on a stage which gives us another way to give the guests a more interactive experience that immerses you in more than storytelling. So we're pushing that story envelope. And I think that when you look at the park over there, there are a couple of attractions that use a lot of the same technologies that we’ve used before, like the Star Tours technology - we're using the cabins over there. Indiana Jones is also being used. So that just continues to push us to say how do I make this story even more immersive for our guests?

I think that California Soarin’ is a good example of that. All the rides and attractions need a story,  but some are going to be more thrill based. You look at Tower of Terror, the hotel is ominous. It is fun to go into it, but once you get into that elevator shaft it’s about turning your stomach upside down. Other attractions, like Indiana Jones for example, really are about letting you believe that you are on that adventure with Indy. So I think that Tokyo kind of pushes the bar a little bit from that perspective.

LP: I know the Oriental Land Co. handles a lot of the financial burden of building Tokyo DisneySea. If that were Disney’s responsibility, would DisneySea still be being built?

Pressler: Yes. I think you need to understand that the economics in Japan are different from that of the United States. There are two basic fundamentals. One is the average guest spends significantly more on merchandise in Tokyo than in the United States. That allows you to invest more against that spending. And then, probably the most important difference, is the cost of capital. The cost of capital in Tokyo is 1 or 2 percent whereas the cost of capital in the United States is 7 or 8 percent. So the kind of return on investment that the shareholders require in Japan is significantly different than that of the United States. This creates the ability to invest more money in Japan.

LP: Moving over to Paris, what’s going on over there with the new park?

Pressler: The new park is moving ahead quite nicely. As you know, Walt Disney Studios is the name of the park. We have given our guests there a chance to experience behind-the-scenes movie making. There are a couple of unique pieces over there. The stunt show is unique and it’s going to be a lot of fun. One of the most renowned stunt creators, Remy Julian, is helping to do the show with us. We put ourselves right in front of the action ... a massive car chase, a big huge explosion because we always like to explode things - and we get you wet. And then we have another show based on the film Armageddon which is an incredible special effects show that puts you inside of the space ship as it’s being bombarded by a meteor shower. So it is very realistic. And then Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will be there which, as you know, is a Florida attraction.

LP: There was a lot of discussion about Beijing getting the Olympics recently. I’m sure a lot went into the decision to build the park in Hong Kong. How tough of a decision is that - how do you go about making that decision to build there?

Pressler: Let me first explain how we make our decisions to grow internationally. If you think about what the criteria are for us to go into different countries, there are a couple of things that we think about. Obviously, the size of the population. We think about how many tourists are currently in that particular marketplace. We look at the economic stability - how well is their currency traded? How stable is the currency? For instance, if you look at Argentina and Brazil, the currency valuation continues to depreciate. So that’s a criteria for us. At this point we don’t get ourselves as involved in the politics of the place as we do, for example, in business issues.

LP Are things like human rights taken into consideration?

Pressler: Certainly it's important to us just as we worry about the conditions in which our products are made overseas. The business or partners we work with have codes of conduct that are very important to us.