So today on the podcast, we'll finish up our series on the Disney mini parks. And today's story

about the regional installations of the 1990s is going to take a little bit to set up as it underscores

a large shift in the identity of the Disney company and identity shift related to these regional offerings.

So settle in for the next few minutes as we put all of this into context, and for that we're going to need some set up music.

In the 1990s, as the Disney parks continued to expand into international markets, such as Europe and then Hong Kong,

with the company starting some preliminary negotiations for a park eventually in China,

Disney again started to explore ways to expand the footprint of its experiences

in North America, which is generally where a few weeks ago this whole series started.

But in the 1990s and early 2000s, Disney wasn't looking to create mini parks in North America,

which was the plan that decades earlier, Walt had explored, but rather to take design elements from its parks and position them in regional venues, such as play centers, massive arcades, restaurants, and large retail stores.

During this same period, CEO Michael Eisner began to remake the Disney company's ideological image, a shift that would reimagine what it

meant to be a Disney fan. Before the mid-1990s, a Disney fan might be described as someone who

watched Disney movies, either at the

theater or on VHS, perhaps subscribe to the Disney channel, and occasionally visited a Disney park.

Before the early 1980s, neither Disneyland nor Disney World had annual passes, so guests needed a day

ticket to enter any of the parks.

A large number of locals regularly hanging out in the parks wasn't financially affordable.

Even when annual passes were introduced, they took years to catch on.

During the initial rollout at Disneyland, they were only offered to members of

the Magic Kingdom Club, which offered discounts through various company resource departments,

including those of the California State Government, who partnered with Disney for various

deals and unique ticket options. But in the 1990s, Disney started to think of itself more as a lifestyle brand than as an

...