MICHAËL LOUTER: Decoding Disneyland

I visited Disneyland Paris for the first time in my life due to a marriage anniversary in the family.

On day one we arrived in Paris and did some sight seeing. A boat trip on the river Seine - you know the drill. The second day we visited Disneyland.

There’s a lot to tell about the place. How Walt Disney was inspired by slot Neuschwanstein when designing Cinderella’s castle... The general layout of the theme park... But that’s not what surprised me while being there...

First of all it is commonly known that waiting is the main activity of theme park visitors. Apparently during a typical day a visitor will spend one hour in attractions and two hours walking about and in restaurants. The remainder is spend in queues or other unattractive locations. So more than 60% of the customers time is lost in unattractive and boring activities. source

Anyway it was past noon when we went for a bite at Mainstreet. Another queue later we had our sandwiches. Luckily within minutes we spotted an empty table to munch them.

Commercial picture of a family dining at Disney’s Blue Bakery - source

When you’re eating at the cosy courtyard / terrace you take time to take a precise look at the houses and notice the amount of fine detailing there has been done. Another thing you notice are the sounds...

In the back you hear the coasters and people screaming. Up front you hear people jabbering and music from the speakers. Then you notice there actually comes piano music out of the pianoteacher’s house and that plastic dog at the porch of the barbershop actually barks every 5 seconds. It’s great but it drives you mad eventually...

We figured it’s just to make sure people won’t sit at the table to long after they finished their beverages. To keep the constant flow of consumers going...

It is just like fast-food-restaurants as McDonalds and Burger King who used to make their interior awful to make sure people wouldn’t spent more time indoor then necessary.

Here some classic examples of Burger King and McDonalds interiors.

Especially the first picture has some sort of prison dining room feeling if you ask me...

Above Burger King in New York, NY, on 474 7th Ave - shot by Ryan
Middle McDonalds, location unknown - source
Under McDonalds in Hong Kong Tin Yiu Shopping Centre - source

However nowadays there seems to be a trend in fast-food-land - sophisticated interiors. They seem to try to get back to their roots and become a family fast-food dining again. Which should appeal to families with children as well as to teenagers and young adults.

I noticed this trend in the Netherlands but is going on all over the world.

Hence this article on Dezeen about the Burger King Garden Grill by Outofstock.