Thursday, August 29, 2013

New Disneyland - Where?

According to this story in the Guardian, the government of Zimbabwe wants to build a new Disneyland in that country, near Victoria Falls.
Walter Mzembi, the tourism and hospitality minister, told New Ziana, the official news agency, that the government was planning a $300m (£193m) theme park near Victoria Falls, the country's top tourist attraction.
Mzembi was quoted as saying the resort would be a "Disneyland in Africa", although he did not appear to suggest that the statue of explorer David Livingstone, which overlooks the falls, would be supplanted by a jobbing actor in a Mickey Mouse costume.
 This news, assuming it is true, is being met with a less than enthusiastic response.  Zimbabwe is co-hosting a UN conference in an apparent bid to give the appearance of stability in order to attract tourists.  Here is one opinion of that effort...
 But the decision to award the conference to Zimbabwe as a co-host was condemned by the independent UN Watch human rights group as a "disgraceful show of support – and a terribly timed award of false legitimacy – for a brutal, corrupt and authoritarian regime.
 The capability of Disney to stop the use of their name for a "Disneyland" in Zimbabwe may be very limited.  Let's see if these plans go ahead and if the new attraction actually uses Disneyland in the name.

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