Segment 46 – It’s True at Walt Disney World, Magic Knows No Boundaries

Welcome Back! In the last segment, I talked about Walt Disney World and their commitment to multicultural diversity and efforts towards reducing communication barriers… hence making it the “most welcoming place on Earth.”  Naturally, I had to test that claim, first hand...  

So in a matter of 14 days (21 if you throw in Universal Studios)… we followed the footsteps of other millions of tourists before us, taking the path… most travelled (at Robert Frost’s chagrin, I’m sure).   We became the undercover tourists with a mission… to substantiate the claim of Disney World being indeed the most welcoming place on Earth, where “Magic Knows No Boundaries.”

First contact…The Magic Kingdom  The resort boasts several multicultural offerings:

• International Information Centers in each of the theme parks and Downtown Disney staffed by multilingual cast members to assist guests.

While I believe this to be accurate, as I was able to locate the information centers on the maps, I didn't actually go to one of the centers to request assistance in a foreign Language. Although, my husband lost his hat and did go to one of the centers to ask if they had a lost & found... but I think he simply asked in English, rather than French. P.S. We never found the hat, somewhere in Disney is a Lorca Theme Park hat from Spain, waiting to be claimed! 

• Maps and resort signs employing more than 40 international symbols. 
• Theme park guide maps printed in French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

Not too far from the entrance was a stand carrying maps, show times, and event schedules. While most people simply went up to the stand and pulled out one set of maps/schedules, my kids brought back 5 sets: English for me, French for their father, Spanish for my daughter, Portuguese… just in case we needed it, and Japanese for my son because he claimed that he wanted to learn Japanese that day... Can you guess who ended up holding all of those papers?

• More than 7,000 multilingual cast members with nametags indicating their fluency in languages other than English.

In case my mother was feeling left out, as we couldn't find any maps or schedules in the Thai language, she was quickly relieved as we entered the first restaurant in the Magic Kingdom.  The hostess had a nametag showing Bangkok as her hometown.  My mother’s face lit up as she began to speak with the “cast member” in her native language. That was a cool indeed. So far they seemed to be living up to their claim as the most welcoming place on Earth, but I didn’t actually count the number of Multilingual Cast Members employed. 

This commitment was consistent throughout all the theme parks at Disney World.  Everywhere we went, we could hear international families speaking and marveling at the sites and the experiences. I overheard families having the same “discussions” and “meltdowns” in multiple languages… Ah, the joys of family travel… 

If one is truly feeling homesick, one can venture over to EPCOT World. That place is truly the most welcoming place on Earth! Where else can you dine in a Mexican Aztec temple; have coffee in a French café and gelato in an Italian piazza; watch a traditional dragon show in China, and make origami animals in Japan, and of course… listen to a British Rock revival band in London – all in one afternoon?  

The kids loved that place – despite the fact that there were fewer rides compared to the other parks. The kids had a task - to find the “Kidcot Fun Stop” in each country, and get their name written in that foreign language.  OMG, what an amazing way to motivate kids to embrace different languages and “secretly” learn about foreign cultures… they didn’t even know that they were having an “educational moment”… that was all part of the master plan, I’m sure.

Disney’s commitment:  “Our multicultural efforts demonstrate our strong commitment to remove communication barriers and make this the most welcoming place on Earth,” said Al Weiss, former president, Worldwide Operations, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. 

So, I can attest, as a recent undercover tourist, to Disney World’s commitment and claim, “At Walt Disney World, our magic knows no boundaries.”

… Stay tuned for the next Segment of HT Localization Presents Language Translations for Real Life Series, where we’ll continue … with more stuff.

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This article was written by Rachanee Thevenet, Co-Founder of HT Localization.  Rachanee is an Asian-American expat living in Spain with her family.  She loves all things international including food, art, literature, culture, languages and people.  She has years of professional product marketing expertise and global expansion experience.

HT Localization, LLC. is a worldwide translation & localization agency providing a full range of professional language translation services, including social media localization, marketing translations, website translations, software localization, eLearning materials, documentation translations, etc.  With locations in the US, Spain, France, Zambia & Thailand, and coverage across all languages and most industries, HT Localization is well positioned to provide around the globe services for all translation needs.  

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