Originally Posted by
Steve M
Actually that's one of the reasons that Disney fans like to go to Tokyo Disney: it's the only Disney resort worldwide that the American company has 0% ownership of and doesn't manage itself. It's owned and managed by a Japanese company under license.
The Hong Kong and Paris parks are owned by local companies in which Disney owns a minority stake, but the distinction is largely an issue of taxes and profit sharing. I believe Disney refrained from buying stock in Orient Land (the public company that owns Tokyo Disney Resort) because they didn't want to get hit with Japanese corporate taxes on the profits.
It's not a very material distinction because a license agreement gives the licensor much more power than they have as a shareholder; Disney can dictate exactly how they want the characters and themes to be used because of the license agreement, not because they own stock. (Try buying stock in a company and then telling management what to do; they will politely laugh you out of the room. Cf. the last Goldman Sachs AGM.) If you think that Disney takes a hands-off approach to any of its theme parks, you are mistaken. They are very active in monitoring and controlling what Orient Land does with the franchise, just as they do with the other franchised and Disney-owned parks.