Germans Love David Hasselhoff/Theme Parks


 * Disney in general is very popular in Japan. Even Tokyo Disneyland, the first park to open overseas, was done in the style of the American park, compared to the massive changes made to Disneyland Paris a decade later. Disneyland in Southern California still receives a massive amount of Japanese tourists, who treat the park as a sort of "Mecca".
 * So does Walt Disney World.
 * When Dave Barry went to Tokyo Disneyland, he was amazed at this. Why would the Japanese feel nostalgic about The Gay Nineties version of small town America?
 * Speaking od Disney, Original Character Duffy the Disney Bear started out as "The Disney Bear" stateside - he flopped. Then Japan remade him as Duffy the Disney Bear, and he became popular enough to have queues as long as the lines for actual rides for his Meet and Greet. Then, Disney had the bright idea to bring him over to the stateside parks again, and had him pretty much take over Epcot. Unfortunately, Americans hate Duffy and view him as The Wesley.
 * The Japanese fandom for the Orange Bird, a Walt Disney World exclusive character that was created to promote Florida Citrus, managed to find a new life in Japanese Disney fandom and managed to help spur interest again back in the States to receive merch and eventually culminated in the bird's return to the Magic Kingdom's Sunshine Tree Terrace he once called home.