Help needed on a Disney related essay!

[UKHAT]

Hello everyone, I'm in the first year of sixth form at the moment and one of my AS's is English lang/lit. For one of my coursework modules I'm required to produce a piece for a listening audience, and that is my only criteria. I've decided to do a persuasian piece for a Disneyland UK to be created. I'm asking for your help on reasons why there should be one in the UK, the benefits,risks etc. I also need negative things about it, so I can work out a way to resolve those to show I've considered possible faults in the plan.

 

[AlanUK]

Hi UKHAT,

I think you have set yourself quite an imposing task with this assignment

To me there are more negatives than positives when looking at setting up a UK Disneyland.

Firstly there is our wet climate which hardly makes for good Theme Park wandering. Next I would probably list the high price of land and our very restictive planning laws which would make finding an appropriate site very difficult. Thirdly there is our poor and outdated public transport which would buckle under the weight of the large numbers of visitors needing to travel to and from the venue. Finally, and in my opinion, the most siginificant negative as far as Disney would be concerned is that DLP is only 3 or 4 hours away from the UK and would loose a large amount of business if UK Disneyland existed. This would probably make the initial investment very difficult to get past the board and the shareholders.

On a positive note we do have the best performing economy of any major european country at the moment and therefore more disposable income to spend on Theme Park Entry and associated activities.

This is all I could think of off the top of my head and I;m sorry if it all seems a bit negative. It just seems to me to be what logic dictates

Alan.

 

[UKHAT]

Thank you ever so much, I've got a lot of good things here. That was extremely helpful.

 

[CarolynU]

Is it possible that you could obtain some statistics re the number of Brits who visit WDW and DLP so that you could show just how enthusiastic we are when it comes to Disney. This would then form the bulk of the business, because DLP would be far easier to reach for most Europeans.
Perhaps you could also research how popular other UK theme parks are, so that you can show that as a nation we do tend to frequent theme parks perhaps more so than other nationalities.
I don't know that any of this is true, but at least it shows that you have considered backing up your arguments with data.
Carolyn

 

[UKHAT]

Thank you. That's a really good idea, I've decided to e-mail some travel agents to find statistics of the amount of brits who travel to WDW and DLP.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Harriet,

Might be too off the wall for your essay, but could your UK Disney be linked in any way to the 2012 Olympic bid for London? I'm thinking in terms of new transportation links, regeneration, joint publicity etc.

One of my friends has just bought a villa in Southern Spain partly because apparently Disney are about to build a new park here and launch a 3rd DCL ship. I can't see this happening myself (though what do I know?) as this would be tantamount to condemning DLP.

You've had some great ideas from Alan & Carolyn there!

Cheers

Karen

 

[UKHAT]

That's perfect for the essay as it all to do with persuasian. It's double the reason to visit the UK as they have two big attractions, I can also tie it in with it being an aid to the public transport epidemic! I've written half my essay now, so still needing all your help, so keep the great ideas coming.