"Chinese culture is more conservative and they're not that expressive about feelings," said Poon, imagining the response she'll get back home when she tells Disney visitors, "have a magical day!"
"People will say `Oh you're insane! You're crazy!'"
Li also finds it a challenge to adopt the Disney culture's bubbling effervescence in front of visitors.
"We don't often take a proactive role in talking to people who we're not familiar with," Li said. "But here, you say `hi' to everyone. It doesn't matter who the person is."
But Mikler, the operations manager, said Hong Kong Disneyland visitors will come to accept the effusiveness if the Hong Kong workers are trained properly on Disney's traditions. Past experience at Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland showed that to be true.
"Those [visitors] who tend to be a little bit more reserved and not really engaged in the Disney fashion come into our parks and tend to lose those inhibitions," she said.



