Question number 1: which country receives more visitors each year than its entire population? Answer: why, la belle France, of course, which last year welcomed 6.5 million more people than the 55 million listed as living permanently there. That’s nothing new, by the way, France has been the world’s most popular holiday destination for the past fifty years. All right. Question number 2 - a little more tricky - at least if you ignore any pretty pictures which might happen to appear on this page. What is the most popular tourist site in France? Go on - say it - its on the tip of your tongue. Aware of the likelihood of being led into a trap, you venture to suggest that its the Eiffel Tower, that monumental A-shaped symbol of Paris. Wrong! The Museum of the Louvre? Wrong. The Chateau de Versailles? Wrong again. Give up? The answer is Disneyland Paris, which regularly doubles the 6 million souls visiting the Eiffel Tower and Georges Pompidou centre alike.

That’s not bad going for a theme park whose opening was largely written off as a public relations disaster back in the September (?) of 1992. But the Disney Corporation was shrewd enough to have taken on employees (cast members, in their jargon) who are passionately committed to their product. Step forward Pierre-Yves Gerbeau. He was just a humble assistant manager in charge of training at the time, but had already imbibed the Disney spirit to the very core of his heart, spirit and soul.

"In the early days people used to have a go at me - that I was working for a company that was losing so much money. I would say to them ‘look, come over, and if you think its a bad product, then I’ll give you your money back’. I must have said the same thing to 1000 different people - and no one ever asked for a refund - not even once. We did have financial problems, which in due course led to restructuring. But even during that first year we had more than 11 million guests. Now you can hardly call that a failure."

During the course of the last five years Pierre-Yves has worked his way up through the Disney ranks at such a blistering pace that those working with him in one capacity had barely got used to his energetic style and approach when he was on the move again. Four years and seven promotions later he found himself appointed as overall Director for the entire park, in charge of day to day operations. And all of that by the grand old age of 32.

"This company has been good to me", Pierre-Yves notes, "giving me opportunities which I know would have been impossible elsewhere. They weren’t interested if I had been to Oxford, Harvard or the Sorbonne - they simply wanted to know if I was up to the job."

He might well be the ideal Disney recruit - bright, young and bubbling with enthusiasm and ideas - but his background was hardly conventional, as he announces with understandable pride that he was a professional ice-hockey player for ten years. The first French player to work the American circuit, he was a leading member of France’s Olympic squad for the best part of six years. That was until he met a group of Finns.

"I got badly hurt when playing against the Finnish team - my ankle was totally destroyed. That was the end of my pro-hockey career - finished, you might say. I decided to make the best of a bad deal and set up my own consulting company in Paris - team motivation, coaching and so on. I still had lots of contacts in the States. When there was talk of opening up the Disney site in Paris someone suggested to me that I call because I had the right profile. I was also missing the American way of life - so it seemed to be perfect for me too."

If his words weren’t genuinely heart-felt and sincere no doubt they would sound schmaltzy in the extreme. But ask Pierre-Yves (or PY as he came to be known in the States, on the grounds that his French name was too much of a mouthful for most Americans) what is at the heart of the Disney way and his eyes light up with evangelical fervour at the opportunity to explain.

"It is to make people happy", he ventures to suggest. "Give people what they want, given them what they have been dreaming of. Of course this is extremely ambitious - after all, how many other jobs have as their goal to make people happy? Naturally we want to make profits in the process too - but the two are not mutually exclusive in my view."

Even if that happiness is just for one day?

"Most certainly. Even if its for a couple of hours. I pack in the hours here - its quite a crazy life. But when you get out there into the park and you see a kid looking at Mickey - well it just makes your day. In fact I would go further and say that our job is not only to match but exceed expectations. That is our daily challenge. But we feel that we can do it because of our wonderful product."

PY is now whizzing around the theme park at such a lightening pace that you can see that he must have been a most extraordinary sportsman, his staff complaining that he has never really left the hockey field. Here is a man so totally committed to the Disney culture that you begin to contemplate withdrawing the more penetrating questions prepared in advance on the grounds that they might upset him. Then you realize that nothing you could say or do could alter his convictions in any way.

But do you not think that France is in danger of losing its sense of national identity with a low-brow universal Disney culture based on Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck?

"No. Not at all", PY replies clearly unrattled and unphased. He has heard it all before. "Because unless I am mistaken Snow White, Pinoccio, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty - these are not American legends but European. And Discoveryland is based almost totally on Jules Verne. We have never made the claim that we are here to enhance French culture. If you compare Disneyland, Paris to the site in Florida - you will see that it has a very different feel to it. This is very much a European park."

Not so very far away, slightly to the north of Paris rather than the east, is France’s home-made theme park, Parc Asterix. Of course Asterix had his distinctly Gallic nose more than a little put out of joint when Disney set up shop - but has since found that a booming leisure industry is good for one and all. At Asterix, however, the slogan of the hour is that you are the hero. In other words there is an implied put-down to kids looking on (rather than actively participating) in wonderment at Mickey and the gang. So would PY not care to take advantage of an opportunity of rubbishing Asterix? No, he would not.

"We are not trying to compare or compete with Asterix. What we have been doing is bringing the passion for theme parks to Europe, where a huge number have now set up. We are the market leaders, we have set the standards. I am all in favour of guests becoming more involved - our new parade is an example of this - and we are constantly looking at ways of changing our products to make them more effective and more popular. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do this, you know, you just get out there and talk to people and find out what it is they want."

They want Disney, that is for sure, for over 50 million people have visited the park since its opening, with attendance figures going up all the time. This year another 12 million people are set to pass through the turnstiles. In terms of the European leisure industry, Disney is a league of its own, the corporation continuing to widen the already vast gap between those fighting it out for second place. The Disney phenomenon will continue needless to say - several generations have now grown up with Mickey and his friends - which is one reason why you should never believe any parent who announces with shoulder shrugging resignation that he is off to Disneyland Paris for the kids. But what about PY? Is he not in danger of burning out, as he lives, eats and breathes the Disney culture day in and day out?

"I have been here six years", he concludes. "Of course its difficult to get up in the mornings sometimes. But as soon as you set foot inside the park your spirits are lifted. Its as simple as that. You just can’t help it. I am enjoying myself enormously. I have never remained in any one job for so long. And I certainly have no intention of moving on now."

Just a couple of meters outside of PY’s office there is a small plaque which might be said to encapsulate the spirit of these booming Mickey times. You and I might call it the missing persons center. Not so chez Disneyland, Paris. "Lost parents", it reads, "enquire here for children."