Cynthia Harris Leaving Disneyland Resort

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Covnut

New Member
Message from Matt Ouimet:

MATT OUIMET
President, Disneyland® Resort

Matt Ouimet was named president of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California on October 14, 2003. He is responsible for the overall management and long-term growth of the Disneyland Resort, including the operation of Disneyland® park; Disney's California Adventure™ park; the premium Disney's Grand Californian Hotel; Disneyland® Hotel; Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel; and Downtown Disney® District, a retail, dining and entertainment center.

Most recently, as president, Disney Cruise Line, Matt was responsible for the entire Disney Cruise Line operation, which includes the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder cruise ships, Castaway Cay (Disney's private Bahamian island) and Disney's Port Canaveral cruise terminal. Ouimet's focus on the quality of the guest experience on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder resulted in some of the highest guest satisfaction ratings of any Walt Disney Parks and Resorts vacation experience.

Ouimet's responsibilities also included the role of executive vice president of New Business Initiatives for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. In this role, Ouimet was charged with developing new business opportunities that target the core Disney vacation audience.

Ouimet is active in Florida's business community. He is the Chairman of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Board of Directors for the International Council of Cruise Lines, the Floridian Caribbean Cruise Association and is a member of The Florida's Council of 100. In addition, Ouimet also serves on The Walt Disney World Resort Diversity Leadership Advisory Board.

Ouimet joined The Walt Disney Company in 1989, with experience in strategic planning, finance and business development. He has held a series of executive positions that include senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer at Walt Disney Imagineering and senior vice president of finance and business development at the Walt Disney World Resort. During his career, he has overseen the financial management of Walt Disney World theme park and resort development, served as the executive general manager of Disney Vacation Club and Disney's Wide World of Sports and was part of the team responsible for the integrated strategic growth plan that supported consistent record performance at the Walt Disney World Resort.

A native of upstate New York, Ouimet is a graduate of Binghamton University. He and his family reside in Orlando, Fla.
 
G

General Grizz

New Member
Something about Disneyland seems awkward and weak . . . as far as "new" attractions and DCA. . . I guess it's because of Pressler and Harriss? Not sure... but maybe that whole "feeling" may go away.

Then again, I have yet to visit the parks.
 
LongballMG

LongballMG

Well-Known Member
subs

Maybe now that the old regime is finally gone, the new leadership will finally bring back the subs. After all they are just sitting in the show building.

Longballmg
 
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TURKEY

New Member
Originally posted by Covnut


A native of upstate New York, Ouimet is a graduate of Binghamton University. He and his family reside in Orlando, Fla.
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So is Tony Kornheiser and one of the Baldwin brothers.
 
CTXRover

CTXRover

Well-Known Member
I would imagine this is a great change for Disneyland. All I ever hear from DL is how maintenance at the parks has slided since Pressler was its president and how Cynthia, who was hand-picked by Pressler to take the job after he became head of all Disney theme parks, continued that downward spiral. Not to mention, it seems that CM pride and overall happiness has dropped significantly at DL since this time.

Now, I don't know if Matt can turn that around, but if what he did for the DCL is any indication, DL may be in for a treat. He does have a lot of money/business background that some may see as a signal that he is just another "money-guy" who wants to turn a profit, but what I see is that he doesn't just know how to "make" money, rather he knows how to "use" money, wisely. DCL is probably *the* best maintaned Disney 'complex' with probably the happiest, over-the-top CM's of the domestic Disney resorts. Being President of DCL, I'm sure Matt was somehow involved in keeping those CM's so happy and in making sure the ship was always top-notch in appearance. In fact, CM's were painting different parts of the ship (mostly handrails) everynight I was on, and they didn't even look like they needed to be!!

If Matt can bring just a little bit of what he did with DCL to DL, all may be turning around at DL.

Although I don't doubt Cynthia might want to spend more time with her family, I wouldn't be surprised if there was A LOT of pressure on her to leave ever since Rasulo took over. This guy seems to know what to do. Look at WDW for instance. Since this guy has been brought in to replace Pressler, WDW has seen the announcement of 4 major E-ticket attractions currently in construction, as well as a brand new fireworks show that rivals Illuminations! as the best WDW fireworks and an ad campaign centered around the very reason Walt ever wanted to build a theme park for anyway, the gathering of families. We would have never seen this with Pressler and since Cynthia was that one last key component left from his "reign", Rasulo needed her out and someone in that he could count on to get what he wants done with DL. I look forward to see what he can do for DL. I know it won't be overnight, but we could see a difference soon :)
 
T

TURKEY

New Member
Re: subs

Originally posted by LongballMG
Maybe now that the old regime is finally gone, the new leadership will finally bring back the subs. After all they are just sitting in the show building.

Longballmg
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I wouldn't count on it, at least in the form of the ride that you know now. I'd say new subs have a better chance of coming in than the old ones reappearing.
 
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Donfan

Active Member
Re: Re: subs

Originally posted by turkey leg boy
I wouldn't count on it, at least in the form of the ride that you know now. I'd say new subs have a better chance of coming in than the old ones reappearing.
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If not subs, at least something Sea oriented, like DisneySea or maybe just an ocean oriented ride with Nemo and friends swimming around.:animwink:
 
WeirdOne

WeirdOne

New Member
It's like God smiled on the Walt Disney Co.

This is perhaps the greatest day. I say we proclaim a national holiday for this event. LET'S GO DISNEYLAND LET'S GO! WOOT WOOT! - The WeirdOne :D
 
Testtrack321

Testtrack321

Well-Known Member
Re: Re: Re: subs

Originally posted by Donfan
If not subs, at least something Sea oriented, like DisneySea or maybe just an ocean oriented ride with Nemo and friends swimming around.:animwink:
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And where will they find a place to put a huge park in suburban Anahime?

Anyway, I really hope the new guy is going to improve maintainance, hell, I hope he brings back the subs and Rocket Rods just to get park capacity back up!
 
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JLW11Hi

Well-Known Member
Now I don't know that much about buisness and stuff, but I really don't think that the loss of one person is going to drastically affect the happenings at Disneyland. I could be wrong, but I don't think we can say that this one change is going to turn the whole Disneyland resort around.
 
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Merlin

Account Suspended
Originally posted by JLW11Hi
Now I don't know that much about buisness and stuff, but I really don't think that the loss of one person is going to drastically affect the happenings at Disneyland. I could be wrong, but I don't think we can say that this one change is going to turn the whole Disneyland resort around.
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You'd be amazed. The thing you have to keep in mind is that this is not "just one person". I mean, yes, literally speaking it is, but she was the one driving the direction of the resort. This is not the same as it would be if a ride supervisor or restaurant manager were to leave. The direction from above would still be the same. If Eisner were to leave (oh please, oh please!!), then we would see even MORE drastic changes even though it would still be "just one person".
 
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Merlin

Account Suspended
How convenient that she ruins Walt's beloved park, makes stingy business decisions that cost several people their lives and then departs just as it comes time to own up to all of this. "Spend more time with my family" my a$$! Cynthia Harriss is the worst thing to ever happen to the Disney company. Good riddance!
 
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DVC_Couple_PA

Member
From what I've seen, when a major executive of a company resigns for "personal reasons" that usually means that they did something that would greatly embarass themselves and the company if it were to become public.

My guess.....
The cause of the recent tragedy on BTMRR is linked her office. Just a guess. Kind of a coincedence though.
 
Lee

Lee

Adventurer
Originally posted by DVC_Couple_PA
The cause of the recent tragedy on BTMRR is linked her office.
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Nah...
This has been coming for quite a while.

I expect at least one more departure from the DLR executive offices within a month or so, as well.
 
diegorivera2

diegorivera2

New Member
I agree with Lee; if you listen closely to the press/investor relations comments from this past week's events at WDW, it seems as if the Theme Park and Resort divison has realized it needs to take a different tack -- Cynthia's departure may be the first ramification of this decision and I'm sure more will follow. Jay Rasulo, in his comments, kept mentioning that people want "more Disney" and I'm sure the current state of DL is not what people have in mind.
 
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Redvette

New Member
Leaving for "personal reasons" = fired. Doesn't necessarily mean scandal, just means that someone else decided that she had to go. Good Riddance.

In an ironic twist, I saw on the travel channel show about DCL, that they have a policy called something like "MainStreet DCL", which means that every night they paint or repair the ship, just like Walt did with Main Street when he opened the parks, to keep the ships looking brand new all the time. Disneyland has lost that, hopefully Matt can bring it back, it certainly looks like he will from his resume.

Disneyland needs a lot of work, I wish him well.
 

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