George Kalogridis New President of Disneyland Resort

nemofinder22

nemofinder22

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Announced today George Kalogridis is the new president of DLR.

http://ocresort.freedomblogging.com/2009/10/12/disneyland-resort-names-new-president/21549/

George Kalogridis, who previously oversaw Anaheim theme parks’ operations, today took over as the new president of the Disneyland Resort — the largest private employer in Orange County, Disney announced today.Kalogridis, 55, is replacing Ed Grier, who announced his retirement last week and had his last day Friday.
Kalogridis most recently worked as the chief operating officer for the Disneyland Resort Paris.
But he served at the Anaheim resort at a crucial time — serving as senior vice president of Disneyland Resort operations from 2000 to 2002 when Disney’s California Adventure and Downtown Disney opened.
Kalogridis was brought in specifically for the addition. Now, California Adventure is in the middle of a $1-billion expansion, which began two years ago.
“I am thrilled to be returning to Disneyland, particularly during this exciting time of significant expansion,” said Kalogridis in a prepared statement.
“I look forward to working with the cast who make the magic for our guests every day and partnering with the Orange County community to ensure the Anaheim Resort Area continues to thrive,” he said.
For 38 years, Kalogridis has worked at the company, starting as a busboy at the opening of the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World in Florida and rising up to EPCOT’s vice president. He has also served as a general manager of the Grand Floridian Beach Resort, in human resources at Walt Disney World and on the development team for the Paris park.
“George is a proven strategic thinker whose operational expertise and strong leadership skills will serve him well in leading the Disneyland Resort,” said Al Weiss, president of Worldwide Operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, in a prepared statement. “We are excited to welcome him back to California and look forward to his leadership as we continue to expand and grow this beloved place.”
About 20,000 employees work at the Disneyland Resort, which includes two theme parks, Downtown Disney and three hotels on 560 acres in Anaheim. The resort contributes about $3.7 billion annually to the local economy, according to a Disney press release.
Click to expand...
 
CaesarBoxFan

CaesarBoxFan

Member
The guy oversaw Anaheim park operations back in the Pressler years which were extremely bad times for the DLR. The post he just left was the COO of Disneyland Paris, arguably the weakest Disney resort.

I would have liked Storbeck, but I just hope that this guy wins over the cast members early in his career.
 
nemofinder22

nemofinder22

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Some more info on George.

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/blog.php?b=555

ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct. 12 -- George Kalogridis, a 38-year Disney veteran and former Disneyland executive, has been named president of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Kalogridis most recently served as chief operating officer for Disneyland Resort Paris, where he was responsible for leading the operations team and overseeing the highly successful 15th anniversary celebration of the resort.

Kalogridis, 55, will report to Al Weiss, president of Worldwide Operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. He replaces Ed Grier, who is retiring from the company.

"George is a proven strategic thinker whose operational expertise and strong leadership skills will serve him well in leading the Disneyland Resort," said Weiss. "We are excited to welcome him back to California and look forward to his leadership as we continue to expand and grow this beloved place."

From 2000 to 2002, Kalogridis served as senior vice president of Resort Operations for the Disneyland Resort, where he played a significant role in the first expansion of the resort - the opening of Disney's California Adventure park and Downtown Disney. In addition, he was responsible for the daily operations of both theme parks and three hotels, as well as Downtown Disney.

"I am thrilled to be returning to Disneyland, particularly during this exciting time of significant expansion," said Kalogridis. "I look forward to working with the Cast who make the magic for our Guests everyday and partnering with the Orange County community to ensure the Anaheim Resort Area continues to thrive."

During Kalogridis' tenure with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, he has held numerous executive positions, gaining a breadth of experience beyond operations and sales. In addition to his leadership roles in both Paris and Anaheim, Kalogridis served as vice president of Travel Operations at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Kalogridis also served as vice president of Walt Disney World's EPCOT park, where, in addition to overseeing park operations, he led the Millennium Celebration for The Walt Disney Company.

Kalogridis started his career with the company in 1971 as a busboy at the opening of the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. For more than five years, he served as general manager of the Grand Floridian Beach Resort. He has held executive roles in Human Resources at Walt Disney World and served as one of the original Cast Members on the Disneyland Resort Paris development team in 1988.
Click to expand...
 
T

TURKEY

New Member
Pretty sure it was his tenure that started pushing packages for WDTC and the merger between WDTC (packages) and CRO (mainly room only reservations).
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
I hope Al Lutz can weigh in on this. Hopefully there is a Tuesday Miceage update tomorrow and Al can fill us in. There's not much info out there on George Kalogridis.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
If I had only known this when I saw him dining at Walt's at DLP a few weeks ago then I would have wished him well ... maybe I'll send him a card or mini-muffins (everyone loves them!)

George has his good points, no doubt. So, I'll cover them first.

He has a long history with the company. He's had a lot of different roles. He does understand what the Disney product is supposed to be and he does care ... to some degree. He's very good at making the bottom line sparkle and shine. He also is an openly gay man (who got his partner a job at Disney in his first stint at DLR), which Disney seems to be actively playing up in the media. Oh, and you wouldn't have pintrading and the absurd tacky mania it brought about if not for George and so many fans love that!

With all that said, this IS the man who was a complete and utter disaster as the No. 2 of the resort for 18 months under Cynthia. He was not liked by the cast as he had a fundamental problem with the concept that DLR was not WDW and that the Florida model couldn't simply be slapped on Anaheim. This is the guy who tried E-Ticket nights in Anaheim for example ... and was shocked when a few hundred people were the only 'victims'.

George was infamous for his quote to the LA Times arrogantly (and to be fair, it wasn't only George who felt this way, he was just stupid enough to be quoted saying so) talking about DCA filling up daily and guests having to walk across the esplanade and settling for DL.

George was also the guy who was fired by Cynthia just prior to the one-year anniversary of DCA. Indeed, he was ordered NOT to show up on the 2/8/02 announcement for ToT and Bug's Land. If not for the fact he had a strong network of pals in the Florida 'boys club' to create a job for him, he might have been out of the company at that point for good.

But the FLA DD VP position was opened quickly to fascilitate George moving back to FLA (he is a native of the area). And after being in that position for mere months, he was sent off to run the call centers off-property.

That position allowed George to grab hold of the Destination Disney datamining of guests (everything from Pal Mickey to Magic Your Way tix to the DDP to DME came out of that) initiative make himself look very good to Jay and Al and 'earn' his promotion to Paris.

Again, much like when he took advantage of the Milennium Celebration as Epcot VP (a position he held from 1995-2000) to make himself look good, he had done likewise at the Travel Company.

That is generally his MO ... come into a situation that is already on the rise, watch the results turn out well and take the credit.

I don't see any upside to this. Except maybe the hopeful eventuality that he'll be out of the company within three years (God help the Chinese if they're using this to springboard him on Shanghai)... and I know he and Andy enjoy the Newport Beach/Laguna Niguel nose to the air lifestyle.

Warm and fuzzy wouldn't be two words used to describe the dude.

Capable? If he (and more importantly, Jay and Al) wants to be, sure.

But I just can't help but thinking how out of touch with reality and how truly lost the man was in his 18-month stint in 2000-02 there.

How should that qualify him to lord over Walt's park and the expansion is beyond me ... and it showcases everything that is wrong with Disney P&R and corporate America these days.

Recycling is great when you're talking about magazines and cans ... not so much when you're talking baseball managers or Disney execs.

What are they thinking?
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Al Lutz has an update up on Miceage this morning! He's got a similar, yet very different take on George's time in Anaheim in 2000-02.

There's two sides to every story I guess. And this George fellow has quite a story it seems.
 
worldfanatic

worldfanatic

Well-Known Member
Good man!

Gotta love a guy who started as a Contemporary busboy!

Sounds like he's gonna spend much more time around the resort than his predecessor!!

Good choice Iger!!!
 
wedway71

wedway71

Well-Known Member
I have some old 1995 era Epcot brochures with him on the inside cover welcoming Guests to Epcot. He looked a lot younger, skinnier, and no glasses back then.lol

I wish him all the luck. Alot of times people are buried even before they start day one in a leadership role..

I will make my judgement after he gets there and see what he does.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Al Lutz has an update up on Miceage this morning! He's got a similar, yet very different take on George's time in Anaheim in 2000-02.

There's two sides to every story I guess. And this George fellow has quite a story it seems.
Click to expand...

I'd love to pen his real story some day.

I've already posted my feelings about Al's column on his site.

I do find it amusing that Al is suddenly gushing over a man who actively was asking people for suggestions and ways of 'neutralizing the Al problem' back in those days.

I do wish George well, but this move is simply part of Jay Rasulo's One Disney (MINE, MINE, MINE) initiative. He now has handpicked puppets world-wide who owe their careers, money and lifestyles to the man. Think of Jay like a mafia don.

If Jay wants George to do well for the guests, fans and cast of DLR, then that's what will happen. If Jay is only interested in the bottom line, then George will act accordingly. Very simple.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom