Disney Revamps Park Division as It Prepares New Attractions
Walt Disney Co. overhauled its theme-park division Friday, putting creative designers in the same unit as park managers for the first time as it prepares to launch ventures in China and other foreign countries and expand its new mini-theme parks.
Walt Disney Attractions previously included operations in Anaheim, Tokyo and Florida. The new additions are Disneyland Paris, new ventures such as DisneyQuest “virtual theme parks” and ESPN Sports Zones, and Walt Disney Imagineering, whose duties include designing rides, hotels and cruise ships.
The Imagineers regard themselves, along with the studios, as Disney’s creative heart, and Chairman Michael Eisner has remarked on the frequent tensions between them and the park operators.
But Eisner said Friday that it’s time to arrange a marriage of convenience.
“It streamlines our resort and regional operations in preparation for future expansion and growth,” he said in a statement.
Walt Disney Attractions President Judson Green will become the division’s chairman, concentrating on expansion abroad. Green, 46, a financial and strategic planning expert, replaces Richard Nunis, a onetime Disneyland hourly worker who is retiring from the top job at 66. He will remain on Disney’s board.
With the recent opening of the Animal Kingdom park and the Disney Cruise Line in Florida, and planning nearly complete for second Disney parks in Anaheim and Tokyo, “it is now time to turn up our potential elsewhere in the world,” Green said in an interview.
A recent visit to China persuaded Eisner that the time is right to expand Disney’s film, consumer products and parks there, Green said. He said “serious conversations with the Chinese” will soon be held about what shape the ventures will take.
Promoted to handle day-to-day operations as president of parks and resorts is Paul Pressler, 42, who won high marks at Disney Stores and became Disneyland’s president in 1994.
Pressler has overseen planning for the second Anaheim park, which is scheduled to open in 2001.
He has been criticized by some Disneyland enthusiasts and Imagineers for overemphasizing retailing and paying too little attention to rides and maintenance.
Disney did not immediately name a replacement for Pressler.
Theme parks and resorts contributed about a quarter of Disney’s $23 billion in revenue this year and a third of its $4 billion in operating profit.
PaineWebber entertainment analyst Christopher Dixon said the shuffle is a natural development of management and shows “the depth of the company’s bench” as the attractions operations expands.
