New Disneyland President Due in January

Back at the Magic Kingdom, workers have been told a new president for Disneyland will be announced Jan. 19.

The job has been held since 1994 by Paul Pressler, who was promoted to president of Walt Disney Attractions. Pressler, a former Disney Stores executive, will oversee theme parks and resorts worldwide in a reorganization that also put Disney’s Imagineering and Regional Entertainment units into the attractions division for the first time.

Except to say his replacement will be “someone within the company,” Pressler wouldn’t talk about potential candidates. “Hopefully, we’ll know within the next couple of weeks,” he said. “We have a tremendous bench.”

Speculation at the theme park centered on Cynthia Harriss, Disneyland’s vice president of operations and, like Pressler, a veteran of Disney’s retailing operations, and Byron Pollitt, the park’s chief financial officer.

The job shuffle includes the retirement of Richard Nunis, 66, the longtime top attractions executive at Disney. Nunis told the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel that the reorganization will give company Chairman Michael Eisner more time to spend on Disney’s television network, ABC, whose ratings have slipped.

“As our company gets bigger, Michael can’t have that many people reporting to him,” Nunis said.