President of Imagineering Unit Is Latest Major Disney Departure

In the latest of a spate of executive departures at Walt Disney Co., the president of the company’s real estate and theme-park engineering unit said Thursday he is leaving to pursue his own “artistic and entrepreneurial opportunities.”

No replacement was named for Kenneth Wong, 44, who had been with Disney for eight years, the last five at Walt Disney Imagineering. Other recent departures from the Burbank entertainment company include Jake Winebaum, the head of Disney’s Internet operations, and Eddie Sotto, one of the top creative designers at Imagineering, both of them for online ventures in which they will have major ownership stakes.

Wong said he, too, has his eye on the Internet, in combination with “art, design, technology and real estate. . . . These are the things that have always interested me.” He declined to be specific about his new endeavors, but said he is leaving on friendly business and personal terms with his immediate boss, Paul Pressler.

Pressler, a former Disneyland president with a reputation as a cost-cutter, was promoted last December to president of Disney’s entire theme park and resorts empire. At the same time, the Glendale-based Imagineering unit--originally set up by Walt Disney outside the company itself, and proud of its creative independence--was put under Pressler’s supervision.

Company spokesman John Dreyer said there are no immediate plans to replace Wong. Wong expressed confidence that he has strong project leaders on all fronts, including “second gate” theme parks for the company in Anaheim, Tokyo and Paris. Pressler will now work more closely with those project leaders, Wong said.

Wong’s departure comes at a time when the company’s stock has slumped, and Disney is reviewing every nook and cranny of its operations in search of efficiencies. But he said Imagineering had so many successful projects underway, and the profits from the theme park division remain so high, that he did not feel overly pressured to contain costs.

In a January letter to Imagineers, however, Wong said the Glendale-based division was having trouble “managing the risks inherent in ambitious visions.” He cited three problems from 1998: the misfiring Rocket Rods ride in Disneyland’s new Tomorrowland, delays in launching the Disney Cruise Line, and problems with the Test Track thrill ride at the Epcot theme park in Florida.

Wong, who lives in San Marino, originally joined Disney’s real estate operation, then known as Disney Development, in 1991. He moved over to Imagineering in 1994 and became its president in 1996, when the real estate and theme park-design operations were combined under the Imagineering banner.