James A. Rasulo Named President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts About This Page:

[tikibird]

See the Disney Press release on Yahoo
Disney Press Release on Rasulo Promotion

The article says that Rasulo is the chairman and chief executive officer of Euro Disney S.C.A.

Anyone know anything about this individual, and if so, do you think he is a good pick?

[Shell_of_the_South]

Hmmm, I hope he doesn't prefer investing in the foreign parks since he was over Euro Disney. The US parks really need some attention!

[AKLRULZ]

At least he's an internal transfer - he'll know (hopefully) what works and how to bolster up some of the areas Pressler slaughtered. Cautiously optimistic on this pick!

[Elliot'sDragon]

Thanks Sandy for the article.
I hope he has great ideas for revying WDW. I hope he can come up with a little more $$$ to allow the imagineers to do something more than Hester & Chester Land.

[Dave Marx]

I'm not surprised by the move, and am cautiously optimistic.

International development is an important part of Disney's strategy, and that's one thing both domestic park presidents lacked. I figured chances for WDW President Al Weiss were relatively slim, as all his 30 year's experience is in Orlando (executives need to be mobile to be on the fast track for promotion). Cynthia Harriss from Disneyland seemed to have a better chance as she's more of a rising star, but she too lacked International experience. While I wasn't familiar with possible International candidates, I figured someone from International would have an excellent shot at the position.

[AKLRULZ]

The Orlando paper has a great article on this, too...

Rasulo Appointment

[tikibird]

Great article. Sounds like Rasulo really turned DLP around, so that's encouraging.

I also like this quote

"Disney parks and resorts are fixtures of the landscape and they certainly depend on the quality of the execution of the Disney brand," he said. "We're not going to compromise on that."


Let's hope he means it! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Love 2 Laugh]

I prefer this quote:

"Jay's a smart guy," said Steve Baker, an Orlando theme-park consultant and former Walt Disney World executive. "Disney needs a good manager right now, somebody who knows the business, who can build a team and get the morale up. Jay can do that."

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">So Steve, you KNOW this guy, AND you were a WDW exec?

[AKLRULZ]

Originally posted by Love 2 Laugh:
I prefer this quote:

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial"> "Jay's a smart guy," said Steve Baker, an Orlando theme-park consultant and former Walt Disney World executive. "Disney needs a good manager right now, somebody who knows the business, who can build a team and get the morale up. Jay can do that."

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">So Steve, you KNOW this guy, AND you were a WDW exec?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[buzzNwoodyfan]

No more smiley faces, Steve!! ARE you THE "Steve Baker" in the article??!! [img]graemlins/ears.gif[/img] Here's you: [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img] Hee hee

[AKLRULZ]

Originally posted by buzzNwoodyfan:
No more smiley faces, Steve!! ARE you THE "Steve Baker" in the article??!! [img]graemlins/ears.gif[/img] Here's you: [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img] Hee hee

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Alas, as fun as it is to see your name in lights, it must be my evil twin. How'd he get such a cool job?!? [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[tikibird]

Hey, I totally missed the Steve quote - so Steve - was Disney the "evil" corporation you recently resigned from? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[AKLRULZ]

Originally posted by tikibird:
Hey, I totally missed the Steve quote - so Steve - was Disney the "evil" corporation you recently resigned from? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">The timing is pretty ironic, is it not? Now that Pressler is gone, maybe Steve should consider going back! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[buzzNwoodyfan]

As fun as it would be to have a former Disney exec PassPorter, I'm really glad to hear the evil corporation is not Disney!! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[mattjs]

Hey, this is pretty interesting from the Sentinel article too. Just before he says this...

"Disney parks and resorts are fixtures of the landscape and they certainly depend on the quality of the execution of the Disney brand," he said. "We're not going to compromise on that."

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">He says THIS...

"Maybe we tilted the balance a little bit toward seeking efficiencies and cost reductions," he said.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Whether an empty statment or not who knows. But I'd say that's about as close as a Corporation like Disney is ever gonna get to admitting that, just maybe, cutbacks in the park budgets had gona too far. I too am cautiously optimistic.