Photo Credit: Jess Clawson
The Orlando Sentinel reported yesterday that Tom Staggs, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman, has given the newly created job of President of Operations for the U.S. and France to current Walt Disney World president, Meg Crofton. This position was created after a retirement announcement by Al Weiss two weeks ago. In order to bring about the new “One Disney” initiative, Weiss’ position was eliminated in favor of a two person approach for the same position. Instead of one person in charge of all six Disney parks, Crofton will be in charge of Walt Disney World, Disneyland in California and Disneyland Paris and Bill Ernest will stay in charge of the Disney parks in Asia, including Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and the newest Disney park, Shanghi Disneyland, currently in construction.
Besides the announcement of Crofton’s promotion, Staggs also announced that Karl Holz, who is currently president of Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney will also now oversee Disney Vacation Club. Holz, Crofton and Ernest will all report to Staggs in an executive committee.
Disney fans across the web have had mixed reactions. There are people who believe moving Crofton into this position is a mistake because she has supposedly led Walt Disney World into a bad time and are afraid of a repeat performance of the 1990’s version of Disneyland under the time of Paul Pressler. Others believe that her time in charge of Walt Disney World has had some of the greatest announcements in years and is fully experienced to handle this new position. Whichever side of the coin you land on, you can be sure that there are some interesting times to come in the Disney Parks future.
Contributed by: Jessica Clawson (NDI#21) Jessica is the News and Current Events Blogger. She is also the creator of The True Disney Fan.
Living in Delaware her whole life, Jessica did not know much about Walt Disney World until she went at 13 years old. That initial trip, though, got her hooked on the magic. As the years went on, she did everything she could to learn more about Disney (including watching documentaries and reading books). She did not know many people that shared her passion until she discovered the wonders of the internet and the Disney community found on it. She has gotten involved with as many Disney projects as she can, including writing the weekly news articles for The Disney Driven Life and writing for her own blog, The True Disney Fan. Jessica has also taken on a position with Celebrations Magazine, working the social media aspects of the publication. Through all these platforms, Jessica strives to bring as much Disney magic as possible into her everyday life, and she works to share it with everyone she meets!
