An Interview with Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss - Part One
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Harriss at the opening of LuminAria
LP: Going back to LuminAria - if that won’t be coming back, are you looking at perhaps doing a summer show there in the future? Or some use for that area?
CH: As you know we did the summer music series. This weekend come out to the Festival Latina - we’re doing all the three weekends, almost 100 performances on the stage and throughout the park between big bands, Mariachi bands, hot new talent, folkloric, etc. We hope this will be an annual event. So we have a stage out here and what we’ve actually determined is that we think that maybe by having a stage out there, there’s more eclectic and different talent and different things you can do since the whole conceit of California is that this is a very diverse land that we celebrate - so many different cultures - that really means entertainment is maybe a better way for us to use that facility out there. I think you’ll see that stage sticking around there with a lot of cool things coming up.
LuminAria
LP: The shows out there this summer, Rockin’ the Bay, ABC Weekend, Soap Opera Weekends - I really like the event type things. I assume those will continue.
CH: Yes, actually what we’re going to do is not only continue to do those but we’re experimenting a lot with this with what works, etc. But now that we’ve gotten a few things that we know that guests love - and you’re right, the ABC Primetime Weekend was gigantic. The ABC Soap Opera weekends were gigantic. We learned a lot by the concert series. They were all great but some were unbelievable - the Monkees were like unbelievable (laughs). We’re going to get out and promote those in a bigger way. And what we are envisioning is that’s going to be a part of the fabric of why you come to Disney’s California Adventure. You know so much about the history of Disneyland. That’s what Walt did He had cool stuff going on all the time at Disneyland that was different and sometimes it was only for a day and sometimes it was for a month and we think that’s a big part of what will continue to make this a great place to celebrate with the family and in particular for our guests that visit us often, another reason to come and get a great surprise.
The Fifth Dimension at Disney's Rockin' the Bay
concert series
LP: One of the things that was different with DCA’s opening was Eureka which is a personal favorite of mine. Is it coming back?
CH: Yes. We’re investigating what’s the right time to bring a new parade in. As you know, other than the electrical parade which will never go away - it may visit but it will never go away, (parades don't stay forever). We’re investigating the right time. We’re starting actually in creative now and once we get the right creative, then we’ll get a new parade for Disney’s California Adventure. It actually is a big hit. It is the perfect celebration of California.
LP: Almost two years after the opening of California Adventure how do you personally rate the overall success?
CH: We’ve hosted more guests than ever before. Disney’s California Adventure is the number two tourist attraction behind Disneyland in terms of guests visited. The Resort in total, I can tell you - as we do focus groups and interview our guests as they leave the satisfaction scores are astronomical. The overall guest ratings are in the high 90 percentiles. All the elements are in the guests love. I would be shirking the issue if I didn't mention that since we’ve opened our country has been in a state of flux that has influenced all of us. That has changed people’s travel patterns and all of those types of things. So whereas we had anticipated having more guests come from afar, people have been nervous about traveling and until a few things settle in in the world at large that’s going to be something that we’re going to have to tackle. In terms of our local guests, we have doubled the annual passholders that we had a few years ago because people love it and they come often, the local guests in particular, so I would rate it as a huge success.
At the service awards we had this week we played a tape of Walt personally speaking at the first service awards which was at the 10th anniversary and one of the things he said, which I think is so appropriate, is that we’re just getting started. I think to me that is the mantra - we’re just getting started. I can’t tell you how enthused I am. It’s about all the things we’ve got for 03, 04 and 05. All we need is for the economy to cooperate a little and the world to cooperate a little, that’s all, because the guests love it and you know that. You can see that. All you have to do is - and you and Rebekah come out here often - is just look around. People are having a good time, all the time, and that’s our goal with it. We want to have more guests visit us. We want to have more guests that haven’t visited us before so what you’ll see starting this fall is you’ll see some really great - I think they’re great - ads and marketing out there to invite people to come and show them more about what’s out there.
Click here for Part Two of the interview
Discuss It
-- Posted October 11, 2002
-- Interview by Doobie Moseley
-- Pictures by LaughingPlace.com Staff