An Interview with Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss - Part Two,

An Interview with Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss - Part Two
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LP: What is your feeling about Anaheim Garden Walk?

CH: I’m glad that we’re getting to build out Anaheim. One of the major things that we want to have happen here is not only the Disneyland Resort be a huge success, but the Anaheim Resort area. And as you know, the effort that together we placed in beautifying Anaheim is extensive and our goal is that it will continue to be built out. To offer another new experience to the guests is terrific.


Harriss at Disneyland's flag raising after 9/11 singing God Bless America

LP: In a general way, how has 9/11 affected the operation of the Resort?

CH: I think that in general, as it has the world, it's heightened all of our awareness about everything around us. Second of all, our Four Keys which have always been here - Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency - that Walt established from day one. We’ve heightened that. Safety always has always been number one for us and we continue to heighten that. We’re well aware of that. We’re very confident that what was already a good foundation we’ve heightened even more.

But probably more than anything is our sensitivity of what Disneyland means to our guests. I can’t tell you how many wonderful letters and e-mails and when I’m out in the park I get a chance to visit with our guests, how many times they tell me how much Disneyland means to them, has always meant to them, but maybe means more now than ever before. This past week when we did our moment of silence out there (on the anniversary of 9/11). I had many cast members and guests tell me again how much just Disneyland means because of what Walt established - a place for the family to come and escape the troubles of the world and to have a place that they can come and have fun in a land that is safe, secure and fantasy, just means more. I think we’re even more aware of our responsibility, our opportunity and what we can do. One of the things I’m most proud of this past year, even with a lot of stuff being challenging for everybody, our guest compliments are higher than they’ve ever been before about the cast. They are in high 90s. As you know, we track all that. We have, of the guest comments about our cast members, we are in the 95 percentiles because I think our cast recognized that it’s a bigger responsibility and our guests appreciate it.

LP: Safety, in terms of attraction safety, has been a bigger and bigger issue in the public, especially in the media recently. What does Disneyland think of some of the legislation passed and proposed in regards to theme park safety and limiting what attractions can do, etc.

CH: We’ve been involved with this whole process over the last several years. First and foremost it is, as I said, Walt Disney established this as a guiding principle at the very beginning and was adamant about it. This had to be a place where families felt safe and secure and safety was number one. I think we all know Disney and Disneyland have been the cornerstone of what has been safety in this industry all along. I think once it was decided that there needed to be greater oversight for the industry we jumped in and we’ve been part of helping to shape what that is because we want the industry to be viewed as a safe industry. We’ve been very involved with that and have helped shape what those criteria are and it’s part of our life.


Harriss announcing Disneyland's Chief Safety Officer

LP: Can you talk about the timing of creating the Chief Safety Officer Position?

CH: It was actually when we went public about it. We’ve always had that as a role. As you can imagine, the scrutiny that goes into the safety of new attractions and then within our resorts, about how do we constantly improve our safety. But just with the focus on it in the industry we wanted to have a spokesperson and Greg Hale is, as you know his credentials, he has been with the company for such a long time. It is just now in the industry, since there is more scrutiny, instead of having folks go to a variety of sources, we want to make sure there is a voice of authority that can really be that person. So it’s more about being public about our position with that.