An Interview with Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss - Part One
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LP: Haunted Mansion Holiday will be returning this year…

CH: I can tell you it’s one of my favorite things

Haunted Mansion Holiday

LP: Will there be some other things - some additional stuff in New Orleans Square?

CH: Well first of all, Haunted Mansion is Haunted Mansion plus. What our commitment is is we want to surprise you every year with something new. So I’m not allowed to tell. But there will be several new things that will be there for the Haunted Mansion. So stay tuned for that and they’re really cool.

As you can imagine our creative team loves the fact that Haunted Mansion was such a hit last year and when they said you can add to it and do more things they went wild. Second thing is because of how popular Haunted Mansion is it will have its own store because the merchandise was such a huge hit and so it will have its own particular location. We’re also going to do more things to make sure that you can dine Haunted Mansion style and just make fun, fun, fun out there. And you know the events that we’ve got planned which would be some of our favorites.

This is one that’s very, very cool. Here is the thing that I think is really neat. The month of October is a reason to come to the Disneyland Resort because you want to come see bug's land which is geared towards the smaller children and it’s going to be fun for the whole family, and you want to go see the Haunted Mansion. Two brand new things to come and see. Haunted Mansion is for the whole family, but it probably has a little more appeal for those of us that are over 40 (laughs).

LP: Will LuminAria be returning this year?

CH: We’re going to do a lot of things for holiday. LuminAria, exactly, you won’t see that. But you’ll be seeing some great holiday shows and the thing that I highlight, most importantly, is that on December 8th we’re going to do the premier of Aladdin in the Hyperion theater. You have never seen anything like this. It is Broadway style theater. This is our endeavor. That theater, as you know, is the best thing that we have. Every theatrical performer who’s ever been in there said this is the best theater that they've ever performed in. Truly it is state of the art, world class, the building itself and everything with it. So Annie Hamburger (head of Entertainment for Disney theme parks) has searched the globe and Francesca Zambello, who is world renown, she’ll be at the press conference and is incredible. She (Zamebello) has done everything from opera to big events to rock concerts to extraordinary things and she is developing this. What we know is it will just "wow." It will be more than a stage show. This is an attraction. It will be the reason you’ll want to go to Disney’s California Adventure if just that alone. All I can tell you is it will be so magical, so exciting and just truly one of those things that will be "wow." So that’s where we are putting our efforts for the premier for holiday and then throughout the next quarter we’ll be focusing a lot of attention on events that celebrate Aladdin. He’s one of our favorite characters too. It’s so magical.

LP: Why Aladdin?

CH: It’s so magical. Where else can you fly on a carpet? Where else can you have elephants? It’s so magical and grand and wonderful and I think the message about a whole new world is interestingly enough very appropriate right now. I think that recognizing that our world is in our hearts is very appropriate right now in today’s world.