One answer: Paul Pressler/Cynthia Harris!
These two nuckleheads had been in charge of Disneyland (Pressler went on to run all Disney Theme Parks) and they both came from a merchandising background (The Disney Store). Niether of them had a clue about running a Theme Park. Pressler made the statement one time in a press interview, "People don't come here to go on rides, they come here to buy stuff"!. He also admitted in his first apperance before the major press for the dedication of the "New Tomorrowland", by making this statement; "Funny thing is I have lived here in Southern California for 23 years and have never been to Disneyland. Now I am running the place"! The press corps jaws hit the ground, and they were all :? . I was standing right there as part of a Press Day event for a local newspaper. It was amazing.
Anyway, neither of these two had a clue as to what Disneyland means to people around the world. For the 50th they were actually planning for a new, small, fireworks display, bring the Walt Disney World Parade for Walt's 100th birthday (The Snowglobe Parade) to Disneyland, and of course, a huge Merchandising "Event". That was it. Pressler would not go to the expense of actually building a new E-Ticket attraction. Remember his new command was "run the rides into the ground till they fail, then close them up". True statment that even made it into the LA Times!
Eventually Pressler saw the handwriting on the wall, and he left the Company after 10 years of destruction at Disneyland and is now running the Gap Company. Cynthia was promoted to President of Disneyland and Jay Rousullo (who made Disneyland Paris the most successful of all the Disney Theme Parks after the financial problems at the startup) was made President of Disney Theme Parks, Imagineering and the Cruise Line. He had to move here from Paris and after he left Paris, that park suffered greatly as Pressler had also made changes there, and now it is starting to show. The Paris Studio Park was a Pressler Park, as is DCA and Hong Kong Disneyland. Built small and cheap, with plenty of eye candy, merchandise stores, and little substance.
Cynthia was as clueless as her former boss. She stuck to the original plan for the 50th. Budget was very small. Then, at 2:30pm on a Tuesday about a year ago, she sent an e-mail to all Disneyland Cast Members that it was time for her to spend more time with her family and that somebody with more Theme Park experience should take over for the 50th. This was after two major events that happened in the weeks before. First, the death of a customer on Big Thunder Mountain. And that the big 50th kickoff meeting at the Disneyland hotel, turned out to be her swan song. Jay Rousullo and her were to present all the "big plans" that she and former boss Pressler had come up with for the 50th. Jay checked into the Grand Californian Hotel the night before, with all the displays and visuals for this big presentation. Everything was set. At 7:30am he checked out, loaded the stuff in his car and left. Leaving Cynthia with "NOTHING" in front of hundreds of Cast Members and nothing to talk about or show. It was a mess. She suddenly left and is now with her former boss at Gap. In case you haven't guessed by now, Jay was so angry about the mess that these two had made of Disneyland, he did this on purpose to force her to either see the light, or leave. She chose the later, Thank God!
The next day, via e-mail, Jay announced that Matt Oiumout from the Disney Cruise Line would be president of Disneyland. The next day Matt announced his second in command, also from the Cruise Lines. Matt has the honor of being the highest rated Disney President (he was President of the Cruise Lines) as having the highest guest satisfatcion rating and the highest guest return rating. He grew up playing in Disneyland. As did all his people who now run the Park. They got rid of all the people in the Team Disney building out back that Pressler and Harris brought with them. The people who now run Disneyland know Theme Parks. They know what people want and all the rides have been fixed or are in the process of being restored (The closed Submarine ride being the biggest at the moment) and making sure that the Park is sparkling again.
But, the budget that was left them from the Pressler era was very small. No big E-Ticket Ride could be built, expecially within the one year time limit they had left. So he took money from the stupid things that Cynthia Harris had started, most of which the Cast Members hated anyway, and used them to at least give us the bigeest and most spectacular Fireworks show in the Parks history, plus an all new Parade just for Disneyland. That extra money was also used to re-paint everything from top to bottom, front to back in the Park. New everything they could get their hands on. They have done the best they could under the circumstances, and have had to fight the Burbank Studio tooth and nail all the way. Eisner is also a idiot when it comes to Disneyland. He put Pressler there because they were "friends". Remind you of anyone else he has hired, and fired, who was a "Friend"?
The Disneyland Park is now sparkling once again. Little changes are cropping up all over the Park almost every day. The rides are running again the way they used too. The food service will take time to fix, but they are working on it. They are also working on bringing back the live street entertainment (The Sherriff and the bad guys are now having gunfights at the Golden Horseshoe) and more and more street stuff is appearing around the Park.
I have been going to Disneyland since the day it opened 50 years ago. I have seen many things change, some for the worse, and many more for the best. The best is now back and the Park is better looking now than it has looked for 10 years!
