An Interview with Paul Pressler, Part One
Page 1 of 5

Paul Pressler is currently the Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. In that capacity he is responsible for the company's theme parks and resorts worldwide, the Disney Cruise Line, Disney Regional Entertainment and Walt Disney Imagineering. Pressler joined the Walt Disney Company in 1987 as a Senior Vice President for Consumer Licensing. He later was named President of the Disney Stores and in 1994 was named President of the Disneyland Resort. In 1998 Pressler was promoted to President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and in July of last year he was promoted to Chairman.

LaughingPlace.com had the opportunity to speak with Paul Pressler in his office at the Walt Disney Studios on July 24th. It was his first extended interview with an independent Disney website. The interview is presented in its entirety.

The Team Disney building at the Disney Studios where Paul Pressler's office is located

Note: Throughout the interview Pressler often refers to other Disney executives, sometimes by first name only. A list of those names and their current positions is shown here:

• · Tony Baxter: Senior Vice President of Creative Development at Walt Disney Imagineering
• · Norm Doerges: Former Executive Vice-President, Disneyland
• · Michael Eisner: Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company
• · Don Goodman: President of Walt Disney Imagineering
• · Cynthia Harriss: President of the Disneyland Resort
• · John Hench: Disney Legend & Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Imagineering
• · Jay Rasulo: Chairman of Disneyland Paris
• · Marty Sklar: Vice Chairman and Principal Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering
• · Al Weiss: President of the Walt Disney World Resort

Paul Pressler
(c) Disney

LaughingPlace.com: What was your path into the Disney Company and into this position?

Paul Pressler: Oh goodness, let’s see. In 30 seconds or less.

LP: In a nutshell.

Pressler: I joined the Company in ‘87. I started in the licensing division, but I had worked with Disney prior to joining Disney. Actually, I worked for a company that had the rights to Tron and The Black Hole both of which could be defined as black holes (laughs). So I had worked with the people in consumer products and I got to know some of the folks at Disney through that experience - which was not good - as it wasn’t a commercial success from the toy perspective. Then, when I went to work for Kenner, we worked with the same Disney consumer products folks again to create something called Fluppy Dogs for Disney which was the next generation - or should I say another concept after Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears, and which also wasn’t a success. So, when they called me to come and consider the job of running the licensing office I was sure it was just to get me off the market, (laughs) because anything I touched up to that point hadn’t worked.

So I started in the licensing organization back in ‘87. This was two years, two and a half years after Michael had joined the company. The brand, in my opinion, was really being mismanaged - we were kind of lost in the marketplace, bad quality toys, just a lot of stuff. That was really the start for me in the company and then I slowly worked my way up.

LP: How did you go from consumer products to the theme parks? How did that come about?

Pressler: I think the linchpin between the two was the Disney Store. Going directly from consumer products to a theme park would have been less obvious than going from the stores to a theme park. At the stores we had almost 10,000 Cast Members which was about the same size as Disneyland at the time, and although we were in different businesses, there was a key, essential component that was the same and that was delivering exceptional guest experiences for those guests that were coming into the Disney Store, and an understanding of Cast Members - what was important to them and   what was important to the guest. That was probably the most important part of the learning curve in going to the theme parks and understanding a cast of that size - what was important to the cast.

Having said that, going from purely a merchandise background to building rides and attractions was a dramatic learning curve and a whole business dynamic that was completely different from the business I had been in. So I wasn't an obvious choice for that position, other than Michael Eisner one day deciding that I’m going to take what wasn't obvious and hopefully it works.

LP: In your current job, what are your typical duties? What kinds of decisions are made at your level?

Pressler: Well, I think there’s a couple of things. One, there are, as you can imagine, an incredibly diverse set of things that I’m dealing with on any given day. They run the gamut of one moment thinking about the new marketing campaign, to talking to Marty Sklar about the script on the new Mr. Lincoln attraction, to financial issues of the globalization of our parks and where else we might go. So virtually on any given day we can be dealing with many different issues. I’m a strong believer in having fantastic talent that run the day-to-day businesses - the Al Weisses, the Cynthia Harrisses, Marty Sklars, the Don Goodmans and the Jay Rasulos of the world. I try very much to be here to help coach and nurture their ideas and to make them successful at what they do. So we are not autocratic in our approach or my approach to these businesses, I’m just here to nurture their ideas.