"..and there was much rejoicing."

Effective immediately, Cynthia Harriss has resigned as the head of the Disneyland Resorts. She sent out a very nicely worded memo about how exciting the future is, and how much she has enjoyed working for Disney, but that for the sake of her family now is the time for her to leave. One can only guess at the extreme pressure she was under to resign. Her boss, Jay Rasulo, has wanted her gone for a year now. He has notably snubbed her at several events this year, leaving her twisting in the wind. The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad fatality last month was surely the nail in her coffin.

Taking her place will be Matt Ouimet, who, up until today, was in charge of Disney Cruise Lines. The general consensus is that he "gets it", that he not only has an exellent business sense but also a passion for Disney. The cast members for Disney Cruise Lines are some of the happiest in the company, and the ships are beautifully maintained. He is facing a tremendous task in turning around the Disneyland resorts, but he seems to have the skills to do it, and has the support of Jay Rasulo who has notably overseen the start of construction for four major E-ticket attractions at Walt Disney World this year. I expect before the year is out we will begin to see major rumblings about new and exciting things to come at Disneyland. This truly is a huge event for Disney, the start of a new era for the Disneyland resort. The cast members are reportedly dancing in the middle of Main Street right now.

yay!