Disneyland’s new president shared thoughts about her goals for the future of cast member costumes at the resort. The comments came during a press briefing at the D23 Expo and have not been reported up until this point.
All of Disney Experiences recently went through a wide-ranging leadership shuffle as Josh D’Amaro was promoted to CEO and the President of Disneyland moved to lead all of the theme parks. The new Disneyland President is in the role at an exciting time as tons of expansion is happening at the resort, including an increased focus on cast members and the hospitality they provide. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including Disney guests paying a third party service to avoid being on their phones for Lightning Lane, and Disney Store opening another new physical location following viral claims.
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New Disneyland President Comments on Her Goals For Cast Member Costumes
Disneyland’s new president, Jill Estorino, recently made multiple interesting comments indicating some of her Disneyland focuses during a recent media gathering. She spoke about her goals to make food even more central to the Disneyland experience and reflected on the cast member experience.
Estorino said that she knows that guests pay attention to every cast member interaction and that cast member costumes play a role in that interaction.
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She spoke on a panel of leaders representing Disney theme parks and offerings around the world. Also on the panel were Joe Schott, President of Walt Disney World; Tasia Filippatos, President & Managing Director, Disney Parks International; and Natacha Rafalski, President, Disney Signature Experiences, which includes Disney Cruise Line.
Previously, Jill Estorino oversaw the international Disney theme parks and spent lots of time in Asia. In that role, she managed expansion at all destinations across Europe and Asia, including Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disney Resort and Tokyo Disney Resort. Under her leadership, Disney Parks International had strong performance while also moving forward a big slate of new rides and expansion.
She was asked about what she learned at the international theme parks and what she wanted to bring to Disneyland.
“We all know that travelers are prioritizing experiences more than ever and they are prioritizing authentic experiences. When consumers think about the Disney experience the expectation goes even higher. As we continue to expand our fan base, and people become more familiar with our stories and experiences, the expectations continue to elevate. We are up for the challenge. We are continuing to elevate our hospitality and guest experience as well.”
She then got more specific about cast member costumes. “One example I think about coming from international and now at Disneyland is with high expectations for Disney, they are paying attention to every detail. One of the details they pay attention to is their cast interactions with us and costuming plays a big role in those expectations. I always use Disneyland Paris as the example as the attention to detail, the fashion forward of the French and the Parisian is second to none and we’re all learning from that. I am looking forward to bringing some of that learning and experience to the Disneyland Resort.”
Estorino is still early in her days as the President of Disneyland, and we are not taking this as any kind of formal announcement. It is interesting to hear her mention costumes specifically as an area of improvement at the resort.
Using Disneyland Paris in particular as the example is quite interesting because that resort really leans into the elegant European nature of the backdrop and the reality that the park is far colder many days a year than Disneyland in California. During the reopening of the Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris, the Imagineering team there went so far as to have a regional fabric manufacturer work on the over 27,777 pieces created for cast members to wear there. This is a level of detail that I haven’t heard about from Disneyland.
Here’s an example of some of the cast member costume designs from the Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris.
There are over 36,000 cast members and employees at Disneyland, making it the largest single-site employer in Orange County. That is a lot of people to have costumed and in uniform each day.
In recent years, Disneyland has made some efforts to have cast member costumes be more comfortable, breathable, and interchangeable when there is opportunity during redesigns. I am not sure how this approach fits into also being more fashionable.
When Disney relaunched Toontown alongside the opening of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, they created cast member costumes that were not uniform and instead had different colorful elements that cast members could choose to interchange. At the time, Disney stated that cast members could swap different elements to create over 1,000 unique costume combinations.
Similarly, they brought some of this same optionality for cast members to the San Fransokyo area, where cast members can pick out their own specific hats based on fictional sports team and university. There are also varying costume designs meant to fit the comfort of the cast member. We wonder what a higher “fashion-forward” costume might look like at the resort that Estorino mentioned during her remarks and how it would fit in with the shift to more comfortable costumes.
We are also curious how this plays into the ongoing focus on bringing hospitality back into every Disneyland cast member experience. The previous Disneyland president, who now runs the entire theme parks division, shared with us that Disneyland is actively working on retraining cast members who were hired during the 2021 reopening period. Many of those cast members never received the proper Disney training and instead had to focus on safety protocols. You should read our full profile on Disney’s cast member efforts here.
Note that the featured image is from Walt Disney World and is just meant to illustrate the tireless designers who work on these costumes.
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