The Walt Disney World Resort and its cast members are working hard to make the holidays a little more magical for families in Central Florida.
The cast member VoluntEARS have collected and donated more than 36,000 new toys to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots to benefit kids in Orange and Seminole counties.
VoluntEARS have also given more than 6,000 hours helping the Marines register families for the annual giving campaign, in addition to sorting and packing the toys.
“Through these combined efforts, we hope thousands of children in Central Florida …

Yesterday, 59 Central Florida organizations that serve the needs of children were awarded grants by Disney. The grants totalled more than $1.5 million.
Under the Disney Helping Kids Shine Grants program, the company awarded various groups ” that have a positive impact on approximately 70,000 thousand children in our community.”
Walt Disney World President George Kalogridis also awarded the Orange County Public Library System with the Bob Allen Outstanding Community Service Award. Disney awards the grant annually to a group in recognition for exemplary work to youths in the Central Florida area.  Plans …

On Wednesday, The Walt Disney Co. reassigned several of their senior theme-park management personnel, including appointing a new president for Walt Disney World.
George A. Kalogridis, currently the president of Disneyland Resort, will make the move to the east coast to take over as president of Walt Disney World Resort. He will take over for Meg Crofton, who will now focus on her position as president of all Disney theme parks throughout the U.S. and Europe. This position was created about a year and a half ago, when the company went through …

As he previously hinted, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Tom Staggs is taking the opportunity that Al Weiss’ retirement created to shake up the leadership at Disney Parks and Resorts.
When Weiss announced his retirement last month as the president of worldwide operations for Disney Parks and Resorts, Staggs stated that a new operation structure would be created in the next few weeks.  Now, we are starting to see what changes are coming, vis a vis the new structure.
Earlier this week, Walt Disney World president Meg Crofton was promoted by Staggs to the new …

On July 17th, 2010 guests lined up outside the gates of Disneyland, before park opening, in hopes of being one of the first people through the turnstiles on Disneyland’s 55th anniversary. Coming together with guests from all over the world, cast members of all ranks, and a menagerie of Disney characters the park paid tribute to Walt’s dream & to the fanfare of the opening day 55 years earlier. A ceremony with a chorus of children, white doves, and a speech given by George Kalogridis, President of the Disneyland Resort, …