Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is searching for a new park head following the promotion of Michael Moriarty to a global role, after a significant financial turnaround at the attraction that analysts have credited to his creative leadership.
Moriarty has been appointed executive vice-president and chief financial officer for Disney Experiences, according to the company’s announcement on Tuesday.
“We are thrilled that Michael Moriarty will become Disney Experiences’ next CFO and look forward to his continued leadership in this global role,” a spokesman for Hong Kong Disneyland Resort said.
“We are now preparing for Michael’s transition and plan to announce his successor in the near future.”
Moriarty returned to the Lantau Island attraction to serve as president and managing director in December 2020. He is the sixth head to lead the park since its opening in 2005.
Legislator Michael Tien Puk-sun praised Moriarty’s performance, calling him the most creative chief executive he had known at the park and saying his predecessors had lacked innovation.
“He is the one I know with the most creativity,” the lawmaker said, adding that Moriarty’s vision had been crucial to the park’s success.
“Creativity must always come first. With creativity, you attract people.”
Tien said Moriarty’s key achievement was his idea to set up the world’s first Frozen-themed park section in Hong Kong.
The lawmaker said Moriarty’s departure was a “serious” blow to the resort and “very unfavourable for Hong Kong”.
The biggest challenge for Moriarty’s successor would be leveraging the parent company’s resources to select new attractions that suited the tastes of visitors from Hong Kong, mainland China and Southeast Asia, he added.
The new park head would also need to capitalise on opportunities such as the Southbound Travel for Guangdong Vehicles scheme by lobbying the government to give Disneyland a special vehicle quota, a move that would bring “a lot of extra income”, Tien said.
But the lawmaker also dismissed concerns that the park could return to making a loss, saying it was impossible unless there was another “plague of the century”.
Ken Ip Man-hon, associate director at the Innovative Incubation Centre at Saint Francis University, said Moriarty had found the “right balance between creative investment and commercial discipline” during his time as park head.
Moriarty’s focus on high-value intellectual property, such as the “World of Frozen” attraction, and his ability to reposition the park as a regional destination had been key to the resort’s success, he added.
But Ip said the next park head would face “tougher headwinds”, adding that sustaining growth amid slowing consumer sentiment and rising operating costs would require sharper differentiation.
“The challenge will be to preserve Hong Kong Disneyland’s premium positioning without pricing out local audiences or over-relying on the mainland market,” he said.
Ip suggested that the new managing director should prioritise “deepening cross-border integration with the Greater Bay Area, while retaining Hong Kong’s international character”.
The park “must continue evolving from a leisure attraction into a flagship symbol of Hong Kong’s creative economy”, he said.
“Expanding digital engagement, themed experiences, and regional partnerships can help Hong Kong Disneyland stay top-of-mind year-round,” Ip added.
Moriarty rejoined Disney from the American toy company Hasbro during a challenging period for the resort, which had recorded five consecutive years of financial losses since 2015 and was also affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He previously spent 14 years with the Walt Disney Company, including a stint as the chief financial officer of the Hong Kong park, which ended in 2012.
The theme park is currently launching a year-long celebration for its 20th anniversary. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
