Allen R. "Al" Weiss (1954) is an American businessman who served as President of Worldwide Operations for ''

Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Disney Experiences, commonly known as Disney Parks, is one of the three major divisions of the Walt Disney Company. It was founded on April 1, 1971, exactly six months before the opening of the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort. Led ...

'', a division of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

Career at The Walt Disney Company

Weiss began his Disney career as an 18-year-old

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

cast member in 1972. His first job was a "z-runner", a financial analyst who zeroed out cash registers at the end of shifts. He received an associate degree from Valencia College, a bachelor's degree from the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

in 1976, and an MBA from

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

in 1981. After serving in multiple roles, Weiss was named president of the

Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida Lake Buena Vista ( or ) is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being the mailing address for Walt Disney World, although almost all of the resort facilities, including all four theme parks, are physically loc ...

, starting in 1994 a role which he held until 2005.

Meg Crofton Meg Gilbert Crofton (born Mary Elizabeth Gilbert in 1953) is an American businesswoman, who served as president of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts in the United States and France. She was named to the position on August 7, 2006, replacing Al Weiss, ...

succeeded Weiss as president of Walt Disney World Resort in 2006. He was appointed President of Worldwide Operations, ''

'' in November 2005. On June 22, 2011, Al Weiss announced his plans to retire from the Disney company effective November 1, 2011. This ended his 39-year career at

. In December 2011, he had a shop window dedicated with his name on Main Street U.S.A. in the

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park is a Amusement park, theme park at the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It opened on October 1, 1971, and is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Disney Experiences, Expe ...

at Walt Disney World.

Florida and Business Interests

Weiss served as the 2004–2005 chairman of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, and served as a trustee at both University of Central Florida and

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university in DeLand, Florida, United States. Established in 1883 as DeLand Academy, it was later renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of John B. Stetson. The university's main campus in DeLand spans 175 ...

. He served on the founding Board of Directors for the ''Corporation for Travel Promotion'' starting in 2010, after it was created by the Travel Promotion Act of 2009. In 2018, as Chairman & General Partner of ''Global Blockchain Ventures'', he launched a $100 million fund to invest in

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

technology.

Personal

He is divorced from his ex-wife, Doreen, who lives in

Kissimmee, Florida Kissimmee ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Osceola County, Florida, Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a principal city of the Greater Orlando, O ...

, and is now married to Brea Barnes Weiss. They live in

Windermere, Florida Windermere is a town in Orange County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,030. It is part of the Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office opened in Windermere in 1888. The post office ...

. He is also a co-founder of Vision360, an Orlando organization that builds multidenominational Christian churches.

References

1954 births Living people Disney executives Walt Disney Parks and Resorts people University of Central Florida alumni University of Central Florida Trustees {{disney-stub