Disney honors George Kalogridis with Main Street window

[Disney4me]

George Kalogridis, ex-president of Disney World and 50-year cast member, gets Main Street window at Magic Kingdom.

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George A. Kalogridis, former president of Walt Disney World, stands by his Main Street window alongside predecessors Josh D'Amaro (far right), the current chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, and current WDW president Jeff Vahle at Magic Kingdom on Sunday. (David Roark / Courtesy photo)

 

George A. Kalogridis, former president of Walt Disney World and a cast member for 50 years, has received the honor of having his name on a window on Main Street U.S.A. inside Magic Kingdom theme park. The window was revealed this weekend.

His window is on ground level at the chamber of commerce. It read “Be Our Guest. The Main Street Chamber of Commerce invites you to live, work, play in our welcoming community: Main Street U.S.A. People, partnerships and progress are the keys to our world. George A. Kalogridis, Ambassador, Main Street U.S.A.”

George Kalogridis, a 50-year cast member and former president of WDW, gets Main Street window honor at Magic Kingdom. (Courtesy photo)

Disney designs the windows as advertisements for faux businesses, fitting them into the turn-of-the-century theme of Main Street. Honorees are frequently long-serving executives, although there are many people saluted who were among the planners and designers of the park, which marks its 50th anniversary on Oct. 1.

Kalogridis, now 67, started working at Disney World in 1971 as a busser at the Contemporary Resort. He had a variety of Disney jobs, including as a manager at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, president of the Disney Reservation Center, vice president of operations at Epcot, chief operating officer at Disneyland Paris and senior vice president at Disneyland in California.

In 2013, he was appointed president of Walt Disney World. In 2019, then became president of Disney Segment Development and Enrichment.

He grew up in Winter Haven and is a graduate of the University of Central Florida.

Disney doles out the window honors sparingly, although it recently did a four-for-one ceremony for recently retired executives Phil Holmes, Jim MacPhee, Djuan Rivers and Trevor Larsen.

Kalogridis was joined at Magic Kingdom this weekend by Jeff Vahle, the current president of Disney World, and Josh D’Amaro, former WDW president and current chairman of Disney Park, Experiences and Products.

Vahle and D’Amaro both congratulated Kalogridis on their Instagram accounts. He also got a compliment from an A-lister on D’Amaro’s post.

“Anytime Disney celebrates a Greek, it’s a good day. Congrats, George!” wrote actor and Disney fan John Stamos.

 

Dewayne Bevil

Orlando Sentinel