I had a chance to chat with future Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro about his new role, and plans for the parks and leadership going forward. During a visit to Disneyland on Friday, Josh took time for a 25 minute meeting with me and six peers, answering questions in an on-the-record conversation. This post relays some of what he shared during the roundtable, along with previous experiences, and why I’m optimistic about the future of Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Since Parks Chair Josh D’Amaro was named Disney CEO, there have been a lot of reactions. We’ve seen past and present Imagineers praise the move, including top dog Bruce Vaughn. Ditto executives, like former CEO Michael Eisner and DLR President Matt Ouimet. There have also been hot takes from Walt Disney World and Disneyland fans, including the predictable and inevitable backlash.
This was wholly unsurprising. Anyone but Walt himself being named Chief Executive would’ve prompted at least some contrarians to offer negative reactions. But this isn’t just internet edgelords, and it’s not sudden. Sentiment has soured in some circles on D’Amaro, and sometimes for fair reasons. Not only that, but with the exception of Bob Iger returning to replace Bob Chapek, there hasn’t really been clear consensus among fans on any leadership changes. Even that one was a brief honeymoon period.
Speaking of relationships, during their media tour to tout the arranged marriage between the two executives leading the Walt Disney Company into the future, Dana Walden, incoming President and Chief Creative Officer, shared how the two have bonded. In particular, Walden reminisced about a walk with D’Amaro during a corporate retreat at Walt Disney World, and how impressed she was when he swooped in Superman-style to help a crying four-year-old.
“We were at Walt Disney World, and it started pouring rain. We came across a little boy who had been separated from his family and was sobbing. I watched Josh in action. It was as if he didn’t have to think about it. He moved quickly, calmly, and with so much care,” Walden said. “The team reunited the child with his family so fast, and watching Josh in that moment spoke volumes. He cares deeply about every person who walks into our parks. He cares about people.”
Now, if I were (more) cynical, I might think that D’Amaro was cognizant of the eyeballs on him during a corporate retreat and this was a bit of a performance. Or maybe the anecdote is a bit hyperbolic to talk up D’Amaro and further the narrative of their close working relationship. When it comes to executives making appearances in the parks, there’s always the question of what’s genuine versus what’s for the cameras to cultivate a Walt-like persona. There’s only one little problem with this cynicism and D’Amaro…
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of stories like this about Josh D’Amaro spanning over the course of the last decade-plus. Anyone with a Disney-centric social media feed who opened Instagram or Facebook in the last week has seen a sea of selfies fellow fans have taken with D’Amaro.
Seriously, the dude has shaken more hands and kissed more babies (metaphorically) than Bubba in his prime. If this was all part of some calculated long game to ascend up the Disney ranks to the corner office with a shower, it was quite the elaborate production. I’m cynical, but not that cynical. What D’Amaro has done goes far beyond the obligatory photo ops, and is too long-running to not be genuine. Nobody faking it has that kind of stamina.
There were a few years when I spotted D’Amaro on the ground at Disneyland and Walt Disney World on countless occasions during his tenure as President of the respective resorts (and mine as blogger). He was basically on the ground as much as a blogger, albeit one who with actual responsibilities (and presumably better compensation).
D’Amaro would often appear in random places and without a huge posse. It’s one thing for him to be out and about on opening day of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a new attraction, or a special event. And unsurprisingly, I saw him around all of that.
It’s another to see him wandering through EPCOT, picking up trash in DCA while no cameras are on him, inspecting completed refurbishment work, having dinner at Takumi-Tei, or being randomly behind him in line with a guest at Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Those are examples just off the top of my head; I didn’t foresee writing this post back in 2018 when I started crossing paths with him with such frequency.
I’m far from the only one (just seemingly the only one who never asked for a photo, judging by social media). When he was President of Disneyland and then Walt Disney World, there were regular reports and photos of him around the parks on social media.
After tens of thousands of Cast Members were laid off during the closure, D’Amaro was at Downtown Disney apologizing to Cast Members and allowing them to vent for hours on end. That was polarizing at the time, as some fans viewed D’Amaro as having his cake and eating it too. Subsequent revelations that then-CEO Bob Chapek was the architect of the layoffs, and was infuriated that Bob Iger had prevented them from being made earlier, recontextualize that.
D’Amaro’s ‘listening tours’ with employees are well-known, too. It seems like every other Cast Member has first hand experience with him, especially at Disneyland.
I’ve heard from countless Cast Members about D’Amaro since he was named President of Walt Disney World in November 2019. The most common sentiments shared were that D’Amaro “gets it” or “actually seeks feedback and listens” or that they would “follow him anywhere” because he is the real deal, a leader who cares about Cast Members and the guest experience.
I mentioned some of this sentiment during the meeting with D’Amaro, who only doubled-down on it.
During the conversation, one thing that D’Amaro underscore multiple times was how much he wanted to be the “same leader” he’s always been, just as passionate and approachable as ever. He joked that he was going to drive some people behind the scenes at Disney crazy with his desire to be on the ground.
He also shared that he had just spoken with a round of fresh Cast Members just coming onto the job earlier that morning, as that was important to him. So too was continuing his connection with the fans and parks. “I am not going to disappear,” he said bluntly. Much of the conversation could be summarized with that line; good luck to whoever is tasked with prying him away from the parks.
D’Amaro explained that it’s critically important to him to be present for face time with fans and Cast. I think this is underscored by his actions, in meeting with Cast Members and representatives from fan sites only a few days after named Disney’s new CEO. The fandom never had a seat at the table under the Chapek regime; he did not care what we had to say. Quite the opposite, and he made that abundantly clear.
D’Amaro wants to keep his finger on the pulse of the fandom and the in-park experience. “Anyone who disconnects themselves from that, you can kind of lose touch with reality. I’m not going to do that,” D’Amaro said. From my perspective, this was the most important thing Josh could’ve said during the conversation. (Well, short of a surprise Journey into Imagination 4.0 announcement; but this is probably more important in the bigger picture.)
At the risk of stating the obvious, Josh’s in-park experience is not that of a regular guest. Although he’s spent as much time in the trenches as an average blogger, the way he now visits the parks is fundamentally different.
Josh and I were both at Disneyland on Friday (he for photo ops with Bob Iger; me for photo ops with a gigantic DCA 1.0 map). However, he felt no friction during the arrival process of parking at Mickey & Friends, the hassles of security, people struggling with ID verification at the turnstiles, etc.
Nevertheless, there is value in his experiences at the parks. Most significantly, because he is talking to guests and Cast Members, letting them air their grievances, soliciting feedback, listening and (hopefully) acting. This is unlike so, so many Disney executives, some of whom have viewed the parks as “beneath” them. Having someone at the top who is actually passionate about the parks is huge.
So too is someone who goes out of his way to hear feedback firsthand, as opposed to it being carefully filtered by subordinates. A lot of feedback won’t be acted on, to be sure, but D’Amaro’s on-the-ground experiences and interactions will impact his leadership and decision-making, as will his passion for the parks. Those two things alone make a massive difference.
Over the last several years, this blog has not been shy in its favorable stance towards D’Amaro, and that’s the essence of why. We have not been unequivocally positive; we’ve expressed concerns about D’Amaro not having a high number of projects that were his from beginning to end, and especially the bungled EPCOT redesign. But by and large, he was the person we wanted to see named CEO.
Some fans have suggested that D’Amaro gets a “free pass” on bad decisions because he’s handsome and smoother than Chapek was. Essentially, that there’s very little daylight between Chapek, Iger, and D’Amaro; they are all cut from the same cloth and will make similar decisions at the end of the day, just with different optics.
This is condescending to all involved. It presupposes that most fans and Cast Members are superficial, blinded by beauty and forming opinions based on surface-level assessments. It assumes that only those with the supposedly ‘unpopular opinion’ are the only ones able to think in a deeper manner, and everyone else’s brain breaks when they see a pretty person.
In reality, Iger and D’Amaro are comparatively popular despite their similarities with Chapek because of their material differences. Tell me, how many times did you see Bob Chapek wandering the parks? How about chatting with random guests or Cast Members?
As someone who logs around 100 days in the parks per year, the number of times I saw Chapek make a non-media appearance was zero. He was the least-visible leader I’ve ever (not) seen. Equally important, he had an infamously contemptible attitude towards the fan community and didn’t even bother to hide it. Towards the end when the ship was clearly sinking, he pretended to care about Cast Members, but his actions never matched his words.
It’s actually a bit amusing that D’Amaro is treated by mainstream media as “another” Parks & Resorts executive elevated to CEO, as if that’s what Chapek was. Walt Disney World and Disneyland fans never claimed Chapek as one of our own; he was a Consumer Products guy, through and through. I can’t recall any positive stories about him from the frontlines.
Chapek did not seem particularly concerned with the guest satisfaction or Cast Member morale. He made countless cost-cutting decisions, launched the half-baked Genie well before it was ready for prime time, and degraded the in-park experience to an unprecedented degree, all while increasing prices at a record clip.
We heard repeatedly from insiders that guest satisfaction scores were anemic at the ‘peak’ of the Chapek regime, something we commented on in multiple posts at the time. We also heard that leaders on the ground on both coasts expressed concern and wanted to change this; Chapek was also infamously bad at listening to feedback that countered his decisions.
Never have I heard or seen so much Cast Member and fan rejoicing as on that fateful day in November 2022 when Bob Chapek was shown the door. Ask any Imagineer how much better the creative arm of the company is under Bob Iger and Josh D’Amaro, who brought back Bruce Vaughn. (Or just read this about WDI’s comeback.) For whatever overlap there might be when it comes to business decisions, the contrasts are stark when it comes to leadership.
People are what makes Disney, Disney. D’Amaro gets that. I don’t know that anyone has ever gotten that more than him. He has the compassion, humility, temperament, and desire to honor the legacy of the Walt Disney Company. That matters and is the antithesis of superficial.
Nevertheless, D’Amaro will undoubtedly make unpopular business decisions. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows from here on out, with the fan community having a champion in the CEO chair. There will be changes with which we disagree vehemently.
There already have been several of those during D’Amaro’s tenure as Parks Chair, and we have not been shy about pointing those out. We will continue to do so, and hope you all do likewise, as part of our job as the fan community is to hold leadership accountable. To act as a “check” and counterweight to shortsighted business decisions made at the behest of Wall Street. It’ll be nice to have someone at the top who embraces this honesty and wants feedback, even if negative.
One thing about which we are curious is how the Walt Disney Company will look different under D’Amaro’s leadership. It’s common for new executives to come in and quickly make their mark with a mix of symbolic and statement announcements, as both a way to extend that honeymoon period with fans and signal their own priorities. Something showing, say, one little spark of imagination.
During the chat, I asked D’Amaro about this, generally, and whether he’s given any thought to it. He laughed and said he’d only been told the news a few days ago, and wanted to get more acclimated to the new role first. This obviously was not the time or place for any news-worthy announcements, so I held off my follow-up Figment inquiry. But I’m sure that’ll be coming from someone at the upcoming shareholder meeting.
For whatever it’s worth, we do expect both a ‘guest experience enhancements’ package of announcements and substantive news within the first few months of D’Amaro’s tenure, likely a bit after he’s named a new Parks Chair. The timing will be interesting, as the 2026 D23 Expo is also right around the corner, but suffice to say, there’s some low-hanging fruit that would give the new team easy wins.
Speaking of the next Parks Chair, someone else asked about the timing of that announcement. D’Amaro gave a diplomatic non-answer, suggesting he’s not yet ready to make the announcement but also that it’ll be a difficult decision because there’s such a deep bench of leadership at Parks & Resorts. In Who Will Replace Josh D’Amaro as Head of Parks & Resorts?, our assessment was also that any of the top candidates are excellent options with decades of Disney leadership experience.
He was also asked about whether he has a pet project, similar to how Iger clearly is enamored with Pandora and all things Avatar. D’Amaro’s response was another diplomatic one, which was the pragmatic approach. After all, if he said something at one park, that’s going to create resentment among fans on the other coast. It’s a no-win situation. With that said, he sounded most excited about Villains Land at Magic Kingdom. It’s the one project he discussed more extensively, and was outwardly enthusiastic about it blowing guests away.
D’Amaro also mentioned Napa Rose as a specific, recent example. He shared how he was involved throughout the process, and had given feedback on the seating and was really proud of how that project turned out. As someone who also liked how that project turned out, especially the seating, this resonated with me.
I also appreciated this because Napa Rose was a restaurant reimagining, not a blockbuster expansion project, and seating is a fairly mundane detail. But those little details are part of what defines Disney, and his comments about Napa Rose struck me as especially “Eisnerian.”
Ultimately, it’s these little things that make a big difference when it comes to who is CEO of the Walt Disney Company. And I would argue that attention to detail, concern for the guest experience and satisfaction scores, and Cast Member morale are not little things at all. They are the essence of what makes Disney, Disney. Josh D’Amaro clearly gets this, and has the traits of a superlative leader and worthy CEO of the Walt Disney Company.
The team of he and Dana Walden at the top is not going to radically overhaul the Walt Disney Company, but no serious CEO candidate was. Fans who wanted paradigm shift were always going to be disappointed. What this new leadership arrangement ensures is continuity, and building off the foundation and fixes made in the last few years during the post-Chapek era.
Personally, I’m excited and optimistic as a parks fan first and foremost. We have a bright future ahead of us, with the company investing at least $60 billion on theme parks, and those expansion plans being overseen at the top by a parks person who gets it, cares about Cast Members, fans, and the outcome-determinative details. There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (I’ll refrain from making the obvious D’Amaro pun) for Walt Disney World and Disneyland fans.
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OUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Parks Chair Josh D’Amaro becoming Disney’s next CEO? Excited for an actual parks person to finally succeed Disney CEO Bob Iger? Think D’Amaro’s focus on fans and Cast Members illustrate how he “gets” Disney? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment that there’s a huge difference between Chapek and D’Amaro? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
