Holy mouse ears, it finally happened! After YEARS of speculation, drama, and everyone constantly asking “who’s going to replace Bob Iger,” Disney just dropped the news: Josh D’Amaro, the guy who runs all the theme parks, is going to be the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Like, this is HUGE, and honestly, as theme park fans, we have a LOT of feelings about this.
For anyone who’s been following Disney corporate drama (and let’s be real, it’s been VERY dramatic lately), this announcement is kind of a big deal. Josh D’Amaro isn’t some random executive they pulled from nowhere. He’s the chairman of Disney Experiences, which is basically all the theme parks, resorts, cruise ships, and consumer products. He’s the person responsible for making sure your Disney vacation is magical, that new attractions actually open, and that the parks keep printing money for Disney. And now he’s going to be running the ENTIRE company per CNBC.
The timing of this is pretty wild too. Disney just reported earnings that beat expectations, largely because the theme parks are absolutely crushing it right now, but the stock still dropped 7 percent. Wall Street is weird like that. So D’Amaro is stepping into the CEO role at a moment when Disney is doing well in some areas but investors are still skeptical about the company’s future. No pressure or anything, right?
But here’s what makes this REALLY interesting for us theme park people: Disney picked the parks guy over everyone else. They had options. They could have chosen Dana Walden from the entertainment side, or Jimmy Pitaro from ESPN, or Alan Bergman who also does entertainment stuff. But nope, they went with the person who knows how to run Disney World, Disneyland, and all the international parks. That says something about what Disney thinks is important right now.
And we cannot talk about this without mentioning the elephant in the room: Bob Chapek. Remember him? Iger’s LAST pick to be CEO? Yeah, that didn’t go well. Chapek also came from the parks division, became CEO in 2020, and then everything kind of fell apart. By late 2022, Disney brought Iger BACK because Chapek’s tenure was such a disaster. So now Disney is trying this whole “promote the parks guy to CEO” thing again, and honestly, everyone’s watching to see if it works better this time.
Bob Iger gave D’Amaro a pretty glowing endorsement, saying he has “an instinctive appreciation of the Disney brand” and can combine creativity with operational excellence. That’s corporate speak for “he gets what makes Disney special and he knows how to actually run things without everything catching on fire.” After the Chapek situation, that’s probably exactly what Disney needs.
Why the Parks Guy Makes Sense (Maybe?)
Okay, so let’s talk about why picking Josh D’Amaro might actually be brilliant. The Disney Experiences division just made over $10 BILLION in quarterly revenue for the first time ever. That’s an absolutely insane amount of money. While Disney’s entertainment and streaming businesses have been all over the place with ups and downs, the theme parks have been consistently making bank.
D’Amaro has been overseeing this massive expansion plan where Disney is investing $60 billion (yes, BILLION with a B) in its theme parks over the next decade. They’re building new stuff, expanding existing parks, and even planning a whole new resort in Abu Dhabi. Managing that kind of growth while keeping guests happy and maintaining the Disney experience people expect is incredibly complicated. The fact that he’s been doing it successfully shows he can handle big, complex projects.
Bob Iger specifically praised D’Amaro’s ability to combine creativity with getting stuff done, which is honestly the perfect description of what running a theme park requires. You need to create magical experiences while also managing operations, budgets, construction timelines, and thousands of cast members. It’s not just about being creative or just about being good with numbers. You need both.
The succession committee, led by former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, apparently spent YEARS vetting candidates for this job. They interviewed Iger’s direct reports starting back in 2024, and eventually it came down to D’Amaro and Dana Walden. The fact that they picked D’Amaro after all that scrutiny suggests they really believe he’s the right person for the job.
But Let’s Talk About the Challenges
Here’s the thing though: being CEO of Disney is WAY different from running the parks division. D’Amaro is inheriting a company with some serious challenges across multiple businesses.
Traditional TV is dying. Like, actually dying. People are cutting cable left and right, and Disney makes a ton of money from cable channels. They’ve managed to make their streaming business profitable, which is great, but streaming is also super competitive with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and everyone else fighting for subscribers.
The movie business is complicated right now too. Disney dominated the box office in 2025, which is awesome, but movies cost SO much to make now, and the whole model of how movies make money has changed. Theatrical windows are shorter, budgets are insane, and figuring out when to put stuff in theaters versus straight to Disney+ is a constant strategic puzzle.
And then there’s the theme parks, which D’Amaro obviously knows inside and out. But even the parks have challenges. They’re planning this massive $60 billion expansion, which means tons of construction projects, capital allocation decisions, and making sure they don’t mess up the guest experience while they’re building everything. Plus, there’s always the question of ticket prices, crowd levels, and whether Disney is pushing prices too high.
D’Amaro also has to deal with ESPN and sports, which is a whole other complicated situation with cord-cutting and changing how people watch sports. Every part of Disney’s business has its own unique challenges, and now D’Amaro has to manage ALL of it instead of just focusing on the parks.
Learning from the Chapek Disaster
We really need to talk about Bob Chapek because his failed tenure as CEO is probably influencing everything about this decision. When Iger picked Chapek to replace him in 2020, it seemed logical at the time. Chapek had run the parks successfully, he knew Disney’s operations, and he seemed ready for the job.
But then everything went wrong. Chapek got into public fights with talent over compensation. He made strategic decisions that frustrated Wall Street. The stock tanked. Relations with creative partners deteriorated. By late 2022, things were so bad that Disney brought Iger back, which was basically admitting the succession had been a complete failure.
Iger spent his second stint as CEO cleaning up the mess, implementing huge cost cuts, laying people off, and restructuring the entire company. He created three main divisions and got things back on track, but it took years and a lot of difficult decisions.
So now Disney is promoting another parks executive to CEO, and you KNOW everyone is thinking “is this going to be Chapek 2.0?” D’Amaro needs to avoid whatever mistakes Chapek made. He needs to communicate better with stakeholders, maintain relationships with creative talent, make smart strategic decisions, and basically prove that he can lead the entire company and not just the parks.
The good news is D’Amaro got to watch what went wrong with Chapek and hopefully learned from it. He knows what NOT to do, which is honestly half the battle.
What This Means for the Parks (The Part We Really Care About)
Okay, let’s get to what really matters to us: what does this mean for Disney’s theme parks? Having a CEO who comes from the parks division and genuinely understands what makes them special could be AMAZING for park fans.
D’Amaro knows why people love Disney parks. He understands the guest experience, the importance of details, the way attractions and theming create emotional connections. He’s not some corporate executive who sees the parks as just revenue generators. He actually gets it.
This could mean continued investment in the parks, more attention to guest satisfaction, and leadership that prioritizes the park experience instead of just squeezing more profit out of every square foot. Obviously he still has to answer to shareholders and Wall Street, but having someone at the top who fundamentally understands parks is huge.
On the flip side, if D’Amaro is busy running the entire company, he won’t be focused solely on the parks anymore. Someone else will take over Disney Experiences, and we’ll have to see if that person shares D’Amaro’s vision and priorities. The parks could lose their biggest advocate in the C-suite, which is a little worrying.
The Real Test Starts Now
Disney CFO Hugh Johnston tried to put a positive spin on things, saying that improving the parks, making streaming profitable, and fixing the movie business “bodes well for a new CEO.” Basically, they’re arguing that D’Amaro is inheriting a company in much better shape than when Chapek took over, so he should have an easier time.
But honestly, being Disney CEO is never easy. The job comes with insane pressure, constant scrutiny from Wall Street, creative partners who want artistic freedom, shareholders who want profits, and fans who have VERY strong opinions about everything Disney does.
Bob Iger has been running Disney for basically 20 years across two separate stints. Following him is incredibly difficult because he’s widely seen as one of the best CEOs in Disney’s history. He bought Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. He launched Disney+. He’s been the face of Disney for two decades. Those are gigantic shoes to fill.
The next few years will show whether Josh D’Amaro can actually pull this off. Can he lead Disney through the massive changes happening in media and entertainment? Can he keep the parks thriving while also fixing streaming, traditional TV, and movies? Can he avoid the mistakes that doomed Chapek’s tenure? Those are the big questions.
Our Take on All of This
Look, as theme park fans, we’re cautiously optimistic about this. Josh D’Amaro seems like a genuinely good choice who understands Disney at its core. The parks division has been crushing it under his leadership, and his ability to manage complex operations while maintaining quality is exactly what Disney needs.
But we’re also nervous because we’ve seen this movie before with Chapek, and it didn’t end well. Disney is putting a LOT of faith in D’Amaro, and the pressure on him is going to be absolutely intense.
What we’re hoping for is a CEO who keeps investing in the parks, maintains the quality that makes Disney special, and leads the company through all these industry changes without losing what makes Disney unique. D’Amaro seems like he could be that person, but only time will tell.
One thing’s for sure: the Disney community is going to be watching his every move. Every decision he makes, every strategic announcement, every earnings call is going to be analyzed to death by fans, investors, and industry observers.
So what do you think? Are you excited about Josh D’Amaro becoming CEO? Worried? Cautiously optimistic like us? Drop your thoughts in the comments because we want to know how the Disney community feels about this massive leadership change. This is the biggest Disney news we’ve had in years, and it’s going to shape the future of everything we love about this company. Here’s hoping D’Amaro proves everyone right and becomes the leader Disney needs for its next chapter!
