It’s official: Josh D’Amaro has been named the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company, set to replace Bob Iger later this spring in a major leadership transition with significant implications for Disney’s theme parks and resorts.
Disney confirmed that D’Amaro will officially step into the role following the company’s Annual meeting on March 18, 2026, marking the end of Iger’s return tenure that began in late 2022.
From a theme park perspective, this isn’t just another exec shuffle. It’s honestly one of the clearest signals Disney has sent in years about where it believes the company’s long-term strength lies.
The timeline, without the confusion
Disney leadership changes tend to get muddled pretty quickly, so here’s the clean version:
- February 2026 – Disney announces Josh D’Amaro as its next CEO
- March 18, 2026 – D’Amaro formally assumes the role following the Annual Meeting
- Bob Iger steps down as CEO, remaining involved as a senior advisor through the end of 2026.
This is a “parks executive” CEO pick…not the first time either
D’Amaro is coming straight from Disney Experiences, the segment that includes Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, the international parks, the Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Vacation Club, Walt Disney Imagineering and more.
That said, it’s important to be precise here. This isn’t the first time Disney has elevated a parks leader into the CEO role. Bob Chapek was leading the parks segment before becoming CEO in 2020, and that didn’t go over too well with most people.
Despite this, Disney is again betting on the “Experiences” side to lead the whole company at a time when the broader media landscape is turbulent, to say the least.
What D’Amaro’s background could mean for the parks
A CEO change doesn’t instantly rewrite attraction slates. That said, it absolutely influences which priorities get protected, accelerated or quietly deprioritized.
Capital spending: more pressure to “build things that work”
Disney has been pushing a long-range investment narrative around parks and cruise growth (often framed as a decade-scale plan). With an Experiences leader as CEO, I’d expect even more internal focus on capacity, guest flow and infrastructure. Those aren’t super glamorous things, but they actually determine whether a new land or attraction feels great or feels jammed.
Guest experience: friction becomes harder to ignore
D’Amaro’s public profile has been unusually guest-facing for a corporate executive, and the parks are where “value” is felt in real time. This does not guarantee cheaper prices for trips or fewer up-charges, but it does raise the odds that experience-related issues like complexity, the nickel-and-diming that’s been happening more and more, and operational rough edges get treated as CEO-level issues rather than just background noise.
Imagineering: steadier alignment between creative and operations
Because Imagineering sits under Experiences, D’Amaro has spent years adjacent to the pipeline that becomes real projects. That can matter when budgets tighten or timelines get drawn out, because a CEO who understands park operations is more likely to push for solutions that preserve the guest-facing result as opposed to just cutting down on scope.
The Iger factor: why this transition feels overdue
Here’s where I’ll be more direct.
Bob Iger’s first CEO era (2005 through 2020) is widely credited with transforming Disney, especially with major acquisitions and a massive expansion of Disney’s global footprint. But his second stint (starting in late 2022) has carried noticeably more baggage and much louder criticism.
Several themes have defined the backlash:
- Performance and confidence: Analysts and business press have openly noted that Iger’s second run hasn’t produced the same market success or “unstoppable” narrative as his first.
- Governance and succession drama: Disney’s CEO succession has been a recurring sore spot, and it was a major talking point in the activist investor battles that escalated into the 2024 proxy fight.
- The criticism didn’t go away even after the proxy win: Disney beat back the activists, but the very existence and intensity of that fight reflects how many stakeholders felt the company needed more accountability and clearer direction.
I think Iger’s return served its purpose, but it increasingly felt like Disney needed a clean handoff to someone who can own the next era without constantly being measured against the first Iger run. The announcement makes it seem like Disney is acknowledging that reality.
My take: parks-positive, but the real test will be execution
D’Amaro becoming CEO doesn’t automatically fix pricing controversy, crowding or the “what is Disney’s identity right now?” debate. However, it does put a leader at the top who’s been living inside the company’s most important product: its theme park destinations.
If Disney’s next chapter is going to rebuild trust with fans and investors, it’ll either be won or lost by things like capital allocation, project follow-through, and whether the parks feel simpler, smoother and more worth the money over time.
. . .
Do you think a Parks and Experiences CEO makes Disney more likely to prioritize the guest experience? Or will the same corporate pressures keep the parks moving in a negative direction? Leave a reply and tell me what you think.
Sources:
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/disney-ceo-announcement/
https://people.com/disney-picks-josh-damaro-new-ceo-after-bob-iger-11898211?
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/media/disney-new-ceo-josh-damaro-bob-iger
https://blooloop.com/josh-damaro-disney-ceo/
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