Josh D’Amaro is the Chairman of Disney Experiences, which oversees the Disney Parks, Disney Cruise Line, Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Vacation Club, and Disney’s other related vacation & experience ventures and also includes consumer products & gaming.
Disney defines D’Amaro’s role as being responsible for bringing beloved franchises to consumers through products and experiences around the world.
D’Amaro’s portfolio includes Walt Disney Imagineering, the world-renowned team of artists, engineers, and storytellers who imagine the future of the guest experience and bring Disney stories to life in new, innovative ways. Walt Disney Imagineering is responsible for designing and creating the attractions, restaurants, and hotels that make up each Disney resort around the world.
D’Amaro also oversees Disney Parks, encompassing 12 theme parks in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and Disney Signature Experiences, which offers family travel and leisure experiences beyond the theme parks. This business includes the top-rated and rapidly expanding Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney, and most recently Storyliving by Disney.
In addition, D’Amaro leads Disney Consumer Products, home to the world’s leading licensing business for toys, apparel, and home goods and the world’s largest children’s print publisher; as well as Disney’s digital games and apps business, including its collaboration with Epic Games to create an all-new interactive entertainment universe.
D’Amaro’s purview includes global strategy, finance, operations, marketing, creative development, and technology. various business planning, strategy, marketing, creative and operations roles. D’Amaro leads a global team of 180,000 Cast Members. D’Amaro’s current strategy is leading a 10-year, $60 billion investment in new attractions, lands, hotels, cruise ships, and technology.
D’Amaro collaborates with Disney storytellers such as Dave Filoni, Jared Bush, Jennifer Lee, Jon Favreau, Kevin Feige, and Pete Docter on various projects across his division.
D’Amaro has overseen projects such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Avengers Campus, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, World of Frozen, Zootopia at Shanghai Disneyland, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and Fantasy Springs. D’Amaro’s upcoming slate from his division includes Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Treasure, Disney Destiny, Disney Adventure, and four more untitled ships, the Disney Epic Games Universe, Monstropolis, Cars in Frontierland, Villains Land at the Magic Kingdom, Tropical Americas, Avatar Experience at Disney California Adventure, Walt Disney: A Magical Life, Avengers: Infinity Defense, Stark Flight Lab, Spider-Man attractions at Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland, The Lion King at Disney Adventure World Paris, a Coco boat ride, and there is even more to be added to the ever-expanding experiences slate.
D’Amaro’s job is unique as the concepts he puts into motion take years to reach completion. It’s likely we may not see the fruit of his work until D’Amaro is in different job whether that’s at Disney or elsewhere. The same goes for Disney’s $60 billion investment into Disney Experiences, it’s unclear if D’Amaro gets to see that through.
Since D’Amaro took the helm in 2020, his team has earned more than 130 awards and accolades, including multiple THEA Awards for innovation and excellence in new attractions and experiences, and industry-best cruise line rankings for many years running from U.S. News & World Report, Travel & Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, and others. D’Amaro serves on the National Board of Directors for Make-A-Wish America, a charity that has partnered with Disney to fulfill nearly 155,000 wishes over the last 44 years. He is also a member of the United States Travel Association (USTA) Leadership Roundtable, a group that helped shape the hospitality industry’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to becoming Chairman, D’Amaro served as President of the Walt Disney World Resort. Before becoming President of Walt Disney World Resort, D’Amaro was the President of Disneyland Resort and he developed a following on social media as being and engaged Disney leader.
Prior to his President roles at two of Disney’s most iconic resorts, D’Amaro was the Chief Commercial Officer at Walt Disney World and prior to that was the Senior Vice President Resort Operations & Transportation Operations at Walt Disney World. D’Amaro was also the Vice President of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and was Vice President of Adventures by Disney. Early in his Disney career, D’Amaro was a Director of Business Planning and Strategy Development before moving up the ranks to Vice President, Sales and Travel Trade Marketing then to CFO, Disney Consumer Products, Global Licensing.
“He’s become someone who has to be considered as a future CEO of Disney,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told Wall Street Journal. Benioff counts both Iger and D’Amaro as friends. Benioff has praised D’Amaro on numerous occasions. “He’s somebody who bleeds Disney. His heart and soul is very much wrapped up inside the Magic Kingdom.” Benioff told Vanity Fair, “You can’t look at Josh without looking at Bob.”
Jim MacPhee, former COO/SVP of Operations at Walt Disney World, is another big supporter of Josh D’Amaro. “The minute I met the guy, I said, ‘Whoa, this guy is a hard-charger. He’s going to light this place up,’ ” said MacPhee, a former Disney parks executive who spent nearly 43 years with the company before retiring in 2021, in conversation with Wall Street Journal. MacPhee told Vanity Fair, “Josh’s got a wealth of experience that often doesn’t get talked about. Just because he has not had the title ‘president of ABC’ doesn’t mean he’s not capable.”
D’Amaro has his supporters and they are wide ranging from Jim MacPhee (former COO/SVP of Operations at Walt Disney World) to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.
Back when D’Amaro was rising through the ranks a at Disney he gave Avatar producer Jon Landau a tour of Walt Disney World as they were preparing to bring Pandora to the park. “We are walking around the park for the first time, and I see him stop behind us,” Landau recalls to Vanity Fair. “He uses a little cane he has and he picks up some garbage that was on the ground, puts it in the trash bin, and continues on. I thought that was so great. That’s the attention to detail that Josh puts into something.”
“He’s not just a parks guy,” one associate told Financial Times. It’s clear in the campaigning for the CEO job, D’Amaro’s supporters want everyone to know that he’s more than Chapek. He’s outgoing, social, and makes moves like spearheading the Epic Games deal alongside Iger. A move that represents forward thinking and was well-received by fans and investors. D’Amaro’s supporters are positioning him as a Disney vet who is a capable operator that also has great relationships with creatives. It’s a stellar combo with definite shades of Bob Iger.
“Josh has a very Iger-like cult of personality,” says a former Disney executive to Vanity Fair. “Does he understand how to operate a media business though? Especially a media business that is dealing with the onset of AI and all these other threats to the business? I don’t know.”
It’s fair to wonder about D’Amaro’s media capabilities but at the same time, it’s not like that industry is rocket science. Not to mention you may need new leaders to step up and handle threats like AI.
D’Amaro, 53, is on the young side for an exec and could be in charge for a long time. That has to be appealing for some within Disney’s ranks to have stability for more than two to four years at a time. His age is a definite pro in the succession race.
D’Amaro also pioneered the social-first strategy during his tenures as President of Disneyland Reosrt and Walt Disney World Resort. Now Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairmen Dana Walden and Alan Bergman are all doing D’Amaro’s style on Instagram. I truly believe D’Amaro’s outward social strategy helped him land the gig of Chairman of Disney Experiences then known as Disney Parks, Products, and Experiences. Could that same strategy pave the way for him to become CEO?
D’Amaro also knows how to thread the needle. He can make the tough business decisions but he can still put on a heck of a show. He adapts to feedback quite well. He has a self-awareness that a lot of execs lack. His presentation at D23 in 2024 featured a self-awareness about fans’ criticisms from previous D23 events. D’Amaro addressed the concerns head-on and delivered.
D’Amaro is friendly and personable. He seems to have earned the respect of many cast members and creatives he’s worked with. Vanity Fair describes him as more of playing good cop than a bad cop. Which can be a pro and a con.
Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek may have screwed D’Amaro’s chances at becoming CEO. He was the “parks guy” although we can see that D’Amaro is way different from Chapek. There’s also this negative sentiment towards the parks from Wall Street and media outlets despite it being Disney’s one division that can consistently make money hand over fist.
The parks are the heart of the company, whoever the successor is has to respect the parks in order to maintain Disney’s legacy. The studios are something that will always have ebbs and flows and that is also largely dependent on creative talents. The parks are key to Disney’s brand and also for a majority of the company’s money. There’s a reason why they want to invest more in the parks.
Another con against D’Amaro is that Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden is going to be a tough candidate to beat out. She also has an Iger-like pedigree and résumé. Walden doesn’t have to worry about the things that D’Amaro does (the ghost of Bob Chapek). The reality is Walden also has the media on her side. The Hollywood trades love her, and they look down on the parks.
The final con is something that every succession candidate will face.
Fans turn quickly.
I remember fans back in 2021 practically begging Josh D’Amaro to replace Bob Chapek as CEO, now those same fans think D’Amaro is an evil Disney exec. It’s a weird dynamic at play, and it’s a dynamic that only happens at a company like Disney that has super active fans.
D’Amaro took the helm of Disney Experiences in 2020, and his division is different from the studios. The results come over time and projects take a while to open. D’Amaro’s division is finally getting some real investment so now we will see what they are able to do with it. Despite the challenges, D’Amaro’s tenure has had notable wins like bringing back fan-favorite fireworks show Happily Ever After, the expansion of Disney Cruise Line, the approval of DisneylandForward, the cooling off of political tensions in the state of Florida, and more. There have been hiccups like EPCOT’s transformation abruptly ending, the botched marketing of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, various pricing power plays for Lightning Lanes, the removal of perks, and more. Some fall on D’Amaro and some fall on other execs in charge of other divisions within the parks and their predecessors. However, it seems like D’Amaro is actively addressing the challenges at hand with Lightning Lane and the lack of attractions in the pipeline at various Disney Parks around the globe. 2025 will be a big year for his tenure as definite movements will be happening.
I’m sure when Josh D’Amaro ascended from President of Walt Disney World to Chairman of Disney Parks, he started to think a lot more about potentially becoming CEO of Disney.
When you look at D’Amaro’s Disney career you realize he’s ascended from each job fairly quickly. Outside of his VP, Sales and Trade Marketing gig which lasted 10 years, D’Amaro has been in numerous Disney roles for around 1–2 years. His last role before ascending to Chairman of the Disney Parks was a seven-month stint as Walt Disney World President. He’s been Chairman of Disney Experiences for around four years, you have to wonder if another promotion for D’Amaro will happen here soon.
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Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
