What I Hope to See from Josh D'Amaro in Disney's New Era

D’Amaro, I mean tomorrow, March 18th marks the beginning of a brand new story in The Walt Disney Company. As Josh D’Amaro takes over as Chief Executive Officer at the House of Mouse, here are a few of my hopes as we enter this magical new era.

Back on February 3rd, after months and months of speculation, Disney officially announced that Disney CEO Bob Iger would be replaced by Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro. Disney Parks fans are heavily familiar with Josh D'Amaro's name, having served as Disney Experiences Chairman since 2020. D’Amaro has kicked expansion and improvements into high gear since taking over the most profitable division of Disney. Currently working on a $60 billion commitment to the Disney Parks and Resort and Disney Cruise Line, his hand can be seen all around the world in massive themed entertainment projects.

And while it is clear that Disney Parks are an incredibly important part of the Disney business, D’Amaro will be stepping into a role that will require him to oversee many different facets of the entertainment giant. That includes film and TV, streaming, consumer products, news networks, comics, and the wide array of acquisitions the company has made.

As he steps into this new role, here are some things I would love to see change at The Walt Disney Company.

Parks

We are well aware that D’Amaro cares about the parks, as he was known for checking in with guests and cast members during his leadership roles at both resorts and is already spearheading major expansions worldwide. Under Iger, the parks were also heavily expanded, albeit not at the rate at which D’Amaro has as Experiences head. However, where Iger strayed from Eisner was moving towards a heavy focus on Disney IP branding. While I am somewhat beating a deadhorse, I would love to see D’Amaro highlight the incredible storytellers at Walt Disney Imagineering past pre-existing characters.

In maybe a compromise, I would love to see D’Amaro take notes from Eisner in using unconventional IPs. Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox has given them a library of incredibly popular properties. I mean, even ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter took a page out of Alien’s playbook. But D’Amaro has a lot to work with. Over the past couple of decades, the Disney Parks have started to homogenize their audience. While smart in business practice to extend offerings that would draw audiences to Magic Kingdom or other castle parks, it would be incredibly exciting to see more attractions that would appeal to older audiences. This rings especially true with Universal owning much of that audience base. I’m not suggesting that Disney have its own version of Halloween Horror Nights (although, I’m not NOT suggesting that either), but I would love to see Disney venture into higher stakes and maybe scary experiences in the way that they used to.

Beyond additions, the Disney Parks have become a lot of work to visit. Pricing increases aside, a lot of the modern Disney conveniences now remain within phone applications, adding a layer of complication to what used to be a simple day at a park. Unlike the Eisner era, these inconveniences, add-ons, and more are different per resort. I do love the convenience of being able to make Lightning Lane reservations and Mobile Orders from my phone, however, it quickly adds up to a lot of screen time. Speaking of Lightning Lane, the rules surrounding one-use on each attraction feels so limiting for those that maybe aren’t interested in experiencing everything a park has to offer. I think a streamlining and a reevaluation of some of Disney Parks’ services would be beneficial for guests.

Streaming and Television

As Disney continues to work towards making Disney+ the ultimate hub for entertainment, I think they have a little bit of work ahead of them. While the service’s collection is genuinely robust, especially with a Hulu subscription attached, streaming has killed an entire culture around casual consumption. In many ways, I feel like this is why sit-coms have slowly been phasing out of television lineups in favor of procedurals. Streaming doesn’t really allow viewers to find new content, but more so asks them to look for it.

I think Disney is aware of this as well. The big Disney+ releases over the past handful of years are tied to existing properties like Star Wars and Marvel. While these shows are genuinely great, they are more like episodic films rather than digestible shorter storylines.

Now, I don’t think we will be going back towards linear programming anytime soon, but Disney’s recent introduction of themed Streams gives me hope that the benefits of linear programming will find their way to streaming services. Having a Stream dedicated to new programming could allow viewers to just “throw the TV on” and experience new shows they wouldn’t have sought out. A current problem with these Streams is that they aren’t random. The current Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Stream plays the series in order, which makes sense for two part episodes, but has started to bore me when I turn it on because I’m seeing the same episodes over and over again. They could even have movie channels based on genre or rating! As it stands, these Streams are relatively hard to find and limited, but I think there is a lot of potential in these that Disney and D’Amaro could take advantage of when creating new original content or promoting casual TV viewing.

Movies

Disney has a lot on their plate when it comes to movie releases. With, again, the countless acquisitions made by Iger, there are movies you don’t even know are Disney that come out every year. However, I wanna start my thoughts on Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar.

Back in the 1990s, Disney Animation and Pixar both began thriving in their respective lanes. Disney was telling gorgeous fairytales and family friendly stories that still captured important themes and were generally accompanied by some incredible soundtracks. Pixar was almost the EPCOT to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Using cutting edge 3D animation, Pixar brought real world messages that transcended family films into fantastic stories and worlds.

As we entered the 2000s, Pixar continued to thrive in this space. Disney, minus a handful of films like The Emperor’s New Groove and Lilo & Stitch, hit a bit of a slump.

But that began to change in 2009 with The Princess and the Frog. Capturing a classic Disney feel, the film kicked off somewhat of a second Disney Renaissance that saw the release of Tangled, Frozen, Encanto, and Moana and ventured into new types of stories like Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Wreck-It Ralph. Disney Animation was stepping into new themes and tales that are full of heart, whimsy, and Disney magic.

Pixar, around the same time, released what was one of their first lukewarm films with Brave. While still a great film, it lacks umph and Pixar’s unique voice that audiences had grown to expect. It felt more “Disney.” And, with Disney leaning into the 3D animation space, Pixar also began to lose its visual identity. That’s not to say Pixar movies have gotten bad, and they generally find moments that still feel authentic standing next to Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. (I’m looking at you Coco, Inside Out, and Hoppers.), but there is a clear tone difference between modern Pixar films and their counterparts. A great example of that is Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. The original feels like a world that could be existing around us and we might not even know it, but the sequel has otters driving a car and it just adds a layer of “silly” that forces a greater suspension of disbelief.

I’m sure a lot of this is not just the studios fault, as with the parks, everything goes through the executive branch. I hope that D’Amaro encourages studios, including places like Lucasfilm and Marvel, to use their own unique ideas and voices to create compelling stories that will bring audiences to the theater.

And that leads us to another huge hope, which is advertising. Many original films have arrived from Disney, Pixar, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios and beyond that have just had abysmal advertising. Hoppers, which is admittedly a fantastic film (with a tad too much millennial humor), lucked out with the viral “lizard” meme drawing organic interest. Many great films have gone unnoticed purely because Disney isn’t enthusiastically telling audiences to go enjoy them unless they are tied to existing properties. Please, for the sake of a great story, take risks on your films and put faith in the fact that you’re telling a tale worth the $100s of millions that are invested into them.

While we will have many changes through the next few weeks, months, and years, it is exciting to see someone taking the reins of the company who clearly has a passion for the place Disney holds in our culture. I, for one, cannot wait to see what D’Amaro does starting tomorrow.

About Josh D’Amaro:

D’Amaro earned his business administration degree from Georgetown University in 1993, before beginning a career at Disney in 1998. He worked as vice president of sales and travel trade marketing for 10 years before taking on the role of Chief Financial Officer of Disney Consumer Products Global Strategy.
In 2010, D’Amaro transitioned into Disney Experience, where he was tapped to serve as vice president of Adventures by Disney. He held the role for three years before taking on the role of Vice President of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which saw him take a huge role in the planning stages of the park’s Avatar expansion. Upon the commencement of construction in 2014, D’Amaro took on the role of Senior Vice President of Resort & Transportation Operations. After three years, D’Amaro bounced around in huge leadership roles at the US Disney Parks, starting as COO of Walt Disney World Resort in 2017.
His final positions prior to becoming head of Disney Experiences were his roles as Disneyland Resort President from 2018 to 2019 and Walt Disney World Resort President from 2019 to 2020. In these roles, he was praised by both guests and cast members for his active leadership. D’Amaro was often seen roaming the parks, engaging with cast members and high-fiving fans before park opening.
Come 2020, as Bob Iger handed the baton to Bob Chapek, Josh D’Amaro was a quick and easy choice to take over Chapek’s role as Chairman of Disney Experiences. Unfortunately for both of them, their promotions aligned directly with the global COVID-19 pandemic, giving them major challenges unseen by those that came before them. D’Amaro’s leadership and business strategy was quick to bring the parks back to the profit levels they held before, even under a CEO whose business ideals, both as head of the House of Mouse and of Disney Experiences, affected long-term relationships with Walt Disney Imagineering.
However, upon Bob Iger’s return, D’Amaro was able to shine, working to repair the morale between Disney’s executive branch and Disney’s team of artists, engineers, and project managers.
While Disney has had succession issues in the past, including the transition between Iger and Chapek, D’Amaro has so many of the amazing qualities that the Disney CEOs before him have all replicated.

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