Here's What CEO Josh D'Amaro Had to Say to Fans in His Opening Remarks at D23

Last night, Walt Disney Company CEO Josh D'Amaro kicked off the Disney Entertainment Showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. During his opening remarks, he thanked fans not only for their attendance at the event but their fandom in general. He also shared what it's meant to him to be a steward of the company. Take a look at D'Amaro's remarks below — along with the full text:

It’s so good to see everybody. Look at this room. So much energy in here. So amazing. Thank you for being here with us today.

Well, I think most of you know this is not my first D23. But it is my first one since becoming CEO.

Now, before I talk to you about where we’re headed, I want to tell you something about why I’m standing right here with all of you tonight. Because I believe that in order to lead this company, you have to understand what it actually feels like to be a fan. And I do.

And that starts with — I was about eight years old back in the early ’80s, and my parents took me to Walt Disney World. I was there with my two siblings. And I can remember that day so, so clearly. Main Street had this buzz all around us. There was music playing, people were laughing, there was energy everywhere around us. And then we saw the castle.

And all four of us — all my siblings — we stopped. And I remember thinking something that has stuck with me until this moment: “This place is so special. This place is magic.”

And that feeling, it’s interesting, it’s become part of who I am. And I think a lot of you out there can relate to exactly what I’m describing. You’ve had that moment. Maybe it was in one of our parks, like mine was. Maybe it was in a movie, with a song, maybe it was a character. A moment that you still remember.

If any of you have kids, or grandkids, or nieces, or nephews, you’ve watched that moment. You’ve watched it happen right in their eyes — the instant when they realize for the first time that the world is more hopeful, it’s more magical than they ever thought it could be.

And that moment matters. It stays with them forever.

For me, it led somewhere unexpected. In 1998, I came to work for Disney. And while I found a pretty cool job — look at me, I’m working for Disney — what I actually found was a home.

Over these years, I’ve met thousands of cast members who build their entire lives around this company. And these cast members, they understand something very special. They understand that their job is to create special moments that stick with our fans, and stick with them for their entire lives.

Once you understand that that’s your job, that you’ve changed someone’s life, even if you’re changing someone’s life just for a moment, you don’t want to do anything else. I don’t want to do anything else.

Now, like all of our cast members and employees, I get a chance to speak with Disney fans almost everywhere I go. Sometimes it’s in our theme parks, where I get to see you. Sometimes I’m flying on an airplane and I get to say "hello." Sometimes I’m out for a run and you stop me and say "hello."

In fact, I’m pretty sure that I’ve spoken to quite a few of the people that are sitting here in this room today. And if you haven’t, you’ll find me.

But almost every time, you all tell me how much Disney actually means to each one of you. And I’ve heard thousands of your stories now. But there’s one that I keep coming back to. One person that showed me, maybe more than anyone else, what it means to find a real home at Disney.

Some of you have known Frank Rodriguez. He’s one of Disney’s superfans. You may have heard about him.

So, Frank was affectionately known as the Porch Potato. He was the Mayor of Main Street. He spent two decades on that bench, just sitting there. Frank would just take it all in and wave hello to anyone that passed.

And over time, I got to know him. I got to know him pretty well. We’d spend time together on that porch. And I actually considered him a friend.

A few days after I saw him the last time, Frank sadly passed away. So we decided to put a plaque on Frank’s bench.

Now, the plaque says, “Every day is my best day.”

That was Frank. That’s what Frank believed, that’s how he lived, and that was his story.

That one man sitting on that bench for 20 years, it tells you that we are not simply in the business of entertaining people. We’re in the business of creating places and stories and experiences where people feel like they actually belong. Where they feel like they’re home.

And a lot of people feel like Disney is their home.

Right now, nearly half a million people are in our parks and on our cruise ships. Millions more are watching our stories in theaters or maybe at home. Someone right now is seeing The Lion King on Broadway for the very first time. A Make-A-Wish kid is walking down Main Street, feeling the joy, the optimism that the Disney experience creates, which is why we’re granted a wish every hour of every single day.

And when you add all that up, Disney has something no other brand on Earth can claim. And that’s not just a customer base, not just an audience, but an actual connection. A connection that reaches every single corner of the globe. A connection that spans every age, every background. A connection that becomes part of people’s lives and the memories that they carry with them.

A connection with more than four billion fans. That’s half the world’s population.

They don’t just look at us for entertainment. They actually look at us for inspiration. And when people choose something, and they return to it, and they pass it on from generation to generation, that is something very special. It’s an opportunity to be part of something bigger than yourself.

Now, look around us in this arena tonight. More than 12,000 people in this room. And that’s 12,000 people, 12,000 stories, 12,000 reasons that you choose to be here tonight. When you connect with each other around something that matters to you, that’s what we’re really talking about. That’s what belonging looks like.

And that’s why this moment matters so much to me. Because the opportunity in front of us is to create more of those memories, to strengthen the connection that already exists, and to create new ones that people will carry on forever.

We’re not here waiting for the future. We’re building it. We’re actually building it right now.

We have new stories for you coming, experiences that will literally take your breath away, announcements that will make you lean forward and ask that person that’s sitting next to you, “Did you hear that? Can you believe they’re going to do that?”

And this weekend, we’ll all have a front-row seat to all of this and more.

Now, that eight-year-old kid from Massachusetts couldn’t have imagined standing here tonight. I couldn’t have imagined the responsibility, the honor, the excitement of being with you on this journey.

So as we get started tonight, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being here, thank you for sharing your stories, thank you for your passion, thank you for your fandom, thank you for making Disney such an important part of your lives.