UPDATED February 8, 2026
Walt Disney was quoted as saying, “Progress is impossible with change.” And there has certainly been plenty of change in the Disney parks over the past few years.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind — a NEW attraction in Disney World’s EPCOT
These include additions such as entirely new theme park lands to modes of transportation to new and ground-breaking attractions! Change also includes factors that affect the park experience itself: things widely discussed among Disney fans like the Lightning Lane service, price increases for park tickets, food, and more.
A New CEO for The Walt Disney Company
Josh D’Amaro currently serves as the company’s Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and has been with the company since 1998 in various roles. D’Amaro will take over the role of Chief Executive Officer on March 18th, 2026, when The Walt Disney Company holds its Annual Shareholders Meeting. (Initially, Bob Iger had announced that he would be leaving Disney by the end of 2026, so he will be ending his contract early.). The Board also intends to appoint D’Amaro as a director immediately following the meeting.
Josh D’Amaro at Destination D23, 2023 ©Disney
“Josh D’Amaro possesses that rare combination of inspiring leadership and innovation, a keen eye for strategic growth opportunities, and a deep passion for the Disney brand and its people – all of which make him the right person to take the helm as Disney’s next CEO,” said James Gorman, Chairman of The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors.
Bob Iger, current CEO of The Walt Disney Company, shared that “Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO. He has an instinctive appreciation of the Disney brand, and a deep understanding of what resonates with our audiences, paired with the rigor and attention to detail required to deliver some of our most ambitious projects. His ability to combine creativity with operational excellence is exemplary and I am thrilled for Josh and the company.”
Along with D’Amaro’s major role, Disney announced that Dana Walden will become President and Chief Creative Officer of The Walt Disney Company.
©Disney
Walden has led Disney’s world-renowned, award-winning entertainment media, news, and content businesses globally, including Disney’s streaming platforms. Chief Creative Officer is the historic first for the company, and Walden will report directly to D’Amaro to “ensure that storytelling and creative expression across every audience touchpoint consistently reflect the brand, engage audience at scale, and advance core business objectives, while driving enterprise-wide initiatives and translating vision into action.” D’Amaro described Walden as an “incredibly powerful executive” and their work relationship as a “very powerful partnership.”
These are not the first changes in Executive leadership in the 2020s.
Current CEO for The Walt Disney Company
Bob Iger, the current CEO for The Walt Disney Company, has a long career in executive roles at Disney. He was named President of The Walt Disney Company in 2000, serving as second-in-command under Michael Eisner. Iger was promoted to CEO in 2005 and served in that role until 2020, when he became Executive Chairman of the board. He took a brief retirement for a few months until he was reinstated as CEO in November 2022.
Bob Iger ©New York Post
In November 2022, Disney Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bob Chapek stepped down from his position after having held it since early 2020, and former CEO Bob Iger returned to take his place. Disney thanked Chapek for “his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic.”
The Path for Josh D’Amaro
Deadline notes that Josh D’Amaro will face many challenges as CEO, including many that will require him to turn his focus outside the parks. “Disney’s post-Iger leaders will face a number of headaches, including managing ongoing declines in linear TV, coping with the surging cost of sports rights, and refining the strategy in streaming. During Iger’s first stint as CEO, he spearheaded a number of moves, chief among them the $71.3 billion acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox, as the legacy media player committed to direct-to-consumer streaming.”
Following the announcement for the transition, D’Amaro expressed the following about following Bob Iger: “Bob’s a big risk taker, I’m a big risk taker, and that’s been true my whole life.”
One of the biggest risks Disney has taken recently is planning to build a Disney Park in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The new theme park will be located on Yas Island, which is already known for entertainment and tourism.
©Disney
Most interesting is that the theme park will be all indoors, which would be a first for Disney. When asked about the Abu Dhabi project, D’Amaro said, “We did that quickly, and we did it ambitiously.”
Disney also recently made a deal with OpenAI to become the first major content licensing partner on Sora. Both Iger and D’Amaro are looking forward to how AI could change their business. D’Amaro reiterated that AI would never replace humans, “In my mind, that never gets replaced. This isn’t even theory anymore, this is real.”
Major expansions are also in the works for the parks in the United States. In Disney World these include Villains Land and Piston Peak in Magic Kingdom, the Tropical Americas in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Piston Peak coming to Magic Kingdom, and the new Monsters, Inc. land coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Disneyland Resort will see the Avatar expansion and Avengers Campus expansion.
We will be keeping you in the loop here on the DFB on all of these stories and so much more as The Walt Disney Company continues to evolve!
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