Disney theme park boss is next CEO

D’Amaro joined the company in 1998, starting at the Disneyland Resort. He spent more than two decades moving through roles across finance, marketing, strategy and operations before going on to lead both the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort.

He was named chairman of Disney Experiences in 2020, overseeing the company’s global theme parks and resorts, Disney Cruise Line, consumer products and Walt Disney Imagineering.

Under D’Amaro, Disney’s parks division weathered a once-in-a-generation shock: The Covid-19 pandemic, which forced extended closures and capacity limits at parks that brought the business to a near halt.

As travel recovered, the division faced inflationary pressure, consumer backlash over rising prices, and more recently, intensifying competition in Orlando from Universal’s Epic Universe. In its most recent quarter, revenue for the NBCUniversal parks business jumped about 22% from the same period a year ago. (NBC News is part of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast.)

Despite those headwinds, Disney’s parks business rebounded sharply starting in 2021 and 2022 as resorts reopened and travel demand returned.

In the three months ended Dec. 27 of last year, Disney’s parks division posted record quarterly revenue. For full-year 2025, Disney’s parks and experiences segment generated $36 billion in revenue, cementing its role as the company’s primary profit driver.

While management has flagged international visitation headwinds at domestic parks weighing on near-term results, Disney reiterated its full-year guidance for high single-digit operating income growth on Monday, pointing to strong forward-looking indicators such as hotel bookings weighted toward the back half of the year.

Analysts have largely viewed those pressures as manageable. Evercore ISI analyst Kutgan Maral described the international headwinds as “not a new concern” in a note to clients Tuesday, adding that Disney has so far been able to navigate around them.

Under the new leadership structure, D’Amaro will be paired with Dana Walden, the co-chair of Disney Entertainment and a veteran television executive, who was named president and chief creative officer.

Together, the duo represents a balance Disney has been working toward since Iger’s surprise return in 2022 — pairing creative cohesion with a leader who has delivered consistent financial performance through volatile cycles.

“D’Amaro’s ascension from the Experiences segment somewhat mirrors the choice of former CEO Bob Chapek to succeed Iger back in 2020,” wrote Doug Cruetz, media analyst at TD Cowen. “However, while D’Amaro lacks experience on the creative side of the business, Walden’s elevation directly addresses any content leadership gap, pairing D’Amaro’s operational strengths with proven creative expertise.”

“It will however be critical for the two executives to be able to forge a strong partnership,” Cruetz said.

But as with Disney’s last succession, how that translates beyond the parks and within a company still in the midst of a transition, will only become clearer with time.