News Josh D’Amaro Named Next CEO of The Walt Disney Company

[_caleb]

Disney doesn't necessarily need stand-outs - they need peanut butter. They don't need one reel from a celebrity influencer, they want 500 influencers flooding the feeds with the message.

This is why Disney invites and sponsors moms, gen-z, and any other countless forms of people with cameras OVER inviting impactful reviewers, etc.

The answer to one dissenting voice is to drown it out with 5,000 voices singing your praise. This is life in the algorithm.


And the majority of those outside influences you are talking about are being shaped by Disney PR - just to various degrees.

The tempest in a teapot stuff you point out are issues in the fandom.. Disney is going much broader than that.

Thanks for your thoughtful replies.

I get what you're saying, and I used to see it like that. But I think we reached a tipping point. The algorithms neutralize the sheer numbers game.

Disney helped create a monster with their mommy-blogger strategies, but no amount of comped theme park tickets has been able to prevent the high-profile failures of major movies, series, the Starcruiser, etc.

 

[_caleb]

I would say the fandom / anti-fandom issue is a subset of what you referenced regarding the switch to digital culture. The “shock value” YouTube thumbnails that slam Disney are of course not good advertising, but I think they’re a subset of the larger issue you mentioned, a total restructuring of how people consume content.

What’s interesting, I think, is that Disney kinda rose to fame the last time populist entertainment (at that point, Vaudeville and such) was on the downswing and “talkies” and then tv were ascendant. In some ways short form, brain rot / slapstick content is not as much in their DNA. Some of the early cartoons may lean in that direction but in general I think of Disney as the purveyors of “grand narratives”, just the kind that people seem to be moving away from now. Again, nothing is 100%, their movies still sell plenty of tickets - but it’s hard to picture Disney as a short form content company (although I think they just tried something new there with The Locker Diaries).

Excellent points!

It's funny, because I actually saw the Paul Rudish shorts as indicative of Disney's return to brainrot/slapstick of thier early days and thought maybe it was a good move for them in the digital era. No grand narratives, no good guy/bad guy conflicts, no developed story arcs. But even those didn't turn out to be so popular and were discontinued. Disney does have short-form in children's programming. Episodes of Bluey, Minnie's Bow-Toons, etc. are all like 3 minutes long!

Point is, any discussion about Disney's new CEO that compares him to Eisner seems to ignore some of these monumental shifts to the landscape of the business.

 

[Stripes]

Compensation has fallen relative to inflation and more importantly - notably the COL in Orlando and Florida in General. You get what you pay for…and if your employees can’t pay…you’re not getting much.

As you should know, the labor market doesn’t care whether wages have kept up with inflation. Your ability to attract top talent depends on what others are willing to pay for the same talent. Disney remains a competitive employer in terms of wages and benefits within the service industry.

But, even if you look at inflation, I’m not sure you’re correct. In 1998, the minimum wage at Walt Disney World, excluding tipped Cast Members, was $6.25/hour. Today, the minimum wage at Walt Disney World is $19/hour.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t provide data for Orlando specifically, but Tampa is a close comparison. Today, prices in Tampa are 2.24x as high as they were in 1998, while Walt Disney World’s minimum wage has increased to 3x what it was in 1998.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=1SbnQ&height=490

Because you’ll gladly fork over $65 for chef mickeys…does not mean it’s better than when it was $16.99

I don’t fork over anything for Chef Mickeys. Chef Mickeys has gone downhill while other fantastic options have risen.

Which is why it’s not really moved any needles at all. Strap in…this train is just getting started

Yeah, your credibility and track record on this topic is what, exactly? We’ll see, man.

1hr? LOL I'm not moving the goal posts.. I'm having to remind you that you focusing on one little spot doesn't reflect the whole canvas. I shouldn't also have to remind you that 2016 is after the problem had started.. so comparing back to it is kind of a circular logic fail.

Dude, first you said January wasn’t a fair comparison because “nobody is talking about the slow season.” So I pulled up the busiest season, December, and you said “pfft…show me the slow season.” So I pulled up July and now it’s “eh…the problems predate 2016 anyway, lol fail!!!”

Like I said.. "This is what Disney wants... people to just slowly forget."

Yeah, I don’t think I’m forgetting. I think either your priorities and preferences must be different from mine or you are falling victim to rosy retrospection bias.

But, again, feel free to disagree.

10pm close on a summer night is an absolute joke.. and if looking back at Disney prior failures makes you feel better justifying that.. then you do you

It’s been a long, long time since the standard hours in the summer were later than that, and it was when the summer was genuinely the busy season. Now? It’s definitely the slowest season and it makes no sense to stay open later.

And I don’t know about you, but 10pm is bedtime for me, haha!

 

[DisneyHead123]

Excellent points!

It's funny, because I actually saw the Paul Rudish shorts as indicative of Disney's return to brainrot/slapstick of thier early days and thought maybe it was a good move for them in the digital era. No grand narratives, no good guy/bad guy conflicts, no developed story arcs. But even those didn't turn out to be so popular and were discontinued. Disney does have short-form in children's programming. Episodes of Bluey, Minnie's Bow-Toons, etc. are all like 3 minutes long!

Point is, any discussion about Disney's new CEO that compares him to Eisner seems to ignore some of these monumental shifts to the landscape of the business.

That’s a shame, the Rudish cartoons were the first Disney content my son liked. A little into Phineas and Ferb now, although for the most part he’s begging for YouTube, Minecraft or Roblox.

I agree the landscape is incredibly different now, not sure how Disney will get a foothold there. I don’t see how streaming can be truly profitable without a pay-per-movie model like Amazon. I do think getting more into games is a good move as that’s one of the profitable content areas that’s still centralized around big companies (not entirely, ie Roblox, but still in large part). And in-game purchases are a stroke of evil genius that they could hypothetically profit from (Every 30 seconds when my son is on Roblox… “I need Roooobuuuux!!” So he can, I dunno, buy a sweet 6-7 necklace to wear around while playing his game or unlock a 20 second animation.) Similar idea with Minecraft mods.

 

[ULPO46]

Fun fact TWDC currently has a hiring freeze on hourly positions. The average wage is 16 an hour and most “full time” cast members are lucky if they reach 38 hours a week. Salaried employees are no better off. The average rent for a one bedroom in the greater Orlando region is 1,700 a month. Factor tolls and gas and most can’t afford to commute far for work. The average home is now closer to 500k USD and the “dream” of working at Disney is more and more of a difficult task for young cast members looking to start a family. The parks run 90% off of College Program and ICP participation. Cheaper labor, non-union and zero benefits with the added benefit of taking up 80% of their paychecks in company housing.

Don’t get me wrong I’m blessed to be salaried and have great benefits within the company, but the cost of living is high. Even with a salary approaching 80k a year, I do end up cutting back family vacations and unnecessary expenses. It doesn’t matter who the CEO is the company isn’t a long term solution unless you work your way into a salaried role or are of retirement age and just want something to kill time.

The loss of Disney Aspire brought a lot of young hourly cast members to leave the company. But here’s to hoping things change and stop being arbitrarily what the shareholders say. That’s something the renaissance years of the early to middle Eisner era had that Iger lacked and I don’t have much hope for D’amaro.

But here’s an important thing, a well taken cared of cast, with decent pay and great benefits is a better Experiences division. Demanding long hours for salaried cast and not offering further bonuses is when people start calling it quits, we do have families outside the office who we would love to spend more time with. Sometimes when the occasional CFTOD posting comes up I’m shocked at how much more they pay. But it’s all in the eyes and dreams of who loves their jobs. I’ve been happy to spend my last 15 years for the mouse but as of late I’ve begun to question if long hours, low pay compared to going out and looking at other options has begun to tag at me. Work life balance is more important than feeling overworked and undervalued.

 

[flynnibus]

Dude, first you said January wasn’t a fair comparison because “nobody is talking about the slow season.” So I pulled up the busiest season, December, and you said “pfft…show me the slow season.” So I pulled up July and now it’s “eh…the problems predate 2016 anyway, lol fail!!!”

Dude, you can just scroll up to see what I said.. and you can't even get that right. 'show me the slow season' no...

January has NEVER had consistent long hours (and the park opening hours have basically never shifted much sans EMH).. so yes, when your retort is citing January hours... Ain't nobody got time for that nonsense.

You then keep hoping around to individual points, and again miss the big picture because you're trying to focus on one spot as the 'ah ha' - when literally my first reply to you was 'now do the rest of the year' -- and what do you do, again try to jump to one point. I needed to get the crayons because you weren't getting the hints.

I pointed to July because the summer was well known for it's long operating hours where the parks were operating on full bore across the board. And now, they aren't because Disney massaged demand to take away those peaks and spread demand out -- and the result is still less operating hours... but it's better for disney because they get better utilization without extremes.

I know Chef Mickey's point was the recent Josh era - but this topic in particular didn't start with Josh.. but the point is he didn't really fix it either... instead kept exaggerating the topic with more and more ticketed events. So yeah, if you want to see how things changed, you need to actually go back further. Calling that out isn't moving the goal posts -- it is actually knowing the topic.. and apparently having to spell it out for someone who just wants to look through a peep hole and miss the bigger view.

No one is talking about the MK not having enough downtime between customer hours anymore...
Meanwhile, DL still consistently runs longer hours than MK and has a fraction of the onsite guest population to entertain.

Again.. "This is what Disney wants... people to just slowly forget.". Eventually people are happy for the scraps they are given.

 

[Stripes]

You then keep hoping around to individual points, and again miss the big picture because you're trying to focus on one spot as the 'ah ha' - when literally my first reply to you was 'now do the rest of the year' -- and what do you do, again try to jump to one point. I needed to get the crayons because you weren't getting the hints.

I think the point was it really doesn’t matter what point I pick. Going back in time, you can only go one month at a time, so that’s what I did. Pick any month you want!

I pointed to July because the summer was well known for it's long operating hours where the parks were operating on full bore across the board. And now, they aren't because Disney massaged demand to take away those peaks and spread demand out -- and the result is still less operating hours... but it's better for disney because they get better utilization without extremes.

I mean, summer prices have consistently been the lowest for years so it’s hard to make the case that Disney are the ones massaging the demand away from summer when it’s actually changes in consumer preferences.

More equal utilization without extremes is also better for the guest experience, by the way. Not just Disney.

I know Chef Mickey's point was the recent Josh era - but this topic in particular didn't start with Josh.. but the point is he didn't really fix it either... instead kept exaggerating the topic with more and more ticketed events. So yeah, if you want to see how things changed, you need to actually go back further. Calling that out isn't moving the goal posts -- it is actually knowing the topic.. and apparently having to spell it out for someone who just wants to look through a peep hole and miss the bigger view.

What is the problem?! I swear, y’all are acting as if MK’s normal operating hours in summer being 13 hours instead of 14 hours like in 90’s is the crime of the century. I’m sorry, but I refuse to pretend as though I should be outraged or even mildly upset. If people want to spend hundreds of dollars on an after-hours ticketed event, be my guest and more power to them! I won’t be there because my body can’t handle so little sleep.

And if 13 hours a day isn’t enough time for you in Magic Kingdom, I don’t know what to say to you.

 

[HMF]

In my opinion, the biggest challenge (that they still haven't figured out) has been the rise of the fandom ecosystem. "Influencers" and YouTubers are no longer just enthusiastic fans who can be bought with a free cupcake reception. Many are monetized media entities incentivized to court controversy. Disney doesn’t control the narrative the way it once did.

I actually would consider this a good thing.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Again.. "This is what Disney wants... people to just slowly forget.". Eventually people are happy for the scraps they are given.

 

[Angel Ariel]

EMH is still around, but now it’s an extra 30 minutes at all the parks instead of an extra hour at one particular park (thereby incentivizing crowds to visit one particular park and increasing wait times at the park throughout the day). A win in my book.

Once upon a time, EMH was an extra hour in the morning AND an extra 2-3 hours at night. I miss those nighttime EMH, especially when the park didn't close til midnight. Being in the park til 2am (back before kids) was really fun. Having to pay for after hours nights, or stay in a deluxe hotel to access any kind of evening EMH, is not a win.

 

[Stripes]

Once upon a time, EMH was an extra hour in the morning AND an extra 2-3 hours at night. I miss those nighttime EMH, especially when the park didn't close til midnight. Being in the park til 2am (back before kids) was really fun. Having to pay for after hours nights, or stay in a deluxe hotel to access any kind of evening EMH, is not a win.

Spreading out the mornings to all the parks every day massively reduced guest demand for a particular park and spread out the crowds. A park with EMH would get absolutely swamped that day resulting in a significantly worse guest experience. In terms of cost to Disney, the new system is the equivalent of 2 additional hours of 4 park operations every single day versus when it was 1 hour of morning EMH at one park on some days. Providing Morning EMH is much more expensive today than it ever was.

And by restricting evening Evening EMH to deluxe guests, it limited the impact on attendance at a particular park because only deluxe guests would be eligible, thereby improving the guest experience for the majority of guests that never attended Evening EMH whether they were eligible or not. Also, statistically speaking, most guests at value and moderate resorts took advantage of the morning EMH and left the parks due to fatigue before Evening EMH. Deluxe guests, due to the ease of transportation, would stay later for the evening EMH.

Disney introduced EMH in the early 2000s as a business response to the massive decline in tourism following 9/11 and subsequently the increased competition from the new hotels outside the bubble. The business dynamics have shifted dramatically and those old pressures are either non-existent or dramatically reduced.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Spreading out the mornings to all the parks every day massively reduced guest demand for a particular park and spread out the crowds. A park with EMH would get absolutely swamped that day resulting in a significantly worse guest experience. In terms of cost to Disney, the new system is the equivalent of 2 additional hours of 4 park operations every single day versus when it was 1 hour of morning EMH at one park on some days. Providing Morning EMH is much more expensive today than it ever was.

And by restricting evening Evening EMH to deluxe guests, it limited the impact on attendance at a particular park because only deluxe guests would be eligible, thereby improving the guest experience for the majority of guests that never attended Evening EMH whether they were eligible or not. Also, statistically speaking, most guests at value and moderate resorts took advantage of the morning EMH and left the parks due to fatigue before Evening EMH. Deluxe guests, due to the ease of transportation, would stay later for the evening EMH.

Disney introduced EMH in the early 2000s as a business response to the massive decline in tourism following 9/11 and subsequently the increased competition from the new hotels outside the bubble. The business dynamics have shifted dramatically and those old pressures are either non-existent or dramatically reduced.

My apologies, I thought the statement "A win in my book" was talking about a win from a guest perspective.

Of course removing the old school EMH is a win in Disney's book.

When I can now book a 3 bedroom vacation townhome with a private pool for a week for half the cost of staying at a moderate, I'm not so sure I'd be arguing that the competition with offsite is no longer an issue (or a dramatically reduced one).

We stayed deluxe on our honeymoon - long time ago. We loved it. Had a great time. A theme park view GF room was $340/night. In July. When July was busy season. As much as I'd love to stay there again, that same room with less benefits is not worth the $800+/night cost.

 

[BrianLo]

I would make a coherent argument that food quality is better today than 10 or 25 years ago. Perhaps that’s cheating because Disney Springs does a lot of leg work. I’m sure these things are subjective to tastes, but there have been like ?30-40 dining venues added in the last 10 years.

Cost aside, of course and most of it has nothing to do with Josh. It was all concentrated from 2016-2019.

 

[Stripes]

My apologies, I thought the statement "A win in my book" was talking about a win from a guest perspective.

Of course removing the old school EMH is a win in Disney's book.

When I can now book a 3 bedroom vacation townhome with a private pool for a week for half the cost of staying at a moderate, I'm not so sure I'd be arguing that the competition with offsite is no longer an issue (or a dramatically reduced one).

We stayed deluxe on our honeymoon - long time ago. We loved it. Had a great time. A theme park view GF room was $340/night. In July. When July was busy season. As much as I'd love to stay there again, that same room with less benefits is not worth the $800+/night cost.

So, let’s actually do the math here.

I picked a random week in July 2005. Basically, EMH hours looked like this: at each park, one day per week there would be a day of 1 extra magic hour in the morning and a day of 3 extra magic hours in the evening. Therefore, each park would get a total of 4 extra magic hours for the week. 4 EMH hours times 4 parks and you get a combined total of 16 EMH park hours for the week.

I chose the same week in 2025. Today, Disney operates all four parks for an additional 30 minutes for Early Entry every day. That’s a combined total of 2 park hours per day times 7 days: 14 early entry park operating hours per week. In addition, there was 1 day each of extended evening hours at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom for a total of 4 extended evening hours for the week. And that brings us to a grand total of…18 EMH park hours for the week.

So, the changes that have been made to EMH don’t appear to be cost cuts. You could say restricting evenings to deluxe guests has limited the guests that benefit there, but it also improved the overall guest experience by reducing crowding at individual parks during the day when most guests are experiencing it.

So, why were the EMH changes made? The logical conclusion is to improve the guest experience by reducing crowding and perhaps further differentiate the deluxe resorts from their competition. Reducing costs is not among the reasons.

 

[JD80]

So, let’s actually do the math here.

I picked a random week in July 2005. Basically, EMH hours looked like this: at each park, one day per week there would be a day of 1 extra magic hour in the morning and a day of 3 extra magic hours in the evening. Therefore, each park would get a total of 4 extra magic hours for the week. 4 EMH hours times 4 parks and you get a combined total of 16 EMH park hours for the week.

I chose the same week in 2025. Today, Disney operates all four parks for an additional 30 minutes for Early Entry every day. That’s a combined total of 2 park hours per day times 7 days: 14 early entry park operating hours per week. In addition, there was 1 day each of extended evening hours at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom for a total of 4 extended evening hours for the week. And that brings us to a grand total of…18 EMH park hours for the week.

So, the changes that have been made to EMH don’t appear to be cost cuts. You could say restricting evenings to deluxe guests has limited the guests that benefit there, but it also improved the overall guest experience by reducing crowding at individual parks during the day when most guests are experiencing it.

So, why were the EMH changes made? The logical conclusion is to improve the guest experience by reducing crowding and perhaps further differentiate the deluxe resorts from their competition. Reducing costs is not among the reasons.

I have all the data for an example going back to 1994. Remind me tomorrow and I can post it. Date is roughly the first full week of June.

It's too big to do from my phone.

Edit: maybe this works .. may not be readable.

 

[Angel Ariel]

So, let’s actually do the math here.

I picked a random week in July 2005. Basically, EMH hours looked like this: at each park, one day per week there would be a day of 1 extra magic hour in the morning and a day of 3 extra magic hours in the evening. Therefore, each park would get a total of 4 extra magic hours for the week. 4 EMH hours times 4 parks and you get a combined total of 16 EMH park hours for the week.

I chose the same week in 2025. Today, Disney operates all four parks for an additional 30 minutes for Early Entry every day. That’s a combined total of 2 park hours per day times 7 days: 14 early entry park operating hours per week. In addition, there was 1 day each of extended evening hours at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom for a total of 4 extended evening hours for the week. And that brings us to a grand total of…18 EMH park hours for the week.

So, the changes that have been made to EMH don’t appear to be cost cuts. You could say restricting evenings to deluxe guests has limited the guests that benefit there, but it also improved the overall guest experience by reducing crowding at individual parks during the day when most guests are experiencing it.

So, why were the EMH changes made? The logical conclusion is to improve the guest experience by reducing crowding and perhaps further differentiate the deluxe resorts from their competition. Reducing costs is not among the reasons.

That's one valid way to look at the math.

Now, from a guest perspective - using your numbers above.

In July 2005, I could experience 1 or 3 hours of EMH time depending on the day (morning EMH, evening EMH), no matter what resort I was staying at.

In July 2025, if I'm staying Deluxe, I can experience 30 mins of EMH every day, and maybe an extra 2 hrs at AK or DHS (depending on the day).

In July 2025 if I'm staying value or moderated, I can experience 30 mins of EMH daily.

As a guest wanting to experience EMH - I'll take 2005. Of course Disney prefers 2025. Again, never argued otherwise.

The crowds you're talking about building on EMH days back in 2005 was more what impact the EMH would have on the regular park day attendance for the whole day. EMHs themselves had low crowds, so the guest experiencing the EMH wasn't having a negative experience.

On a personal level - in 2005, EMHs were a driving reason for us to stay onsite. In 2025 they aren't part of the decision process at all.

I wasn't focusing on why the cuts were made - just that the availability of the experience is significantly less and it is of less quality.

 

[Andrew C]

just that the availability of the experience is significantly less and it is of less quality.

Winner winner.

 

[_caleb]

I find it strange that so many who complain that the parks are poorly managed also continue to visit the parks regularly.

 

[Unbanshee]

View attachment 908298
This was a fun surprise. Looks like the gave D'amaro the dock already at castaway cay lol

That has been like that for a while, right?

 

[Movielover]

I find it strange that so many who complain that the parks are poorly managed also continue to visit the parks regularly.

It's the equivalent of "No one hates Star Wars more than a Star Wars fan".