News Who Will Replace Josh D'Amaro as Disney Experiences Chairman?

[Ayla]

Has there been an announcement as to who it will be, yet?

 

[Disstevefan1]

Tropical Americas is a way to narratively and inorganically shoehorn two disparate IPs into DAK. It is not an example of breaking free from the IP mandate: rather, it is a clumsy way to implement it.

Too soon?

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I’m a bit ignorant… why do people dislike Vahle?

Vahle is tight with money and it shows. What I mean by that is one example is Vahle had 2 options to put Monsters Inc. Land with one being Muppet Courtyard and the other being Star Wars Launch Bay and the building behind it. Vahle took Muppet Courtyard because it was cheaper to do the land there. Vahle also didn't like the costs involved with Rivers of America and played a big role in why it is gone now for Piston Peak.

The final thing is Vahle claimed Muppet Courtyard and Rivers of America were underutilized and he got backlash from the underutilize claim.

 

[Disstevefan1]

welllll, if Josh appoints Vahle, then Josh has a scapegoat if things go bad.

Sorta like when Iger appointed Chapek.

 

[djkidkaz]

To me, this promotion is almost going to be more important than Josh becoming CEO. This person is going to be the one partnering with imagineering and making decisions on what is to come next, not necessarily Josh. Josh is going to have to put trust in this person and give them the ability to make decisions about the parks and their futures. Josh will be super busy running all the other facets of the company and figuring out how to move forward with ESPN, ABC, Disney+, Fox, etc.

 

[DCBaker]

Bloomberg reports Disney is close to naming Thomas Mazloum as Chairman of Disney Experiences:

Walt Disney Co. is close to naming Thomas Mazloum as chairman of the company’s parks, cruises and consumer products division, succeeding Josh D’Amaro, according to people familiar with the matter.

An announcement about Mazloum, who has run the Disneyland resort in California since March of last year, could come as soon as this week, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Earlier in his career, Mazloum ran Disney’s cruise business and held senior roles at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Mazloum is being named to the role as D’Amaro is set to succeed Bob Iger as Disney’s chief executive officer at the company’s annual meeting on March 18.

Disney is investing $60 billion in the resorts business, nearly doubling the company’s fleet of cruise ships and adding attractions such as an Avatar-themed land at Disney’s California Adventure park. The division generated just under $10 billion of operating income last year, more that half of the company’s total, and employs more than 185,000 people globally.

Disney’s parks unit has long been an academy for executives destined for prominent positions inside and outside the company. D’Amaro was named chair of the division in 2020. Iger’s earlier handpicked successor, Bob Chapek, also ran the parks business, as did potential successors Tom Staggs and Jay Rasulo, who also each served as chief financial officers of Disney.

Ebay Inc. Chairman Paul Pressler, a former Gap Inc. CEO, ran Disney’s parks in the early 2000s. Catherine Powell, CEO of river cruise operator AmaWaterways, previously ran Disney’s parks in California, Florida and France.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-09/disney-is-said-close-to-naming-mazloum-chairman-of-parks-unit

 

[WaltsTreasureChest]

Bloomberg reports Disney is close to naming Thomas Mazloum as Chairman of Disney Experiences:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-09/disney-is-said-close-to-naming-mazloum-chairman-of-parks-unit

Is this a good or bad thing

 

[Disney Analyst]

Bloomberg reports Disney is close to naming Thomas Mazloum as Chairman of Disney Experiences:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-09/disney-is-said-close-to-naming-mazloum-chairman-of-parks-unit

Barely had time to cook at Disneyland - was hoping his Disney Cruise experience would bring live entertainment back to the park... but alas.

 

[𝐌𝖆𝖓 𝖎𝖓 𝐖𝖊𝖇]

Is this a good or bad thing

Neutral good. If not a bit safe and boring. A hotel guy.

 

[jpeden]

Is this a good or bad thing

It is certainly better than Jeff Vahle.

 

[HMF]

Is this a good or bad thing

At least it's not Vahle and I consider operating Disneyland to be a better sign overall than operating WDW.

 

[ToTBellHop]

It is certainly better than Jeff Vahle.

Exactly. Given the choices we could reasonably expect, this is good for us.

 

[HauntedPirate]

It is certainly better than Jeff Vahle.

 

[monothingie]

The only better news is if we get an announcement for Jeff’s retirement.

 

[aladdin2007]

The only better news is if we get an announcement for Jeff’s retirement.

Yeah but there could always be someone even worse to fill the spot, if thats even possible at this point.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Yeah but there could always be someone even worse to fill the spot, if thats even possible at this point.

Sounds like my position with Eisner back in 2005 - Be careful, whoever replaces him could be worse.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Yeah but there could always be someone even worse to fill the spot, if thats even possible at this point.

Stitch’s chili burp would be a better president.

I didn’t always feel this way toward Jeff, but I think he’s well beyond his sell-by date and his heart isn’t there anymore.

 

[monothingie]

I’m trying to find out if he sounds like Col Klink or Wolfgang Puck. That alone would be worth the price of admission for D23!

 

[Comped]

I’m trying to find out if he sounds like Col Klink or Wolfgang Puck. That alone would be worth the price of admission for D23!

I was about to say I thought that Disney owned that show from when they bought Fox, no Hogan's Heroes is a CBS thing...

 

[monothingie]

I was about to say I thought that Disney owned that show from when they bought Fox, no Hogan's Heroes is a CBS thing...

Wearing a monocle really needs to come back in style.