The next big question for Walt Disney World and Disneyland fans is who replaces him as Disney Experiences Chairman, and heads up the Parks & Resorts segment. A new rumor suggests we could have the answer very soon.
In case you missed it, the Walt Disney Company Board of Directors announced early last month that it elected Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro to become Chief Executive Officer, effective at the upcoming Annual Meeting on March 18, 2026. D’Amaro is a 28-year Disney veteran, is the architect of the largest global expansion in Disney Experiences history, and has led the segment to new heights financially, creatively, and in guest satisfaction according to the company.
Alongside D’Amaro’s appointment as CEO, Dana Walden, Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, has been named President and Chief Creative Officer of The Walt Disney Company, also effective March 18, 2026. In this historic new role for Disney, Walden will report directly to D’Amaro. Upon this transition, longtime Disney CEO Robert A. Iger will continue to serve as Senior Advisor and a member of the Disney Board from March 18th until his retirement from the company on December 31, 2026.
With D’Amaro ascending to the corner office, someone needs to take over the single most profitable division of the entire Walt Disney Company. Disney Experiences generated $36 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025 and represents over 70% of Disney’s overall operating income.
Not only that, but the company’s current 10-year plan calls for investing $60 billion into Parks & Resorts, with that spend largely being backloaded. Many projects are already in flight with construction needing to be navigated; others are still in development and have yet to even take-off.
When previously discussing Who Will Replace Josh D’Amaro as Head of Disney Parks & Resorts? on February 4th, we speculated that a new Parks & Resorts Chair would be named in the next few weeks. At the absolute latest, we expected to see the new Parks Chair on the stage at the relaunch of Disney Adventure World at the end of March 2026.
Since we’ve now missed the christening of the Disney Adventure, the grand reopening of Disney Adventure World will probably be the new chair’s big introduction to fans, media, and Wall Street. (Yes, there are two ‘Disney Adventure’ debuts in March 2026. They really love that word.)
The position being filled before the March 18, 2026 Annual Shareholder Meeting also makes sense so D’Amaro can hit the ground running at that.
According to a new rumor by Bloomberg, the wait is almost over.
Bloomberg is reporting that Josh D’Amaro is close to selecting current Disneyland President Thomas Mazloum as his successor to lead Disney Experiences. In that position, Mazloum would be chairman of its parks & resorts, cruises, and consumer products division.
According to Bloomberg, an announcement could come as soon as this week. We view Bloomberg as a credible source for this news because the outlet clearly is. Shortly before Josh D’Amaro was named CEO, Bloomberg reported that he was the chosen one.
When previously assessing the candidates to succeed Josh D’Amaro as head of Parks & Resorts, we wrote that Mazloum would be the most obvious choice.
Mazloum is currently President of Disneyland Resort, where he leads 36,000 Cast Members, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, three resort hotels, and the Downtown Disney District. He’s guiding the resort during an exciting time of growth, overseeing its 70th anniversary celebration; he’s also shepherding DisneylandForward, which will unlock opportunities for expansion and investment in Anaheim for the next 40 years.
Notably, Disneyland President has historically been a stepping-stone position to bigger things in the Disney Parks. Just look at Josh D’Amaro, who held the role not that long ago.
Mazloum took over as Disneyland Resort President in early 2025, succeeding Ken Potrock who was shuffled to overseeing Major Events Integration. Before taking the reins at Disneyland, Mazloum spent several years as President of Disney Signature Experiences, where he oversaw Disney Cruise Line during a period of explosive expansion and growth that’ll effectively double the fleet size.
Prior to leading Disney Signature Experiences, Mazloum served as SVP of Operations at the Walt Disney World Resort, overseeing 31 Disney resort hotels, as well as Disney Springs, ESPN Wide World of Sports and transportation operations. His resume reads like a greatest hits of Parks & Resorts operations. He began his Disney career in 1998, and even left the company for a while to serve as the Chief Operating Officer for Crystal Cruise Line before returning to Disney in 2017.
One under-discussed aspect of Mazloum’s career is that he was instrumental in handling the reopening of Walt Disney World. I not-so-fondly recall watching the weekly Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force livestreams and hearing regular (non)updates from Mazloum.
In looking at the trajectory of his career over the last 6 years, Mazloum strikes me as a trusted D’Amaro lieutenant who has been cycled through high stakes situations that needed both a delicate touch and prompt action.
I’ve had the chance to talk to Mazloum on a few occasions at various events and have come away impressed. He understands both the operational and creative sides of the business, and values the guest experience.
I don’t want to overdo the analysis of Mazloum here as this is still a rumor and not a done deal, but suffice to say, there’s a reason I ranked him as the most obvious choice to succeed Josh D’Amaro as Disney Experiences Chair. He’s a strong, albeit safe, selection.
As we previously noted, the stakes for this decision are higher than the wait time for Slinky Dog Dash. This leadership change will shape the future of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and parks around the world for decades to come. It’s not just the Disney Experiences Chair position that’s important, but all of the local-level leadership changes that are inevitable once D’Amaro starts assembling his team.
This will have a cascading effect on plenty of other important positions. If or when Thomas Mazloum is named head of Disney Experiences, it’s likely that multiple other leadership changes will be announced around the same time, and not just a new Disneyland President.
That’s precisely what happened back when Josh D’Amaro was named the new Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products in May 2020. Simultaneous with that came the news that he’d be joined by a newly-announced leadership team that includes Jeff Vahle, Ken Potrock, Kareem Daniel, and Thomas Mazloum.
Honestly, I’m less interested in Mazloum being named Disney Experiences Chair than the other leadership changes that’ll inevitably occur at or around the same time. While this wasn’t inevitable, there have been signs pointing to it for the last year.
Far less obvious, however, is who replaces Mazloum and just how many other leadership changes happen. Any and all of the competing candidates that we previously discussed could be cycled into new positions. We’d also expect one or two to leave the company entirely, or perhaps be placed into new figurehead roles.
If history repeats itself and there are 3-4 other ‘retirements’ or role swaps as a result of this leadership change announcement, that could mean new heads of Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Disney Cruise Line. It’ll obviously mean one at Disneyland in California. At the risk of stating the obvious, those are almost all of the most consequential roles within Parks & Resorts.
As we previously wrote, two of the other strong candidates to move up (or sideways?) are Joe Schott, Disney Signature Experiences President, and Natacha Rafalski, Disneyland Paris Présidente. Could one of them fill the vacancy created by Mazloum? Might the other end up in a new position by virtue of other leadership shuffling or restructuring?
The current Walt Disney World President has lasted in that role longer than is normal for the position–might one of those candidates replace him? There are lots of intriguing possibilities; we’ll keep you posted and offer complete analysis once a decision is announced.
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OUR THOUGHTS
Who do you think will be next Parks & Resorts Chair of the Walt Disney Company? Will it be Thomas Mazloum, Joe Schott, Michael Moriarty, and Natacha Rafalski? Or none of the above? Who should it be? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!