Where is Josh D'Amaro?

[mamaofsix]

I keep reading posts about Chapek being to blame for the current parks experiences, deep cuts, lack of returning shows and attractions, etc. Honestly, though, where is Josh D'Amaro in all this? Feels like we've barely seen or heard from him since COVID began. He is chairman of Disney Parks, experiences and products. With so many reporting their parks experience to be the worst they've ever encountered, is Josh still going to bat for guests or not?

It can't all be blamed on Chapek and "the current fiscal environment." I mean, c'mon - a certain other theme park close by is knocking the socks off Disney right now. What's going on with Josh? Where is he?

 

[JETSDAD]

I've commented on this as well. When Chapek had Josh's job everyone blamed Chapek for anything negative. When Josh has the job, everyone still blames Chapek. Yes Josh may be dreamy and have better people skills but I'd prefer to judge them on results.

 

[mamaofsix]

I've commented on this as well. When Chapek had Josh's job everyone blamed Chapek for anything negative. When Josh has the job, everyone still blames Chapek. Yes Josh may be dreamy and have better people skills but I'd prefer to judge them on results.

Yes, exactly! I know we're in unprecedented times, but the breadth of diminishing park experience under Josh has been much more substantial than under Chapek.

 

[Missingmypooh]

I’m a firm believer that Chapek is being used as an unofficial interim CEO. Picking him was unexpected and sudden and conveniently timed (feb 2020).

Chapek will be replaced in a year or two after a great track record. He’ll get the severance, applauds for keeping stockholders satisfied and given a mulligan because of the pandemic.

then we’ll see the real CEO who will take over the next 10+ years (not josh). there’s quite a bit to support this, but most strikingly is the absence of any new substantial additions to the lineup. Giving the next CEO a healthy company with a blank slate is exciting and I’m sure they’ll have lots of announcements planned that first year to improve buyer confidence given the short CEO reign

josh, being in the position he is in, likely suspect or out rights knows this, and is likely walking on egg shells. This is not an excuse for JD, but I do think we should wait to see how the DL rollout goes and what happens in 2021 before placing blame on either the CEO or chairman’s.

 

[JETSDAD]

I’m a firm believer that Chapek is being used as an unofficial interim CEO. Picking him was unexpected and sudden and conveniently timed (feb 2020).

Chapek will be replaced in a year or two after a great track record. He’ll get the severance, applauds for keeping stockholders satisfied and given a mulligan because of the pandemic.

then we’ll see the real CEO who will take over the next 10+ years (not josh). there’s quite a bit to support this, but most strikingly is the absence of any new substantial additions to the lineup. Giving the next CEO a healthy company with a blank slate is exciting and I’m sure they’ll have lots of announcements planned that first year to improve buyer confidence given the short CEO reign

josh, being in the position he is in, likely suspect or out rights knows this, and is likely walking on egg shells. This is not an excuse for JD, but I do think we should wait to see how the DL rollout goes and what happens in 2021 before placing blame on either the CEO or chairman’s.

I'm actually fine with giving everyone a bit of a pass on things right now due to covid and the closures. There simply isn't a playbook for that and I do believe that 'most' of the decisions being made they feel are needed and are a result of all of this. Sure there may be some things that are done to take advantage of the situation but I don't think that's the case most of the time. My complaint is more with how the two are treated so differently.

 

[Missingmypooh]

I'm actually fine with giving everyone a bit of a pass on things right now due to covid and the closures. There simply isn't a playbook for that and I do believe that 'most' of the decisions being made they feel are needed and are a result of all of this. Sure there may be some things that are done to take advantage of the situation but I don't think that's the case most of the time. My complaint is more with how the two are treated so differently.

Quote” People don’t care what you know, till they know you care.”

josh played social media reallyyyyyy well. He did a lot of personable things that left memorable impressions.

so in my opinion, I believe josh actually cares but is currently stalemated. I don’t see chapek with that same attitude towards disney (maybe he has it... but I haven’t seen it, so that negatively influenced my opinions of his current job).

 

[Eric Smith]

I keep reading posts about Chapek being to blame for the current parks experiences, deep cuts, lack of returning shows and attractions, etc. Honestly, though, where is Josh D'Amaro in all this? Feels like we've barely seen or heard from him since COVID began. He is chairman of Disney Parks, experiences and products. With so many reporting their parks experience to be the worst they've ever encountered, is Josh still going to bat for guests or not?

It can't all be blamed on Chapek and "the current fiscal environment." I mean, c'mon - a certain other theme park close by is knocking the socks off Disney right now. What's going on with Josh? Where is he?

I agree that Chapek gets all the the blame even though D'Amaro has been in charge for about a year now. It should be on Josh now good or bad. It's probably that way on here because Pete Werner loves D'amaro and hates Chapek so people are probably parroting that.

I assume you're talking about Universal "knocking its socks off". I haven't seen that. Universal turned people away last weekend because their park filled up. They decided not to do a park reservation system which I think is a mistake. I also can't point to anything that they've done that has been better than Disney after the reopening. They've been more lax with COVID rules, so there's that if you think that way.

 

[mamaofsix]

I agree that Chapek gets all the the blame even though D'Amaro has been in charge for about a year now. It should be on Josh now good or bad. It's probably that way on here because Pete Werner loves D'amaro and hates Chapek so people are probably parroting that.

I assume you're talking about Universal "knocking its socks off". I haven't seen that. Universal turned people away last weekend because their park filled up. They decided not to do a park reservation system which I think is a mistake. I also can't point to anything that they've done that has been better than Disney after the reopening. They've been more lax with COVID rules, so there's that if you think that way.

I think what I see as the difference between Universal and Disney right now is that Universal is spending money to open up all or most of their attractions, shows and restaurants while Disney still has half their stuff closed (creating enormous lines at the attractions that are actually open). Universal is full steam ahead with their new ride construction projects, while Disney is at a snail's pace. Universal just announced it's moving forward with it's construction on it's next gate. Meanwhile, Disney took 4 months to dismantle one building at Epcot.

I guess it just seems as though Disney is not spending or moving ahead in their parks in order to satisfy share holders with profits, while Universal is looking forward and making their parks a better experience for guests.

I guess you could say the fact Universal had to turn people away last weekend speaks to their lack in having a park reservation system, but to me it just shows the sheer volume of people who want to be in Universal right now...

 

[Eric Smith]

I think what I see as the difference between Universal and Disney right now is that Universal is spending money to open up all or most of their attractions, shows and restaurants while Disney still has half their stuff closed (creating enormous lines at the attractions that are actually open). Universal is full steam ahead with their new ride construction projects, while Disney is at a snail's pace. Universal just announced it's moving forward with it's construction on it's next gate. Meanwhile, Disney took 4 months to dismantle one building at Epcot.

I guess it just seems as though Disney is not spending or moving ahead in their parks in order to satisfy share holders with profits, while Universal is looking forward and making their parks a better experience for guests.

I guess you could say the fact Universal had to turn people away last weekend speaks to their lack in having a park reservation system, but to me it just shows the sheer volume of people who want to be in Universal right now...

Universal didn't have shows the way Disney does. They also didn't have meet and greets in the same way Disney does. Most of their attractions are actual rides. The lines for attractions and Disney aren't enormous. The waits are less than they were at this time last year. They're long because of the six feet distancing. Universal is only working on Velocicoaster and they recently restarted work on Epic Universe which is about five years out. Disney has Ratatouille ready to go and is working on Cosmic Rewind and Tron. They're also redoing most of Future World in Epcot. Disney has also been pretty gung ho with refurbishing locations in the last six to nine months due to the lower than usual crowds.

Comcast/NBC/Universal is just as shareholder driven as Disney is, they just didn't get hit as hard by the pandemic as Disney.

Disney's reservations are full for the next 3-4 weeks. Plenty of people want to go there too.

 

[ford91exploder]

Universal knows what the upper limit is on guests in the park to create a good guest experience, So when they hit that limit the parks stop admissions.

remember Disney calls the same thing a phase closing but they are not as concerned about experience its how many guests can they legally cram into the parks.

 

[ford91exploder]

I keep reading posts about Chapek being to blame for the current parks experiences, deep cuts, lack of returning shows and attractions, etc. Honestly, though, where is Josh D'Amaro in all this? Feels like we've barely seen or heard from him since COVID began. He is chairman of Disney Parks, experiences and products. With so many reporting their parks experience to be the worst they've ever encountered, is Josh still going to bat for guests or not?

It can't all be blamed on Chapek and "the current fiscal environment." I mean, c'mon - a certain other theme park close by is knocking the socks off Disney right now. What's going on with Josh? Where is he?

I’ve called Josh a corporate spokesmodel before and I’ll call him one again, as usual WDW is the self-replenishing ATM for the rest of WDW. The orders have come down from Burbank to grab every spare dime that can be squeezed out of WDW to make the earnings less dismal for TWDC as a whole.

Josh has no more control than one of the custodial CM’s as to what’s happening at Disney.

 

[DisneyMama811]

Does anyone from the Disney family actually work for the Disney company anymore? as in descendents of Walt or Roy? I feel like Walt would be spinning in his grave if he could see what a dumpster fire the most recent CEO's have started with all the poor park related decisions they make. I know it's a business but what happened to customer satisfaction being the highest priority?

 

[iheartglaciers]

It's probably that way on here because Pete Werner loves D'amaro and hates Chapek so people are probably parroting that.

I think a lot of people love D’Amaro because he has a strong social media presence that makes it seem like he loves the Disney Parks brand and cares about the CMs (whether it’s show or not).

But when D’Amaro was promoted to his WDW position (the one before his current position), a lot of people who worked under him at DL were glowing about how much he cares about the parks and CMs. So I don’t think his social media presence is all show.

 

[Eric Smith]

Does anyone from the Disney family actually work for the Disney company anymore? as in descendents of Walt or Roy? I feel like Walt would be spinning in his grave if he could see what a dumpster fire the most recent CEO's have started with all the poor park related decisions they make. I know it's a business but what happened to customer satisfaction being the highest priority?

Investment in the domestic parks was as high as it had ever been just before COVID. At WDW we got Pandora, Toy Story Land, Galaxy’s Edge, Tron, Cosmic Rewind, Ratatouille, and the Epcot Future World redesign in the recent past. Those are all very positive improvements. It certainly dwarfs what was done in the latter parts of the reign of Eisner. DCA was a dumpster fire when it was launched. Disney has managed to salvage that as well. There are certainly some poor decisions made in that timeframe as well, but I think taking everything in to account its a net positive.

I also don’t think anyone has any idea what Walt would think. There are precious few who are still with us who actually knew Walt.

 

[Eric Smith]

I think a lot of people love D’Amaro because he has a strong social media presence that makes it seem like he loves the Disney Parks brand and cares about the CMs (whether it’s show or not).

But when D’Amaro was promoted to his WDW position (the one before his current position), a lot of people who worked under him at DL were glowing about how much he cares about the parks and CMs. So I don’t think his social media presence is all show.

That all makes sense. I’m willing to give him a pass for what is happening in the parks right now due to COVID. We’ll see how he guides the parks out of the pandemic. Whatever happens there should be on him, good and bad.

 

[New Mouse]

I think a lot of people love D’Amaro because he has a strong social media presence that makes it seem like he loves the Disney Parks brand and cares about the CMs (whether it’s show or not).

But when D’Amaro was promoted to his WDW position (the one before his current position), a lot of people who worked under him at DL were glowing about how much he cares about the parks and CMs. So I don’t think his social media presence is all show.

You can talk that you care all youd like. If you are a figurehead and cant do anything to actually act on those feelings it doesnt matter.

 

[Eric Smith]

You can talk that you care all youd like. If you are a figurehead and cant do anything to actually act on those feelings it doesnt matter.

Why do you think D'Amaro isn't running the show?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Josh is busy pushing each park to plexiglass even more and telling his survey team to keep up the spectacular results on guest satisfaction that made his boss so happy.

 

[ford91exploder]

I think a lot of people love D’Amaro because he has a strong social media presence that makes it seem like he loves the Disney Parks brand and cares about the CMs (whether it’s show or not).

But when D’Amaro was promoted to his WDW position (the one before his current position), a lot of people who worked under him at DL were glowing about how much he cares about the parks and CMs. So I don’t think his social media presence is all show.

in corporate America describing senior leadership i n anything but the most glowing terms by line and middle management employees is a one way ticket to the unemployment office.

True communication is only possible among equals. If i had a VP of finance telling me another executive is good people. I’d believe. When a line employee tells me the same thing well... its hard to say has someone decided that being employed means toeing the company line, or they are a true believer.

Personally I look at the actions rather than the words and under Spokesmodel Josh. Well the WDW cuts have been more severe (excluding covid) than they were under Georgie K who started as a busboy with no college so he at least understood what being a low level CM’s challenges were.

 

[Devil13]

On some dark nights, if you're at the Polynesian in the Great Ceremonial House (right before it closes at 10PM), tiptoe slowly up to the Tambu Lounge, and off in the barren wasteland of what used to be Ohana, from the dim light of the electrical water pageant, you can sometimes catch a glimpse of a figure drenched in the tears of a million broken dreams. That, my friends, is Josh D'Amaro...


Not sure why when I saw this thread my mind instantly went to him as Marlon Brando playing Kutz in Apocalypse Now but not on The Jungle Cruise though because these days, The Poly fits the mood better.