Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products
Josh D’Amaro
Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products
Josh D’Amaro has been at Disney since 1998, and has held a whole lot of positions in both Disney Consumer Products and Disney Parks & Resorts. Between 2013 and 2017 alone, he held roles as the Vice President of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Vice President of Resort and Transportation Operations at Walt Disney World, and Chief Commercial Officer of Walt Disney World. (Surprisingly, a pretty standard rate of new rolls in the ever-roiling Parks division, explaining why executives tend to get so little done and projects just keep getting kicked down the road.)
In 2018, he was named President of Disneyland Park and quickly gained a cult following among fans for actually spending time in the park (something you wouldn’t expect to be such a defining feature of a park president, but hey). D’Amaro was so well liked by fans, it was considered a significant loss when he left Anaheim after only a year and a half, promoted to President of Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando. There, he similarly made a name for himself, rallying to improve outdated behind-the-scenes support facilities for Cast Members.
Just six months after D’Amaro returned to Orlando, Bob Chapek’s surprise ascension to CEO in 2020 left the Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products role open, and the rapidly-ascending young leader moved in. After making such a name for himself as a visible, active, positive presence at both resorts, it’s no surprise that D’Amaro’s ascension was celebrated by many fans as a small trade-off in the wake of Chapek’s much less applauded rise.
It’s true – D’Amaro seems to actually like Disney’s theme parks, and even spends time in them! It doesn’t hurt that he’s also young, tall, handsome, stylish, and friendly. That’s why you can find stickers, pins, and even t-shirts with his face on Etsy, and he’s practically a “meet-and-greet” in his own right with fans lining up to take selfies with him in the parks.
In sometimes sweet, sometimes cringey ways, D’Amaro seems to revel in having “fan favorite” status and is perhaps more public-facing than Chapek ever was or will be. (It’s hard to imagine Bob Chapek ever having social media, for example, whereas D’Amaro’s Instagram commands over 140,000 followers.)
Cynics, though, might remind us that D’Amaro’s greatest asset is probably Bob Chapek, who – even elevated to CEO – serves as a convenient scapegoat for issues with the parks. It was already a stretch to blame Chapek with day-to-day issues, frustrating procedures, or price increases at Disney Parks when he was Chairman. Now, he often earns fans’ ire for Park operations as CEO of the entire company! Frankly, it’s not entirely fair that “the buck stopped” with the Chairman of Parks when it was Chapek in the role, but now that he’s risen, so has the blame.
It was, after all, Josh D’Amaro and not Bob Chapek at the helm of a Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products that laid off 32,000 Cast Members during the pandemic, cut $900 million in capital projects, and oversaw the end of many guest perks and the age of add-on upcharges… It’s D’Amaro in charge of the division that launched Disney+ and a severely-unwhelming Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary.
Bob Iger wouldn’t have gotten the blame for Genie+ as CEO, yet CEO Chapek does even though it’s D’Amaro’s division to oversee.
It’ll be interesting to see how D’Amaro owns the role of Chairman going forward, and in the meantime, we ought to remind ourselves that what does or doesn’t happen at Disney Parks ultimately falls to him, for better or worse…
Bob Weis
Global Imagineering Ambassador
Bob Weis is a well-known name around Walt Disney Imagineering circles. Starting with the company in 1980, Weis contributed to the design of Tokyo Disneyland, then served as a pivotal figure and project manager for the Disney-MGM Studios and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. He’s also cited with adding early design work to Tokyo DisneySea, though that must be through his contributions to the never-built California version of the park. After all, Weis actually exited Disney in 1994 to begin his own design firm, Design Island, which created CSI: The Experience, Top of the Rock in New York, and helped develop Disney’s PhotoPass software.
Following the “out-and-up” trajectory of many “boomerang” Cast Members, Weis returned to Disney Imagineering in 2007 – just in time to lead the five-year redevelopment of Disney California Adventure. Once the project was complete, he took the lead on the design of Shanghai Disneyland. In 2016, Weis was named President of Walt Disney Imagineering – a role held in the past by, for example, Marty Sklar. (When Weis stepped in as President, Sklar moved into a “Global Imagineering Ambassador” role – largely seen as an honorary-if-toothless position allowing Sklar to finish up business and retire as a Disney Legend.)
2021 saw a leadership reorganization at Walt Disney Imagineering. After five years as President, Weis’ role was split in half. Weis retained the title President of Creative and New Experiences for WDI, with newcomer Barbara Bouza (below) positioned as his counterpart in Business Management, Design, and Development. With new CEO Bob Chapek at the helm, it made sense to put a creative person in charge of Imagineering’s creative matters while bringing in a talented external candidate to manage Imagineering’s business aspects.
That December, though, Weis stepped down from his Presidency, becoming Disney’s Global Imagineering Ambassador – the same largely-symbolic role once held by Sklar. It’ll be interesting to see what – if any – influence Weis is able to exert from the position, or how long he occupies it before retiring. As it is, that leaves a newcomer in charge of both aspects of Walt Disney Imagineering…
Barbara Bouza
President of Walt Disney Imagineering
After 25 years in the design industry (including as Co-Director and President of the Los Angeles architecture design film Gensler), Barbara Bouza joined WDI in 2020 as President of Business Operations, Design, and Delivery.
A rare, high-profile “poach” of an external leader at Imagineering, Bouza is a licensed architect, who was no doubt hired to help oversee both the “big picture” and “boots-on-the-ground” aspects of Imagineering’s business side – strategic planning, project management, and product install. (That’s not surprising, as new CEO Bob Chapek was allegedly highly dissatisfied with WDI’s laboriously slow project timeline that sees major attractions take four or more years to develop, build, and open, preferring quicker reskins, low-stakes installs, and IP overlays like Pixar Pier and Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!)
As part of the same 2021 reorganization that shifted Bob Weis to overseeing the explicitly “creative” elements of Imagineering, Bouza likewise was shifted to be his counterpart – President of Business Management, Design, and Development. In overly simplistic terms, that placed Bouza in charge of the reality behind the magic – the development process, vendors, contractors, construction materials, and the larger-than-life project management that Imagineering’s massive products require.
When Bob Weis announced his stepped down from his half of the Presidency in December 2021, Bouza’s role was expanded to overtake his duties. Now titled President of Walt Disney Imagineering, her role effectively reunited the “creative” and “business” halves of the job that had been split just a year earlier. That certainly raises questions as to whether or not the “split” Presidency was always a stop-gap measure to bring Bouza in and gently lead Weis out.
In any case, Imagineering fans eagerly await finding out what kind of leader Bouza will be… Her fresh perspective could be a revolutionary spark that Imagineering needs to stay agile… But the President of Imagineering having just one year of experience with the company, and under Chapek’s reign to boot? Will Bouza be the protector and insulator Imagineering needs with a financier at the company’s helm? Or a “yes man” installed in an era when designers are fleeing Disney’s design division as it moves to Florida? We’ll find out…
Scott Trowbridge
Portfolio Creative Executive – WDI
Scott Trowbridge is one of the most well-known and well-recognized names in themed entertainment design… but for most of his career, it hasn’t been with Walt Disney Imagineering. In fact, Trowbridge was Vice President of Universal Creative Studio – Universal’s design firm.
Just like Joe Rohde is celebrated as the formative creator of Animal Kingdom, Trowbridge might best be understood as the creative lead of Universal’s Islands of Adventure. He led the creative team behind 1999’s Modern Marvel: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man – often celebrated as one of the greatest modern dark rides on Earth – and the Modern Marvel: Revenge of the Mummy.
Trowbridge’s most famous project, though, is almost certainly The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – the first (and arguably, most successful) example of the “Living Land” era. So it’s no surprise that just as Hogsmeade’s design was finished and the project was announced in 2007, Trowbridge was invited to make the move to Walt Disney Imagineering as Vice President of Creative Research and Development, overseeing Disney’s “Blue Sky Creative Studio.”
After Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, the pieces had officially fallen into place. Trowbridge returned to the medium of highly immersive “Living Lands” with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, overseeing the development of Batuu as well as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Trowbridge has become the Portfolio Creative Executive overseeing Star Wars in Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, including Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
Charita Carter
Senior Creative Producer – WDI
An Imagineer with over 20 years of experience, Charita Carter is a Senior Creative Producer and Manager at Walt Disney Imagineering. Best known for her leading role alongside recently-retired Imagineering legend Kevin Rafferty in developing Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, she’s no doubt going to build onto her legacy as the lead designer of the new Princess and the Frog redevelopment of Splash Mountain. Clearly, Charita is a star on the rise whose involvement with projects will become a very good omen.
Zach Riddley
Creative Portfolio Executive – WDI
Riddley’s entered the cast of recurring characters in the Disney Parks story since the 2019 D23 Expo. As the Creative Portfolio Executive – New Experience Development currently focused on Disney’s ambitious, long-term evolution of EPCOT, he’s nothing short of a pivotal figure in the park’s story. Fans have been eagerly tuned to his Instagram, where he shares details of the park’s ongoing transformation that are unlikely to mean much to the general public, but give fans a (PR friendly) look behind-the-scenes.
Riddley has drawn both appreciation and aggravation from fans for his Instagram posts that wax poetic on every floor tile, wall texture, and paint color in what some decry as an imitation of the academic and artistic commentary provided on the platform by former Imagineer Joe Rohde, just passed through a cringey PR filter. Of course, it’s understandable that Riddley’s 400-word commentary on why a Mickey Mouse painting over a gift shop’s cash registers actually represents EPCOT’s spirit of futurism is a little over the top, but we at Park Lore recognize and appreciate an over-the-top, too-in-depth analysis of Disney Parks ourselves.
Altogether, it’s clear that Riddley cares deeply about EPCOT, and whether or not you fully buy that the design ethos he espouses is the right one for the park, at least someone at Disney is in a position to insist on a cohesive aesthetic for the park that celebrates the park’s past and future in balance.