Disney is putting its experiences business at the center of its next phase, with Josh D'Amaro now carrying the message as the company leans harder into theme parks, cruises and guest spending. The shift comes as Disney keeps pushing ahead with a $60 billion capital plan for the segment, spread over 10 years.
That push matters now because Disney just posted a stronger quarter and is using the moment to show where it wants money to go. Revenue rose 7% and adjusted earnings climbed 15%, while the experiences segment delivered 54% of segment operating profit. Disney shares are up 4% since D'Amaro became CEO less than five months ago, even after Bob Iger's second run lifted the stock 8% over 40 months.
For readers watching Bob Iger Disney for clues about what comes next, the spending plan is the clearest answer so far. Disney committed to the $60 billion program two years ago, and the math is straightforward: over 10 years, that averages $6 billion a year, though the company has not broken out how much of it has already been used. In the latest quarter, global theme parks posted a 4% increase in guests, two domestic resorts gained 3%, and per capita revenue rose 4%, all signs that the experiences arm remains a major driver of profit.
The focus also fits the handoff inside Disney. Iger led the company from 2005 to 2020, returned two years later, and handed the gig to D'Amaro in March, after a career path that has tied him closely to the experiences business. Iger's biggest deals were Pixar, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox, but the current message is less about studios and more about the places where Disney sells trips, tickets and stays.
That is why the company is drawing a line around what it is not chasing. AI is not being treated as Disney's top priority, even as many consumer tech companies spend billions on it this year. Instead, Disney last week said it will ramp up share buybacks to $9 billion in repurchases this fiscal year, a faster pace than the company has been signaling recently, and a move that shows it is still willing to return cash while it keeps feeding parks and resorts.
D23 is back this weekend, which gives D'Amaro a stage just as his profile rises. Neil Patrick Harris is joined by the experiences segment championed by D'Amaro, and the company will have a chance to make the case that its best growth story is not on a screen but on the ground, where visitors keep spending and the profit engine keeps turning.
What remains unanswered is how far D'Amaro will be allowed to reshape Disney beyond the parks. The next clue will come from how much of that $60 billion plan is visibly deployed and whether the company keeps putting capital into experiences first while treating AI as a side project rather than a centerpiece.
