What Josh D'Amaro Taking Over As Disney CEO Means For Disneyland Paris Trips From The UK

Josh D'Amaro officially takes over as Disney CEO today, but for UK holidaymakers planning a Disneyland Paris trip the news here is not the change in the Walt Disney Company’s structure, it’s in what this news means for your future trips and the kind of park experiences and holidays the company is building. Disneyland Paris offers the clearest answer of what this future will look like.

This is part one of a two-part series on what Josh D'Amaro's first day as Disney CEO could mean for UK holidaymakers. Today: Disneyland Paris. Tomorrow: Walt Disney World.

Disney Adventure World: A Glimpse Into The Company’s Direction

The resort's biggest transformation in years is now reaching the stage guests will actually be able to experience a project that has been overseen by D’Amaro for most of it’s development. While D'Amaro did not originate Disneyland Paris' €2 billion expansion plan, Bob Iger announced that in 2018, he has overseen the phase now coming into view in less than two weeks for many UK holidaymakers.

Disney said when D'Amaro was elevated to chairman of Parks, Experiences and Products in May 2020 that his remit covered Disney's park-resort destinations in the United States, Europe and Asia. That put Disneyland Paris under his control during the years when the second gate's overhaul moved from a broad expansion plan into the more defined reimaging into Disney Adventure World; a vision guests are due to start experiencing from 29th March 2026.

What D'Amaro Has Actually Overseen At Disneyland Paris

Under D’Amaro’s watch, the expansion evolved into the package Disneyland Paris is now selling to guests: not just World of Frozen and Frozen Ever After , but the wider Disney Adventure World identity. This includes:

• Adventure Bay and its central lake,

• Adventure Way

• Raiponce Tangled Spin (family attraction)

• new dining including Regal View Restaurant & Lounge

It shows a broader shift away from the old studio-park concept towards a more immersive, story-led day out. Disneyland Paris has described this as a "fresh creative vision" for the second park, and with it’s EPCOT inspired layout, there is a more immersive feel to the design.

Timeline of D’Amaro’s Oversight Of Disney Adventure World

D’Amaro’s oversight into the development of this area is well documented. In September 2022, he gave D23 Expo audiences "a sneak peek" at new experiences coming to the resort, including the expansion area's lake, gardens, Tangled ride, lakeside restaurant and continued progress on the Frozen-themed area. Publicly fronting the version of the project that is now about to open to guests.

In September 2023, the Walt Disney World company said it planned to nearly double capital investment in parks and experiences to about $60 billion over 10 years, covering both domestic and international parks, and explicitly cited the Frozen-themed land in Paris as part of that pipeline. D'Amaro said:

Then in August 2024, D'Amaro unveiled the next major addition to Disney Adventure World: a new Lion King area planned to follow World of Frozen. For trip planners, that matters because it shows Paris is not simply completing an old project; it is being positioned as part of a longer-term parks strategy that continues beyond this month's milestone opening.

Disney’s Adventure World: A Look Into The Future Of Immersion

Disney Adventure World is the clearest near-term example of the kind of immersive park design Disney is now leaning into under the control of Josh D’Amaro. Disneyland Paris has said the reworked second gate is being built around a "fresh creative vision", with "an unprecedented level of immersion and powerful storytelling", and will officially take the Disney Adventure World name when World of Frozen opens.

The project is not just about adding one new land: it is about reshaping the park around story-driven spaces including Adventure Bay, Adventure Way, new dining, and themed worlds designed to feel more coherent and more destination-like for guests.

For UK trip planners, this is important, because the change is not just about visuals it’s about giving you the Disney Bubble experience. Disneyland Paris says World Premiere is now the "gateway to the existing and future immersive worlds" of Disney Adventure World. It’s part of a wider transformation includes World of Frozen and, after that, a Lion King immersive area plus a new Up family attraction. The park is being rebuilt around deeper themed environments rather than a looser studio-park format. For UK visitors, that points to a park experience designed to feel more complete, more worthy of all-day planning and possibly more worth prioritising in a holiday plan.

Disneyland Paris may therefore be the closest taster of what D’Amaro’s strategy for park development and holiday experiences look like. With Disney Adventure World marking just the beginning of what Disney holidays will be like and giving a taster of what Disney World Florida's next major lands will hold.

Disney Adventure World shows how Disney is trying to turn familiar franchises into fuller environments with stronger placemaking, more thematic continuity, and more reasons to stay longer. Magic Kingdom's Villains land, and other future lands coming to Walt Disney World, look like the next wave of that same broader approach.

What This Means For Future UK To Disneyland Paris Trips

For UK visitors, Disneyland Paris now looks like the clearest early example of what a D'Amaro-era Disney holiday could feel like. Expect experiences that are franchise-led, immersion-heavy and designed to make the park itself feel more complete meaning:

• bigger story worlds,

• stronger visual cohesion,

• more dining, and

• more reasons to spend longer in the parks and exploring resorts.

For years, Paris has often been the easier Disney option from Britain: closer, cheaper for a short trip, and simpler than Florida logistically, but the weakness for some visitors was that Walt Disney Studios Park did not always feel like a full, must-do experience. Disney Adventure World is clearly meant to address that and it is being positioned as the full day, and possibly most immersive park experience. This is clearly seen with Disney changing Tales of Magic, by permanently pulling the drone component and moving the drone show to be part of Cascades of Light in Disney Adventure World.

Disneyland Paris is close to opening a major new world now, while Walt Disney World's next headline projects, including Magic Kingdom's Villains expansion, are at a much earlier stage. So as Disney fans across the world turn their attention to Disneyland Paris, the success of this opening, and the response from guests, will shape the transformation taking place in Walt Disney World. Disneyland Paris is just the start of the sort of experience and Disney holiday UK visitors can look to experience as D’Amaro builds his Disney legacy over the next 5 years. We have high hopes.

Magic In A Minute

The change at the top does not alter your trip overnight, but it does help explain why Disneyland Paris now looks the way it does, and why Disney wants the resort to feel bigger, more complete and more destination-worthy than it did before.