Disney Reshuffles Its Leadership Deck for the Biggest Expansion Era Yet

A New Captain for Walt Disney World

Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum announced a sweeping series of senior leadership appointments yesterday, and the headliner is this: Joe Schott is now President of Walt Disney World Resort. As Disney Experiences confirmed, Schott brings more than 40 years of leadership across Disney destinations in Asia, Europe, and beyond. Most recently he served as president of Disney Signature Experiences, where he oversaw the launches of two new cruise ships, the Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure. Before that, as president and general manager of Shanghai Disney Resort, Schott led the resort through a major expansion phase, including the opening of the Zootopia-themed land, contributing to that resort surpassing 100 million guests in under a decade.

The poetry of the appointment is hard to miss. According to Disney Experiences, Schott began his Disney journey as a Jungle Cruise Skipper at the very resort he now leads. He went on to serve as chief operating officer of Disneyland Paris for five years and as executive managing director of Walt Disney Attractions Japan. The man has operated on nearly every stage Disney has built.

He inherits a property that Disney Experiences describes as the world's most frequently visited vacation resort and the largest single-site employer in the United States, with approximately 80,000 Cast Members spanning four theme parks, two water parks, more than 30 resort hotels, the Disney Springs retail and entertainment district, and ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. And the job is about to get much bigger. Walt Disney World is undergoing a significant era of investment, with the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom's history currently underway and new lands in development at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Filling Schott's former role, Natacha Rafalski has been appointed President of Disney Signature Experiences. DCL Blog reported on the move, noting that Rafalski led Disneyland Paris since 2018, where she spearheaded the resort's €2 billion transformation of Walt Disney Studios Park into Disney Adventure World. That project roughly doubled the park's footprint and added franchise powerhouses Marvel Avengers Campus and World of Frozen. Meanwhile, Christophe Murphy, a 35-year Disney veteran who joined Disneyland Paris during its pre-opening phase in 1991, has been promoted to President of Disneyland Paris.

Read the appointments together and a pattern emerges editorially. Disney is stacking operational veterans, people who have opened lands and launched ships, into the seats that will oversee the company's most capital-intensive expansion cycle in decades. These are builders being handed blueprints.

The Parks

If you have ever wrestled a suitcase through Orlando International Airport while your kids melted down near the Chick-fil-A, Walt Disney World just made your life meaningfully easier. BlogMickey reports that beginning May 19, the resort's Airport Luggage Transfer service is expanding to include American Airlines and United Airlines, joining Southwest Airlines as eligible carriers. The service allows guests staying at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels to have their checked luggage transferred directly between Orlando International Airport and their resort, eliminating the need to haul bags through the airport on either end of a trip. Currently the service is available at Disney Value Resort hotels, and guests staying at Moderate or Deluxe Resorts can transfer to a Value Resort for their final night to take advantage of the offering. Disney noted in its announcement that the expansion is designed to make travel "even easier for Guests, while creating opportunities to grow the service over time," language that suggests further airline additions could follow.

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Over at Disney's Animal Kingdom, a beloved dining destination is marking a milestone. Disney Parks Blog highlights that Tiffins Restaurant is celebrating 10 years of globally inspired cuisine, and its adjacent Nomad Lounge has debuted new flavors for the occasion. WDW News Today also noted the new Nomad Lounge offerings. Tiffins, nestled in Discovery Island near the Tree of Life, was designed as a love letter from Imagineering to Africa, Asia, and South America, its walls filled with paintings, photo collages, and sculptures inspired by field notes Imagineers created during their research trips. Disney Parks Blog notes that Disney Imagineer Joan Hartwig, who helped define and build Animal Kingdom's legacy, is currently preparing to bring the new Tropical Americas land to life.

On the crowd front, Lightning Brain's Daily Park Report for May 18 showed a notable split across Walt Disney World's four parks. EPCOT ran at a 5/10 (Average), a 30 percent jump above its 30-day average, while Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom sat at 3s and 4s in the Moderate range. The Flower and Garden Festival is clearly doing its job pulling guests into World Showcase. Lightning Brain noted that Frozen Ever After was offline for nearly three combined hours during the afternoon and evening, and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure also went down for about an hour, leaving EPCOT's headliner roster thin for guests who were there primarily for attractions.

At Magic Kingdom, the Disney After Hours event on May 18 sold out, per WDW News Today, though Lightning Brain confirmed day guests were completely unaffected by the hard-ticketed evening event. Separately, WDW News Today reports that patriotic decorations have arrived at Magic Kingdom for the summer holidays. Disney Tourist Blog adds that Walt Disney World has revealed bonus nights of Fourth of July fireworks at both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT for Independence Day 2026 weekend.

The refurbishment beat continues at Disney's Pop Century Resort, where WDW News Today reports that work on the giant "POP" sign outside Classic Hall is entering its final stages. A fresh coat of orange paint is being applied from left to right, and the back of the letters already sports a clean, glossy coat of vibrant blue. No official completion date has been announced, but the outlet estimates work could wrap by the end of May.

At Disneyland, WDW News Today reports that a paved road has appeared at the future Coco attraction site in Disney California Adventure. And over at Disney's Hollywood Studios, a second crane has arrived at the Monstropolis construction site, per WDW News Today, a sign that vertical construction on the Monsters, Inc. themed area is picking up momentum.

According to one report from The DisInsider, Bluey and her little sister Bingo are officially heading to Disney's Animal Kingdom beginning May 26 as part of Walt Disney World's Cool Kids' Summer celebration.

The Screen

The Walt Disney Company is framing this summer as a three-tentpole season, and the marketing machine just kicked into high gear. In a press release, Disney announced "Disney Blockbuster Summer," an all-new campaign uniting Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (arriving in theaters May 22), Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5 (opening June 19), and Disney's live-action Moana into one coordinated push across films, parks, streaming, and consumer products. "Whether you want to travel through hyperspace with the Mandalorian and Grogu at Disney Parks, stream a Toy Story movie marathon with friends and family on Disney+, or unlock the power of play with new Moana-inspired toys, there is something for everyone to live their best Disney summer," said Asad Ayaz, Chief Marketing and Brand Officer. The campaign includes the new Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run mission at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort, tying the park experience directly to the theatrical release.

WDW News Today reports that Jim Cummings has revealed when he recorded new Hondo lines for that updated Smugglers Run experience, and separately, a new projection show called "The Curious Child," inspired by The Mandalorian and Grogu, has debuted at Disneyland.

While Disney ramps up its theatrical slate, its streaming arm is quietly building a pipeline of new series. MickeyBlog reports that Disney+ is developing a new series based on 2004's Ella Enchanted, with Anne Hathaway producing. According to a report from Deadline cited by MickeyBlog, the show will draw inspiration from both the original film and the Gail Carson Levine book on which it was based, moving away from the Cinderella roots of the movie to focus on Ella's coming-of-age story at boarding school. The series will be written by Ilana Wolpert and showrun by Bet Schwartz.

Hathaway's Disney connections are only deepening. D23 spotlighted how the Walt Disney Archives provided key costume pieces for The Devil Wears Prada 2, which has earned nearly $440 million at the global box office over its first two weekends, according to D23. The Archives episode featured Director of Operations and Business Strategy Joanna Pratt alongside the sequel's costume designer Molly Rogers, exploring how signature wardrobe pieces, including the iconic cerulean sweater, served as both inspiration and a direct connection to the 2006 original.

On the docuseries front, Lightning Brain's Cruise Deets Daily reports that season three of Behind the Attraction, the Disney+ series that pulls back the curtain on how parks and experiences are created, will premiere on June 24 with a two-episode special devoted entirely to Disney Cruise Line. The episodes will trace the fleet's origin story and follow the narrative forward to the making of the Disney Destiny. Executive producers Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, and Brian Volk-Weiss are attached to the season. WDW News Today also confirmed the two-episode DCL special.

The Vault

Tom Kane, the voice actor who brought life to the Walt Disney World Monorail spiels, the Happily Ever After fireworks narration, and Star Wars characters including Yoda and Admiral Yularen, has died at age 64. WDW News Today reported the news. For a generation of Walt Disney World guests, Kane's voice was the sound of arrival, the calm baritone welcoming you aboard the Monorail as you crossed the threshold from the real world into the resort's orbit. His contributions to Star Wars extended his presence across parks, films, and animated series. A voice that steady, woven into that many experiences, becomes part of the architecture of the place itself.

Speaking of things that endure, WDW News Today shared a first look at a Disneyland Main Street, U.S.A. LEGO set arriving next month. Details are still emerging from a leaked image, but the set joins a growing line of Disney Parks LEGO products that let fans build miniature versions of the places they love. Meanwhile, the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Finale Collection, per WDW News Today, includes a $500 ear headband, placing it firmly in the collector tier. And the 2026 Disney Pride Collection has arrived at Walt Disney World, with WDW News Today reporting that the lineup includes a $36.99 ear headband with rainbow stripes on simulated leather, a $36.99 Mickey t-shirt, a $59.99 pullover sweatshirt, and a $19.99 tote bag.

Sources

Disney Experiences · DCL Blog · BlogMickey · Disney Parks Blog · WDW News Today · Lightning Brain · Walt Disney Company · MickeyBlog · D23 · Disney Tourist Blog · The DisInsider · Lightning Brain