Disney's new CEO Josh D'Amaro used Disney's Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings call to lay out the company's artificial intelligence strategy.
Disney says it is actively using AI to reduce the complexity of planning a Disney vacation and make the experience more personal from the moment you start booking.
The Park Planning Problem Disney Wants to Solve
Anyone who has planned a Walt Disney World trip knows the challenge. Dining reservations, Lightning Lane selections, resort choices, park hours, crowd calendars — the logistics can be overwhelming before you even set foot inside the gate.
D'Amaro acknowledged this directly on the call, and framed AI as the tool Disney is using to fix it.
"A Disney vacation means a lot to our fans, and we're using AI to reduce the complexities around planning and booking a trip and trying to make that whole experience specifically tailored to what our guests want most," he said.
He went further, describing the broader opportunity across the Experiences segment.
"We see a significant opportunity to make it easier for families to plan their trip, to optimize all their time with us and to personalize their experience."
D'Amaro did not announce specific products or features by name, but the direction is clear. Disney wants the planning process to feel less like a task and more like the beginning of the experience itself — with AI doing the heavy lifting to tailor it to each guest.
A Physical Advantage in a Digital World
CFO Hugh Johnston added a perspective that reframes how Disney's parks fit into an increasingly AI-driven world.
"We see our Experiences business as well-positioned structurally in a world of rising AI-driven content," Johnston said. "We think it may end up increasing even more the value consumers place on authentic, real-life experiences with those that they are close to — like we deliver across the parks and resorts every day."
The argument is straightforward: as AI makes digital content cheaper and more abundant, the things no algorithm can replicate — a day at Walt Disney World with your family, a character meet, watching the fireworks from Main Street — may become more valuable, not less.
Smarter Operations Behind the Scenes
Johnston also outlined how AI is being applied inside Disney's park operations in ways guests may not see directly but will almost certainly feel.
He described a precision labor demand forecasting initiative across Disney's theme parks.
"We're focused on an initiative to implement precision labor demand forecasting across our theme parks," Johnston said. "We think that one has the potential to create a better guest experience, a better employment experience, and also better cost management for the company."
Better labor forecasting means the right number of cast members in the right place at the right time — affecting wait times, service quality, and the overall feel of a day in the park, as well as Disney's operating costs.
Technology as a Strategic Priority
D'Amaro established early in the call that technology is not a peripheral initiative at Disney — it is one of three long-term priorities he outlined in the shareholder letter published the same morning.
"Embracing emerging technologies is one of the three priorities that we laid out in our shareholder letter this morning," he said. "It's something that every part of our company is squarely focused on — both our internal operations as well as our customer-facing areas across each of our business segments."
He pointed to two early indicators of what that looks like for consumers on the streaming side: greater interactive entertainment for Disney+ subscribers and more personalized content feeds across all streaming services.
He also highlighted SportsCenter for You on the ESPN app as an example already live today — automatically curated sports content based on the teams and sports each user follows, narrated by familiar ESPN anchor voices.
"I use it all the time as a big sports fan — I hope some of you are using it," D'Amaro said. "The goal of all this is to drive higher engagement, which in turn supports greater retention and then ultimately delivers on the bottom line for our shareholders."
AI and Disney's Creative Legacy
When analysts asked specifically about generative AI, D'Amaro was careful to anchor the conversation in Disney's long history of technology-driven creativity — while being clear that human creativity stays at the center.
"We're committed to implementing AI in a way that keeps human creativity at the center of everything that we do, and of course respects creators and the tremendous value of our own intellectual property," he said.
He placed AI within a lineage stretching back to Walt Disney himself.
"We want Disney to remain a leader in the use of technology to enhance creativity. This is part of our legacy — going all the way back to when Walt was pioneering synchronized sound in Steamboat Willie, through to Pixar's advanced computer animation, and even recently in series like The Mandalorian on Disney Plus."
D'Amaro suggested that by getting this right, Disney becomes the destination for the best creative talent in the industry.
"We'll be the place where the best talent works, because they'll have access to the deepest catalog of beloved characters, with opportunities to tell new stories and even the potential to innovate in content production using all the latest technology, including AI."
Streaming: Personalization and Ad Targeting
On the streaming side, D'Amaro outlined two specific AI applications in development beyond the personalized content feeds already mentioned.
The first is a hyper-personalized recommendation engine across Disney+ and ESPN, designed to surface the right content for each subscriber at the right moment.
The second is AI-enhanced ad targeting — giving Disney's advertising partners the ability to execute more dynamic, relevant brand messaging across its platforms.
"We're implementing AI to enhance our ad targeting capabilities, letting our partners develop and execute truly dynamic brand messaging," D'Amaro said.
Both point to the same goal: making Disney's streaming platforms more engaging and more valuable to subscribers and advertisers alike.
Johnston added that across enterprise operations more broadly, the pathways to drive efficiency and reduce costs through AI are "really quite numerous."
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