Joe Schott Named New Walt Disney World President as Jeff Vahle Retirement Triggers Leadership Shuffle

19 days ago in "The Walt Disney Company"

Gallery / 1 Photo
Disney's New Leaders: Joe Schott, Natacha Rafalski, and Christophe Murphy

Posted: Monday May 18, 2026 11:58am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney Experiences has named Joe Schott as the new President of Walt Disney World Resort, succeeding Jeff Vahle, who announced his retirement earlier this month after 36 years with the company.

The appointment is part of a broader set of senior leadership changes announced by new Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum.

Disney's New Leaders: Joe Schott, Natacha Rafalski, and Christophe Murphy

Joe Schott Takes the Top Job at Walt Disney World

Schott brings more than 40 years of Disney leadership experience to the role, making him one of the company's most seasoned international operators.

Most recently, he served as President of Disney Signature Experiences, overseeing the launches of two new ships — the Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure. Before that, he spent years as President and General Manager of Shanghai Disney Resort, guiding a major expansion that included the opening of the Zootopia-themed land. The resort surpassed 100 million guests in under a decade under his tenure.

His earlier roles include Chief Operating Officer of Disneyland Paris and Executive Managing Director of Walt Disney Attractions Japan.

Schott started his Disney career as a Jungle Cruise Skipper — and now takes over at the resort where that career began.

He steps into the role at a significant moment. Walt Disney World is currently undergoing the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom's history, with new lands also in development at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom.

All new leaders assume their roles by the end of July.

The Rest of the Leadership Changes

Schott's move to Walt Disney World triggers its own reshuffle:

Natacha Rafalski moves from Disneyland Paris President — a role she held since 2018 — to President of Disney Signature Experiences. She takes over a division that includes Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Aulani, Adventures by Disney, National Geographic Expeditions, Storyliving by Disney, and Golden Oak.

Her biggest task will be overseeing Disney Cruise Line's fleet expansion from eight ships today to 13 vessels by 2031.

At Disneyland Paris she spearheaded the resort's €2 billion transformation of Walt Disney Studios Park into Disney Adventure World, adding Marvel Avengers Campus and World of Frozen to the resort's lineup.

Christophe Murphy is promoted to President of Disneyland Paris, stepping into the role vacated by Rafalski. Murphy has more than 35 years with Disney, originally joining Disneyland Paris in 1991 during its pre-opening phase. He returned to the resort in 2023 as Senior Vice President of Operations, overseeing delivery of the Disney Adventure World expansion that opened in March 2026.

He takes the reins as the resort begins development of a new Lion King-themed land.

"Disney Experiences is in the midst of unprecedented expansion with more new projects underway across our global portfolio than at any other moment in our history," said Mazloum. "Joe, Natacha, and Christophe have a deep appreciation of the guest experience, possess extensive financial and operational expertise, and a proven ability to deliver at scale."

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

Mr. Sullivan8 days ago

Brother it’s been almost two weeks since I said this was this really that important to bring back up

Chi848 days ago

Why do I need help? What are the differences?

asianway8 days ago

Sounds like you started post covid. If you can’t see the difference from even ten years ago I can’t help you

asianway8 days ago

So based on heavily doctored stats it’s the best. Cool cool

monothingie17 days ago

I thought you were a penguin and not a lemming.

MisterPenguin17 days ago

I love the Burbank Fanfic you two are writing. Will this be distributed by a main press publisher, or will the two of you be self-publishing on Amazon?

larryz17 days ago

New Rule At Trader Joe's: When making a HippopotoMai-Tai, No more shouting, "Bang! Bang! Two Schotts of rum!"

Rosso1117 days ago

Yes this is very true from talking to some imagineer friends of mine. Jeff is the one who was in all of the meetings with them calling the shots the last few years on these major projects coming up. They rarely ever saw or heard from Josh compared to Jeff.

Tom P.18 days ago

Burbank has the final say, of course, but the president of the resort is not just some middle management role either. They can have a great deal of influence, if they are good at their jobs and use the influence correctly.

HMF18 days ago

Never heard of him personally, any particular reason for why/if this is a good pick?

HMF18 days ago

Burbank likely overrides everything.

HauntedPirate18 days ago

Well, early last year and one more upcoming in a few months. Between higher and higher pricing plus other cruise lines catching up on service and offerings, IMO there isn't much to objectively set DCL apart these days outside of "the Disney brand". There are many reports of servers more interested in making sure they get good ratings than providing what was the "Disney difference" in service quality. The menus get stale for non-first time cruisers. The same shows on the same ships with few changes. I did see some menu items were recently updated but we'll see what is offered, and hopefully it isn't more of a homogenization-across-the-fleet type of update. Shuffling the older ships away from Florida ports on a regular basis won’t earn them repeat business from a lot of those who started cruising with DCL prior to 2022 and/or aren't a fan of higher prices and the Triton-class ship design. Maybe they can turn the ship around (pun intended) with the next class of ships that will come in around 3000 guest rooms, vs the 2500 of the Magic/Wonder and 4000 of the Dream/Fantasy. The overall feel and flow should be like that of the original four ships, not the hammer-you-with-Disney-IP-fest on the Wish-class (if you never hear a Jimmy Buffet song on a Caribbean cruise, what are you even doing?? 😉). I’m holding out hope there’s a return to that design.

jpeden18 days ago

I don't hate this. It is somewhat nice to have someone who started at the park as a regular front-line CM being in charge of the entire resort (somewhat akin to George Kalogridis who started as a bus boy at the Contemporary in 1971). I don't know what this means for WDW but I am pleased they went with someone who has experience with their top two products in DCL and Tokyo Disneyland.

Tha Realest18 days ago

DCL seems to be doing well generally speaking. The Wish does not seem to have been received well and there are tons of discounts on those sailings. The Adventure looked like a brilliant coup undone by inexcusable cost overruns.