May 10, 2026
Move over X, Disney wants an everything app. During Josh D’Amaro’s first earnings call, Disney’s new CEO introduced a hub-and-spoke model, putting Disney+ at the center of everything and integrating with physical experiences.
The Numbers
Rather than breaking out each section, Disney is trying a new approach to report as ‘One Disney.’ Disney reported Q2 FY2026 revenue of $25.17 billion, up 7% year-over-year and ahead of the $24.78 billion consensus. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.57, beating the $1.49 estimate, and the stock popped roughly 7% on the day. Disney also raised the share buyback authorization to $8 billion from $7 billion and guided to 12% adjusted EPS growth in FY2026 with double-digit growth in FY2027.
Disney+ : The New Everything App
D’Amaro believes reducing churn on Disney+ might be the single biggest value driver for the company. In this vision, Disney+ becomes the primary centerpiece for fans. He described a hub and spoke model with Disney+ at the center and spokes including Experiences, ESPN, games (Epic Games partnership), and consumer products:
“Disney+ is the hub, but the hub needs spokes. Epic gives us an interactive a gaming native environment to reach audiences that we don’t currently own, and by the way, particularly younger audiences. So think of this as acquisition and engagement, feeding the centerpiece, not necessarily competing with it.”
And eventually, the parks experience would also connect to the app:
“Our parks, they’re essentially the physical centerpiece of the company. And similarly, we’re building Disney+ to serve as the immersive interactive digital centerpiece of the company. And in the long term, what you’ll see is those pieces of the company become increasingly connected.”
The ‘everything app’ is a concept first attributed to WeChat in China, one that Elon Musk has tried to adopt for X; essentially, it’s an app that combines multiple functions into a single interface. Instead of simply consuming produced long-form content, the new Disney+ could act as a ‘fan hub.’
While D’Amaro didn’t share many details about this, it seems the first integration will be vertical short-form video. Disney’s “creators collection” and Verts, the TikTok-style vertical video feed Disney rolled out on the Disney+ app in March 2026 after testing it on ESPN in August 2025.
“You probably saw that we recently introduced vertical video on Disney+. And we’re still in early days here, but it’s already driving deeper engagement. In fact, we did the same thing on our ESPN app and the early performance of the ESPN Verts.”
If Disney+ can support vertical video in the app, Disney will lose less watch time to Instagram and TikTok.
Experiences Revenue Hit Records
While domestic attendance was down 1% due to low international visitation, per cap was up 5% at domestic parks. Global guests (including domestic, international, and cruises) were up 2%. All this is why revenue and operating income at Experiences hit Q2 records ($9.49B revenue, $2.62B OI) despite the attendance dip. Hugh Johnston added that, excluding the impact of international visitation, domestic park attendance would have grown.
No Macro Weakness
For those wondering (as I was) whether the current macroeconomic uncertainty would affect Disney’s parks and experiences, apparently not (yet?). In fact, attendance is expected to improve as international guests return.
The shareholder letter explained that “we are encouraged by current demand and expect year-over-year attendance at our domestic parks in Q3 to show improvement compared to Q2 results.” Hugh Johnston later added during the call that “we expect international visitation and Epic-related headwinds to ease in the coming quarters as we begin to lap both of those impacts.”
When asked directly about consumer sentiment, Johnston added: “No, we haven’t seen any change in consumer behavior from elevated gas prices thus far and aren’t currently seeing a material impact on the remainder of the fiscal year based on forward bookings. Disney World bookings are pacing up strongly.”
And when pushed yet again, Johnston reiterated that: “Right now, we’re not seeing any macro weakness to point to, including at the international parts. We also obviously have the benefit of the Paris World of Frozen opening. So feel very, very good there.”
Disney Abu Dhabi Is A Go
Disney also addressed the Iran war angle in Abu Dhabi in the letter:
“The strategic logic of our Abu Dhabi plans is unchanged. Major new theme parks are necessarily long-term in nature given the lead time of these projects, and this investment approach has consistently benefited our business.”
One note here is that Robert Niles from Theme Park Insider flagged that wording as potentially hedging. Niles noted that “In other words, Disney said that its rationale for pursuing a new theme park in a new market remains unchanged. It did not say that its specific plans for Abu Dhabi remain as they were before the Iran’s attacks on the United Arab Emirates in response to the United States’ and Israel’s attacks on Iran.”
Disney is using AI, but not for creativity
It seems to be standard these days for every company to mention AI and how they’re using it to become more productive. Disney was no different. Disney had all the main notes outlining how they would use AI to improve workforce productivity, help guests plan, provide better targeting, etc. However, they were careful to draw a line between using AI for efficiency and using it to replace creativity:
“we are committed to implementing AI in a way that keeps human creativity at the center of everything we do and respects creators and the value of our intellectual property,” stated in the shareholder letter.
Wrapping Up
D’Amaro’s Disney+ pivot gave me a little whiplash, though it could be a way to demonstrate to investors that Disney has an AI plan. AI-related stocks have produced 76% of the S&P 500’s return since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, 87% of earnings growth, and 90% of capital spending growth. Disney is not part of that narrative, and Matt Belloni said it directly on CNBC in March: “Investors don’t know Disney’s AI narrative.”
This call reads like Disney’s AI narrative.
The 3,000-word shareholder letter, the explicit five-pillar AI framework, Verts, AI labor forecasting, the recommendations engine pitch, and the “Experiences as AI hedge” line read as a deliberate response to the no-AI-narrative critique. The 7% pop suggests investors were happy about it.
It stands to reason that guests who are already planning a trip to Disney are less impacted by elevated energy costs, and that energy costs are a smaller percentage of the overall trip. If your plane ticket is 20% more expensive, you may not cancel your entire Disney trip. How long premium consumers will continue to spend remains an open question, and I believe it will remain so until the stock market takes a bigger hit.
