As some of you are aware, former Disney park chairman Josh D’Amaro has just taken Bob Iger’s place as the new CEO of the Walt Disney Company. Will he do a good job? I have no idea! But that’s not the point of this article. D’Amaro’s promotion has got me thinking about my hopes for how Disney can improve as a company under new leadership. As a Disney fan who often disagrees with how the Walt Disney Company operates, I’ve played the old hypothetical “If I were in charge of Disney, here’s what I would do differently…” game before, and I thought it would be fun to share some of my ideas.

Of course I am fully aware that this list is a pure pipe dream. I never went to business school but I have a feeling that if I were actually the CEO of Disney in real life, greater forces would likely prevent me from being able to implement some of the stuff on this list. But a certain princess once told me that a dream is a wish your heart makes so why let reality get in the way? Let me pretend I have full power over the company and share my ultimate list of mandates.

Give Disney Artists More Creative Freedom

A lot of times when the corporate overlords funding a movie interfere too much in the creative process, they take all the personality, creativity and soul out of it. I don’t know for a fact that this is the reason why Disney films like Strange World, Wish, Lightyear and Elio ended up disappointing me, but I often suspect this may be the case when I watch any Hollywood film that feels derivative and unmemorable. Especially when I know for a fact that the writers or directors behind it are creative people. My mandate on working with animation studios would be a simple one: Let talented and creative artists use their talents and be creative. Sure if I had an idea for how to improve the film, I would suggest it. But for the most part, I want that studio to meet its artistic potential. And that means letting them take risks, innovating and playing with the Disney formula. Whether that means allowing them to tell a story with a gay lead character or make a hand-drawn animated film, whatever. The point is that I would be much more open-minded and unafraid to break the mold than past CEOs.

Bring Back Mid-Budget Live-Action Movies

I remember when Disney used to be synonymous with the wacky comedy genre thanks to films like The Parent Trap and That Darn Cat, as well as sports dramas like Remember the Titans and Miracle (or sometimes a combination of both like Angels in the Outfield). Now the few times they make films like this they go straight to streaming. But I would resist the temptation to constantly bestow big budgets to theatrical films in search of big profits. Why? Because I would like for Disney to go back to the days when they actually cared about protecting their image as a studio. Instead of what they’re like today, where it seems like they have no problem letting audiences know they are greedy soulless corporations who have few new ideas and remake films like Moana a decade after they get released. Time to quell the remake overkill and add some variety to their live-action wide release schedule. They don’t all have to be sophisticated concepts. You can still make comedies where Will Ferrell gets kicked in the groin by a kangaroo. They just need to stop oversaturating the market with desperate and embarrassing remakes and show just a tad less disgust for originality. Especially because this lazy self-aggrandizement they’re displaying at the theater right now as they capitalize on their own brand ad nauseum is not how you grow as a company.

Let Kevin Feige Do Whatever He Wants

After the way the Marvel Cinematic Universe was slowly built up through three phases from Iron Man to Avengers: Endgame, I would fully trust that Kevin Feige knows exactly what he’s doing with the Multiverse Saga. Which is why I would have refused to cancel Eternals 2 and allowed him to produce it. I know the first Eternals was not a box office success but Feige is trying to set up a cinematic universe here! You can’t remove any of the puzzle pieces or building blocks because they are all connected and they have to set each other up, so cancelling one Marvel film interferes with all the other Marvel films. I couldn’t imagine NOT giving Feige carte blanche after all the good that he did for Disney as a company through the years. Under my leadership there would be less adherence to Wall Street greed and more trust and loyalty towards the artists and filmmakers behind all the box office success.

Change the Way Lucasfilm Operates

Yes, I would still want to oversee Star Wars projects because that galaxy is so vast that the possibilities for great movies and television is irresistible. But I would also use my ownership of Lucasfilm as an opportunity to take more bold risks (something that Star Wars was, back when it came out in 1977). I know this is kind of a crazy idea but hear me out. You have Walt Disney Pictures for family-friendly crowd-pleasers, you have 20th Century Studios for adult-oriented crowd-pleasers and you have Searchlight Pictures for more artsy indie films. So what kind of films should Lucasfilm make? I would use it to make films in the same types of genres that Disney often delves into like fantasy and sci-fi, but maybe ones that fit less comfortably with Disney’s mainstream audience. For example, if I hypothetically bought a script for a cyberpunk film about an android biker gang, I don’t give it to Disney Pictures and tell them to make the robots more appealing to children or ask them to tone down the violence. I just give it to Lucasfilm instead. I could see Lucasfilm making animated films too. Maybe ones that are animated in less Disney-like styles such as stop-motion and even anime, the latter being a way to appeal more to teen boys and Gen Z men, who Disney is currently struggling to appeal to. Basically, I would make Lucasfilm the more risky and experimental older brother of Walt Disney Pictures and give the filmmakers who work there a big budget and a lot of creative freedom. Who knows? Maybe we’ll create the next Star Wars in the process.

Make Disney Parks Less Stressful

There’s nothing wrong with the idea of Lightning Lane. Paying extra money to bypass long lines and reserve certain attractions was actually a good way to make Walt Disney World a bit more tolerable. Although even if you are willing to pay $30 or whatever fluctuating number it will be (based on demand and time of day), on the theme park’s busiest season it makes the idea of choosing which attraction to visit feel more like a battle plan than a fun trip. And it doesn’t always make your time in the queue go by any quicker, as the parks are so packed that the wait times can sometimes take over an hour. Finding a solution to this problem is tricky. Lowering prices won’t really help because that will just make the parks even more crowded. But there are still more things that Disney could be trying to do to make the park experience less excruciating. For starters, I would actually allow Lightning Lane users to get refunds. And not just for when rides break down or experience technical difficulties while you are waiting in line. I would give them the option to get a refund if their wait time lasted over 60 minutes. I would also significantly lower the cost of their Premier Pass. The most expensive tier that allows Lightning Lane users to have the most freedom and sail straight to their attraction of choice and can often range in price between $100 and $400 per person. Or maybe if you’re already paying for a Disney hotel, Lightning Lane can be free! And maybe Lightning Lane can be free for Disney+ subscribers too! Or how about being less strict with the park hopping option? Or making park admission free for Premier Pass holders? I know we can’t solve every problem, but I would still be trying everything I can to ease the strain on people’s wallets and sanity and make visitors more happy. Disney parks are supposed to be fun. And while we’re at it, let’s make it more fun for the cast members too. Because under my leadership they will all be getting a living wage. No more $16 an hour for Goofy!

Add More Content to Disney+

Three words: Make Mine Music. But seriously, I would add way more shorts, films and TV shows to Disney+ because they are missing a LOT. I’m turning this streaming service into the ultimate Disney vault, like the streaming equivalent of the Walt Disney Treasures DVDs. Hell, even put their war propaganda movie Victory Through Air Power on the service! Okay, maybe now I’m going overboard … but you get what I’m saying. Allow Disney fans to comb through the company’s history the way they want to. Even the obscure films like Johnny Tremain and The Gnome-Mobile. And of course we would add content warnings to all the dated material. I’ll go on camera Leonard Maltin-style and do it myself (because I want to be one of those Disney CEOs like Walt Disney or Michael Eisner who talks directly to the people and becomes the face of the brand). I know Disney loves to give attention to all the shiny new stuff they own like Marvel and Star Wars, but don’t neglect the fan base that started it all. Under my leadership we will no longer ignore the Disney nerds! You want Runaway Brain? You want House of Mouse? You want some obscure Disney Channel series from the eighties that you’ve never even heard of? You got it!

I’ve got plenty more company mandates in this alternate reality I live in but I’ll end the list there because I don’t want to bore you with all the details of my plans for Fantasia 3.