Iger Emphasizes Importance of Theme Parks and Attendance
During The Walt Disney Company’s quarterly earnings call today, Bob Iger answered questions and offered additional insights about Disney theme parks.
Here’s how the parks are doing. Spoiler: VERY well!
The Importance of the Parks
For starters, Iger doubled down on the significance of theme parks to Disney’s bottom line and its future.
Iger listed three businesses as core to the company. Those are Disney movies, Direct-to-Consumer (i.e., streaming services like Disney+), and the theme parks.
Iger also provided context about how the theme parks have performed this summer, which has been a subject of significant speculation in the aftermath of a strange July 4th.
Disney’s CEO suggested that Walt Disney World experienced a “softer performance than in 2022.”
However, other park metrics like per capita spending have surpassed pre-COVID levels, which is remarkable, all things considered.
Iger even added an optimistic statement about the state of the theme parks:
“We are making numerous investments globally to grow our park businesses over the next five years. And I’m very optimistic about the future of this business over the long term.”
The CEO’s confidence is understandable since Parks, Experiences and Products claimed operating income growth of 13 percent year-over-year.
At Walt Disney World specifically, Disney’s quarterly revenue exceeded pre-pandemic 2019 totals by 21% and operating income gained 29 percent.
There is one write-off of note, though. Those numbers don’t include the loss Disney took for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
Disney indicated a massive improvement in international park attendance, which is understandable now that the parks have fully reopened. They still suffered pandemic effects last year at this time.
In the United States, Disney’s earnings report reflected lowered operating income at domestic parks, partially due to the unexpected slowdown of Disney Vacation Club sales.
Meanwhile, Disney Cruise Line soared in popularity. Disney proudly proclaimed a 98 percent occupancy rate, which is the best-case scenario for this industry.
Disney explained the status of DCL this way:
“Growth at Disney Cruise Line was due to an increase in passenger cruise days, partially offset by higher costs associated with our ongoing fleet expansion and increased depreciation.”