Disney has reported record revenue and operating income for its theme parks, and said it will start opening new experiences at all of its locations from 2025.
The company’s parks and experiences division reported $9.132 billion in revenue for the three months ending 30 December 2023, up from $8.545bn for the same period last year.
As for operating income, Disney’s parks segment reported $3.105bn for the first quarter of its 2024 fiscal year, compared to $2.862bn for the prior-year period.
This is despite a decrease in operating income at Disney’s US parks and experiences, which was offset by higher results at Disney Cruise Line.
Disney has attributed the decline in the US to decreases in attendance at Walt Disney World in Florida following the 50th anniversary celebrations the year before, as well as higher costs due to inflation.
Results at Disneyland in California were comparable to the prior-year quarter due to higher attendance and guest spending, offset by higher costs.
Growth at Disney Cruise Line was thanks to increases in average ticket prices and passenger cruise days, partially offset by higher costs.
Over at Disney’s international parks, operating income was up due to higher attendance in Hong Kong and Shanghai. However, attendance declined at Disneyland Paris after the park’s 30th anniversary celebrations last year.
In a post-earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger spoke about the company’s plans to invest $60bn in its parks and experiences over the next decade.
Where is Disney spending $60 billion?
“We’re already hard at work determining where we’re going to place our new investments and what they will be,” Iger said.
“You can pretty much conclude that there’ll be all over – meaning every single one of our locations will be the beneficiary of increased investment and thus increased capacity – including on the high seas, where we’re currently building three more ships.”
He added, “I’m not going to give you much more of a sense of timing, except that we’re hard at work at getting these things conceived and built.
“We’ve got a menu of things that will basically start opening in 2025, and there will be a cadence every year of additional investment and increased capacity.”
Images courtesy of Disney
