One of the best ways to stay up to date on Disney news is to tune into the quarterly earnings calls.
Magic Kingdom
These earnings reports not only share with stakeholders and Disney fans the company’s financial successes and shortcomings throughout the fiscal year, but they’re also a great way to gain some insight into what Disney’s plans are for the near future. From these calls, we’ve learned about upcoming films, Disney’s plans for ticketing and park passes, and we’ve even learned about Disney’s plans to sell assets. August 9th marked the Q3 earnings call for fiscal 2023, and we learned a LOT about Disney’s performance as far as crowds and ticketing go. Let’s talk about it!
So far this summer, we’ve seen low crowds at Disney World and have even seen some ticket discounts being announced, as well as some hotel discounts looking forward to the holidays. In 2024, most guests will no longer have to make park pass reservations.
Magic Kingdom Summer Crowds in August 2022
Disney’s Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Report has revealed that Disney Parks, Experiences and Products revenues for the quarter increased 13% to $8.3 billion, while segment operating income increased 11% to $2.4 billion. The international parks had higher operating costs for the quarter, but those were partially offset by lower results at U.S. parks and by Disney’s merchandise licensing.
©Disney
The decrease in operating income at U.S. parks was due to lower results at those parks and Disney Vacation Club, which had lower unit sales this quarter, partially offset by an increase at Disney Cruise Line. Basically, this means that domestic theme parks had lower results this quarter, although Disney Cruise Line had an increase.
Cinderella Castle in Disney World
Yep, there was a decrease at Walt Disney World, which is primarily due to higher costs and lower volumes (i.e., lower attendance). The increase in costs there was attributed to inflation but also the accelerated depreciation of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, which will be permanently closing soon.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser
The report also pointed out that lower volumes at Disney World were due to decreases in occupied room nights and attendance. So it seems that far fewer people are going to Disney World in this quarter, which is something we’ve observed in the parks over the summer.
Disney’s Pop Century Resort
However, on the West Coast, Disneyland saw higher attendance and increased guest spending, although that was largely offset by higher costs driven by inflation. Guest spending increased mostly due to an increase in average ticket prices.
Disneyland
We’ll continue to keep you updated with more Disney news. In the meantime, make sure to follow along for more!
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Wonder if it has anything to do with constantly reducing what you get but increasing the cost of tickets/rooms…Nah couldn’t be that
Heat index in Orlando has been 112 degrees in the SHADE more days than not since mid-July!!! We noticed the high heat last year after I got overheated and tossed my cookies twice. We are annual pass holders and will NOT go back during the summer. It is just too hot! And as a added note, the temps state getting into the 90’s in mid-May and does not cool down until end of September. But Disney is our fun place to go October thru April!
Mr. Iger, I honestly think that more people would attend year round if the hotels were somewhat less expensive. I don’t mean a discount here or there for certain populations, but a general decrease. It wouldn’t have to be a significant amount, but a good faith decrease to let guests know that they matter and that the magic is back. I’d go twice a year if I could, but the hotel costs prevent us from doing that.