How Disney Plans To Use DISCOUNTS To Keep High Theme Park Demand

Will Disney offer NEW discounts soon? Based on quotes from The Walt Disney Company’s 2022 Q4 earnings call, it sounds like new deals could be on the way.

Cinderella Castle

Quarterly earnings reports and calls can tell us a lot about what’s going on with Disney, including Disney+ subscriber numbers, theme park demand, changes in revenue, and more. During the most recent earnings call, Disney was asked about potential plans for keeping demand high during the predicted upcoming recession. How Disney responded gives us reason to be cautiously optimistic about new discounts coming in the future.

During the 2022 Q4 earnings call, Disney executives Bob Chapek (CEO) and Christine McCarthy (Senior Executive VP and CFO) answered several questions about Disney’s current status and future plans. One person asked about the upcoming recession that many experts have predicted is unavoidable: “If there is a slowing U.S. consumer, what can you do to kind of maintain the revenue growth? […] So, in other words, what can be different this time versus previous downturns?”

Bob Chapek

McCarthy answered this question, saying, “Compared to the last time we had a slowdown in the economy for managing our parks business, we have more commercial tools and levers available to us.” She said that Disney may turn to new discounts in order to increase demand and thus keep revenue high: “One of the [tools] that’s quite obvious is discounting. That’s something that we have used in the past, and we will continue to use it because it is an effective lever for managing your yield.”

Entrance to Magic Kingdom

But then McCarthy clarified her statement, saying that Disney is “not going to use it [referring to discounting] to the extent to which we used it during the last recession.”

How Has Disney Previously Used Discounting?

In the past, Disney has relied heavily on offering discounts in order to keep demand for the theme parks high. In 2008, CNN reported that Disney was a top performer among major media companies when it came to maintaining revenue and demand during the recession. They reported that, during the 2nd quarter of 2008, “theme park and resorts sales rose 11%.”

Park Entrance

Also during that time, Disney “reported a net profit of $1.13 billion,” which marked an increase of 22% (higher than analysts predicted for the time). One expert said that Disney seemed “to have integrated better than a lot of their competitors.” During the earnings call for this quarter, then-Disney CEO Bob Iger attributed the success in part to “discount hotel room and vacation package pricing.”

Disney’s Riviera Resort

Later, in 2009, the company again referred to discounts as a tool to keep park attendance high. Disney noted that a certain discount (the “Buy 4, Get 3 Free” promotion) was a major factor in keeping attendance and booking numbers strong. With this promotion, guests could get 3 nights at a hotel for free if they bought a 4-night stay.

Art of Animation hotel

Disney noted that “the discount on the ticket is relatively modest […] and the discount on the hotel obviously is significant.” They said that this provided a strong incentive for guests who “were considering staying for four days to buy seven days” instead, which meant Disney made more money than they would have with the 4-day stay as guests purchased other things such as tickets, food, souvenirs, etc. during their longer trip.

Hollywood Studios

Disney said that “this is a promotion or a pricing strategy that’s really working” when “you look at our bookings […] and attendance.”

Can We Expect To See Similar Discounts Now?

According to McCarthy, the discounts that Disney may use soon will not be quite as big as the ones previously used by the company. She said that Disney will not discount “to the extent to which we used it during the last recession.”

Guests entering Animal Kingdom

So although we may see some new deals (especially during the recession), we likely won’t get huge offers like the “Buy 4, Get 3 Free” promotion. However, there are still several discounts happening right now that you can take advantage of. For example, Disney+ subscribers can save 20% on some Disney hotel rooms and Annual Passholders can save up to 25% on hotel stays as well.

Want to see ALL the current Disney World and Disneyland discounts? Click here!

We’ll be watching for new discounts, and of course we’ll let you know as soon as we hear of them! If you’re looking for more ways to save money on an upcoming Disney trip, check out these posts:

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