Disney Announces Hotel Revenue LOSSES — Here's How You May Be Affected

The Walt Disney Company just dropped a bunch of news.

Disney California Adventure

Each quarter, the company releases an earnings report and then hosts an earnings call to review the numbers and answer pressing questions. We typically learn quite a bit of information from these calls, and after the 2024 Q2 earnings results were released, we have some predictions about changes coming soon to Disneyland Resort.

Unfortunately, Disneyland Resort had a fairly rough quarter. Even though the operating income increased in the domestic parks and experiences division, that was mostly due to higher performance with Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line. It was partially offset by lower results at Disneyland Resort for Q2.

“it’s a small world” in disneyland

Disney says that the decrease at Disneyland Resort was likely due to a few factors, including higher operating costs. But another factor is that while attendance was UP in the parks, occupancy rates at the Disneyland hotels were down. This is a problem for the west coast resort, so how will it be fixed?

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Ultimately, this likely means that we can expect price increases in the parks in the future. We could see prices increase on tickets, food, and merchandise. If hotel occupancy is down, then Disney will need to offset that by getting higher spending per visitor in the parks, where attendance still looks good. It’s a delicate balancing act, because if Disney increases prices too high, then park attendance will drop.

Crowds at Disneyland

There’s one place where prices could drop, though. With hotel stays down, they’ll be wanting to draw in more out-of-town guests — and we could see more discounts introduced to fill up the hotels. Disneyland has long been known as the park for “locals” as compared to Disney World, which is more of a vacation destination for out-of-towners.

Disneyland Hotel

The next few years will be a crucial time for Disneyland Resort. It was just announced that they have approval from the Anaheim City Council to proceed with the DisneylandForward expansion. Many people like to save their vacations for AFTER a major expansion has opened in the parks, so Disney may want to find ways to draw visitors in during the in-between time.