The Walt Disney Company recently released the earnings report and held its earnings call for the second quarter of 2024, outlining just how the theme parks were doing financially, how streaming is holding up, and more.
Cinderella Castle
During the call, we learned that Disney Parks & Entertainment revenue increased, largely due to Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, and the international parks having higher results. But, the company isn’t convinced this trend will continue — and we’re diving into why that might be.
Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products revenues for the quarter increased overall by 10% from $7.6 billion in the same quarter last year to $8.3 billion this quarter. The better results this year were due to Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, and the international parks having higher results. However, the increase was offset by Disneyland having lower results.
Cinderella Castle
Disney World saw an increase in revenue due to an increase in guest spending which Disney attributes to higher ticket prices. There were also higher costs inside the resort due to inflation, but the revenue generated from that was partially offset by lower depreciation and cost-saving initiatives made by the company.
EPCOT
But, Disneyland Resort took a hit and had lower revenue this year compared to last year at this time. This is attributed to the lower percentage increase overall for the domestic parks of 7% over last year. The domestic parks had $5.9 billion in revenue compared to $5.5 billion last year. Disneyland’s lower revenue is due to higher costs driven by inflation, and while there were higher volumes of attendance, it was offset by lower occupied room nights at the hotels.
Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure
Disney’s Chief Financial Officer, Hugh Johnston, shared a bit about his predictions for Disney parks revenue for the third fiscal quarter and shared that operating income is “expected to come in roughly comparable to the prior year.” He cited “non-comparable” or “timing-related” items like Disney Cruise Line’s new island destination, Lookout Cay, along with normalization from post-COVID travel.
But, it’s what CEO Bob Iger said about fiscal year 2025 that piqued our interest.
Disneyland
During the question and answer portion of the earnings call, Steven Cahall, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities, asked Iger what the company’s expectations were as far as park attendance was concerned for fiscal year 2025.
Iger responded and said, “First, in terms of attendance, look, what we’re basically communicating is relative to the post-COVID highs, things are tending to normalize.”
Walt Disney Studios
He continued, “The parks business did 10% growth in the quarter. And obviously, that’s an extremely high revenue number. That said, we still see in — the bookings that we look ahead toward indicate healthy growth in the business. So we still certainly feel good about the opportunities for continued strong growth…We’ve got the best in the business in terms of product. People still have a strong desire to basically go on vacation and come to see us.”
Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure
Iger also clarified that timing can be everything when it comes to financial results like this, pointing out that Disney has “some one-time expenses occurring in Q3.”
“If we were to back out one-timers both for Q3 and Q4, we expect OI for the quarter to be in the mid-to-high single-digit range for Q3 and to be double-digit for Q4. So I certainly feel like the Parks business is still doing very, very well,” he shared.
Tower of Terror, Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Essentially, post-COVID travel increased Disney Parks revenue dramatically, but now that things are evening out, it could cause operating income to decrease on future reports. Not only that, but the results of the third quarter will be impacted by higher wage expenses, pre-opening expenses related to the Disney Treasure and Disney Adventure, along with Lookout Cay.
These increased, one-time factors could have an impact on what we see from Disney’s third-quarter financials, and thus what we see going into 2025 and beyond.
Animal Kingdom’s Tree of Life
Stay tuned to DFB as we continue to bring you the latest news about The Walt Disney Company and more!
5 Important Announcements That Were MISSING from Disney’s BIG News Drop
Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!
WE KNOW DISNEY.
YOU CAN, TOO.
Oh boy, planning a Disney trip can be quite the adventure, and we totally get it! But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE Disney vacation.
Whether you're a rookie or a seasoned pro, our insider tips and tricks will have you exploring the parks like never before. So come along with us, and get planning your most magical vacation ever!
Will you be booking a trip to the parks in 2025? Tell us in the comments.
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
I am not surprised that attendance will go down. It’s too damn expensive, especially for Brits like me who have a transatlantic flight to pay for on top of everything else
Epic Universe on anyone’s mind? That’s disingenuous for Iger not to address that elephant….
Lower attendance is bad for Disney, but great for guests. Less crowds and short lines are always a good thing for visitors.
People are also waiting on the election to see if sanity will come back to the government!
“People still have a strong desire to basically go on vacation and come to see us.” That is true. But many of us can no longer afford to.
Do you think with all of the grocery and gas prices going higher that maybe folks are going to put off a WDW vacation? Do you think the extra cost of the genie plus and lighting lane have given people pause about coming? Do you think the complicated process for a first timer is going to scare some off? I do