One of the best ways to stay up to date on Disney news is to tune into the quarterly earnings calls.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We’ll continue to keep you updated with more Disney news. In the meantime, make sure to follow along for more!

Want to know how Disney+ is doing this quarter? Click here!

 

Do you typically tune in to Disney’s quarterly earnings calls? Let us know in the comments!

The post NEWS: Disney World Attendance and Hotel Stays Are DOWN According to the Data first appeared on the disney food blog.