Disney CEO Bob Iger says that theme park demand is softening from peak post-COVID travel

May 07, 2024 in "The Walt Disney Company"

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Bob Iger

Posted: Tuesday May 7, 2024 8:55am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

During today's earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger discussed recent trends in park attendance and financial performance.

Disney EO Bob Iger commented on attendance softening at the parks from peak-post COVID spike

Iger noted a shift towards normalization following the peak post-COVID attendance, although the parks division still achieved a 10% growth this quarter. Iger pointed out that future bookings remain robust, indicating potential for continued strong growth.

Looking ahead, Iger mentioned that despite some one-time expenses in the third quarter, adjusted operating income (OI) is expected to show solid growth—mid to high single digits in Q3 and double digits in Q4.

Iger told investors, "We still see in the bookings we look ahead towards indicate healthy growth in the business. So we still certainly feel good about the opportunities for continued strong growth." He continued, "I feel like the parks business is still doing very very well. 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."

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NotCalledBob15 hours ago

This. Plus general wear and tear on the attraction. One theater rotated saves a whole lot on maintenence.

Angel Ariel1 day ago

Has it really been 10 years? Goodness.

Laketravis1 day ago

I just realized it's been 10 years since I discussed WDW's adoption of yield management on another forum (Angel, I bet you remember). Funny how that led to what we were predicting would happen a decade ago. Not just the monetization of a preferred queue, but even more important that they finally figured out the intricate balance of creating mostly constant SB wait times for each attraction regardless of the number of people in the parks, SB wait times that they also determined would be acceptable to a majority of guests while encouraging another percentage of guests to pay extra not to wait, all while expanding and shrinking resources (and saving costs) to maintain that balance. When we compare today to the days of remarkable 180 minute SB waits for Toy Story Mania, Test Track, Soarin, and others while watching reports on national evening news about some waits hitting the four hour mark while parks were regularly closed due to capacity levels, I suppose things aren't so bad.

Andrew C1 day ago

that’s what she said?

Nubs701 day ago

Too many people riding, not enough people buying...

Angel Ariel1 day ago

We typically go in January, and this year went in October and I felt the same way. I believe someone said that this has been verified as not happening by Touring Plans, but October was definitely far busier than January is (as easily measured by the crowds at fireworks time), but our wait times for attractions were pretty much the same.

Tha Realest1 day ago

Also has the added benefit of reducing operations / employee costs.

bmr15911 day ago

I will say this. One of the ways Disney appears more busy than ever before is by limiting capacity on rides during certain periods. For instance, I went one week in early January and they only had one theater running for Flight of Passage. I went in early March that same year and they had four theaters running. It was faster for me to get through a longer line in March during a busier season than in January because of what they had running. Part of that is them not wanting to pay as many people to operate rides during lower times of the year. Another part is intentionally inflating the wait times to sell more Genie+ and make things feel way busier than they actually are.

JoeCamel1 day ago

Donnie?

JoeCamel1 day ago

6 months +1 day is the requirement

HauntedPirate1 day ago

Pffft... why do they want more of those freeloaders in the parks? Florida residents are as bad, if not worse, than Annual Passholders!

Nevermore5251 day ago

Oh for sure, and while obviously the C-Suite will want to ensure revenue streams stay consistent, it’s just once you get above Jeff it’s a broader focus on the parks ecosystem as a whole rather than just a focus on WDW. For those folks they may just see a 7% increase in theme park admissions 5% higher pricing and 2% growth in attendance, a 5% increase in resorts and vacations which they noted 3% cruise rates, 1% higher spend at hotels and 1% higher occupancy of cash room nights, and a 4% increase in merch/food/beverages across the parks system from 2% higher volumes and 2% higher prices. As well as a 7% increase in parks licensing from places like TDR. All increases from the previous year.

Laketravis1 day ago

Although anecdotal, one thing I did notice over the last three weeks was the very large number of Florida residents in the parks and even the resorts. WDW was (and still is) offering extremely low resident rates for both park tickets/passes and resort stays. We could see them in detail on the app while onsite with a Florida IP address and I was tempted to see how I could establish a Florida residency. Those are a gamble for Disney who counts on those residents to spend big while on property, and while some will splurge with dinner at Narcoossee's or Topolino's - many don't (at least the ones I talked to ). That pumps attendance numbers but not necessarily revenue.

Nevermore5251 day ago

Wasn’t disputing the difficulty of parsing out exactly what WDW is doing financially vs DLR, just pointing out that the cruise industry hasn’t been as substantive on the balance sheet.