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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Disstevefan18 days ago

While it wasn't as super mobbed this year as it was in 2019, it was still crowded, still long waits for attractions. I agree they are using the price a a way to limit attendance. As I said, there seems like less treat stations and less variety.

TheMaxRebo8 days ago

sorry you got sick - always hard when in a crowded place I think part of the higher price now for the parties and part of the "premium experience" is they max out at a lower number than before Covid. Not saying it is empty but they don't pack people in like in 2018-2019 when all I heard was people complaining about the parties that they couldn't move and the attractions had long waits, etc. Whether it is for the parties, after hours event, LLPP, etc - people will pay more for lower crowds and lower waits and anything "extra" beyond the standard offering

Disstevefan18 days ago

The folks paying $210 (think) they are paying for a premium experience. We attended this year, I think it was one of the lower price days but for the three of us it was over $500 something. We had not gone since pre pandemic 2019, but it seemed to be a lesser experience this year, I think there was less cookie stations and less variety, I know I got nowhere near the amount of cookies compared to 2019. But I did get to ride TRON for the first time. That was great. I also got sick from that visit and I am one of those weirdos with the hand sanitizer, mask, try not to touch stuff etc. and still got sick. (no extra charge for that).

tpoly888 days ago

I agree with the statement that attendance is going back to 2012 not the crazy 2018/19 levels. Parks are busy when they should be , nephew went yesterday with his wife and 3 yrs old and by the afternoon (after 2pm it got packed). Morning not so bad but it’s still new years week. Prices had to go up with inflation and new hr wages. No choice. Plus I’m sure disneys other costs for insurance, electricity and such are all up. Hopefully you’ll see another reset if fuel prices come down hard. If…

tpoly888 days ago

I like those too!! Good information.

The Mom19 days ago

Once again, this thread is about attendance at WDW. Not movies.

Disstevefan119 days ago

Agreed, but I think the constant price increases on everything can mostly compensate for the less full resorts (aka lower attendance).

rd80519 days ago

Disney found their golden goose by monetizing fastpass, and then introducing an even more expensive fast pass. My guess is that their numbers ended up DECENT in 2024 because of this; but again, the lack of new experiences coming (added with everything else we've discussed for a year+) will probably keep the resorts less full again in the next year.

monothingie19 days ago

It's going to be rough. The Disney brand is damaged, there is increased competition from their rivals up I 4 with their brand new park, the prices keep going up, and there's nothing significant coming online for at least the next 3 years. The current strategy of squeezing the guests is not going to continue to yield the results they want. There has to be a realization that some value needs to be injected into the equation. Burbank always leans heavily into the the Experiences segment because Josh's group prints money for the company. I'm not going to understate that Disney has a lot planned for the end of the decade, but that's 4-5+ years from now, and things change from concept, and the current track record is not for the better. Does a new DVC, A Cars Ride, a Monsters Inc. Ride, A re-themed RNR, a new Encanto Ride, and a re-themed Indy Ride move the needle? If the price is 20-30+% more than it is today...then no.

Cliff19 days ago

Perhaps 2025 could be a trusted year to do all of that...."again". Walt Disney World has always been the king of Orlando and there really are no other viable choices in 2025. WDW has always been a theme park monopoly in that city and it makes sense to keep leaning on that fact in 2025. So, yeah,..I think Burbank will be safe to use Parks and Experiences as another life vest again. Parks are the trusted "cash register" of the company today. If it worked in 2024 and Parks profits were held flat then we can be 100% sure that Burbank can do it again in 2025. Burbank, you have nothing to worry about. As you were....carry on.

phillip969820 days ago

At the level where all imagineers are expected to give him their "true" feelings on any and all projects when asked? I may be way off base here but that seems like a weird expectation. Especially knowing how quickly any non-standard responses would spread online.

James Alucobond20 days ago

They spend more than ever on new stuff now. The money is being put into it even if you dislike where it's being funneled or how things are being budgeted.

Cliff20 days ago

Trust I'm a pure, 100% nobody in every way, shape and form. I'm just another common legacy fan like any other here. Yeah...what can they do, right? Even if they were not proud of what they built, they can't say it. I'm not naming names but that day I talked directly to an Imagineer that worked on Journery of Water and I asked her why they did not build it in between the Seas and Living with the Land. Journey of Water is all about water's pathways from land and water. I told her that "Journey" have joined two themes together. There is plenty of space between them and the current location could have been open for something else. She basically told me "Hmm...y'nkow, that might not have been a bad idea. Oh well, I gues it too late now". We both laughed at it. I asked another Imagineer that I won't say if Walt's statue was set to a 1:1 scale of him. He cocked his head sideways, asked another Imagineer standing next to him and neither one knew the answer but commended me for asking it. Again...the three of us just laughed. I dunno...I was told a while back by some connected friends that work for Disney that morale in Imagineering was low. About 2 months later Joe Rhode left and that was when i realized how bad it really was. I remember almost dropping my phone the moment I read that. As a legacy fan, Joe Rhode leaving hurt my heart. Uggg. Oh well. Disney had one heck of a good run there for a long time. It's nature I guess. Everything dies eventually. It's just a rule of life. The younger generation is in charge now. The parks will just move forward with different customers. Their money is just as green as the last generation's is but it won't cost Burbank as much time, energy and money to please the new kids today.

Mr. Sullivan20 days ago

Even still I don’t find it very likely that someone in that position would speak about any sort of personal grievances with a new attraction to someone who is not in house, likely because they’re aware that person would do exactly what just got done: their words would be shared with everyone online.