Disney domestic theme park attendance now at 2019 levels with per capita spending up 40 percent

Speaking at the Walt Disney Company's Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results Conference Call, CFO Christine McCarthy commented on attendance and revenues at Disney's domestic theme parks.

Walt Disney World is seeing high attendance demand surpassing that of 2019

Specifically of note is that attendance at the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort is now very close to 2019 levels, but spending per capita is up 40%. Occupancy at the domestic hotels in the third quarter was 90%, and future bookings are in line with pre-pandemic levels.

Christine said, "Demand at our domestic parks continues to exceed expectations with attendance on many days tracking ahead of 2019 levels. Our continued focus on improving the guest experience through the use of our reservation systems to purposefully manage capacity versus simply increasing volume has the added benefit of improving yield and optimizing overall economics. So, even while the average daily attendance at our domestic parks across the first recordings of this fiscal year was slightly below 2019, we have delivered significantly higher revenue and operating income over that same time period. This approach also provides flexibility. With levels we can adjust if demand were to shift. Per capita spending at our domestic parks also remains strong. Increasing 10% versus Q3 of fiscal 2021 and over 40% versus fiscal 2019."

Occupancy at Disney domestic hotels is at 90%

Commenting on future attendance, McCarthy said, "Looking ahead, domestic demand at our theme parks continues to look robust with current forward-looking hotel bookings and intent to visit, roughly in line with pre-pandemic trends."

She went on to talk about international visitors, "One of the things that we've seen is during the pandemic, international visitation to our domestic parks, primarily Walt Disney World was non-existent. It has proceeded to come back, very nicely, but still below the traditional range that we've given you, which is around 17, 18% up to the low 20s. But it's made significant progress and we expect the international visitation, when it is fully back, to actually be additive to margins because those guests tend to stay longer at the parks, and they spend more money when they're there as well."