During this afternoon's Q2 Earning Results conference call, Disney CEO Bob Chapek and CFO Christine McCarthy commented on the performance at the domestic theme parks.
Notably, the parks saw demand this year exceeding pre-pandemic conditions from 2019. However, actual attendance continues to be capped by the reservation system, which shows no sign of being removed.
Speaking about the domestic parks Chapek said, "They continue to fire on all cylinders. Powered by strong demand, coupled with customized and personalized guest experience enhancements, that grew per capita spending by more than 40%, versus 2019."
Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy elaborated, "We continue to be pleased with the overall demand, and attendance trends at our domestic parks. In fact, there were many days in the quarter, where we saw demand exceed 2019 levels; however, we are continuing to control attendance, through our reservation system. With an eye on delivering, a quality guest experience. As Bob mentioned earlier, per capita guest spending at our domestic parks increased by over 40%, versus, Q2, of fiscal 2019. And by 20% versus Q2 of fiscal 2021. With increases across the board, on admissions, food and beverage, and merchandise. Looking ahead to the third quarter, our forward-looking demand pipeline at both Walt Disney World, and Disneyland remains robust. And while attendance, from international visitation is still in the early days of recovery, we are beginning to see some improvements. We are also thrilled that, as of the end of March, all of our domestic resorts are now open. A major milestone, as we continue to move through the impacts of the pandemic."
Asked about concerns about rising inflation during the remainder of 2022, Chapek said, "We continue to see really strong demand and we're encouraged by the trends that we're seeing particularly, we're going to get some improvements to international visitation. But, we're controlling our attendance as Christine mentioned in her comments, using our reservation system to optimize the guest experience, but that domestic yield strategy, and we're also seeing it in Paris -- is really exceeding our expectations. If you remember last quarter we mentioned that we had some high hopes for it, but we were seeing well above what we had anticipated, while I'm happy to say that in Q2, we're even as you say "we're lapping" those numbers again even higher, so we're very, very encouraged by the continuation of the trends that we're seeing in terms of number of people, for example, the sign-up for GB + plus the willingness to come to the parks with our balanced reservation system which helps us manage our price per day, if you will so that domestic yield strategy has really structurally allowed us to increase that per capita spending meaningfully, without having to rely solely on raising ticket prices and we don't see any end in sight for that. "
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