Disney Parks Attendance Slips Slightly, but Guest Spending and Hotels Surge

Disney's newly released 10-K filing offers a deeper look at how the Experiences segment performed over the past fiscal year. 

While domestic attendance dipped slightly, higher per-guest spending, strong hotel occupancy, and growth in cruise operations more than offset the movement. International parks, particularly Disneyland Paris, continued to trend upward. Merchandise, retail, and licensing added steady gains as well.

Theme Park Admissions

Theme park admissions revenue increased 5% year over year. The filing attributes the improvement to a 4% increase in per-capita ticket revenue, as guests spent more on ticket products and visit patterns remained steady. Attendance was essentially flat internationally and down slightly domestically, but higher guest spending offset those movements.

Resorts and Vacations

Resorts and vacations revenue rose 5%, driven by several factors:

• 5% growth in passenger cruise days
• 2% increase in domestic hotel occupied room nights
• 1% increase in Disney Vacation Club unit sales

Disney Cruise Line continued to be a major contributor, reflecting a full year of demand and the launch of the Disney Treasure in the first quarter.

Merchandise, Food, and Beverage

Merchandise, food, and beverage revenue increased 6%. The filing breaks this down as:

• 3% increase in average guest spending
• 1% increase from volume growth

Growth came from higher per-capita spending in the theme parks, including food, retail, and beverage purchases.

Licensing and Other Revenue

Merchandise licensing and retail increased 3%, driven by higher licensing revenue. This was partially offset by a 1% unfavorable foreign exchange impact.

Parks licensing and other revenue saw additional gains from sponsorship activity, retail real estate sales, and royalties from Tokyo Disney Resort.

Operating Income

Operating income for Experiences increased 8%, reaching $9.995 billion, up from $9.272 billion the prior year.

The improvement reflects higher operating results at parks and resorts as well as stronger licensing revenue, partially offset by increases in:

• Cost of services
• Selling, general, and administrative expenses
• Depreciation and amortization tied to new assets

Key Metrics

Disney includes several operating metrics to track performance across domestic and international parks and hotels.

Attendance

• Domestic: down 1%
• International: up 1% (previous year saw a 9% increase)

Per-Capita Guest Spending

• Domestic: up 5%
• International: up 2%

Higher spending came from food and beverage purchases, merchandise, and premium offerings.

Hotel Occupancy

• Domestic: 87% (up from 85%)
• International: 87% (up from 82%)

Occupancy benefited from increased demand and continued strength in on-property stays.

Available Room Nights

• Domestic: 10.236 million, up from 10.193 million
• International: 3.173 million, roughly flat year over year

Per-Room Guest Spending

• Domestic: up 3%
• International: up 6%

These increases reflect higher room rates and higher guest spending on food, beverage, and merchandise during hotel stays.