The last few months have been rough at Walt Disney World and the Disney Company overall. The resort is currently embroiled in a massive lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Then Disney laid off 7,000 cast members as part of a plan to reduce costs. And it made the announcement that the highly touted, and clearly very expensive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, would be closing its doors in September. Anecdotal evidence has also indicated that Walt Disney World, while certainly not a ghost town, is less crowded this summer than we’re used to seeing. And yet Disney’s Parks division actually saw an increase in revenue last quarter.
Disney’s Q3 2023 earnings call did, in fact, confirm that attendance and hotel occupancy at Walt Disney World were down last quarter compared to the same period last year. This was chalked up to the fact that Disney World’s 50th-anniversary celebration was happening last year but officially wrapped up a few months ago. But attendance at Disneyland Resort, as well as the Disney Parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai, were all up. When combined with an increase in the cost of Genie+ domestically over the last year, the parks division posted a 13% increase in revenue for the quarter.
