by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:16 AM ET, Thu August 11, 2022
Disney revealed during a second-quarter earnings report that strong theme park demand helped the company's increase in profitability.
According to The New York Post, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced Wednesday that theme park revenue totaled $21.5 billion, increasing 26 percent from the previous year and avoiding the downturn in consumer spending predicted by experts.
Operating profit for the theme parks climbed by 50 percent in the second quarter to $3.6 billion, beating analysts' estimates of about $21 billion in revenue and $3.2 billion in profit. Officials said park attendance on "many days" has exceeded 2019 levels.
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products reported quarterly revenue of $7.4 billion (up from $4.3 billion in 2021) and an operating profit of $2.2 billion (up from $356 million).
"We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and business teams powering outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, big increases in live-sports viewership, and significant subscriber growth at our streaming services," Chapek said.
"We continue to transform entertainment as we near our second century, with compelling new storytelling across our many platforms and unique immersive physical experiences that exceed guest expectations, all of which are reflected in our strong operating results this quarter," Chapek continued.
Chapek credits the increase in revenue to strong pent-up demand, dropped coronavirus-related restrictions, new line-shortening privileges and several attraction debuts at both Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California.
As for Disney's 22 domestic hotels, chief financial officer Christine McCarthy revealed the properties had an occupancy rate of 90 percent in the quarter. McCarthy also said bookings for the rest of the year are "roughly in line" with pre-pandemic levels.
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