Disney Cites ‘Low Income Stress’ as Reason for Slowdown at Domestic Disney Parks

Shannen Ace

Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Park

Disney Cites ‘Low Income Stress’ as Reason for Slowdown at Domestic Disney Parks

According to The Walt Disney Company, lower demand for their domestic theme parks is due to lower-income consumers feeling financial stress and higher-income consumers traveling internationally.

Cinderella Castle: A large crowd in front of a castle with blue turrets and gold accents, under a partly cloudy sky, at an amusement park. Balloons are visible among the crowd.

Senior Executive Vice President and CFO Hugh Johnston said the demand reduction could mean “a bit of a slowdown” for the parks. But he believes their entertainment business would offset losses.

We recently reported on a LendingTree survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers that found 24% of all Disney Parks guests go into debt for their vacation. 45% of parents with children younger than 18 go into debt, taking on an average of $1,983. However, most guests say they have no regrets.

Disney Experiences, including the Disney Parks, generated over $8.3 billion in revenue in Q3 FY24. This is a 2% increase but segment operating income decreased by 3% to $2.222 billion.

Disney says that the decrease in income at domestic parks was due to “higher costs driven by inflation, increased technology spending and new guest offerings, partially offset by the comparison to depreciation in the prior-year quarter related to the closure of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser and cost saving initiatives.”

The Walt Disney Company reported a total revenue of over $23 billion.

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1 thought on “Disney Cites ‘Low Income Stress’ as Reason for Slowdown at Domestic Disney Parks”

  1. We took the trip of a lifetime and finally got our 3 kids there this past spring. We got out of debt in order to go, but went right back into debt to get there. It was worth every penny of the $17,000 😖 I don’t know if we will ever get back but we all talk about how much we miss it every single day.

    Reply

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