Disney CFO Hugh Johnston says “higher income” guests are key to the success of Disney theme parks. Johnston spoke about growth and attendance during Wells Fargo’s 9th Annual TMT Summit.

Higher Income Guests at Disney Parks

“Our consumer,” Johnston told Steven Cahall, “tends to be at the higher income deciles, and those consumers continue to do well. So we certainly broadly feel good about where the consumer is.”

Disney recently raised ticket prices, with a one-day ticket to Magic Kingdom now as high as $209 and a 1-Day Park Hopper ticket as high as $284.

Johnston said that Disney Parks had a “strong year” in FY25. It was the first time they hit $10 billion in operating income. Domestic parks, Johnston noted, grew earnings 8% for the year.

Domestic park attendance was down 1% but that was affected by a hurricane in the first quarter. Also considering the opening of Epic Universe, attendance “came within our expectations,” Johnston said.

“So net, we were basically flat on attendance,” Johnston said. “In the fourth quarter, really a very similar story. For domestic parks overall, we were down 2% and Walt Disney World was actually down 1%. So certainly, from an attendance standpoint, it really came in very much in line. And the thing you have to keep in mind with the parks is we tend domestically to run at pretty high capacity utilization.”

He added that there are always attendance jumps when new attractions are added. The last ride to open at Walt Disney World and Disneyland was Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in 2024. The newest attractions and entertainment at Walt Disney World are Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After and The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade at Magic Kingdom, and the reimagined Test Track, none of which draw crowds the way a brand new ride would. The only new attraction at Disneyland is Walt Disney – A Magical Life.

Johnston continued, “in a year where we’re not adding something new, we’re basically going to be about level. Over the long run, you’ll see us, I think, balance attendance growth with pricing growth. But in any given year, it could be more geared towards one versus the other.”

Per caps, he explained, grew domestically by 5%. Their expectation for bookings in the first quarter of FY26 is a 6% growth.

“Now bookings is an important metric from the perspective that it obviously gives us some insight into the future,” Johnston said. “But one thing that’s important to realize is only about 40% of the people who attend our parks actually stay on one of our properties. So it’s useful in terms of both per caps and attendance, but you can’t just directly connect one to the other. That said, when we see bookings up as we did, we have right now at 3% and the full year is up as well, we’re certainly feeling good about where parks is likely to go in ’26.”

Johnston also spoke about the possibility of introducing dynamic pricing to the domestic theme parks and the company’s 2026 content budget split between sports and entertainment.

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