Disney’s Park Business Grows Despite Consumer Angst-OxBig News Network

Americans, struggling with rising costs, have been looking for ways to cut back on nonessential spending. But Disney, so far at least, apparently does not count as a discretionary expense.

The company, reporting results for its winter quarter on Wednesday, said operating profit at its domestic theme park division had climbed 13 percent from a year earlier, to $1.82 billion. Revenue increased 9 percent, to $6.5 billion. Park attendance was up. Hotel room bookings were up. And spending on merchandise and food was up.

Disney also reiterated that its experiences division as a whole (including overseas parks, cruises, and games and other consumer products) was still on course to increase its operating profit as much as 8 percent for the year, compared with 4 percent in 2024. The division contributes roughly 60 percent of Disney’s annual profit.

The vibrancy of that business helped push Disney’s adjusted per-share income for the quarter up 20 percent, to $1.45, handily beating analyst expectations. Separately on Wednesday, Disney announced that it would team with the Miral Group to open its seventh theme park resort: Disneyland Abu Dhabi.

Speaking to analysts on a conference call, Robert A. Iger, the company’s chief executive, called the Abu Dhabi decision “a huge endorsement of that location,” noting the tourism growth expected for the United Arab Emirates capital.

Disney shares climbed 10 percent in early trading.

Disney has long been seen as a bellwether for consumer confidence. When ticket sales and hotel reservations at the company’s theme park resorts in Florida and California start to weaken, it’s usually a sign that Americans are growing pessimistic about the economy.

Wall Street has been worried. Passenger traffic at Orlando International Airport during the first quarter was down 4 percent from a year earlier, according to government data. Disney has also been rolling out steep discounts for the summer. On Tuesday, for instance, Walt Disney World near Orlando began selling “summer magic” discounts for Florida residents — multiday tickets can be had for as little as $60, a 40 percent savings.

Gavin Doyle, who runs MickeyVisit, a site unaffiliated with Disney that focuses on theme park vacation planning, said discounts probably reflected three challenges: consumer queasiness about the economy, a lack of new Disney rides to market and increased competition from the Universal Orlando Resort.

Whatever the reason, the price breaks seem to be working. Hugh F. Johnston, Disney’s chief financial officer, told analysts on Wednesday that vacation bookings at Disney World for the current quarter were up 4 percent from last year and that the summer quarter was running 7 percent ahead.

“Quite strong,” he said.

Mr. Johnston added that Disney had seen almost no drop-off in overseas bookings — maybe 1 to 1.5 percent, he said. (News outlets have reported declines in visitors to the United States in general during the new Trump administration, especially from Europe and Canada. But a close look at the data shows it has so far been holding up.)

Disney also reported better-than-expected results for its flagship streaming service. Analysts had expected Disney+ to shed several million subscribers in the quarter because of price increases and programming cutbacks. Instead, Disney added 1.4 million, ending the period with 126 million. Disney’s direct-to-consumer division, which includes Hulu, had $336 million in operating profit, up from $47 million a year earlier.

But it was another crummy quarter for Disney’s traditional television business, which includes ABC and a portfolio of cable networks. Revenue fell 13 percent, to $2.4 billion, as viewership and advertising sales declined. Programming cutbacks (fewer new shows) allowed the division to eke out a 2 percent increase in operating profit ($769 million).

Higher costs at ESPN and a write-down related to Venu, a failed sports streaming venture, resulted in operating income of $687 million at Disney’s sports division, a 12 percent decrease from a year earlier.

Movies were largely a wash, as carry-over hits from the previous quarter, including “Mufasa: The Lion King,” were offset by clunkers like “Snow White.”