Terry Roen
Guest spending at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts helped boost fourth quarter earnings for the Walt Disney Company by 6 percent to a record $55.6 billion.
Higher average ticket prices and room rates, along with increased food and beverage spending caused Walt Disney Parks and Resorts’ revenue to increase 5 percent to a record $17 billion, according to the report. Operating income jumped 9 percent to a record $3.3 billion.
Both Disney World and Disneyland’s domestic hotels reported occupancy rose more than 2 percent in the fourth quarter, to 86 percent, compared with the previous year. Hotel spending rose 1 percent.
“We’re very pleased with our performance for the year, delivering the highest revenue, net income, and earnings per share in Disney’s history,” the company’s CEO, Bob Iger, said in a statement.
The growth in parks and resorts helped offset losses of pre-opening expenses at Shanghai Disney Resort and lower advertising and affiliate revenue and higher programming and production costs at ESPN. Disney Channels also reported a decrease in revenue and sales.
The quarterly reports bodes well for Orlando, where both Disney World and Universal Orlando are building new hotels. Disney plans to open Flamingo Crossings with 500 hotel rooms in January near ESPN Wide World of Sports and Universal just announced its sixth hotel, Aventura, with 600 rooms, would be built next to its Volcano Bay Water Park.
