The theme parks segment of Walt Disney Co. recorded record quarterly revenue of $10 billion worldwide for the October-December period, the company announced Monday.
It was a 6% increase over the previous year for Disney’s Experiences division, which also includes hotels, resorts and Disney Cruise Line.
The company does not break down financial figures or attendance by location, but Hugh Johnston, chief financial officer, addressed Orlando’s performance in a conference call with analysts.
“Walt Disney World had a very good quarter,” he said. Comparisons to 2024 are affected by Hurricane Milton, he said.
The 2025 quarter’s strong revenue uptick “obviously benefited from the overlap of the hurricane,” Johnston said. “But in addition to that, [the quarter] saw strong attendance performance as well as strong pricing performance.”
He said hotel bookings for WDW are up 5% for the coming year.
CEO Bob Iger also noted a strong quarter for theatrical releases, including “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the live-action “Lilo and Stitch” and “Zootopia 2,” which earned $1.7 billion and became the highest-grossing animated film in history.
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Iger noted the ties between films and theme parks.
“The Zootopia land in Shanghai is enormous in terms of both its size and its value,” he said. “The percentage of people that go to Shanghai Disneyland, just to go to Zootopia land is very, very high.”
‘Zootopia: Better Together’ was added to the lineup of DIsney’s Animal Kingdom in November. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
“Zootopia: Better Zoogether,” a 3-D show, debuted at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the quarter.
“We have expansion projects underway at every one of our theme parks, and next month, we’re excited to welcome guests to the new World of Frozen at the completely reimagined Disney Adventure World at Disneyland Paris,” Iger said. “This milestone marks the beginning of a bold new era for Disneyland Paris, nearly doubling the size of the second park.”
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Disney films set to be released this year include “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” “Toy Story 5,” a live-action version of “Moana” and “Avengers: Doomsday.”
Overall revenue for the company in the quarter was $26 billion, an increase of 5% from a year earlier.
The figures were released amid another round of anticipation regarding who will be Iger’s successor. This is the second time Iger has led the company, having retired in 2021 before returning in November 2022. Among the reported candidates to succeed him is Josh D’Amaro, current chairman of Disney Experiences and former president of both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Iger did not mention the timing of his replacement in Monday’s call, but he did address succession.
“When I came back three years ago, I had a tremendous amount that needed fixing. But anyone who runs a company also knows that it can’t just be about fixing: It has to be about preparing a company for its future and really taking steps to create opportunities for growth,” Iger said.
“So while I don’t want to really either get too nostalgic or spend too much time on possible transition — or the probable transition,” he said with a laugh, “the good news is that the company is in much better shape today than it was three years ago because we have done a lot of fixing. But we’ve also put in place a number of opportunities, including the investment across our Experiences business to essentially expand in every location that we do business and on the high seas.”
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