On Wednesday May 11, The Walt Disney Company reported its second quarter and six months earnings for fiscal 2022, revenue and guest spending at the domestic theme parks appears to be booming.

The report states a revenue of $6.7 billion for the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products second quarter of 2022. This shows a $3.5 billion increase in revenue compared to the same period in 2021 when Walt Disney World was operating at a reduced capacity, the Disneyland resort was closed and cruise sailings had been suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions.

This increase is explained below:

"Operating income growth at our domestic parks and experiences was due to higher volumes and increased guest spending, partially offset by higher costs. Higher volumes were due to increases in attendance, occupied room nights and cruise ship sailings."

This section, taken from the report, outlines the obvious increase in the number of guests visiting the theme parks as well as higher ticket prices. With all resorts now fully open at Walt Disney World, more guests are able and are choosing to stay at the resorts and are opting to go on a Disney cruise.

The reason for the increase in guest spending is outlined as:

"Guest spending growth was due to an increase in average per capita ticket revenue, higher average daily hotel room rates and an increase in food, beverage and merchandise spending. The increase in average per capita ticket revenue
was due to a favorable attendance mix and the introduction of Genie+ and Lightning Lane in the first quarter of the current fiscal year."

As already mentioned, ticket prices have increased as well as guest room hotel rates which would be expected to some extent due to inflation. The large factor, however, is the introduction of the paid FastPass systems, Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane. Genie+ costs $15 per day per person at Walt Disney World and $20 at Disneyland resort. The Individual Lightning Lane prices for the two top attractions in each park fluctuate and also increase guest spending considerably. Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane have played a major part in increasing revenue during the first and second quarter of 2022 and we expect this to continue.

The introduction of Genie+ has inevitably been a bumpy one since it debuted in October 2021 and we are expecting to see Disney making changes to it over the coming months. Check out our recent featured article, Walt Disney World Has a Major Genie+ Problem. Can It Actually Be Fixed? to find out more.

No one can deny the controversy there currently is with Disney right now but guests certainly seem to be voting with their feet and heading to the theme parks to enjoy everything they have to offer. 

With Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind officially opening on May 27 at EPCOT, TRON Lightcycle / Run making good progress at the Magic Kingdom and the EPCOT transformation of Future World into World Celebration in full swing it seems like Walt Disney World will continue to have a bumper 2022.

To read the full report, click here and to listen to the Disney's Quarter 2 fiscal year 2022 earnings results webcast, click here. We think it is very important for people to be able to have their say and we welcome comments to our posts but we do ask that when commenting on our website and on our Facebook page that you try to keep them focussed on theme parks. As we have a lot of younger readers, any inappropriate language or offensive comments will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding in this matter and we hope you continue to enjoy reading Theme Park Tourist.