Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks division posted quarterly sales of $10 billion worldwide in the October-December period, the company announced Monday.
Disney’s Experiences segment, which also includes hotels, resorts and the Disney Cruise Line, grew 6% year over year.
The company doesn’t break down financial numbers or attendance by location, but Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston mentioned Orlando’s performance on a conference call with analysts.
“Walt Disney World had a very good quarter,” he said. Comparisons to 2024 are influenced by Hurricane Milton, he said.
Strong revenue growth in the 2025 quarter “obviously benefited from the hurricane overlap,” Johnston said. “But on top of that, we also saw strong attendance performance and solid price performance[in the quarter].”
He said WDW hotel reservations will increase by 5% next year.
CEO Bob Iger also noted strong quarters for theatrical releases, including “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the live-action “Lilo & Stitch,” and “Zootopia 2,” which earned $1.7 billion and became the highest-grossing animated film in history.
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Mr. Iger mentioned the connection between movies and theme parks.
“Zootopia’s land in Shanghai is huge, both in terms of its size and value,” he said. “The percentage of people who go to Shanghai Disneyland just to go to Zootopialand is very high.”
The 3D show “Zootopia: Better Zoogather” debuted at Disney’s Animal Kingdom this quarter.
“We have expansion projects underway at all of our theme parks, and we look forward to welcoming guests to the new world of Frozen next month at the completely reimagined Disney Adventure World at Disneyland Paris,” said Iger. “This milestone marks the beginning of a bold new era for Disneyland Paris, nearly doubling the size of our second park.”
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Disney movies scheduled for release this year include “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” “Toy Story 5,” the live-action version of “Moana,” and “Avengers: Doomsday.”
The company’s overall revenue for the quarter was $26 billion, an increase of 5% from a year ago.
The figures were announced amid renewed expectations about who Iger’s successor will be. This is Iger’s second time leading the company, having stepped down in 2021 and returned in November 2022. Reported potential successors include Josh D’Amaro, current chairman of Disney Experience and former president of Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Mr. Iger did not discuss the timing of his replacement during Monday’s conference call, but he did mention a successor.
“When we went back three years ago, there were a ton of problems that needed to be fixed. But anyone who runs a company also knows you can’t just fix things. You have to actually take steps to prepare your company for the future and create opportunities for growth,” Iger said.
“So, I don’t want to get too nostalgic or spend too much time talking about the possibility of transitioning, or maybe transitioning, but the good news is that the company is in much better shape today than it was three years ago because we’ve made a lot of adjustments. But we’ve also lined up a lot of opportunities, including investments across our Experience business to essentially expand everywhere we do business and on the high seas,” he said with a laugh.
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