Walt Disney Co plans to add the Avatar experience to Disneyland and explore other opportunities at the theme park as it looks for other ways to attract guests.
While Disney announced last week that it would cut about 7,000 jobs as part of an ambitious cost-cutting and “strategic reorganization” plan, the company is pleased with the performance of its domestic theme parks and is actively looking for ways to grow the business. . In Disney’s most recent quarter, sales in its parks, experiences and products segment rose 21% to $8.74 billion, from $7.23 billion a year earlier.
CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s first quarter earnings report that the success of the latest Avatar movie led to the creation of an Avatar experience at Disneyland in California. The film, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” is now the fourth-grossing film worldwide with nearly $2.2 billion in box office earnings to date.
While it’s unclear what kind of Avatar experience will be created at Disneyland, Iger said that when Pandora – The World of Avatar launched at Walt Disney World in Florida, it led to more people visiting Animal Kingdom, the park where Pandora is located. Pandora includes two rides, Avatar – Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey.
“We have learned that when we invest in increasing capacity, the land of Star Wars will be a good example, Pandora is a good example, we can expand our business. In fact, if we look at the results, when we put Pandora in Animal Kingdom, from year to year , they are amazing in terms of how many people visit Animal Kingdom,” Iger explained.
Iger, who returned as CEO in November after a challenging two-year stint by his hand-picked successor, Bob Chapek, said he has spoken with Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s chairman of parks, experiences and products, to look at all of the company’s franchises to see where they stand. Disney can invest in theme parks to increase capacity while preserving guest satisfaction.
In another effort to keep guests happy, Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said in a call that Disney was able to achieve significant operating profit and revenue in the quarter despite deliberately lowering capacity at its domestic theme parks during selected peak holiday periods by about 20% compared to with 20%. pre-pandemic level in order to prioritize the guest experience.
“Quarter-to-date, park attendance at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort is pacing above the previous year, and based on reservation orders, we hope to see this trend continue,” she said.
While Disney’s theme park business has been good, many visitors over the past two years have been highly critical of price increases and other moves the company has made, including the end of Magical Express bus service from the airport in Orlando, Florida to Walt. Disney World resort, the implementation of Genie planning and reservation system ride and its theme park reservation system.
Listening to guests’ concerns, Disney said last month that it was making some changes to its domestic theme parks, including some easier reservations.
Among the changes: it will stop charging for overnight self-parking at its Walt Disney World resorts; Walt Disney World annual passholders will be able to visit theme parks after 2pm without requiring a park reservation (except Saturdays and Sundays at the Magic Kingdom) and individuals who purchase the Genie+ service will receive digital downloads of travel photos taken at the park. day of purchase at no additional cost.
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