https://www.thestreet.com/investing/earnings/disney-flags-startling-shift-in-consumer-behavior-at-theme-parks

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Disney (DIS) is starting to lose some of its magic as some of its customers are beginning to stand their ground against hiked prices.

After the entertainment giant quietly increased prices for tickets and other services at its Disney World and Disneyland theme parks, customers have been pulling back on their spending, and it's starting to hurt Disney's pockets.

In its second-quarter earnings report for 2024, Disney revealed that while its revenue at its theme parks in the U.S. increased by 3% year-over-year, its operating income (how much a company makes after expenses) in the sector decreased by 6%.

Disney claims that while it is battling higher costs due to inflation, it also saw a "moderation of consumer demand" at its theme parks that "exceeded" its previous expectations. It also said that the slowed demand could continue to impact its operating income for the "next few quarters."

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Corporate greed will only get you so far.

Plus, being woke doesn't help.

They're just now figuring out that when the economy is bad and inflation is high, people tend to spend less money on entertainment?

Slicer97 said:

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They're just now figuring out that when the economy is bad and inflation is high, people tend to spend less money on entertainment?

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Especially when it costs a family of 4 like $10,000 to do a week at Disney. It's insanity.

We went in November of '19. For 5 days if I recall correctly. My wife booked the whole thing. I asked her afterwards how much it all cost and she just said, "You don't want to know."

I enjoyed it, but not so much I'd do it again. My quadruple shot of bourbon was something like $40.

I have a few friends that go nearly annually and even do just a "mom and dad" trip.

Man i get wanting to go and see the kids experience that "Disney magic." And the standard that Disney holds (or tries to hold) their parks to is not going to be cheap. I completely get it.

BUT I just do not get how families do it time after time after time. Yeah, I get it... They're in debt up to their eyebrows.

I have heard their product isn't as good at the parks, and they pissed off regulars with their changes. Did they mention that as a reason their #s might continue to lag in the future?

This hyper inflation of them parks has been going on for a long time.

Maybe they finally found the breaking point.

Hoping sporting events find that place soon too.

I am in top 5% and I can't afford to take my kids to games. Really not sure who attends all these sporting events.

Their theme parks were keeping them going when their movie arms were struggling because of the woke stuff and highly publicized legal battles with DeSantis. Both of those moves really weakened their previously sterling brand (well, outside of Florida anyway as many Flordians are not fans of the House of the Mouse).

Chickens coming home to roost for Disney.

I think the theme parks are the primary reason Disney stock hasn't completely tanked.

When our kids hit late elementary/middle school age, it was Universal Studios or nothing for us.

William K. Klingaman said:

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I think the theme parks are the primary reason Disney stock hasn't completely tanked.

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They are. But even then Disney stock has lost nearly half their value over the last few years. Talk about ruining a cash cow brand.

Iger needs to go now, not only upon his schedule sometime in the next two years.

Took our kids to Disney last summer (2023) so the youngest could "have the experience". It's scary how Magic Kingdom has fallen. Previous visits were jaw dropping how meticulous and groomed every blade of grass was. This last trip was the opposite. Trash bins piled up with trash for hours. Brown and dead grass in almost all areas. Rides breaking down. VERY rude ride operators who would yell at guests to move this way or that way. There was no joy in that park any where - so disappointing.

We had planned to do 2 days at the Universal parks and 2 at Disney. We went back for a 3rd Universal day instead of Disney. It's that bad now.

The Collective said:

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I have heard their product isn't as good at the parks, and they pissed off regulars with their changes. Did they mention that as a reason their #s might continue to lag in the future?

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This. If they kept the quality of their product high while increasing prices, that would be forgivable. But they've continued to hike their prices while cutting back on quality of the experience and nickle and diming you on things that were previously complimentary.

That started to piss off a lot of loyal guests.

aezmvp said:

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Slicer97 said:

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They're just now figuring out that when the economy is bad and inflation is high, people tend to spend less money on entertainment?

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Especially when it costs a family of 4 like $10,000 to do a week at Disney. It's insanity.

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Holy sh**...F that. I am glad my family (even the little one) is obsessed with the beach and outdoors. Can do an awesome week long vacay at a cool tropical destination for a third of that. I'd much rather rent a bungalow in a SoCal beach town and just do a one day trip to Disneyland or something if that's an itch that needs scratching.

T-Shirt Ag!!! said:

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Took our kids to Disney last summer (2023) so the youngest could "have the experience". It's scary how Magic Kingdom has fallen. Previous visits were jaw dropping how meticulous and groomed every blade of grass was. This last trip was the opposite. Trash bins piled up with trash for hours. Brown and dead grass in almost all areas. Rides breaking down. VERY rude ride operators who would yell at guests to move this way or that way. There was no joy in that park any where - so disappointing.

We had planned to do 2 days at the Universal parks and 2 at Disney. We went back for a 3rd Universal day instead of Disney. It's that bad now.

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Love to hear it! Hope Disney burns!

On top of the crazy ticket prices and f&b prices at the parks, they changed their fast pass system to paying extra for a ride after you're already in the park. And other than Star Wars land - which is pretty great - not very many new attractions have been added in years.

Disney hasn't been Disney since 2010. Overrated slop now

DallasAg 94 said:

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Back when the kids were younger, we did a trip to LegoLand and parts of SoCal (Knott's, SanDiego). We got a 3day pass to LegoLand that was just a little more than the 1 day. They want you in the part so you buy more Legos, which is where the money is.

Anyway, it was SharkWeek and I told the kids I wanted to take them to the beach like when I was growing up. They were hesitant, but we went the 1st night after landing.

"Forget LegoLand, let's just come back here." They were sold on the beach. We'd go to Legoland in the morning and spend the afternoon at the beach.

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We love it...water too cold for the wife, but she is a freak who likes the thermostat no lower than 74. For children, the pacific is awesome...you get cold and then just go bake in the sand for a bit and do it all over again. The waves are usually a fun, but still safe height.

Easy to beach bum it all day out there with weather like that.

DallasAg 94 said:

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techno-ag said:

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In its second-quarter earnings report for 2024, Disney revealed that while its revenue at its theme parks in the U.S. increased by 3% year-over-year, its operating income (how much a company makes after expenses) in the sector decreased by 6%.

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Somebody alert Paul Krugman.

• Revenue increased 3%
• Inflation increased by more than 3%

Results:

• Operating Income decreased by 6%

Traditional Economics: 1
Modern Monetary Policy: 0

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Obviously there would be more than just inflation at play in a lot of cases but YoY changes in these metrics would be an interesting study to do on a number of public companies actually.

DallasAg 94 said:

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redseven94 said:

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This hyper inflation of them parks has been going on for a long time.

Maybe they finally found the breaking point.

Hoping sporting events find that place soon too.

I am in top 5% and I can't afford to take my kids to games. Really not sure who attends all these sporting events.

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I guess you've just gotta be in the top 2-3%.

Now that the tuition payments have dropped (graduation, gap, etc)... we're freaking partying...

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Having 6 kids doesn't help. :-)

2 college grads. 2 in college and 2 in HS.

Guess I could have added that context but the point is the same. It crazy expensive.

aezmvp said:

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Slicer97 said:

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They're just now figuring out that when the economy is bad and inflation is high, people tend to spend less money on entertainment?

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Especially when it costs a family of 4 like $10,000 to do a week at Disney. It's insanity.

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Counting airfare, our trip in 2019 cost more than $10K for this family of 4.

I was lucky that my kids old enough to remember and young enough to enjoy Disney when we lived in WDW's backyard. We have so many great memories of the kids visiting the parks throughout the years with Christmas being our favorite.

It saddens me to hear how far the quality of a Disney vacation has fallen and the magic is gone now. Disney vacation has always been pricey even back in the early 2010's.

Just went there in may because the kids and wife had never been. Went all out stayed onsite thought the park and resorts were beautiful and well kept

The gay rack of gay rainbow stuff in every souvenir shop was annoyingly overstocked.

What killed it for me was when we went to Storybook point for a character meal with Snow White the dwarves and the evil Queen which cost roughly $500 and the evil queen was an evil drag queen. I **** you not

Done with the parks. Which is 40% of Disney's world wide revenue

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evil queen was an evil drag queen

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Seriously??? That's insane because I'd always heard that Disney was extremely particular about who played various parts and strict conformance to the traditional character appearance.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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evil queen was an evil drag queen

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Seriously??? That's insane because I'd always heard that Disney was extremely particular about who played various parts and strict conformance to the traditional character appearance.

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They were before they went woke during their fights with DeSantis.

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They are. But even then Disney stock has lost nearly half their value over the last few years. Talk about ruining a cash cow brand.

Iger needs to go now, not only upon his schedule sometime in the next two years.

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Disney was badly hurt by the downfall of cable TV and their lucrative ESPN business. There was a bump in the price before investors course corrected on expectations for the streaming business. Disney+ finally hit profitability (actually a quarter earlier than expected) but it's expensive to run and not the windfall that they previously got from the TV business.

The woke stuff is definitely a problem, but the business faces a tough environment from the changes in the media space and heightened competition from Universal's new park. They'll have to spend a lot in capex to add capacity/attractions to the parks and are potentially doing so just to prop up what will still be falling net income.

The good thing for consumers is they'll have to try harder to earn our business.

Big Al 1992 said:

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On top of the crazy ticket prices and f&b prices at the parks, they changed their fast pass system to paying extra for a ride after you're already in the park. And other than Star Wars land - which is pretty great - not very many new attractions have been added in years.

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They raised prices on parking too.

Slicer97 said:

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They're just now figuring out that when the economy is bad and inflation is high, people tend to spend less money on entertainment?

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I just read an article talking about how McDonald's is losing business yet Chipotle is gaining. It's being attributed to what customers see as value, and it looks like Disney and McDs aren't giving enough of a valid (i.e. bang for their buck) to the costumer.

The market is deciding for companies like this, as they should be.

Too many companies kept increasing prices long after they recouped the increase in whatever happened to them in covid and now customers are giving them the finger by not giving them their money.

Inflated wokeism..

if you have to go, go to Disney land for the day and call it quits. Smaller park, kids see mickey mouse, take pictures, and kids will never know they "missed" out on Disney world.

Meh, we love DW. Heading back with the wife and kids the week of Thanksgiving. This will be our 3rd trip (2019, 2022, 2024). It will be the last for a while because of cost and there's just way more to see and do around the country/globe.

Annoyed with the politics and rainbow culture, but not enough to keep us from going. I guess we're part of the problem lol. At the end of the day, we have made some magical memories over the years with the kids at DW. Do what works for your family.

Spend 5k -10k on a trip to Disney?

Are people ****ing insane?