The Walt Disney Co. reported a 22% increase in its second-quarter profit, to $1.13 billion, up from $919 million a year ago.
Revenue grew 10%, to $8.71 billion, for the three months ended March 29, compared with $7.95 billion a year earlier.
The company’s parks and resorts division saw revenue for the quarter increase 11%, to $2.73 billion. The segment’s operating income jumped 33%, to $339 million.
Walt Disney World Resort saw higher attendance during the quarter. Additionally, Disney Vacation Club saw an increase in revenue, which the company attributed in part to higher rental rates for vacation club units. There also was higher attendance and spending at Disneyland Resort Paris.
“Clearly there’s a lot of attention on the segment for good reason,” said Bob Iger, president and CEO of Disney. “We’ve got great creativity. We’ve invested in the right attractions. We put our capital in the right place.”
Additionally, Iger said, the parks and resorts division has successfully extended length of stay and attracted more patrons to stay at Disney-branded hotels. Iger added that Walt Disney World now has about 75% of its hotel rooms in the moderately priced or value-priced category. In comparison, more than 55% of rooms were considered premium-priced in 1991.
“And so, we have basically built out a portfolio of rooms that are more accessible to more people, to a broader section,” said Iger. “Now, you still are riding the same attractions and seeing the same shows and essentially the price/value relationship is considered a lot stronger than it was back then, and we think all of these factors are contributing nicely to the results that we’ve seen.”