With Disney's Parks and Resorts division again spearheading
positive earnings results, CEO Bob Iger said there will be opportunities to
build more parks.
"We think that there's opportunity to expand in China,
and there may also be opportunities in other parts of the world. We are
constantly engaging in conversations with people from different markets who
would love to put Disneyland in their market. We're going to take a look at
some of them. I'd say there's an inevitability to us building parks in other
countries, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to build something
anytime very soon," Iger said during the company's fiscal second-quarter
earnings call on Tuesday.
Iger did not mention the possibility of a third U.S. resort.
Disney's Parks and Resorts division reported a 13% increase
in revenue, to $4.88 billion. Operating income for the division grew 27%, to
$954 million.
An analyst asked Iger how and whether the Parks and Resorts
division could sustain the double-digit gains of last several years.
Said Iger, "One, from expansion. We are building out
all our parks. Two, we believe that the use of our IP (intellectual properties)
creates growth. And of course, the more popular our IP is, the more in demand
it is at our parks. Another opportunity is in pricing as we build out these
experiences in terms of scope and scale. As we make them better experiences
doing things like using technology to [enable guests to] book attractions in
advance, we believe that gives us pricing leverage simply by delivering better
experiences."
Disney indeed has been increasingly incorporated more of its
acquired IP into the parks, including Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars experiences.
The company earlier this year raised its ticket prices and
created new categories for the single-day tickets at the domestic parks. There
are different rates for different days of the year with peak rates applying
during the busier holiday periods.
The Walt Disney Company reported quarterly revenue of $14.55
billion, a 9% increase. Net income grew 23%, to $2.94 billion.