The Walt Disney Company’s theme parks continue to shine for the company.

Disney on Wednesday reported its fourth quarter earnings, which revealed a 30% growth in its experiences division — which includes parks, resorts, cruises and merchandising.


What You Need To Know

  • Disney reported its fourth quarter earnings for 2023 on Wednesday

  • Overall, the company reported total revenue of $21.2 billion during the quarter and $88.9 billion for the fiscal year

  • The experiences division — which includes parks, resorts and the cruise line — continued to shine for the company, pulling in $8.16 billion in revenue

  • Disney CEO Bob Iger reiterated the company's plans to turbocharge growth at the parks

Revenue increased 13% to $8.16 billion during the quarter that ended Sept. 30. Just a little over $5 billion came from its domestic parks, while the international parks generated $1.6 billion.

Operating income for the division was $1.7 billion.

Disney attributed the growth to higher results at its international parks and cruise line. And while attendance and guest spending was up at Disneyland Resort in California, results were still weaker at Disney World in Florida.

During the call with investors, Disney CEO Bob Iger also mentioned the company’s plans to turbocharge growth at its theme parks. In September, Disney announced plans to invest roughly $60 billion in the parks division over the next 10 years — including “expanding and enhancing” its parks and cruise line.

“As we announced in September, we plan to turbocharge growth in our Experiences business through strategic investments over the next decade,” Iger said. “Given our wealth of IP (intellectual property), innovative technology, buildable land, unmatched creativity, and strong returns on invested capital, we’re confident about the potential from our new investments.”

Those investments, however, will start to ramp up on the “back half” of that 10-year timeline, according to Disney interim CFO Kevin Lansberry. Gradual increases, he said, will happen in the first few years.

The company also said it plans to expand its cost-cutting plan by slashing an additional $2 billion, bringing its total savings target to $7.5 billion. Earlier this year, as part of Disney’s initial $5.5 billion cost-cutting measures, the company eliminated 7,000 jobs. No layoffs were announced Wednesday.

Overall, the company reported revenue of $21.2 billion during the quarter, an increase of 5%. For the year, Disney pulled in $88.9 billion, an increase of 7% from the previous year.

“Our results this quarter reflect the significant progress we’ve made over the past year,” Iger said in a statement. “While we still have work to do, these efforts have allowed us to move beyond this period of fixing and begin building our businesses again.”

Iger, who led Disney for 15 years before retiring in 2021, returned as CEO last November in a move that shocked many. In July, Disney announced it had extended Iger’s initial two-year contract by two years, with Iger set to remain at the helm of the company through 2026.