Attendance trends are still getting stronger, Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy amplified. It was up by double digits vs. Q4 at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and per-capita spending was up 40% year-over-year, amid higher outlays on food, beverages and merchandise.
That's exceeding pre-pandemic levels now, impressive even as the company continues to manage attendance tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, she notes.
He says park capacity is a complex issue. Disney is seeing really strong domestic demand mitigated somewhat by a "lagged" return from international markets, unsurprising because of the long booking time for global trips. Disney is still managing density, mainly in things like parades and fireworks shows. "I suspect that over time we'll start to regain some of the capacity drop-off that we're kinda self-imposing." Meanwhile, "because people spend so much time in the parks, the food and beverage component is a big one."
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