Disney anticipates ‘small impact’ when Epic Universe opens
Disney said on its earnings call this morning that it still anticipates a small impact due to the opening Universal’s newest theme park in Florida – Epic Universe- on May 22, 2025.
The new park features immersive areas for Nintendo, Harry Potter, How to Train Your Dragon and Universal Classic Monsters.
During the Q1 earnings call Disney reported that the Experiences segment, which contains the parks division, operating income of $3.1 billion reflected a 6 percentage-point adverse impact to year-over-year growth due to Hurricanes Milton and Helene and the pre-opening expenses driven by the launch of the Disney Treasure.
Domestic Parks & Experiences operating income declined 5%, reflecting a 9 percentage-point adverse impact to year-over-year growth due to the hurricanes and cruise pre-opening expenses
Looking ahead CFO Hugh Jonston said there is no change on the guidance previously given during past earnings call. “I think we have been effectively hedged in the guise that we have given to you. Overall, the level of confidence in the parks remain high.”
“As we build our plans, we did anticipate some small impact,” he added.
When asked about future bookings for stay at the parks, Johnston said , “Bookings are up in the summer right now. Certainly feeling positive. We obviously have more of them in now that we are 90 days later (from the last quarterly meeting). Certainly, the outlook is good in that regard but as always, we are going to take of you at this point it is premature to be changing guide in that regard.”
