The Walt Disney World Resort is the premier vacation destination in the world and brings tens of millions of guests to each of its parks in any given year.
Disney World in Florida generates an estimated $20 million daily through revenue sources such as resort stays, ticket sales, and food and merchandise purchases. The Walt Disney Company, as a whole, makes close to $60 million per day.
Magic Kingdom Park is always the most visited worldwide, followed by Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.
With so many different revenue streams for the company and its parks, Disney is able to rake in the dough and earn a ton of money from its parks and other media ventures.
The following will give you a good idea of how much the company makes, where that money comes from, and how it’s spent! Remember that although Disney’s financial information is reported for its shareholders, the specifics on where the cash comes from aren’t always perfectly clear.
We’ll be using that public earnings information, along with some of our insider knowledge, so show you just how Disney World makes money.
Keep in mind that Disney took a significant hit to its attendance and profits due to the global pandemic in 2020. Walt Disney World parks were only closed for four months (with Disneyland Resort in California and other parks worldwide, including Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris, spending more time closed).
Guests were still concerned for their health while visiting the major theme parks. Since the pandemic, Disney has shifted its business model for the parks and the company as a whole.
Though the parks bring in a huge chunk of reliable revenue, Disney has been investing more and more in its digital enterprises, including Disney+, to the chagrin of many shareholders and Disney Parks fans.
Disney’s parks strategy in the past was to bring in as many guests as possible to enjoy the resorts. In its 4th quarter revenue in 2019, right before the pandemic, the company’s parks segment brought in $6.6 billion, with operating costs of about $1.3 billion. Disney cruise line earnings are rolled into the overall revenue numbers with Disney Parks.
Attendance at the parks was booming, and during certain holidays, many of the parks would actually reach capacity. From our insider knowledge, though unpublished information, this is about 95,000 guests in Magic Kingdom and 105,000 guests in EPCOT – Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are unknown, but definitely lower due to overall park size and attraction capacities.
Currently, Disney is focused on maximizing the spending of each visitor to the resorts instead of maximizing total guests. In the most recent quarterly earning report, Disney posted revenues of $7.4 billion, with operating costs of $2.1 billion, effectively accomplishing their strategy.
Let’s delve into each segment to understand the overall revenue breakdown better.
How does Walt Disney World make money?
Ticket Prices
The average attendance for a day at Magic Kingdom is about 50,000 people. The average price for their day ticket is about $100. Singe-day park tickets are now above $120, but many guests visiting the amusement parks will have bought their tickets in a bundle of around four days, which drops the price per day a little lower.
Ticket add-ons
As part of its efforts to increase per-capita spending, Disney recently changed its free Fastpass+ system into a paid service called Genie+, costing $15 per person per day. In addition they offer skip-the-line privileges (individual lightning lane) on single attractions for ~$10-~15 per person for each ride. This is an extra cost in addition to Genie+.
Since guests are already paying an arm and a leg for their Disney World vacation, many opt to take pay for the Disney Genie feature (an extra $60 per day for a family of 4 isn’t all that much when you’re spending thousands on the whole Disney Vacation, right?).
About 40% of guests are estimated to do so, adding an average of about $7 per person for the day. This number is likely to keep increasing as park attendance continues to rise back to pre-pandemic levels, as guests will effectively be forced to buy the feature in order to experience all of the attractions in each park.
Let’s not forget about the after-hours events, dessert fireworks parties, and special event parties.
Read More: How Many People Go To Disney World Each Day?
Parking
Often an overlooked area of potential earnings, Disney can rake in tons of cash on their parking. In addition to having to pay for each day parking at a theme park, Disney has also started charging resort guests to park their vehicles at their hotels.
More and more guests have their own cars or rental cars nowadays since Disney no longer offers its free Magical Express transportation to and from the airport to resort guests.
In January 2023, Disney announced they would no longer charge guests overnight parking at Disney-owned resorts. This does not change the Swan & Dolphin resort, as Marriott operates them.
Parking costs are now a whopping $25 per day at the parks, and it’s a good guess to say that around 50% of visitors will have to pay for it, so we’ll add $13 to our total for a single visitor. Altogether, that’s easily more than a half million dollars for Magic Kingdom’s daily parking earnings.
Food
Food prices have also risen with the strategy of getting visitors into the park, spending as much as possible. It’s a safe estimate to say that guests might buy a coffee, a snack, and a quick service lunch and dinner during their day at a park. Keep in mind that of course, some guests will be spending much more on sit-down dining experiences, such as dining with characters and princesses, which will end up costing much more.
To stay on the conservative side of our estimate, we’ll throw in $5 for a coffee, $5 for a snack, and $17.50 for each meal, for a total spending of just under $30 per person for food. Again, this is a conservative estimate, so multiplying the total for each guest by out 50,000 average attendance puts us at $1.5 million every day earned on food in a single park.
Though Disney has costs to buy and serve their food, which would drop their earnings somewhat, the fact is that the profit margins are huge – especially since Disney pays nothing for all of its Coca-Cola products due to an agreement between the companies.
Lodging
Disney resorts also add to their operating income because they charge hotel rooms for those wishing to stay on the property. Most people will book 3-5 room nights on a property once they purchase their tickets to Disney’s parks, adding even more value to their offerings. The average hotel room rates will vary depending on the time of year, but it’s expected to pay at least $75+ daily when staying at a Disney World property.
Merchandise
A park day of course would not be complete without buying some sort of souvenir. A lot of Disney’s revenue comes from content sales. Since so many attractions drop guests off in gift shops, it’s easy for guests to see something they’re interested in buying. Whether it’s a bubble wand, Mickey ears, or a cool toy, merchandise is another area of huge margins for Disney earnings.
Disney keeps its merchandise numbers under wraps, but it’s safe to estimate that each guest spends at least $10 for merchandise during their day at the park. Again, multiply by 50,000 in attendance at Magic Kingdom for a day, and the earnings are a half million dollars. I believe this estimate is much lower than reality, and I have heard rumors while working at Magic Kingdom that the Emporium, the large shop on Main Street, actually earns enough money every day to pay all of the cast members’ wages in the park.
You can save money by knowing what to pack. I’ve put together a guide for what to pack for December
Totals
Adding all of our guest spending estimates up, our conservative estimate for a single guest spending in a day is $160. This puts Magic Kingdom alone at a revenue of about $8 million per day, every day of the year. Though Magic Kingdom is a top earner, with higher attendance, the other parks aren’t far behind.
Add in Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World; revenues are around $25 million daily. Given that operating costs are about 25% of revenues, Walt Disney World earns approximately $20 million per day.
Remember that Disney also has 5 other parks worldwide in addition to the cruise line as part of the Disney Parks and Experience segment, which boosts earnings far higher.
Read More: Is There a Jail at Walt Disney World?
How much money does the Disney Company as a whole make?
As you may know, Disney is a massive media company that is much more than just its parks. With recent acquisitions of 20th Century Fox, Marvel, Star Wars, and others, the company owns a massive chunk of entertainment media around the globe.
in November of 2023, it was announced that Disney would purchase the remaining shares of Hulu. The company is testing combining the Disney+ app with Hulu in just a few months.
ESPN, ABC, Disney+, National Geographic, Disney Channel, and more add to the totals. The Disney brand’s money will only increase as its entertainment distribution increases.
Read More: Why Marvel Can’t Come To Disney World
With Disney’s more recent push towards digital products, earnings are likely. For example, before the pandemic, Disney had revenues of around $13 billion in all of their media, studio, and direct-to-consumer ventures during the quarter leading up to the pandemic. In the most recent 2022 quarter, the revenue was $14 billion.
Media earnings as a whole are much less consistent than theme park earnings. Disney has recently been struggling in the box office, for example, with lackluster performance in movies such as Lightyear, which is why, so far, increased focus on digital products has not paid off. This is where television distribution and subscription fees can make up for lost admission revenue or lower attendance times of the year. Streaming services allow for media networks to continue adding to Disney’s total revenue.
So how much does Disney World make Each Day?
Altogether, the Walt Disney World theme parks rake in about $20 million daily. When you add in all of Disney’s other media enterprises, Disney has revenues of over $20 billion every single quarter.
Read more: The Best Way To Get To Universal Studios From Disney World.
Despite all of this, Disney has a huge debt to pay off after going on a spending spree to buy Fox and Star Wars and has been struggling recently with its stock, which has plunged over 40% in the past year. Higher costs will ultimately hit record revenue and their overall operating profit.
If you want to dive into Disney’s actual financial statements, we have those too. Here’s how much money Disney makes in a fiscal year.
- Disney annual income:
- FY 2023: $9.8 billion (3 Quarters so far in 2023)
- FY 2022: $12.121 billion
- FY 2021: $7.766 billion
- FY 2020: $8.108 billion
- FY 2019: $14.847 billion
- FY 2018: $12.598 billion
- FY 2017: $8.98 billion
- FY 2016: $9.39 billion
- FY 2015: $8.38 billion
- FY 2014: $7.50 billion
- FY 2013: $6.14 billion
- FY 2012: $5.68 billion
- FY 2011: $4.81 billion
So, from the chart, we can see that 2019 was a big year for Disney. It’s also the year that Bob Iger was preparing to step away and put Bob Chapek in place. Two thousand twenty rolls around, and everything looks set for another spectacular year. Unfortunately, the world had other ideas. So, for the last two years, Disney was losing A LOT of money under Chapek, and guests were unhappy. So, we can see why the board decided to oust Bob Chapek and bring back Bob Iger to satisfy stockholders.
When it was announced that Bob Iger would replace Bob Chapek at the end of 2022, Disney Facebook groups erupted in happy chaos. Guests and folks who love to argue on the internet were thrilled that the man who has built Disney up in the last 20 years that we all have come to know is back to save them. I believe Iger will make some changes to get guests flooding back to Disney.
The CEO is responsible to the shareholders to maximize profits and balance customer expectations. I believe Bob Chapek focused more on maximizing profits than on customers. In doing so, Bob Chapek tipped the scale, and cash flow problems started. Chapek thought he could take the cash cow, the Disney theme parks, and squeeze additional revenue out.
He was right that he could, but it was a robbing Peter to pay Paul type of situation. Eventually, due to Disney+’s poor performance, the Walt Disney Company posted a loss of about 4 Billion dollars in 2022. That’s a giant number, and you can see why the board would be eager to replace him based on numbers alone.
