Theme park revenues take a dive as inflation, high costs bite

foxbusiness.com:

LightShed Ventures partner Rich Greenfield unpacks the amusement parks earnings on The Claman Countdown.

Some of the top theme park operators in the U.S. have seen a drop in revenue as family budgets continue to be stretched amid high inflation and rising costs.

Disney, Universal and Six Flags have all reported lower second-quarter earnings for their theme parks this year. 

It marks a roller coaster few years for the industry following a surge in visitors after the pandemic. 

As well as high costs for families, operators say Americans have begun to favor international trips and cruises over parks given the strength of the dollar.

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Visitors ride the roller coaster Scream at Six Flags Magic Mountain in April 2021, in Valencia, California. (Valerie Macon/AFP via / Getty Images)

Last week, Disney announced revenue at its theme parks had increased by 2% to $8.4 billion in the latest quarter compared to the same time last year. However, overall operating profit had dropped 3% to $2.2 billion.

It comes after the company last year announced it will spend around $60 billion over the next decade to expand capacity at its parks and cruise lines worldwide. The increase in capital expenditures is being spent on the parks, experiences and products (DPEP) segment of its business and was touted as being nearly double what it spent on the DPEP over the past 10 years.

The Magic Kingdom, Disney’s flagship theme park in Florida, is set to undergo the largest expansion in its 53-year history with one new «land» devoted to classic Disney villains and another focused on Pixar’s «Cars» movies, the New York Times reports. The Disneyland Resort in