Disney Says Walt Disney World Had a Stand-Out Quarter, and Its CFO Told CNBC the Numbers Beat the Competition and Orlando Airport Traffic

Disney reported its fiscal third quarter before the bell Wednesday morning, and tucked inside a shareholder letter that mostly speaks in segments and margins was something more specific: the company named Walt Disney World.

Walt Disney World, Disney wrote, "had a stand-out quarter, with healthy core attendance increases from domestic tourists and annual passholders, and effective summer promotions and new experiences that further supplemented growth."

Then the company's chief financial officer went on television and drew a comparison.

Mickey leads a brass band through the Magic Kingdom hub, past guests lined up along the route. Photo: Blog Mickey

The numbers behind the phrase

Disney's Experiences segment brought in $9,968 million in revenue for the quarter, up 10 percent from $9,086 million a year earlier. Operating income climbed 20 percent, from $2,516 million to $3,017 million. Disney also disclosed that a roughly $100 million tariff refund booked in the quarter accounted for about four percentage points of that 20 percent operating income growth.

The domestic side did the heavy lifting. Domestic parks and experiences revenue rose 11 percent to $7.116 billion, and operating income jumped 27 percent to $2.088 billion. International parks went the other way on profit: revenue up 6 percent to $1.787 billion, but operating income down 13 percent to $369 million.

On admissions specifically, Disney attributed the growth to two things: a 5 percent lift from higher average per capita ticket revenue, and a 3 percent lift from increased attendance. Guests are paying more, and there are somewhat more of them.

What "global guests" actually counts

The headline attendance figure Disney leads with is "global guests," and it grew 4 percent. It is worth knowing what sits inside that number, because it is not purely a turnstile count.

Disney defines global guests as domestic and international park attendance combined with passenger cruise days. This was the first full quarter with both Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure sailing, and Disney says the two ships together increased stateroom capacity by roughly 50 percent compared with the prior year quarter.

Strip the ships out and the cleaner parks number is the one Disney also disclosed: attendance at the domestic parks grew 3 percent. That is still growth, and it is a real improvement on fiscal Q2, when global guests rose 2 percent while domestic park attendance actually fell 1 percent.

Team Disney Burbank, the company's corporate headquarters. Photo: WDW News Today

The comparison Blog Mickey calls rare

CFO Hugh Johnston appeared on CNBC Wednesday and described Walt Disney World's performance as "very strong attendance," calling Disney's figures "somewhat different" from what a competitor in the same market has reported. Blog Mickey, which covered the interview, called it a rare direct comparison, and reported that it was to Universal Orlando and to Orlando International Airport traffic. Benzinga, reporting on the same interview, wrote that Johnston said Disney's numbers had beaten both what rival operators were reporting and the traffic figures out of Orlando International Airport.

That is pointed, and the context makes it more so. In July, Comcast told investors that attendance at its Orlando parks began softening in June and that the operating environment for its parks had softened more than the company anticipated. United Parks & Resorts, the parent of SeaWorld Orlando, reported a 2.9 percent attendance decline for its own second quarter on Tuesday.

On the earnings call, chief executive Josh D'Amaro said Disney's parks were "performing significantly better than our competition." He added, "There was a fair amount of speculation about the domestic parks. Clearly they were strong." He also pushed back on the idea that the growth was bought: "We are not discounting our way to growth."

This was D'Amaro's first full quarter as chief executive, after succeeding Bob Iger in March.

The wait times tell a slightly different story

Here is the wrinkle. Blog Mickey analyzed posted wait times at Walt Disney World, using data compiled by thrill-data.com, and found June and July of 2026 running roughly 6 to 13 percent below the same months in 2025, a pace it described as "as slow or slower than a typical September."

The two data sets do not perfectly overlap. Disney's fiscal third quarter ended June 27, so it takes in June but not July. Blog Mickey raises the other caveat itself: a posted wait is Disney's own estimate of queue length, which is not the same measurement as a headcount.

Blog Mickey lands in the same place, writing that Johnston's framing "sits somewhat in contrast with data suggesting the broader Orlando market, Disney included, had a measurable slowdown this summer." That is the tension worth watching.

The Magic Kingdom hub, looking toward Cinderella Castle. Photo: Blog Mickey

The rest of the report

Company wide, Disney posted $25.2 billion in revenue, up 7 percent, with total segment operating income up 21 percent to $5.6 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.06, against $1.61 a year earlier and the $1.86 analysts had expected. Disney now expects to buy back at least $9 billion of its own stock in fiscal 2026, up from the $8 billion it had previously guided.

One structural change is worth flagging for anyone who tracks the Experiences segment: Disney plans to move much of its consumer products operation out of the Experiences segment and report it under Entertainment beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2027. Future Experiences revenue will therefore not be directly comparable with the figures above.

As for what comes next, Disney told shareholders that "forward bookings at Walt Disney World remain robust and we expect another quarter of global guests growth in fiscal Q4, excluding the 53rd week, despite consumer softness in Asia."

Sources

• The Walt Disney Company, fiscal Q3 2026 earnings release and shareholder letter (SEC EDGAR)
• Blog Mickey, Disney Reports "Very Strong Attendance" at Walt Disney World, Takes Shot at Universal
• Blog Mickey, Disney Experiences Posts $10 Billion Revenue in Q3, Income Jumps 20%
• Attractions Magazine, Disney says it is 'performing significantly better than our competition' at theme parks
• WDW News Today, Disney Reports Strong Third Quarter Results as Theme Park Attendance, 'Toy Story 5', and Streaming Drive Growth
• Benzinga, Disney Finds Its Magic Again With Streaming Surge and Theme Park Strength
• Attractions Magazine, Epic Universe earns praise, but Universal admits Orlando attendance is falling
• United Parks & Resorts Inc. Reports Second Quarter and First Six Months 2026 Results
• Blog Mickey, Universal Confirms Orlando Tourism Summer Softness, Attendance Below Expectations

Image credits: Main Street Philharmonic and Magic Kingdom hub photos by Blog Mickey. Team Disney Burbank photo by WDW News Today.