Job search
Job Search
Latest news
More news: (showing 1 - 20 of 13983)           
UK only International

Attendance decline at Disney as new Star Wars attraction fails to draw in visitors

By Andy Knaggs    08 Aug 2019
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opened to much fanfare but hasn't been the hit it was initially predicted to be
We feel great about the product that we've created. It's just going to take some time for things to work themselves out in terms of how the marketplace is reacting
– Bob Iger

Despite its domestic parks achieving record revenue over the last three months, it's been a tough quarter for Disney, which fell short of expected visitor figures following the launch of its new Star Wars addition in California.

Disney's acquisition of Fox produced what the company's chair and CEO, Bob Iger, described as "complicated" numbers for the company overall. For parks, revenue increased by 7 per cent to US$6.6bn (€5.89bn, £5.43bn) while operating income rose 4 per cent to US$1.7bn (€1.52bn, £1.4bn).

During the same quarter, Disney launched its highly-anticipated Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge land. With significant increases in attendance expected, the opposite actually happened, with attendance at Disney's domestic parks dropping by 3 per cent.

"I think a number of things happened," said Iger, addressing the drop in attendance during an earnings call.

"First of all, there were tremendous concerns in the marketplace on overcrowding when we opened Galaxy’s Edge, so some people stayed away just because they expected that it would not be a great guest experience.

"The same time that was going on, all the local hotels in the region expecting a huge influx of visitation raised their prices.

"In addition to that, we brought our daily price up substantially from a year ago and then we opened up Galaxy’s Edge with one attraction instead of two.

"We're opening Galaxy’s Edge in August in Orlando. The second attraction there will open in December. The second attraction in Anaheim will open in January. We feel great about the product that we've created. It's just going to take some time for things to work themselves out in terms of how the marketplace is reacting."

The timing of Easter has affected like-for-like figures, with the entire Easter holiday falling within Disney's Q3 this year, instead of a single week in Q3 2018.

Overall, the company reported decreases in its earnings per share for the quarter as it wrestles with the integration of Fox, which it acquired in March 2019. Its Marvel, Pixar and Disney movies have made US$8bn (€7.14bn, £6.58bn) at the box office so far this year, and it's due to launch Disney+ – a subscription video-on-demand service – in the US in November.

Disney  Star Wars  Fox  Bob Iger  California  Galaxy's Edge  Anaheim  Marvel  Pixar  Disney+ 
Sign up for FREE ezines
Related news
Sports jobs

Swim Teacher

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Scarborough

Party Leader

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Scarborough

Group Exercise Instructor - Aqua

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Aldershot

Membership Advisor

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive salary plus commission & benefits
Location: Aldershot

Swim Teacher

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Bristol

Customer Service Advisor

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Gainsborough

Swim Teacher

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Stratford-upon-Avon

Activity and Wellbeing Instructor

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Stratford-upon-Avon

Operations Manager - Brentwood School Enterprises

Brentwood School Sports Centre
Salary: £32,000 - £34,000pa + pension + benefits
Location: Brentwood
recruiting with sports management

Fitness Manager

Everyone Active
Salary: Negiotable
Location: Crawley

Swim Teacher

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Fareham

GP Exercise Referral Instructor

Everyone Active
Salary: £33,000pa + benefits
Location: Harrow

Duty Manager

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Bedminster

Duty Manager

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Stratford-upon-Avon

Duty Manager

Everyone Active
Salary: Competitive
Location: Wythenshawe

Community Activator Coach Apprentice

Everyone Active
Salary: 16,686
Location: Stowmarket, Suffolk
recruiting with sports management
Swimming Teacher jobs  duty manager jobs  Team Leader jobs  Swim Manager jobs  general manager jobs  recreation assistant jobs 
More jobs

Company profile

Company profile: Pulse Fitness
With an award-winning portfolio of over 450 pieces of cutting-edge, premium fitness equipment, Pulse Fitness is proud to expertly design, develop and manufacture its products in the UK.
View full profile >
More company profiles

Featured Supplier

Cornerstone Connect helps Active Blackpool tackle health inequalities
Active Blackpool is deploying Cornerstone Connect, a new digital interface allowing disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy.
View full details >
More featured suppliers

Property & Tenders

Location: Stratford, East London.
Company: Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
Location: Y Felinheli, LL56 4QN
Company: Newmark
Location: Newhaven, Sussex
Company: EiA Real Estate
Location: Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire
Company: Savills
Location: Oxford
Company: University of Oxford
More properties & tenders

Diary dates

21-24 Sep 2026
The Langham Huntington Pasadena , Pasadena, United States
06-08 Oct 2026
Messe Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
22-22 Oct 2026
QEII Conference Centre, London
26-29 Oct 2027
Koelnmesse Exhibition Centre, Cologne, Germany
More diary dates