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This article was in today's Orlando Sentinel. As the bookings for the resorts are up, will we still have AP rates for summer?
Disney's resorts fill for spring, summer
Parks president says reservations on upswing
By Todd Pack | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted February 20, 2004
Walt Disney Co.'s parks and resorts are doing better now compared with a year ago and should continue to improve throughout the summer, a senior executive said on Thursday.
Attendance at Disney's four parks in Orlando and two parks in Anaheim, Calif., is up about 10 percent so far in the company's second quarter, parks President Jay Rasulo said.
Hotel reservations for travel through March are up about 20 percent from a year ago, while bookings for spring break and summer vacation are "tracking favorably," he said at Citigroup/Smith Barney's 2004 New York Leisure Conference.
Disney won't disclose attendance, but industry estimates show sharp declines at most of the company's parks in 2001 and 2002 and generally flat attendance in 2003.
Rasulo didn't say when the company expects a full recovery in attendance but said growth would be gradual.
Disney's recent improvement was expected, said John Robinett, a consultant in Los Angeles.
The parks division's improved performance comes amid an attempted takeover by the cable company Comcast Corp. and efforts by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold to oust Chairman Michael Eisner.
Disney's board has rejected Comcast's initial offer and said it supports Eisner.
Rasulo defended Eisner on Thursday, telling analysts, "I have seen, firsthand, the creative fountainhead that Michael is in extending the Disney franchises in new and creative ways."
Todd Pack can be reached at tpack@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5407.
Disney's resorts fill for spring, summer
Parks president says reservations on upswing
By Todd Pack | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted February 20, 2004
Walt Disney Co.'s parks and resorts are doing better now compared with a year ago and should continue to improve throughout the summer, a senior executive said on Thursday.
Attendance at Disney's four parks in Orlando and two parks in Anaheim, Calif., is up about 10 percent so far in the company's second quarter, parks President Jay Rasulo said.
Hotel reservations for travel through March are up about 20 percent from a year ago, while bookings for spring break and summer vacation are "tracking favorably," he said at Citigroup/Smith Barney's 2004 New York Leisure Conference.
Disney won't disclose attendance, but industry estimates show sharp declines at most of the company's parks in 2001 and 2002 and generally flat attendance in 2003.
Rasulo didn't say when the company expects a full recovery in attendance but said growth would be gradual.
Disney's recent improvement was expected, said John Robinett, a consultant in Los Angeles.
The parks division's improved performance comes amid an attempted takeover by the cable company Comcast Corp. and efforts by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold to oust Chairman Michael Eisner.
Disney's board has rejected Comcast's initial offer and said it supports Eisner.
Rasulo defended Eisner on Thursday, telling analysts, "I have seen, firsthand, the creative fountainhead that Michael is in extending the Disney franchises in new and creative ways."
Todd Pack can be reached at tpack@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5407.
