Revenue is very different than park attendance. We've already known since just before the pandemic that they have touted more guest spending but that doesn't actually mean guests are purchasing more stuff or eating in restaurants on a higher average. Most especially over the years since the pandemic. Most of it is related to what Disney can very easily control (which goes back to the article and subsequent posts regarding just who is traveling to Disney) which is guest spending and it's at least easier for them to raise pricing across a slew of stuff to then be at least profitable enough to not feel as much of a sting if attendance isn't as high as they would have wanted.
It was their norm before the pandemic to raise food pricing in their restaurants several times a year. Ticket pricing has gotten quite pricey very fast (meaning in a relatively short timeframe), hard ticket events have increased quite a lot in pricing and there are more dates than before although they have reduced back down from starting Food& Wine in July, merch pricing is higher, and IME
Loungefly and the ears have exploded in popularity over the years. Back in 2017 it seemed like both were just starting. That contributes heavily to increased spending. And yeah hotel costs have also increased.
One thing to me though is I think it's worth looking at, something that which Disney isn't going to give you, is dates that are surprisingly slow compared to expectations. They don't get nitty gritty into those and on a more general level looking at patterns. Those are normally found by people tracking crowds. Like how summer has overtime shifted to being less of a frenzied crowd time period but early fall has crept up there. How some holidays aren't nearly as visited as they were in the past, etc.
