Disney says rides parks, consumer sales upswing

Walt Disney Co, sounding more positive than in previous quarters, forecast stronger consumer sales in coming years and highlighted an uptick at its struggling theme parks.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said bookings at theme parks from Disneyland in California to Walt Disney World in Florida had increased recently, extending a trend Disney first noted cautiously in early May.

Also on Wednesday, Disney head of consumer products Andrew Mooney said in a conference call with reporters that the company expects to nearly double its annual retail sales to $50 billion in the next five to seven years.

Disney shares closed up 4.2 percent at $34.74 on the New York Stock Exchange.

On a May 11 conference call, Disney said hotel reservations for the third quarter that began April 4 were running 10 percent behind a year earlier. But the company noted it had issued a similar outlook for the second quarter, but bookings were just 6 percent lower.

It also said that, in fiscal 2011, it was no longer going to offer deep discounts as widely as it had over the last 18 months, because bookings might be on the upswing.

Iger said at the time it was perhaps a sign people were planning to vacation more this summer than they did last year.

Disney is also bullish on the prospects for toys and merchandise — everything from T-shirts to lunch boxes — from its Marvel Entertainment acquisition and is hoping for strong sales from newly invigorated franchises such as “Toy Story.”

On Tuesday, Mooney told Reuters the company expected retailers to sell $2.4 billion worth of “Toy Story 3″ merchandise this fiscal year alone, in what could be the largest take from a single film for Disney’s consumer products division.

Disney saw $27 billion in retail sales last fiscal year, but that was shared with stores and licensing partners. Its consumer products division posted $2.4 billion in revenue.

On Wednesday, Iger also said he remained very optimistic about ESPN’s ability to continue growing.

Tags: Disney parks