Meals at Walt Disney World and Disneyland are always expensive, but they are usually at least big servings. The meals might not even have that going for them soon though, as Disney CFO Christine McCarthy hinted during Wednesday’s fourth quarterly earnings call. Executives are discussing cutting food portions at the parks as a possible way to increase profits.
“I was talking to our parks senior team about things that we could do there,” McCarthy explained, reports PopCulture.com‘s sister site, ComicBook.com. “There are lots of things that are worth talking about. We can adjust suppliers. We can substitute products. We can cut portion size which is probably good for some people’s waistlines.”
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Disney Parks saw revenue climb 99% during the company’s fourth quarter, which runs July to September, compared to the previous year, which was affected by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s still not enough for Disney, which is always on the lookout for ways to increase profit. That doesn’t mean the company is just going to randomly raise prices at the parks.ย
Instead, visitors will see added experiences, like the controversial Genie+ service, which costs $15 per ticket per day at Disney World. The service gives visitors access to Lightning Lanes, which replace the once-free Fast Pass service. Several rides also have individual Lightning Lane passes that can be purchased without Genie+. While longtime Disney fans have been frustrated by the idea of paying for something that once free, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that almost a third of Disney World guests are using it already.
“We can look at pricing where necessary,” McCarthy explained Wednesday. “We aren’t going to go just straight across and increase prices. We’re going to try to get the algorithm right to cut where we can and not necessarily do things the same way. We’re producing technology to produce some of the operating cost. That gives us to absorb some inflation. We’re trying to use our heads here to come up with a way to kind of mitigate some of the challenges that we have.”
McCarthy’s comments about cutting food portions at the parks is another sign of real-world issues impacting life at at the Happiest and Most Magical Places on Earth. Prices at grocery stores are increasing, and two major companies recently said they expect their products to cost more. Mondelez said its popular snacks like Chips Ahoy and Ritz could climb 7% by next year to combat inflation, the company’s CEO recently said, reports Click Orlando. Kraft Heinz, which has a contract with Disney, said its profits have been better than expected because of price increases on its products.
