Disney World Has More Treats Than Tricks This Season
Key Points
Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party returns on Friday night, earlier than the premium event has started in previous years.
Specially ticketed Halloween events allow national theme parks and regional amusement parks to leverage their operations during seasonally slow times.
With CEO Josh D'Amaro likely to make some content and theme park announcements at next weekend's D23 event, August could live up to this week's well-received earnings report.
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Halloween may be nearly three months away, but don't tell that to last night's guests at Walt Disney's (NYSE: DIS) most visited theme park. Disney World's Magic Kingdom kicked off its Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party event on Friday night, a separately ticketed event running on select nights between now and Oct. 31.
Bringing back the popular event on Aug. 7 is early, even by Disney standards. The nighttime festivities that include trick-or-treat stations, some in-ride enhancements, and several exclusive parade, show, and character meet-and-greet opportunities have opened a few days later in August in recent years.
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Image source: Disney.
It's in the bag
You can't blame Disney for getting an early jump on things. Between Florida's hot summertime temperatures, afternoon thunderstorms, and area schools starting up again next week, you may as well optimize the guest experience with evening soirees in cooler, kinder weather after the day guests go home.
The business model works, and guests aren't flinching at paying as much as $229 for the event that runs from 7 p.m. through midnight (though guests with party tickets can enjoy the park as early as 4 p.m., alongside day guests, until the latter are ushered out three hours later). The first five nights have already sold out, and so have five later dates, including Halloween itself.
Disney World is getting an early start on things, but it won't be alone with seasonal hard-ticket events for long. At Disney's other stateside resort, its own special-ticket Halloween event -- Oogie Boogie Bash -- returns to Disney California Adventure on Aug. 18. Rival Comcast has its more intense Halloween Horror Nights event starting in Florida on the final weekend of this month, with its California resort following suit a week later.
These events are big moneymakers for these year-round gated attractions. It's a bigger needle-mover for seasonal amusement park operators that normally start shutting down at the end of summer.
Comcast can use the boost, after warning of slowing traffic trends at its parks since June. Disney came through with a rosier theme park report earlier this week.
Candy dates
An early start to the Halloween holiday season is just one of the dates Disney investors have circled in August. Next weekend should see Disney announcing fresh theme park and studio content news at its D23 fan expo in California.
It will be CEO Josh D'Amaro's first fan event since replacing Bob Iger at the helm. Disney stock has been moving higher since its well-received financial update earlier this week, but it's still trading lower than it did a year ago. A few choice announcements about upcoming films, Disney+ content, or theme park additions can help sustain and build on its early August momentum. It's time for the treats to outweigh the tricks this early holiday season.
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Rick Munarriz has positions in Comcast and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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