In a rare slowdown in one of the hottest areas of the entertainment business, attendance declined at 13 of 14 Disney theme parks around the world in 2016 compared with 2015, according to an independent report released on Thursday. Higher prices, intended in part to ease crowding at certain parks, were a major contributor, analysts said. Attendance, of course, does not equal profit. The Walt Disney Company’s theme park unit had operating income of $3.3 billion in fiscal 2016, a 9
percent increase from the year before, in part because of a new ticketing strategy that raised prices for peak periods by 20 percent. But a simultaneous attendance decline at 13 Disney parks — all except Shanghai Disneyland, which has not been open a year — is notable because it rarely happens. More typical has been scorching annual growth, so much so that Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., reaches capacity on certain days. READ MORE
