Disney theme park bookings improve; ad sales weak

Associated Press, 12.09.08, 02:28 PM EST

Hotel bookings at Walt Disney Co.'s theme parks improved slightly in the new year as consumers bought into its "Buy 4 Nights, Get 3 Free!" promotion, Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs said Tuesday.

In early November, the family entertainment company said bookings at its theme parks in Anaheim, Calif., and Orlando, Fla., were down 10 percent in the first and second fiscal quarters from a year earlier, but that has since improved to down 6 percent, Staggs said.

"That offer looks like it has been very successful and we're certainly pleased with the uptake," Staggs told a media conference in New York sponsored by investment bank UBS ; (nyse: UBS - ; news ; - ; people ). All of the improvement in bookings was in the quarter ending in March, because the offer does not take effect until the new year.

The discount on the seven-day package amounts to about 25 percent off the normal package price, but brings more people onto the properties and extends their stays, he said, calling it "a good trade-off for us."

But the weakening advertising market is continuing to hurt, Staggs said, with ad revenue at ESPN down in the "high single-digit percentages" in the current quarter, similar to a downturn in the quarter that ended in September.

"It's not like the ad market has gone away, but again, you've got some tough conditions and the pace of sales has slowed, there's no question," he said.

Ad revenue at Disney (nyse: DIS - news - people )'s 10 owned and operated ABC TV stations is down in the "mid-teen percentages" from a year earlier, primarily because of the weak domestic auto sector, Staggs said.