Spend a day at Shanghai Disneyland and you wouldn’t know that Chinese consumers are in trouble.
Wang Jiandong and his girlfriend Yan Xu said they have stopped eating out and cut back on household necessities so they can afford to enjoy the park.
“We save money in everyday life, so we spend more on travel,” Wang explained while posing for a photo with Yang in front of Disney’s iconic castle. “This is a romantic place.”
Shanghai Disneyland celebrates its 10th anniversary this week, and once disney CEO Bob Iger flew in to celebrate.
“I’m really proud,” Iger told CNBC in an interview at the park. “I’ve been involved with this project since its beginnings in the late 90s.”
Iger said the opportunity had special meaning “to see not just how successful it was, but how important it actually is in many ways, not only to the Walt Disney Company, but also to the people of China.”
Former Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger (2L) and his wife Willow Bay attended the Shanghai Disney Resort 10th anniversary event held in Shanghai on June 15, 2026.
Jade Gao | AFP | Getty Images
According to the company, Shanghai Disneyland will reach 100 million visitors in 2025. Although it’s relatively new, it’s an important stepping stone in Disney’s more than 100-year history.
Disney’s Experiences division, which includes theme parks, resorts, cruises and merchandise, reported nearly $9.5 billion in revenue for the company’s most recent quarter ended in March, up 7% from a year earlier. The division is Disney’s second-largest division, accounting for nearly 40% of the company’s overall revenue and 60% of its operating profit.
Disney executives have noted that foreign tourism to the company’s U.S. parks has been weak recently, but conditions in other countries are good.
According to the Themed Entertainment Association, which tracks theme park data around the world, the Shanghai park will attract 14.7 million visitors in 2024, an increase of 5% from the previous year, making it the fifth most-visited theme park in the world after Disney Park in Orlando, Florida. Anaheim, California. Tokyo and Universal Studios Japan.
Under newly appointed CEO Josh D’Amaro, Disney is aiming for further global expansion, with a new cruise ship docking in Singapore and a park and resort set to be built in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The company announced it would invest $60 billion in parks over 10 years by 2023.
“The opportunities for expansion are endless because of the assets that are available and the intellectual property that Disney has,” Iger told CNBC this week. “As long as the business is successful, and as long as it is successful, there is no reason why it cannot continue to expand over time.”
Iger, who stepped down as CEO for a second time in March and remains a member of the company’s board of directors, declined to comment on reports that Disney is considering a new theme park for China.
cautious Chinese consumers
Shanghai Disneyland bucks a larger trend in China of sluggish overall consumption.
Retail sales in May fell for the first time in three years. Car sales are down double digits. People are downgrading their consumption, but they haven’t cut back completely.
“Today’s Chinese youth are not refusing to consume, but rather value ‘value for money,'” Lin Fanjie, director of the China Theme Park Institute, said in written comments to CNBC.
This photo taken on June 16, 2026 shows a view of Shanghai Disneyland in east China’s Shanghai, decorated with decorations themed to celebrate the park’s 10th anniversary.
Liu Ying | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
“If a Disney trip brings strong memories, engaging social content, and high emotional value, they’re still willing to pay,” Lin says. “If it was just a normal visit, they would tighten their budget. And the popularity of characters like Linabell in China shows that young consumers are still willing to pay for emotionally comforting consumption, even if they are under financial pressure.”
Smile Wei, a university student, is one such park user.
Wei told CNBC that she was on a vacation to Shanghai with a friend and had budgeted 5,000 yuan ($735) for the five-day trip. They have already spent a fifth of that time in the park, Wei said.
“My friend and I were planning to book a hotel room with two beds,” Wei said. “But I downsized to a single size so I could buy more souvenirs here.”
Shanghai resident Wang Lu told CNBC that she specifically wanted to go to the park on June 16.
“Today is my birthday and also the park’s 10th anniversary,” she said. “There is no other place I would rather spend this special day.”
