Walt Disney Co. reported an increase in revenue and noted attendance was in line with last year during its financial fourth quarter for its experiences division, which includes its theme parks in Florida and California as well as the Disney Cruise Line.

And executives presented an upbeat outlook for upcoming quarters during a conference call with market analysts Thursday morning. The company projects a 6% to 8% increase in operating income for its experiences segment in fiscal 2025.

“As we move through the course of the year, will will move to positive in Q2 and then see further strengthening over the course of the year,” said Hugh Johnston, chief financial officer of Walt Disney Co.  First-quarter results will be affected by hurricane losses in Florida, he said.

Positive factors, he said, will be the launch of the Disney Treasure cruise ship out of Port Canaveral next week and the expectation of strong consumer response.

“We also know that the bookings that we have in the back half of the year are positive right now, so we’re optimistic about how bookings are looking,” Johnston said.

Next year, Disney will face more competition in the Florida market as Universal Orlando introduces Epic Universe theme park. Epic scheduled to open to the public May 22.

“We did model that into our expectations for the experiences outlook,” Johnston said. “We also looked at the history of other attractions opening up and other parks opening up in Florida, and it’s generally been beneficial to us.”

Disney said domestic theme-park attendance for the quarter was “comparable” to a year earlier. The company does not reveal attendance figures or give a park-by-park breakdown. Comcast, parent company of Universal Orlando, and United Parks & Resorts, operator of SeaWorld parks, recently reported small quarterly dips in attendance.

Revenue for Disney’s experiences segment for the quarter ending Sept. 28 was $8.24 billion, and increase of 1%. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 28, its revenue was $34.15 billion, up 5%. The increases were driven by higher guest spending, partially offset by higher expenses and costs attached to new offerings from the cruise line.

International parks and experiences operating income declined in the fourth quarter.  The Summer Olympics were a factor for Disneyland Paris numbers, Johnston said.

“Whenever there is an Olympics in the city that we have a park, we typically see an attendance hit, and that’s exactly what we saw,” he said. “In addition to that, we saw some consumer softness in Shanghai. Candidly, we expect that to be temporary, and we expect that to bounce back as well.”

For the overall company’s fourth quarter, revenue was $22.57 billion, an increase of 6%. Revenue for the fiscal year was $91.36 billion, a 3% rise.

The company noted the box-office successes “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which contributed to the $10.83 billion revenue for the entertainment segment, a 14% increase.

In other forward-looking items, Disney CEO Robert Iger touted ESPN’s Flagship streaming service, scheduled to launch next fall.

“It will have not only basically the basic ESPN services, which is coverage of live sports and studio shows and commentary, but it will have many, many other features, like betting fully integrated,” Iger said.

Consumers will be able to customize their experience, perhaps by using an AI-driven “Sportscenter,” he said.

“When you apply technology to the presentation of sports, almost anything is possible,” Iger said.

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com