Disney made good profits and earned a lot of money in the second quarter because its theme parks in the USA did very well and the company gained more than a million new subscribers for its streaming service.

The company also increased its expected profits for the year, causing its shares to rise by 11% on Wednesday.

Disney also said it will build a seventh theme park in Abu Dhabi.

For the first three months of the year, Disney made $3.28 billion, which is $1.81 for each share. In the same period last year, the company from Burbank, California, lost $20 million, or one cent for each share.

If you don't include special costs or profits, the company made $1.45 for each share. This was more than the $1.18 that experts thought it would be, based on a survey.

Sales increased by 7% to reach $23.62 billion, which was more than expected.

Money earned by Disney Entertainment, which includes their movie studios and online TV service, went up 9%. Also, the money earned from their parks and experiences increased by 6%.

Some movies that have recently done well are "Moana 2" and "Mufasa: The Lion King." Their newest movie, "Thunderbolts," is currently number one at the box office. The CEO, Bob Iger, and the main finance manager, Hugh Johnston, said they believe the movies coming out this year will be successful. These include "Lilo & Stitch," "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," and "Avatar: Fire and Ash."

However, Disney might suffer consequences from President Donald Trump's trade war. Other American companies have experienced negative reactions from customers in other countries. On Monday, Trump started a new part of his tariff war, focusing on movies made outside the U.S.

Disney's online streaming services are making more money. Their direct-to-customer business, like Disney+ and Hulu, made $336 million in profit this quarter, which is much better than the $47 million they made at the same time last year. They also made 8% more money in total.

Disney+ had a 2% rise in paid customers in the U.S. and Canada, and a 1% rise in other countries, not including Disney+ HotStar.

Disney+ had more paid subscribers than they thought, reaching 126 million in the quarter. This was a small increase from 124.6 million.

The total number of people who subscribe to Disney+ and Hulu is 180.7 million. This is 2.5 million more subscribers than in the first three months of the year.

Mike Proulx, a vice president at Forrester, wrote in an email that Disney had a very good three months because they had great content. This helped their online streaming service become more profitable. He also said that Disney is planning to invest in making local content for different countries. This could mean they want to compete more directly with Netflix, which is famous for having a lot of international shows and movies.

Disney has gained twice from popular movies, because these films are then used for its streaming service, which is getting bigger.

Since it came out on Disney+ on March 12, people have watched “Moana 2” for over 139 million hours. This makes it the most successful movie start for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film on the platform since “Encanto,” said Iger and Johnston. The first “Moana” is still the most watched movie on Disney+, with over 1.4 billion hours watched.

The part of Disney that includes its theme parks, cruise ships, and products like toys and games made 9% more money, earning $2.5 billion. Money earned from parks in the US went up by 13%. However, money earned from parks in other countries went down by 23%, mainly because fewer people visited the parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

While Disney manages its different businesses well, it is also looking for a new leader to replace Iger, who has been the main person at Disney for almost twenty years.

In 2023, Disney created a committee to plan who would be the next leaders. But the real search began last year when they asked James Gorman, the head of Morgan Stanley, to lead the work of finding a new CEO.

Disney has some time because Iger signed a new contract to stay at the company until the end of 2026.

Disney is looking at people who already work there and people from outside the company. Many think that the people inside the company being considered are the head of ESPN, Jimmy Pitaro, the head of Disney Parks and Resorts, Josh D’Amaro, and the two co-heads of Disney Entertainment, Alan Bergman and Dana Walden.

Disney thinks it will earn $5.75 per share this year. This is more than experts expected, who thought it would be $5.43 per share. Before, the company said they thought earnings per share would increase by a high single-digit percentage in 2025.