ORLANDO, Fla. - The economy could be teetering on the edge of a double-dip recession, and theme parks are still tossing discounts at reluctant travelers. But there are encouraging signs from at least one small segment of consumers:

The super-rich.

New data compiled by American Express Business Insights, a unit of credit-card giant American Express Co., suggests that what the company calls "ultra-affluent" consumers are beginning to open their wallets wider when inside theme parks -- much more so than everyone else.

Perhaps sensing a similar shift, the parks themselves are moving ahead with new offerings aimed at the upper crust.

After several years of planning and site preparation, Walt Disney World last month began pre-sales of homes inside its exclusive Golden Oak residential development, where multistory mansions will be priced as high as $8 million each. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, meanwhile, is in the midst of expanding Discovery Cove, its limited-admission boutique park where swim-with-dolphin packages start at $199 a person.

Abe Pizam, dean of the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said one explanation could be that rich travelers are beginning to feel more comfortable displaying their wealth now that the worst has passed of a brutal global recession in which extravagant spending would have been considered "shameful."

"I think these people didn't spend a lot before not because they couldn't afford to, but because it was not socially acceptable," Dr. Pizam said. "Now it is not so shameful as it was."

According to American Express, spending at theme parks by "ultra-affluent" cardholders jumped 32 percent during the first quarter of the year when compared with the first three months of last year. Spending at theme parks by the remainder of the company's cardholders was essentially flat for the quarter, up just 1 percent from a year ago.

The data was culled from the spending records of American Express cardholders. The company classifies "ultra-affluent" consumers as those who charge at least $7,000 a month on their card, or a minimum of $84,000 in credit-card charges each year.

SeaWorld, for instance, is moving forward with plans to expand its 10-year-old Discovery Cove. Built around intimate experiences such as swimming with dolphins and hand-feeding parrots, Discovery Cove features limited admission -- capped at 1,050 guests a day -- and average ticket prices that are nearly three times as expensive as those of typical theme parks.

Disney is aiming for an even higher tax bracket with Golden Oak, where prospective buyers will have to plunk down $25,000 just to get their names on a priority reservation list.

In the works for more than two years, the exclusive development has been master-planned by the company's "Imagineering" unit. It will ultimately have about 450 homes spread across 980 acres in the northeast corner of the vast resort.

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