The two Disney theme parks in California will reopen on April 30, CEO Bob Chapek said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley.”
“We’ve seen the excitement and desire for people to come back to our parks around the world,” Chapek told Julia Boorstin of CNBC. “We’ve been operating at Walt Disney World for about nine months and there’s certainly no shortage of demand.”
“I think as people get vaccinated, they become a little more confident that they can travel and, you know, stay free of Covid,” he added. “Consumers trust Disney to do the right thing and we have certainly shown that we can do it [open] responsibly, be it temperature controls, masks, social distancing, [or] improving hygiene in parks “.
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa will reopen on April 29 with limited capacity in front of the parks. The Grand Californian Vacation Club Villa will reopen on May 2, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel and Disneyland Hotel will reopen later.
All California theme parks have been closed due to Covid-related restrictions over the past year. Although guidelines from other states, such as Florida, allowed for the reopening of parks with limited capacity, California regulations have kept theme parks large and small closed.
However, the new state guidance allows amusement parks to reopen from April 1 with a capacity of 15% to 35%, depending on the prevalence of the virus in the community. Masks and other health precautions will be required. Chapek said the two parks will operate at about 15% of their initial capacity.
California reports just under 2,900 new cases of Covid-19 a day, based on a weekly average, a 32% drop from a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The rate of new Covid cases has been declining as more people have been vaccinated. With supply and access increases, an average of about 2.4 million people are vaccinated daily in the US
Orange County, home to Disneyland and California Adventure, sees four new cases a day for every 100,000 residents. At the height of mid-January, the county registered 118 new cases per day per 100,000 people.
Last year’s shutdown led Disney to lay off tens of thousands of workers and cut a major source of revenue for the media company. The parks, experiences and consumer products segment accounted for 37% of the company’s total revenue of $ 69.6 billion in 2019, or about $ 26.2 billion.
A year later, revenue fell to $ 16.5 billion, or about 25% of the company’s $ 65.4 billion in total revenue.
During the company’s first-quarter tax profit call, CFO Christine McCarthy said that for parks opened during the pandemic, the company was able to make “a net incremental positive contribution” from guests who visited despite the levels of reduced capacity. This means that revenues exceeded the variable costs associated with opening, he explained.
As the parks expand capacity and reopen, there will be a certain level of social distancing and mask disguise for the rest of the year.