The two Disney theme parks in California will reopen April 30, CEO Bob Chapek said on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley on Wednesday.”
“We’ve seen the enthusiasm, the longing for people to return to our parks around the world,” Chapek told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “We’ve been working at Walt Disney World for about nine months now, and there’s certainly no shortage of demand.”
“I think when people get vaccinated, they get a little bit more confidence in the fact that they can travel and, you know, stay Covid-free,” he added. “Consumers trust Disney to do the right thing, and we’ve certainly proven that we can [open] responsibly, be it temperature controls, masks, social distancing, [or] improved hygiene around the parks. “
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa will reopen on April 29 with limited capacity ahead of the parks. The Vacation Club Villa at the Grand Californian will reopen May 2, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel and the Disneyland Hotel will reopen at a later date.
All theme parks in California are closed due to Covid-related restrictions from the past year. While guidelines in other states, such as Florida, allowed parks with limited capacity to reopen, California rules made sure that theme parks have large and small shutters.
However, new state guidelines allow theme parks to reopen from April 1 at a capacity of 15% to 35%, depending on the prevalence of the virus in the community. Masks and other health precautions are required. Chapek said the two parks will operate at about 15% capacity to begin with.
California reports just under 2,900 new Covid-19 cases per day, based on a weekly average, down nearly 32% from a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The number of new Covid cases has declined as more people are vaccinated. With increasing supply and access, an average of about 2.4 million people in the US are vaccinated daily
Orange County, where Disneyland and California Adventure are located, sees four new cases per day per 100,000 residents. At its peak, in mid-January, the province was seeing 118 new cases per day per 100,000 people.
The shutdown last year prompted Disney to lay off tens of thousands of employees 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 approximately $ 26.2 billion.
A year later, sales shrank to $ 16.5 billion, or about 25% of the company’s total revenue of $ 65.4 billion.
During the company’s first-quarter financial earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said that for the parks that were open during the pandemic, the company was able to make “ a net incremental positive contribution ” from the guests who visited it despite the reduced capacity. . This means that sales exceeded the variable costs associated with the opening, she explained.
As parks expand and reopen their capacity, there will be a degree of social distance and mask wearing for the rest of the year.