Views of the Disneyland theme park, still closed due to COVID-19 on July 11, 2020 in Anaheim, California.
AaronP / Bauer-Griffin | GC images | Getty Images
The two Disney theme parks in California will reopen on April 30, said CEO Bob Chapek on Wednesday at CNBC’s “Squawk Alley”.
“We saw the enthusiasm, the desire for people to return to our parks around the world,” Chapek told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “We have been operating at Walt Disney World for about nine months and there is certainly no shortage of demand.”
“I think that as people get vaccinated, they become a little more confident that they can travel and, you know, get rid of Covid,” he added. “Consumers trust Disney to do the right thing, and we’ve certainly proved that we can [open] responsibly, be it temperature checks, masks, social distance, [or] improved hygiene around parks. “
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa will reopen on April 29 with limited capacity before the parks. The Vacation Club Villa at Grand Californian will reopen on May 2, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel and Disneyland Hotel will reopen at a later date.
All California theme parks were closed due to Covid-related restrictions last year. While guidelines in other states, such as Florida, allow parks to reopen with limited capacity, California rules have kept theme parks large and small closed.
However, the new state guidelines allow 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 around 15% of the initial capacity.
California is reporting nearly 2,900 new Covid-19 cases per day, based on a weekly average, a decline of nearly 32% compared to the previous week, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The rate of new Covid cases is decreasing as more people are being vaccinated. With the increase in supply and access, an average of about 2.4 million people are being vaccinated daily in the US
Orange County, where Disneyland and California Adventure are located, is seeing four new cases per day for every 100,000 residents. At its peak in mid-January, the county saw 118 new cases per day for every 100,000 people.
Last year’s shutdown prompted 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 $ 69.6 billion revenue in 2019, or about $ 26.2 billion.
A year later, revenue shrank to $ 16.5 billion, or about 25% of the company’s total revenue of $ 65.4 billion.
During the company’s first fiscal quarter earnings conference call, Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said that for the parks that were opened during the pandemic, the company was able to make “a net incremental positive contribution” to the guests they visited, despite reduced capacity levels. This means that the revenue exceeded the variable costs associated with the inauguration, he explained.
As the parks expand their capacity and reopen, there will be some level of social detachment and use of masks for the rest of the year.