On April 30, 2021, the two California Disney theme parks will open again, CEO Bob Chapek said, as quoted on CNBC’s "Squawk Alley" Wednesday.
“We’ve seen the enthusiasm, the craving for people to return to our parks around the world,” Chapek told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “We’ve been operating at Walt Disney World for about nine months, and there certainly is no shortage of demand.”
“I think as people become vaccinated, they become a little bit more confident 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 whether it’s temperature checks, masks, social distancing, [or] improved hygiene around the parks.”
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Despite the limited capacity, the Grand Californian will reopen on April 29. The Vacation Club Villas will open on May 2, and Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel will open later as park openings approach.
Throughout the past year, Covid-related regulations have kept theme parks closed in California. While guidelines in other states have allowed some limit on capacity, California’s guidelines have kept theme parks big and small shut.
However, new state guidance permits amusement parks to reopen beginning April 1 with 15% to 35% capacity 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% capacity to start.
According to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, California is reporting just under 2,900 new cases of Covid-19 each day, a decrease of nearly 32% from a week ago. Increased vaccination rates have decreased the number of Covid cases. 2.4 million Americans receive their vaccine in the U.S. on average each day, with ramp-ups in supply and access.
California Adventure and Disneyland are located in Orange County, where the number of new cases per 100,000 is dropping. It peaked at 118 new cases a day in mid-January.
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The government shutdown led Disney to lay off thousands of workers and decrease revenue in the parks, experiences, and consumer products segment. The parks, experiences, and consumer products segment accounted for 37% of the company’s total revenue in 2019, or around $26.2 billion.
In the following year, the company's revenue dropped to $16.5 billion, about 25% of the $65.4 billion that the firm had brought in in total.
For the parks that have been open throughout the pandemic, the company has been able to make a “net incremental positive contribution” from the guests who visited, despite a reduced capacity level. This means that revenue exceeded the variable opening-related costs, McCarthy explained.
For the rest of the year, there will be some social distancing as parks expand capacity and reopen.
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