Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Mit88]

Anyone ask Bobby if there’s a plan in place if there’s a countrywide shutdown again in late January?

 

[anthony2k7]

Plexiglass is not a replacement for distancing, whether in a queue or on an attraction. Omnimovers don’t have you six feet apart when the vehicle turns sideways. We went in August and September; MK was def more crowded today than our other two visits. Even when everyone stands on a marker that is six feet+ away from the next party , you’re still frequently within six feet because theres not enough space diagonally or you’re right next to someone with some plexiglass inbetween.

Exactly, if you're stopped for a while whilst sideways and not 6ft apart. Not good.

 

[Mit88]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1327009640408698880

Lol “Now” at 35%. Surrrre

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1327009640408698880

Lol “Now” at 35%. Surrrre

Chapek noted they have become more efficient at how they operate during these times. He also said they have become more creative in how they measure capacity areas so yes I do believe this is a more recent change.

 

[anthony2k7]

Increasing capacity whilst cases across country setting record highs each day.... interesting.

 

[rteetz]

Increasing capacity whilst cases across country setting record highs each day.... interesting.

They are a business and they are operating still under guidelines. They aren’t going full bore.

 

[yulilin3]

Hey if anyone is coming and want a low crowd level park come to sea world, we had less than 100 people in the park today and had to close early, got 3 hours cut from my paycheck. Honestly the Disney parks are doing fine and again no outbreak has been linked to them

 

[Eeyore daily]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1327009640408698880

Lol “Now” at 35%. Surrrre

Right before my trip awesome. They honestly should have lowered capacity for thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

[andyman8]

Anyone ask Bobby if there’s a plan in place if there’s a countrywide shutdown again in late January?

If you ask "Bobby," the pandemic ended in July when WDW reopened and the only reason DL (and now DLP) isn't open is because California is being mean. It's a smooth ascent to a vaccine.

P.S. 77% full is lower than I expected and not good news, given the likelihood of more cancelations than new bookings for the remainder of the year.

 

[yulilin3]

They are a business and they are operating still under guidelines. They aren’t going full bore.

Im so done with the constant need to troll.

 

[rteetz]

If you ask "Bobby," the pandemic ended in July when WDW reopened and the only reason DL (and now DLP) isn't open is because California is being mean. It's a smooth ascent to a vaccine.

P.S. 77% full is lower than I expected and not good news, given the likelihood of more cancelations than new bookings for the remainder of the year.

77% is right about where I expected. Hotels usually don’t hit much higher than 90% for Disney. This number also doesn’t include currently closed hotels.

 

[Mit88]

If you ask "Bobby," the pandemic ended in July when WDW reopened and the only reason DL (and now DLP) isn't open is because California is being mean. It's a smooth ascent to a vaccine.

P.S. 77% full is lower than I expected and not good news, given the likelihood of more cancelations than new bookings for the remainder of the year.

I wouldn’t say he thinks the pandemic ended in July, and I’m assuming that statement was at least somewhat hyperbolic. He does have a business to run, and if he wasn’t concerned about the pandemic they probably would have opened when Universal did. I do find the constant blame finger pointing at Newsom ridiculous, not because I don’t think the parks should be open, but because it does no good PR wise for them outside of the California based Disney-Die Hards

 

[andyman8]

77% is right about where I expected. Hotels usually don’t hit much higher than 90% for Disney. This number also doesn’t include currently closed hotels.

Was he talking about Park Pass reservations or hotel reservations? I thought he was talking about Park Pass reservations but I may have misheard.

 

[rteetz]

Was he talking about Park Pass reservations or hotel reservations? I thought he was talking about Park Pass reservations but I may have misheard.

When they give that number it’s usually hotel occupancy so that’s what I was assuming. They have never previously given park numbers.

 

[Mit88]

77% is right about where I expected. Hotels usually don’t hit much higher than 90% for Disney. This number also doesn’t include currently closed hotels.

The 77% was based on the 25% though, right? Maybe because of trends and they saw it possibly reaching 100% is why, or partially why they raised it to 35%?

 

[sullivan.kscott]

Anyone ask Bobby if there’s a plan in place if there’s a countrywide shutdown again in late January?

Without heading down a rabbit hole, the steps that would need to be taken to make a shutdown national aren’t likely to happen. Maybe public pressure would cause state action in a lot of places. About the only thing that can be done without significant action would be shutting down commercial airspace.
So, for the driving distance folks and locals at a minimum, WDW is likely to stay open. And Dr Fauci did say that we can expect wide roll out of one or two vaccines by late April, so Q3 and Q4 look pretty good for Disney as a whole.

 

[rteetz]

The 77% was based on the 25% though, right? Maybe because of trends and they saw it possibly reaching 100% is why, or partially why they raised it to 35%?

I’ve always assumed the resorts are operating much higher than 25% because not all of them are open and because DVC needs the availability. Parks are different and operating now at 35%.

 

[andyman8]

I wouldn’t say he thinks the pandemic ended in July, and I’m assuming that statement was at least somewhat hyperbolic. He does have a business to run, and if he wasn’t concerned about the pandemic they probably would have opened when Universal did. I do find the constant blame finger pointing at Newsom ridiculous, not because I don’t think the parks should be open, but because it does no good PR wise for them outside of the California based Disney-Die Hards

Hyperbolic, yes, but I still maintain the same sentiment with which I've walked away from the last few earnings calls: the executive team is treating this as a linear ascent or recovery, and it's just not that. Given the nature of the situation, the recovery or "rising out" of the pandemic is going to be an ebb and flow. There will be progress and some backtracking then more progress. We've already seen that in some businesses (just ask the airlines). I understand his job is to project confidence, but his job is also to position the whole company (not just DTC/D+) to weather the immediate future. While I don't see a scenario where WDW shuts down again, I think it's very likely that bookings will not be nearly as strong in Q2 as they were in Q1. My frustration extrapolates beyond DPEP. TV and film production, for example, is likelier to slow or stop than WDW's operations are, but that could still have a large impact on the company. This is especially true when you have highly-paid talent and unions involved. What's the contingency plan for that? The media world right now is highly complicated and volatile and TWDC seems to be the only company I've heard from that won't publicly acknowledge any of that.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Right before my trip awesome. They honestly should have lowered capacity for thanksgiving and Christmas.

With Christmas being six weeks away I wouldn’t be shocked to see them raise capacity again. Seems that if the demand is there, they’ll increase it.

 

[sullivan.kscott]

This might be a little premature because the Christmas season and it’s 5k varieties of churros will keep us coming for now, but I have a question. If parks are hitting near the 35% capacity, or at least the park pass is filling up in some places, at what point do they call back stage shows? Estimates were that parks operated on a roughly 50% occupancy a barrage day, right? Wouldn’t it make sense to have a place to put guests if there are that many more of them?