News Round Up 2021

[TikiTikiFan]

Disney Parks Record $950+ Million Loss in 2021 Second Quarter Report

Oof, that's not a good start to my demands for all things returning.

 

[mrsap]

Oof, that's not a good start to my demands for all things returning.

Hey, the call isn’t over... yet!!!!

Can we still drink?!?!?

 

[HokieRaven5]

Oof, that's not a good start to my demands for all things returning.

It's an improvement on the $1B in losses for the parks from Q1!

 

[mrsap]

Capacity question!!!

 

[mfly]

Hey, the call isn’t over... yet!!!!

Can we still drink?!?!?

Is there an Earnings Call thread? I thought you’d posted one a few days ago, but I can’t find it!

 

[mrsap]

Is there an Earnings Call thread? I thought you’d posted one a few days ago, but I can’t find it!

It’s back here now!! ...Don’t ask

 

[mrsap]

Capacity...... increase started already....
Looking Good with mask removal as per CDC guidelines. Seems like they’re on board. No dates given.

CHAPEK FULL QUOTE HERE


Thanks @zeferjen

 

[chad_1138]

Just mentioned the CDC mask guidance today. "I think that we will see summer being a lot more pleasant at the park."

 

[zeferjen]

In terms of the parks, and when we're going to sort of be able to raise our capacity limits, we've actually already started that, given the guidance that just came today, from the CDC, and earlier guidance that we got from the governor of Florida, we've already started to increase our capacities, those obviously today's guidance that we got from the CDC in terms of those that were vaccinated do not necessarily need to wear masks anymore, both outdoors and indoors. Is very big news for us, particularly if anybody's been in Florida in the middle of the summer with a mask on. That could be quite daunting. So we think that's going to make for an even more pleasant experience and we believe that as we're now bringing back a lot of people back to work, that it's going to be an even bigger catalyst for growth in attendance, and we've been quite pleased to date. So I think you're going to see an immediate increase in the number of folks that were able to admit into our parks through our reservation systems that we recently implemented. So we're very, very excited about that.

 

[disny_luvr]

Thanks for the updates. I can't listen as I'm sitting outside waiting for my sons' band concert to start. I'll keep checking this thread for the latest news.

 

[mrsap]

In terms of the parks, and when we're going to sort of be able to raise our capacity limits, we've actually already started that, given the guidance that just came today, from the CDC, and earlier guidance that we got from the governor of Florida, we've already started to increase our capacities, those obviously today's guidance that we got from the CDC in terms of those that were vaccinated do not necessarily need to wear masks anymore, both outdoors and indoors. Is very big news for us, particularly if anybody's been in Florida in the middle of the summer with a mask on. That could be quite daunting. So we think that's going to make for an even more pleasant experience and we believe that as we're now bringing back a lot of people back to work, that it's going to be an even bigger catalyst for growth in attendance, and we've been quite pleased to date. So I think you're going to see an immediate increase in the number of folks that were able to admit into our parks through our reservation systems that we recently implemented. So we're very, very excited about that.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Capacity...... increase started already....
Looking Good with mask removal as per CDC guidelines. Seems like they’re on board. (Right?!) No dates given.

OooOooOooo yeah!

But hey Bob, if you're gonna raise capacity please open more things to accomodate that... I'm getting a bit nervous here!

 

[disny_luvr]

Capacity...... increase started already....
Looking Good with mask removal as per CDC guidelines. Seems like they’re on board. (You guys got that too... Right?!) No dates given.

Keep dancing, @mrsap!!!

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Is very big news for us, particularly if anybody's been in Florida in the middle of the summer with a mask on.

Everyone with summer trips like

 

[zeferjen]

Another capacity question: Some of the pictures from the parks look like it's totally full even with this reduced capacity. So now with capacity increasing, how does that relate to the kind of normal attendance, even though you don't have international visitors, it still feels like from what we can see, it's fairly full, demand is strong. Wonder if you can comment on that. And also any update you can give us given the strong demand, how that overlays with some of the things you've talked about in the past and didn't really discuss day, but the management, and some of the cost changes you've put in place, and then sorry for such a long-winded question, but given the tight labor market are there any issues you're seeing on the cost side or in hiring?

 

[Sara W]

Capacity...... increase started already....

FULL QUOTE HERE

Thanks @zeferjen

*Runs to check park pass availability to switch my park on June 1.* Apparently they are not increasing capacity that quickly. All the AP park passes are open that day. Can't I trade you a MK for HS??

 

[zeferjen]

Okay. So in terms of the parks demand domestically, our intent to visit at Walt Disney world is growing and is actually already flat with 19 which is obviously our last pre-COVID year. So that's really good news for us. And since we've opened up Disneyland Resort, intent to visit is actually growing as well. So we're thrilled with the guest response to that. So, as capacity limits increased we don't think we're going to have any problem at all sort of increasing our attendance to match that capacity. That is not something that keeps any of us up at night. In terms of our yield management, as you know, we've been practicing yield management for a while. And it's really become an art form with this extraordinarily limited capacities that we've been operating at. But you've seen the margins very healthy, our yield is growing up from a very healthy standpoint, consumers are spending more, and we're doing it under some tremendous cost management parameters, because everything's become automated. So we've sort of got the perfect positive storm, if you will, where we've got plenty of demand, we've got really great yield management gains, and the cost management at the same time. In terms of labor, we had about 80% of our cast members return that we've asked to return. And obviously one of the gating factors is to continue to get more and more cast members back, it thrills us to be able to do that. We've had no problems whatsoever in terms of trying to get our cast to come back and make some magic for our guests.

 

[Farro]

I'd say some good news is coming out of this call, if not immediate, definitely soon.

 

[zeferjen]

Re tickets: Okay. In terms of park and in terms of the relative profitability, as you know, we have -- there's a lot of negative impacts, of course, with COVID. But one of the things that it gave us a chance to do as we were forced to stop operation was to completely reexamine how we priced and programmed our tickets. And as you all know, we ended our current annual pass program at Disneyland, and that gives us a chance to sort of create a modern version of a park loyalty program, an affinity program that isn't necessarily governed by legacy. And as you know, the net contribution back to the company varies tremendously and was one of the levers that we use to grow yield over the past several years, depending on what type of tickets structure a particular guest came in. With the ability now for us to sort of completely reconsider how we go about our loyalty programs, and our frequent visitor programs, we have the chance to make even more advancements not only in terms of the guest experience and make sure that guests have a tremendous experience no matter what day of the year they come, whether it is a high demand day or a relatively low demand day, but also the ability to increase our per caps and yields, and we've already seen tremendous growth in those, as you're seeing over the last couple quarters. But I don't think we have even scratched the surface in terms of what we can do when we finally restart with some of our programs in terms of making sure, again, that not only do we improve the guest experience, but at the same time get an adequate return to our shareholders for the type of experience that we do give to our guests. So very positive on those factors.

 

[zeferjen]

A lot of questions about ESPN and sports, but since I don't care about sportsball I am ignoring those :-D