If you are missing the Disney Parks while they’re closed, raise your hand high (both of ours are up in the air)!
Magic Kingdom
Since many of the parks are closed indefinitely, many federal guidelines have started to be implemented as a way for them to reopen. And, while there’s no certain timeline for when the Disney parks will be opening its gates (excluding Shanghai Disneyland) back up to guests, yesterday’s Walt Disney Company Fiscal Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results Conference Call gave us a few details about the state of the Walt Disney Company!
So, if you were too busy celebrating Cinco de Mayo with some Disney recipes and cocktails, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know!
Shanghai Disneyland’s Reopening
Disney announced yesterday that Shanghai Disneyland will be reopening its gates on May 11th. The resort partially began to resume operations on May 9th at shopping, dining, and other locations in Disneytown, Wishing Star Park, and the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. Now, the theme park will reopen with increased health and safety protocols.
©Disney
On top of previously using temperature checks and the scanning of Health QR Codes, Disney will introduce personal distancing in queues, restaurants, and attractions as well as increased sanitation. The parks will open with a limited capacity of less than 24,000 opposed to its regular capacity of 80,000 people per day.
©Disney
In order to visit the park, guests will need to have advanced ticketing and reservations prior to coming to Shanghai Disneyland. During this time, general admission tickets won’t be accepted.
Read all the details about Shanghai Disneyland’s reopening here!
Disney Cruise Line
©Disney Magic
Although Disney has canceled all departures of the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy through June 18th as well as the Disney Magic through July 2nd, the cruises most likely won’t begin sailings again for several months.
Read more about the Chapek’s Disney Cruise Line statements here.
New Health and Safety Procedures in Disney Parks
As the parks begin to reopen, there have been discussions about the best ways to keep guests and employees safe during these times. Disney has already stated that they are looking into Cast and Crew Member training to make sure they are up to speed with the new regulations. Disney World and Disneyland are also exploring options including capacity limits, physical distancing, and increased sanitation efforts.
Shanghai will be implementing many of these procedures when the parks reopen. You can learn all about those here.
Shanghai Disneyland @gourmetdyy
Since there may be a need for increased park-wide distancing in some capacity, Disney has also been looking into the addition of virtual queues at Disney World and Disneyland. Although there is already a FastPass+ system in Disney World and MaxPass in Disneyland, the parks might implement a similar version of a larger-scale virtual queue system through smart devices.
Haunted Mansion
Disney could also lean towards using the virtual queue system that Rise of the Resistance in Galaxy’s Edge uses. There are only a certain amount of return times distributed during the day, so the parks could potentially have more control over distancing guests.
Boarding Group
While Disney didn’t share specific details on the virtual queue system, we will be on the lookout for updates.
Read more about the potential for virtual queues in Disney World and Disneyland here.
Disney Restaurants and Stores Opening First
Shanghai Disneyland opened select shopping and dining locations back in March and Hong Kong Disneyland reopened a character meal recently.
Yesterday, in a letter from the Disney Parks Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Pamela Hymel we learned that Disney is indeed exploring the option of opening their retail and dining locations (e.g. Disney Springs in Disney World and Downtown Disney in Disneyland as well as resorts and shops in some hotels, potentially) before the parks reopen.
Disney Springs
Other theme parks have started to consider this option as well with Knott’s Berry Farm opening its Chicken-To-Go restaurant this week and Universal Orlando CityWalk rumored to reopen Starbucks and Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville soon.
Learn more about Disney’s statement on potentially opening dining and retail locations first here.
The Walt Disney Company’s Financial Situation
Since the parks, restaurants, and hotels have been closed, there have been a lot of financial choices that Disney has had to make. Due to many of the closures, there has been a projected financial loss of $21 billion through 2022 for the Walt Disney Company. This is under the assumption that attendance in the parks will drop by 50% through the end of the 2020 fiscal year. For 2021, the assumption is projected to 75% of previous attendance levels and 90% for 2022.
Magic Kingdom
At the moment, the Walt Disney Company has seen its Parks, Experiences, and Products segment fall 10% this quarter compared to last year. Right now, there is a predicted loss of almost $1 billion in revenue from the closures as the company has experienced a 58% drop in its operating income for this segment of the quarter. Half of this $1 billion loss is associated with the first two weeks of the US parks closures with the other half belonging to the international parks and Disney Cruise Line.
Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle
Disney is reporting a 21% revenue growth of $18.01 billion for its second fiscal quarter.
©Disney
When it’s broken down, most of this comes from Disney’s media networks like Disney+ and Hulu that have been pulling in millions of streamers:
- Media Networks: $7.26 billion, up 28%
- Parks, Experiences, and Products: $5.54 billion, down 10%
- Studio Entertainment: $2.54 billion, up 18%
- Direct-to-Consumer and International: $4.12 billion, up more than 100%
Read about the current FULL financial situation of the Walt Disney Company here!
So much is changing and new information is constantly being released about the future of Disney’s Parks, Cruise Line industry, and more. We are watching and monitoring closely to ensure that you have the most up to date and reliable news. Check back on the blog for the latest info! Sending you all virtual hugs during this strange time! 🙂
Here’s what our DFB readers think about planning their next Disney trip in 2020!
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I hope they do not go to virtual queues like Star Wars had at WDW. It literally amounted to a lottery to see if you had better connectivity, a faster phone, and luck than people standing next to you. On my last trip, the first since this crazy system was put in place, I failed to get into a boarding queue on 3 weekdays in January, considered the lowest attendance time at WDW. While I was able to get into SWGE and ride the Millenium Falcon, I was never able to get onto ROTR. If they implement this stupidity upon reopening, I’ll be cancelling my scheduled trip.
They’re still getting their money from DVC Members. Perhaps a loss in initial sales. But not in profit from existing members.
No deals there. No refunds. Only a POSSIBLE credit IF there’s any dues surplus at the end of 2020. Oh, those points you banked you use for May 2020. Too bad, too sad. Oh, the family trip you had to change (perhaps even a wedding) too bad to sad, can’t have the same honeymoon accommodations or length of stay or your BFF now can’t come b/c you can’t get a studio b/c you can’t borrow enough points… And the points we are allowing you to keep, well, you couldn’t get a room before all this happened, so good luck now. Oh. & that ese be required by the state of FL, we won’t fight for you to be able to utilize that as temporary solution. We’ll only make temporary rules to benefit us.
Now I REALLY understand about the overselling of DVC and how, unfortunately, points from resorts outside of WDW negativity affect availability in WDW (Aulani, DL, HH & Vero) not that I think these members should be penalized, that’s wrong too. And not a policy.