While a first quarter 2021 earnings call probably sounds a bit too nuts and bolts for the typical Disney fan (and they’d likely be correct in thinking that!), they also tend to have some tidbits of information worth mentioning. At a time when Disneyland Resort guests are looking for any little bit of hope about the future of the SoCal theme parks, which have been closed since March 2020, knowing that plans are still on to open the Marvel-themed landAvengers Campusat Disney California Adventure later this year means that things are moving full steam ahead.
During the call,Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company acknowledged the tragic toll that COVID-19 has had on too many lives. While the pandemic is still very serious and continues to present numerous hurdles for business and communities around the world, safety to park guests is still a high priority for Disney and the increased availability of a vaccine is encouraging in what that will mean for all aspects of entertainment.
With California construction crews hard at work on bothAvengers CampusandMickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which is a state of the art attraction set to open at Disneyland in 2023, the already reopened Walt Disney World in Florida is also moving forward with two upcoming EPCOT attractions –Remy’s Ratatouille Adventureand the Marvel-themed roller coasterGuardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind– in an effort to make it more Disney, more family friendly, more timeless and more magical, according to Chapek. Progress is also being made on the highly anticipatedStar Wars: Galactic Starcruiserhotel. Internationally, work continues on the first-ever fully immersiveZootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disneyland.
It was also announced that Disneyland and Disneyland Paris are expected to be closed for the entirety of the second quarter, but Hong Kong Disneyland is expected to reopen in the quarter. When to open each park that’s closed and when to increase capacity at the parks that are already reopened (Walt Disney World is currently operating at 35% capacity) is going to continue to be a tricky thing to determine, as Disney works to balance proper safety measures with providing a great experience for guests, but it’s nice to hear that it’s clearly a top priority.
Basically, what the first quarter 2021 earnings call really illustrated was that a pandemic is very unpredictable and can make it difficult to do any definite planning, and even Disney has to figure out the best way to navigate that, in every area of their business.
