It’s been over a year since the Disney parks were closed due to the global health crisis.
Cinderella Castle
Now, the reopened theme parks are still operating at limited capacity, but those limits may grow as more people are vaccinated. Health concerns constituted a major drop in demand for travel, so how is a return to normal demand levels looking?
Recently, Disney CEO Bob Chapek sat down with Bloomberg to discuss demand and several other aspects of the business. When asked about current and expected demand levels, Chapek spoke with optimism.
©Bloomberg
He noted, “We’re thrilled with the response that we’re seeing from guests in terms of future reservations and intent to come back to our parks.” As a reminder, the Disney World parks have been open since July and at times have hit full capacity.
Chapek noted that the confidence in demand they have is a function of two things. The first is a “confidence that we’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic,” and the second he noted is, “a tremendous trust in our brand.”
Tree of Life
He explained that guests have confidence in Disney’s ability to keep them safe and that “that brand trust leads them to want to come back to our parks.” Chapek even noted that Disney’s “guest satisfaction score” since they’ve reopened across the world has shown that Disney’s guests “are even more satisfied than they were prior to the pandemic.”
Chapek’s statements echo comments he made to CNBC yesterday. In those comments, he noted, “We’ve seen the enthusiasm, the craving for people to return to our parks around the world. We’ve been operating at Walt Disney World for about nine months, and there certainly is no shortage of demand.”
EPCOT
It will be interesting to see if the expectations that Chapek is speaking to ring true. In the years following 9/11, Disney saw a significant drop in demand due to the subsequent financial effects and consumer reluctance to take air travel. The global health crisis has certainly had an effect on peoples’ finances and on the comfort level with planes.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We’ll keep an eye out for more comments from Chapek and on the trends of demand that we’re able to monitor. As always, stay tuned to DFB for the latest updates and analyses.
Click here to learn more about the crisis’s effect on Florida tourism.
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Thank you for a positive outlook. We hope a return to the old ways of enjoying WDW come sooner than later.
who and where do we send complaints to about the magic express service from the airport? That could be a game changer for some people. Don’t see this train thing as working out so well.
Capacity is what the park will safely hold. Everyone keeps saying capacity. Nope, just an arbitrary number Disney set. The parks haven’t been at TRUE capacity in some time.
I cannot wait to come back to Disney! I can’t wait to hear “welcome home” as DVC members in the uk who had their vaccine yesterday I will be on the plane as soon as I can with hubby and 6yr old. Last year is the first time in her 6yrs she hasn’t been, we even went whilst I was pregnant.
Bobby, this is Disney World’s contact information page. You may find a helpful bit of info here.