Disney released its 3rd quarter financial report for fiscal year 2021 and is holding its earning call today. In the report, and in the call, Disney has provided updates regarding the number of Disney+ subscribers it has now, how profitable the parks have been during this last quarter, and more.
Disney World Crowds
During the call, Disney also provided some updated information about capacity and just how close to capacity the parks have been and now we’re sharing all of that information with you.
Earlier this year, Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek indicated that Disney World had started to increase its capacity, and that it would continue to increase capacity in the low double-digit numbers over the next several months.
Hollywood Studios Crowds
But, what does capacity look like now and how close are the parks to capacity? Well, Disney hasn’t provided exact numbers, but during the third quarter earnings call today Christine McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Disney Company, indicated that during the third quarter of fiscal year 2021 “attendance levels were at or near daily capacity levels which increased throughout the quarter.”
So, breaking that down quickly: (1) capacity has increased at Disney World during this past quarter, and (2) attendance levels were at or near those daily capacity limits.
Crowds at Hollywood Studios
In terms of overall capacity, Disney CEO Bob Chapek indicated that they have opened about 70% of the hotel rooms in Disney World, and that as they scale their businesses to 100% capacity, their efficiencies will become higher.
Click here to see the reopening dates for the rest of Disney World’s closed hotels.
McCarthy indicated that they’re expecting the parks to be fully staffed by the end of this calendar year, and that they will be increasing capacity as they see an increase in demand. McCarthy noted that the situation right now is an ever-changing landscape with COVID-19 and that they will be careful, but will increase capacity in a measured fashion.
Check Out Those Crowds
Over at Disneyland, things have also changed in terms of capacity. During the call, McCarthy also noted that Disneyland has increased its attendance and capacity following the Resort’s re-opening in April. Additionally, Disney indicated that attendance and capacity particularly increased after California lifted its state restrictions on June 15th.
Disneyland
As Disney shared in its earnings report, the Parks, Experiences, and Products Division has achieved profitability for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
We’ll continue to keep an eye out for more updates and let you know what we find.
Click here to take a look at the crowds at Disney After Hours Boo Bash.
Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!
Have you visited Disney World or Disneyland lately? In the comments below, tell us about your experience with the crowd levels.
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
Hopefully Disney will require immunization records for admission and negative COVID test results. Also, masking indoors and out, social distancing and more hand washing stations. All in an effort to save lives!
It is a little disturbing that Disney keeps increasing the capacity as COVID cases rise. I just spent 5 days at the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, came home sick and just tested positive for COVID. I wore a mask the entire time, indoors and out, but masks are only required on indoor rides. Only one Disney RR train was running, so it was packed, shoulder to shoulder with folks, few wearing masks. The Jungle Cruise line packed for 30 minutes, outdoors, with folks coughing into each other faces as the queue wrapped toward each other. Social distancing is non-existent. So just beware, even being vaccinated, like I am, and wearing a mask, like I did, doesn’t mean you’re safe. I think I’ll be fine once I get over this severe headache, but I would advise those with other health issues to stay away for now.
The problem with the policy is that it is linear in a single direction: increased capacity at parks and hotels, no matter the current public health environment. In the pictures posted the total number of people wearing a mask in all the images is less than the fingers on one hand. State law in FL says you can’t require proof of vaccinated status, but I’m pretty confident (based on vaccination rates) that it’s probably 60 percent.
Given the new peaks in cases and hospitalizations (much higher than when Disney originally closed the parks), it would make sense to scale back. But with blogs like the DFB shilling for the company, that’s never going to happen.
Out of curiosity – are you requiring your writers and photographers to get vaccinated, or at least wear a mask?
We are at Walt Disney World on vacation right now. Today we are at Epcot and the crowds seem light, as they did when we were here on Monday. Magic Kingdom seemed packed on Wednesday, but Hollywood Studios didn’t seem too bad on Thursday. We enjoyed the Boo Bash Tuesday evening and thought the crowds were fine for that. Animal Kingdom on Tuesday was moderately crowded. Overall we’ve been pleased with crowd levels at all but Magic Kingdom during the day, but are disappointed at many, many people’s disregard for Disney’s request to wear your mask over your mouth AND NOSE when indoors and in ques.
Disney needs to make sure they are training the cast members they are hiring. You can tell a differences in the veteran Cast Members and the new staff- many are only worried about talking with other cast members. I had a cast member actually slide my dessert plate across the table to me without a word at Be Our Guest Friday 8/13 night. The work effort with the new (young) employees shows a lack of management training them with expectations. Returning guests are going to notice that Disney does not have the same standards it used to. I make sure to thank and appreciate the Cast Members that are doing their job. I know they are overworked because they are understaffed. Be careful Disney, quantity over quality is going to turn you into an amusement park and not the theme park magical place it should be. This is visit number 65 and this is my first time seeing and hearing cast members be rude and have discussions that guests should not overhear.
We visited Disney World the week of July 19th – 23rd and it was as crowded as I have ever seen it. It actually looked like they were at 120% capacity to me. I’m sure having many of the shows closed made things look much worse because they do absorb a lot of the crowds. However, if they are going to stuff more people in, I’ll take a hard pass.
Obviously Covid has done nothing to dampen people’s desire to go to Disney World. Looking at the attached photos and assuming it is recent, seems like a lot of people are vaccinated…right?
I’m this close to canceling our September trip. It seems the order of importance is first the dollar and then the health and welfare of the consumer, It’s not just Disney or other big corporations who feel that way, but also state government.
I do not feel safe in Florida or its theme parks at this time. I know of a fully vaccinated family of five who recently vacationed at Disney and all five came home with the Delta variant of Covid. I realize that in life we must take risks, but we must also use caution. Right now I find it difficult to trust Florida or Disney so I will err on the side of caution.
People can live in fear or live their life. The problem with this pandemic is that the people that fear everything have ruled all the people. If you are afraid to go out then by all means stay in, but allow the other people live their lives. If the virus kills them then it was their choice and you will not have such big crowds when this is over, but you cannot sit in your home and expect everyone else to fear as you do.
Just my opinion… have a magical day.
They need to get those parking lot trams running again. I’m surprised someone hasn’t keeled over from heat stroke trying to walk back to their car in the 95+ degree afternoon heat!
I’m not afraid of crowds I I viously wouldn’t of been there, I just wonder why Disney doesn’t post what there capacity is they stopped in May. Some people think it’s still low and it isn’t. I was there in May, I’m just coming back today and I’m going in November.
Yes. Disturbing for sure. It’s truly sad that the corporate world seems to be putting profit over potentially saving lives
The problem is that the people that “ live their lives “ come home and have to coexist in the same public spaces that we all have to go to for daily living activities, spreading the virus! If we would be diligent in our mitigation measures and vaccinate everyone who is eligible we could get ahead of the virus and bring back some sense of normalcy for good, instead of this ebb and flow situation we are currently experiencing. Most importantly, we should be selfless and protect those more vulnerable people and save lives!
I just want to say to Michael that i’m so sorry you contracted Covid. We went in June with much lower capacity and I wore a mask at all times except walking outdoors and we were all lucky. I hope you get over it quickly.
It’s so interesting to me how people say “fear is ruling your lives so you should just stay home and let other people who aren’t afraid go out in the world“ but I wonder why that isn’t phrased in the opposite way. Why aren’t people who are unvaccinated stay home and let the rest of us go out in the world? So I’m really sorry to see that play out at Disney because I know that to us, it’s our best magical place to get away from it all.
If that’s the case w/the capacity being back to “almost” normal, why aren’t they doing Fast Pass ? How is it even safe that the lines are long and people are waiting shoulder to shoulder to get on a ride? Most importantly, people do not understand that even if you’re vaccinated, you can still get Covid. The vaccine only prevents hospitalization and death.
If increasing capacity is attendance is almost back to normal, get fast passes going again. The lines need to move b/c social distancing for 2 hours in a line isn’t at all helping to prevent Covid at all.
Yes, i know, we don’t have to go to DL or WDW if this is my concern but my point is, I do want to go and we are doing our part to wear masks and social distance but with Disney being almost at full capacity and normal attendance…..that’s not going to help w/keeping Covid from spreading…..
There is no reason for the hospitals to be full and overwhelmed with COVID!
If we all just do our part we can put most of this behind us. We can help save lives. BE SELFLESS not SELFISH!
fast pass or no visit
I’m here now, from 8/4-8/19. Forget social distance. Sure put the mask on going indoors-for what if we are standing shoulder to shoulder at the MK Fireworks.
So this article really does say what current capacity is. Does Disney release this info? I think guests want to know. We have a trip in September and are unsure about going.
Kim, Disney rarely states capacity levels. The last time they did so was earlier this year when they said 35%, but they’ve steadily increased capacity since then. We don’t know what percentage they may be at now, and we really don’t know what capacity percentages were like even before COVID to have something to compare it to (Disney is really tight-lipped about numbers). We try to report on crowd levels to give readers an idea of what’s going on on any given day, but unfortunately Disney just doesn’t release numbers. Good luck with your decision.
I appreciate all the discussion that is going on here. BTW, I also went to Disneyworld in May for 9 days. The crowds were much smaller. Everyone was required to wear a mask at all times. I came home without COVID. I think the big difference was that the infection rate was much lower in Florida then than it is now, and the queue lines were socially distanced. I’m fairly certain that I was infected either on an outdoor ride where masks were not required (like the Train or Jungle Cruise) or while waiting in a queue. I am asking Disney to put those precautions back in place (in Anaheim at least where the state would support) so that all of us can enjoy the parks without fear of getting infected.
I am doing much better after 5 days of intense headaches. Fortunately, I was vaccinated and wore a mask my entire visit, so I will likely recover without going to the hospital. My sense of taste will take some time to return.
With higher capacity in the parks they need to get those parking trams running again. They should have been running all summer. I’m surprise someone hasn’t keeled over from heat stroke trying to walk back to their car and the 95+ degree afternoon heat!
Why don’t you post my comment about the parking lot trams? I submitted it twice about a week apart…..
We were in Disneyworld July 20th for 10 days. It was so packed in the park sit felt unsafe, people packed on top of people. We have been going for 37 years and this was easily the worst time we have ever had. Lines were so long for all rides 50 to 90 minutes ,even rides that generally don’t get too crowded. And it was sitting for eating, shopping, walking , standing whatever you were doing people were right on you. I told my wife I don’t want to go anymore if that is the new way. More than one cast member said they were told the parks were at only 80 % capacity but she said they knew that wasn’t true it was much busier. Really disappointed, used to stick up for the disney experience, not after that. Just felt like a huge money grab. My wife said, “Walt would be so disappointed!!!”
Why, oh why, oh why won’t you post my comment (I submitted twice) about getting the parking lot trams running again????
We re-booked our WDW 8/16/21-8/24/21 dates to next June. Personally I did not trust information coming out of Disney. Rather we watched as the numbers in Florida continued to climb and spoke with people who had and were visiting. We are all very disappointed, but peace of mind won out.