On Monday 8 March, Disney CFO Christine McCarthy attended the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, where she spoke about Disney’s theme park capacity post-COVID. While the parks are working towards coming back to pre-pandemic performance, McCarthy said that they would not be likely to return to the extremely crowded levels sometimes seen before, effectively redefining what full capacity means.
During the conference, she spoke of a focus on yield, and the balance between capacity and guest experience, saying: “If you’re having a good time, you’re probably inclined to spend more money and that has been the results we have had to date since we’ve reopened…
We don’t want to have the parks bursting at the seams.
In the wake of the pandemic, many attractions have found that when their parks aren’t too crowded, guests have a more enjoyable time and this has been reflected in increased spending on-site, for instance in F&B and merchandise.
Disney’s theme park margins for the last quarter were 32%, which McCarthy described as “pretty damn good”, especially considering that the cruise ships are operating at reduced levels. Again she noted that they would be considering what full capacity should be, perhaps not “full to the gills”.
Overall, regarding financial performance, McCarthy noted, “I don’t think the best is over yet for parks”.
Mobile technology
Following the disruption caused by COVID-19, Disney has made some changes to operations, like many other attractions around the world. One key change is the introduction of a new reservation system, which means that it can keep track of the number of visitors in the parks and spread out attendance, in order to avoid overcrowding.
“It allows us to better balance load throughout the year, throughout the week, throughout the month,” explained McCarthy, “That’s something that has really given us a toggle for how we’re going to manage attendance.”
The adoption of mobile technology to allow guests to check-in and order online has been a successful innovation. And during Disney’s Q4 earnings call last year, McCarthy spoke about potentially cutting food portion sizes in the parks.
Post-pandemic, the Walt Disney Company seems to have bounced back well. In fact, when it reported earnings for the first fiscal quarter on January 1, 2022, CEO Bob Chapek revealed that Disney parks posted the “second-best quarter of all time”.
Last month, Disney World scrapped its face mask requirement for vaccinated guests, making them optional in both indoor and outdoor locations.
Top image courtesy of Disney
