We’ve learned LOTS from Disney’s Quarterly Earnings Call today!

Cinderella Castle

We got updates on revenue, Disney+ subscriptions, and even park capacity. And now, we’re taking a look at customer demand to visit both Disney World and Disneyland.

Disney World has been reopened since summer 2020, while Disneyland has been back for just under a month. However, according to CEO of The Walt Disney Company Bob Chapek, demand on both coasts is strong, with “intent to visit…growing.”

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

In fact, Chapek shared that Disney World’s demand levels are already “flat” with those of 2019, before the pandemic. That signifies that there’s a huge amount of people willing to visit the parks — or, as Chapek puts it, “we’ve got plenty of demand.” We’ve seen this in just how full the Park Pass reservation calendars have been lately.

EPCOT

However, park capacity (although increasing in Disney World) is currently limited in both Disney World and Disneyland. Thus, Disney has had to practice yield management — using customer behavior to maximize revenue — for a while now. Naturally, this strong demand to visit the parks will have an impact on pricing.

Disneyland

We’re keeping a close eye on things on both coasts, and we’ll be sure to bring you plenty of updates. Stay tuned to DFB!

Check Out How Disney World Is Increasing Capacity!

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Are you planning a trip to Disney World or Disneyland? Let us know in the comments!

The post Disney CEO Compares Park Demand to Pre-Pandemic Levels first appeared on the disney food blog.

Earlier today, the Walt Disney Company held their quarterly earnings call for Q2 of their 2021 fiscal year, giving us a better idea at the company’s financial status at the moment.

Disney Mask

During the call, we got some news about how Disney is already increasing capacity. And Disney’s CEO made a comment about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated mask guidance which was just issued today.

Earlier today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared updated mask guidance for those who are fully vaccinated. Keep in mind that the CDC defines people to be “fully vaccinated” 2 weeks after their last dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (the 2nd dose in a 2-dose shot series, or the 1st dose in a 1-dose shot series).

According to the CDC’s updated guidance, those who are fully vaccinated may once again resume many indoor and outdoor activities without a mask, except in certain settings, such as when a settings where a mask is required by certain government regulations or business policies.

©CDC

When discussing parks and capacity, Chapek briefly mentioned this updated guidance. Specifically, he noted that the guidance released by the CDC about masks is “big news” for Disney. He said that this was big news “particularly if anybody’s been in Florida in the middle of the summer with a mask on.”

Chapek indicated that he thinks that’s “going to make for an even more pleasant experience,” presumably referring to the updated guidance.

New Mickey Face Mask

Keep in mind that Disney has NOT yet announced any updates to their mask policy. Below is a screenshot of the mask policy as it appears on the Disney World website as of the time of the writing of this post on May 13th.

Disney World is still requiring all guests ages 2 and up and Cast Members, including those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine, to wear a mask at all times, except when specifically permitted to be removed.

©Disney

We’ll continue to keep an eye out for more updates from Disney and let you know what we see.

Click here to see the CDC’s updated mask guidance.

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The post Disney CEO Comments on CDC’s Updated Mask Guidance and Its Possible Effect on the Parks first appeared on the disney food blog.

We’re here to share a BIG Disney World update!

Toy Story Land

Since the parks reopened last summer, Disney World has been operating at a limited capacity. This ensures that all guests are able to uphold Disney’s health and safety procedures as best as possible, especially social distancing. Park capacity has increased since the reopening, from 25% to 35% back in November. And today, we learned that park capacity is increasing again!

During the Quarterly Earnings Call, CEO of the Walt Disney Company Bob Chapek announced that Disney has “already started to increase our capacities.” He specified that these increases are in line with guidance by both the CDC and the Florida government.

Animal Kingdom

Chapek did not clarify what the new capacity percentage was — or even state outright that it was above the previous 35% threshold — but he did vaguely explain that there would be “an immediate increase in the number of folks that we’re able to admit into our parks through our reservation system.” We’ll be sure to let you know as soon as an exact number is announced.

EPCOT

We saw crowds increase during spring break, and Disney has continued making changes to ensure smooth-running operations in relation to the number of guests visiting the parks. For example, plexiglass barriers have been added to many attractions to allow more guests to ride at one time.

Wet Plexiglass on Frozen Ever After

What does this increase mean for the return of services like FastPass+? As park capacity increases, naturally, so will wait times for attractions. Although wait times can be reasonably short on quiet days, they can sometimes quite long when the parks are busy. Will Disney have to make more changes to combat the effect of more guests on wait times? We’ll have to wait and see.

FastPass Kiosk in Epcot’s Future World

This idea can also be applied to Mobile Order dining. Since most counter service locations are all but requiring Mobile Order, we’ve seen really significant wait times to retrieve food orders. For a service that once made ordering your food quicker, it’s possible that guests might find themselves waiting even longer as capacity increases.

Mobile Order Station

Disney has already begun its return to “normal” in other ways, from changes to its mask policy to the phased elimination of temperature checks. We’ll be sure to provide more updates as they become available, so check back with us!

Read About Disney’s Elimination of Temperature Checks

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Have you visited Disney World since it reopened? Tell us in the comments!

The post BREAKING: Disney World Is Quietly Increasing Park Capacity first appeared on the disney food blog.

Back in February, the Walt Disney Company revealed its financial standings after experiencing extreme losses amidst the closures of 2020. The Q1 Earnings Call for 2021 detailed that Disney lost billions of dollars. Yet, things have been looking up as of late as Disneyland has reopened and plans are in place for a hopeful reopening of the Disney Cruise Line.

Be prepared to see lots of new friends on Main Street, U.S.A. with you this summer!

Now that the past few months have brought a bunch of new developments into the mix, the Q2 Earnings Call will surely have a LOT of major details. And, you can read on to find out all the major notes that were discussed in the report!

Overall Financial Results

The second fiscal quarter of the year took place from January 3rd, 2021 through April 3rd, 2021 and marks the fifth consecutive fiscal quarter to be significantly affected by the global health crisis. Still, compared to the second quarter of 2020, the first quarter of the global health crisis, Disney has seen an improvement in performance. This is the first time we’ve seen a quarter compared to a prior-year quarter that was affected by the crisis.

©The Walt Disney Company

Overall, Disney reported a 92% increase in earnings from continuing operations in Q2. The 2020 Q2 saw Earnings Per Share (EPS) at $0.26 where this quarter brought in $0.50. As a note, EPS were $1.17 in the quarter prior to the global health crisis. So, we’re seeing an improvement, but still a significant drop from pre-crisis levels. Income reflected a 17% improvement over the prior-year quarter from $1,051,000,000 to $1,230,000,000.

©Disney

Of the results, Disney CEO Bob Chapek notes, “We’re pleased to see more encouraging signs of recovery across our businesses, and we remain focused on ramping up our operations while also fueling long-term growth for the Company. This is clearly reflected in the reopening of our theme parks and resorts, increased production at our studios, the continued success of our streaming services, and the expansion of our unrivaled portfolio of multiyear sports rights deals for ESPN and ESPN+.”

Disney Parks, Experiences & Products

The largest adverse impact on the Walt Disney Company as a whole was in the Parks, Experiences and Products segment, as has been the case for the last year.

©Disney

The report notes an approximate $1.2 billion loss in Q2 “due to decreases at our parks and experiences business, partially offset by growth at our consumer products business.” Though the losses are significant, the figure is nearly half the losses experienced in Q1.

Click here to learn more about the losses experienced at the Disney parks.

During the earnings call, Chapek also announced that Walt Disney World has already begun further increasing capacity at this time. This comes as social distancing is set to decrease from 6 feet to 3 feet in the parks soon.

Magic Kingdom

Chapek did not share a specific percentage of capacity.

To learn more about the increase, click here!

Chapek also made comments on today’s update from the CDC on mask usage by vaccinated people.

Face Mask

Though he did not announce any specific changes to the mask mandates in the theme parks, he said that this was big news “particularly if anybody’s been in Florida in the middle of the summer with a mask on.”

Learn more about these comments here!

Disney Media and Entertainment Division

When the Q1 Earnings Call was held in February, it was reported that there was only a small decrease in operating income of just 2% for the media segment. Months later, now there has been significant improvement.

©Disney

The situation for Disney Media and Entertainment saw improved results to last year with a 74% increase in operating income. Last year’s Q1 saw an income of $1,651,000,000 and this year saw $2,871,000,000.

©Disney

The Direct-to-Consumer segment continues to see growth with Disney+ increasing subscriber count by over 200%, ESPN+ increasing subscriber count by 75%, and Hulu increasing subscriber count by 30%. 

©Disney

Disney+ currently reports approximately 103.6 million subscribers.

Want to learn more about the Disney+ results? Click here!

As we continue to find out more information about the Walt Disney Company, we’ll be sure to give you a look at how things change throughout the rest of this year. Be sure to stay tuned with DFB for MORE insights from the earnings report!

Click here to learn more about last quarter’s results!

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Have you visited a Disney Park this year? Let us know in the comments below!

The post EVERYTHING You Need to Know from the Walt Disney Company Q2 Earnings Call first appeared on the disney food blog.

We’re learning a lot about Disney during the Quarterly Earnings Call!

Tree of Life

We’ve already gotten an update on the subscriber count for Disney+, and we’re looking forward to other exciting news from the company. And now, we’re taking a look at the theme parks’ finances for the quarter.

The Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products segment of the company has been reporting losses for multiple quarters now, primarily due to the parks’ long-lasting closures. In Quarter 1 of the 2021 Fiscal Year, this segment reported a $2.6 billion loss “due to revenue lost as a result of the closures and reduced operating capacities.” Now, for Quarter 2, it has reported a loss of $406 million.

©Disney

Its revenue for the quarter decreased 44%, to $3.2 billion. At the end of Quarter 2 last year (on March 28th, 2020), that revenue was $5.7 billion.

©Disney

According to Disney, its “most significant impact on operating income in the current quarter from COVID-19 was at the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment due to revenue lost as a result of the closures and reduced operating capacities.” However, these losses were “partially offset” by the consumer products side of the business.

©Disney

Disney estimates a continued loss of $1.2 billion. We’ll continue to keep a close eye on the Quarterly Earnings Call and keep you posted with any updates!

Check Out the Latest Disney+ Subscriber Update!

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The post How Much Money Have the Disney Parks LOST in 2021? first appeared on the disney food blog.