Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek Comments on Disney World's Reopening

This morning, Disney World announced their proposed reopening for their four theme parks. If approved by Governor DeSantis, that means their four theme parks would be reopening in mid-July.

Magic Kingdom

Shortly after this announcement, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek spoke with CNBC on the parks’ soft reopening, which would take place on July 11th for Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, and on July 15th for Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

When asked about the decision to reopen the parks a month after other Orlando theme parks like Universal Orlando (reopening to the public on June 5th) and SeaWorld (currently proposed to reopen to the public on June 11th), Chapek noted that when guests return to the parks, they want them to have a “quintessential Disney experience” and that they want to reopen “in a responsible way.”

Epcot

When Shanghai Disneyland reopening on May 11th, Chapek shared that park attendance would be limited to lower than 30% of the park’s capacity, in cooperation with the Chinese government’s regulations. When asked about the limited capacity in the Florida theme parks, Chapek noted that they will not be sharing any “specific number,” in part because there is currently no guidance issued by local government.

Space Mountain line on a busy day.

Chapek did note, however, that Disney World will be using the function and calculation of the six foot social distancing guidance in determining their park capacity. Chapek closed with mentioning that there is a trust in the Disney brand and a trust that they will continue to operate responsibly.

Spaceship Earth Before Processing — Spaceship Earth in Epcot’s Future World

During his discussion, he also noted that: “We feel that this is the right time for us, in July. We’ve got a different situation, frankly, than Universal does because we’re much bigger. We have a much more complex business. We’ve got a different labor situation, and at the same time, we’re going to be implementing a new reservation system for our guests. And it’s gonna take some time to take the millions of reservations that we’ve already got on the books and then switch that over to a new reservation system, so we think July is the right time for us.”