Disney CEO Comments on Delta Variant’s Impact on Parks

Today, the Walt Disney Company hosted its earnings call for Quarter 3 of Fiscal Year 2021.

During the call, along with its accompanying Quarterly Report, we learned a great deal about the current fiscal health of the company, as well as what we can look forward to in the months to come.

During a question and answer session in the second half of the Earnings Call, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was asked about the recent rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, and if the company was seeing any negative impact on the parks and resorts moving forward, particularly as the parks continue to increase capacity.

Bob Chapek responded by saying that while they did not anticipate a resurgence in COVID-19, “in terms of Delta variant, we see strong demand for our parks continuing. The primary noise that we’re seeing right now is really around group or convention cancelations.” Chapek continued to emphasize the strong demand for the parks, adding that Disney’s “park reservations are now above Q3 attendance levels.”

Chapek did note that some of the cost implications from the Delta variant, such as hygienic costs, will “be relatively short lived.” The long-term impact, rather, will be the “improvement that we’re making with guest personalization and guest choice affecting the tremendous yield benefits that we’ve been able to extract over the last few quarters.”

Those yield benefits, or the result of their “yield management system,” has to do with the implementation of the Park Pass Reservation System, and that the benefits derived from this system are “only going to grow in the future.”

We’ll continue to monitor the latest news from the Walt Disney Company, and we will fill you in on any additional updates or announcements we hear!

Click here to read about the profitability of Disney Parks from this past quarter!

Do you have a Disney World vacation planned in the remainder of 2021? Let us know in the comments!

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