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Disney said on Tuesday it will reopen its
Shanghai Disneyland park on May 11 but severely limit the number
of guests and enforce strict social distancing measures on rides
and in restaurants.
The plans provide a glimpse at how the company - which in
previous quarters generated a third of its revenue from parks,
experiences and consumer products - will recover from the
pandemic.
"We will take a phased approach with limits on attendance using
an advanced reservation and entry system, controlled guest
density using social distancing and strict government required
health and prevention procedures," Disney Chief Executive
Officer Robert Chapek said on a conference call with analysts
after reporting second-quarter earnings.
"These include the use of masks, temperature screenings and
other contact tracing and early detection systems."
Executives said they have “limited visibility” over the timing
on when other parks, stores and the company’s cruise line would
reopen.
The stakes are high: more than half of the $1 billion in
second-quarter operating profit declines came from just two
weeks of closure of Disney's U.S. parks, Chief Financial Officer
Christine McCarthy told analysts on Tuesday, with the rest
coming from the closure of parks in Asia and its smaller, but
popular cruise business.
To quickly reduce overhead, Disney furloughed more than 120,000
employees in April.
Chapek said the company would only reopen locations that would
not lose money.
"We would not reopen any park unless we can make at least a
positive contribution to that overhead and operating profit
level," he said.
In China, Disney executives explained, the company will take it
slow to test new ideas. Guests at Shanghai Disneyland will be
required to purchase admission tickets valid on a selected date
only, and annual pass holders will need to make a reservation
prior to arrival.
Ride vehicles, lines and restaurants will be set up to follow
social distancing guidelines. Guests and employees will be
required to wear masks, which guests can remove when dining.
Guests' temperatures will be screened and the park will use the
government-issued Shanghai Health QR code, a contact tracing and
early detection system used in China. Sanitization and
disinfection will occur more frequently, the company said.
Disney Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pam Hymel said the company is
exploring ways to use technology such as its Play Disney Parks
App to help with those efforts, according to a Disney blog post
on Tuesday. Reuters previously reported that guests could be
notified via app or another technology when they can go on a
ride or in a restaurant to eliminate lines.
Chapek said Shanghai Disney Resort, which includes Shanghai
Disneyland theme park and other properties that have previously
been reopened, tends to attract 80,000 guests a day.
The Chinese government is limiting that capacity to 24,000 daily
guests but Disney is planning to open the park “far below” that
capacity to try out new procedures, Chapek said. After a few
weeks park attendance will be up to the government's guidelines,
he added.
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Kenneth Li
and Stephen Coates)
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