Disneyland Shanghai reopens May 11, other Disney parks remain closed
Disney (DIS) reported earnings on Tuesday for its second quarter, encompassing February, March, and April, and as expected, the results showed a major hit from coronavirus: $1.4 billion in total lost revenue, $1 billion of it from the parks division.
The company beat on revenue expectations overall, with $18.01 billion (compared to Wall Street expectations of $17.68 billion), but missed big on earnings, reporting 60 cents per share (analysts were looking for 86 cents).
Disney closed Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland in January, Tokyo Disneyland in February, and all its U.S. parks in mid-March. All Disney parks in the world remain closed right now.
But Disney sees light at the end of the tunnel. Disneyland Shanghai will reopen on May 11, “in light of the lifting of certain restrictions there in recent weeks,” new Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced on the Q2 earnings call. Employees and guests at Disneyland Shanghai – everyone but the characters – will be asked to wear masks when it reopens, Chapek said.
As for the rest of the parks? “There is limited visibility into the timing of when we can reopen the rest of our parks and resorts, cruise ships, and retail stores,” CFO Christine McCarthy said.
As Disney examines when and how to reopen its parks, Chapek said, “The approach we take may include implementation of guest capacity and density control measures, and health and prevention procedures that comply with state and federal guidelines.”

Tourists at Disney town as Disneyland imposes social distancing measures on May 05, 2020 in Shanghai, China. After decades of growth, officials said Chinas economy had shrunk in the latest quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic. (Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images)
Of course, it isn’t just parks. Disney’s cruise lines are closed, retail stores are closed, movie shooting is halted, and its subsidiaries ABC and ESPN have almost no live sports to broadcast.
But the parks, the profit engine of the company, are the biggest focus. And other than Hong Kong Disneyland, McCarthy said all other parks were “trending” much higher than the year prior—before coronavirus.
Amid coronavirus closures, Disney’s parks segment had operating income of $639 million in the quarter, a 58% drop from Q2 2019.
Bob Iger, who stepped down as CEO in February and took the role of executive chairman, kicked off the earnings call with a note of optimism. “As someone who’s been around for a while, and led this company through some very tough days in the last 15 years,” Iger said, “I have absolute confidence in our ability to get through this challenging period.”
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Daniel Roberts is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
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