By
Tolu Ajiboye
February 9th, 2024
Shanghai Disneyland has reopened after China declared reopening its economy after the pandemic. In the upcoming week, Disney will gradually get back to welcoming visitors to other resorts. DIS stock is in the red.
After three and a half months of coronavirus shutdown, Shanghai Disneyland reopened. Being the first of six major The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) resorts to get back to business, Shanghai Disneyland will keep strict safety measures to prevent the coronavirus spread.
Visitors of Shanghai Disneyland have to wear masks, use disinfectants, keep social distance, and have their temperatures checked on the entrance. At first, not all of the attractions will open. Besides, Disney has limited the number of visitors allowed. Normally, the park has a capacity of 80,000 people and 12,000 cast members. But for now, the government has allowed about 30%, or 24,000 a day. Each week, Disney will increase this capacity by 5,000 people.
Bob Chapek, CEO of Shanghai Disneyland, commented:
“We’re going to actually open up far below that just to have our training wheels on with our new procedures and processes to make sure we don’t have any lines backing up, either as guests enter into the park or as they wade through the park. So we’re going to approach that very, very slowly, but after a few weeks we’ll actually be up to what the government’s guideline is.”
Shanghai Disneyland has also reduced ticket sales. Visitors need to make advance reservations and download a smartphone app issued by the Shanghai city government that tracks their health. At the entrance, they have to show the government identification that confirms they are healthy.
For this week, all the tickets have been sold out in a few hours.
Joe Schott, the president of Shanghai Disney Resort, said:
“We hope that today’s reopening serves as a beacon of light across the globe, providing hope and inspiration to everyone.”
Shanghai Disneyland has reopened after China declared reopening its economy after the pandemic. In the upcoming week, Disney will gradually get back to welcoming visitors to other resorts.
Disney (DIS) Stock Down even after Shanghai Disneyland Reopened
The good news has not had a positive impact on Disney (DIS) stock. Yesterday, Disney shares dropped by 1.27% and closed at $107.77. After hours, Disney stock declined by another 0.19%, to $107.57. Currently, in the pre-market, it is 0.61% down, at $107.11 per share.
This year is not the best for Disney stock. After the coronavirus outbreak, it started plummeting, reaching the lowest point of $85.76 in March. Since then, Disney stock has slightly rebounded. However, it is still 25.49% down this year and its results for the fiscal second quarter of 2020 are also little to boast about. Largely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the company underperformed the Wal Street expectations.