Analyst: Park Hopping “A Pretty Big Deal…”
Thinking about Park Hopping…
I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. I love reading The Motley Fool, especially Rick Munarriz – a bonafied theme park aficionado who is also a financial analyst.
A formidable combo, for sure.
Park hopping sign
And today, Munarriz was again excited to write about Disney World’s return to park hopping.
Park Hopping!
But back in November, Munarriz wrote about multiple park days and MickeyBlog.com was psyched!
At the time, Munnariz posted:
The return of park hoppers will give folks avoiding a trip to Disney one reason fewer to stay away. It will be a more complete experience, and it will inevitably bring an increase in operating hours. Between guests spending more and the parks opening longer, you can already figure out what this will mean for many of the cast members who were laid off earlier this year.
Time to Hop!
And now, with park hopping happening, Munarriz wrote an article on park hopping entitled: Disney World Makes Small Move With Big Consequences.
This is a pretty big deal for Disney, especially given three of its other resorts worldwide are currently shuttered in an effort to contain the COVID-19 crisis. It’s a financial game changer for the entertainment giant for some obvious and not-so-obvious reasons, and it comes at a time when its struggling theme park segment could use a boost.
“Higher ticket prices is a fairly obvious reason to bring back park-hopping, and for now it’s only available after 2 p.m. after visiting your reserved park first,” wrote Munnariz, while mentioning Disney’s capacity rise from 25 to 35%. “Guests can also be denied entry at subsequent parks if they are at capacity at the time. It’s not perfect, but it’s one important step on the long way back to normalcy.”
What Will The Rest Of The Year Look Like?
And, on a day when Disney announced it’s upcoming quarterly earnings call, DIS stock remains near a record high.
Note that Disney+ was the reason for the high stock price for Disney; those prices were achieved while three other Disney theme parks were closed and while WDW was only at 1/4 capacity.
One wonders what things will look like later this year.
