Disneyland Could Return To Normal Crowd Levels By 2022
We miss Disneyland! Though the Southern California theme parks have needed to remain closed over the past few months we remain optimistic that at some point we’ll be walking right down the middle of Main Street! And, it would seem that some analysist agree!
According to a recent piece in the OC Register news analysts are predicting that Disneyland and other Disney theme parks are on target for historical attendance levels due to “pent up demand” to travel once again!
Financial analyst John Hodulik with USB Financial predicts that Disneyland will bounce back by 2022 after remaining closed for over a year in in 2020 – 2021.
Hodulik said, “We believe the parks business has bottomed and we’ll see improved attendance/profitability as the vaccine becomes more widely distributed.” He continued, “We expect parks to approach historical performance and attendance metrics by FYE22 with higher margins given operational improvements implemented during the pandemic.”
The coronavirus pandemic meant that all 12 Disney’s theme parks around the globe at one point or other during 2020. Disneyland and Disney California Adventure closed in March of 2020 and predictions don’t have it reopening until this Summer at the earliest.
Since then Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland have returned with COVID-19 health and safety protocols, attendance restrictions and reservation requirements. As of going to print both Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland have had to reclose due to spikes in COVID-19.
Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, Disney claimed 8 of the top 10 spots in the 2019 rankings of the most attended theme parks. According to the piece in the OC Register, Disney theme parks drew in around 157.3 million visitors in 2019. The most attended park was Disney’s Magic Kingdom with 21 million visitors followed by Disneyland with 18.7 million.
Disney’s theme park business will be the “beneficiary of vaccine availability and pent-up demand for leisure travel” in the second half of 2021, according to the UBS analyst report.
Though foot traffic has improved at Walt Disney World and the park is at 35% attendance, once vaccine distribution is accelerated, Disney’s domestic theme parks can co up to 70% in 2021 according to analysts and could be fully recovered attendance wise by 2023.
Photo: Disneyland Resort
We love the optimism of this report and its a story we’ll be following closely. Readers are encouraged to keep checking back with us for further news and updates!
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Source: OC Register
