According to a Morning Consult poll, 72% of American adults say that they are uncomfortable visiting an amusement park right now.

The survey was conducted between July 29th and August 2nd and asked 2,200 participants to answer the question: how comfortable would you be going to an amusement park right now?

While the survey didn’t distinguish between different theme park brands, it does speak to an incredibly important metric for the Disney Parks – consumer confidence.

During the third quarter earnings call, Disney execs spoke about what a healthy financial quarter would look like for the theme parks, and their internal metrics say that consumer confidence and regular travel patterns are crucial. Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that Disney’s research “indicates that [Disney] should be in good shape once consumer confidence sort of returns”.

In the Morning Consult poll, the majority of Americans said that they wouldn’t feel confident returning to theme parks until at least 2021. Breaking down the data further, there looks to be a divide between age groups and their confidence to return to the theme parks. About 30% of Millennials said that they would feel comfortable visiting a theme park versus only 10% of Baby Boomers.

We’re seeing this lack of consumer confidence play out in the theme parks too. We initially hypothesized that there was a lack of a demand for a Disney World vacation right now. During the earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed our observations, saying that Disney saw a surge in cancelations as COVID-19 cases surged in Florida.

As far as the theme parks themselves are concerned, we’re seeing an uptick in wait times, even if the attendance still doesn’t meet the capacity limitations put in place by Disney. It’ll likely be a slow road ahead for Disney, but Disney is doing the right things when it comes to safety within the theme parks, and time will tell just what kind of consumer response there will be in the coming weeks and months ahead.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!