In an investor call this afternoon, Disney CEO Bob Chapek stated that Walt Disney World has increased their maximum operating capacity to 35%. Here is the quote from Chapek, emphasis added by BlogMickey.com:
…our operators, which you know are the best in the world are becoming much more efficient and effective in operating under COVID guidelines. And we’ve been able to pretty materially increase our capacity and still stay within the guidelines that local governments are giving us, for example, 6 foot be social distancing, and this is happening across our parks across the world. In fact, Walt Disney world, which was at a 25% capacity constraint which was our industrial engineering estimates to keep 6 foot social distancing, now has been able to increase to 35% of capacity. So, almost a 50% increase in the number of guests that we can allow in, and still adhere to the local guidelines and the guidelines that are stipulated by the CDC with the 6 foot social distancing.
This change represents a 40% increase in capacity over the previous 25% limit. Chapek noted that industrial engineers are changing park operations to still respect the 6 foot social distancing guidelines from the CDC. It’s possible that some of the added plexiglass on rides has positively contributed to the amount of people who can be in a park at one time while still adhering to health official recommendations, but Chapek did not get into specifics. Chapek didn’t mention when the change was put into effect.
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!
It’s not due to COVID-19 that Disneyland remains closed. It’s due to the governor.