The coronavirus outbreak has drastically affected the world in terms of business, entertainment, and simply everyday life.
One company certainly feeling a big financial loss from the entire situation is Disney. Once the pandemic reached the point which the United States needed to take extreme measures to prevent the disease’s spread, the Mouse House decided to close its parks worldwide. Last week, California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, placed a gathering ban on the state that subsequently led to the company closing down its Disneyland park.
This remains only the fourth time Disneyland has shut down in its storied history. The first three times being a national day of mourning after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, after the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and, of course, after the horrific September 11 attacks in 2001. Now, both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park are scheduled to remain closed until the end of March, after which state officials will determine whether or not it’s safe to lift the gathering ban.
In addition to the California park, Disney World in Orlando, as well as Disneyland Paris, among other Disney parks around the world, have also shut down in response to the coronavirus. Disney makes a ridiculous amount of money from, not only its parks, but cruises and consumer product sales. As such, they’re going to take a big financial hit with these closures for as long as they last. In fact, a report from Variety suggests Disney is looking at losing anywhere from $20 million to $30 million a day off the decision to close down its parks.
With that being said, come the end of March, Disney will have lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and it’s not even a guarantee that’s the end of it. Having just returned home from a Florida vacation though, in which I spent a week at the Disney parks, I can tell you this is the right call. Despite the mass concern going around due to the coronavirus last week, the Disney parks were nothing short of packed while I was there, filled with people of all ages and from all over the world.
It was simply too great of a risk to keep the parks open any longer given they attract spectators from around the globe. It’s certainly unfortunate for those who spent tons of money on a vacation for their family and didn’t plan on something like this happening, but Disney had to make the tough call.