Friday's Market Minute: Disney World Reopening
Disney World is planning to reopen Saturday, July 11th, for access to the Magic Kingdom Park and Animal Kingdom Park, with EPCOT and Hollywood Studios to follow on Wednesday, July 15th. However, the timing of the reopening is concerning considering the surge of Coronavirus cases in Florida—other spikes have caused businesses to quickly shut back down. Disney World’s competitor, Universal Orlando (UVV), reopened in June with enhanced safety protocols. Disney Shanghai and Disney Hong Kong have reopened as well. And while the typical Disney World experience may be different, fans seem to be eager to visit. The reservation system opened in late June and was slammed by fans, and select days in July are already sold out.
Since closing the parks in March, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has been able to use Disney+ to help recover from their March lows. While the streaming service only accounts for about 9% of Disney’s total revenue, in the past week, Disney+ has proven to be a great asset. This past Friday, July 3rd, the Broadway production of Hamilton was released on Disney+. From Friday through Sunday, the app was downloaded 752,451 times globally. U.S. downloads were 74% higher than the average of the previous four weekends. With many diverse revenue streams, traders should watch DIS to see how the recent success of Disney+ and the reopening of Disney World may affect the company.
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