Chapek: Disney World now able to run at 35% capacity

A number of efficiencies have allowed the Walt Disney World Resort to now run at 35% capacity, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek said during a fourth-quarter earnings call.

It was only last month that Chapek told CNBC that the parks were running at 25% capacity with all of the COVID-19 guidelines imposed.

Park operators are becoming more efficient and effective in operating under COVID guidelines, he said.

“We’ve been able to pretty materially increase our capacity and still stay within the guidelines local governments are giving us. And this is happening across our parks across the world,” Chapek said.

“In fact, Walt Disney World, which was at a 25% capacity constraint, which was our industrial engineering estimate in order to keep six-foot social distancing, now has been able to increase to 35% of capacity,” and still adhere to the local guidelines and the guidelines stipulated by the CDC, Chapek said.

“We are very pleased how we’ve become very adept at operating under these constraints,” he said.

During the past few months, more plexiglass has been erected on lines and even on ride cars, such as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, to allow for more capacity on the attractions.

In addition, Disney has re-routed many of the outdoor lines and cleaned up some bottlenecks that were taking place with the lines of attractions that were near each other.