Disney CEO Talks High Demand For Parks and Cruises

in Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World

Bob Chapek

Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products Chairman Bob Chapek revealed exciting details of new experiences coming to Disney Parks during D23’s Destination D: Celebrating Mickey Mouse fan celebration in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Ty Popko)

On June 14, Disney CEO Bob Chapek sat down for a conversation with Doug Mitchelson at the Credit Suisse 23rd Annual Communications Conference and discussed numerous aspects of The Walt Disney Company.

Two of the many topics that he addressed were enthusiasm for theme park attendance and excitement for Disney Cruises to once again sail.

Disney Parks and Cruise
All Images Credit Disney

“Our forward looking reservations are really strong at our domestic parks, and we’re seeing also strong underlying demand at our Disney Cruise Line in terms of, you know, what we’re seeing from consumers. And that’s, by the way, despite the pause, the uncertainty about the cruise industry, and the frankly limited marketing that we’ve done so far.”

The strong demand for domestic theme parks is not overly surprising due to the exciting things happening at both the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California.

disneyland sleeping beauty castle
Credit: Inside the Magic

Disney World is currently gearing up to celebrate its 50th anniversary beginning this October. Each of the four theme parks — Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom — are getting gussied up for the upcoming event, including new decorations, new events, and even new attractions!

disney world 50th
All Images Credit Disney

Guest demand at the Disneyland Resort is also high for several reasons. The first being that the Southern California theme park did not open until April 30 — and that was only to California residents. Guests from out-of-state will be allowed to go to the theme park beginning June 15, further driving up demand.

Also driving up Guest demand for Disneyland is the June 4 opening of Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure Park. Guests booked tickets to the opening weeks in advance and waited hours to see the new home of Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, and more Marvel super heroes.

Avengers campus at night disney California adventure
Credit: Inside the Magic

It is also exciting to see a high demand for Disney Cruises — which have not sailed since last March when the pandemic forced them to shut down. At this time, Disney is still suspending some of its cruises, but come July and August, some of those cruises are still scheduled, and Disney Cruise Line will conduct a test cruise out of Florida soon.

disney cruise line alaska
Credit: Disney

Disney Cruise Line will also be launching a limited-time Disney Cruise “staycation” this fall for those Disney fans who live in the United Kingdom. Disney’s newest cruise ship, the Disney Wish. is scheduled to begin sailing next year.

Disney Wish
Credit: Disney

Chapek is taking all of these small steps towards normal operating procedures with an upbeat attitude.

“We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing across those businesses as you know, the COVID restrictions get released, and the case counts go down, and governments release their restraints on us…We want to open up responsibly and we want to do so in a way that’s gonna maintain that Guest experience.”

Are you planning on visiting a Disney theme park or booking a Disney Cruise soon? Let us know in the comments!

in Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World

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