During today’s Walt Disney Company Q2 earnings call, it was revealed that there will be a $900M decrease in CAPEX spending anticipated for FY20, mostly due to postponed construction and refurbishment projects during the closure of the Disney Parks around the world.
This is obviously related to the ongoing construction delays and how much longer they are expected to go on for, but it also likely indicates the cancellations and budget cuts being made to some ongoing Disney Parks projects, possibly those not yet announced or where ground hasn’t been broken. At the very least, it indicates that many projects will be substantially delayed, possibly with work not resuming until the next fiscal year.
The announcement included refurbishment projects as well, which would include, for example, the “reimagining” of Spaceship Earth and Snow White’s Scary Adventures, among other upkeep measures. When and if the announced Spaceship Earth overhaul will happen remains to be seen, but the announcement is not positive news for the project as far as it moving forward on schedule, if it even does move forward.
A lot of this is speculative, but $900M is certainly a large sum that is not being spent on construction and refurbishment projects at this time.
Finally, in the Q&A segment of the call, Chapek indicated that they would be running a “fine-tooth comb” through the budgets of these projects moving forward. “Big plans” are still in the works for the parks, but they will be reduced. This all seems to admit to the assumptions we have made above.
We will surely keep you in the loop as announcements regarding individual projects are made down the road.
