Sunday, March 20, 2011

Disney Shuts Down Operations at Tokyo

Tokyo Disney theme parks won't reopen on March 22, we already knew that, and now according to the Los Angeles Times "The Walt Disney Co. said it has temporarily suspended administrative and store operations in the city.

"Our top priority is the wellbeing of our employees and their families during this challenging time and we will continue to closely monitor the situation as it develops," Disney said in a statement.

The development comes amid growing concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis. The U.S. State Department announced late Wednesday that it had approved the departure of its personnel in certain regions of the country and was making charter flights available to evacuate them.

The Burbank media company (Disney) did not immediately respond to requests for information about how many Disney employees in Tokyo are affected and whether it plans to help relocate workers and their families."

This WDC announcement is in fact referring to the operations of Walt Disney Co and the Disney Stores in Tokyo and not the parks which are ruled by Oriental Land Co. Still, two of the most beautiful Disney theme parks in the world are now closed and we'll probably have to wait some weeks before they re-open.

Text: copyright Los Angeles Times

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Just to be clear, the Walt Disney Co doesn't operate the Tokyo Disney Resort. While it's true that we won't see the parks opening anytime soon, this announcement has nothing to do with that, and is instead referring to the operations of Walt Disney Co and the Disney Stores in Tokyo.

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

This is not going to be good for Disney shares at all, as it's going to affect the company's profitability.

The closing of TDR is also bad for the Walt Disney Co., as it affects the royalties they receive from the resort.

So if you have Disney shares, that's something to watch closely, but of course, being a big Disney and TDR fan, what worries me most is the future of the resort, and of Japan, of course.