Lost Revenue

When I wrote about why Universal was returning, the TL: DR was money. Look, theme parks are a business, and they're expensive to operate. They're nightmarishly costly when they're not open. 

During calendar 2018, Walt Disney World parks hosted 58.311 million guests; that’s an average of just under 160,000 daily guests. And most of these visitors spend hundreds of dollars a day.

Let's lowball it mightily and say that people only spend $100 per day at Walt Disney World theme parks. That's $16 million per day or $496 million for a month. I've seen MUCH higher estimates, too.

Still, even this cautious assessment indicates a loss of half a billion dollars. That's caused by Disney waiting a single month to return. As far as negatives go, that's a massive one, especially considering how much Coronavirus has impacted Disney across multiple areas like theme parks, movies, and televised sports advertising.

Perception of Tardiness

The optics of this situation matter less to me than others. I believe that posturing and politics are destructive to the process. However, some media headlines will bury Disney for reacting slowly relative to other Disney theme parks.

Personally, I applaud the company for taking a wait-and-see approach, as the "fools rush in" maxim applies. Still, many anti-Disney zealots will decry the company's decision to sit on the sidelines for a full month while other parks are open.

Also, let’s be real. Some disappointed, frustrated fans won’t like it, either.