A travel agency that helps plans trips to Walt Disney parks said business has been operating at normal levels, if not higher, amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Greg Antonelle, the chief executive of Mickey Travels, a travel agency in New Jersey that specializes in Disney trips, said his company had its best months on record in January and February, The New York Times reported Thursday.
“I have been in the Orlando parks every day for the past week and a half, and they are as crowded as ever,” said Antonelle, whose firm books 10,000 Disney trips annually. “From the business-side, what we’ve seen is business as usual. We’re not getting cancellations because of coronavirus, and from being in the park, you wouldn’t know that anything is different.”
On Friday, Disney’s Magic Kingdom park in Orlando, Fla., had the usual amount of customers for this time of year, despite the growing epidemic of coronavirus in the U.S., according to the Times.
A Disney spokeswoman said the parks are following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), such as providing more disinfecting wipes and boosting cleaning procedures.
“We have added additional hand sanitizers throughout the park, increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfection in high guest contact areas, and are providing information about good hygiene practices and illness prevention to our guests and cast members,” the spokeswoman told the Times.
Some parents said their concerns were somewhat alleviated by statistics that show children are the least susceptible to contracting the virus. The World Health Organization reported 2.4 percent of cases in China were contracted by children, with no deaths recorded.
As of Thursday, Florida had 29 cases of coronavirus, with two deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.