The Comcast-owned Universal Beijing Resort is set to open “on time and on budget in 2021,” Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts said on Thursday, appropriately beginning that news with the word “amazingly.”
Currently, there are 15,000 construction workers on that site, he said — even more than before the coronavirus disrupted everything. That’s one way to play catch-up.
“We have a safe working environment with many protocols in place,” Roberts added.
The park is expected to open in May 2021.
The U.S. theme parks situation is different due to the timing the novel coronavirus made landfall here — and construction on Orlando, Florida’s fourth gate is delayed — but Roberts says he is “heartened by what we’re seeing in China.”
Super Nintendo World Japan, a video gamed theme park, is “likely to open a few months past our original expectation,” he said.
Once everything (re-)opens, Roberts believes the parks will “benefit from strong pent-up demand.”
Roberts’ comments about the parks came during Comcast’s Q1 earnings conference call.
Earlier on Thursday morning, Comcast reported first-quarter revenue from its theme parks had plummeted 31.9% following the closures of Universal Studios Japan in late February and Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood in mid-March due to COVID-19. There is currently no timetable for Universal parks to reopen in America.
Read more about Comcast’s first-quarter 2020 earnings here.