Disneyland and the Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California, will reopen on April 30 after being shut down for a year due to Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom’s strict Chinese coronavirus lockdown rules.
“We’re ready to make magic all over again,” Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek said Wednesday in an interview with ABC7. “We’re certainly going to be operating with capacity constraints, but at the same time it’s going to be that Disney experience that everyone has come to expect.”
“The day all of us have long been waiting for is almost here,” Ken Potrock, president of the Disneyland Resort, said in a statement. “We’re excited to have more than 10,000 cast members returning to work as we get ready to welcome our guests back to this happy place.”
ABC7 reported the experience in the park will not be the same as before:
The previously furloughed employees will be retrained to be able to operate according to California’s new requirements. Under the state’s new guidelines, theme parks may open at 15 percent capacity when their respective counties enter the state’s red tier designation, Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of California Health and Human Services, said on March 9.
The limited reopening would not include indoor rides, Ghaly said, and theme parks initially would only be open to California residents.
Under the new guidelines, there will be both a building capacity limitation and a time limitation. A ride that takes place indoors or goes into a building for a brief period of time may open if it meets both of these requirements. Indoor dining will continue to be unavailable for the time being.
Disney World in Florida was only shut down for four months because of the pandemic. The park reopened with limited capacity in July.
Currently, indoor dining is operating at 50 percent capacity and masks are required.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis worked to ensure the state has remained as open as possible over the past year.
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