Visitors take a photo outside the Disney California Adventure park at the Disneyland Tourist Information Center in Anaheim California, on Feb. 18.
Photographer: AaronP / Bauer-Griffin / GC / Getty Images
Photographer: AaronP / Bauer-Griffin / GC / Getty Images
Tha Walt Disney Co. plans to reopen its two California theme parks on April 30, more than a year after being shut down due to a coronavirus outbreak.
Disneyland Adventure and Disney California, which Closing their gates on March 14 last year, they are among the last of the company’s premises to welcome customers. While the Disney resort in Paris remains closed, all four theme parks in Florida have been open since July.
Prolonged closures in California became a contentious issue between park operators and Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who kept the buildings closed long after those in other states reopened. Owners, local officials and related businesses have been lobbying to reopen for months, arguing that theme parks have not been an important source of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Disney has postponed 32,000 employees over the past year, mostly in the theme park unit. The industry, one of the most profitable companies historically, has been slowly recovering, with social speed warnings limiting attendance to about 35% of Florida’s capacity. The company said it plans to bring back more than 10,000 fur workers for the reopening of Disneyland.
Protocols such as mask wear are likely to be in place by the end of the year, the company said in February.
Disneyland, in Anaheim, California, is the company’s original capital. It was the second most visited theme park in the world in 2019, behind Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Florida. That year, 18.7 million people went to Disneyland and 9.86 million to nearby California Adventure, according to data from the Subject Entertainment Association and consultant Aecom.