Disney California eyes July restart

Disneyland in California plans to reopen next month – but at “significantly limited” capacity, and with no opportunities to hug Mickey Mouse or highfive Donald Duck for the time being.

The plans still require government approval but the resort near Los Angeles, including Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, is hoping to welcome visitors back from 17 July.

Disneyland is the world’s second-most visited theme park, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each day. It closed in mid-March due to coronavirus concerns.

The Shanghai Disneyland reopened last month and Disneyland in California will follow a similar timetable to the restart of Disney World in Florida, which has already received government approval.

Theme parks provide a significant portion of the Mouse House’s revenue.

Last month, Disney said the division’s quarterly operating income fell 58% from a year earlier, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

When the California parks reopen, all guests will need to book reservations in advance, and social-distancing measures mean no parades or “nighttime spectaculars”.

“While character meetand-greets will be temporarily unavailable, characters will be in the parks in new ways to entertain and delight guests,” Disney said in a statement.

Hotels would reopen the following week.

The plans were unveiled as calls on social media and a change.org petition grew for Disney’s parks to rebrand their “Splash Mountain” rides.

The popular log flumes are based on the controversial 1946 Disney film Song of the South, a movie long accused of peddling racist tropes about the post-Civil War South, and never released on home video in the US. –