Disneyland to shut down for 4th time

LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Co. said Thursday that it would close the Disneyland resort in Anaheim for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and just the fourth time in its 65-year history, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure — two adjoining, but separately ticketed theme parks — will close Saturday morning through the end of the month. Disney’s hotels in Anaheim will remain open until Monday.

Disney noted that there had been no reported cases of the virus at the resort.

The company said it would continue to pay its employees while the resort is closed. Refunds will be given for hotel bookings during the closure period.

The park has almost 19 million visitors from around the world each year.

In recent days, as sporting events, concerts and other mass gatherings have been canceled in response to the pandemic, Disneyland and its bigger sibling in Florida, Walt Disney World, remained crowded. On Wednesday night, so many people were trying to get on Space Mountain at Disneyland that the line stretched more than an hour. Disneyland’s Indiana Jones ride had a 45-minute line.

In a statement posted online shortly before midnight Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that gatherings of 250 or more people “should be canceled or postponed” to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

That seemed to apply to Disneyland and other California theme parks, including Universal Studios in Los Angeles and Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park. But Newsom backtracked at a Thursday morning news conference, saying that his guidelines excluded large parks like Disneyland and places such as casinos and movie theaters because of “the complexity of their unique circumstances.”

Disney made its announcement shortly thereafter.

“After carefully reviewing the guidelines of the governor of California’s executive order and in the best interest of our guests and employees, we are proceeding with the closure of Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure,” the company said in a statement.