There’s finally light at the end of the tunnel. New rules will allow theme parks in the state to reopen on April 1, pending red tier, or tier two, status.
Orange County met those requirements for the first time in months last week, paving the way for amusement parks including Disneyland, California Adventure and Knott’s Berry Farm to resume operations next month, albeit at a limited capacity.
In addition to bringing back much-needed revenue from theme park goers, the reopenings bode well for the larger economy, with jobs restored, hotel occupancy expected to climb and a boost of optimism for the local events market.
“Disneyland’s reopening begins the real path to economic recovery, and will create a huge ripple effect to other businesses in the area,” Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster said.
New Rules
Disneyland’s reopening is the most closely watched of the regional theme parks, with the resort’s two parks, hotels and shopping district the largest employer in the county—nearly 30,000 workers prior to the pandemic—and creating $8.5 billion in economic impact for Southern California, according to a 2019 study by California State University, Fullerton.
Theme parks shuttered one year ago in March with no clear reopening time frame until last October, when the state first issued guidance for the sector, indicating large theme parks like Disneyland would not be able to reopen until the county enters into the final, fourth tier in the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system.
The least restrictive yellow tier requires less than 1 average daily case per 100,000 residents and a positive testing rate of less than 2%.
In a statement following the October update, Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock expressed his disapproval of the new guidance, and the California Attractions and Parks Association said the move would have kept these parks “closed indefinitely.”
After months of improving coronavirus metrics and an accelerated vaccine rollout in the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom provided a “Blueprint Refresh” earlier this month that would allow large theme parks to reopen as soon as April 1—if the counties they are located in are in at least the second, or red tier.
In the red tier, theme parks are able to reopen for California residents at 15% capacity; that expands to 25% in the orange tier and 35% capacity in the yellow tier, or tier four.
Workers Called Back
As cases and testing positivity continue to drop—the region’s current adjusted case rate of 6 per 100,000 residents is down significantly from nearly 40 a month ago—it’s very likely Disneyland will be given the go-ahead to reopen on April 1, though the actual reopening date is set to be later in the month, with Disney CEO Bob Chapek indicating it will “take some time” to get ready.
“This includes recalling more than 10,000 furloughed cast and retraining them to be able to operate according to the state of California’s new requirements,” Chapek said in a March 9 statement.
Some of the furloughed cast members have still managed to work within the resort, though in a different capacity, as the resort became the county’s first of five mass vaccine dispensing sites.
“So many of the workers at the vaccine site are former Disneyland employees, and from what I’ve seen, they’re ready to return,” Lyster said.
He added the Disneyland reopening will help boost the city’s unemployment figure, which currently sits around 9%.
“Though that’s an improvement over last year, it’s still a staggering number,” Lyster said.
Orange County’s unemployment rate stood at 7.4% in January. Prior to the pandemic, it was below 3%.
The resort will get some practice ahead of its official reopening starting this week, as California Adventure partially reopens March 18 for A Touch of Disney, a new food-focused event that will take place through mid-April.
Tickets for the event have already sold out.
Return to Normalcy
Disneyland and other theme parks will need to create online reservation systems for tickets, specifics for which have yet to be revealed.
It’s also not yet clear when theme parks—and other businesses—will be able to return to full operation, though state officials target summer as a goal.
Lyster is optimistic for this return to normalcy, as nearly 1 million vaccines have been administered to residents and workers in the county to date.
“We are doing great here in OC, with our vaccination pace ahead of Los Angeles and the state,” Lyster said.
“Though we still have a long way to go, these incremental steps to reopening are huge wins.”
